As we begin our growth process through life, we encounter challenges that exhaust us as we struggle through, and challenges that energize and motivate us along the way to continue in pursuit of the answer. A productive classroom is one that gives opportunities to enjoy the struggle. I believe that a classroom practice that is underutilized is “The Art of War”.
I don’t mean a literal war, I mean a friendly war or challenge with ourselves or others that causes us to grow in knowledge and skills. Friendly banter helps students to build relationships, trust each other discover and build knowledge together. When students build something, they take pride and ownership of the construction of that knowledge or skill. They become problem solvers and 21st century learners who start believing they can do anything, if the obstacle looks insurmountable. We surely need these kinds of attributes in those who we look to lead our tomorrows.
Consider planning lessons with a problem or scenario first. Let students brainstorm their way through to an answer and create strategies and rules for their solution. After a short time, regroup and do round robin responses by first having students write down their explanations and then share them with the class one by one. As the instructor you can take this time to ask probing, big idea questions so that students can begin to construct clear and concise understanding of new material and misconceptions can be cleared up.
Allowing students to have authentic learning experiences by discovering knowledge and engaging in substantive academic conversations is a way to have a classroom of inquiry where students are continually wanting to know why – and willing to search for the answers.
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