Okay, if I understand this correctly, this week's reading is all about making new knowledge connect with prior knowledge and memory. I think that every student realizes that attaching new learning to prior leaning makes everything easier. One of the great rewards of being a teacher is when we see "the light come on" in our student's faces. Often, that light comes on when the student makes the connection and integrates new information with old. "Oh, I get it," is what comes out of their mouths.
But I also think schema theory also goes further and deals with the framework people build in their minds to access, retrieve, and add to what they know. Indeed, knowledge should never be just a "basket of facts", as Anderson puts it, but an interconnected web where facts are all connected. I am convinced that the m0re connections that are there, the better access, the better retrieval happens. I will even go so far as to say that the better the connections, the more intelligent the person appears.
I also like Andersons ideas in strong schema theory and weak schema theory. I can't help but wonder if a strong schema theory that Anderson says is based on "principles extracted from experience" leads to black and white thinking with no allowances for all the shades of gray. He seems to prefer the weak schema (and so do I) that allows us to "...accomodate ...arbitrary realities..." that characterize real life. His examples of what utensil to use for what kind of food are almost humorous and point out that sometimes we have to adjust to the circumstance.
After reading Anderson, I am determined to do a better job of connecting new knowledge to prior learning and teaching my students not only what I want them to learn, but HOW to learn it and retain it better by making connections. Teaching students how to learn is another one of the great keys to unlock these kids' brains.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Week 5 Meaningful learning
When I reeled off 24 pages of print for the Novak reading alone, I was discouraged. I thought I would never truly comprehend that much academic writing and I wasn't sure I wanted to. I was wrong. It is really quite fascinating. I'm not claiming bragging rights for understanding every single word, but by and large, it validates what years of teaching experience and being a parent has taught me. It's very nice to see these ideas in print, written by someone with greater education than myself.
To answer the question, "What is learning?" I would paraphrase that to "What is meaningful learning?" There is no question that for learning to be meaningful, it has to be connected to prior learning. I have often told my students that education is like a big staircase: it builds on itself. I specifically use this idea when I am teaching English and I have to teach grammar. Even though it is high school grammar, I start with nouns, as though the student has never been taught any grammar at all. Of course I am painfully aware that grammar is not the most interesting subject in the world. So I try to take it one step at a time and build on prior learning. (It helps to have a set of worksheets written by one of the most talented and intelligent teachers I have ever known.)
The idea of concept maps is vital to meaningful learning. They create a framework to hang knowledge on, and organize it in a coherent manner. I'm going to get a little personal here to illustrate what I mean. I have a son who is not a typical learner. He is enormously intelligent. All the tests and teachers use the words like gifted, talented, advanced, etc. But he didn't come with the ability to organize his abilities or any kind of a framework. One teacher called his brain "random and abstract", and "low-achieving gifted". (How's that for an oxymoron?) Now this is a kid who by the 6th grade, took over teaching the math curriculum for the rest of his class.
I had to work intensively with him, first to understand how he thought, then to create a framework, a concept map, so that he could access his native intelligence. He would be presented with a problem or focus question. Then he would come up with the answer, but I had no idea how he got that answer, and usually, neither did he. Sometimes he couldn't replicate it. So we would draw out a concept map, charting the path from question to answer, tying the new knowledge to prior learning. Really, he always came up with the answer by extending and extrapolating his prior knowledge, but sometimes the jump from old to new was so big, neither he nor I could quite figure it out until we did a concept map. Just so you know, he is now 22, studying to become a CPA, and doing very well. But once in a while, I still will have to remind him to organize his thinking. He has had to learn about how he learns (and doesn't learn) which is a form of metacognition.
What this, and Novak, taught me is that people can be very intelligent, but if they can't organize the intelligence (concept mapping), make connections to prior learning (subsumption), classify the learning into groups (superordinate learning), and compare and contrast what is the same and what is different (integrative reconciliation), they can't access what they do know and meaningful learning becomes difficult. I tell my students that even the human brain needs a search engine.
I also like Novak's ideas about the student choosing to learn. His statement "...only the learner can choose to learn meaningfully ..." (p. 557) is so true. Every teacher in the world is nodding a big "YES" to that statement. As the saying goes, you can bring a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.
However, the teacher can sweeten the water and make it more attractive for the "horse" to drink. How can learning best be effectuated by the teacher? To a degree, make the learning more attractive. Connect it to every day living. Explain why they need this knowledge. Make it relevant. I know this isn't always easy, but in my fields, history and English, I usually can do this.
For those who struggle, help them with their cognitive skills. Do the concept maps with the students, either individually or as a class. Make it an assignment with the map drawn out, but filled in by the students. It is definitely easier said than done, especially with time limitations and our 40+ kids a class, but worth it. If we can give our students the keys to their own brains, we make their lives infinitely better.
