Looking Back
Four weeks ago I found myself schlepping down shady Division Road in East Lansing, Michigan. So early in the morning, the heat hadn’t begun to peak yet, and a pleasant summer breeze pushed at my back as I walked. Burdened with my school bag, my lunch bag, and a electric breast pump plus accouterments, I could feel the weight of what I was about to do in more than one way. With my computer banging against my thigh, I crossed Grand River Avenue, and soon before me loomed Old Horticulture Hall, its sweeping landscape giving way to a straight shot down Farm Lane, where I could just glimpse those famous Red Cedar River banks. Nostalgia swept over me, and I was instantly pulled back to my days as a brand new Spartan, before graduation, marriage, job hunting, and now a baby. I lifted my phone that day and snapped a quick picture, something to snag that moment of feeling like I was in two places at once. The wail of a CATA bus swept by as I crossed a bridge, staring into the swirling, rusty waters. If I squinted, I could just see the spot where Joe proposed. And then suddenly, there before me was Erickson Hall, my destination. I could see the emboldened label, “College of Education,” where I’d posed with my family on graduation day, five years before. I was excited to see what I was about to undergo.
Those two weeks on campus flew by faster than I’d anticipated, and looking back I realize it’s important to pin down and preserve what happened during my second year of work with MAET (Masters of Arts in Educational Technology).
Those two weeks on campus flew by faster than I’d anticipated, and looking back I realize it’s important to pin down and preserve what happened during my second year of work with MAET (Masters of Arts in Educational Technology).
The Content
Punya Mishra, in one of our preliminary readings stated, “Such repurposing is possible only when the teacher knows the rules of the game and is fluent enough to know which rules to bend, which to break, and which to leave alone. This requires a deep experiential understanding, developed through training and deliberate practice,” (Mishra, 2009). He was speaking about the repurposing that is necessary when embedding technology in classroom practice. More importantly, he makes the point that we have to know the rules of learning, in order to affect learning. So I should not have been surprised at how much educational psychology I was asked to consider in addition to pedagogy. Had I revisited the course descriptions of the three combined courses I was taking during these few weeks, I would have seen that one of them asked for an exclusive approach to this way of thinking about thinking, which is the best way to describe psychology, I believe. Each of the methods we discussed sought at answering the question of how students form lasting meaning in our classrooms.
The first way of thinking we approached was Behaviorism, a concept primarily attributed to Dr. James Watson that states we should only pay attention to what we can observe in behavior as an indication of what is really going on in someone’s head. In conjunction with B. F. Skinner’s work, which took this a step further with Operant Conditioning, which uses consequences to stimulate or repress certain behaviors, we can conjecture the meaning behind student actions. This is an interesting concept, since it is something that teachers often use to try to exert control over a classroom environment. It is legend that teachers used to rap the knuckles of some poor ne’erdowell miscreant who had stepped out in class, or doling out gold stars to exemplary student work in an effort to encourage positive behavior. However, it is true that this rather ignores the cognitive processes that a child undergoes in making decisions about their behavior. To reduce us to beings that only react to stimulus seems rather limiting in explaining how humans make sense of the world. So I took a little of this, and looked on for what else could inform my instruction.
The first way of thinking we approached was Behaviorism, a concept primarily attributed to Dr. James Watson that states we should only pay attention to what we can observe in behavior as an indication of what is really going on in someone’s head. In conjunction with B. F. Skinner’s work, which took this a step further with Operant Conditioning, which uses consequences to stimulate or repress certain behaviors, we can conjecture the meaning behind student actions. This is an interesting concept, since it is something that teachers often use to try to exert control over a classroom environment. It is legend that teachers used to rap the knuckles of some poor ne’erdowell miscreant who had stepped out in class, or doling out gold stars to exemplary student work in an effort to encourage positive behavior. However, it is true that this rather ignores the cognitive processes that a child undergoes in making decisions about their behavior. To reduce us to beings that only react to stimulus seems rather limiting in explaining how humans make sense of the world. So I took a little of this, and looked on for what else could inform my instruction.
We moved next to talking about cognitivism, which is a theory that emphasizes thinking, memory, problem solving skills, and intelligence. A popular theorist is Jean Piaget who supports that there are four stages that we undergo in our development as learners-- beginning when we are infants. He proposes that we are bound to these stages until we have matured out of them, and that therefore teachers cannot ask for more than the child is able according to his cognitive development. To me, this made sense as I considered the growth of my infant daughter, who stares open-mouthed at anything that moves, my middle schoolers, who liked to push the limit, and my high schoolers, who think they know everything. There is a vast difference between these age groups and how they interact with their environment and meaning-making. However, it also seemed to deny the role that outside stimulation has in encouraging growth as we mature. It seems I might be a little more of a behaviorist than I had originally thought, since I am unwilling to accept that we are only born with these abilities and age into them as we develop.
Next we voyaged into Socio-Cultural theory, a principle usually attributed to Lev Vygotsky that describes learning as a social process, and that we make meaning as we are subject to human intelligence in society and culture. Collaborative learning and modeling by a more advanced peer is fundamental to learning, according to Vygotsky. This, too, made a lot of sense. As a teacher, I am a very active role model in my classes, and as a learner, I prefer to work with a buddy or group to build ideas in refining a solution to a problem. Much of my best teaching is born of working with or even helping another teacher. However, I can think of more than a few people who prefer to work on their own, and I think of some who are deprived of a mentor or colleagues, who manage to learn a craft through trial and error, or through tinkering. This theory does not seem to make room for individual learning such as this.
