Learning in the Class

There are many ways to learn other than in the simple lecture/notes way. I think my American Education professor has a unique way of teaching that works. The class is broken into groups that have to do at least one of several assignments each week, totally one of each assignment for the semester. Because this is an education class, the assignments are focused on education, but they would work for many different classes. Among these assignments are:

News: summarize current local, state, and national news on then lead a short discussion
Debate: two people on each side*, other groups ask cross examination questions so they have to be educated on the topic
Book Discussion: read an approved book, lead a 20 minute discussion
Interview: interview a professional in the subject, then give an oral report to the class and lead a short discussion
Speech: choose any topic related to the course and give a five minute speech
Position Paper: write a few-page paper on any debate issue* that was not that student's debate topic thats briefly summarizes, defends their position, hold a meeting with their group for a small discussion
Topical Essay: same format as the position paper but done on any topic in the subject
Field Experience: certain number of hours working with subject (ex: tutoring at a local school for education, getting a positive evaluation from a supervisor), and write a short reflection

*Our debates are based on the book Taking Sides: Clashing Views of Controversial Educational Issues (16th ed.) by J.W. Noll. Each chapter is an educational question, and there are two short essays arguing "Yes" or "No," which are the sides we take for our debates in class. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in education.

There should also be an emphasis on guided conversations about class material. How many times will a student take a multiple-choice test after they finish school? Basically never. How many times will they write a paper? Depending on their occupation, a few times to many times. How many times will they have to talk about what they're doing? Many, many, many times.