Learning. Understanding. Creativity. Motivation. Behavior. Cognition. These are a few of the concepts that stand out in my mind as I reflect upon the coursework we have completed this summer. While some of the assignments may have been arduous at times, I find myself energized by what I have learned and perhaps more importantly, what I have been inspired to try in the classroom, incorporate into my teaching and to learn more about .
As teachers we tend to think that we know all there is to know about learning. We “know” all about learning styles, and we have generally “mastered” how to incorporate hands-on learning in our teaching. Case closed. What intrigues me about all of the information we have covered is the idea of blending together the best of all learning theories and applying them in the classroom. The challenge is then, how to do it? As I begin to look back at all of the readings, my notes, and then at further research, I find that I am overwhelmed not so much with the information, but with the idea of how to integrate it in a way that will work for me, that will be lasting, and will have a positive impact on my teaching and on my students.
One of the first notes I took early on this summer says, “teach through inquiry.” This was at the end of my section of notes on “The Power of Children’s Thinking,” which led me to think more about guided inquiry and its implications for the classroom. This is a powerful learning tool because it can greatly increase student motivation. As I have found teaching science, when students are given the opportunity to question, conduct experiments, draw conclusions, and then engage in dialogue about their findings, great learning can take place. Adding technology into this process raises the level of engagement, and using the right tools, also raises the potential for deeper understanding, breadth/depth, and concept attainment. My challenge is going to be adding inquiry to subject areas that may not, at first blush, seem an easy fit: Social Studies, Language Arts, Math. I can readily think of ways to adapt Social Studies curriculum, but it would be a departure from the “typical” teaching methods usually applied to this subject area. For example, rather than teaching the journey of Marco Polo from a typical “timeline” approach, where the learning of facts is emphasized, I could ask students to explore what was happening in the world during the year of 1271. Groups would be assigned to research different continents, countries, etc. As a group we could define what information we should seek, determine importance and gathering activities, as well as project parameters. As we continued through the research, we could look at who were influential people of this time - explorers, politicians, etc. This learning would be far more valuable, and offer a greater breadth of knowledge for the students than simply reading a few paragraphs in a text book and memorizing key dates in Polo’s life.
It would be fairly easy to apply inquiry to Math, though it would require careful planning and deviation from the curriculum as laid out by the district. As I conducted further research, I found many examples of math lessons utilizing the inquiry approach. One subject that I would like to use this approach for in the fall is perimeter and area. I would like to structure an opening question in such a way that students will have to go beyond applying the formula to find a satisfactory answer. Some students will be able to successfully apply the formula to solve a problem, but given a diagram or situational problem, are unable to discern the proper numbers to make the formula work. A persistent problem I have noticed among my students is the inability to remember the difference between perimeter and area. This is because they have never had the opportunity to construct their own learning around this topic; they have been given formulas to memorize with nothing to attach them to and thus learning did not occur. One concern that I have is the amount of time required to do this well. My district gives teachers a pacing guide for math instruction which dictates how many days are allocated for each topic, and which units must be taught within each semester. Fitting in lessons with a constructivist approach will require some creative planning on my part; however, the benefits outweigh the challenges.
Using inquiry for Language Arts will require additional research and careful study, however. Maya Eagleton, Kathleen Guinee, and Karen Langlais (2003), detail a language arts project that involves inquiry in a very structured, scaffolded series of lessons. I worked on a similar lesson with my fourth grade students last year through a WebQuest, but was constrained by my Media Specialist as to what websites students were allowed to search. There were instances where I walked a student through using Google when “approved sites” turned up nothing, but it was with much trepidation and admonitions to always check with an adult before searching alone. It was this experience combined with my research that made it clear to me that we must educate children in upper elementary how to use the web safely and responsibly if they are to be successful learners in this digital age. However, as the authors pointed out,
“while it is tempting to focus
on content acquisition or the final products of
online research, it is imperative that language arts
teachers emphasize the inquiry process instead.”
It is this that I must keep in mind as I work with my students this year. I would like to allow my students more opportunities to construct their own learning through book clubs where they choose their book (from a group of teacher-selected texts), and with their group determine how they will meet the requirements (teacher provided rubric) for the book. Allowing students this control (creating a scrapbook, journal, wiki, blog, play, etc) will result in greater investment in the project, and with proper guidelines, deeper learning. This type of learning allows for “reflected abstraction” as noted by Vygotsky, as well as the six facets of understanding. Students gain perspective from one another in this process, and through discussion are able to broaden and deepen their understanding of characters, plot and theme of a text.
