Benefits of Learning Together

I'll admit that my most vivid learning experiences involved someone else: a teacher, friend, parent, sibling, teammate or other.  In fact, the more I think about my most valuable learning experiences, whether it be learning a specific skill or strategy in sport, acquiring/applying knowledge about a topic, or figuring out a complex problem, someone else was involved.  Other people have been so deeply involved in my learning that even to this day I need someone to confirm, deny or clarify an idea, answer, solution or personal experience.  Sometimes just talking out my understanding to any set of ears (whether they are listening or not) or sharing an experience is enough.  It's startling how much I've relied on other people to help my learning process... and I think I'm one of the most independent learners out there.  I mean, my most recent learning accomplishment is adapting to my new role as a student support specialist.  And never once did I think I could do it alone.

This tells me one of two things.  Either I am psychologically confused about what it means to be an independent learner or I am human and have come to accept the fact that human brains are social organs that thrive on social interaction for many things.  Learning is no exception.  So if as an adult, a professional, and lifelong learner I rely on others to help me learn, why would I expect students to learn alone?  I don't.  You shouldn't.  Teachers shouldn't.  In a growing, evolving world we should help our students learn and grow together.  We should want them to discover, share, analyze, debate and discuss their learning with their classmates, teachers and families.  But in order to do this, we need to help make their learning meaningful.

Here's an idea.  The next time you're attempting to teach a lesson or start a unit, tell your students what you expect them to learn.  State very clearly what is expected, even if it means showing them the "standards" or questions that need answers.  Then, ask them how they want to learn about it and demonstrate their understanding.  Be prepared, you need to have ideas, too!  I hear from fellow teachers all too often about the "standards" and what is expected from students.  My response is becoming the same.  Tell your students what they are expected to learn and be open to their ideas in how to learn about it.  Children have some pretty great ideas.  So do teachers.  Together, they have even better ideas.  Brainstorming should be commonplace in any learning environment and students should be encouraged and coached in thinking through their thoughts.  It is acceptable to let students think up ideas that have already happened or develop a project that you (as the more experienced learner) might have already done.  The idea here is empowering students to take ownership of their learning by engaging them first-hand in responsibility for what they should be learning and how it can be done.  We learn best by doing.  (And that doesn't mean "doing" a worksheet.) It would probably be a better idea to have the students make a worksheet from scratch than to fill-in the blanks on one given by a teacher.  Even then, children would be working together.

When we learn together we communicate thoughts, discuss perspectives and share understandings.  We create disagreements that force deeper thinking, we challenge ideas and encourage greater clarity.  The benefits of learning together are incomparable to those discovered alone.  Challenge your students, teachers and parents to learn with their children.  Don't give answers, force yourself to create shared learning opportunities for students everyday.  Collaborate with each other with the goal of creating something greater together.  A group of students learning with a teacher (and yes even a group of teachers learning with a lead-teacher)  has the potential for a great many things when they all work together.

Teaching Kids - Part 2

My new role at school has me spending a fair amount of time working with students on behavior; positive and negative behaviors.  As with anything I am asked to help with, the teacher in me takes over and I start brainstorming, researching and discussing strategies and ideas to implement when working with students; both positive and negative.

There are a few things I have noticed in the eight weeks of teaching a variety of students regarding behavior.  First, parents love to hear when their child has done something positive and aren't too thrilled when they hear something negative.  Not groundbreaking research, I understand.  But communications (phone calls, e-mail, quick chats) about specific positive interactions or behaviors are seemingly unexpected and help to build a more positive rapport with the child, family and teacher.  Then, when the phone calls, e-mails or chats about negative behavior comes, it's not the only interaction you have with the family and child.  For most of our students (80% or more) behavior is an afterthought.  But for that 20% (or less) behavior impacts everything they do.  Behavior impacts learning in all classes and subjects.  It impacts friendships, social experiences, and the community.  So what do we do with those kids?  Here's an idea, we teach behavior.  It's not another thing to teach, it's what we teach.  All children need to learn about things, behavior should be no exception.  Some children struggle with reading or math while others struggle with behavior.  Just like I, as a teacher, would focus my instruction on the needs of a student with a specific math skill, I now focus my instruction on the needs of a student for a specific behavior or strategy.

When working with individuals on behavior I begin by listening.  It's a simple start but I've found it helps to let children speak their mind.  Then, I restate what I'm hearing so I can clarify the information and attempt to understand the situation from the point of the child.  It never fails that I will hear multiple sides to every story but I have to do my best to find commonalities in what I'm hearing.  After I more clearly understand what the problem behavior is I talk with the child about working together.  I can do something to help the situation if the child can do something, too.  I want them to hear that I am there to help but they must understand that ultimately they have a responsibility to help their self.  And I always end behavior focused teaching/sessions by emphasizing how much I care about the student.  The "ethic of care" is a term I've heard and read about at length.  Today, in my Twitter feed I found a video clip of Fred Rodgers petitioning members of a U.S. Senate subcommittee about the ethic of care and value of dialogue between adults when discussing feelings.

It is powerful when children see, hear, and participate in the way adults work through problems that arise from various behaviors.  It is also incredibly powerful for a child to hear that adults take time to work through things and express care for one another.  Sometimes, it just takes a little extra time and effort to teach behavior but it sends a direct message to children that you care about them as individuals, their
behavior, and their success: positive and negative.