Select one of the quotations that you agree with or that resonates with you. Explain why you like the quote and, if possible, give an example to illustrate the idea. Respond to a least 3 classmates.
I liked this quote because it's an issue I've recognized in my own teaching. For example: last year while teaching undergrads about photosynthesis I asked a question like, "what's going on in the light reactions? what is the cell doing here?" As only that one girl in the closest seat to mine raised her hand I decided to wait, but each second of quiet time seemed to take forever to pass so I gave in and told them we were making ATP to use in the dark reactions. After being in the hand-raising position for 18 years, I think it's going to take some practice to shift the responsibility onto the somebody else.
7.'I hear, I forget, I see, I remember, I do, I understand. I like this quotation because it actually applies to our day to day activities as teachers/instructors.
I hear, I forget When you teach or give presentation to a group of students and all you do is to just feed them with information without engaging them, majority of your audience will forget about your presentation immediately they leave the room.Have you ever wondered why you seem not to remember anything about a presentation you have been to?
I see, I remember Now this is where visuals come in. Visuals such as powerpoint presentations are very important during presentations because they tend to leave a mental picture of the information on the minds of your audience. Most people tend to remember things they have seen.
I do, I understand This is one of the most important part of this quotation and it involves getting your students engaged in your presentation both mentally or getting them involved physically. It might seem strange and unfamiliar when they start the process but as they go along with your presentation/process both mentally and physically, they will begin to understand the entire information you were trying to present to them. It is important for us to know that the three stages of this quotation is very vital to been a successful teacher in the classroom;talk to your students, ask them questions, get them to list things down on their paper and get them actively engaged both mentally and physically.
In reponse to Toby's chosen quote: .'I hear, I forget, I see, I remember, I do, I understand.
This is not so different than the quote that I chose, though worded differently. In seeing we are getting an idea, in doing, we are practicing, and in practicing we are reinforcing, thus likely remembering. This goes hand-in-hand with putting short-term memory into long-term memory. Experience is the best teacher, and positive teacher support along with lessons learned are great motivators.
In response to Rob on teaching photosynthesis and getting students to participate in answering questions...
High school and college students alike struggle with the process of photosynthesis. As you know, I include myself in this particular case. I think I have it down pretty well know, but none of the official teaching I received on it helped me to understand it. Why? This is what I ask myself. Why are teachers consistently not getting the message across? What could they do differently to increase the success of learning and actually understanding the process. It isn't as if you can physically show the actual process taking place inside a plant. So this is where starting simple with the big picture is the first step along with simple diagrams and adding details a little at a time. Perhaps reinforcing before adding more to it? Maybe actually having students drawing the diagrams and re-drawing until they get it right, along with arrows and words stating what is happening in each step. It is complex, and almost abstract, thus a major challenge. I think the key may be simplifying the complexity, if possible, and later adding more details. In addition, even if they have memorized that ATP is made in the light reactions, this doesn't mean that they understand the process and how it fits into the big picture.
"Teachers...are particularly beset by the temptation to tell what they know...Yet no amount of information, whether of theory or fact, in itself improves insight and judgment or increases ability to act wisely."
As any parent knows, you can talk until you are blue in the face about the whys your child should do this or should not do that. Though it comes from your heart and you want to help and to prevent mistakes, words often just aren't enough. The same with teaching. It often goes in one ear and out the other. Consequences are often the biggest lesson for understanding. Consider how many times you warn a toddler not to touch something because it is hot. What do they do? At some point they have to test it and see if it is really hot. You tell a teen not to drink at a party or drive or ride with someone who is drinking. Yet many do it anyway until there is a consequence: loss of licence, getting grounded from activities or friends, etc. They have to learn from their mistakes. The same in a classroom. Verbal teaching is clearly not enough. This is where project based learning with limited guidance is so important. Students are participating, learning as they go, making mistakes, evaluating the mistakes, and figuring out ways to correct them. The consequence of the mistakes along with thinking about the mistakes and searching for solutions is a process of gaining understanding. They have gained insight in how to prepare for this type of situation again, hopefully prevent repeated errors they learned from the first go-round, and become wiser and more efficient at attacking unfamiliar tasks.
Re: Tammy's Quote I agree with the notion of letting students experience some consequences and the necessity to back-up lessons with something beyond words. I also think you've got a good rationale behind using PBL's as a teaching technique for this. If I understand you correctly you're suggesting that, keeping with the plant theme, having students debate the merits of genetically-modified crops would be a good way to get them thinking about genetics, ecology, and human interactions in a way that would be more meaningful to them (*and hopefully stick longer) than something more traditional than just reading about GMO's in an article or textbook OR crazy person's blog
Re: Toby's quote This is a good proverb and goes in line with what Tammy was talking about. That being said, if we only have an hour to work with kids each day and a whole bunch of curriculum to work through, what will be your method for deciding which things get top priority (having kids DO them), which get second priority (having kids SEE them), and which get lowest priority (having kids HEAR them)? My personal opinion is that this falls to the teacher's discretion. Any thoughts?
Re:Rob I do agree that it will defintely fall under the teachers discretion but we actually don't need to prioritise the three stages. I have sat in classes where my professor gave me and my coursemates information using visual aid like powerpoints after which he gave us a hands-on practice within same class time.
Rob, it is like you read my mind. I was just having a conversation a few minutes ago with Jim about this very topic. Though project-based and hands-on learning are great tools for learning, there isn't near enough time to spend on these. Although this may be the ultimate method of teaching along with some verbal prep review of things they need to understand before proceeding, we still have to include all of the required standards/units/subunits in the school year. An impossible task since you still have to teach to prepare for standardized tests. It seems to me that the leaders in education programs and those that make the state standardized tests work in different circles with different agendas???
I agree that priority for "doing" would have to be at the teacher's descretion if in fact the best method for that area is doing. Some lessons just don't lend themselves well to doing; seeing and hearing at the same time is best, such as with teaching photosynthesis and respiration.
I also want to say bingo on discussion/debate " the merits of genetically-modified crops would be a good way to get them thinking about genetics, ecology, and human interactions in a way that would be more meaningful to them (*and hopefully stick longer) than something more traditional than just reading..." or listening.
Ugh, I have about had it with this blog site. I have spent so much time trying to get posts in here and now it has blocked me from using my gmail address I set up. It says the owner of the site blocked me. Grrrrrrrrrr. I had to create another email address. Hopefully this works.
In defense of Godfrey-Lee High School, I think they were trying to put together courses for the extended two weeks that would be enjoyable for the kids and give them a little more incentive to come to school. Many of the families in this district do not value education as those in our group (and those we are associated with) do. It is a chore for this district to get kids to school, let alone on time. Thankfully, I did not experience in Mr. Rierson's room what you and Alyssa observed. That said, "IF" the day we were there (and what you saw) represents the content and lack thereof of core concepts with solid lessons for the entire 2 weeks, then I would have to agree that it doesn't appear to be grant money well spent. But again, I didn't see that and it doesn't necessarily mean that every day has/will be like the one day we were there (I would hope).
Re: Tammy's quote. I do like the part of your post that talked about using experience as a form of learning process. Just like you said, most of the time it is not just enough to get across information verbally only; engaging your students to participate in 'hands-on'method of teaching might help compliment your students learning process.
