Tag Archives: Education

Feb 18 2010

Peer Learning and 1st Grade

Peer learning is a very attractive option in getting both the most advanced and weakest learners extra learning. First, there simply are not enough adults in a classroom (at least not in my school) to give small group attention without underserving at least some other children. Two, this actually solves two issues in one. It keeps the most and least advanced children learning together at the same time, freeing the adult(s) to work intensely with the remaining children. Finally, there is a lovely cooperative aspect to such a design. I like the classroom culture and the ethos it represents.

The one thing that concerns me is whether it would work in 1st grade. I have noticed the behavior our book calls “horizontal decalage” and specifically the tendency that “any given child may have a whole variety of strategies and may use some or all of them on different problems” (Bee & Boyd, 2007, p. 166-167). In particular, on any given day or problem even the most accomplished students may employ an incorrect strategy out of his or her “wide variety of strategies.” We do math contests with groups at the end of the day for fun and learning. It is always fascinating to watch the children work in a group setting. Fascinating, but it is not terribly reassuring about how information transfers from the one with the most skill to the one with the least skill. Having said that, I would very much like to try this strategy and would love if it succeeds.

Reference

Bee, H., & Boyd, B. (2007). The developing child (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Feb 18 2010

Human Development and Footballs

What do you think influences a child’s/adolescent’s development?

There are three major factors that influence human development.

The first is the common genetic inheritance of the species Homo sapiens. The general outline of development is contained in every human being’s DNA. From conception through birth and beyond, physiological development happens according to a common human blueprint. Synaptic development, myelination, and lateralization all occur on a schedule programmed into our common DNA (Bee & Boyd, 2007, p. 93-99). While experts cannot trace the exact physiological roots of behavioral development, it is clear that the increasing capacity of children parallels the increasing sophistication of the physiology of the body and brain.

The second factor is the specific genetic inheritance of individual human beings. The forty-six chromosomes Influence everything from appearance to physical abilities to personality to mental abilities. This unique individual genetic inheritance creates and defines each living entity in its raw form.

However, neither our common or specific genetic inheritance is determinant. The third influence is environment. As described by Aslin’s Models of Development (Bee & Boyd, 2007, p. 9), different aspects of development are differently sensitive to environment. Some, like vision or language, have critical or at least highly sensitive periods where some base level of stimulus is essential to proper future functioning. Other aspects, like IQ, result from a complex interaction of different genetic and environmental influences. However, it is clear that proper diet, positive stimulation, loving attention, and emotional and physical safety provide significant modifiers to the core genetic programming.

Imagine that a human baby is a football thrown for a deep pass. The common genetic inheritance is the physical laws operating on the football: gravity, friction, rotational forces, etc. The specific inheritance is the football itself: the shape, the weight, the color, the material, the stitches, the individual variations of this particular football. The environment is its passage through the air to its reception: humidity, wind, temperature and, most importantly, the human(s) at the far end, adjusting their behavior to the flight of the ball to provide a safe landing into loving arms.

Reference

Bee, H., & Boyd, B. (2007). The developing child (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Feb 17 2010

IQ and Tiering Classes

Intelligence quotient (IQ) tests produce highly variable results. Do you think it is reasonable to base the placement of children in special classes, such as for the gifted, on the single score? Support your opinion.

Almost without exception, I do not support differentiating people based on any single measure. Human beings are simply too complex and measures of human attributes too unreliable to make such single factor decision making prudent. 

Having said that, there are definitely areas where IQ scores could reasonably be used as a significant factor in decision-making. To the extent that tiering students by ability in school is a goal (ignoring the question of whether such tiering is itself a good idea), IQ is most likely a useful tool. In the first place, it was designed to predict academic success and studies indicate that it does this reasonably well. As Bee & Boyd (2007) say, “Children with high IQ scores are more likely than their peers with average and low scores to be among the high achievers in school” (p. 191). Therefore, it should be clear that for this purpose, IQ scores are “valid.” Further, if IQ scores were to be used in this fashion, they would need to be “reliable,” which is to say that individuals’ results must be stable over time. According to Bee & Boyd, “IQ scores are, in fact, very stable” (p. 189). Finally, I would have ethical qualms if IQ were somehow misrepresenting predictive outcomes across social or ethnic groups. Not so, say Bee & Boyd: “These predictive relationships hold within each social class and ethnic group in the United States” (p. 192). Therefore, to the extent that faculty is attempting to differentiate students by likely educational performance, IQ can morally and practically be reasonably used as one consideration.

