Instruct and Delight:Making Exhilaration a Standard for English Teaching and Learning

ELIZABETH A. KAHN, Northern Illinois University

THOMAS M. MCCANN, Northern Illinois University

CAROLYN C. WALTER, University of Chicago Lab Schools

Stuart, substitute teacher for a day: “I’ll make the work interesting and the discipline will take care of itself. Don’t worry about me.”

At the university:What is authentic and enjoyable?

From Smith and Wilhelm (2002):

A student named Buda refers to his assigned literacy tasks: “I’m not going to do this crap . . . . The teacher wouldn’t do this crap!”

What do highly literate people actually do,

and enjoy doing?

Survey anticipation guides: responding and discussing

case studies: discussion of situations that pose ethical, political, or personal relationship problems

dramatic representations of scenes from literature: either performing or viewing

journal entry: self-selected topic or teacher prompt

listening to a work of music and discussing its meaning and its artistic merits

opinionnaires or surveys: responding and discussing

PowerPoint slides or other presentation about the author or historical era of a work, accompanied by student note-taking

ranking activities: responding and discussing

scenarios: responding and discussing

simulation role-playing activities: enacting parts and discussing implications

viewing and discussing a film or video (clip or whole work)

viewing and discussing a visual image

vocabulary squares

vocabulary study: e.g., looking up definitions and using new words in constructed sentences

word searches

worksheets: filling in blanks, at the direction of a leader

Choosing in the schools:What will be the focus for our inquiry

Welcome the Krampus?

Sell Art to Save a School?

Suppress the Fighting?

Save the Doctor?

Direct an Old Film?

Introduce Robot Teachers?

Renew the Krampus tradition?

Sell the art to save the school?

Stop all the fighting!

Go, go, Upper Bascomb County High,Fight for the Tars, fight, fight fight! We are the fighting Tars, as you know:Just start a fight and watch us go.So, here’s to the Tars, the fighters true,They’ll fight, fight, fight, for me and you.Let’s raise the colors to the heightsAnd go ol’ Tars, let’s fight, fight, fight!

The Fighting Tars!

Save the doctor!

Finish an Orson Welles film?

“The Other Side of the Wind”

Purchase Robot Teachers?

Prototype of the Alpha Master 84

What would you choose to discuss?

Welcome the Krampus?

Sell Art to Save a School?

Suppress the Fighting?

Save the Doctor?

Direct an Old Film?

Introduce Robot Teachers?

What high school students chose:

Robot Teachers: Should the School Board seek a grant from the Foundation for Liberty and Prosperity to purchase five Alpha Master 84 robot teachers to teach selected classes for the coming school term?

At the university:Collaborative design of an inquiry-based learning experience, honoring students’ choice

Introduce a problem.

Note key academic language.

Provide data to support inquiry.

Identify multiple points of view.

Establish forums for deliberation.

Layer and connect discussions.

Transition to written response.

Extend with other texts and discussions.

Purchase robot teachers?What do you say?

Are there any conceivable advantages?

Are there any disadvantages?

Are there any dangers?

Would you be willing to try them?

In the school:

A simulated committee meeting: What do the principal players say?

Superintendent

President of the teachers’ association

Sales manager, Huxley Corp.

Business manager, Floodrock School District

Parent of child with special needs

“Gifted” student

Retiree from the community

In the school:

Whole class debriefing: What do you recommend? How do you assess other positions?

Uptake

Synthesis

Analysis

Argument

Written response: Excerpt

While robots improve efficiency, they still have limitations on what they can teach because everything is programmed into them and they are unable to independently adapt. Robots do not allow for personalized teaching because of their limited skill set. Robots are constrained to the clearly defined curriculum “not because they are the most important, but because true pattern-matching is easier to program” (New Yorker). Because robots can only teach what they are programmed, they cannot teach in a flexible way that accounts for potential questions students have. The limitations are exemplified by essay grading programs which are more geared toward analyzing technicalities rather than content. As Les Perelman, director of writing at MIT stated, the facts in the essay don’t matter “as long as it looks to the computer as if it’s nicely argued” (NY Times). The program views grammatical content as more important than factual content and therefore only helps students in a limited way. The concern is expressed by an honors student at Floodrock High School who spoke that they were worried they “would not be able to learn advanced topics because of the robot’s limited capabilities” (transcript). Because robots are confined to what they are programmed, harder and more abstract topics could pose a challenge and make teaching less effective. While in some aspects robots can be faster, the limited capabilities by its coding make teaching less straight-forward classes less effective.

Were students “exhilarated”?

Participation

Sustained discussion

Elaborated responses

Extensions

Gateway to inquiry unit

What is the human relationship to technology?

To what extent do we control the technology that we have constructed?

To what extent does technology control us?

What literature would support the inquiry?

What would students read and view?• Robot and Frank (PG-13), 89 minutes, director Jake Schreier• "The Veldt," a short story by Ray Bradbury, later collected in The

Illustrated Man.• Ex Machina (R), 2015, 108 minutes, director Alex Gerland.• "I Sing the Body Electric," a short story by Ray Bradbury, collected in a

book by the same name.• "There Will Come Soft Rains," a short story by Ray Bradbury, later

collected in The Martian Chronicles and the poem by Sara Teasdale.• "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace," a poem by Richard

Brautigan.• Frankenstein, Mary Shelley's 1818 novel.

University/School Collaboration

University: Defined Authentic and Enjoyable Literacy Experiences

High School: Surveyed Students’ Interests

University: Constructed and Tested the Learning Activity

High School: Engaged in the Activity and Expand the Inquiry

University: Reflected on the Impact on Learners and the Principles for Instruction

Your questions/reactions?