My inquiry for this year has been an ongoing focus of my practice- “How can I build an intrinsic desire for learning rather than one that is based on results?”.
In our credit counting NCEA system, this can be tricky. Students are picking and choosing what they want to learn based on the credits they need. However, I have noticed student engagement in lessons even when I know those students aren’t intending on doing the assessment attached to that learning. Frankenstein has been a good example of this.
My L3ENIN has really struggled with reading the text on their own. However, in this late stage of the year they are much more comfortable with the content and messages of the text. Even though many of them haven’t read the book, and a good chunk have told me they don’t even intend on doing the exam, they are still engaged in lessons on the text. They are interested in the bigger ideas the text represents in terms of progress, science and ‘playing God’. They have enjoyed the history of the text and how the time influenced (s) the content as well as how it is still so relevant today with the creation of AI and medical marvels as well as the darker side of science.
So, these students who struggled to read a classic text, and have out rightly said they won’t be doing the assessment, are still learning in the actual lessons. Isn’t that what we really want? These students (in my opinion) simply aren’t ready to read a complex text like this on their own. But I believe they are likely to come back to it as adults, or even try other texts they might not normally approach. Although I can’t quantify this result now, if I have sparked a passion in them that will grow over time, I feel I have met my goal of encouraging an intrinsic desire to learn. It’s just that it’s a long game that I might never see!
Liz Henshall Teaching 