Lesson study: Lesson study is a form of Japanese professional development that engages teachers in collaborative analysis of lessons. I
I would love to do this. Major pushback is having teachers leave a classroom to do a lesson study. I think lesson study is incredibly valuable and one of the most effective ways or teachers to collaborate.
On the other hand, one-shot, "drive-by," or fragmented, "spray-and-pray" workshops lasting 14 hours or less show no statistically significant effect on student learning (Darling-Hammond, Wei, Andree, Richardson, and Orphanos, 2009).
Unfortunately, most PD is one-shot and drive-by, sometimes not even lasting more than an hour. It is hard to change teacher actions and perceptions is such a short amount of time.
I have always believed that there should be more rigorous training for teachers. We need to be pushed and directed by clear leadership.
Leadership is second only to teaching among school-related factors that can improve student achievement, and it tends to show greatest impact in traditionally underserved schools (Leithwood, Seashore Louis, Anderson, and Wahlstrom, 2004)
Interesting that leadership is the second factor. However I understand it. A good leader strives to help all teachers and has a great connection to the community. Especially in underserved schools, this can cause good talent to stay and the school to be well run.
One aspect of previous knowledge that is extremely important for understanding learning is cultural practices that support learners’ prior knowledge.
Fascinating. Previously, the author states "All new learning involves transfer." However, I am thankful for the authors perspective on cultural influences on this learning. Students' background information that they bring to school is a direct result of their cultural influences, as is students' ability to apply their learning to other situations.
Effective learning means being able to transfer learning in school to everyday environments.
One major contrast between everyday settings and school environments is that the latter place much more emphasis on individual work than most other environments (Resnick, 1987). A study of navigation on U.S. ships found that no individual can pilot the ship alone; people must work collaboratively and share their expertise.
This is an interesting point. I have never thought that schools place so much more emphasis on individual work than other environments. What is the take-away for the classroom? Should we be emphasizing group work in classrooms more?
The knowledge-acquisition strategies the students learn in working on a specific text are not acquired as abstract memorized procedures, but as skills instrumental in achieving subject-area knowledge and understanding.
Close reading, when done well, should focus on knowledge acquisition strategies. Same thing with vocabulary. At a PD, I wrote down this applicable quote "Don't teach words, teach the skills."
up at Vanderbilt, 1997). A third way is to generalize the case so that learners are asked to create a solution that applies not simply to a single problem, but to a whole class of related problems. For example, instead of planning a single boat trip, students might run a trip planning company that has to advise people on travel times for different regions of the country. Learners are asked to adopt the goal of learning to “work smart” by creating mathematical models that characterize a variety of travel problems and using these models to create tools, ranging from simple tables and graphs to computer programs. Under these conditions, transfer to novel problems is enhanced (e.g., Bransford et al., 1998).
This paragraph is what I was waiting for. What are ways that teachers can ensure that student learning can be applied in other scenarios and be used in multiple (possibly unrelated contexts?)
1) As learners to solve one problem, but then provide them with similar problem. If students can apply their first experience to their second? 2) What-if questions are powerful to lead to learner flexibility. What if this part of the problem was changed? 3) Make sure the case is generalized, instead of one specific case. For example, don't have learners plan one specific boat trip, but plan a trip with more than one possibility of transport. In this way, students test their fluency in more than one scenario while working on the same task.
The response of the “rote” group to novel problems was, “We haven’t had that yet.”
This is a very frustrating response as a teacher. Often, students respond with that and completely shut down. How can teachers change our student thinking to ensure that students don't respond this way? How can teacher make sure this is a a permanent change, not just one to placate the teacher?
But it took the student a huge amount of practice before he could perform at his final level, and when he was tested with letter strings, he was back to remembering about seven items.
I am extremely interested in this anecdote. This student spent an extraordinary amount of time and effort in one specific skill, one that isn't particularly useful in other applications.
Jake’s image for how students would respond was his own responses as a student who loved Shakespeare and delighted in close textual analysis.
Often teachers expect their students to be similar learners to themselves, which is never going to be the case. Important for teachers to view the lesson from the students' point of view, often.
