Metal detectors, panic alarms, and active school shooter drills are often what come to mind when the education community first thinks of school safety. However, addressing this issue reaches far beyond the secure doors of our schools, taking into consideration factors such as school and classroom climate, positive discipline measures, and wellness promotion, according to A Framework for Safe and Successful Schools.
When we consider the studies showing the relationship between bullying, personal failure, and anger to school violence, we must pause and reflect on our own schools and classrooms. How can we develop a better school culture and make education a positive experience for all of our students? So many students who have acted out in violence were angry or bullied. And after violent acts occur, we hear stories about students who didn’t belong and missed that feeling of acceptance, making their school experience more than a little tough.
But what if…
What if they loved learning?
How many of our students feel excited to learn in our schools today? Most days, students walk through our doors and read the texts we have selected, participate in the activities we have planned, and complete the projects we have thought up. They comply and learn, but do they love it? Probably not.
Assign passion projects. In an effort to ignite a passion for learning, I took inspiration from John Spencer and A.J. Juliani and implemented passion projects. Passion projects are akin to genius hour or Google’s 20% time. Essentially, students pursue topics they are interested in and develop their own projects to demonstrate their learning. As a teacher, I facilitate learning and provide just-in-time instruction for my students.
This year, my students researched homelessness, modern slavery, home construction, and video game design. Projects ranged from writing songs and developing websites to creating artwork with poetry and coding video games. During these projects, I taught nonfiction-reading comprehension skills like summarizing, synthesizing across texts, and drawing conclusions.
Passion projects allow for a real purpose for learning, freedom for creativity, and opportunities to publish work for a large audience. My students showed a genuine interest in their research, they were invested in their own learning, and they made comments like, “Do we get to read more for our project today?” Toward the end of our unit, more than a few students came to school with huge smiles saying, “I can’t wait to do our project today!”
When students are excited to learn, a positive environment and culture forms. Learning doesn’t have to be boring, and challenges don’t have to lead to anger and frustration. If we can help students to realize their interests and develop their passions, they will want to learn. Empowered students have confidence and believe they can contribute to the school community in positive ways.
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