Like Michael Rose, I am using the term "Vo-Ed." The main challenge I encounter as an academic teacher in a Vo-Ed setting is: How do I sustain the antsy students, the Johnnys, the ones who see academics as an impractical waste of wrench turning time? I have chosen to address these students in the following way: I treat them like employees. Even if these students don't understand transcendentalism, they usually understand work ethic. What folllows are bits and pieces, ideas and phrases, from a rhetoric and practice I am still refining to reach a certain demographic.
Worksheets & Pedagogy
"Because no boss is ever going to give you a worksheet I am not going to either." I know there are problems with this statement. All work requires paperwork at some point. That's not the statement I'm trying to make, however. "If I give you all the same worksheet I've just turned this classroom into an industrial age factory, and by and large those don't exist in America anymore. I'm more interested in teaching you how to read well, communicate well, and think for yourself. Critical thinking skills are more valuable in this job market than any other skill I can teach you."
What does it look like?
Instead of doing worksheets or answering a list of questions alongside a reading assignment, students are expected to type one page of critical reaction to the text. Here they are expected to connect dots. I often say "There is no paint by numbers in this class. I expect you to connect the dots. You must supply your own dots." I do next to nothing with an "answer key." I think it's worth noting that this change occurred concurrent to the rise of Internet resources and The Age of Information. In my opinion, if there is no creative or critical thinking element in an assignment, it is probably rote and therefore not engaging to the mind. The types of connections I expect students to make with a text are ever-evolving, however a recent list is laid out below:
Identify New Words - When you encounter an unfamiliar word in your book, write it down. List and define your words. Provide evidence you have mastered them on Vocab.com for journal credit.
Engage With Ideas - When an idea is presented, either through narrative or dialogue, etc, take a moment to state your understanding of the idea and then engage with it. Does it ring true? Have you any thoughts or information that runs counter to the idea? Have you any thoughts or information that supports the idea?
Analysis - It is possible to view any text through a lens. For instance, does it pass the Betchtel Test (two female characters have to speak to one another about something other than men)? How does your book live up to Kurt Vonnegut’s rules for Creative Writing 101? What about the other writers on the hyperlinked source? What about the rules of astrology? What about the portrayal of gender? Socioeconomic class?
Synthesis - Synthesis is the co-mingling of multiple sources to create new thoughts and ideas. What texts are forming relationships with your book, and how is the interaction inspiring you to think of new ideas? This can relate to our class-reading as well as your own personal research.
Meaning - Great books tend to help us understand life better. How does your book attempt to answer the question, “What is the meaning of life?”
Reader Response - How can you specifically, personally, relate to your book?
Make predictions! - What’s going to happen next based upon what you already know about the characters and plot, etc. What would a given character have in their pockets? Why do you think this?
Ask questions! - Is there something confusing you about the story? Curious to know more about a character? Formulate a great question. See my list of *Weird Questions for further information.
Appreciate the beauty of the language! - Sometimes I simply like to bask in the way the
words are put together. Copy out a sentence you admire and nerd out about its uniqueness or humor or clarity, etc.
*With more remedial classes I spend time brainstorming with them, the kinds of questions a critical thinker may ask of a text.
Work Ethic & Motivation
"Your boss doesn't want to have to struggle to get you to work. If you become more work for the boss, you're going to find yourself out of a job." By and large my students agree with this idea and at ages 16-18, this shared understanding really helps take care of most motivational issues.
What does it look like?
Find a way to positively reinforce self starters. "Good work ethic" or "I would hire a hundred of you."
Number 7 of Mike Rowe's SWEAT Pledge states, " I believe the best way to distinguish myself at work is to show up early, stay late, and cheerfully volunteer for every crappy task there is." There are class periods that I start with, "I need a volunteer..." I wait for hands. The first hand I get I reward with a full size candy bar. "Thanks for being a self starter," I say and repeat rule 7.
I am familiar with models that include "firing" a student. After discussion with teachers that have used this model, I have opted against it due to pragmatic concerns, chief amongst them: What do you do with the "fired" student once they are fired? How do they regain their job? Why would they be motivated to do so, etc. It could be that a failing student would benefit from an "improvement plan" that you both agree upon and sign. Almost like a learning contract.
My soapbox is full of Brillo Pads
I know some of these ideas fly in the face of common practices in a lot of classrooms and schools. In the "real wold" the onus of work rests upon the shoulders of the individual. I feel that we are doing our students a disservice by enabling them to place the onus elsewhere. The student-as-employee model has allowed me to create a classroom environment in which students are encouraged to take responsibility for their own behaviors and degrees of success. True, less emphasis is placed on traditional testing, and more emphasis is placed on attitude, behaviors, and individual growth. Could this philosophy work in a traditional school? I challenge you to find out.
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