“Students develop flexible understanding of when, where, why, and how to use their knowledge to solve new problems if they learn how to extract underlying principles from their learning experiences.” -Bransford , Cocking, and Brown, How People Learn
I like the quote because it is quite true about students being flexible in their learning process. Students seem to learn best when engaged in a non-traditional environment. a good example of this is Lee ‘s High School style of teaching for their extended school year. Students where able to apply the information they learned in a project on their own and learning by their mistakes. By allowing the students to follow the directions on their own they were able to think for themselves their own knowledge as to how to make the project run smoothly and with minimal errors.
Re: Tammy’s quote I agree with what you said, that students should learn from their mistakes during a PBL. I can’t remember who said, “When students are frustrated they are thinking” Once students are thinking about their mistakes, they are beginning to solve the problem. Which is an excellent way to keep them engaged.
Re: Anne’s quote In my experience with students, I have underestimated them before on the information that was thought. When it came to rise to the occasion they performed exceptionally well compared to the rest of the class. So, one thing I learned is not to underestimate their learning, but instead keep teaching them a little above their comfort level and they will be sure to perform well.
I agree that students need to have a little freedom in the classroom. Exploration and making mistakes is a way that a person is edified. When a student makes a mistake or doesn't do something correctly, they have to go back over and try to correct the problem at hand. This is a very important skill to have because in the "real world" employees will be asked to problem solve and have to make corrections to problems.
I was discouraged by the class I sat in on at Lee High School but I heard that some of the other classes had this sort of self-discovery for the students. For instance, students were told to make food and were not given much instruction. This is a great experience because if the students make a mistake and the food tastes really bad then they are likely never to make the same mistake again.
Lastly, there will always be those students who do not self-correct and will still need to be guided to understand the problems they are making.
"I hear, I forget. I see, I remember. I do, I understand." Of all the quotes on the list this one grabbed my attention the most. I agree with most, if not all of the quote, especially in terms of students learning in a typical classroom setting. If one stands up at the front of the class, and just drones on about the material, say especially something as esoteric and meaningless to a teenagers life as chemistry. The student most likely will not remember much, if any of what you talk about. It is dry, and has no impact or meaning to what they consider important (music, lovelife, the next football game, what they are going to watch on TV that night...etc.). If you don't grab their attention, and make the subject fun or interesting, by bringing in some sort of visuals to help demonstrate your point, they will have little or no motivation to remember the facts. An example of I see, if you demonstrate how CO2 is heavier than air, by bringing in dry ice, putting it in an aquarium, and then floating bubbles on the dry ice, they can see that CO2 is heavier. If you tell them that alcohol is miscible in water, and that liquid molecules can move on their own with out being mixed, they have no concept of what you are talking about. If you bring in water with no color in it, and alcohol which is colored, and pour the colored liquid slowly into the other liquid, then they can see over time how the two liquids will mix on their own, with no help from anyone. This helps them grasp the concepts that you are lecturing them about. The best method to make the connection though, is to actually have the students do the experiments themselves. They can then see that there is no "magic" behind the scene, and then they actually have their hands on the concepts that you are discussing with them...and this will help lay the connection from the lecture material to the students memory (hopefully their long-term memory). This is what the Chinese proverb means to me.
I agree with the quote that suggests that the only way that one understands something is by doing. In my career as an undergraduate and graduate student, I have had to complete two theses. The only way that I was able to understand my project was by doing. If I had been told step by step what to do and given all the direction, there would have been no self-discovery or honest information about my ability.
In a high school or late middle school class, the one way we could incorporate self-discovery activities could be to do project based learning. With these types of activities, there is no clear cut answer (nuclear power plants, anyone?). This puts the pressure off of the student to come up with exact answers and work through the process of solving a problem which I think is more important than the solution itself. Ideally, they could take this experience and apply it to other problems they were faced with. Also, they would remember that type of project because of the time they invest (Will we be able to forget the nuclear power plants?).
@Rob, In response to Toby's comment....about time management....I actually think that one can combine both the hearing and visual at the same time, in certain "domains". In actuality, chemistry is one of the easier ones to combine these two aspects. If one is discussing miscibility, as I mentioned in my earlier post, bring two liquids and combine them and let them sit while you are discussing the lesson. If you are discussing gas laws, and pressure, bring two balloons, one filled, one unfilled with a stopcock between them, and open the stopcock and let the students see that equilibrium will be established over time. These are just a few of the many experiements that you can do as visuals (or "I see") that can help make the connect between the "I hear and I see" for students. Part of the disconnect becomes working in the labs in the same week, so that the students keep up at the same pace and perform the "I do, I understan" so that the connection is complete. There are other areas where this time management is not as reasonable, where the I hear I see may be a bit more difficult to do...as in math, or possibly even biology.
@Elyssa, I am one of the "fortunate" ones, I am an auditory learner...when I was in undergrad and grad if I attended the class and took notes, I tended to do really well in the class. That is the reason that I guess that I am an auditory learner :-). If I missed classes, I would do much worse. I remember when I first began school, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...I was taking a logic class, and I couldn't afford the book for most of the class, and I wasn't that interested in the class, but I did attend most of the sessions, and even without having the book until about the mid-term I still managed to get either a C or C+ in the class (which surprised me....but I actually did start to find it interesting after awhile...silly me). Having demonstrations in the science classes, and doing the labs made it so much more interesting, but that to me was always icing on the cake!! I do know that I am not like most students, and that most of the students start to zone out after a few minutes, and unless you can get students attention the material you lecture about will hold their attention about as long as actuary tables!!
I agree that students need to be flexible when it comes to the learning environments. I know that some students can work with music or tv in the background and others cannot. The teacher needs to gauge where their students are and if the introduction of a certain technology will enhance or disrupt their learning environment. My main concern is over the use of videos. Personally, I feel that one should only show a video if it really pertains to the subject and will help with the understanding of the subject. It should never be used as a filler or to appease the kids into thinking that the learning environment is always laid back. Again, much of the discernment about this is on the teacher and not on the student.
As a teacher we want to offer a variety of learning environments that involve visuals, experiences or listening. My main concern is that when the environment is so laid back, there is no accountability for actions and students think they can get away with anything.
@Ana, I like your comment about Godfrey Lee, and the quote regarding flexibility. I have some issues with too much flexibility, there should be some division between flexibility and content, but for the extended program at Godrey Lee, I think that they were trying to do that with this program. As it was the initial year, there were going to be "issues" (and this is not meant in a negative context...just the best word I could come up with on a dark and stormy night)...and as they continue on with this program (which I hope for their sake- especially for their students)they will manage to tweak the program to incorporate the standards that they need to meet, along with the fun that is needed in the extended school year. I respect them for making the effort for their students as this shows that they are trying to look out for the students best interest. I was particularly impressed with the cooking portion of the program, as the students are required to look at the calories in the item the cook, the amount of fat, the amount of sodium...etc., which is going to help these students be able to read the nutritional labels that surround us everyday. I also talked to Brian McKenna about his program, if he discussed the difference between transfats, and "raw sugar" vs processed sugar...and he said that he does, we had a nice conversation about that. The school is trying very hard to help the students that are participating in the extended program.
