Final Post

Having failed to create neither a single conversation nor build a significant or growing audience, I must conclude that the time has come to curtail this work and look elsewhere to contribute to educaiton.  I continue to believe in the power of research to motivate insights in teaching.  It is only with educator willingness to change, and the inspiration to see how and where to change, that education can escape the traditional "teaching" practices within which it has been stuck for the past century.

Interruptions

Interruptions

Ever sit down in the afternoon to read a book or newspaper and soon after starting have the phone ring?  Sometimes I think my friends are on FaceTime, just waiting for me to sit down.  If that ever happens to you, watch what you do next.  Research says that you’ll return to the interrupted task with increased intensity.  You see, researchers have know for quite some time that, when we’re interrupted at a task, our brain treats that task as a goal and yearns to complete it.  So I got to thinking…

It might be worth the test for teachers to purposely interrupt students working on, say, math practice or perhaps a writing assignment.  The key would be to wait until the class was, for the most part, absorbed in the task.  That would both create the frustration that would intensify the goal of completing the task, and, it would make it more likely that students would look over what they had completed and refresh their approach to the task, also a proven strategy for enhancing the learning.  

I’m not saying that this is a proven technique.  What I’m saying is that research suggests that it “might” enhance learning.  How might one do that in the classroom?  One approach that make sense to me is to minimize the time for work completion after instruction so that students had time to plan and begin their work, but not enough time to complete it.  Then, later in the day, while the material is still relatively fresh in students’ minds, a “study hall” period could be planned where students completed catch up assignment with the teacher flowing around the classroom providing support.

If you try it, please let me know how it worked.

Interruptions

Interruptions

Ever sit down in the afternoon to read a book or newspaper and soon after starting have the phone ring?  Sometimes I think my friends are on FaceTime, just waiting for me to sit down.  If that ever happens to you, watch what you do next.  Research says that you’ll return to the interrupted task with increased intensity.  You see, researchers have know for quite some time that, when we’re interrupted at a task, our brain treats that task as a goal and yearns to complete it.  So I got to thinking…

It might be worth the test for teachers to purposely interrupt students working on, say, math practice or perhaps a writing assignment.  The key would be to wait until the class was, for the most part, absorbed in the task.  That would both create the frustration that would intensify the goal of completing the task, and, it would make it more likely that students would look over what they had completed and refresh their approach to the task, also a proven strategy for enhancing the learning.  

I’m not saying that this is a proven technique.  What I’m saying is that research suggests that it “might” enhance learning.  How might one do that in the classroom?  One approach that make sense to me is to minimize the time for work completion after instruction so that students had time to plan and begin their work, but not enough time to complete it.  Then, later in the day, while the material is still relatively fresh in students’ minds, a “study hall” period could be planned where students completed catch up assignment with the teacher flowing around the classroom providing support.

If you try it, please let me know how it worked.

Nature or Nurture?

Back in the “old days” when I still taught, I often felt dismayed that the last week of school was, for some teachers, a time for extra recess and a daily movie.  Occasionally, one of my students would challenge me with something like, “Mr. Howell, the other fourth graders get to watch movies this week.”  My response was always the same:  “I’m paid to give you 180 days of education, and I’m going to do my best to do just that.

We’re born with something like 100 billion brain cells, “neurons,” they’re called.  From shortly before birth until about age 2, we form an incredible number of connections between those neurons, perhaps 150 trillion connections, called “synapses.”  From age 2 until about 16, we “educate” those neurons and synapses.  At about age 16, the brain pares off about a third of its neurons.  While it’s not firmly established what determines which neurons stay and which go, many believe that the brain simply gets rid of the neurons and related synapses that are unused.  It appears that the initial structure of our neural network is the work of “nature,” and that the adult version of that brain reflects the effects of “nurture” on that initial structure.

