Back to School: Harkness in the time of COVID
Right now most of us are reading the countless emails from the superintendent, administration and fellow teachers, and we are wondering how we are going to be able to stay sane and healthy going back to school in a few days. Educators all over the nation are feeling this way as well. For many of us, the greatest challenge will be having to re-envision what we do and how we do it, while not giving up on our commitment to providing students with the knowledge, skills and dispositions that they will need in the world beyond the classroom.
What about Harkness in the time of COVID? How can we have conversations when students have to be sitting in rows, wearing masks and not facing each other? This truly is uncharted territory for all of us, and we have to be creative as to how we continue this work. It might be good to remember what “Harkness” is, as when we are overwhelmed as it might be too easy to just say, "Harkness is an add-on that I will just have to forget about for now.”
“Harkness teaching” is high quality, student driven inquiry learning. It is grounded in the belief that students' natural curiosity, their ability to ask questions and to learn to work collaboratively is critical for deep learning, the development of critical thinking and the health of our democracy. High quality Harkness discussions where students listen to and learn from one another and where teachers partner with students in learning can only occur in classrooms where there is trust, mutual respect and where students feel safe. The principles of social-emotional learning are the foundation for effective classroom teaching in Harkness classrooms. Learning is about relationships; not just for a Harkness classroom but for all classrooms.
Where do we begin?
Preparation for Harkness begins on the very first day of school. Whether you engage in Harkness teaching or not, creating a classroom climate where students feel welcome and where they feel their voices are valued is essential. This begins from the very first moment. We can't shake our students' hands as they enter our classrooms this year, but we can smile and devise ways to let them know we are excited to see them back. We need to listen to our students, help them make sense of the last six months and encourage them to express their fears and expectations about the upcoming year. Interactive games and activities played outside- the name game, charades, creating a fairy tale, pair share activities (all of these outside, with social distancing) help create a classroom climate where students feel comfortable with one another. It is more important than ever to establish a community of safety and structure as we move through the year.
Inviting students to join in creating norms for the classroom is important to develop an atmosphere of learning and to create community. The creation of online norms is critical, and students should participate in creating a list of norms for on-line sessions as well. Here is a link to online norms that my students created last spring:
Creating systems and routines for the classroom ("Do Now's, journal writes, "quote of the day," opening activities, regular routines for hw, etc) create a sense of stability and structure so students know what to expect. Similarly, establishing routines for working online are helpful for everyone as well. Start with a welcoming activity ("color splash" "what was the best part of your day?") then encourage students to develop and lead their own versions of these activities to build community.
The "soft skills" of Harkness are the essential skills of civil discourse, and teaching these is the next step in scaffolding for Harkness discussions. We need to intentionally teach the skills that we want students to demonstrate; this means teaching young people how to use appropriate eye contact, body language, active listening skills and tone of voice. Going outside to practice these skills will need to be an important part of what we can do in the early fall when the weather is nice. Here are some soft skills lessons developed by students that you can use as you introduce this work
Teaching students to ask questions is an essential component of classrooms that value inquiry and authentic student voice. We must deliberately teach students to learn what a good question is and how and when to ask it.We can start this at the beginning of the year. Rewarding the creation of deeply provocative questions nourishes curiosity, critical thinking and divergent thinking. Here are some resources as to how to teach questioning skills.
Creating the foundation for a Harkness classroom is simply good teaching practice. Taking the time to develop the classroom climate, create norms, establish systems and routines, teaching questioning strategies and practicing soft skills can be done during the first quarter of the year. We should not rush to "bring students to the Table." Let's begin this new and challenging year with a sense of experimentation and open-mindedness. Instead of worrying "how can I ever do Harkness in the time of COVID?" let's begin by laying the foundation for high quality instruction from the very first day. This is an election year. Now more than ever, we need to teach the skills of democracy, equity, and inclusion and model them for our students.
Here is some additional information on Harkness and some new teaching resources:
1) Strategies in Classroom Dialogue my new site) has resources developed by HUHS students and teachers and contains articles, videos and supplementary materials.
2) The Phillips Exeter website has a myriad of resources- videos, teacher and student reflections. The website also has several essays from Classroom Revolution.
3) Meg Foley has a wonderful blog Teaching Around the Oval which I urge you to explore.
4) Phillips Exeter also hosted a virtual seminar on Harkness teaching in June, 2020. If you have dropbox, you can access the webinar recordings, power-points and materials that you can access here if you have dropbox.
Access to the recorded Zoom meetings from this seminar can be found here:
Webinar I: Introduction to Harkness
Webinar 2: Getting Students Ready for Harkness
Webinar 3: Teacher's Role at the Table
Webinar 4: Harkness and Distance Learning
5) The Teaching Mirror is a blog created by a teacher who attended EHI in 2018 and it contains some helpful resources.
Coming up: How and when we can move into TEAMWORK
