Teaching Marx to 10th Graders

This year, my syllabus requires me to teach The Communist Manifesto as a “core-work” to my sophomores. I didn’t read Marx until college, and when I put the manifesto into readability, it clearly labels it a college read. Needless to say, I was concerned my students wouldn’t understand the piece. So I decided to recreate the manifesto inside the classroom. Here’s how:

Before their first night of homework from the Manifesto, I activated student’s prior knowledge of capitalism and communism and filled in the gaps so they learned enough background to understand these social economic and political systems. Then, I prominently displayed this visual representation of Capitalism on the whiteboard (below) knowing I would refer to is as we talked about Marx. After we activated our knowledge of our own system, and what capitalism and socialism/communism might look like in diagram form, I reached into my desk drawer and pulled out fifty Dunkin’ Donuts munchkins.

With my munchkins, I represented the bourgeoisie, controlling the means of production, and the students represented the proletariat trying to get a piece of the means of production (except for those who didn’t like munchkins!). As we went back through the first chapter of Marx, in which he attacks capitalism and the bourgeoisie for its exploitative nature, I asked the students directed questions. When students answered correctly concerning Marx’s main points, I gave them donuts. I did this in my role as a teacher to reward understanding and get everyone involved and excited about learning a tough topic. But, in my role as the bourgeoisie, I was using my donuts to bribe the proletariat (the students) to keep quiet about my controversial business practices that rewarded me with 50 munchkins compared to their zero or one munchkin. Obviously, this was not done fairly--I played favorites, I didn’t always call on first person with their hand up, and I lowered the bar for others.

“[Labourers] are a commodity, like every other article of commerce, and are consequently exposed to all the vicissitudes of competition, to all the fluctuations of the market” -K. Marx

As we progressed, students began getting angry at me as a teacher, for my stringent, unfair requirements for distributing donuts, and angry at me as the bourgeoisie for just how aggressively they had been exploited for more donuts/money. They started to understand Marx; their eyes opened to the negative aspects of capitalism. And when they were getting tired of my game, and Marx’s critique of capitalism, it was time for revolution, and donuts for all!

“The proletarian movement is the self-conscious, independent movement of the immense majority, in the interest of the immense majority” -K. Marx

When we got to Marx’s points about how the proletariat can come together and rise up, I relinquished my monopoly on the discussion to allow them to organize. Then, I allowed them to overthrow the bourgeoisie. The class concluded deliciously with munchkins for all--minds and stomachs were happily satiated!

I'm Raising an Army of "Google Jockeys"

Last week, my department chair called me a “Google Jockey” when I looked something up while conversing with him. I had never heard the term, but immediately fell in love with it. In my history classroom, I encourage students to google things that we are discussing. If they’re acting like a google jockey, they’re engaged. I know teachers who would disagree, but nothing makes me happier than when I walk around behind my students and see them on wikipedia.

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Some days, I start class with a list of terms for students to google, and I recommend that they do that each day when I state our agenda. It’s my opinion that if a student is curious, they should look up what we’re discussing. If it helps them answer a question or formulate an opinion, great. If it leads them to ask me a question about it, even better. Perhaps the greatest thing about the immediate google search is that often when you stumble upon a page, it will lead you to another page with more information.

If students frequently pursue further information, they will naturally weigh how that information fits into whatever you may be doing in your life. This leads to powerful connections and these connections push creativity and innovation--two of the most important things I can teach.

While activating google to pursue knowledge is excellent, learning evolves when a student curates or distributes that information. Simply perusing the information is good, but applying, moving, or storing it for discussion and re-engagement is that much more important. As a digital student in graduate school, I frantically googled content that my professors discussed or suggested we research. And, this led me to information that I wanted to learn (and store) from the graduate classes (that ironically, would help my own classes down the road). I’d much rather go looking on my own than getting stuck with just what’s on the syllabus. After all, if I wanted to just follow the syllabus, why pay for and show up for the class at all?

Of course, those who disagree with this practice argue that it distracts the student. This is true. But, there are hundreds of things that distract students that they’ll have to get used to succeed in college and make an impact in their profession. If a “distraction” is to further research a topic we are discussion in class, that’s a win. I will admit, however, that this approach is not for every student. Some retain and apply more when they have time to let the information marinate rather than consuming more. Therefore, this practice inherently helps students figure out the kind of learners they are.