Research indicates that children who have a vision for what they want to accomplish in life are more likely to grow into happy, successful adults. Challenge students to think about what kind of a person they want to be. One strategy is to ask them “When your life is over what is the most important thing you would like people to remember about you?”
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Teaching Strategy of the Day 3-9-12
Challenge your students, in writing or through discussion or both, to interpret this quote from Grantland Rice and then to indicate if they agree with it:
“When the one great scorer comes to put his mark upon your name he cares not whether you won or lost but how you played the game.”
This can also be used to help students understand the meaning of “metaphor”.
Teaching Strategy of the Day 3-2-12
Most teachers tell students they want them to ask questions. We even say “There is no such thing as a dumb question.” But often we respond to questions by saying we don’t have time to address it now or giving body language that belies our admonition that there is no such thing as a dumb question. Preface your response to all questions by saying “That’s a good question.” If you think it is a really bad question you can still say “I’m glad you asked.” Then either respond at the time or find time later, but make it clear to the whole class that you appreciate getting questions by treating all questions as important.
Teaching Strategy of the Day 3-1-12
Depending on the subject you teach, ask students to identify as many people in that field as possible, i.e. artists, scientists, authors, presidents, generals, musicians, mathematicians. Create a combined list for the whole class. Assign students to get the name of two more people, not on the list, from someone at home or outside of this class. Enlarge your list with the new names students discover. Build class activities off of this growing list.
Volume 13, Issue 9 – Constructivist Book by Jim Pelech
There is a book by Jim Pelech of Benedictine University that you ought to read if you are looking for practical strategies to use in the classroom that reflect constructivist theory. Because Jim is a professor of mathematics there are excellent examples in math; however, Jim’s examples cut a wide swath across many disciplines. The emphasis is on practical application.
I will revisit Jim’s book, with a citation, at the end of this article. First, let’s explore why this book is such a wonderful contribution to the field of teaching in pursuit of strategies that can be applied in all disciplines and at all grade levels.
A number of years ago, a high school principal asked me to work with his math department because, in his words, “None of my math teachers believes that constructivist theory is relevant to math. They think it is for every other department.”
It is not uncommon for math teachers to think they are the one subject area where it is not appropriate to apply constructivist theory to classroom practice. Of course, I have encountered many language teachers who feel that it is their subject area that is the exception. And, similarly, there are science teachers who think only labs are appropriate for practices based on constructivist theory and there are social studies teachers who . . . well, you get the idea.
It still surprises me to hear social studies teachers say that constructivist theory isn’t appropriate for their subject because I can more easily think of examples of applying theory to practice in this subject than any other. Think of conducting a mock trial of Socrates. But I may have figured it out. Here’s the deal:
The teachers who think constructivist theory doesn’t apply to their subject area are usually the people who think that memorization of facts is more important than conceptual understanding. What they don’t realize is that even if your objective is to have students memorize information, active engagement with the information will result in greater retention than rote drill and kill; and you can still allow for rote drill and kill, if that’s your preference, after you have actively engaged students with the information you want them to memorize.
Abundant research supports the contention that students memorize best when classroom practice is based on constructivist theory. For starters, check out the November, 1999 issue of Educational Leadership which was devoted solely to articles about constructivism. In that issue, Harvard’s David Perkins cites some of the research which demonstrates that students memorize more effectively when classroom practices are based on constructivist theory.
WHY IS CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY EQUALLY APPLICABLE IN ALL DISCIPLINES?
For starters, constructivism is a theory about how people learn. As a theory it is either correct or it is not. If constructivist theory accurately articulates how people learn, then doesn’t it make sense that classroom practices should always be based on constructivist theory? Theories aren’t correct only “some of the time” or they wouldn’t be called theories.
Would you say that Newton’s theory of gravity is right some of the time: “It’s probably true that apples will fall if you drop them from a tree, but what about oranges or golf balls?”
Come on – when is a theory not a theory? How about “A theory is not a theory if it isn’t applicable in a variety of situations.” Either constructivism does articulate how people learn or it doesn’t.
Many people conclude that lectures are not part of a constructivist-based lesson and anything interactive is constructivist. This is wrong on both counts: lectures can be part of a constructivist-based lesson if they are used to provide information that students feel they need to have. On the other hand, group work and other forms of student interaction are not necessarily constructivist-based. Strategies that do not challenge students to use their highest cognitive thinking skills, can not lay claim to having their foundation in constructivist theory.
For most of us who have experienced traditional teaching strategies from the day we entered kindergarten until the last time we set foot on a university campus, it is much easier to believe in constructivist theory than it is to apply it in the classroom. Teachers who explore practices based on this theory find that it takes much more time to cover curriculum than with more traditional approaches. They don’t realize that there is a steep learning curve. Many assume that the time it takes when they first use a constructivist strategy is the time it will always require. So they give up and decide it doesn’t work. With the increasing emphasis on judging teachers by the performance of their students on standardized tests, who wants to take the time to learn new teaching approaches, even if they will turn out to be better for students, once teachers are able to master them?
