American Teaching Philosophies in Czech Schools

There's a lot of discussion, and to be frank, a lot of opposition, in the United States right now about the new Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS), which are the first uniform teaching standards across the nation. In general, I think the nation is going in the right direction and I agree with preparing students for college and career readiness, however, I'm with many other teachers who disagree with how the new standards are being implemented. For instance, altering standardized tests before actually preparing students to take those tests. As a nation, our education system definitely needs to be reformed, but one cannot expect a miracle over night. I believe the new CCLS will be beneficial, but for the next generation of students, who will have time to learn the strategies necessary to succeed from kindergarten upward. Then again, it is nearly every teacher's dream to get rid of standardized testing altogether...

With that being said, I believe its relatively easy to incorporate these new standards into lessons. Sure, it takes some hard work and long hours for teachers, but the end products and student engagement are often worth it. For example, my colleague, Vašek, asked me to create an "American" project for one of his classes here in the Czech Republic. He gave me a handout surrounding the idea of an invention project, which I gave to students so they could jot down basic ideas.

Then, I transformed this simple handout into a more elaborate project and went over it with the students:

My vision for these students and this project included the following: a Power Point presentation, a prototype of the invention (though it did not have to actually work), and a commercial advertising their product. It culminated in a 3-5 minute oral presentation. Students also received rubrics that I created for each part of the project. Please note, the grading system in the Czech Republic (1 = A, 2 = B, 3 = C, 4 = D, 5 = F).

For all intents and purposes of this blog, here are the commercials for the products, which is the only aspect of the project I will show you. Students worked in groups of 3-4 people, and I did the project with one of Monika's classes as well, for a total of 7 inventions/innovations. Some things to keep in mind: These are native Czech speakers who have been learning English since the third grade. They are equivalent to 8th and 9th graders.

Strength Potion

V. A. M. T. 

Teleportation App

Hot Cup

Mastermind Pills

Optimistic Glasses

Mega Bombastic Wallet

The Fronser

In terms of teacher preparation, I worked on the project for over a week on and off. I had a pretty solid vision of where I wanted this project to go because I have seen a version of it done before in economics classes while I student-taught at Francis Lewis High School in Queens. On the other hand, I did not have any of their resources with me, so I had to do everything from scratch. Additionally, I spent a long time on the grading rubrics. I compiled bits and pieces of various rubrics I found online until I made ones I was satisfied with in the end. The project incorporated some research by students, creativity and critical thinking, and real world analysis and application. 

The project was a great success and the students did fantastic work. I met with the students once a week for a total of five weeks to complete the project. Any work not finished during class hours was done after school or on the weekend, which was a new concept for the students, who barely receive any homework at all here. Additionally, it was quite difficult for students in the beginning because Czech students are not taught to be creative; they are taught to memorize information. This project really challenged them and forced them to leave their comfort zone. Most students had never done an oral presentation in English class before. Students do take information technology, or computer, classes, however, I did go over in detail how the Power Point presentations should be prepared. Unfortunately, I did not go over how to make a commercial in great depth, which is something I would definitely do in the future. Overall, I was very impressed with the work these students did!