I have the best job in the world why cuz
I get paid to learn I’ve been teaching
high school since 1981 and every day my
students teach me something new about
the subjects that I teach ancient
history and philosophy and about who
they are and how they learn
I’ve always been excited to get up and
go to work in the morning until about
five years ago when I became extremely
disillusioned with this profession that
I loved it seemed to me that my high
school students were becoming less
curious they seemed to have a harder
time with the hard tasks of learning and
a really difficult time when they had to
wrestle with confusion the most frequent
question that I was getting on the first
day of school was mrs. Cadwell can you
tell me what I need to do to get an A
and when I heard that my heart would
sink but then I realized that these
students were doing what they were
trained to do they were trained to focus
on answers rather than questions and it
dawned on me that I was being trained as
well I was a cog in a wheel in a system
that put a premium on the product rather
than on the process of inquiry so I made
a decision that I was going to radically
change my teaching practice for the
benefit of my students but also for the
health of our democracy our current
educational system is still stuck in the
dark ages despite recent efforts at
school redesign many high school
students are in classrooms where they
are being asked to absorb mass
amounts of information and then
regurgitate it back on a test many of
them have to sit in rows and raise their
hands to let their voices be heard I
know this because this is what my room
looked like for years but it dawned on
me that I was promoting those students
who knew how to play the game of school
and they succeeded but other students
who were equally talented who did not
know how to play the game of school or
who refused to do so they suffered and
then I realized that Benjamin Franklin
was right when he said never let
schooling get in the way of your
education I also realized that I had to
redesign my teaching practice because
the brains of the students that I have
in my classes today may be developing in
significantly different ways than the
brains of students I had 30 years ago
before the invention of electronic
devices technology has had untold
benefits for our profession of education
yet teens addiction to their devices may
be significantly altering the way their
brains are wired making them more
distractible less able to focus and less
likely to complete tasks recent research
on smartphone and screen use indicates
that prolonged use of these devices by
teenagers may promote antisocial
behavior increase political
disengagement depression and loneliness
ask any high school teacher or any
parent of a teenager and they will tell
you that the enemy of critical thinking
focused engagement and social
interaction is the screen education is
from the Latin root edge Akkar a which
means to draw out or to be present at
birth of I began to think what if I said
to my students this is the most
important device that you own and this
is the one that you need to turn on all
day every day what if I grounded my
teaching practice in recent research on
how the brain learns what if I grounded
my teaching in questions rather than
answers and what if I stepped back to
allow my students to step up and engage
in the messiness of learning Socrates
believed that education is the kindling
of a flame rather than the filling of a
vessel I wanted to be present at the
birth of my students ideas and I wanted
them to find their own voice so I
decided to do something radical I turned
my classroom over to my students this is
what my classroom looks like now in my
classroom students sit around an oval
table called a Harkness table and in our
Harkness discussions the students drive
the conversation they read difficult
primary source materials they ask and
answer essential questions and they
solve difficult challenges that I put
before them they may not merely write
down what I say because I am NOT talking
I may be at the table and I may say
something from time to time but I do not
direct the conversation nor do I direct
them towards an answer that I want them
to find instead they need to work
together to construct meaning and draw
their own conclusions from the
challenges that I put before them this
pedagogy is grounded in inclusion all
voices are valued and encouraged I often
say to my students none of us is as
smart as all of us
as the students are talking I sit and I
track the conversation show them this
data and then they talk about it and
discuss how they can improve their next
conversation this Harkness pedagogy is
grounded in four key principles of brain
research and these make sense
number one the one that does the work
does the learning to new learning must
be organized around a few significant
ideas three new learning must be useful
and for interference must be reduced in
my classroom there are no cell phones
allowed my students actually asked for
this rule at the beginning of school but
now it’s April 5th and they’re a little
irritated at me because I’m still
enforcing this rule but in my classroom
students aren’t looking at screens
they’re not looking at me they’re
looking at each other when I challenge
them to engage in their own
conversations and this is really hard
because what we’re experimenting with is
we are turning traditional teaching and
learning on its head at the beginning I
had to start by teaching the skills of
civil discourse how does one use eye
contact body language active listening
and how do you demonstrate respect and
tolerance for someone else who has a
completely different opinion than you do
the most difficult task was teaching my
young students how to ask questions
it seems that was a push of a thumb
answers come easy but teenagers are
losing the ability to ask the critical
questions but the dynamics of my
classroom are changing instead of
students looking at me with pleading
eyes and saying mrs. Cadwell
you just please tell me the answer I’m
overhearing comments such as these when
Tess says to Alex Alex I actually
disagree with the point that you’re
making or when Jared said to Alden Alden
could you show me some textual
references to back up your points after
a particularly lively heartless
discussion
Matthew ran up to me the other day and
he said mrs. Cadwell these heartless
discussions are really interesting I’ve
never heard how my classmates feel
before but you know this is really hard
it’s a lot different than a regular
classroom because here you know you
really have to think I am no longer
disillusioned with my job
in fact I’m reenergized and I’m having
more fun than ever because I’m watching
my students we learn how to be curious
how to find their own voice and how to
drive their own learning transforming
teaching and learning is not only about
the classroom it’s about the type of
world that we want to create democracy
depends on dialogue it doesn’t depend on
shaming blaming yelling or tweeting
democracy is grounded in and founded on
civil discourse and this must begin in
the classroom changing school doesn’t
need to cost millions of dollars
it can begin if teachers are supported
to have the courage to step back to
allow their students to step up and find
and use their voices thank you
[Applause]
[Music] [Applause]