As I’ve reported frequently, our adult brain relies heavily on the background knowledge and skills that we acquire between age 2 and 16 to continue to grow and learn.  This makes elementary education particularly valuable to the adult success of our students.  Within the 180 days that we’re given with our students, we bear a huge responsibility to put them in the position to learn the skills and knowledge that will take them through life.  Should we really trust that to Disney?

A Day in the Classroom

Recently, theory met practice:  I taught for a day in a friend’s classroom.  As is often the case for a substitute, not knowing the regular classroom teacher’s routines, chaos occasionally ensues when the sub, me, does something which “violates” normal classroom practice.  

Today, I ran across an article that I downloaded long ago, so long ago that I had no idea I even had it.  How I wish I had read it last week instead of today.  It described “The Teacher/Student Game.”

In short, the piece pointed out that positive reinforcement is far more effective than punishment.  Reinforced behaviors become habit.  Punished behaviors tend to be avoided mostly when the “punisher” is present, but are practiced with impunity when the fear of discovery is minimal.

The game is played by the teacher setting out the expectations/behaviors that he/she is looking for.  For example, for Math class, the teacher may want students to keep their eyes forward during instruction, try to do every practice problem, raise their hands to volunteer or ask questions (which includes no blurting out), and be helpful to their classmates.  The list should be  relatively short, and it’s a good idea for the teacher to keep a copy of the list close as hand as a visual reminder to “catch” students practicing those behaviors frequently.  Students get points on a tally chart it they’re “caught” demonstrating those behaviors, and the teacher gets points if students are “caught” failing to do so.  The authors of the article added that the teacher can make the “game” more fun by being dramatic almost to the point of being silly.

It’s important for the teacher to be vigilant in catching the requested behaviors.  Every time students earn a point, they are reinforced for that behavior.  The authors assert that the teacher need not be shy about awarding teacher points for students who forget, though, in general, student points should exceed teacher points.  I would guess that the first few times the game is played, the list of expected behaviors should be very short, maybe only one or two.  It the classroom I taught in this week, I’d start with raising hands and waiting to be called on before talking.

What are points worth?  If it was me, I’d total up the net (great way to teach net/gross concept) points daily and when students hit a magic number, the’d earn a class reward like extra recess, an art/craft activity, or something of their choosing as a goal.  To make the points relevant, I’d suggest that the point goal be achievable in no more than a week at first so that the points are meaningfully rewarding.  The point goal can be increased a bit when students have bought in to the premise of the game.

I’m quite confident that, had I played The Teacher/Student Game last week, the day would have gone quite peacefully.

Teaching for the Successful Life

Did you know that a better predictor of future health, wealth, and happiness for our students is not academic success?  There is research that says that it is “years in education”, more than grades or awards, that predicts what we’d generally call “success in life.”  And, it is most likely that it is in the 11-15-year age group (grades 5-9) that students decide if education is for them.  Think about that.

Based on this research, it seems paramount that students’ elementary education engage and reward them in ways such that they define learning and personal growth as a lifelong goal.  To do that, students must identify themselves as learners.  And how do we do that?

No doubt the answer to that question is complex and unique for each learner.  At its core, I suspect, is achievement, conscious achievement.  By “conscious achievement” I mean that students must spend a major amount of their time engaged in activities for which they can get a “score,” and that the score must typically be a good one.  We need to know we’re succeeding.

It is for that reason that I have regularly advocated the use of programs like Accelerated Reader (no, in spite of what it may appear, I own no stock in Advantage Learning).  I’ve supported A.R. in particular, because it challenges students with reading at their diagnosed reading level, provides them with a broad source of general knowledge, demonstrates to them over time that they are achieving, and reports scores along they way.  Not only is A.R. not alone in providing students with meaningful and rewarding feedback, I suspect that moving forward in our age of digital media, opportunities and refinements will continue to expand and be more personally adaptive.

