I often tell my colleagues that it's not really a question whether your students are learning or not. Brain science, social science and common sense tells us that they are learning from us from the moment they darken our doorstep.
The real question then becomes... what are they learning? This is the one thing we truly control the most. I also like how your post taps lightly on the door of the affective domain of learning. Bloom, et al nailed the cognitive domain pretty nicely. Of course, he also foresaw the power of the affective domain, and expected others to pick up where he left off. I think we have much room to grow in this area. herein lies the "persistence to graduation" and "attendance" issues we face today.
Nicely framed and succinct proposition here.....
Sean
Matt Townsley
· 6 months ago
Well framed, Sean: "The real question then becomes... what are they learning? This is the one thing we truly control the most." Your closing comments allude to what I believe can be the most challenging aspect of education, "motivation." Differentiating content and process daily for such a diverse group of learners seems like an impossible task. On the flip side, this reality shouldn't freeze our efforts! This mysterious motivational challenge is often what keeps me going throughout the school year.
Thanks for your feedback and thoughts.
Russ Goerend
· 6 months ago
So, I started thinking, "Am I just in the classroom to catch my kids learning? What am I there for?" First thought was that I'm in the classroom to provide my students with opportunities get caught learning, but I don't think that's it either. Last year around this time, I was basically a study hall monitor in a high school. Around the time the weather started getting warm, some of the fellas and I realized we had a similar interest in playing fantasy baseball. The difference was that they were used to drafting their teams without much -- if any -- preparation. I'm way too nerdy to let that happen. So I'd drop subtle hints to them about young players' minor league records and say things like, "You can get _______ late and he'll get you the same stats as a chic pick." Pretty soon after that, they were coming up to me trying to get me to guess all their "sleeper picks." It's kind of like "Give someone a fish/teach them to fish." The fish in the analogy is the opportunity to learn. As teachers, we're not going to be around these students forever. We have to help them learn to create their own opportunities to learn. (As of 7 a.m. on May 20, 2009) that's what I feel teachers are here for.
Matt Townsley
· 6 months ago
Great examples here, Russ. I like the way you framed this philosophy of education, "We have to help them learn to create their own opportunities to learn."
A more "student-centered" classroom supports this agenda as does inquiry learning and special attention on the instructors part to differentiating content (when appropriate).
Darren
· 6 months ago
In my past teaching life, I did give the question (What did you learn in this class?) to my junior students and wow did they run with it. I received amazing projects that showed me they learned much more than I ever expected. In fact, they were also given the ability to answer the question in what ever multiple intelligence they felt most comfortable expressing their answer to the aforementioned question. Oh I wish I could display the many ways that they expressed the same curriculum in such distinctly different platforms.
Patrick
· 6 months ago
You ask: "If metacognition and self-assessment are worthy ideals, what are we doing to help this practice rub off on our students?" and I think that question is so right on. When we are in front of a group of students, what we should be doing is modeling how we work as thinkers and learners. Not all of our students get what it means to solve problems; some don't know what it's like to fail several times before getting it right.
Russ' point above demonstrates the idea that there are patterns and methods we can use with students that, although not solidly academic, will give them the opportunities for unique and useful thought.
Matt Townsley
· 6 months ago
@Russ - I like this "lifelong learning" mentality. Let us never lose sight of this attitude in our classrooms. I'm inclined to think that someday your students will remember Mr. G as "that teacher who was always learning."
@Darren - Wow. This scenario/idea would sure take a 'culture change' in order to happen effectively. It might take away the "how much do I have to do to get an A" comments over time. Thanks for sharing.
@Patrick - You said, "some don't know what it's like to fail several times before getting it right." I think you're right. I find myself sometimes "spoon feeding" answers/ideas to my students while other times asking them questions in return like, "what do you think?" or "how might you go about doing that?" Thanks for your inspiration to continue in the right path.
All Comments
I often tell my colleagues that it's not really a question whether your students are learning or not. Brain science, social science and common sense tells us that they are learning from us from the moment they darken our doorstep.
The real question then becomes... what are they learning? This is the one thing we truly control the most. I also like how your post taps lightly on the door of the affective domain of learning. Bloom, et al nailed the cognitive domain pretty nicely. Of course, he also foresaw the power of the affective domain, and expected others to pick up where he left off. I think we have much room to grow in this area. herein lies the "persistence to graduation" and "attendance" issues we face today.
Nicely framed and succinct proposition here.....
Sean
Thanks for your feedback and thoughts.
A more "student-centered" classroom supports this agenda as does inquiry learning and special attention on the instructors part to differentiating content (when appropriate).
Russ' point above demonstrates the idea that there are patterns and methods we can use with students that, although not solidly academic, will give them the opportunities for unique and useful thought.
@Darren - Wow. This scenario/idea would sure take a 'culture change' in order to happen effectively. It might take away the "how much do I have to do to get an A" comments over time. Thanks for sharing.
@Patrick - You said, "some don't know what it's like to fail several times before getting it right." I think you're right. I find myself sometimes "spoon feeding" answers/ideas to my students while other times asking them questions in return like, "what do you think?" or "how might you go about doing that?" Thanks for your inspiration to continue in the right path.