"Teachers...are particularly beset by the temptation to tell what they know.... Yet no amount of information, whether of theory or fact, in itself improves insight and judgement or increases ability to act wisely." -Charles Gragg, "Because Wisdom Can't Be Told"
Of our choices, this one hit me the hardest. I would say that is because it strikes at our purpose for teaching. Most of us were attracted to teaching because of our enjoyment of the subjects we studied and our desire to pass them on.
We explore them, and study the intricacies of plant reproduction, quadratic equations, prehistoric bedrock, titration, whatever it might be..in hopes that we will have the knowledge to impress our students and convince them to study 'our subject.' I think this quote does a great job at pointing out the fallacies built into this desire.
I think the past few weeks and undoubtedly in the ones to come, we have and will get a deeper understanding of what teaching really is and what it should not be. We need to be comfortable with distancing ourselves from our content to be able to focus on the particular needs of our students.
Re: Ana and Anne I'm starting to see the value in a little frustration as well. It is tempting to swoop in and prevent our students from making mistakes, but thinking about the school visit that Ana was referencing and analogies about toddlers not taking your word for it when something it too hot to handle I definitely think letting them make some mistakes I necessary and beneficial. Additionally, I want my students challenging the material, not accepting it as gospel. If they take my word on everything than how does it help them when I'm wrong about something?
Virginia, I like your quote. I agree with having the students experiment the lesson unit hands when possible to help them figure things out for themselves. That will help with retaining the information on a long term level than just to have the information spoon fed to them and zoning out. I definitely keep that in mind and bring to the classroom.
After a brief discussion with a few classmates, all of these quotes seem to strike a cord in one way or another. The one that I picked, "Students develop flexible understanding of when, where, why, and how to use their knowledge to solve new problems if they learn how to extract underlying principles from their learning experiences."-Bransford, Cocking, and Brown, How People Learn.
This seems to go hand and hand with what we are doing in Paula Lancaster's 601.03 class. During the strategic tutoring portion of the class this is exactly what we are trying to accomplish. Sure we are helping the students learn words and a few ways to attack a standardized test, but what we are really doing is teaching them strategies that they can use in the future to help pass college level classes. So our test have to do with the words that we assign them, but we are really trying to get them to understand different methods that can be used. Maybe they don't even use one of the methods that we teach them, my group reflected on the original process that we were "suppose to use" and decide to modify it. The test scores went up, and it seems to come easier for the girls. If self-evaluation is the one skill that they learn from me, great. If they come across anything (i.e. a study technique) that is or is not working for them, and they use self-evaluation to make a change or alter a good process to make it better or fix something that is broken, then the 13 sessions will be worth while. In order to use a technique in that manner the students we teach will have to understand the underlying principles of the process and principles we teach.
In response to Elyssa's comment on Ana quote/comments:
I do see there being a difficulty in holding students accountable in such an environment. There is such a focus on differentiated learning in this type of setting, that the structure is nearly lost for those that do not focus on a specific style.
The freedom to pursue their own style of learning works well in a disciplined, mature group, but at the middle/ early high school level this can become problematic. Not all students have gotten to a stage of self-directed discipline. With this style of 'teaching', students can become empowered to think that they themselves are learning as much as the group in it's entirety, simply because people around them are on task.
There needs to be a way for students to report their progress in order to give the teacher some feedback that learning is actually happening on the individual level.
"The most characteristic thing about mental life... is that one constantly goes beyond the information given" -Jerome Bruner
I feel like this quotation resonates with me and how I feel about education. Everyone is interested in some topic, even if it is not taught in school. When confronted with one's passion, more and more questions begin to arise as learning takes place. There are always more questions to be asked about any particular topic, regardless of how knowledgeable a person is. I feel this is how I am with many topics. The more I research and know about something the more questions come up and the tougher they are to answer. I feel like this should be the goal in schooling. If we, as teachers, can get the students interested at an early age, then in theory students could develop critical thinking skills at an earlier age and be more involved and want to ask more questions in class.
In response to FaithfulToby. While power point slides can help with sight, but if you have too many, to me, it just kind of goes into the sight thing. I am really interested in seeing the, "I do, I understand.", portion and how it is going to work? Our professors are doing a great job of modeling this in almost every class so far. They say read this, they present that, they break us up into groups, and then we talk about it. Lots of good examples, I read, I hear, I see, I experience, and with a little studying I will understand. As a math teacher, a lot of the "I do" stuff is going to come in the form of homework. I am interested to see if it gets done?
Dunno why my quote didn't copy in my first comment, but I went with the same one Vlad did (the temptation for teachers to spew knowledge, not let students acquire it)
Right, Just as professional athletes practice to get better, experts in their field keep trying to prob for a better understanding of their content area. That would be one of the goals, help the students develop a mind set that there is always something else to learn.
In response to Vlad: Your response made some excellent points. I feel like the last sentence was the strongest and most relevant part to our experience. It seems like for some of us, or at least myself, being able to distance ourselves from our content area, which we've spent so much time studying, is going to be difficult. In addition, focusing efforts on someone and something else, the needs of students, is not something that I am used to. I definitely have a passion for mathematics and want others to be able to understand that, which is why I want to teach, but then I feel that personally, I will struggle doing that effectively.
In response to Anne: I agree with your statement. I think it is true that the more knowledge you obtain the more questions you have and the more you realize that you do not know. I feel like it is really important to understand this concept as a teacher. If we are able to get students interested to the point where they want to learn more, then they should at some point be asking more questions and thinking critically. As you said, I also think is it important to realize that people can have very different way of understanding a topic or solving a problem, but that all are valid. It seems that in our classes and observations we are just beginning to be exposed to all the different way that students can learn.
Only in education, never in the life of farmer, sailor, merchant, physician, or scientist, does knowledge mean primarily a store of information." - John Dewey
I think too often people know all sorts of information but have no idea how to use it. I think a fine mix of deep content knowledge mixed with real world applications is what we are all striving for. I know that in my own engineering education, we dove very deep into the principles and theory of our subject. This set us up very well for research and innovation in the future. What it did not set us up well for, though, was using our engineering knowledge in the real world. I would not be very comfortable designing and building an airplane right now because I have never fabricated metal, used a fuel pump system, or talked to someone who has done those things. On the other hand, my younger brother graduated in an engineering tech program. Much of his education was actively working in the field, fixing and repairing actual engineering systems. Compared to me, he is much better prepared to work in the real world. I am certainly better prepared to develop new ideas, but he would be better at using those ideas. Basically, I think having a wealth of knowledge is a huge benefit, but it is nearly worthless if we don't know how to use it.
The quote that resonated with me was the proverb "I hear, I forget. I see, I remember. I do, I understand." I loved it because it amused me to see that ancient Chinese wisdom tells us the same thing that our modern theories of information process state. Of course IP theory breaks it down into considerable detail, but the takeaway is the same for day-to-day application. The obvious example of this quote in action is use of engaging activities and problem solving exercises where learners put content to use.
Nate's Response to Rob's Response to Ana and Anne.
I agree, let 'em make mistakes, but is there a point where you have to move on? If there is that point, when do you call it? I guess reflecting on the idea, it will come with experience? There is definitely learning that takes place after a mistake is made, but learning can also be done by teaching.
