And Then There Were Butterflies… – InnovativeEnglishClassroom.com

If you’ve read any of my previous blog posts, you will know that I decided to use self-paced learning in my classroom last year. I really liked the idea, and I was so excited that my students would be able to learn this way. But alas. The reality is, I had mixed results. Many of the students struggled, in fact floundered. I wanted to give them an opportunity to wrestle with their learning, figure some things out on their own, because all the research says that this is the way our learning will be more powerful. I believed that, given the chance to have choice in their learning, students would be more eager to learn and would consequently be more successful. For some kids, this is just what they needed. For others, it was not–or, at least, they didn’t think so.

I remember one particular conversation. A student in my first period called me over. When I arrived at her seat, she held up the vocabulary menu (which has 12 different activities on it), and proclaimed, “I don’t get this.” So I asked her what activity she was having trouble with, so I could help her understand. Her answer was, “All of it.” I proceeded to tell her that if she could give me an idea of which activity was the problem, I could help her figure it out. She just kept waving the paper around and saying, “I don’t get this.” Keep in mind that we had done all these activities together already, so that students would understand how each one was to be done. Also, I had examples of each one hanging up in the classroom, in case anyone needed a refresher. I knew, without having to say it, that what she really wanted was for me to give her the answer, the one thing that was going to get her a passing grade on the assignment.

For years, I have believed that this is one of the biggest problems facing educators today. Instead of encouraging students to work out problems, and show their teachers what they have learned in ways other than a multiple choice test, school has taught them that there is only one right answer, and if they feign helplessness long enough, the teacher, in an act of self-preservation, will tell them what it is. This is the brick wall I kept crashing into, until I was battered and bloody.

I had students ask me why I didn’t just do what all the other teachers did–have them copy notes from a PowerPoint, then give a multiple choice quiz. When I asked them if this was an interesting way to learn, I got this answer every time: No, but it’s easy.

This is the stumbling block to what I was trying to do. I wanted them to think, to struggle with new concepts, and to present their learning in unique and interesting ways, but their idea of school is to regurgitate what the teacher gives them. This realization was very frustrating and disheartening to me.

But I’m stubborn. I refused to give in to the status quo. So I persisted. Some students never got on board with what I wanted to do, others stuck a toe in and only began to appreciate the process toward the end of the year, and a few trusted me enough to cannonball right in to the deep end. That’s the ones I want to focus on in this post. As for the rest…I’m working on that!

I had a project in mind for poetry that involved the life cycle of butterflies. I knew it was something that could really be powerful–if kids would buy in. My hope was that they would.

My campus curriculum facilitator ordered me six butterfly habitats. They came from a company called Insect Lore, which specializes in educational products for children. They have butterfly kits, ladybug kits, ant farms, and other products that bring science into the classroom. Since I wanted to focus on poetry, I felt that butterflies would be my best bet. With each habitat comes a voucher that can be redeemed for a cup of caterpillars whenever you are ready for them. Be warned, though–the company will not ship the caterpillars in weather that’s too cold. I ordered the caterpillars in April, and they were delivered to my house on April 19. It was a long weekend, with no school until the following Tuesday. I wanted to make sure that students were able to view the entire metamorphosis, so I made sure to take pictures each day of the caterpillars. I made a shared folder in Google Drive, so that students could see how the caterpillars changed over the course of time.

Caterpillars on the day they arrived at my house

When we all got to school on Tuesday, I showed the cups of caterpillars to the students in my PreAP classes. I explained that they would observe one particular cup each day, then post their observations in the shared folder. I would take pictures and post them as well. They oohed and aahed, watching the caterpillars creep around the cups. Then, I asked them to research what was happening to the caterpillars, and what they would become. Simultaneously, I had them partner up with another student, and they were given one type of poetry that they had to research–then, they would teach a lesson on that type of poetry to the rest of the class. So, they had two research projects going on at the same time.

Students engaged in observation daily at the beginning of class.

Every day, they observed, wrote, and researched. Poetry lessons were taught by the partner groups, and the examples they wrote of each type for their lessons were added to the shared folder. We started talking about metamorphosis–of the caterpillars, and of people, situations, relationships, etc. We discussed how the caterpillars were physically changing, but that didn’t mean everyone had to write only about those changes. I asked them to write four rough drafts of poems, so they would have something to work with. Then, they peer-reviewed each other’s work, and offered a suggestion to their partner about which poem they felt was the best. This is the one that moved forward in the writing process, so they began revising and editing, polishing their best poem.

I saw a lot of collaboration in this project, which is what I had been hoping for all year. I’ll be honest–this restored some of the faith I had lost during the year with students not buying in to what I was trying to do. It was a shot in the arm, convincing me that I’m on the right track and to keep pressing forward. So, I’ve spent all summer working out the details of the new plan, which I will share in another post. But, it made me feel better to know that students can be more in control of their own learning. And so I persevere.