However, it is important to understand what IQ scores are not. They are not the sole determinant of likely success. Many factors influence educational outcomes, from culture to heredity to birth order to early childhood environment. As Bee & Boyd (2007) say, “Some children with high IQ scores don’t shine in school while some children with lower scores do” (p. 191). A much strong tool to use in placing students in gifted class would be actual prior educational outcomes, particularly those in the subject in question. IQ tests are also predictors of very specific measures of performance, academic performance. So depending on the type of class, IQ could be very misleading. For example, it would be unwise to use them to populate varsity sports team or the honors drama classes.

Finally, there are troubling correlations between IQ scores, ethnicity, and social class, among others. It is true that these factors correlate across the entire gamut of student achievement. However, given this, I would much prefer direct measures of capability (i.e. grades in prior similar classes) to be the main determinant in tiering classes.

Reference 

Bee, H., & Boyd, B. (2007). The developing child (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Feb 13 2010

Technology in the Classroom, Part I

I have a very elaborate vision of how a technology centered classroom might work. This is one of part of the vision.

Imagine that the students have individual wireless buzzers like on a game show. These buzzers would be linked to special software running on a SMARTboard. To answer a question, students buzz. The software randomly selects a student to answer from those who buzzed in. This eliminates unconscious gender bias and favoritism (two oft proven pitfalls of calling on students). The software would keep track of who’s buzzed in to speak in a day and who’s actually spoken. Every child needs their chance to speak so the teacher has a choice of options to address this. The software could select children to answer some questions (or all questions) randomly. Or each student might be required to buzz in a specified number of times (perhaps linked to the total opportunities in a given day). As the day goes on, pressure to speak mounts and the students learn to make wise choices in how they choose to buzz in.

Other aspects of the Q&A could be tracked. Possibly the teacher could set it to track whether students’ answers were correct. Essentialists would love that, though I would reserve that option for special situations. If the buzzer had several buttons, it could be used for impromptu quizzes. There are many possibilities.

I’m kind of a geek. It’d be fascinating for me to have this as a tool to see where it’d lead. Unfortunately, I don’t see any simply way to jury rig one and I haven’t heard of anything like it on the market. But I’m sure it’ll be available one day as technology grinds it’s way inexorably forward.

Feb 13 2010

PowerPoint in the Classroom

Being a child of a different generation, I have no experience with PowerPoint in the classroom. High tech for us was blackboard and chalk. However, I recently read a book called Beyond Bullet Points which gave me some vision of how interesting and powerful PowerPoint can be. The author’s argument was that a presentation should be structured from the elements of story: heroes, desires, and obstacles. Each slide, according to this book, should have just one sentence with one idea and a simple graphic related to all the other graphics to locate the idea in the arc of the story. That kind of PowerPoint might well be amazing in the classroom! I can imagine each lesson having a ‘story’ with the students eager to overcome obstacles to resolve the tension. They might be asked to put themselves in John Adam’s shoes or Charles Darwin’s or Odysseus’ or to solve a complex math-based real world problem working in groups. There is a fascinating story behind every lesson and PowerPoint might well be a fantastic tool to not only tell the story but to do so in a memorable, multi-media, multi-learning-style format.

Atkinson, C. (2008). Beyond Bullet Points. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press.

Feb 13 2010

Teaching to the Highest Ideal

It seems to me that a teacher’s goal should be to teach to what an ‘ideal’ child of that grade level should achieve. This will rapidly expose where each child is relative to that goal. What I wrestle with is where to find the bandwidth (student time plus teacher time) to remediate children below target levels. The class days I observe are full to the brim with academics, the arts & PE, recess, and lunch.If I assume, as I think is true, that each of these activities is essential, I run out of hours in the school day. My role model, Rafe Esquith, runs before school and Saturday study sessions. I am prepared to do the same, though I don’t know if these sessions should be mandatory (or if that’s even allowed) and what to do with children who won’t or can’t participate.