One of the criticisms of the inquiry or constructivist model has been one of student misconceptions not being addressed, or the teacher missing their misconceptions because this is a student-directed approach to learning. However, evoking schema through a brain-storming session prior to beginning, engaging the students in critical discussion through carefully crafted questions, closely monitoring progress throughout the project, and including a constructed response as part of evaluation will parse out misconceptions and allow the teacher opportunities to correct (or have students engage in activities to correct) misconceptions that may persist. The greatest challenge to me (and most teachers) will be giving up “control” and allowing the students to construct their learning, rather than engaging in lessons that ultimately “tell” them the information.
Evoking schema prior to learning is a powerful learning tool that has been greatly underutilized in education. While it is something many educators do instinctively, I believe it needs to be a conscious part of lesson planning. As Shulman pointed out in his article, What is learning and what does it look like when it doesn’t go well , we need to begin from the inside and work out. I had been introduced to the idea of schema several years ago in the context of reading, and have henceforth taught and challenged my students to “unpack their schema” about a topic before beginning to read. However, prior to this summer, I had rarely considered consciously engaging in this activity for other subject areas. Yet it makes perfect sense: we must make connections in order for learning to take place.
I am excited to begin this school year with brainstorming sessions about each subject area with my students. I plan to create paper “clouds” (thank you delicious) for each area, containing what students know, what they think they know, and how they feel (attitudes) about each subject. This will enable us have a discussion and identify what we are building on as we tackle new subjects. Evoking schema will have a two-fold benefit: it will enable students to make connections for new learning, and empower them by pointing out how much they already know. In addition, it will allow us to identify misconceptions and work to “change the mind.” (Gardner, 2006) As we identify good, solid, pieces of schema for each subject area, we will create a “brick” (out of paper) with that information on it. With this we will lay a “foundation” (on a bulletin board or wall) upon which we will add bricks as the year progresses. I am interested to see what students will do when it becomes clear that the bricks don’t build individual “buildings,” but actually overlap and create one big structure. This is a new idea, born of this class, so I am excited to see where it will lead. Because this will be an on-going, class project developed through student input, discussion, and debate, it ties in well with the idea that “learning is most powerful when it becomes public and communal.” (Shulman 1999)
Beyond incorporating inquiry into more of my lessons, I am challenged by the need to motivate my students. Invariably, there are always students in the class who resist challenges, or who hesitate to even try. However, it is difficult for me to separate motivation of students from teaching methods and classroom management, because it all works hand in hand. Students cannot begin to learn, or feel motivated to learn, until they feel safe in their classroom environment. Safety translates several ways: physically safe, emotionally safe, and mentally safe - to question, explore, and most importantly, to be “wrong” in front of others. So the first thing I have to do, and that I spend weeks doing, is establishing a safe classroom.
Classroom management has never been a huge issue for me. I work with the students to brainstorm “rules,” then rephrase and group the “rules” into two basic categories: be respectful and be responsible. We discuss this at length so students know what that looks like, in behavior, speech, and work. These new “rules” apply to us no matter where we are during our school day. In addition, I incorporate the teachings of Conscious Discipline (http://www.consciousdiscipline.com) into my classroom as well. This is a program built on seven tenets: composure (being the person you want children to become), encouragement (building the school family), assertiveness (respectively setting limits), choices (building self-esteem and will power), positive intent (creating teaching moments), empathy (handling fussing and fits) and consequences (helping children learn from their mistakes). As I balance this approach against our study of behaviorism and motivation, I find that it fits very well with the behavioral, cognitive, social and affective aspects of Motivation to Learn. These four tie closely to the conative and can enhance the spiritual aspects for children as well. Conscious Discipline works strongly on the affective with children, constantly stressing good choices, being helpful rather than hurtful, and encouraging children to make good choices. It uses the reinforcement theory of behaviorism through the idea that “what you focus on, you get more of.” This program has helped me eliminate some of the classic pitfalls faced by teachers - teaching and disciplining - the way we were taught and disciplined. Behaviorally speaking, this translates as punishment. While there are “consequences” in Conscious Discipline,” they tend to be more natural consequences than punishments in the traditional sense.