Those teachers who have stayed with it and gradually increased their use of constructivist practices to the point where they are comfortable with them will tell you that they can cover more curriculum through use of these strategies and they can prepare students for the standardized assessments without giving those tests much conscious thought as they design their lessons.
All of this brings us back to Jim Pelech’s book entitled The Comprehensive Handbook of Constructivist Teaching published by Information Age Printing, Inc. in Charlotte, North Carolina. In this case YOU CAN judge the book by its cover – it is comprehensive and eminently reader-friendly.
In the opening paragraph, Jim asks, “What do the following, the first a geometry problem, the second a definition question, and the third a manual writing exercise, have in common?” After outlining the three scenarios in some detail, Jim answers his own
question: “The three scenarios each involve Constructivist activities.” Jim then promises that, in his book, you will find constructivist strategies that are useful “whether you are involved in teaching on the elementary, high school, or college level and whether you are teaching basic arithmetic, science, or English.”
Through the 213 compact pages of this book, Jim Pelech fulfills his promise.
Teaching Strategy of the Day 2-29-12
A carousel is a wonderful activity because it enables students to work in the area of their strongest intelligence (think Howard Gardner) while participating in the same activity. Carousels can be used in any discipline and at any grade level. A well planned carousel can enable students to use almost all of the eight Multiple Intelligences. Just be sure to play music in the background and to stop the music when you want students to move to the next station. For further information, just Google “Carousel activities classroom”.
Teaching Strategy of the Day 2-28-12
Here’s a line from a long ago Tony Bennett hit song that can be used to challenge students to interpret its meaning:
“Children everywhere, when you shoot at bad men, shoot at me; take me to that strange enchanted land grown ups seldom understand.”
Students often give a very literal interpretation to poetry. This can get them thinking about the fact that the literal and metaphorical meaning of words can be totally different.
Volume 13, Issue 8 – How Teachers Differentiate Instruction, Part III
In the conclusion of this three part series on differentiated instruction, you will find:
- A response to the question “Why should we?”
- A summary of tips for effective differentiation of instruction
- An example of how Mickey Mantle, or a celebrity more of your students’ generation, can be utilized to motivate students to learn what you want to teach.
The question is sometimes posed “Why should we differentiate instruction and how does it improve student outcomes?” I am going to address the first part of this question and leave the second part to a future newsletter.
Differentiating instruction is common sense. As parents we do it all the time. When our daughters were five and ten and I had a cartoon or an article I wanted to share, I would hand it to the ten year-old knowing she enjoyed the challenge of reading and would prefer to have the article in her hands. Naturally, I would read it to my five year old.
This is differentiated instruction.
Your reaction may be, “But in school most of the students are closer in age.” That’s true. However, as any teacher can tell you, the ability levels of students the same age can be five months or five years apart. And it’s not just a question of ability. Learning styles are different. When I worked in a satellite office with a headquarters 180 miles away, I communicated with department heads by letter or email. I got to know the styles of the people with whom I communicated. If I sent a 50 page report, one boss might say something a month later that gave evidence he had read and understood what I had written on page 45 in the third paragraph. Yet, another boss might not recall something I had sent in a large, bold faced type, and circled, on a half-page memo.
Once I realized this, I would use telephone and face-to-face communications for the person in the latter example, but would take the time for detailed written messages to the other. My point is that we adjust to accommodate the different learning styles of adults with whom we interact. Why shouldn’t we do it for children?
While it is not good practice to read to someone what they have in front of them, an exception is when one is giving directions to a class of students. Often it is good practice to give verbal instructions while also distributing them in writing or placing the written instructions where all can see. When I give a class of university students verbal directions for an assignment, even when the directions are less than three sentences long, I will often have students approach me after class and say it would be easier for them to understand the directions if they could have them in writing. Other students say it wastes paper to distribute in writing what has been verbalized to the class. However, these are the students who are strong auditory learners and are not sensitive to the fact that not everyone is as strong in that way. Teachers, and parents, need to have this sensitivity to be effective.
Verbalizing and providing directions in writing is differentiating instructions.
To summarize what I have been writing about in these past three articles:
- The learning objectives for a lesson that the teacher feels strongly about or that are required by state or national standards should be non-negotiable; however, teachers should be flexible in the ways they allow students to learn and demonstrate their learning.
- Offer students options for how they complete their work and try to let the options focus on different Multiple Intelligences.
- Find ways to teach that don’t always favor students with strength in linguistic or mathematical-logical Intelligences.