To answer the question, "What is learning?" I would paraphrase that to "What is meaningful learning?" There is no question that for learning to be meaningful, it has to be connected to prior learning. I have often told my students that education is like a big staircase: it builds on itself. I specifically use this idea when I am teaching English and I have to teach grammar. Even though it is high school grammar, I start with nouns, as though the student has never been taught any grammar at all. Of course I am painfully aware that grammar is not the most interesting subject in the world. So I try to take it one step at a time and build on prior learning. (It helps to have a set of worksheets written by one of the most talented and intelligent teachers I have ever known.)
The idea of concept maps is vital to meaningful learning. They create a framework to hang knowledge on, and organize it in a coherent manner. I'm going to get a little personal here to illustrate what I mean. I have a son who is not a typical learner. He is enormously intelligent. All the tests and teachers use the words like gifted, talented, advanced, etc. But he didn't come with the ability to organize his abilities or any kind of a framework. One teacher called his brain "random and abstract", and "low-achieving gifted". (How's that for an oxymoron?) Now this is a kid who by the 6th grade, took over teaching the math curriculum for the rest of his class.
I had to work intensively with him, first to understand how he thought, then to create a framework, a concept map, so that he could access his native intelligence. He would be presented with a problem or focus question. Then he would come up with the answer, but I had no idea how he got that answer, and usually, neither did he. Sometimes he couldn't replicate it. So we would draw out a concept map, charting the path from question to answer, tying the new knowledge to prior learning. Really, he always came up with the answer by extending and extrapolating his prior knowledge, but sometimes the jump from old to new was so big, neither he nor I could quite figure it out until we did a concept map. Just so you know, he is now 22, studying to become a CPA, and doing very well. But once in a while, I still will have to remind him to organize his thinking. He has had to learn about how he learns (and doesn't learn) which is a form of metacognition.
What this, and Novak, taught me is that people can be very intelligent, but if they can't organize the intelligence (concept mapping), make connections to prior learning (subsumption), classify the learning into groups (superordinate learning), and compare and contrast what is the same and what is different (integrative reconciliation), they can't access what they do know and meaningful learning becomes difficult. I tell my students that even the human brain needs a search engine.
I also like Novak's ideas about the student choosing to learn. His statement "...only the learner can choose to learn meaningfully ..." (p. 557) is so true. Every teacher in the world is nodding a big "YES" to that statement. As the saying goes, you can bring a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.
However, the teacher can sweeten the water and make it more attractive for the "horse" to drink. How can learning best be effectuated by the teacher? To a degree, make the learning more attractive. Connect it to every day living. Explain why they need this knowledge. Make it relevant. I know this isn't always easy, but in my fields, history and English, I usually can do this.
For those who struggle, help them with their cognitive skills. Do the concept maps with the students, either individually or as a class. Make it an assignment with the map drawn out, but filled in by the students. It is definitely easier said than done, especially with time limitations and our 40+ kids a class, but worth it. If we can give our students the keys to their own brains, we make their lives infinitely better.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Positive Behavior Support and FBA -Week 3
I like the title: Positive Behavior Support. I like the idea of teachers supporting positive behavior. I have often told new teachers that if they don't have a certain level of student behavior in the classroom, they don't have anything. In Utah, with our 40+ students per class, it only takes a couple of misbehaved students to turn the class into chaos. Then learning is destroyed, everyone leaves frustrated, and the teacher hates teaching. I'm not saying that the class should be perectly silent all the time; that's not conducive to teaching either. But the teacher needs to be the one in control of the class.
Learning is not only learning the content as listed in our lesson plan; learning is also about learning the behaviors that will allow optimal content learning. Every successful student has to learn social behavior such as learning to get along with people, taking turns, and basic kindness. Socialization is one of the primary tasks of the school. Students also must learn good classroom behavior such as not interrupting, respect for the teacher, and doing one's own work.
All of this seems like no-brainer observations, but I am amazed at how many high school students either don't know these basic ideas or refuse to learn them. I typically spend much of the first three weeks of school just training the students in basic classroom behavior. The ironic thing is that most teachers do the same.
This is where teachers need to use PBS and FBA. For chronically misbehaved students, the collaboration level of the FBA may be the only thing that will work. There is no question that poor behavior in students is more common and more severe than in the past. I do not teach Special Education of any type, but every year I have several students who are ADHD, bi-polar, or chronically depressed, and sometimes all three. If we as teachers hope to deal with these issues, a plan must be in place. The plan must include the observations of every teacher, the administrator, the counselor, and perhaps a special education teacher. Triggering antecedents must be indentified, and a plan of acceptable and alternative behavior adopted, and implemented.
In my experience, once the student realizes that all of his or her teachers are working together as a team, the student comes to realize that his or her poor behavior is simply unacceptable and will not be tolerated. However, the risk for high school students is the possibility of the student dropping out, hence, the need for, literally, positive behavior support. Behavioral correction should be done positively and firmly with the idea that at some point, the student will chose the rewards of acting approriately over the punishments of misbehaving.
Learning is not only learning the content as listed in our lesson plan; learning is also about learning the behaviors that will allow optimal content learning. Every successful student has to learn social behavior such as learning to get along with people, taking turns, and basic kindness. Socialization is one of the primary tasks of the school. Students also must learn good classroom behavior such as not interrupting, respect for the teacher, and doing one's own work.