Once a safe classroom environment is established, morning meetings continue to teach and reinforce respect among the students. During these meetings, rules for respect and thoughtful questioning and responses are encouraged. Each student is given an opportunity each week to share something that is going on in their lives - this moves beyond the typical “show and tell” to a deeper sharing about life challenges and celebrations. Students develop empathy and truly begin to participate and function as a “classroom family.”
One technology that I would like to introduce to entice students to actively participate in lessons is clickers. Colleagues who have used these have found that students are more engaged and enthusiastic about the material when they are responding with clickers. This technology eliminates both the embarrassment of giving a wrong answer and the same students answering the majority of the time. Though somewhat limited in its capabilities, this technology would be easily applicable to a variety of subject areas. It would serve as an easy lesson starter to spark discussion about schema. Clickers also make simple assessments easy; however at the elementary level, colleagues have given both clicker tests with a written form in case students incorrectly inputted answers. This is not a technology that I would rely on for true assessment, as it does not allow for constructed response, but mostly facts memorization or interpretation of the question and available responses.
As this summer term comes to an end and I begin to plan for the upcoming school year, I hope that I can assimilate this learning in such a way that I “see things in new ways,” including my students. I am determined to use technology in meaningful ways, and to challenge my students to do the same. We will begin the school year using video and digital cameras to create “getting to know you” projects. This will lay the foundation for students to use these technologies later in the year for group projects in other subject areas. Mostly I want to allow my students to explore the concepts in our curriculum in ways that cause them to think, to wonder, to explore and to discover. This will be accomplished through creative teaching methods, guided inquiry, use of technology, and giving students the freedom to challenge old ways of thinking and learning to achieve more than they thought possible.
Now is the time for me to do some careful planning…to search for information, tag and annotate it, collaborate with colleagues, and challenge my old ways of doing things. If I approach the year from a backward design perspective, I find that the result I most desire for my students is for them to be creative thinkers who take responsibility for their own learning. I want them to take risks and know that the learning process is more important than the product. I want them to see the world in new ways and realize, as they leave to go to middle school, that there are endless possibilities to what they can learn, how they can learn it, and where it can take them. Technology will play a key role in this process, and I am excited to enter this world with my students as a teacher, guide, and fellow learner.
As teachers we tend to think that we know all there is to know about learning. We “know” all about learning styles, and we have generally “mastered” how to incorporate hands-on learning in our teaching. Case closed. What intrigues me about all of the information we have covered is the idea of blending together the best of all learning theories and applying them in the classroom. The challenge is then, how to do it? As I begin to look back at all of the readings, my notes, and then at further research, I find that I am overwhelmed not so much with the information, but with the idea of how to integrate it in a way that will work for me, that will be lasting, and will have a positive impact on my teaching and on my students.
One of the first notes I took early on this summer says, “teach through inquiry.” This was at the end of my section of notes on “The Power of Children’s Thinking,” which led me to think more about guided inquiry and its implications for the classroom. This is a powerful learning tool because it can greatly increase student motivation. As I have found teaching science, when students are given the opportunity to question, conduct experiments, draw conclusions, and then engage in dialogue about their findings, great learning can take place. Adding technology into this process raises the level of engagement, and using the right tools, also raises the potential for deeper understanding, breadth/depth, and concept attainment. My challenge is going to be adding inquiry to subject areas that may not, at first blush, seem an easy fit: Social Studies, Language Arts, Math. I can readily think of ways to adapt Social Studies curriculum, but it would be a departure from the “typical” teaching methods usually applied to this subject area. For example, rather than teaching the journey of Marco Polo from a typical “timeline” approach, where the learning of facts is emphasized, I could ask students to explore what was happening in the world during the year of 1271. Groups would be assigned to research different continents, countries, etc. As a group we could define what information we should seek, determine importance and gathering activities, as well as project parameters. As we continued through the research, we could look at who were influential people of this time - explorers, politicians, etc. This learning would be far more valuable, and offer a greater breadth of knowledge for the students than simply reading a few paragraphs in a text book and memorizing key dates in Polo’s life.
