“Different children
know different things” (Hirsch, p.112) Students come to school with many different types of family life. Non-traiditional families are becoming more and more common. Some have older siblings and learn about many things that are not age appropriate, where others are only children. Some students come watching TV and playing video games which are not age appropriate, yet others' screen times are carefully monitored. No two children come to school with the same background and prior knowledge, so why do we teach all children the same way? Today, schools are changing and we are
getting further away from this traditional way of teaching, but we still have a
long way to go.
Growing up, I
excelled in math but struggled in reading.
I was tested for dyslexia, special ed., you name it. Nothing was found so I kept floating on by
through school. Reading aloud round robin,
from our basal-reader, was my least favorite part of the day. I could not process what was being read aloud
nor did I feel confident reading aloud to my peers. I would sit there and count how many students
were before me and count paragraphs to see what I had to read. Then, I would repeatedly read that paragraph
in my head to make sure I knew all the words and would not mess up. When I was given a beginning of the year assessment
in fifth grade, I was reading 3 grade levels behind! And because everything we read (social
studies, science, reading) was 3 grade levels too advanced for me, I struggled
a lot to comprehend the material.
Being trained
through Lucy Calkin’s Reading Workshop, it just makes sense to allow children
to read what they want to read at their own reading level. They can still acquire they same skill set
being taught through mini-lessons, but they can practice and become proficient
while reading a book they enjoy. This
seems similar to the “self-selection” method.
(Hirsch) It is important
for teaches to teach the skill set; I think many of us forget this while we get
overwhelmed by all of these “required” texts or topics to teach. What is important is that our students know
the skill set and have a great range of prior knowledge to continue to make new
connections to what they are learning.
We need to be assessing our students on their ability to perform the
necessary skills and know if they are improving and becoming proficient.
After I
downloaded the reading for the week, but before I read the articles, I was
observing my students on the computer during indoor recess. They were playing video games on poptropica. I had approved that particular
website in the past, but I never actually watched them play. I started asking them questions and asking
them what they learn from the game. I
was amazed by how much information they were able to provide and the amount of math,
deductive reasoning, problem solving and critical thinking skills needed to
play the game. How much were my students
learning from this online video game?
This left
me thinking all week as I read, and the idea of “’failure-based learning,’ in
which failure is brief, surmountable, often exciting and therefore not scary”
(Corbett, 2010) kept me pondering. My
school is very low on funding and the few computers we have are very outdated. Although, this is a common barrier with
technology, it is becoming less and less of an issue. (Kurt 2012) Without video games, how do we recreate that
type of learning environment our kids are conditioned to through the different
subject-areas? Many of my students
shut-down when they see a word problem, before they even attempt to try. Why are they so willing to attempt, fail and
try again in a video game? And why does
this not transfer over to other learning environments?
Although, I do like to incorporate technology in my classroom, I still have
assignments leaning towards a teacher-led approach. With my students, if there
is not enough direction or accountability, they will procrastinate and waste
their time. This, in addition to many
other factors, is common amongst many teachers today. (Friedrich & Hron,
2011)
Looking at some blogs, I found this
one to be particular fun. The
teacher has “Fun Ways to Teach Parts of Speech.” I liked this blog because it has the classic
“School House Rock” listed, but it also has some other new and improved
resources listed as well. I particularly
liked the video game Grammar
Ninja. I started playing the game
and thought it was a little easy, but once I got used to it asking me for
verbs, it switched to nouns. This caused
me to carelessly lose points. Which, in
turn, made me want to keep playing to get a better score.
As successful
and popular the Quest for Learning school seems, I found it interesting that on
“federally mandated standardized tests last spring scored on average no better
and no worse than other sixth graders in their district” (Corbett, 2010). How much money does this type of learning
environment cost and is it worth it?
Additional resources cited above:
Helmut
Felix Friedrich & Aemilian Hron (2011): Factors affecting teachers’
student-centered classroom computer use, Educational Media International, 48:4,
273-285
Serhat
Kurt (2012): How do teachers prioritize the adoption of technology in the
classroom?, Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 18:2, 217-231
Antoinette,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your views on not being able to teach the same child in the same way. This frustration is evoked when teachers only use text books for their curriculum. When you think about it, text books are a mass produced product for the student in an author’s head. Yes, there have been developments in recent years where text books have sections for ELA students, higher achievers, or struggling learners. However, let’s face it, the teacher knows the students in their classroom the best. As you pointed out, the prior knowledge that students come with varies. By knowing a students’ interests, educators can manipulate their lesson to meet the child’s level of understanding.
I love your thought process on how the skill sets students develop should be grown by the teacher and not necessarily the “required” texts. I have two opinions on this. Firstly, I completely agree with the need to develop skill sets in students. However, I think this should be done in a literacy rich curriculum that introduces students to an entire story opposed to an abridged version like many basal readers have. (Is this what Lucy Calkin’s Reading Workshop emphasizes? I am only familiar with Lucy Calkin’s Writing Workshop.) A also think about your notion of “required texts” which was mentioned in the reading, Cultural Literacy and the Schools. It mentions that “Literate Americans share – cultural literacy” (p 127) going on to talk about the classics all students are expected to know in school. Who deems these works classics? The answer, the literate elite is who. Over time, classics were deemed worthy and was continued to be considered so by the educated intellectual. I like you, believe the focus should be on developing skill sets so that a student can pursue their interests and develop their reading skills even further, being heightened to do so because they will have a more thirst for knowledge when it is of interest to them.
Thank you for the video game website, poptropica, it looks very interesting. I love that you ended this paragraph with a question, wondering how much students were learning from these games. Isn’t that the biggest challenge we face? The unknown of how much the technology is really affecting the students’ growth. You for example, were able to learn a good deal by questioning your students about this one game, which helped lend validation to allowing them to play it. I am not sure if this is the same for your students. I did ask mine the question you posed, “Why are they so willing to attempt, fail and try again in a video game? And why does this not transfer over to other learning environments?” The answer that my students gave me was plain and simple, “Mrs. Johnson, this is real life! You can’t just play it over and over again until you can get it right.” I think what ended up blowing their minds was when my reply was, “This is school, you can.”
~Ashten
Hi Antoinette,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your work!
I found your post pretty gutsy, because while citing Hirsch, you pretty much stand for everything he dislikes. I found that tension in your post fascinating.
Hirsch always gets me thinking. But then I read a post by a committed young teacher like yourself, and I start to wonder what he is worked up about.
The two areas that I see you differing from Hirsch the most is your pretty clear focus on a skills-based curriculum, and your interest in having students choose their own texts in a readers-workshop format. While I think both you and I agree with Hirsch that background knowledge is important, I think you and I are also aware that a fact-heavy curriculum can lead teachers to stress about "covering" material, and leads us to lose sight on the skills we hope to engender. This is especially so at the elementary level, where so many foundational skills are put into place.
I found it wonderful that you take the time to observe your students doing things, and ask questions about them. The poptropica is a great example. I think we often underestimate the learning happening in non-traditional environments. We have been taught to think of an isolated child, silently reading as THE image of learning. And of course that's a powerful image of learning. But it's misleading if it becomes the only thing.
So perhaps Q2L is too expensive, given the test scores. But on the other hand: What have those kids learned that isn't being tested?
Thanks for your work!
Kyle