In May, I reconnected with my friend Kevin Giddens. Kevin
and I worked together on the electric crew at Warren Wilson College, and in the
years since then he has taught English in Mexico and Korea, and currently
trains teachers for the School for International Training. Kevin blogs about
teaching, learning, and education over at Do-Nothing Teaching.
The core of Do-Nothing Teaching, as Kevin explained it, is
the idea that, sometimes, doing nothing is the best thing a teacher can do to
encourage students to learn. As I understand it, in this context “nothing”
doesn’t mean showing up to teach with no lesson plan. It is not double-talk for
“lazy teaching.” Instead, it means something more like continually reflecting
on your teaching practice in order to remove anything from your classroom
practice that is hindering student learning. You can read more about the
foundations of DNT here and read Kevin’s recent thoughts at his blog.
DNT resonates with me on a couple of levels. Teaching is
often thought about in additive terms, which means that our conceptions of both
teaching and learning are shot through with the language of accumulation. Teachers give knowledge, feedback, grades, and
students acquire skills, insight, and
grades. Now, I happen to think that this process works pretty well, overall.
Teachers do have a lot to give, and students do benefit from the accumulation
of knowledge and skills they gain in college.
But it also seems to me that our goal as educators is
not just to fill our students with information but to also equip them to use that
information critically, productively, and intellectually. (A Chinese student I
recently got to know described education in China as producing “stuffed ducks.”
They are filled with information, he said, but spend relatively little thinking
about that information.)
So, in addition to accumulation, I think we also need to
devote time to reflective practice, and this is why DNT really appeals to me;
DNT emphasizes reflective practice reflection for both teachers and students. I
think this is something that most teachers do already, though they might not
articulate it in these terms. Whether we ask students to consider the cultural
implications of Toni Morrison’s Beloved
in class discussion or to craft an unobvious thesis statement, we are creating
situations in which what matters most for student learning is an empty space
where students can reflect, experiment, and play with their own ideas.
Though the language of Do-Nothing Teaching is new to me,
speaking with Kevin made me realize that I’ve experimented with this approach
for years in my writing and literature classes. I’m going to describe a couple
of these experiments in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I’d ask you to check
out Kevin’s work and think about experimenting with removing a normal part of
your teaching for a day or two to see if it changes how (or how much) your
students learn.