It would be fairly easy to apply inquiry to Math, though it would require careful planning and deviation from the curriculum as laid out by the district. As I conducted further research, I found many examples of math lessons utilizing the inquiry approach. One subject that I would like to use this approach for in the fall is perimeter and area. I would like to structure an opening question in such a way that students will have to go beyond applying the formula to find a satisfactory answer. Some students will be able to successfully apply the formula to solve a problem, but given a diagram or situational problem, are unable to discern the proper numbers to make the formula work. A persistent problem I have noticed among my students is the inability to remember the difference between perimeter and area. This is because they have never had the opportunity to construct their own learning around this topic; they have been given formulas to memorize with nothing to attach them to and thus learning did not occur. One concern that I have is the amount of time required to do this well. My district gives teachers a pacing guide for math instruction which dictates how many days are allocated for each topic, and which units must be taught within each semester. Fitting in lessons with a constructivist approach will require some creative planning on my part; however, the benefits outweigh the challenges.
Using inquiry for Language Arts will require additional research and careful study, however. Maya Eagleton, Kathleen Guinee, and Karen Langlais (2003), detail a language arts project that involves inquiry in a very structured, scaffolded series of lessons. I worked on a similar lesson with my fourth grade students last year through a WebQuest, but was constrained by my Media Specialist as to what websites students were allowed to search. There were instances where I walked a student through using Google when “approved sites” turned up nothing, but it was with much trepidation and admonitions to always check with an adult before searching alone. It was this experience combined with my research that made it clear to me that we must educate children in upper elementary how to use the web safely and responsibly if they are to be successful learners in this digital age. However, as the authors pointed out,
“while it is tempting to focus
on content acquisition or the final products of
online research, it is imperative that language arts
teachers emphasize the inquiry process instead.”
It is this that I must keep in mind as I work with my students this year. I would like to allow my students more opportunities to construct their own learning through book clubs where they choose their book (from a group of teacher-selected texts), and with their group determine how they will meet the requirements (teacher provided rubric) for the book. Allowing students this control (creating a scrapbook, journal, wiki, blog, play, etc) will result in greater investment in the project, and with proper guidelines, deeper learning. This type of learning allows for “reflected abstraction” as noted by Vygotsky, as well as the six facets of understanding. Students gain perspective from one another in this process, and through discussion are able to broaden and deepen their understanding of characters, plot and theme of a text.
One of the criticisms of the inquiry or constructivist model has been one of student misconceptions not being addressed, or the teacher missing their misconceptions because this is a student-directed approach to learning. However, evoking schema through a brain-storming session prior to beginning, engaging the students in critical discussion through carefully crafted questions, closely monitoring progress throughout the project, and including a constructed response as part of evaluation will parse out misconceptions and allow the teacher opportunities to correct (or have students engage in activities to correct) misconceptions that may persist. The greatest challenge to me (and most teachers) will be giving up “control” and allowing the students to construct their learning, rather than engaging in lessons that ultimately “tell” them the information.
Evoking schema prior to learning is a powerful learning tool that has been greatly underutilized in education. While it is something many educators do instinctively, I believe it needs to be a conscious part of lesson planning. As Shulman pointed out in his article, What is learning and what does it look like when it doesn’t go well , we need to begin from the inside and work out. I had been introduced to the idea of schema several years ago in the context of reading, and have henceforth taught and challenged my students to “unpack their schema” about a topic before beginning to read. However, prior to this summer, I had rarely considered consciously engaging in this activity for other subject areas. Yet it makes perfect sense: we must make connections in order for learning to take place.
I am excited to begin this school year with brainstorming sessions about each subject area with my students. I plan to create paper “clouds” (thank you delicious) for each area, containing what students know, what they think they know, and how they feel (attitudes) about each subject. This will enable us have a discussion and identify what we are building on as we tackle new subjects. Evoking schema will have a two-fold benefit: it will enable students to make connections for new learning, and empower them by pointing out how much they already know. In addition, it will allow us to identify misconceptions and work to “change the mind.” (Gardner, 2006) As we identify good, solid, pieces of schema for each subject area, we will create a “brick” (out of paper) with that information on it. With this we will lay a “foundation” (on a bulletin board or wall) upon which we will add bricks as the year progresses. I am interested to see what students will do when it becomes clear that the bricks don’t build individual “buildings,” but actually overlap and create one big structure. This is a new idea, born of this class, so I am excited to see where it will lead. Because this will be an on-going, class project developed through student input, discussion, and debate, it ties in well with the idea that “learning is most powerful when it becomes public and communal.” (Shulman 1999)
Beyond incorporating inquiry into more of my lessons, I am challenged by the need to motivate my students. Invariably, there are always students in the class who resist challenges, or who hesitate to even try. However, it is difficult for me to separate motivation of students from teaching methods and classroom management, because it all works hand in hand. Students cannot begin to learn, or feel motivated to learn, until they feel safe in their classroom environment. Safety translates several ways: physically safe, emotionally safe, and mentally safe - to question, explore, and most importantly, to be “wrong” in front of others. So the first thing I have to do, and that I spend weeks doing, is establishing a safe classroom.
