Radical Responsibility

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Radical Responsibility

• The Harkness Table
• At G.H.S.

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Why a Harkness Table?
Beating the System
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The Harkness Initiative

• What I have in mind is (a classroom) where
  (students) could sit around a table with a
  teacher who would talk with them, and instruct
  them by a sort of tutorial or conference method,
  where (each student) would feel encouraged to
  speak up. This would be a real revolution in
  methods. Edward Harkness

• A Smaller Learning Community
• Limited Class Size
• Conference Instruction
• A Classroom Model for All Students

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So Whats this table?
The oval design of the table allows everyone
seated at it to see the eyes of everyone else at
the table, meaning no one is hiding.
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A Few Physical Facts

• Physical connection
• Oval construction
• Exposed and protected
• Accessibility and visibility
• A part of something greater
• The dinner table
• Conversation
• The Slide

There is a physical connection that the table
grants among all participants in the discussion.
Peter Greer PEA, English
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Some Essentials

• Community
• Voice
• Collective Thinking
• Collective Timing
• Three Times a Charm
• Beyond Socrates

Socrates dominated his discussions. He asked a
question, a student answered, Socrates replied,
and off they went. Socrates usually took an
extreme, unpopular position, and after a series
of questions and answers he would have the
students backed into a corner and forced to
agree. Donald B. ColePEA, History

• Student-Centered Pedagogy

• Reading to Writing

• Discussion to Written Expression

• Listening

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Not this Table, Not this Style
S
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Harkness Method, The Oval
X X X X X X X
X X X X X
And the Slide
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Concepts to Reconcile

• Objective based instruction
• Responsive instruction
• Initiation-closure
• Individualized instruction/Differentiation
• Essential questions/Concept Based
• Learning/Teaching
• Control/Freedom
• Beginning where the student is

If you give them the freedom to learn, you have
to trust them with it.H. Knowles PEA, English
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Teacher Centered

• Essentially, all of our classes are teacher
  driven, perhaps a student oriented discussion at
  times but nevertheless
• The traditional question and answer becomes
  nothing more than a game of know and telland
  hand raising is like a snap

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The Art of Listening

• Teacher as choreographer
• All discussionbased classes are not
  studentcentered

From the Art of Listening by Nita G. Pettigrew
PEA, English

• Learning is a personal journey
• When we understand something, we own it
• Ideas dear to us we have struggled to know them

Essential dynamic Egoless Stand out of the
way Teachers taskto listen
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The Nudge

• I know what I want my students to learn.
• I was active and my students, though lively,
  were passive.

• What interests you about the reading today?
• Help me understand what you mean.
• Can you say more about that?
• What makes you think so?

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Patience

• Flexibility
• patience

Were in charge of our own discussions.Elizabeth
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He encourages reticent kids when they have
something to say but never puts them on the
spot.William 04

• Humility
• patience

The best Harkness teachers Ive had gently
steered the discussion without the class ever
noticing that there are teachers at the
table.Claire 04

• Quality
• patience

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G.H.S. The Possibilities

• Harkness Classrooms
• A Harkness Lab
• The SlideWrite Ons
• Laptops Accessibility
• One table, two tables, three tables, four
• A Style of Teaching for All Students

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The Harkness Table at G.H.S.

• Maximizing
• Effort
• Academic
• Rigor

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On Harkness Teaching

• After working in traditional format for most of
  my career, my first Harkness class was daunting.
  I had to discard the idea that I had to be in
  charge. K. Smith PEA Art
• Students confirmed what they already
  suspectedteachers do not have all the answers or
  questions. By taking themselves more seriously
  they learn more about the subject and are better
  prepared for problem solving in later life.R.
  Weatherspoon PEA Religion
• Whenever we take our seats at the table, its
  unclear what will happen. We have to have faith
  in each otherwe truly learn more as a group than
  anyone of us would alone.M. Foley PEA History

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Students on Harkness

• Everyone participates equally.
• Harkness comes with an obligationyou have to be
  prepared.
• You are learning, not being taught. Its
  something active, not passive.
• At first the silences seem incredibly
  awkwardthen silences are meaningfulpeople are
  actually thinking.
• It demands intellectual and personal integrity.
• Think first, then speak.

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Life Long