#BTColumn – Learning beyond curriculum

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados TODAY Inc.

by Julia Hanschell

Since I officially began teaching in a school in 2005, I have taught BSSCEE English and ‘Supplemental’ classes.

These classes are designed to introduce thought-provoking issues, bringing non-curriculum information to students which they will not intrinsically seek.

This class has taken many forms over the years, from World Cultures to Survival Skills. I have used films, many adapted from great novels. I have always integrated Study Skills, where students learn how to develop mind maps, make notes and focus on discovering the themes, hidden meanings or symbolism, tucked within the story.

I remember once, substituting a Form 4 History class; I turned Columbus’ four journeys to the ‘New World’ into a story, drawn on the board, as I spoke.

I began with the Eastern-bound caravans of Marco Polo 300 years earlier, so that students could analyse why Columbus sailed West in the first place.

My sole focus has been to create ‘eureka moments’ through students making disparate connections. If, along the way, they develop or adjust their personal value system, I consider this the ‘jackpot’.

I believe that learning must be mesmerising for it to be meaningful. That students will remember details if they are all part of a story.

That they will learn far beyond the curriculum, if the story encapsulates broader perspectives. That receptivity for the act of thinking is what we are here to actually teach.

Lifelong learners are often made, not born. Obviously I cannot teach every supplemental class, so I support my teachers in designing one within their subject of specialty. The interesting double-benefit is that there is growth and expanded discovery for the teacher, as well as the students.

About three years ago, a young Math teacher was designated a supplemental class with upper secondary students; he came to me to ask what I envisioned. I told him to teach probability through the movie ‘21’, an American ‘heist drama’.

In a nutshell, this is a complex film in which an MIT professor takes his students to Las Vegas and they cheat to win at Blackjack. It is fundamentally about ‘the end justifying the means’. Or does it? That was what the students were about to discover for themselves.

“So, you want me to teach my students how to cheat?” I was asked, in a low voice, laden with panic-confusion.

Well, my plan was much broader than that. I challenged him to show the film to his students over seven weeks, with each class targeting a broader learning objective: socio-economic desperation leading to opportunism, how far could personal ethics be stretched, the legal implications of life choices, using and interpreting body language, successful and fractured teamwork, examining human nature and ultimately, developing a personal moral code.

After all, we teach wrong and right every day: ‘The Crested Curassow’ at Primary level and ‘Lord of the Flies’ at Lower Secondary. ‘21’ is just a more ‘grown-up’ version.

For the last three weeks of term, I told him to teach probability through playing Blackjack and ‘counting cards’. To have the students reflect on their Math skills, observations, body language, collaboration, value system and so on. Three words described this class: ‘it was real’.

As expected, not one student reverted to ‘the dark side’. What they learned went far beyond a card game – they understood the higher principles demanded of citizenship, accountability and integrity.

They also discovered the power of entrepreneurship, the responsibility of leadership and respect for jurisdiction. They grasped the opposite as well. Actually, they felt it personally.

Discussions were abundant, questions were probing, thinking was profound and discovery was personal.

It reminded me of my youth, when we would play ‘Cops and Robbers’, with the ‘pang, pang’ of pretend gunshots, yet none of us ‘boomers’ grew up to be deviants. Exploring the ‘dark side’, just as children continue to do now in computer games, is all part of growing up.

I remember one of my children letting her pets die from starvation on ‘SIMS’ just to see what that felt like; another was so committed to medicine that she obsessively re-watched terrorist beheadings. My son was far more ‘normal’ – he just enjoyed ‘Assassin’s Creed’. I must admit, I was worried
about their dark visual experiences and whether the ‘pretend’ would extend.

Surely, one of our duties as teachers, is exactly the same as that of parents – to help children ‘grow up’ in ‘the right way’ and make positive choices in life?

We rightly punish deviant behaviour, but do we discuss its origins? Is there an inherent human need in childhood to experience deviancy, so that the positive choices that should be made, are consciously taken?

Do we support children enough (yes, even in schools) to navigate ‘the dark side’ so that they forge a path towards the ‘light’ of an adult life?

Author unknown said, “Education is what remains after you have forgotten everything you learned in school”.

If our job is, ‘Education’, we need to do it completely differently for society to benefit, because the type of ‘Education (that) remains’ with our school leavers, is certainly not what we either intend, or want.

Julia Hanschell can be contacted on smartstudying @gmail.com.