I get paid to learn I’ve been teaching
high school since 1981 and every day my
students teach me something new about
the subjects that I teach ancient
history and philosophy and about who
they are and how they learn
I’ve always been excited to get up and
go to work in the morning until about
five years ago when I became extremely
disillusioned with this profession that
I loved it seemed to me that my high
school students were becoming less
curious they seemed to have a harder
time with the hard tasks of learning and
a really difficult time when they had to
wrestle with confusion the most frequent
question that I was getting on the first
day of school was mrs. Cadwell can you
tell me what I need to do to get an A
and when I heard that my heart would
sink but then I realized that these
students were doing what they were
trained to do they were trained to focus
on answers rather than questions and it
dawned on me that I was being trained as
well I was a cog in a wheel in a system
that put a premium on the product rather
than on the process of inquiry so I made
a decision that I was going to radically
change my teaching practice for the
benefit of my students but also for the
health of our democracy our current
educational system is still stuck in the
dark ages despite recent efforts at
school redesign many high school
students are in classrooms where they
are being asked to absorb mass
amounts of information and then
regurgitate it back on a test many of
them have to sit in rows and raise their
hands to let their voices be heard I
know this because this is what my room
looked like for years but it dawned on
me that I was promoting those students
who knew how to play the game of school
and they succeeded but other students
who were equally talented who did not
know how to play the game of school or
who refused to do so they suffered and
then I realized that Benjamin Franklin
was right when he said never let
schooling get in the way of your
education I also realized that I had to
redesign my teaching practice because
the brains of the students that I have
in my classes today may be developing in
significantly different ways than the
brains of students I had 30 years ago
before the invention of electronic
devices technology has had untold
benefits for our profession of education
yet teens addiction to their devices may
be significantly altering the way their
brains are wired making them more
distractible less able to focus and less
likely to complete tasks recent research
on smartphone and screen use indicates
that prolonged use of these devices by
teenagers may promote antisocial
behavior increase political
disengagement depression and loneliness
ask any high school teacher or any
parent of a teenager and they will tell
you that the enemy of critical thinking
focused engagement and social
interaction is the screen education is
from the Latin root edge Akkar a which
means to draw out or to be present at
birth of I began to think what if I said
to my students this is the most
important device that you own and this
is the one that you need to turn on all
day every day what if I grounded my
teaching practice in recent research on
how the brain learns what if I grounded
my teaching in questions rather than
answers and what if I stepped back to
allow my students to step up and engage
in the messiness of learning Socrates
believed that education is the kindling
of a flame rather than the filling of a
vessel I wanted to be present at the
birth of my students ideas and I wanted
them to find their own voice so I
decided to do something radical I turned
my classroom over to my students this is
what my classroom looks like now in my
classroom students sit around an oval
table called a Harkness table and in our
Harkness discussions the students drive
the conversation they read difficult
primary source materials they ask and
answer essential questions and they
solve difficult challenges that I put
before them they may not merely write
down what I say because I am NOT talking
I may be at the table and I may say
something from time to time but I do not
direct the conversation nor do I direct
them towards an answer that I want them
to find instead they need to work
together to construct meaning and draw
their own conclusions from the
challenges that I put before them this
pedagogy is grounded in inclusion all
voices are valued and encouraged I often
say to my students none of us is as
smart as all of us
as the students are talking I sit and I
track the conversation show them this
data and then they talk about it and
discuss how they can improve their next
conversation this Harkness pedagogy is
grounded in four key principles of brain
research and these make sense
number one the one that does the work
does the learning to new learning must
be organized around a few significant
ideas three new learning must be useful
and for interference must be reduced in
my classroom there are no cell phones
allowed my students actually asked for
this rule at the beginning of school but
now it’s April 5th and they’re a little
irritated at me because I’m still
enforcing this rule but in my classroom
students aren’t looking at screens
they’re not looking at me they’re
looking at each other when I challenge
them to engage in their own
conversations and this is really hard
because what we’re experimenting with is
we are turning traditional teaching and
learning on its head at the beginning I
had to start by teaching the skills of
civil discourse how does one use eye
contact body language active listening
and how do you demonstrate respect and
tolerance for someone else who has a
completely different opinion than you do
the most difficult task was teaching my
young students how to ask questions
it seems that was a push of a thumb
answers come easy but teenagers are
losing the ability to ask the critical
questions but the dynamics of my
classroom are changing instead of
students looking at me with pleading
eyes and saying mrs. Cadwell
you just please tell me the answer I’m
overhearing comments such as these when
Tess says to Alex Alex I actually
disagree with the point that you’re
making or when Jared said to Alden Alden
could you show me some textual
references to back up your points after
a particularly lively heartless
discussion
Matthew ran up to me the other day and
he said mrs. Cadwell these heartless
discussions are really interesting I’ve
never heard how my classmates feel
before but you know this is really hard
it’s a lot different than a regular
classroom because here you know you
really have to think I am no longer
disillusioned with my job
in fact I’m reenergized and I’m having
more fun than ever because I’m watching
my students we learn how to be curious
how to find their own voice and how to
drive their own learning transforming
teaching and learning is not only about
the classroom it’s about the type of
world that we want to create democracy
depends on dialogue it doesn’t depend on
shaming blaming yelling or tweeting
democracy is grounded in and founded on
civil discourse and this must begin in
the classroom changing school doesn’t
need to cost millions of dollars
it can begin if teachers are supported
to have the courage to step back to
allow their students to step up and find
and use their voices thank you
[Applause]
[Music] [Applause]
Please follow and like us: