Strategies in Classroom Dialogue: : Back to School: Harkness in the time of COVID 8/21/ 2020

  

 

  Strategies in Classroom Dialogue:  Harkness Updates

Post #1: Back to School: Harkness in the time of COVID

  

Right now most of us are reading the countless emails from the superintendent, administration and fellow teachers, and we are  wondering how we are going to be able to stay sane and healthy going  back to school in a few days.  Educators all over the nation are feeling this way as well.  For many of us, the greatest challenge will be having to re-envision what we do and how we do it, while not giving up on our commitment to  providing students with the  knowledge, skills and dispositions that they will need in the world beyond the classroom.

 

What about Harkness in the time of COVID? How can we have conversations when students have to be sitting in rows, wearing masks and not facing each other? This truly is uncharted territory for all of us, and we have to  be creative as to how we continue this work. It might be good to remember what “Harkness” is,  as  when we are  overwhelmed  as it  might be  too easy to just say,  "Harkness is an add-on that I will just have to forget about for now.”

 

“Harkness  teaching” is high quality, student driven inquiry learning. It is grounded in the belief that students' natural curiosity,  their ability to ask questions and to learn to work collaboratively is critical for deep learning, the development of critical thinking and the health of our democracy. High quality Harkness discussions where students listen to and learn from one another and where teachers partner with students in learning can only occur in classrooms where there is trust, mutual respect and where students feel safe.  The principles of social-emotional learning are the foundation  for effective classroom teaching in Harkness classrooms. Learning is about relationships; not just for a Harkness classroom but for all classrooms.

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Where do  we begin?

Preparation for  Harkness begins on the very first day of school.  Whether you engage in Harkness teaching or not, creating  a classroom climate where students feel welcome and where they feel their voices are  valued  is essential. This begins from the very first moment. We can't shake our students' hands  as they enter our classrooms this year,  but we can  smile and devise ways to let them know we are excited to see them back. We need to listen to our students, help them  make sense of the last six months and  encourage them to express their fears and expectations about the upcoming year.  Interactive games and activities played outside- the  name game, charades, creating a fairy tale, pair share activities (all of these outside, with social distancing)  help create a classroom climate where students feel comfortable with one another.  It is more important than ever to establish a community of  safety and structure as we move through the year.

 

Inviting students to join in creating norms for the classroom is important  to develop  an atmosphere of learning and to create community. The creation of  online norms is critical, and students should participate in creating  a list of norms for on-line sessions as well.  Here is a link to online norms that my students created last spring: 

 

Creating systems and routines  for the classroom ("Do Now's, journal writes, "quote of the day," opening  activities, regular routines for hw, etc) create a sense of stability and structure so students know what to expect.  Similarly, establishing routines for working online are helpful for everyone as well.  Start with a welcoming activity ("color splash" "what was the best part of  your day?") then encourage  students  to  develop  and lead their own versions of these activities to build  community.

 

The "soft skills" of Harkness are the essential skills of  civil discourse,  and teaching these is the  next step in scaffolding for Harkness discussions.  We need to intentionally teach the skills that we want students to demonstrate; this means teaching young people how to use  appropriate eye contact, body language, active listening skills and tone of voice. Going outside to practice these skills will need to be an important part of  what we can do in the  early fall when the weather is nice. Here are some soft skills lessons developed by students that you can  use as you introduce this work 

 

Teaching students to ask questions is an essential component of classrooms that value inquiry and authentic student voice. We must deliberately teach students to learn what a good question is and how and when to ask it.We can start this at the beginning of the year. Rewarding the creation of deeply provocative questions nourishes curiosity, critical thinking and divergent thinking. Here are some resources as to how to  teach questioning skills. 

  

Creating the foundation for a Harkness classroom is simply good teaching practice. Taking the time to develop the classroom climate, create norms, establish systems and routines, teaching questioning strategies and practicing soft skills  can be done during the first quarter of the year.  We should not rush to "bring students to the Table."  Let's begin this new and challenging year with  a sense of experimentation and open-mindedness. Instead of worrying "how can I ever do Harkness in the time of COVID?"  let's begin  by laying the foundation for high quality instruction from the very first day.   This is an election year.  Now more than ever, we need to teach the skills of democracy, equity,  and inclusion and model them for our students.

 

 

Here is some additional information  on Harkness and some new teaching resources:   

 

                   1)  Strategies in Classroom Dialogue  my new site) has resources developed by HUHS                                students and teachers and  contains articles, videos and supplementary materials. 

                     2) The Phillips Exeter website has a myriad of resources- videos, teacher and  student                              reflections. The website also has several essays from  Classroom  Revolution.

 
                     3) Meg Foley has a wonderful blog Teaching Around the Oval which I urge you to                                        explore.

                    4) Phillips Exeter also hosted a virtual seminar on Harkness teaching  in June, 2020.   If                           you have dropbox, you can access the webinar recordings, power-points and                                         materials that  you can access here if you have dropbox. 

                     Access to the recorded Zoom  meetings from this  seminar can be found here:

                                Webinar I: Introduction to Harkness

                            Webinar 2:Getting Students Ready for  Harkness

                            Webinar 3:Teacher's Role at the Table

                            Webinar 4: Harkness and Distance Learning                          

           

                  5)  The Teaching Mirror is a blog created by a teacher who attended EHI in 2018 and it                             contains some helpful  resources. 

Coming up:  How and when we can move into TEAMWORK