That leads me to my favorite theory, although we did not spend as much time talking and investigating this one: Constructivism. Constructivism is a theory that says we make our own meaning, based on our observations and experiences. As a typically reflective person, I see myself often learning through tinkering and play. Although I try not to, I also make mistakes and reflect on what went wrong so that I do not repeat them. I see my six month old do this too, and even my cat. We are curious creatures who interact with the world around us and make meaning. I like this one because it seems to hold onto many of these other theories: we react to what is around us (very behaviorist), including the people in our social sphere (socio-cultural theory), but could not do so without the intelligence and reasoning that is born within us (cognitivism). However, there is a downside to constructivism, which is how easy misconceptions are born.
Misconceptions
"...children and how they learn should be at the center of the teaching of any subject..." |
Misconceptions are inescapable. B. Watson, in his Teaching for Conceptual Change, stated that, “If children base their thinking on what they have seen and felt, then their experience must be structured to challenge their erroneous beliefs,” (Watson, 1990) implying that as students construct knowledge, it is likely that they will bridge the gap of what they know and do not know the best they can. He goes on to state that, “Learners bring their idiosyncratic and personal experiences to most learning situations. These experiences have profound effect on the learners' views of the world and a startling effect on their willingness and ability to accept [new information],”(Watson, 1990). This is hugely important to teachers because it means that we need to identify those misconceptions and then confront them in order to assist students in constructing new and correct meaning-- and how sneaky are those misconceptions!
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Even as teachers, and this was a significant takeaway I am leaving with after my time with MAET, it is an extremely common misconception that students can and will learn in the same fashion we learned content. While this may be true for some, it is certainly not true for all of our kids. Lee Shulman calls this, Nostalgia, (Shulman, 1999). In his writings, he describes three additional conditions to which students are subject: amnesia, where students forget what they have learned over time, fantasia, where students have remembered what they learned incorrectly-- often by marrying new content to prior misconceptions, and inertia, where students have learned new material but can not make sense of it in practice. The combination of these four principles, combined with the implications of students’ misconceptions, can make teaching seem impossible. However, this is where Mishra’s wisdom of repurposing comes in handy. Watson goes on to say, “subjects should be taught and ultimately learned according to the structure of the discipline; children and how they learn should be at the center of the teaching of any subject,” (Watson, 1990). If we remember this and keep it at the heart of what we do, we will set ourselves up for success.
Looking Forward
This brings me to the present, to the future. In true socio-cultural theory fashion, Shulman states, “learning flourishes when we take what we think we know and offer it as community property among fellow learners so that it can be tested, examined, challenged, and improved before we internalize it,” (Shulman, 1999). He was talking about our students of course, but I think it applies equally to teachers. As I continue my education beyond my Master’s program, this principle will be crucial. My PLN (professional learning network) will act as a sounding board for my learning. My PLN consists of my colleagues and professors that I have met through this program, along with those relationships I have developed at work, and online. It also includes the vast network of teacher peers online in the world at large who have published to their own sounding board.
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"...It is definitely a process of uncovering rather than covering..." |
It is with this PLN and mentality that I want to continue to learn how to apply this knowledge to my English classroom. When I graduated with my undergraduate degree, and subsequently my teaching certificate, I immediately focused my self-developed professional development on classroom management and workplace sustainability. Eventually, I transitioned into working with the Literacy team at school on developing student literacy, before focusing on the variety of twenty first century literacies demanded of integrating technology in the classroom. Now, as I finish up, I want to spend time studying how to take ALL of these principles and revolutionize my English classroom.
I am also interested in giving back more significantly to my PLN at work. I enjoy being involved in professional development, and working with Ad Hoc committees to solve problems. Before now, I had not really considered that teaching adults would be significantly different than teaching children. I want to investigate what this looks like when done well.
No matter what, I am charged with remembering a difficult truth, outlined by Watson:
"Any teacher who has really tested his or her effectiveness by checking students' understanding of concepts faces a startling dilemma. Teaching...in a constructivist mode is slower and involves discussion, debate, and the recreation of ideas. Rather than following previously set steps, the curriculum in a constructivist classroom evolves, depends heavily on materials, and is determined by the children's questions. Less "stuff" will be covered, fewer "facts" will be remembered for the test, and progress will sometimes be exceedingly slow. It is definitely a process of uncovering rather than covering," (Watson, 1990).
No matter what, I am charged with remembering a difficult truth, outlined by Watson:
"Any teacher who has really tested his or her effectiveness by checking students' understanding of concepts faces a startling dilemma. Teaching...in a constructivist mode is slower and involves discussion, debate, and the recreation of ideas. Rather than following previously set steps, the curriculum in a constructivist classroom evolves, depends heavily on materials, and is determined by the children's questions. Less "stuff" will be covered, fewer "facts" will be remembered for the test, and progress will sometimes be exceedingly slow. It is definitely a process of uncovering rather than covering," (Watson, 1990).
Works Cited
Shulman, L. (1999). What is learning and what does it look like when it doesn’t go well. Change, 31(4), 10-17.
Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2009, May). Too Cool for School? No Way! Learning & Leading with Technology, (36)7. 14-18.
Watson, B., & Kopnicek, R. (1990). Teaching for Conceptual Change.
Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. J. (2009, May). Too Cool for School? No Way! Learning & Leading with Technology, (36)7. 14-18.
Watson, B., & Kopnicek, R. (1990). Teaching for Conceptual Change.
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Photos used under Creative Commons from Jinx!, Leonard John Matthews