Offering insights into my day-to-day teaching and the journey that has brought me to where I am today. This is a chapter from a book we are publishing this year celebrating "15 Years of Harkness".
Well, you know how much I love this article!! I appreciate hearing about people's reactions to when you tell them what you do, and that this article debunks that teaching is the same as it used to be "back in the day".
Hi Mike! I don't know if you remember me, but I was one of your previous students. I just wanted to add another bit of anecdotal evidence for your case on Harkness allowing for better understanding and engagement. I remember leaving Southridge and taking my two required science courses for my arts degree and feeling that isolated learning experience (online school during COVID-19 didn't help, but still). I managed to memorize and regurgitate the information, but three years later I have no idea what I learned in those astronomy classes. I remember so much more from my titration labs from your AP Chem 11 class and, although I wasn't in your class, my Chemistry 12 also did (as Tai described) those CYOA projects, and I remember way more from that as well.
I think the one downfall to Harkness learning in high school is that it is a process re-learning how to learn in university. I remember showing up to my classes (when they were finally in person) and realizing I actually had to take notes in order to remember the information that was essentially
*thrown at* me, rather than *discussed with* me. I remember at some point in my second year, I missed Harkness so much and only ended up going to my tutorials because they were the closest thing to Harkness discussions I could get (and every bit of information from the lectures were in the class readings).
Anyway, it was fun going back down memory lane reading this post, and it was cool to read a teacher's perspective on Harkness!
This is one part genuine thanks and another part alumni reflection.
I went back into my Google Drive archives to see what we did in AP Chem in 2019.
You called those student-led discussions CYOAs (Choose Your Own Adventures) and I wonder if you still do. At first, I thought it was wild that we had to listen to Childish Gambino's Feels Like Summer and Marvin Gaye's Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology) for a chemistry class discussion on climate change, but it really did make an impact on me, and gave you a lot of cool teacher points. I think your categories of "Watch, Listen, Read, Play" really showed me how to approach a topic holistically (while having fun), and what it means to facilitate critical discussion. Funny enough, I don't think I ever did a CYOA because of COVID.
The other things I remember was our rust lab (which I handed in REALLY late), and your pristine "Mike's AP Chem Week Plan", which was filled with day plans, online calendars, and endless resources. It seems like when COVID hit you really flexed your tech-forward muscles, being one of the only professors that had no trouble integrating technology and having all your meeting links.
My one question is: How do you approach technology in the classroom today?
You mentioned your B. Ed. focused on technology, and talked about its "bells and whistles" and being "presentation heavy", it feels like there's a general theme of de-emphasis. I remember you always wanted laptops away during key discussion time.
Do you think it's mainly a distraction in the classroom? How do you incorporate technology into learning? Has anything changed since 2019?
Hey Tai, thanks for the questions and engagement as always.
Technology has continued to be a unique challenge. While I think the tools are amazing, the distractions are also very tempting.
For example, I love when students are able to use OneNote on their laptops effectively. It is such a powerful note taking tool, it can combine hand-drawn or written notes with typing, can easily sync classroom notes, collaborate with others, copy and paste images to assist understanding. It is fantastic. However, unfortunately, OneNote lives in a place that comes with a world of distraction. In the younger grades, the temptation of online games is always a click away, and with the other grades, tabs on the browser are always peering through with university emails, news headlines, NYTimes games, and the like.
We continue to try and find a balance, but that is really where I see Harkness continuing to show value. It is really hard to be fully engaged in a discussion if your face is in your laptop, so when a discussion is rich and engaging, kids tend to put the laptop and phone away and dig in, and we see it happening more and more, especially as we continue to refine the "etiquette" we want to see at the table.
Hopefully this makes sense, and hopefully see you again soon!
Well, you know how much I love this article!! I appreciate hearing about people's reactions to when you tell them what you do, and that this article debunks that teaching is the same as it used to be "back in the day".
Hi Mike! I don't know if you remember me, but I was one of your previous students. I just wanted to add another bit of anecdotal evidence for your case on Harkness allowing for better understanding and engagement. I remember leaving Southridge and taking my two required science courses for my arts degree and feeling that isolated learning experience (online school during COVID-19 didn't help, but still). I managed to memorize and regurgitate the information, but three years later I have no idea what I learned in those astronomy classes. I remember so much more from my titration labs from your AP Chem 11 class and, although I wasn't in your class, my Chemistry 12 also did (as Tai described) those CYOA projects, and I remember way more from that as well.
I think the one downfall to Harkness learning in high school is that it is a process re-learning how to learn in university. I remember showing up to my classes (when they were finally in person) and realizing I actually had to take notes in order to remember the information that was essentially
*thrown at* me, rather than *discussed with* me. I remember at some point in my second year, I missed Harkness so much and only ended up going to my tutorials because they were the closest thing to Harkness discussions I could get (and every bit of information from the lectures were in the class readings).
Anyway, it was fun going back down memory lane reading this post, and it was cool to read a teacher's perspective on Harkness!
Hey Mike!
This is one part genuine thanks and another part alumni reflection.
I went back into my Google Drive archives to see what we did in AP Chem in 2019.
You called those student-led discussions CYOAs (Choose Your Own Adventures) and I wonder if you still do. At first, I thought it was wild that we had to listen to Childish Gambino's Feels Like Summer and Marvin Gaye's Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology) for a chemistry class discussion on climate change, but it really did make an impact on me, and gave you a lot of cool teacher points. I think your categories of "Watch, Listen, Read, Play" really showed me how to approach a topic holistically (while having fun), and what it means to facilitate critical discussion. Funny enough, I don't think I ever did a CYOA because of COVID.
The other things I remember was our rust lab (which I handed in REALLY late), and your pristine "Mike's AP Chem Week Plan", which was filled with day plans, online calendars, and endless resources. It seems like when COVID hit you really flexed your tech-forward muscles, being one of the only professors that had no trouble integrating technology and having all your meeting links.
My one question is: How do you approach technology in the classroom today?
You mentioned your B. Ed. focused on technology, and talked about its "bells and whistles" and being "presentation heavy", it feels like there's a general theme of de-emphasis. I remember you always wanted laptops away during key discussion time.
Do you think it's mainly a distraction in the classroom? How do you incorporate technology into learning? Has anything changed since 2019?
Thanks a bunch,
Tai
Hey Tai, thanks for the questions and engagement as always.
Technology has continued to be a unique challenge. While I think the tools are amazing, the distractions are also very tempting.
For example, I love when students are able to use OneNote on their laptops effectively. It is such a powerful note taking tool, it can combine hand-drawn or written notes with typing, can easily sync classroom notes, collaborate with others, copy and paste images to assist understanding. It is fantastic. However, unfortunately, OneNote lives in a place that comes with a world of distraction. In the younger grades, the temptation of online games is always a click away, and with the other grades, tabs on the browser are always peering through with university emails, news headlines, NYTimes games, and the like.
We continue to try and find a balance, but that is really where I see Harkness continuing to show value. It is really hard to be fully engaged in a discussion if your face is in your laptop, so when a discussion is rich and engaging, kids tend to put the laptop and phone away and dig in, and we see it happening more and more, especially as we continue to refine the "etiquette" we want to see at the table.
Hopefully this makes sense, and hopefully see you again soon!
The daily struggle teachers have of being more engaging than NYT Connections.