In response to Steve J.: I agree that it is amusing to find connections between ancient proverb and modern theories. I feel that, as it has been mentioned before, our strategic tutoring experiences are direct examples of this quotation. We tell our students the strategic processes while showing them how it's done, to help them remember the steps. Then by making them show us and repeat the process many times, they are understanding and the idea is being reinforced in their minds.
Also in response to Heather, and in a sense touching on Rob's response to Toby's quote:
It seems that witht the short time we have with students on each lesson, the most valuable thing we can do is not TEACH, but create INTEREST in the topic. We can use slides with pictures, funny stories and activities to draw them in, but in the end, we do not have time to teach them what we know.
This quote brings up that concept that our 'primary main objective' (South Park anyone?) is to create interest in the subject matter, not instruct based on content alone and 'hope' the students will like it because we like it....
In response to Steve F., I appreciated your real world background on that topic. With the fields we are teaching, we will be providing many of our students with knowledge that they will actually use in their careers. I'm imagining the number of future nurses to whom I will be teaching basics of anatomy and physiology. I feel that it is important to use every opportunity to show our students why the content matters and how it really can be useful beyond maintaining GPA and scoring well on a standardized test.
In response to Heather's quote, I definitely agree with the idea that the more you learn, the more you learn that there is more to learn. Basically, obtaining knowledge doesn't make you a master of the subject. It allows you to dive deeper into the subject and learn another layer of knowledge. I saw this first hand as a trumpet player in college. When I was taking lessons, I improved drastically. Although I never became a "good" trumpet player, I did get to a point where I was finally able to understand how much better people could actually get at this skill. I always knew professionals were better than me, but I never could tell you why. Taking these lessons didn't make me a master of the trumpet, it showed me how much more there is to learn. It was incredibly exciting and enlightening, and I would hope that is where our students can get to in our subjects.
"I hear, I forget. I see, I remember. I do, I understand."
This quote sticks out in my head the most and seems like the one that resonates with me. I like the last part of this quote the most. The process of "doing" research involves understanding. I have been lucky to have had this experience twice in my career so far with an undergraduate and graduate thesis. The beauty of research and theses is that the student completing the task is required to "do" something with the goal of understanding. I understood my research because of the countless hours spent working as well as the fact that I was the one doing the work. The question is how we can incorporate similar activities into our high schools so that students understand by doing. Perhaps these activities could be PBL or other interactive activities. One memory I have from my high school experience is from an earth science course. We were told to break up into groups and read an article and discuss. I still remember the article and understand the implications of what we were required to read. The article was on Love Canal which is an area of land that no one can live on due to the inappropriate dumping of chemical waste from a waste company. I understand the implications of not disposing of chemical waste appropriately. Perhaps this activity sticks out in my head because I was born in New York State and the Love Canal site was about 2 1/2 hours from where I grew up. It was memorable in my mind.
"I hear, I forget."
We have all had classes where the only thing that the teacher or professor did was lecture. The information went in one ear and out the other. I would shy away from making generalizations about auditory learning because that is the only way some students learn and we need to hold students accountable for the information regardless of how it is presented. Perhaps we need to concentrate on equipping students with an adequate strategy for retaining information when it is given orally.
I see, I remember.
We all have experiences when we saw something and it enabled us to remember. When we see something, we have an immediate reaction as to whether the information is familiar to us or now.
Perhaps this quote encompasses all parts of learning that we as teachers need to incorporate. For instance, in a math class you may listen how to the rules of how to approach the problem and then you might "see" some examples and then you might be required to "do" some problems. With every aspect, the student gains more information and hopefully able to do the questions on their own.
Vlad, in response to your response referring to a responded topic,
I think building interest in a topic is key. Like we saw in Professor Lancaster's class, the student who was interested in the history of weaponry scored off the charts in reading comprehension of that passage. I think this is a challenge for all of us. We are all interested and hopefully passionate about our subjects. Why are we? What about these subjects makes us excited? We need to dig deep for these answers and help relate them to our students. If we can show them our passion and create interest through that, our students will learn so much more.
Adding onto Heather's comment to Anne: Forgive me for dragging in yet another quote, but one of my personal favorites applies here.
"I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."
It always struck me that one of the brightest minds in human history considered his contribution so humble. It seems that the wisest often claim to know nothing, but the ignorant know everything. I wonder what it is like to teach to exceptional students who already think they know everything.
You pragmatist, you! Good choice on the Dewey though, and although I am generally opposed to a job-oriented approach to education, I agree with it's importance.
Skills are essential to learning; co-op should be mandatory even in highschool. There is nothing that can prepare a student more for college (& 'the Real World') than a mandatory, hands-on, prolonged experience at an early stage of learning. This is someting that I never had growing up (highschool or university) and as Steve mentioned, it created more of an aversion to practical knowledge as I dived deeper into the education worm-hole...
Asking students to find a practical use for their knowledge early on, can at least start to build the tendency to look for applications to their knowledge.
In your response to my blog, you mentioned the importance of knowing content outside maintaining a good GPA and scoring well on standardized tests. As someone who struggled with my GPA in college, I now have the understanding that people have much more to offer intellectually and socially than just what their GPA or test scores show (not an understanding I had in high school). I think it is important for students to know that genuine learning is more important that have a number close to 4 on a piece of paper. That being said, it is also important for students to know that society does make pretty severe judgments on GPA, so we do have to conform to the world we live in for some extent. I say this also for us as educators of future employers and perhaps future employers ourselves. We need to be aware of how industry views students, but we also need to be very aware that academic success does not guarantee real world success. As we make our assessments of students in the future, we must be aware of what they have to offer as people as well as students.
In response to Vlad, I completely relate to your realization. However, I think our passion for our respective disciplines is one of our greatest assets as teachers. Kids have an amazing ability to see through the pretenses of adults. If we bring our love to the classroom, they will see it and draw from it. If we don't, no dog-and-pony show of fancy teaching is going to convince them that they should care any more than we do. I know you are every bit as passionate about your topic as I am, and I believe that will serve us well in the classroom.
“I hear, I forget. I see, I remember. I do, I understand.” ~ Chinese proverb
I like this quote because it sums up the best way in which I am able to understand things, by participating in hands-on learning. Often I forget the things I learn when I only hear about them. To counter this I often write things down so that I can recall what I learned at a later time but I feel that true understanding comes with being able to actually have a physical hands-on approach. For example, if I were to hear someone speaking about what is and how does gel electrophoresis work I would forget most of what I heard and definitely wouldn’t understand the ins and outs of the procedure itself. And if I were to see someone perform gel electrophoresis, I may remember what transpired but not necessarily know how to perform the operation myself or truly understand the process enough to explain it to someone else in detail. But if I were to perform gel electrophoresis myself, I would have a better understanding of what is taking place in the procedure and be able to describe how it works to someone else. I feel that it is important for adolescences to experience things by doing it themselves so that they are better able to understand what they are doing and why.
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ReplyDeleteI liked this quote because it's an issue I've recognized in my own teaching. For example: last year while teaching undergrads about photosynthesis I asked a question like, "what's going on in the light reactions? what is the cell doing here?" As only that one girl in the closest seat to mine raised her hand I decided to wait, but each second of quiet time seemed to take forever to pass so I gave in and told them we were making ATP to use in the dark reactions. After being in the hand-raising position for 18 years, I think it's going to take some practice to shift the responsibility onto the somebody else.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete7.'I hear, I forget, I see, I remember, I do, I understand. I like this quotation because it actually applies to our day to day activities as teachers/instructors.
