The GBS model of teaching is one of those that makes me sit back and think, “Isn’t this common sense?” It seems logical to connect what students want to learn with what to teach in a way that they find fun and interesting. Unfortunately, so much of our curriculum is driven by standardized testing, which forces students to learn and rehash facts and information. There is, of course, room to incorporate the GBS model, but the flip-side is that you might not touch on the exact facts that will show up on a standardized test.
I find myself coming up against this all the time in the Spanish classes I teach. My students love to be creative, silly, and ridiculous, but oftentimes I’m forced to temper their desires to continue working with certain topics because I have to make time to cover the specific guidelines of the curriculum, which they will be tested on near the end of the year. Some of the vocabulary I have to teach them is quite obscure and not too relevant to their lives. There are many times when I allow them to do things that are aligned with elements of the Goal Based Scenario model, such as pretending to be a doctor during a unit on body parts and describing injuries, but for other units it is hard to incorporate GBS when they have little interest in the topic at hand anyway.
It seems like science and social studies areas are a perfect match for GBS because it's a good way to teach facts and information in a way that captures the students' attention.
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Hi Paul. I sense your pain :-)
ReplyDeleteAt my school, a few Spanish teachers assign video projects as a way for students to have fun with learning Spanish. They have assigned music videos, public announcements, and other projects that enable the students to demonstrate and practice vocabulary and comprehension.
Here's a link to one of the more popular videos that have been produced: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7GZj_lolRI
Let me know if this works out for you!
I agree that this really does like a common sense approach although the concept of standardized tests seems to get in the way of GBS. Some subjects definetly seem better suited for this goal-based learning while others may be able to work a lesson or two in using this model.
ReplyDeleteFunny, you mentioned this being suitable for sciences and I don't quite see how it's efficient for teaching facts. I think it's totally great for languages, though. Granted, I don't have the standards to be guided or restricted by, but I still think authentic scenarios are a great way to teach language that is relevant in real life. By the way, Lizbeth, that video you suggested was very funny! :)
ReplyDeleteit's great to hear that your students love to be silly and creative. i get the opposite impression from many students - their time in class is so tight that they don't want to hear about things or do things that won't be on the tests. i am not sure gbs would work for these students as i don't think they could suspend their disbelief long enough to go through the whole scenario. i guess this is what years of standardized tests to do a student!
ReplyDeletePlaying a doctor.. I LOVE THAT! In Spanish classes I had, it was always memorize the words, take a test, learn some more, repeat. Had the activities been relevant, I may have remembered more Spanish than I do now. Its sad to me that after 3 years of Spanish I probably could not pass a Spanish 1 class now!
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