In fact, expertise can sometimes hurt teaching because many experts forget what is easy and what is difficult for students.
Though I am not an expert by any means, I see this often in my classroom. Sometimes I truely forget what is easy or difficult for student. Many times I use vocabulary or terms that students do not understand to my great surprise.
This is why it is so important that students see their teacher as a learner as well. Students need to see their teachers go through the same process that they do everyday.
As one fifth-grade child explained, after giving the answer of 36: “Well, you need to add or subtract or multiply in problems like this, and this one seemed to work best if I add”
This statement is very silly For me, this really shows that just because an answer is correct, doesn't mean understanding is proven.
Experts’ thinking seems to be organized around big ideas in physics, such as Newton’s second law and how it would apply, while novices tend to Page 38 Share Cite Suggested Citation: "2 How Experts Differ from Novices." National Research Council. How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2000. doi:10.17226/9853. × Save Cancel perceive problem solving in physics as memorizing, recalling, and manipulating equations to get answers.
This speaks to the importance of having clear and visible learning goals visible to the students. Control the narrative by using a common language of trying to problem solve and learn rather than 'just get the answer.'
For example, a high school class studying the principles of democracy might be given a scenario in which a colony of people have just settled on the moon and must establish a government. Proposals from students of the defining features of such a government, as well as discussion of the problems they foresee in its establishment, can reveal to both teachers and students areas in which student thinking is more and less advanced.
While reading the previous paragraphs, I found myself nodding in agreement with the author. However, I often struggle to implement these characteristics of effective instruction in Social Studies. I am glad they added this practical example.
The goal of coverage need not be abandoned entirely, of course. But there must be a sufficient number of cases of in-depth study to allow students to grasp the defining concepts in specific domains within a discipline
This goes on my previous annotation where I brought this point up. Another question arises, what is a sufficent number of cases of in-depth study? Who decides this? What does this look like in Social Studies where it is normally taught in a linear fashion?
For the scientific understanding to replace the naïve understanding, students must reveal the latter and have the opportunity to see where it falls short.
The importance of preassessment and knowing your students is paramount in to have true understanding take place. Without those elements, the students will never reveal their misunderstandings and not have an opportunity to see where it falls short.
sense-making, self-assessment, and reflection on what worked and what needs improvin
What I like about this is that this is not only a positive for classroom growth, but character building as well. Something that obviously should be emphasized in public education, but often is not.
Similarly, young children have been taught to demonstrate powerful forms of early geometry generalizations (Lehrer and Chazan, 1998) and generalizations about science (Schauble et al, 1995; Warren and Rosebery, 1996).
This reminds me of the "Marshmallow Challenge," where kindergarteners often-times outperform college kids due to their propensity for learning by trial and error. This also reminds me of Malcolm Gladwell's book (forget which one... I think David and Goliath) where Gladwell describes various scenarios where kindergarteners outperform adults.
It is important to not underestimate the abilities of our students (especially the young ones) and this research shows the power of inquiry based teaching.
An understanding of veins and arteries does not guarantee an answer to this design question, but it does support thinking about alternatives that are not readily available if one only memorizes facts
I found this entire paragraph interesting. The author seems to be showing that students need a deep understanding of each concept. I.e. students need to know not only what a vein is, but why they have specific properties.
This springs a question for me which I have often had discussions with colleagues about standards (particularly Social Studies). There are far too many standards for teachers to be able to cover each standard in depth. What should a classroom teacher do, teach all the standards but only scrape the surface, or skip other standards in order to ensure deep understanding of topics covered?
Now, at the end of the century, these aspects of high literacy are required of almost everyone in order to successfully negotiate the complexities of contemporary life.
Technology has made this statement a necessity. Memorization of dates, facts, and definitions is superfluous as these are very easy to Google. This next step of being able to locate and use information is the most important, and difficult, to teach. This is a major reason that I joined MAET.
“wisdom of practice” that comes from successful teachers who can share their expertise.
I often put much more weight into techniques and research done by classroom teachers, as opposed to people who haven't worked in a classroom setting. It is extremely important for researchers to include teachers in every step of their research.