I stumbled upon a Year 11 Citizenship lesson yesterday. They were all sitting outside in the Peace Garden and I was intrigued as to what was going on. It turned out the teacher was ‘on strike’ about childcare provision and was attempting to persuade the rest of the class to come out in sympathy. It struck me as a good way of leading students into a discussion about/understanding of the factors involved in industrial actions.
What I liked most about what I saw (and I was only able to stay for a short period of time) was the use of a different learning environment. Taking the students outside is not something we can always plan for in the UK (particularly not in the middle of October) and it seems to me that we need to be flexible enough in our medium to short term planning to allow ourselves to take advantage of outdoor learning opportunities.
I also liked how the teacher was effectively casting themselves as a character. It allowed for subtly different interactions to take place between learners and teacher.
What an interesting and exciting learning episode. I think that taking students into a variety of learning environments can add something special and unexpected to a lesson. I do and I enjoy it but you are right, we need to allow ourselves to be flexible with our planning and this can produce some of our best learning experiences.
Posted by: Sarah Maude | 10/18/2011 at 12:48 PM