Journal of the Effective Schools Project, Volume 18, 2011 Page: 44
79 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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arrive early for class and stay late
because they enjoyed the class.
Now, please understand, I was not
this great Yoda style teacher that
was passing on grand wisdom to
my students that caused them to
crave history. At that time, I was
just a normal teacher attempting to
make my class fun and engaging
for the students and using a learn-
ing style they preferred.
As time passed, I was introduced
to the 10 Principles of Learning
presented by Carl Rogers. Roger's
strategies emphasize that learning
should be meaningful, experien-
tial, and relevant for the student. In
addition, he suggests the teacher
and student must play an active
role in the learning process and
what the teacher does in the learn-
ing process is the most important
variable in student achievement.
By this point, I was really enjoying
this style of teaching because I felt
like I was making a difference in
the students learning without the
mighty "red pen" of education.
Over the next couple of years, I
slowly modified my educational
beliefs and philosophy from a pro-
ject-based learning to a project /
problem-based learning environ-
ment. What I had realized was
when the student projects involved
problem solving with an authentic
assessment component, the learn-
ing experience was more effective
than those that were just a simple
project. I started to modify my
lesson plans to focus on problem-
based lessons that required the
students to gather information
from multiple sources in order to
generate a solution to a problem
that was assessed by an authentic
means. For example, one problem
-based lesson required my 8th
grade United States history class toresearch and take on the role of a
citizen in a specific early Ameri-
can colony. The students were
presented with multiple challenges
that the early colonists faced such
as taxes, tariffs, governmental is-
sues, and war. Each student or
group of students were placed in
situations where issues typical of
colonial American had to be
solved based on their research.
The final assessment was deter-
mined based on their rationale of
choosing to join with other colo-
nists or not joining with other col-
onists in the drafting of a declara-
tion for independence. In addi-
tion, the declaration was then ex-
amined to determine if the key
points for the American Revolu-
tion were addressed in the class
drafted declaration for independ-
ence. The students were asked to
present their defense to a panel of
community members who had an
interest in United States history.
My students loved this project and
would often ask if they could redo
the whole project again after it
was completed.
The students' reaction to this pro-
ject caused me to begin searching
for the reason behind their positive
attitudes and enthusiasm. Now, if
this were a television program, it
would be a great time to insert a
scene with a short Sherlock
Holmes character carrying an
oversized magnifying glass wan-
dering about the screen. What I
quickly discovered was that the
students began to take great pride
in making sure that everything was
professional looking, presentable,
and the content of their research
was accurate. They believed the
work had a purpose beyond the
assigned grade. Again, at the time
if I were this wise Yoda style mas-
ter teacher, I would have realizedWhat I quickly
discovered was that the
students began to take
great pride in making
sure that everything was
professional looking,
presentable, and the
content of their research
was accurate.44
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Tarleton State University. Effective Schools Project. Journal of the Effective Schools Project, Volume 18, 2011, periodical, 2011; Stephenville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth201694/m1/48/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Tarleton State University.