- "Feedback is a game plan for getting better.” - Todd Zakrajsek, book The New Science of Learning,
- "Feedback answers the questions Where am I going? How am I going? What do I do next?" - John Hattie and Helen Timperley, article “The Power of Feedback,” in the Review of Educational Research
- "Feedback and adjustment means additional tries increase accuracy.” - Kevin Washburn, Uprise
On the Rabbit Trail
Sunday, November 3, 2024
Feedback is Essential - for Everything
Sunday, October 27, 2024
Strength or Weakness - Depends on Context
Saturday, October 19, 2024
Research Ed Notes - Saturday October 19
These are raw, unfiltered notes. More intelligent processing to come later.
Professor Pamela Snow - Reading Instruction and Professional Accountability: Challenges and Opportunities for Classroom Teachers
Reading is important for individuals and for society.
- But it has long been contested.
- Whole Language sold us a story in more ways than one and had a hidden curriculum. It relationship with evidence was problematic (as much of education has been - but is slowly changing).
But HOW should teachers teach? Unlike the general atmosphere of "guide on the side," the evidence supports explicit instruction.
Professionalism means:
- high accountability.
- ethical commitment to practice according to the best available evidence and adapt as the evidence changes.
- respect children's time.
- using high quality materials rather than making our own and hoping they'll be good.
- Initiative Churn - Too many new fads require too much time and attention to implement. This may just seem like another one.
- Unfamiliarity - If your training involved other things, you may not know about the research findings. Most teachers are still holding onto educational myths (learning styles, left brain/ right brain, etc.) because it was in their college courses.
- The Sincerity Problem - Trying to make everyone happy, promising a particular outcome, and not addressing people's fear of direct instruction can make them question the sincerity of the presenter. The Faux Inquiry process results in confirmation bias.
- Give a scenario and ask a question to prompt conversation about the answer before presenting the concept.
- Just ask, "How do people learn?"
- Small group modeling - Weekly meetings in which teachers are presented with new techniques and encouraged to try it and report back. It's low risk; we're just sharing.
- Lesson study protocol - Teacher shares a plan for a future lesson to implement a strategy and gets feedback from others in the meeting. She then reports back after doing it in the classroom. Everybody hates protocols because they are unnatural, but they work. Medium risk because you are opening yourself up to criticism.
- Intervisitation - People come and watch a teacher implement a strategy. Then, there is a debrief on the visit with positive and negative feedback. Highest risk
- Spaced practice: Instead of reviewing things all at once in a short period of time, space that out over time. (Study 1 hour for 5 nights rather than 5 hours in 1 night.)
- Forgetting is essential for learning. If you try the same problem again too quickly, you will believe you got better and faster at solving it. Really, you just haven't lost it from your working memory yet, so you don't know if it is in your long term memory. If you test immediately, everyone will do well. BUT that is not learning.
- If you can't remember it later, you didn't learn it.
- Spacing helps with vocab, facts, texts, problem solving, motor skills, surgical skills, etc.
- Spacing is usually coupled with retrieval practice, but it doesn't have to be. It can also be spaced presentation.
- Retrieval practice - bringing information to mind
- Retrieval provides opportunity for feedback and reteaching. It also has an impact on motivation and a direct impact on long term learning.
- Allowing students to write about their anxiety before a test allows their brain to offload it from their working memory long enough to reduce its impact on their assessment.
- Taking away stereotypical environmental factors can reduce working memory load as well. (Computer science study - remove the nerdy stuff from the room, and women are more interested)
- Alertness - Too much alertness is equally problematic as too little alertness.
- Orienting - There are a lot of stimuli in the environment. Orienting is choosing which one to attend to.
- Executive Attention - Effortful control of cognitive processes (Example: Showed words and asking us to say what color the font was. The word RED was in blue, so it required us to control our mental processes.)
- Create or allow movement
- Create visual novelty
- Address the bug in the room or firetruck driving by or weather at the window
- Don't over decorate your classroom
- Use technology judiciously
- Address the immediate usefulness of the content - have them do something with it now.
- Assume working memory overload and reduce cognitive load
- The interaction between multiple fields (neurology, psychology, health, etc.) and classroom practice
- The bridge between education and our understand of the brain has often had gaps. It's getting better, but it still has a way to go.