ReplyDeleteI hear, I forget
When you teach or give presentation to a group of students and all you do is to just feed them with information without engaging them, majority of your audience will forget about your presentation immediately they leave the room.Have you ever wondered why you seem not to remember anything about a presentation you have been to?
I see, I remember
Now this is where visuals come in. Visuals such as powerpoint presentations are very important during presentations because they tend to leave a mental picture of the information on the minds of your audience. Most people tend to remember things they have seen.
I do, I understand
This is one of the most important part of this quotation and it involves getting your students engaged in your presentation both mentally or getting them involved physically. It might seem strange and unfamiliar when they start the process but as they go along with your presentation/process both mentally and physically, they will begin to understand the entire information you were trying to present to them. It is important for us to know that the three stages of this quotation is very vital to been a successful teacher in the classroom;talk to your students, ask them questions, get them to list things down on their paper and get them actively engaged both mentally and physically.
In reponse to Toby's chosen quote: .'I hear, I forget, I see, I remember, I do, I understand.
ReplyDeleteThis is not so different than the quote that I chose, though worded differently. In seeing we are getting an idea, in doing, we are practicing, and in practicing we are reinforcing, thus likely remembering. This goes hand-in-hand with putting short-term memory into long-term memory. Experience is the best teacher, and positive teacher support along with lessons learned are great motivators.
In response to Rob on teaching photosynthesis and getting students to participate in answering questions...
ReplyDeleteHigh school and college students alike struggle with the process of photosynthesis. As you know, I include myself in this particular case. I think I have it down pretty well know, but none of the official teaching I received on it helped me to understand it. Why? This is what I ask myself. Why are teachers consistently not getting the message across? What could they do differently to increase the success of learning and actually understanding the process. It isn't as if you can physically show the actual process taking place inside a plant. So this is where starting simple with the big picture is the first step along with simple diagrams and adding details a little at a time. Perhaps reinforcing before adding more to it? Maybe actually having students drawing the diagrams and re-drawing until they get it right, along with arrows and words stating what is happening in each step. It is complex, and almost abstract, thus a major challenge. I think the key may be simplifying the complexity, if possible, and later adding more details. In addition, even if they have memorized that ATP is made in the light reactions, this doesn't mean that they understand the process and how it fits into the big picture.
"Teachers...are particularly beset by the temptation to tell what they know...Yet no amount of information, whether of theory or fact, in itself improves insight and judgment or increases ability to act wisely."
ReplyDeleteAs any parent knows, you can talk until you are blue in the face about the whys your child should do this or should not do that. Though it comes from your heart and you want to help and to prevent mistakes, words often just aren't enough. The same with teaching. It often goes in one ear and out the other. Consequences are often the biggest lesson for understanding. Consider how many times you warn a toddler not to touch something because it is hot. What do they do? At some point they have to test it and see if it is really hot. You tell a teen not to drink at a party or drive or ride with someone who is drinking. Yet many do it anyway until there is a consequence: loss of licence, getting grounded from activities or friends, etc. They have to learn from their mistakes. The same in a classroom. Verbal teaching is clearly not enough. This is where project based learning with limited guidance is so important. Students are participating, learning as they go, making mistakes, evaluating the mistakes, and figuring out ways to correct them. The consequence of the mistakes along with thinking about the mistakes and searching for solutions is a process of gaining understanding. They have gained insight in how to prepare for this type of situation again, hopefully prevent repeated errors they learned from the first go-round, and become wiser and more efficient at attacking unfamiliar tasks.
Re: Tammy's Quote
ReplyDeleteI agree with the notion of letting students experience some consequences and the necessity to back-up lessons with something beyond words. I also think you've got a good rationale behind using PBL's as a teaching technique for this. If I understand you correctly you're suggesting that, keeping with the plant theme, having students debate the merits of genetically-modified crops would be a good way to get them thinking about genetics, ecology, and human interactions in a way that would be more meaningful to them (*and hopefully stick longer) than something more traditional than just reading about GMO's in an article or textbook OR crazy person's blog
Re: Toby's quote
ReplyDeleteThis is a good proverb and goes in line with what Tammy was talking about. That being said, if we only have an hour to work with kids each day and a whole bunch of curriculum to work through, what will be your method for deciding which things get top priority (having kids DO them), which get second priority (having kids SEE them), and which get lowest priority (having kids HEAR them)? My personal opinion is that this falls to the teacher's discretion. Any thoughts?
Re:Rob
ReplyDeleteI do agree that it will defintely fall under the teachers discretion but we actually don't need to prioritise the three stages. I have sat in classes where my professor gave me and my coursemates information using visual aid like powerpoints after which he gave us a hands-on practice within same class time.
Rob, it is like you read my mind. I was just having a conversation a few minutes ago with Jim about this very topic. Though project-based and hands-on learning are great tools for learning, there isn't near enough time to spend on these. Although this may be the ultimate method of teaching along with some verbal prep review of things they need to understand before proceeding, we still have to include all of the required standards/units/subunits in the school year. An impossible task since you still have to teach to prepare for standardized tests. It seems to me that the leaders in education programs and those that make the state standardized tests work in different circles with different agendas???
ReplyDeleteI agree that priority for "doing" would have to be at the teacher's descretion if in fact the best method for that area is doing. Some lessons just don't lend themselves well to doing; seeing and hearing at the same time is best, such as with teaching photosynthesis and respiration.
I also want to say bingo on discussion/debate " the merits of genetically-modified crops would be a good way to get them thinking about genetics, ecology, and human interactions in a way that would be more meaningful to them (*and hopefully stick longer) than something more traditional than just reading..." or listening.
Ugh, I have about had it with this blog site. I have spent so much time trying to get posts in here and now it has blocked me from using my gmail address I set up. It says the owner of the site blocked me. Grrrrrrrrrr. I had to create another email address. Hopefully this works.
Hi Anne,
ReplyDeleteIn defense of Godfrey-Lee High School, I think they were trying to put together courses for the extended two weeks that would be enjoyable for the kids and give them a little more incentive to come to school. Many of the families in this district do not value education as those in our group (and those we are associated with) do. It is a chore for this district to get kids to school, let alone on time. Thankfully, I did not experience in Mr. Rierson's room what you and Alyssa observed. That said, "IF" the day we were there (and what you saw) represents the content and lack thereof of core concepts with solid lessons for the entire 2 weeks, then I would have to agree that it doesn't appear to be grant money well spent. But again, I didn't see that and it doesn't necessarily mean that every day has/will be like the one day we were there (I would hope).
Re: Tammy's quote.
ReplyDeleteI do like the part of your post that talked about using experience as a form of learning process. Just like you said, most of the time it is not just enough to get across information verbally only; engaging your students to participate in 'hands-on'method of teaching might help compliment your students learning process.
“Students develop flexible understanding of when, where, why, and how to use their knowledge to solve new problems if they learn how to extract underlying principles from their learning experiences.”
