As we kicked off the school year last week, I really started to think about learning, teaching and instruction in general. During my 15 years in the world of education, I have always struggled with the ideas of the "best" instructional strategies to reach our kids and enrich their learning. Although I don't think there is ONE answer, I have come to one conclusion that has been proven to me over and over again during my years as a teacher and lead learner (thanks to my friend Joe Mazza for introducing me this term - follow @Joe_Mazza on Twitter) and that is, our kids learn best when DOING! A special thank you to John Dewey for inspiring this post... his words were uttered almost 100 years ago but they are still so relevant and important!
In
order to execute a successful educational experience, which would be
personalized for each child to best meet their needs, we must shift the focus from the “what” to
the “how.” Too often, the focus in our
educational institutions is on what the children are learning, how much of the
curriculum is being covered and what materials are being used to teach the
various concepts. Although these are important points to consider because they
do impact our children, they cannot become the focal point of said educational
experiences. As Dewey repeatedly points out in Democracy and Education: An Introduction
to the Philosophy of Education , we must always be mindful of what we give
our students to do as opposed to what we give them to learn. We cannot merely
communicate information to our students, lecturing for example, and expect that
the students have learned everything just because we talked about it or
“taught” it (teaching does not always result in learning). We cannot continue
to “pour information in” or expect our children to passively absorb information
as a result of our teaching. Instead, we must employ a variety of creative, active
and hands-on instructional approaches and techniques that raise the level of
student engagement and challenge our children to construct their own knowledge
and understandings based on what they are doing in the classroom. We must
remember that education is about constructing understandings, not just being given
a lot of information. Dewey states, “They (educators who employ methods that
are successful in formal education) give the pupils something to do, not something
to learn; and the doing is such a nature as to demand thinking, or the
intentional noting of connections; learning naturally results.” This statement needs
to be the crux of every educational vision or mission statement if we are to
ensure that all of our children learn in a meaningful way. Our educational institutions need to
challenge our children to think because thinking is the basis for all
intelligent learning and development of understandings. We must move away from
this current push of standardized tests that assess low-level comprehension
skills through multiple-choice questions (and we must disconnect these results
from teacher evaluations) and challenge our children to employ higher level
thinking skills where they synthesize and apply knowledge in different contexts
and settings (and we must connect these results to teacher evaluations).
Furthermore,
in order to maximize the learning experiences for our children, we must arouse
and maintain their interest because they will then actively participate in
their learning. This is where the idea of personalizing a child’s education
comes into play. We must move beyond merely differentiating instruction (i.e. –
harder work for the smarter children and easier work for the needier children) and
look for ways to personalize instruction. If a child exhibits certain strengths,
interests or significant background knowledge in any given area, then we must
ensure that our schools tap into these strengths and interests to help our
children learn in the most meaningful ways possible. Again, the focus must
shift from how we teach to how we make sure that our children learn. The rich
and meaningful learning experiences that our children will carry with them for
years, which will ensure that they are educated individuals and will shape their life’s trajectory, will likely come as a result of the “how” and
not the “what”!
Excellent post Tony! I have considered this same notion. I am still under the belief that the increased focus on standardized student assessment is one of the main reasons that our focus has moved away from how we instruct children and has become increasingly focused on what. So much so, that some educators and administrators are willing to "cheat" to attain the desired scores.
ReplyDeleteWhen we can focus on how to prepare students for the real life skills they will need to compete in today's global economy. I hope that we can find a way to make education more about discovery as compared to memorizing information. It just seems easy to see how learning can improve and be more engaging for students if it becomes about addressing a child's natural curiosity, rather than completing a list of objectives endorsed by politicians.
Excellent post. Our task is to produce fearless, independent learners that are well prepared to face the challenges that await them. Standardized testing, reckless differentiation for the sake of some reform movement, are creating new obstacles that may doom our nation's future.
ReplyDeleteDifferentiation when used properly is effective, when not used properly is destructive and prevents the formation of courageous learners.
Testing should be used to measure children, not teachers, schools, or societies.
We are embarking on a very dangerous social experiment this year, I hope our children's future survives.