Here’s an example of an assignment in which instruction is differentiated. It can easily be adjusted for any subject:
1. Give students a one or two paragraph biography of a well known person. Then provide lyrics to a song that reflect some of the information in the biography. Ask the students to share why they think the lyrics are reflective of the person as described in the biography.
2. Now give the students brief biographies of several other people who are well known in their field. Ask them to come up with lyrics to a song that reflect the essence of the information in one of the biographies (their choice). These people can all be luminaries in the subject area you teach, but the “differentiation of instruction” will be in allowing students to identify lyrics of their choice because you are catering to people with strengths in musical, mathematical-logical and intrapersonal “Intelligences”. You are also allowing them to choose the song and this allows them to gravitate toward their areas of interest.
This is not a difficult activity to create if you make effective use of Google to gather information for the biographies. Students can Google lyrics to songs they are considering as they engage in their task.
If you allow students to work in groups you are also addressing the inter-personal strengths of some students and if they are permitted to walk around and share their results you are catering to those with “Bodily-Kinesthetic” strength. If you require them to display their lyrics and encourage them to put attractive art work around the lyrics then you are also appealing to students with strong Spatial Intelligence.
Finally, there is also a way to use this activity to challenge students whose ability in your subject-area is stronger while enabling slower students to work at their own pace and still feel the sense of accomplishment that accompanies successful completion of their work. For the more academically inclined students, after they have identified lyrics to go with one of the biographies you provided, ask them to be the ones to come up with the brief biography of someone in your subject area and then, also, to locate lyrics that reflect the content of the biography. They can be doing this while other students are still working on the initial assignment of matching lyrics to one of the biographies you provided.
You can follow this simple three step process to make it equitable for all students:
- Show students an example of a biography and lyrics from a song that reflect the information in the biography. (See the example below)
- Give the whole class a choice of biographies and ask them, in pairs or small groups, to come up with song lyrics that reflect the information in the biography.
- As some pairs or small groups complete their assignment ahead of the rest of the class, walk over to them and offer extra credit for them to create a biography and also to agree on appropriate song lyrics. Just make it clear to the entire class that everyone has met your standard and will receive a satisfactory grade if they complete the first part of this assignment.
Here is an example you can distribute to help students understand the assignment.
This is step one in the three step process I just described:
In a biography of Mickey Mantle, it is made clear that while Mantle was one of the greatest baseball players ever elected to the Hall of Fame, he partied too much and did not take care of his body, got too little sleep before big games and could have had a longer career if he had watched his diet and taken better care of himself. It was also clear that despite the public adulation he received from the time he was a teenager until his death, he was an insecure, unhappy person who was neither a good husband nor father. In this biography, it was reported that Mantle had requested that when he died he wanted Roy Clark to sing “Yesterday When I Was Young” at his funeral. Perhaps Mantle’s choice of this song indicates that he was not content with the way he had lived his life despite the stardom he had achieved.
Roy Clark did sing this song at Mantle’s funeral in 1995. Here are the lyrics:
Yesterday when I was young
the taste of life was sweet as rain upon my tongue.
I teased at life as if it were a foolish game,
the way the evening breeze may tease a candle flame.
The thousand dreams I dreamed, the splendid things I planned
I always built alas on weak and shifting sand.
I lived by night and shunned the naked light of the day
and only now I see how the years ran away.Yesterday when I was young
so many drinking songs were waiting to be sung,
so many wayward pleasures lay in store for me
and so much pain my dazzled eyes refused to see.
I ran so fast that time and youth at last ran out,
I never stopped to think what life was all about
and every conversation I can now recall
concerned itself with me and nothing else at all.Yesterday the moon was blue
and every crazy day brought something new to do.
I used my magic age as if it were a wand
and never saw the waste and emptiness beyond.
The game of love I played with arrogance and pride
and every flame I lit too quickly, quickly died.
The friends I made all seemed somehow to drift away
and only I am left on stage to end the play.
There are so many songs in me that won’t be sung,
I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue.
The time has come for me to pay for yesterday when I was young.
Teaching Strategy of the Day 2-27-12
Students often mistakenly think they know what you have assigned, whether for a group activity, an individual task or for homework. Sometimes they know they don’t understand, but are shy about asking for clarification. After you have given what you think are clear instructions, say to a student “Please share with all of us what you think you heard me just say.”
Teaching Strategy of the Day 2-23-12
One definition of an “authentic task” offered by Fred Newman of the University of Wisconsin is a task that has an audience beyond the teacher for a grade. Try to design projects which have a product students will be proud to display, whether at home, in the classroom or elsewhere. Think of people you can invite to the classroom to see student work or student demonstrations. Even group work gives students a reason for taking their work more seriously than if it is only for the teacher’s eyes. The opportunity to engage in work with another class adds authenticity to a lesson.