ReplyDelete-Bransford , Cocking, and Brown, How People Learn
I like the quote because it is quite true about students being flexible in their learning process. Students seem to learn best when engaged in a non-traditional environment. a good example of this is Lee ‘s High School style of teaching for their extended school year. Students where able to apply the information they learned in a project on their own and learning by their mistakes. By allowing the students to follow the directions on their own they were able to think for themselves their own knowledge as to how to make the project run smoothly and with minimal errors.
Re: Tammy’s quote
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said, that students should learn from their mistakes during a PBL. I can’t remember who said, “When students are frustrated they are thinking” Once students are thinking about their mistakes, they are beginning to solve the problem. Which is an excellent way to keep them engaged.
Re: Anne’s quote
ReplyDeleteIn my experience with students, I have underestimated them before on the information that was thought. When it came to rise to the occasion they performed exceptionally well compared to the rest of the class. So, one thing I learned is not to underestimate their learning, but instead keep teaching them a little above their comfort level and they will be sure to perform well.
In response to Tammy's quote:
ReplyDeleteI agree that students need to have a little freedom in the classroom. Exploration and making mistakes is a way that a person is edified. When a student makes a mistake or doesn't do something correctly, they have to go back over and try to correct the problem at hand. This is a very important skill to have because in the "real world" employees will be asked to problem solve and have to make corrections to problems.
I was discouraged by the class I sat in on at Lee High School but I heard that some of the other classes had this sort of self-discovery for the students. For instance, students were told to make food and were not given much instruction. This is a great experience because if the students make a mistake and the food tastes really bad then they are likely never to make the same mistake again.
Lastly, there will always be those students who do not self-correct and will still need to be guided to understand the problems they are making.
"I hear, I forget. I see, I remember. I do, I understand."
ReplyDeleteOf all the quotes on the list this one grabbed my attention the most. I agree with most, if not all of the quote, especially in terms of students learning in a typical classroom setting. If one stands up at the front of the class, and just drones on about the material, say especially something as esoteric and meaningless to a teenagers life as chemistry. The student most likely will not remember much, if any of what you talk about. It is dry, and has no impact or meaning to what they consider important (music, lovelife, the next football game, what they are going to watch on TV that night...etc.). If you don't grab their attention, and make the subject fun or interesting, by bringing in some sort of visuals to help demonstrate your point, they will have little or no motivation to remember the facts. An example of I see, if you demonstrate how CO2 is heavier than air, by bringing in dry ice, putting it in an aquarium, and then floating bubbles on the dry ice, they can see that CO2 is heavier. If you tell them that alcohol is miscible in water, and that liquid molecules can move on their own with out being mixed, they have no concept of what you are talking about. If you bring in water with no color in it, and alcohol which is colored, and pour the colored liquid slowly into the other liquid, then they can see over time how the two liquids will mix on their own, with no help from anyone. This helps them grasp the concepts that you are lecturing them about. The best method to make the connection though, is to actually have the students do the experiments themselves. They can then see that there is no "magic" behind the scene, and then they actually have their hands on the concepts that you are discussing with them...and this will help lay the connection from the lecture material to the students memory (hopefully their long-term memory).
This is what the Chinese proverb means to me.
In response to Toby's post:
ReplyDeleteI agree with the quote that suggests that the only way that one understands something is by doing. In my career as an undergraduate and graduate student, I have had to complete two theses. The only way that I was able to understand my project was by doing. If I had been told step by step what to do and given all the direction, there would have been no self-discovery or honest information about my ability.
In a high school or late middle school class, the one way we could incorporate self-discovery activities could be to do project based learning. With these types of activities, there is no clear cut answer (nuclear power plants, anyone?). This puts the pressure off of the student to come up with exact answers and work through the process of solving a problem which I think is more important than the solution itself. Ideally, they could take this experience and apply it to other problems they were faced with. Also, they would remember that type of project because of the time they invest (Will we be able to forget the nuclear power plants?).
@Rob,
ReplyDeleteIn response to Toby's comment....about time management....I actually think that one can combine both the hearing and visual at the same time, in certain "domains". In actuality, chemistry is one of the easier ones to combine these two aspects. If one is discussing miscibility, as I mentioned in my earlier post, bring two liquids and combine them and let them sit while you are discussing the lesson. If you are discussing gas laws, and pressure, bring two balloons, one filled, one unfilled with a stopcock between them, and open the stopcock and let the students see that equilibrium will be established over time. These are just a few of the many experiements that you can do as visuals (or "I see") that can help make the connect between the "I hear and I see" for students. Part of the disconnect becomes working in the labs in the same week, so that the students keep up at the same pace and perform the "I do, I understan" so that the connection is complete. There are other areas where this time management is not as reasonable, where the I hear I see may be a bit more difficult to do...as in math, or possibly even biology.
@Elyssa,
ReplyDeleteI am one of the "fortunate" ones, I am an auditory learner...when I was in undergrad and grad if I attended the class and took notes, I tended to do really well in the class. That is the reason that I guess that I am an auditory learner :-). If I missed classes, I would do much worse. I remember when I first began school, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...I was taking a logic class, and I couldn't afford the book for most of the class, and I wasn't that interested in the class, but I did attend most of the sessions, and even without having the book until about the mid-term I still managed to get either a C or C+ in the class (which surprised me....but I actually did start to find it interesting after awhile...silly me).
Having demonstrations in the science classes, and doing the labs made it so much more interesting, but that to me was always icing on the cake!! I do know that I am not like most students, and that most of the students start to zone out after a few minutes, and unless you can get students attention the material you lecture about will hold their attention about as long as actuary tables!!
In response to Ana's quote:
ReplyDeleteI agree that students need to be flexible when it comes to the learning environments. I know that some students can work with music or tv in the background and others cannot. The teacher needs to gauge where their students are and if the introduction of a certain technology will enhance or disrupt their learning environment. My main concern is over the use of videos. Personally, I feel that one should only show a video if it really pertains to the subject and will help with the understanding of the subject. It should never be used as a filler or to appease the kids into thinking that the learning environment is always laid back. Again, much of the discernment about this is on the teacher and not on the student.
As a teacher we want to offer a variety of learning environments that involve visuals, experiences or listening. My main concern is that when the environment is so laid back, there is no accountability for actions and students think they can get away with anything.
@Ana,
ReplyDeleteI like your comment about Godfrey Lee, and the quote regarding flexibility. I have some issues with too much flexibility, there should be some division between flexibility and content, but for the extended program at Godrey Lee, I think that they were trying to do that with this program. As it was the initial year, there were going to be "issues" (and this is not meant in a negative context...just the best word I could come up with on a dark and stormy night)...and as they continue on with this program (which I hope for their sake- especially for their students)they will manage to tweak the program to incorporate the standards that they need to meet, along with the fun that is needed in the extended school year. I respect them for making the effort for their students as this shows that they are trying to look out for the students best interest. I was particularly impressed with the cooking portion of the program, as the students are required to look at the calories in the item the cook, the amount of fat, the amount of sodium...etc., which is going to help these students be able to read the nutritional labels that surround us everyday. I also talked to Brian McKenna about his program, if he discussed the difference between transfats, and "raw sugar" vs processed sugar...and he said that he does, we had a nice conversation about that. The school is trying very hard to help the students that are participating in the extended program.
"Teachers...are particularly beset by the temptation to tell what they know.... Yet no amount of information, whether of theory or fact, in itself improves insight and judgement or increases ability to act wisely."