All of this seems like no-brainer observations, but I am amazed at how many high school students either don't know these basic ideas or refuse to learn them. I typically spend much of the first three weeks of school just training the students in basic classroom behavior. The ironic thing is that most teachers do the same.
This is where teachers need to use PBS and FBA. For chronically misbehaved students, the collaboration level of the FBA may be the only thing that will work. There is no question that poor behavior in students is more common and more severe than in the past. I do not teach Special Education of any type, but every year I have several students who are ADHD, bi-polar, or chronically depressed, and sometimes all three. If we as teachers hope to deal with these issues, a plan must be in place. The plan must include the observations of every teacher, the administrator, the counselor, and perhaps a special education teacher. Triggering antecedents must be indentified, and a plan of acceptable and alternative behavior adopted, and implemented.
In my experience, once the student realizes that all of his or her teachers are working together as a team, the student comes to realize that his or her poor behavior is simply unacceptable and will not be tolerated. However, the risk for high school students is the possibility of the student dropping out, hence, the need for, literally, positive behavior support. Behavioral correction should be done positively and firmly with the idea that at some point, the student will chose the rewards of acting approriately over the punishments of misbehaving.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Behaviorism in learning and teaching
I am a product of the theories of B.F. Skinner. I graduated in psychology in 1981 and was thoroughly drilled in Behaviorism. I remember the "rat lab" where we were given a white lab rat and had to teach them to swing on a trapeze, spin in circles, and push a lever to get some food. I liked my rat until it bit me.
I liked Behaviorism and still do. It makes sense to me. I like the idea of observable, measurable results that anyone can see. I can easily see the effects of rewards and punishments on any organism. After studying Freud, Jung, and existentialism, Skinner was like a breath of fresh air. I am so versed in Behaviorism that any time I puzzle over anyone's behavior, I automatically look for the rewards and/or punishments of that behavior. I see Behaviorism in myself as well.
Do I use behaviorism in the classroom? Absolutely. One of the ways I use operant conditioning is my behavior at the end of administering a test. After the test is finished and then randomly distributed for correction, the test is then return to the owner. Then I ask the owners to pass the test up along each column of desks. As I pick up each column, I look at the scores in front of the class. I tell the students, "I get to look. I'm the teacher."
Each student who earns an A grade on the test is publicly praised immediately. Those scoring 100% are particularly praised. I don't say anything to those who don't do as well. Occasionaly, if an entire column does poorly, I will say, "Well, keep studying." The students will laugh. Following the variable ratio schedule of reinforcement, I do not do this every time, but randomly.
I am amazed at how important that praise becomes to those students. Frequently, if I don't do the praising, students will say something to me like, "Hey, did you look at my score?" They want that public praise, specifically from me, the authority figure in the classroom.
Now all that being said, I do not believe in Behaviorism to the extent B.F. Skinner did. He claims in the video there is no such thing as free will. I can't go that far. Skinner was deeply criticized for his theories that can appear to turn humans into unthinking animals. Humans are far more complex than pidgeons, dogs,or rats. While we do respond to rewards and punishments, there is so much more to being human. Skinner never could explain profound acts of altruism, courage, and sacrifice. In other words, he never could explain the best and the highest that is in us. Of course, neither could Freud or Jung.
I liked Behaviorism and still do. It makes sense to me. I like the idea of observable, measurable results that anyone can see. I can easily see the effects of rewards and punishments on any organism. After studying Freud, Jung, and existentialism, Skinner was like a breath of fresh air. I am so versed in Behaviorism that any time I puzzle over anyone's behavior, I automatically look for the rewards and/or punishments of that behavior. I see Behaviorism in myself as well.
Do I use behaviorism in the classroom? Absolutely. One of the ways I use operant conditioning is my behavior at the end of administering a test. After the test is finished and then randomly distributed for correction, the test is then return to the owner. Then I ask the owners to pass the test up along each column of desks. As I pick up each column, I look at the scores in front of the class. I tell the students, "I get to look. I'm the teacher."
Each student who earns an A grade on the test is publicly praised immediately. Those scoring 100% are particularly praised. I don't say anything to those who don't do as well. Occasionaly, if an entire column does poorly, I will say, "Well, keep studying." The students will laugh. Following the variable ratio schedule of reinforcement, I do not do this every time, but randomly.
I am amazed at how important that praise becomes to those students. Frequently, if I don't do the praising, students will say something to me like, "Hey, did you look at my score?" They want that public praise, specifically from me, the authority figure in the classroom.
Now all that being said, I do not believe in Behaviorism to the extent B.F. Skinner did. He claims in the video there is no such thing as free will. I can't go that far. Skinner was deeply criticized for his theories that can appear to turn humans into unthinking animals. Humans are far more complex than pidgeons, dogs,or rats. While we do respond to rewards and punishments, there is so much more to being human. Skinner never could explain profound acts of altruism, courage, and sacrifice. In other words, he never could explain the best and the highest that is in us. Of course, neither could Freud or Jung.
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