The next option is to run remediation during the non-academic school day. I really hesitate to do this. The school day is already rigorous to the reasonable limit or beyond. Additionally, there is more to be learned at school than academics. Taking the slower achievers out of the social pool might well create a negative cascade for them. On the other hand, it might be possible to do it in a way that being in this ‘study group’ might become a sort of badge of pride (pride of achievement).

Finally, it is possible to remediate during the day’s academic time. This could be done by tiering students, having each group doing work appropriate to their level. I could work with the students most in need of help while other groups could work with other adults or independently. Clearly, this is a necessary part of the solution. But unless the faster children aren’t working on academics, I don’t see how substantial catching up happens.

To conclude, it seems to me that the best way to go is to expect each child to achieve ‘ideal’ learning and to remediate with a combination of out of school time, free time and academic time to ensure each child gets the time and attention to achieve expectations.

References

Esquith, R. (2003). There are no shortcuts. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.

Esquith, R. (2007). Teach like your hair’s on fire: The methods and madness inside room 56. New York, NY: Viking.

Esquith, R. (2009). Lighting their fires: Raising extraordinary children in a mixed-up, muddled-up, shook-up world. New York, NY: Viking Adult.

 

Feb 13 2010

Adolescence

What significant issues does puberty and adolescent development present in your classroom?
 
Fortunately for me (but not accidentally) puberty and adolescence should not be a dominant factor at my chosen 5th grade level. However, with 5th grade students varying from ages nine to twelve, adolescent issues will occur in my classroom. In addition, puberty casts a long shadow, as does the culture we live in, exposing children to behavior models beyond their years.
One major aspect of adolescence that will occur in 5th grade will be the students’ struggle for independence. Unlike earlier grade levels, teacher leadership and mentoring will need to accommodate the students’ growing need to be seen as separate and self-sufficient. Accompanying this need will be a growing tendency to use peer group reflection to measure self-worth. Body issues, self-esteem issues, confusion about friendship and dating, and perhaps the beginnings of experimentation in adult risk behaviors (e.g. drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, sex) may occur. As individuation begins to bite at home, parents will become generally more disempowered. Thus, as adolescence accelerates, the relationship between student, teacher and parent will change. This will place increasing reliance on the direct relationship of teacher to student to drive academic performance.

 

Obviously, the first step for a teacher of young adolescence is to understand the nature of adolescence and its implications in the classroom. Beyond that, the opportunity exists to create positive outcomes by honoring adolescence as a life transition. The curriculum can be interwoven with literature, art, and history chosen to give the students a sense of continuity and kinship with a developmental experience common to all. Gentle transitions and opportunities to succeed should be the operating mode. Supporting self-esteem and acknowledging the challenges of puberty creates a safer environment in which to adapt to the rapidly occurring internal changes. Adolescence is a time where connectedness, meaningful learning, and emotional (and physical) safety are particularly helpful to students. The 5th grade teacher in many ways launches students on their journey of adolescent expansion. Accepting that and creating the transitions, understanding, and support to empower the experience are my intentions as regards adolescence in my classroom.

References

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology. (2001). Normal adolescent development part I. Retrieved February 12, 2010, from http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/normal_adolescent_development_part_i
Bee, H., & Boyd, B. (2007). The developing child (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Berliner, B. (1993). Adolescence, school transitions, and prevention: A research-based primer. Western Regional Center for Drug-Free Schools and Communities (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED387746). Retrieved February 12, 2010 from EBSCOHost ERIC database, Portland, OR.
Esquith, R. (2003). There are no shortcuts. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.

Feb 12 2010

Mastery Leaning versus Resource Constraints

Not to harp on a point, but there is another aspect of this conversation that I’d like to open for discussion. It is all well and good to talk of mastery learning, as I do, or Vygotsky’s ‘Zone of Proximal Development’, as you do. I passionately believe that the philosophy and practice implied by both concepts is powerful, foundational and essential for elementary school education.