ReplyDelete-Charles Gragg, "Because Wisdom Can't Be Told"
Of our choices, this one hit me the hardest. I would say that is because it strikes at our purpose for teaching. Most of us were attracted to teaching because of our enjoyment of the subjects we studied and our desire to pass them on.
We explore them, and study the intricacies of plant reproduction, quadratic equations, prehistoric bedrock, titration, whatever it might be..in hopes that we will have the knowledge to impress our students and convince them to study 'our subject.' I think this quote does a great job at pointing out the fallacies built into this desire.
I think the past few weeks and undoubtedly in the ones to come, we have and will get a deeper understanding of what teaching really is and what it should not be. We need to be comfortable with distancing ourselves from our content to be able to focus on the particular needs of our students.
Re: Ana and Anne
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to see the value in a little frustration as well. It is tempting to swoop in and prevent our students from making mistakes, but thinking about the school visit that Ana was referencing and analogies about toddlers not taking your word for it when something it too hot to handle I definitely think letting them make some mistakes I necessary and beneficial. Additionally, I want my students challenging the material, not accepting it as gospel. If they take my word on everything than how does it help them when I'm wrong about something?
Virginia,
ReplyDeleteI like your quote. I agree with having the students experiment the lesson unit hands when possible to help them figure things out for themselves. That will help with retaining the information on a long term level than just to have the information spoon fed to them and zoning out. I definitely keep that in mind and bring to the classroom.
After a brief discussion with a few classmates, all of these quotes seem to strike a cord in one way or another. The one that I picked, "Students develop flexible understanding of when, where, why, and how to use their knowledge to solve new problems if they learn how to extract underlying principles from their learning experiences."-Bransford, Cocking, and Brown, How People Learn.
ReplyDeleteThis seems to go hand and hand with what we are doing in Paula Lancaster's 601.03 class. During the strategic tutoring portion of the class this is exactly what we are trying to accomplish. Sure we are helping the students learn words and a few ways to attack a standardized test, but what we are really doing is teaching them strategies that they can use in the future to help pass college level classes. So our test have to do with the words that we assign them, but we are really trying to get them to understand different methods that can be used. Maybe they don't even use one of the methods that we teach them, my group reflected on the original process that we were "suppose to use" and decide to modify it. The test scores went up, and it seems to come easier for the girls. If self-evaluation is the one skill that they learn from me, great. If they come across anything (i.e. a study technique) that is or is not working for them, and they use self-evaluation to make a change or alter a good process to make it better or fix something that is broken, then the 13 sessions will be worth while. In order to use a technique in that manner the students we teach will have to understand the underlying principles of the process and principles we teach.
Nate
In response to Elyssa's comment on Ana quote/comments:
ReplyDeleteI do see there being a difficulty in holding students accountable in such an environment. There is such a focus on differentiated learning in this type of setting, that the structure is nearly lost for those that do not focus on a specific style.
The freedom to pursue their own style of learning works well in a disciplined, mature group, but at the middle/ early high school level this can become problematic. Not all students have gotten to a stage of self-directed discipline. With this style of 'teaching', students can become empowered to think that they themselves are learning as much as the group in it's entirety, simply because people around them are on task.
There needs to be a way for students to report their progress in order to give the teacher some feedback that learning is actually happening on the individual level.
"The most characteristic thing about mental life... is that one constantly goes beyond the information given" -Jerome Bruner
ReplyDeleteI feel like this quotation resonates with me and how I feel about education. Everyone is interested in some topic, even if it is not taught in school. When confronted with one's passion, more and more questions begin to arise as learning takes place. There are always more questions to be asked about any particular topic, regardless of how knowledgeable a person is. I feel this is how I am with many topics. The more I research and know about something the more questions come up and the tougher they are to answer. I feel like this should be the goal in schooling. If we, as teachers, can get the students interested at an early age, then in theory students could develop critical thinking skills at an earlier age and be more involved and want to ask more questions in class.
In response to FaithfulToby. While power point slides can help with sight, but if you have too many, to me, it just kind of goes into the sight thing. I am really interested in seeing the, "I do, I understand.", portion and how it is going to work? Our professors are doing a great job of modeling this in almost every class so far. They say read this, they present that, they break us up into groups, and then we talk about it. Lots of good examples, I read, I hear, I see, I experience, and with a little studying I will understand. As a math teacher, a lot of the "I do" stuff is going to come in the form of homework. I am interested to see if it gets done?
ReplyDeleteDunno why my quote didn't copy in my first comment, but I went with the same one Vlad did (the temptation for teachers to spew knowledge, not let students acquire it)
ReplyDeleteResponse to Heather.
ReplyDeleteRight, Just as professional athletes practice to get better, experts in their field keep trying to prob for a better understanding of their content area. That would be one of the goals, help the students develop a mind set that there is always something else to learn.
In response to Vlad:
ReplyDeleteYour response made some excellent points. I feel like the last sentence was the strongest and most relevant part to our experience. It seems like for some of us, or at least myself, being able to distance ourselves from our content area, which we've spent so much time studying, is going to be difficult. In addition, focusing efforts on someone and something else, the needs of students, is not something that I am used to. I definitely have a passion for mathematics and want others to be able to understand that, which is why I want to teach, but then I feel that personally, I will struggle doing that effectively.
In response to Anne:
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement. I think it is true that the more knowledge you obtain the more questions you have and the more you realize that you do not know. I feel like it is really important to understand this concept as a teacher. If we are able to get students interested to the point where they want to learn more, then they should at some point be asking more questions and thinking critically. As you said, I also think is it important to realize that people can have very different way of understanding a topic or solving a problem, but that all are valid. It seems that in our classes and observations we are just beginning to be exposed to all the different way that students can learn.
Only in education, never in the life of farmer, sailor, merchant, physician, or scientist, does knowledge mean primarily a store of information." - John Dewey
ReplyDeleteI think too often people know all sorts of information but have no idea how to use it. I think a fine mix of deep content knowledge mixed with real world applications is what we are all striving for. I know that in my own engineering education, we dove very deep into the principles and theory of our subject. This set us up very well for research and innovation in the future. What it did not set us up well for, though, was using our engineering knowledge in the real world. I would not be very comfortable designing and building an airplane right now because I have never fabricated metal, used a fuel pump system, or talked to someone who has done those things. On the other hand, my younger brother graduated in an engineering tech program. Much of his education was actively working in the field, fixing and repairing actual engineering systems. Compared to me, he is much better prepared to work in the real world. I am certainly better prepared to develop new ideas, but he would be better at using those ideas. Basically, I think having a wealth of knowledge is a huge benefit, but it is nearly worthless if we don't know how to use it.
The quote that resonated with me was the proverb "I hear, I forget. I see, I remember. I do, I understand." I loved it because it amused me to see that ancient Chinese wisdom tells us the same thing that our modern theories of information process state. Of course IP theory breaks it down into considerable detail, but the takeaway is the same for day-to-day application. The obvious example of this quote in action is use of engaging activities and problem solving exercises where learners put content to use.
ReplyDeleteNate's Response to Rob's Response to Ana and Anne.
