I'm finishing up week three of my online seminar, which means I've persisted long enough to hit the halfway point. As I hoped and expected, this course is stretching me a bit, and that's a good thing. It means my teaching muscles should be a bit more limber, more flexible--so long as I keep using them and keep stretching.
What I like is that when I push a little on this course, it pushes back at me. Isometrics, anyone?
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Dark Side of the Moon album cover,
Pink Floyd |
The word "content" (as in , "the content") is where I've been pushing. I don't love that term as a summary of what teachers teach, so although our textbook has been a helpful resource, I don't love its title:
Conquering the Content. My concern is that "content" sounds so static, maybe even stagnant. It makes it sound like we are teaching a body of facts and stats....and that's it. But we are teaching so much more: whether we realize it or not, our students are likely also learning from us about
habits of mind and heart--habits that direct their worship at each moment of their lives. If we're not careful, we'll reinforce the ways in which our students conform to culture; in faithful teaching, we seek to help students
be transformed.
That's why I like the SKA framework that was introduced in our seminar this week via MIT's Teaching & Learning Laboratory page about planning for
learning outcomes. It's a simple acronym, but it encompasses much more than "content." SKA stands for skills, knowledge, and attitudes. When we're planning for each of these dimensions of learning, we're planning to put students' hands, heads, and hearts to work. That's a task that has the potential to result in true transformation.
And whaddaya know? When I've been using SKA this week as a grid to help me plan a future course, it helps me to stretch my course design...to ensure that students will do more that fill their minds with "content." Maybe it will even prompt some healthy discontent for them, too.
Leah, I am so thankful I am not the only one that feels that push. I am starting to see how a blended format could possibly work for my content, and found the SKA outline tremendously helpful as well.
ReplyDeleteGlad that this course is stretching you a bit. :-D
ReplyDeleteI really like the SKA framework too. It's a good way to ensure that you're thinking not only about facts and figures (perhaps the "K" elements?) but also procedures and ways of knowing (the "S" and "A" elements?) If we're serious that our students are integrated, whole beings, we need to teach them not as brains-in-buckets, but socially, emotionally, physically, morally, and--dare I say it?--spiritually as well!
The SKA framework resonates with me too. In some ways, I've been using this framework without knowing is was around (on my syllabus, fundamentals = skills and responsibility = attitudes ... in some respects).
ReplyDeleteAs I push on BOLT, it is great when it pushes back things (like SKA) that stretch my course rather than flipping it on it's head.
It is also reassuring to know a framework like SKA has the backing of other experts.