The point here is that tasks need to be well chosen to accomplish two goals.  First, the task must be approachable by each student at their personal level of development.  Second, the task must provide clear and meaningful feedback which in some form, whether statistical or by teacher commentary, demonstrates what the student do well, how the student did that, and in what ways the student’s performance demonstrates that student’s learning.  Workbooks are typically not going to do that.

Change Hurts

I began this blog with the fundamental belief that education needed change and that the best way to create meaningful change was to apply what was known about how humans learn to the practice of education.  This all was begun with full recognition that humans don't like to change.  According to Daniel Willingham, we're not even built for change.  We're built to act primarily by habit.

Change in education is formidable.  We teach, in large part, the way we were taught.  There's a huge infrastructure which supports that as well.  University professors who teach pre-service teachers and consult on textbooks are invested in a system in which they were trained a quarter-century ago.  Teachers who have taught for a quarter-century are heavily invested in doing what they have done for most of their careers.  Junior teachers, even if they've been influenced by current research, are mentored by the old guard.  The apprentice system worked great for centuries, but I'm not so sure it's the best model for training those who educate children in the information age.

Daniel Willingham tells us that to be recognized as intelligent, capable, and creative, children need background knowledge that is "...a mile wide and an inch deep...," but we fail to do that.  Reading, lots of reading, is Willingham's primary nominee for providing that background knowledge.  Most classrooms "don't have time" for reading though.  The teacher's too busy teaching.  I believe it was Harry Wong who said that when you walk into a classroom, you can tell who's doing the learning by seeing who's doing the most work.  If the teacher's teaching, it's likely that student growth is minimal.  I'm still convinced that change will come when teachers teach less and student work more.

A Day in the Classroom

This past week, theory met practice:  I taught for a day in a friend’s classroom.  As is often the case for a substitute, not knowing the regular classroom teacher’s routines, chaos occasionally ensues when the sub, me, does something which “violates” normal classroom practice.  

Today, I ran across an article which I downloaded so long ago that I had no idea I even had it.  How I wish I had read it last week instead of today.  It described “The Teacher/Student Game.”

In short, the piece pointed out that positive reinforcement is far more effective than punishment.  Reinforced behaviors become habit.  Punished behaviors tend to be avoided mostly when the “punisher” is present, but are practiced with relative impunity when the fear of discovery is minimal.

The game is played by the teacher setting out the expectations/behaviors that he/she is looking for.  For example, for Math class, the teacher may want students to (1) keep their eyes forward during instruction, (2) attempt to solve every practice problem, (3) raise their hands to volunteer or ask questions, and (4) be helpful to their classmates.  The list should be relatively short, and it’s a good idea for the teacher to keep a copy of the list close as hand as a visual reminder to frequently “catch” students practicing those behaviors.  Students get points on a tally chart it they’re “caught” demonstrating those behaviors, and the teacher gets points if students are “caught” failing to do so.  The authors of the article added that the teacher can make the “game” more fun by being dramatic almost to the point of being silly.

It’s important for the teacher to be vigilant in catching the requested behaviors and name the behavior being rewarded.  Every time students earn a point, they are reinforced for that behavior.  The authors assert that the teacher need not be shy about awarding teacher points for students who forget, though, in general, student points should exceed teacher points.  I would guess that the first few times the game is played, the list of expected behaviors should be very short, maybe only one or two.  In the classroom I taught in this week, I’d start with raising hands and waiting to be called on before talking.

What are points worth?  If it was my class, I’d total up the net (great way to teach net/gross concept) points daily and when students hit a magic number, they’d earn a class reward like extra recess, an art/craft activity, or something of their choosing as a goal.  To make the points relevant, I’d suggest that the point goal be achievable in no more than a week at first so that the points are meaningfully rewarding.  The point goal could likely be increased a bit when students have bought in to the premise of the game.

I’m quite confident that, had I played The Teacher/Student Game last week, confusion could have been reduced and helpful behaviors prevailed.