Every Thursday and Friday, I have the joy of leading morning meetings at our school. On Thursdays, I speak to the middle school students in the Bosque black box theater, and on Fridays, I usually give the same presentation to our upper school students in the cafeteria. I usually try to offer the students some words that will challenge and inspire them; sometimes, I am successful and they tell me so. Two recent presentations included videos that many students say they thoroughly enjoyed; as a result, I started thinking again about the ways we can encourage and engage our students in their own learning.
Last week’s presentation focused on NASA’s most high-tech Mars rover, Curiosity, and the science behind it. After showing a thoroughly cheesy scene from the 1950’s movie Flight To Mars, which included the lone female astronaut asking the Martians if she could see their kitchen, we looked at a riveting video clip called “Seven Minutes of Terror.” In this short film, scientists explained the intricate planning and nail-biting suspense that accompanied the landing of the rover. One of our science teachers thanked me for making science exciting and many students exclaimed how “cool” the video was.
This week in preparation for our Homecoming bonfire, I spoke about the history of the marshmallow. My comments were based on a short article in The New York Times Magazine called “Who Made It.” Then we watched a clip based on the 1972 Stanford marshmallow experiment that asked young children to practice delayed gratification by not eating the marshmallow that was placed in front of them. If they succeeded, they received a second marshmallow. The cute video, attached here, shows young children struggling to not devour the delectable treat in front of them. We also learned about the follow-up studies that demonstrated the later successes of those children who resisted temptation; young children who practiced delayed gratification were described by their parents as adolescents who were significantly competent academically and received high SAT scores.
Mars and marshmallows - what could possibly connect these two subjects besides a desperate presenter seeking off-beat topics? In both cases, students appreciated the material enough to seek me out after morning meeting and exclaim, “Mr. Handmaker, I loved that video!” or “Mr. Handmaker, best morning meeting ever!” I was reminded that so much of what students learn in school is what we have decided they need to know, and in many instances, this is appropriate. However, as students age, they either become more curious or less interested in school, and much of this may be due to the degree we allow them to pursue their own passions.
At Bosque School, our juniors write a 10-15 page thesis on some aspect of American history, and our seniors write an even more advanced thesis, 15-20 pages, on whatever topic they choose. The subjects can range from the portrayal of women in fashion to the world’s loss of heirloom plant seeds to the role of bankers in the 2008 economic crash. What makes these projects worthwhile is not just the hard work that the students put into them; it’s watching young men and young women researching something about which they feel strongly. A student who may not be eager to do homework in one of her classes will spend hours working on her thesis because she has a point to prove; she’s a rebel with a cause.
All too often in today’s world, some educators claim that students are lazy and they don’t want to work hard. I have had the pleasure of watching students on fire with the zeal of a grad student or a professor as they set out to prove their thesis and teach others about their findings. These students are not unmotivated; on the contrary, they are enthusiastic to show what they have learned as they write their papers and give their end-of-the-year presentations to audiences comprised of their fellow students, parents, and teachers. I once heard the educator Theodore Sizer in the 1990’s describe math teachers in Miami who bemoaned their students’ inability to learn math but who watched those same teens engage in drug deals that involved higher level math performed in their heads with no calculator, paper, or pencil. He also discussed how soldiers, who supposedly could not do math, seemed to become very proficient in emergency situations when they had to radio their position to the artillery behind them in order to avoid being hit by friendly fire.
All too often, it’s not that students do not want to learn; it’s that they don’t see the reason for doing so. When given a voice in their own learning, young men and women produce outstanding work. For some students, this research may be about the physics of landing a vehicle on the seventh planet; for others, it may address a soft, squishy ingredient that when roasted and combined with a chocolate bar and two graham crackers can define perfection. Either way, when we give students the chance to follow their passions, they are capable of amazing things.
