Introducing….

I learned something new today and I can’t wait to pass it along to you.  I learned that if you are trying to get someone else to learn something, the way you introduce it may make all the difference in whether it is learned or forgotten within hours.  

Picture two lessons.  The first, a writing lesson in which you want students to understand the order of a paragraph.  You begin by setting the topic, let’s say, “My Favorite Food.”  You ask students to talk with their neighbor about their favorite food.  You invite students to share with the class about their favorite food.  You ask each child to draft cluster about their favorite food.  Finally, you remind them that you want a topic sentence, at least three major details, and a conclusion.  The second lesson, let’s say a science lesson on magnetism in which you want the students to understand the idea of polarity.  You begin by bouncing two circular magnets on a pencil.  You follow that with a chain of 10 bar magnets which you swing back and forth.  Immediately after, you chase one magnet around on top of an overhead projector with another.  Finally, you put a piece of glass over a bar magnet and pour iron filings on the glass.  You explain that each magnet has two types of charges and that while the two different charges want to join together, two of the same charges want to stay apart.

Which lesson is more likely to achieve its purpose?  Though with students there are no guarantees, I’m guessing that the second lesson has a far greater chance of succeeding because it’s introduction was aimed at the instructional goal.  Students might remember the first lesson, or at least know more about their or a classmate’s favorite food.  They’re not likely, however, to understand anything more about the structure of the paragraph, even if they worked hard to write a good paragraph.

Why?  This is what I learned today.  The brain encodes information in the same places where it first goes to make sense of it.  In Lesson 1, the brain is going to access the “food memories” places.  Any information about paragraph structure will probably get lost and languish there.  In Lesson 2, the brain will perceive the demonstrations, attempt to understand them, and encode the explanation, all in the same place.  Consequently, if the student wants to retrieve her understanding of polarity at a later date, that understanding will occupy a discrete and substantial place in the student’s brain.

Pretty cool, huh?  In all my years of teaching writing, I bypassed the need for a memorable introduction to get students to focus on the “meat” of their topic.  Major details and elaboration were everything to me.  I’m now thinking that those examples and elaboration may have been misplaced.  What do you think?

“I’ll Show Him”

Ever have a student who just didn’t seem to want to do his work?  If you did, did you ever try to do something about it, like maybe keep him in for recess to finish an assignment?  The book I’m reading right now, Visible Learning and the Science of How We Learn, states unequivocally that there are no major studies which support punitive actions if support of learning.  

I can’t know about you, but I know that I did that frequently and consistently.  Sitting with the advantage of hindsight, I can’t say that it was very effective.  In fact, even if I achieved my immediate goal of getting the student to do some work to avoid my punishments, the research implies that I have done more longterm harm than good.

There is at least some research done with high school students that demonstrated that teachers trained in building closeness with their students had a measurable positive impact on those students.  The pearl in that oyster is that the results didn’t show up immediately.  The results, instead, began to show in the year following.  That study didn’t consider the opposite case, that is, a campaign of power and coercion, and what longterm impact it might have on student achievement and attitudes about school and learning, but I’m guessing that the statistics might not be so positive.

This reminds me of Jim Fay’s stories (see www.loveandlogic.com) about how important a positive approach is for successful relationships.  One case in particular, a teacher who was given the very “worst” students to teach, who was successful in getting her students to engage because her primary emphasis was to build a strong personal relationship with each child. 

I’m thinking that the “reality therapy” part of student failure to engage is the honest reports home and, of course, low, even failing, grades. But I’m also thinking that under-performing students might respond to their reality more positively if they’re not actively fighting a teacher’s power moves and instead, feel that their teacher really wants to help them, not as a “student,” but as a real person.

Certainly, what I’ve said above falls into the category of, “Do as I say, not as I did.”

A Tiny Voice for Education

I've already changed my mind about ending my blog posts.  Although it appears that there's not an audience for the discussion of some of the ideas I've shared, it does seem that there was a small audience for the posts and the ideas contained therein.  

AND, ever-so-important, I've discovered that I enjoyed composing the posts and missed writing them, clarifying ideas as I wrote.  Consequently, I'm doing an abrupt turn-around and deciding to post at least once a week, perhaps more often, to share ideas stimulated by my reading.  Judging from the stack of books on my end table, I won't be stopping any time soon. :)

Rich

http://enrichinged.blogspot.com

Teachers' Turn To Learn

“… if you want to be a better teacher, you cannot be satisfied simply to gain experience as the years pass. You must also practice, and practice means (1) consciously trying to improve, (2) seeking feedback on your teaching, and (3) undertaking activities for the sake of improvement, even if they don’t directly contribute to your job.”

Willingham, Daniel T. (2009-06-10). Why Don't Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom (Kindle Locations 3238-3240). Wiley. Kindle Edition. 

The above quote caught my attention this morning because it addresses what this blog is all about.  It is my goal to bring to teachers insights from my reading that may help teachers be more successful in their classrooms.  Willingham says that the research on teacher improvement is not flattering to teachers.  According to his reading of the research, teachers grow most quickly in their first few years in the classroom.  Using scores on standardized tests as a measure, teachers show significant growth in their first five years.  What’s alarming is that a 20-year veteran of the classroom posts results no better than a 10-year veteran.  He says that teachers, though more experienced, produce no better measurable results from what he calls the “self-serving bias,” the habit of seeing what happens in their classrooms in a light favorable to themselves, with problems blamed on external forces.  While I suspect that a failure to improve is not in the least limited to teaching, I think that teachers, in particular, should strive to go beyond the “self-serving bias” if they can.

We ask our students to come to school and grow every day.  We expect them to work hard, focus, and learn new information, habits, and skills.  We know that children pick up attitudes and behaviors quite uncritically from their families, as in “…the apple don’t fall far from the tree.”  Is it not reasonable to expect that our behaviors and attitudes have a similar effect on our students?  That is, if they see and hear us trying new things, being willing to do poorly at first, even asking for their impressions of the new things we’re trying, is it not possible that that spirit of improvement might rub off on our students?  I particularly mention the openness to use our students as coaches for our improvement because coaching is one thing that Willingham says is important for learning.  Feedback, even if it’s painful or frustrating at times, is what elevates experience to genuine practice and defeats the impulse to sum up “the same old thing” with a cheery, “I think that went well.”

In his book, Willingham offers a 5-step plan for using video and partner teaching to study, ciritque, and enhance teaching skills.  I encourage the reader to look up Willingham’s book for that and many other fine ideas.  What I’ve said covers points (1) and (2) above.  About (3), Willingham offers a metaphor.  He mentions athletes who lift weights to get stronger, even though weightlifting isn’t directly related to the athlete’s sport.  For the teacher, I would suggest that extensive reading in areas that support curricular areas as well as titles in psychology, technology, and even business might qualify as those outside pursuits which might enhance teaching skills.  There are also numerous blogs written by teachers which might stimulate new ideas in the classroom.  One that I’ve been following lately, Ditch the Textbook, is a model for a teacher looking to improve classroom education by adapting relevant technologies to the task of educating children being raised in an era of rapidly-changing technology.  Just a word of caution about technology.  If technology is used to deliver the “same old” message, that is not innovation.  I suspect that the best uses of technology will be those which allow students to get quicker and more effective feedback.