The issue I’d like to raise here is resources. I spent two days a week in kindergarten last year. The developmental differences were all too clear. Even with three adults in a room with twenty students, the requirements of meeting the individual needs of all these students was overwhelming. Best efforts were made to bring all of the students along, but the tempo of the curriculum also required moving on after a time.

I wonder how one balances the need to tailor education to each student and their developmental readiness with the scarcity of teaching resources (i.e. time and teacher attention)? This may not be the place for this discussion, but I am concerned by the gap between the my heartfelt philosophical committment to bringing each child along and the imposed demands of standards and reaching a certain aggregate (i.e. class-wide) level of learning over the course of the year.

There are a few logical responses. One would be requiring extra learning time with lagging students, either during free time or after school. Another strategy would be tiering workgroups by ability so as to concentrate attention on groups with similar learning needs and developmental readiness. I am curious what thoughts or experiences anybody might have as regards this challenge.

Feb 11 2010

Kindergarten and Developmental Readiness

This is a subject near and dear to my heart. There is a clear collision in modern American kindergarten between increasing academic demands and serious developmental differences between students. This four to six year old period is a time of major development, particularly in areas around writing, reading and reading comprehension. There are large differences in developmental capability amidst kindergarten students.

In addition to the variability between individuals, there now appears to be a systematic variance between the sexes. Research tells us that the language center development in the average 5 year old boy is equivalent to that of an average 3 1/2 year old girl (Sax, 2001, p. 5). We wouldn’t expect a 3 1/2 year old girl to master the academic demands of kindergarten. Yet in assigning expectations based on attendance of kindergarten, regardless of individual developmental readiness, we are doing the equivalent in many cases.

Kindergarten can be a critical period for students. It is their first introduction to formal education. It is a time where they begin to form opinions and expectations of themselves in an academic context and of school as an institution. I feel it is essential to provide the most positive, supportive experience to kindergarten students. Part of that experience must be a clear recognition of their individual developmental readiness and the necessity of finding academic success for each student during this time. Some of this burden falls upon the parents and their preschool advisors to properly evaluate a child’s readiness for modern kindergarten. But necessarily much of this burden will fall on kindergarten teachers to provide this positive experience. Understanding the developmental landscape of this age group can make that task clearer, if not easier.
References

Lenroot, R., Gogtay, N., Greenstein, D., Wells, E., Wallace, G., Clasen, L., Blumenthal, J., … Giedd, J. (2007, March 17). Sexual dimorphism of brain developmental trajectories during childhood and adolescence. NeuroImage, 36(), 1065-1073. Retrieved from http://www.boysadrift.com/2007Giedd.pdf

Sax, L. (2001). Reclaiming kindergarten: Making kindergarten less harmful to boys. Psychology of Men and Masculinity, 2(), 3-12. Retrieved from http://www.boysadrift.com/Sax_APA_2001.pdf

Feb 11 2010

Mastery Learning and Assessment

I believe that each child has the right and capability to learn the course material. My instincts are to incorporate principles of mastery learning into the classroom. Mastery learning says each student doesn’t move forward until they’ve demonstrated mastery of the current material. Since much of the curriculum is additive (dependent on prior learning), this has the added advantage of making sure the student is adequately prepared for each section of curriculum as it arrives.

Mastery learning requires frequent assessment. But in mastery learning, the relationship between teacher and pupil is subtly different. Because the goal is mastery, the student (and teacher) must commit to truly learning a body of knowledge, not simply being present while it is taught. To the extent that this is true, assessment changes from an onerous task to a useful measure of progress towards a goal. Teacher and student are eager to understand how complete comprehension and retention have been.

In addition to protecting the student’s right to learn, frequent assessment is efficient. All too often, teachers move forward in the mistake belief that as subject has been taught. This confusion between presenting the subject and it being absorbed leads to much surprise and frustration. But not so with frequent assessment. Likewise, assessment is a kind of teaching, a kind of drilling. Like flash cards, frequent assessment develops the habit of learn, test, repeat. This drives the knowledge home at the same time as it assures that comprehensive comprehension is achieved.