The author: Julie Tollefson, managing editor, Center for Research on Learning. This article originally appeared in the August 2000 issue of Strategram, a newsletter for SIM teachers.
Return to Article ArchiveThe Course Organizer Routine helps teachers introduce courses.
It helps teachers adopt the necessary vision and mindset for including and maintaining the use of strategies and routines in their courses over the year. It also helps teachers plan for and create the type of learning community they want to build in their classrooms.
But in the hands of a creative teacher, it can communicate much, much more.
Here's a tale of how one such teacher told her students that she cared about them by her extraordinary interpretation of the routine.
Vicky started the first day of the fall semester by declaring the year a success.
She told her students that she knew it would be a great year for two reasons: "One," she said, "because I'm a great teacher, and two, because of what you bring to the class. You represent some fabulous perspectives and experiences. For example, let me tell you about..."
Vicky proceeded to tell something unique about each student.
She was able to do this because she had done her homework. When she received her class list the spring before, she began talking to people who knew each of the 130 students she expected in her fall classes. She learned about them, their experiences, and their interests.
"It's such an affirming experience," Don Deshler, Center for Research on Learning director, said as he related this story to a group of educators in California. "To see these teenagers, juniors in high school, you could almost see them get puffed up. It was fabulous.
"It was communicating a host of things, that a high school teacher would care enough to do this, and that all these positive things were being said."
Then, Vicky turned her attention to some of the less positive things students needed to work on. But at this point, she did not talk about individuals. Instead, she said "I'll tell you about us as a group. There are some of us here who need to work on patience. There are some of us here who need to work on tolerance. There are some of us here who need to work on our memory skills. There are some of us here who need to work on our writing skills. Now, part of us being a community is we're going to help one another."
"See, she's creating a sense of community," Don said. "That's part of getting a course launched."
At the end of the day, Vicky cautioned students not to miss the remaining four days in the week.
"I'm going to teach you the entire course, I mean the entire course, in the next four days," she told students.
For four days, Vicky laid out the big view of the course. She likened the course to a vacation involving three parts: anticipating the trip, taking the trip, and remembering the trip. These four days set the stage for anticipating the trip of the course. The next several months would be the trip itself. The last month before summer break would be a time for remembering and reviewing.
Vicky spent the rest of the four days telling stories. She brought out 10 poster boards, one at a time, depicting big chunks--units--of the course. Each board pictured four to six critical chunks of course content. As she showed each chunk, she told wonderful human interest stories, giving an overview, hooking the kids in.
By the end of the week, Vicky had finished presenting the big picture stories. She finished setting expectations by telling students about the 10 course questions she wanted them to focus on throughout the year.
"The expectation is that each and every one of you will be able to give deep, meaningful, broadly based answers to each of these 10 questions," she told her students.
As the class proceeded, Vicky and her students referred back to the course questions after each unit, lesson, or chapter. For example, one of the course questions was "What is the American Dream?" After the class discussed the American Revolution, they talked about what the American Dream was at that time. After they learned about the Civil War, they talked about what the American Dream was for an African-American. The course questions guided their discussions throughout the entire year.
One of the benefits of presenting a broad overview at the beginning of the school year and focusing on a few critical questions is that the teacher can then weave layers of deeper understanding into learning opportunities throughout the year. Because Vicky had told stories about every era her class would study, she could pause a discussion of pre-revolutionary days and make connections to her World War II story.
"How many history classes in the second week of instruction are weaving content from here to there?" Don asked. "All year long, the tapestry gets woven across this backdrop, using those 10 course questions."
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