ReplyDeleteI agree, let 'em make mistakes, but is there a point where you have to move on? If there is that point, when do you call it? I guess reflecting on the idea, it will come with experience? There is definitely learning that takes place after a mistake is made, but learning can also be done by teaching.
In response to Steve J.:
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is amusing to find connections between ancient proverb and modern theories. I feel that, as it has been mentioned before, our strategic tutoring experiences are direct examples of this quotation. We tell our students the strategic processes while showing them how it's done, to help them remember the steps. Then by making them show us and repeat the process many times, they are understanding and the idea is being reinforced in their minds.
Also in response to Heather, and in a sense touching on Rob's response to Toby's quote:
ReplyDeleteIt seems that witht the short time we have with students on each lesson, the most valuable thing we can do is not TEACH, but create INTEREST in the topic. We can use slides with pictures, funny stories and activities to draw them in, but in the end, we do not have time to teach them what we know.
This quote brings up that concept that our 'primary main objective' (South Park anyone?) is to create interest in the subject matter, not instruct based on content alone and 'hope' the students will like it because we like it....
In response to Steve F., I appreciated your real world background on that topic. With the fields we are teaching, we will be providing many of our students with knowledge that they will actually use in their careers. I'm imagining the number of future nurses to whom I will be teaching basics of anatomy and physiology. I feel that it is important to use every opportunity to show our students why the content matters and how it really can be useful beyond maintaining GPA and scoring well on a standardized test.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Heather's quote,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with the idea that the more you learn, the more you learn that there is more to learn. Basically, obtaining knowledge doesn't make you a master of the subject. It allows you to dive deeper into the subject and learn another layer of knowledge. I saw this first hand as a trumpet player in college. When I was taking lessons, I improved drastically. Although I never became a "good" trumpet player, I did get to a point where I was finally able to understand how much better people could actually get at this skill. I always knew professionals were better than me, but I never could tell you why. Taking these lessons didn't make me a master of the trumpet, it showed me how much more there is to learn. It was incredibly exciting and enlightening, and I would hope that is where our students can get to in our subjects.
"I hear, I forget. I see, I remember. I do, I understand."
ReplyDeleteThis quote sticks out in my head the most and seems like the one that resonates with me. I like the last part of this quote the most. The process of "doing" research involves understanding. I have been lucky to have had this experience twice in my career so far with an undergraduate and graduate thesis. The beauty of research and theses is that the student completing the task is required to "do" something with the goal of understanding. I understood my research because of the countless hours spent working as well as the fact that I was the one doing the work. The question is how we can incorporate similar activities into our high schools so that students understand by doing. Perhaps these activities could be PBL or other interactive activities. One memory I have from my high school experience is from an earth science course. We were told to break up into groups and read an article and discuss. I still remember the article and understand the implications of what we were required to read. The article was on Love Canal which is an area of land that no one can live on due to the inappropriate dumping of chemical waste from a waste company. I understand the implications of not disposing of chemical waste appropriately. Perhaps this activity sticks out in my head because I was born in New York State and the Love Canal site was about 2 1/2 hours from where I grew up. It was memorable in my mind.
"I hear, I forget."
We have all had classes where the only thing that the teacher or professor did was lecture. The information went in one ear and out the other. I would shy away from making generalizations about auditory learning because that is the only way some students learn and we need to hold students accountable for the information regardless of how it is presented. Perhaps we need to concentrate on equipping students with an adequate strategy for retaining information when it is given orally.
I see, I remember.
We all have experiences when we saw something and it enabled us to remember. When we see something, we have an immediate reaction as to whether the information is familiar to us or now.
Perhaps this quote encompasses all parts of learning that we as teachers
need to incorporate. For instance, in a math class you may listen how to the rules of how to approach the problem and then you might "see" some examples and then you might be required to "do" some problems. With every aspect, the student gains more information and hopefully able to do the questions on their own.
Vlad, in response to your response referring to a responded topic,
ReplyDeleteI think building interest in a topic is key. Like we saw in Professor Lancaster's class, the student who was interested in the history of weaponry scored off the charts in reading comprehension of that passage. I think this is a challenge for all of us. We are all interested and hopefully passionate about our subjects. Why are we? What about these subjects makes us excited? We need to dig deep for these answers and help relate them to our students. If we can show them our passion and create interest through that, our students will learn so much more.
Adding onto Heather's comment to Anne: Forgive me for dragging in yet another quote, but one of my personal favorites applies here.
ReplyDelete"I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."
It always struck me that one of the brightest minds in human history considered his contribution so humble. It seems that the wisest often claim to know nothing, but the ignorant know everything. I wonder what it is like to teach to exceptional students who already think they know everything.
To Steve F's quote:
ReplyDeleteYou pragmatist, you! Good choice on the Dewey though, and although I am generally opposed to a job-oriented approach to education, I agree with it's importance.
Skills are essential to learning; co-op should be mandatory even in highschool. There is nothing that can prepare a student more for college (& 'the Real World') than a mandatory, hands-on, prolonged experience at an early stage of learning. This is someting that I never had growing up (highschool or university) and as Steve mentioned, it created more of an aversion to practical knowledge as I dived deeper into the education worm-hole...
Asking students to find a practical use for their knowledge early on, can at least start to build the tendency to look for applications to their knowledge.
Steve J,
ReplyDeleteIn your response to my blog, you mentioned the importance of knowing content outside maintaining a good GPA and scoring well on standardized tests. As someone who struggled with my GPA in college, I now have the understanding that people have much more to offer intellectually and socially than just what their GPA or test scores show (not an understanding I had in high school). I think it is important for students to know that genuine learning is more important that have a number close to 4 on a piece of paper. That being said, it is also important for students to know that society does make pretty severe judgments on GPA, so we do have to conform to the world we live in for some extent. I say this also for us as educators of future employers and perhaps future employers ourselves. We need to be aware of how industry views students, but we also need to be very aware that academic success does not guarantee real world success. As we make our assessments of students in the future, we must be aware of what they have to offer as people as well as students.
In response to Vlad, I completely relate to your realization. However, I think our passion for our respective disciplines is one of our greatest assets as teachers. Kids have an amazing ability to see through the pretenses of adults. If we bring our love to the classroom, they will see it and draw from it. If we don't, no dog-and-pony show of fancy teaching is going to convince them that they should care any more than we do. I know you are every bit as passionate about your topic as I am, and I believe that will serve us well in the classroom.
ReplyDelete“I hear, I forget. I see, I remember. I do, I understand.” ~ Chinese proverb
ReplyDeleteI like this quote because it sums up the best way in which I am able to understand things, by participating in hands-on learning. Often I forget the things I learn when I only hear about them. To counter this I often write things down so that I can recall what I learned at a later time but I feel that true understanding comes with being able to actually have a physical hands-on approach. For example, if I were to hear someone speaking about what is and how does gel electrophoresis work I would forget most of what I heard and definitely wouldn’t understand the ins and outs of the procedure itself. And if I were to see someone perform gel electrophoresis, I may remember what transpired but not necessarily know how to perform the operation myself or truly understand the process enough to explain it to someone else in detail. But if I were to perform gel electrophoresis myself, I would have a better understanding of what is taking place in the procedure and be able to describe how it works to someone else. I feel that it is important for adolescences to experience things by doing it themselves so that they are better able to understand what they are doing and why.