The transport lesson worked well. One of the biggest concerns I sensed with the class was that the topic was irrelevant to some students. This is always a problem; how do we know which topics will benefit the students? Of course, we can't. The best we can do is to continue to ask students for advice and feedback about the class. Often we gain much-needed insight into what our students are interested in by reading their comments and listening to them during regular meetings (see my 7 education principles post).
In the next class, we focused on cheating. I feel this is a very interesting topic for our students, they will have all experienced cheating at some point in their lives, but it seems to be a topic that isn't covered in the textbooks I have used. I also hoped it might allow the students to confront their inner cheats and reflect on their behaviour in education, and of course, that is what they did! I heard some interesting stories from their time at high school, but I can't repeat any of it here, well, okay, maybe just one! A student told me he faked his high school certificates when he applied for a university, not his current university. The class was for two hours with international students studying a variety of different majors at a Korean university. All the students have an IELTS level of 5.5 or above. I will continue to use Bloom's taxonomy to guide my activities.
On the morning of the first class, I had a little brainwave, it doesn't happen often, but I thought it was a good idea. Why not create a survey about cheating using surveymonkey.com? I could then get confidential information from the students when they complete the survey on their smartphones doing class, and then we can talk about the results. Survey Monkey is a very easy to use site which allows people to create confidential surveys and puts the data into graphs. The questions I used were relatively simple, but they encouraged debate amongst the students and set the lesson up nicely for the topic. Once students are allowed to use their electronic devices in class, I have found that even the most lackadaisical students perk up.Week One.
Critical Thinkings Skills: Knowledge.
Key Skills Developed: Identifying, Naming & Recognising.
After the online survey, we moved on to the discussion questions in the knowledge section of the worksheet. These questions are designed to encourage discussion amongst the students. I encouraged students to be open and honest as everything said during the lesson will be confidential. The answers from the students were very interesting. Almost all students had cheated in their academic careers. The reason was quite apparent. They wanted a high grade. I asked students if they were studying a course with no grade at the end of the programme, would they still cheat? Many of them commented that they would not cheat. I found this interesting and reinforces my belief that grades can have a detrimental effect on learning.
Critical Thinkings Skills: Application.
Key Skills Developed: Act, Carrying Out & Implementing.
The next task involved looking at three different scenarios where people cheat (cheating on a boyfriend/girlfriend, seeing another student cheat on a test, and taking money that does not belong to you). Working with their partner, students discussed what they would do in each situation. Once each student had explained their answer, we moved on to the main activity for the class. In groups, students had to produce a role-play based on one of the situations. I encouraged students to think of a different cheating scenario, as this encourages creativity. The role-plays were very good, students only had 15-20 minutes to prepare, but we got some quality storylines. One of my favourites was a love triangle. The boyfriend was cheating on his girlfriend with another man, the role-play produced some discussion about homosexuality and bisexuality.
I was hoping to have completed the whole worksheet in two hours, but the discussions and role-plays were so fruitful that the debate activity had to be left for the following week. Homework was to research the topic of performance-enhancing drugs in sport.
Week Two.
The first class began with a quick overview of the themes we had discussed in the previous class. We reminded ourselves of the role-play performances and then moved on to the debate activity.
Critical Thinkings Skills: Analysis & Synthesis.
Key Skills Developed: Organising, Outlining, Structuring, Planning & Producing.
The class started with a short video about performance-enhancing drugs. The students answered the discussion questions in their groups and presented their opinions to the class. I then split the students into two groups. One group was for this statement, "Athletes should be able to use performance-enhancing drugs", and the other group was against it.
The students had 40 minutes to research their arguments and decide on how best to present their information to win the debate.
Debates are helpful for students not only because they encourage students to use their 21st-century skills, but they also encourage students to pay attention to two vital parts of their character development; self-control and gratitude. The activity means the students have to stay on task and listen to their classmates. The activity also means the students have to be gracious and show gratitude to their opponents.
I chaired the debate, but you could get a student to chair the discussion. This can help if you want to develop a student's confidence.
Finally, the activity that keeps on giving:
***Reflection***
Students continued their incredible journey along the path of self-reflection by completing their student journals.
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