This week's article summary is The Unwritten Rules of College (no hyperlink available). While the article's primary audience is college professors, the advice is pertinent for elementary, middle and high school teachers as well.
The main point of the article is that in order to optimize student learning teachers need to provide clear and succinct instructions and explanations about the what, how, and why of what is to be studied. This extends to how students will be asked to demonstrate their understanding (how they will be assessed).
Through about 10th grade, I was basically lost and adrift about how to take notes, highlight in textbooks, and study and prepare for tests, papers, quizzes, etc. Assessments were a scary mystery to me. I viewed tests and papers from a negative, deficit vantage point--they were ways for the teachers to find out what I didn't know.
Then, when I was seventeen or so a cognitive lightbulb went on in my brain. I began to think of assessments as opportunities to show what I knew, not as traps for what I didn't know. I began to see that while knowledge content was an important part of life, my education was more about me developing my own opinions and ideas. As part of this cognitive ‘a-ha’ I began asking at the beginning of a unit how we students were going to be assessed: if we were going to write paper, I took notes differently compared to if we we going to have a test, especially if the questions were going to be true/false, multiple choice, etc. Simply from this change in perspective, I became a much more confident and self-aware (and successful) student.
Clearly part of this change was maturational as I moved a la Piaget from being concrete cognitively to being more analytical. When I became a teacher I committed to providing my students the scaffolding to help them avoid the doubt and confusion I had in school until my junior year of high school. I always gave them an overview of the upcoming unit, its duration and purpose, and the assessment(s) I would use--or as the article below states the 'task, purpose, and criteria'. This was typically be followed by a class discussion of the different ways students could learn and how to best remember and then use the material. These intro discussions gave students not only a better sense of what we were going to study but also a greater sense of ownership and academic self-confidence and empowerment.
The point of the article below is that no matter how long we have taught, we need to remember what it’s like to be a student and to help provide the appropriate support and guidance to maximize their learning, confidence, and independence.
Joe
-------
Some college students--and elementary, middle, and high school students as well—can run into trouble because academic expectations are not clear. It can seem to them that there are unwritten rules they aren’t privy to.
Transparency with assignments is an important key to students feeling they belong in the classroom, gaining confidence, and thriving academically.
Researchers have zeroed in on three components that the most-effective instructors orchestrate and communicate to students:
The task: What exactly are students being asked to do?
The purpose: Why should they do it? What important learning will flow from it?
The criteria: How will student work be evaluated?
As minor and perhaps self-evident as the underlying questions may seem, it’s surprising how often they go unexamined or unexpressed.
Clarity of task, purpose, and criteria help students meet higher expectations of rigor and ensure equity of educational quality.
Attending to these factors also pushes teachers to think through their material at a deeper level and to give assignments that benefit all students.
Why don’t some instructors use these simple steps?
Because they often take for granted the logic and the rhythm of their assignments and expectations.
Some have forgotten how much they know and care about the material relative to their students.
Some also believe that being so explicit about assignments is hand-holding; students should be able to figure out assignments by themselves.
When instructors explain material clearly, use good examples to explore difficult points, are well prepared, and have a solid command of their subject, students notice and appreciate it – and are more successful academically.
No comments:
Post a Comment