Alien Pedagogy

Today a teacher asked me about my policy of allowing students to redo of their assignments. She’d heard about it from students.

I’d like to believe that the students presented a polite and educated argument on how this policy invites them to treat their assignments as learning opportunities. Perhaps they stood up, cleared their throat, and said something like “In ENG, our assignments don’t end with an F, but might begin there.”

With some reservation, I’d even accept it if they used an educational cliche like “learning’s a journey.”

I’d like to believe this because I spend more time in my classroom than in the faculty room. I can’t help thinking that amongst my colleagues, my reputation as an educator is largely created by what students say about my class.

Students might complain about moving desks around, but actually they love it. If I can think of a reason to move my desks around, from now on, I will. The three minutes of moving may seem like a lot of lost time, but when students sit down again, they’re buzzing on curiosity.

Dina suggests that we should never tell students that we’re going to play a game, suggesting “activity” as an alternative.

I go another step further, tending to name all of my activities.

I find that the name doesn’t matter very much. The second I say “put away your books, we’re working on whatever,” ears are cautiously perked but without any of the baggage that Dina warns against. Here are some examples:

• Human Sculpture
• Defining Connections
• Human Animation
• Dance Challenge
• The Liar
• Impossible Task

Generally, even the most disengaged student will participate in human sculpture. Dance challenge requires a bolder set of students.