How kids (and adults) learn

Many teachers and educational experts are against the standardized testing movement for many good reasons, one of which is because testing does not equal learning. One of the reasons why I believe that standardized tests are not accurate measures of what a student learns is because the brain naturally works in such a way that it forgets what it does not deem relevant. If memorizing an algebraic equation or analyzing a Shakespearean sonnet does not matter to the student, they may master this concept on a test, but they will not remember it for the long-term. Things that are irrelevant to students (and, for that matter, adults) have no meaning. This site has a great diagram (about 5/6ths of the way down) of what happens in our brains when something has no meaning for learners.

This theory is clearly observed when put into practice. We naturally gravitate toward what we enjoy. It should be no different in classrooms. In this blog post published almost a year ago, the author explains extremely well why students have trouble learning basic skills like spelling when teachers ignore (or don't know) how the brain works. She states that “[i]f spelling words are simply strings of letters to be learnt by heart with no meaning attached and no investigation of how those words are constructed, then we are simply assigning our children a task equivalent to learning ten random seven-digit PINs each week. That is not only very very hard, it's pointless.” Her idea about teaching morphemes so that a child will write “jumped” rather than “jumt” not only helps students develop meaning about words and therefore attach relevancy to them, but also helps them with deductive reasoning, which is a skill that is transferable to almost anything. But most standardized tests do not test deductive reasoning; most are based, instead, on rote memorizing, like spelling, which will likely be forgotten.

Teaching and testing methods that rely on this type of knowledge are not only ineffective, they are boring. This is one reason why children drop out of school. These children soon become adults, and since they have been out of school for so long, they often feel stuck, and they become unemployed and/or incarcerated. This is a problem particularly in DC, where more than 60,000 adults do not have a high school credential. The GED is designed in much the same way high school standardized tests are, so the problem remains: students must study for things they just don't care about. Can we blame them for not caring about quadratic equations and whether or not a character's mood changes in contrast with the setting? I don't think so. I think we should train teachers and test-makers instead to assess what is relevant. Students will be happier and more productive when we do.

Quotes!

I love quotes, and I haven't posted nearly enough. So it's catch up time!

I'm not actually going to post that many, but I found a bunch. While I don't generally enjoy, or even trust, Buzzfeed, these quotes are worth noting. Here are my favorites:







Also, something of substance: another (perhaps forgotten) reason why Gates' policies are not a panacea.

Finally some good education reform

I've always felt that many of the disruptions in class come from when students are bored. That's why an engaging lesson plan is extremely important. But even with the most engaging lessons, some students move at a faster pace than others. Many of the adult students I currently work with are incredibly smart, and didn't finish school just because they felt bored, because they moved faster than their peers and were not given any recognition for it. (Not to mention, DC Public Schools are not known for having the best GT services, which these students would most likely have benefited from.)

But there is good news! DC is in the process of implementing graduation requirements based on competency, rather than on number of hours spent in class. This supposedly radical policy has already been implemented in New Hampshire. Hopefully once implemented, rewarding students based on competency rather than class hours will solve several problems all at once: a) students who "pass" to the next grade level will not have holes in their learning; b) students can learn how to take charge of their own learning and develop life skills such as time-management and self-responsibility; c) the independence required in college and in other options after high school won't be as much of a transition; d) students who are really motivated can finish high school early (i.e. by 15 or 16) and have time to work to pay for school (and get real-world experience) before heading off to college; and e) as I've already stated, classroom discipline will be less of an issue since students can always be doing something.

So many good things can come from this! Hopefully this policy will come to fruition.

Community & collaboration

Two things. First: because it is the last quarter and senioritis has set in, the attendance problem in my fifth period class (seniors) has gotten worse. I've had 4 students from that class I haven't seen since the quarter started. So I sent an email to their administrator and the Attendance Specialist (I'm not exactly sure what his job is, but he seems to be effective) about it. The next day, each of these students were in class. That was kind of amazing, though I wonder how long it will last.

Secondly: With the same class today, we finished up reading Macbeth and I wanted to do an interactive activity with it so I explained that the classroom was now a courtroom and divided the class into two groups. One group was playing the Prosecution, proving Lady Macbeth's guilt and sanity, and the other group was the Defense, proving that she was just an accomplice, and that she was insane. I told them to make their cases they had to find textual evidence from the play. I was anticipating groans when I said this, but there was nary a peep.

With this class in particular, I am weary of trying anything the least bit nontraditional, even something where students get to argue (and they LOVE to argue). Plus, this activity did not go as well as I had hoped with my previous senior class, the one I use with which to gauge the effectiveness of activities, since they seem to be generally less apathetic. So I was a little concerned when I introduced the activity, but they were totally into it. Even the students who weren't saying anything were interested in the arguments. It was a fantastic class. I hope the attendance and the interest will not completely dissipate before the end of the year.