Teacher in Development

In my last post I started thinking about how to build excellence in ESL classrooms. I’d like to continue that train of thought by exploring some ideas from Fast Company.

Via Leading Ideas: The Gift of Risk

So we want to craft excellent learning experiences. We want those experiences to be meaningful for both our clients and ourselves. (Now their’s an interesting thought: classes should engage both teacher and student…ever taught a class that was boring even for you?)

The Gift of Risk really got me thinking. Just as in the article, I reflected a little on the moments in my life where I have felt the most alive, or engaged. Usually, it was when I was taking a risk. When I was busting my envelope, and stepping out of my comfort zone.

Those were intense moments that I will never forget; the experience forever "hard-written" into my programming.  

While we need to create a "safe" environment for our students - where they feel confident to speak out and try the language on, I can’t help but wonder if classrooms as we know them are far too safe. I think in many cases, ESL "learning" experiences remain securely in the pages of a book, or some prepared audio program. A nice role-play activity at the end of a unit is about as risky as we get.

But is that enough? Does this help students break out of their comfort zones? Do these typical classroom environments really create deep learning experiences that challange and transform? I’m not for a minute suggesting that we need to terrify ourselves and our students. That’s not the point. What is the point is that if we want to build excellent learning environments, we need to take a serious look at the level of authentic risk we inject into the classroom. Coursebook induced risk is really quite safe. The role-play activities I’ve used in class, and sadly I’ve used quite a few over the years, have rarely produced quality results. Why? I think deep down inside our students know it’s not "real." They know the person on the other end of the conversation stick is just their classroom buddy. If they mess up, they can laugh it off and try again.

I want to begin the pursuit of more authentic classroom work. I want to dive into activities that matter. Activities that really mean something to me and my students. I want to pursue activities that are 100% custom built to fit their needs, and I want to help my students engage in meaningful risk taking activities that will build fearlessness and confidence.

As Sundheim suggests,

"The gift of risk-taking doesn’t lie in what you achieve by risking - it lies in who you become as a result of the process. Confident. Engaged. Alive." (The Gift of Risk. Sundheim)

Tomorrow I’m working with my legal student on a presentation around client retention strategies. We’ve been following a great podcast from the Canadian Bar Association on the same topic, and our class goal is to present the same info but in the student’s own words. We’ve spent the last month or so listening to the same podcast over and over again, at full speed with breaks only between presentation chunks or points. Thus far, her task has only been to take notes - a tough task in itself as there are some really meaty "full speed" parts to the presentation. The last three classes have been reconstructing the presentation around my student’s notes. While not a perfect carbon copy of the original, my student has been able to successfully express the main thrust of the presentation with few problems.

To up the risk factor a bit, I would like to record her presentation as a podcast. But not just stop there. I would like to try and connect with other legal oriented folk - through my blog, or inside the firm where I teach, and try to do some sort of exchange. I want to bump up our audience so that it’s not just me and her. That changes things drastically. We’ve talked about this goal a lot, and it brings a great deal of focus and energy to my student’s work. She knows that this won’t just be for me. Another legal professional, possibly a stranger, could be listening in. That just does something to the whole thing. It makes it way more realistic.

That’s the kind of risk taking I want to build into class. How about you? Anyone out there interested in doing some podcast exchanges with an upper intermediate legal classroom in Mexico City? You don’t have to be law oriented. Anyone who is interested in getting and retaining clients could enjoy this theme…so what do you say? Any takers?

And what do you think about risk taking? Should we work for more of it in the classroom? As always your points of view are most welcome!