Doing the Compliance Dance

As we belatedly polish off fall semester and begin spring semester, I keep realizing how mired I still am in giving assignments and asking questions oriented more toward compliance than toward understanding. Just today in my English 10 class, we spent 20 minutes discussing the literal events of a story, and just the last two minutes talking about the meaning behind the events. In part, it was me asking questions designed to “catch” students who hadn’t read the story (and I did catch some), and in part it was starting with simple questions to get the discussion rolling and then keeping on that track too long. I’m trying to shift the balance from “check for (literal) understanding” to “check for (deep) understanding.” It would help if there were some kind of implant we could install in students when they arrive at AHS that would make them care about every story I teach; I’m still struggling with finding just the right questions to ask to spark interest. I think it’s the hardest part of constructivist teaching.

By the way, for each student I “caught” having not read the story we were discussing, I asked why he/she didn’t read it. The typical answers were “I forgot” or “I left the story at school.” I wonder: are there questions or other “anticipatory sets” powerful enough to eliminate those excuses?