Herbert Kohl links and written text

Ten Minutes a Day
Herbert R. Kohl

Bio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Kohl_%28education%29

http://www.soe.usfca.edu/departments/ime/rtwconf/speakers/speakers_kohl.html

The beginning of change in how a teacher runs the class room, starts when the teacher is unsatisfied with how he or she is teaching
The change has to be desirable to the teacher
Kohl suggests that teachers remember how they were taught in order to reconstruct their classrooms
What did they like or dislike?

The suggestion of 10 minutes comes from his idea of trying a new method for 10 minutes and eventually expand to teaching that way all day
Kohl encourages bringing adults from the community into the classroom who aren't teachers
He also believes in the opposite: taking the students into the community where they live and relate experiences to the community

Kohl believes that students can more easily adapt to an open environment than the teacher
He suggests not trying something incompatible to how the teacher thinks
“Changing the nature of life in the classroom is no less difficult than changing one’s own personality, and every bit as dangerous and time consuming. It is also as rewarding”
(p 106)

He warns that if you are content being an authoritarian teacher, there is no point in trying to change that
Suggests that you discuss or write down what you want to change about your teaching style
Present the students with options that seem like they would be interesting to the students- allow them to sit and do nothing if they choose for the 10 min
Make it clear that nothing will be graded or needs to be explained in that time period

Step out of the way, but don’t disappear- you are available for help or talk
Learn to be lead by the students
- Follow their ideas, learn about the things they are interested in
If you, the teacher, do not know certain things they want to learn about find someone who does know or get the information and share it- then step out again


Allow the students to say no to what you want them to learn
Kohl cautions that other teachers might think what you are doing as “uneducational”
After the excursions, there was always a classroom discussion
Ask for parental help
The whole community should be where students learn, not just the classroom

What are some things you would do with those 10 minutes?
Ten minutes a day. (20101). In S.O.U.R.C.E.S Notable selections in education (3rd ed., pp. 105-109). Guilford, CT: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin. (Reprinted from A practical guide to a new way of teaching, by H. Kohl, 1969, New York Review)