As I thought about today, and realized just how much I like the Portal metaphor, I was confronted with lies within my own school district. And it hit me: The Cake Is A Lie.
We tell the students that their experience will be "engaging," that they "will have to think," that they will "discover," and that they will "learn." We tell them that they will be "prepared for college." There's the cake. But they never do get that cake, do they?
The Cake teachers are promised is being able to "engage" students, discussing real material with them, teaching life lessons, making their generation great. But it's become a web of tests, blame, and shame. And teachers pass on the lies to their students.
What we need is to redefine cake in this context. It shouldn't be "being prepared for college." Instead, it should be "learning for learning's sake." Teachers' cakes shouldn't be "high test scores" but "what their students become." It's hard to measure, sure, in this world of analytics and data, but it is true prep for life. It means true problem solving, true community, and true learning for the sake of learning. It means innovation, as well as developing self control and intrinsic motivation. It means actually learning something can be "cool" again.
Mark's comment here talks about how we might go about measuring something like this. It sounds amazing, doesn't it?
"Happiness as the standardized testing method would mean the subject being tested for is personal to each person taking the test. It would likely be a subject each person was passionate about. These tests would always be graded by observation.
One observation would be how many showed up not just on time for the test, but early for the test.
Another observation would be if a student was clamoring for more tests. In wood shop as soon as I finished the first step stool I made, I stayed after school working on the paper plans for my next project. I worked until the teacher ran me out as he was heading home. I was all too ready for the next test.
Also measurable on the happiness scale is how many other students circle around the person being tested to hear what they have to say about their test. In other words they are all too happy to share what they have learned with others.
At trade shows you always see the largest crowd circle a booth when the person speaking has full knowledge for what they are speaking about and at the same time they love the topic like their own kid. It works the same way in a classroom when a kid starts sharing and teaching others.
Don’t forget about the parent given and graded portion of the happiness scale. My 13 year old son goes wild telling me about what he learned the day before in French. Anytime a box is being opened and there is French text on the box I have to either hide the box or be prepared for a French lesson from my son. Great problem to have."
Ok, so all of this sounds so idealistic. But what if the Cake were real? How would we go about baking it? Can we make the Cake at least a bit real for our students?
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