Classroom management has never been a huge issue for me. I work with the students to brainstorm “rules,” then rephrase and group the “rules” into two basic categories: be respectful and be responsible. We discuss this at length so students know what that looks like, in behavior, speech, and work. These new “rules” apply to us no matter where we are during our school day. In addition, I incorporate the teachings of Conscious Discipline (http://www.consciousdiscipline.com) into my classroom as well. This is a program built on seven tenets: composure (being the person you want children to become), encouragement (building the school family), assertiveness (respectively setting limits), choices (building self-esteem and will power), positive intent (creating teaching moments), empathy (handling fussing and fits) and consequences (helping children learn from their mistakes). As I balance this approach against our study of behaviorism and motivation, I find that it fits very well with the behavioral, cognitive, social and affective aspects of Motivation to Learn. These four tie closely to the conative and can enhance the spiritual aspects for children as well. Conscious Discipline works strongly on the affective with children, constantly stressing good choices, being helpful rather than hurtful, and encouraging children to make good choices. It uses the reinforcement theory of behaviorism through the idea that “what you focus on, you get more of.” This program has helped me eliminate some of the classic pitfalls faced by teachers - teaching and disciplining - the way we were taught and disciplined. Behaviorally speaking, this translates as punishment. While there are “consequences” in Conscious Discipline,” they tend to be more natural consequences than punishments in the traditional sense.
Once a safe classroom environment is established, morning meetings continue to teach and reinforce respect among the students. During these meetings, rules for respect and thoughtful questioning and responses are encouraged. Each student is given an opportunity each week to share something that is going on in their lives - this moves beyond the typical “show and tell” to a deeper sharing about life challenges and celebrations. Students develop empathy and truly begin to participate and function as a “classroom family.”
One technology that I would like to introduce to entice students to actively participate in lessons is clickers. Colleagues who have used these have found that students are more engaged and enthusiastic about the material when they are responding with clickers. This technology eliminates both the embarrassment of giving a wrong answer and the same students answering the majority of the time. Though somewhat limited in its capabilities, this technology would be easily applicable to a variety of subject areas. It would serve as an easy lesson starter to spark discussion about schema. Clickers also make simple assessments easy; however at the elementary level, colleagues have given both clicker tests with a written form in case students incorrectly inputted answers. This is not a technology that I would rely on for true assessment, as it does not allow for constructed response, but mostly facts memorization or interpretation of the question and available responses.
As this summer term comes to an end and I begin to plan for the upcoming school year, I hope that I can assimilate this learning in such a way that I “see things in new ways,” including my students. I am determined to use technology in meaningful ways, and to challenge my students to do the same. We will begin the school year using video and digital cameras to create “getting to know you” projects. This will lay the foundation for students to use these technologies later in the year for group projects in other subject areas. Mostly I want to allow my students to explore the concepts in our curriculum in ways that cause them to think, to wonder, to explore and to discover. This will be accomplished through creative teaching methods, guided inquiry, use of technology, and giving students the freedom to challenge old ways of thinking and learning to achieve more than they thought possible.
Now is the time for me to do some careful planning…to search for information, tag and annotate it, collaborate with colleagues, and challenge my old ways of doing things. If I approach the year from a backward design perspective, I find that the result I most desire for my students is for them to be creative thinkers who take responsibility for their own learning. I want them to take risks and know that the learning process is more important than the product. I want them to see the world in new ways and realize, as they leave to go to middle school, that there are endless possibilities to what they can learn, how they can learn it, and where it can take them. Technology will play a key role in this process, and I am excited to enter this world with my students as a teacher, guide, and fellow learner.