- MBE enhances your lens on what is happening in your classroom. It gives a better understanding of the complexities of your situation and helps fill out your toolkit.
Sunday, October 13, 2024
Practical Advice for Your Student - Part 3 - Test Taking
In spite of the grade controversies you might see on Twitter, tests are an important part of learning. It is important for a teacher to know if students have knowledge or can perform a skill on their own without teacher support. They also provide an opportunity for retrieval practice, and important part of solidying memories.
That's not to say they cannot be improved. It would take too long to grade and give feedback for every question to be free response, especially for those teachers who have classes of up to 35 students. So we are left with things like matching, multiple choice, fill in the blank, etc. for the sake of efficiency. Much of the test taking advice you see online (like choose C because it is the most common right answer - which isn't even true anymore) are for those who don't have a clue about the right answer. If you have studied, it is unlikely that you don't know anything at all. So the advice in this post is for the conscientious student who prepared for the test.
Multiple Choice Questions
When I met with students, I asked them if they were the kind of person who quickly picked an answer and moved on or if the kind who talked themselves into every answer. For both, I first offer this advice. Bring a blank index card (you can also use a cover sheet if provided or even your hand) to cover the choices. Read the question first and think of the answer in your mind. Then, go look for the right answer. The only type of question this won't work for are those where "all of the above" is the right answer, but there are usually only 1 or 2 of those on any given test. For those who tend to talk themselves into the other choices, they don't even have to look at the others (maybe jump down to quickly to make sure "all of the above" isn't a choice). For those who choose answers quickly, they will at least be more likely to be committing themselves to the right answer.
If, when you thought of then answer, you had some doubts, you can then go to look at the choices. My next best advice is to cross out those you know to be wrong. Then, go on to another question. When you return to the one you had doubts about, you may find that your mind has continued in diffuse mode, allowing you to be confident about one of the answers you have left.
Short Answer Questions
It is easy to write something without really thinking about it. I can't tell you how many times I have written next to an answer, "Read this out loud. You'll hear that it doesn't make sense." That's not me being mean; it's just easy to write without checking to see if it says what you meant. You obviously can read your answers out loud during a test with other students around. However, you can do two things. First, you can do what I call "Reading out loud in your head." What I mean by that is rather than passively taking the words into your eyes, be intentional about "pronouncing" the words in your mind. I think it is called "self talk," and it helps. The other thing you can try is to ask the teacher if you can step into the hall and actually read the answer out loud so you can hear it. I wouldn't do it a lot, but it could help if you are really stuck on a question.
The Order of the Test
Because we number the questions, students assume they must start with question 1 and go in order. The problem with that is that the most challenging questions are often on the last page. Because of the benefits of moving from focused node to diffuse mode, the best advice is to start with the hardest ones. Recognize when it is time to pause and go on to some easier questions, so you can return to them after your brain has had time for active recovery. The other benefits to doing it this way are that you are able to time your pace better when the easier ones are the ones that are left and you don't already have an exhausted brain when your reach the free response section.
Monday, October 7, 2024
Finding the Good in Bad Times - What We Can Teach Our Kids
My plan was to finish the series in practical advice for students this week. But the effects of Hurricane Helene gave me the opportunity to observe some things I feel are worthy of comment. So, I'll be back with test taking advice next week.
Hurricane Helene was a record storm, but it was made worse by its path. People at the coast are accustomed to storm season. They have sandbags and plywood at the ready, knowing they will need it at least once. More importantly, they have flood insurance. But why would anyone in Asheville, NC have those things? That would be as odd as someone in Miami, Florida having snow tires. The initial death toll is devastating and growing. And there are still people trapped due to road closures. It's just awful, and there's no other way to describe it.
But, as we often see in tragedy, there is good. Setting aside the scammers and gougers trying to profit from the tragedy and Marjorie Taylor Greene's nonsense assertion that the storm was man-made to hit Republican voting areas (like that's even possible and like Asheville and Miami aren't completely blue - no Beth, don't get distracted by her crazy), we are seeing charities, churches, non-profits, and individuals doing whatever they can to help. I work at the YMCA, and the donations have poured in. Within an hour of posting a list on their social media pages, one branch had this small pile. Today, that pile covers the sign.
Twenty-four hours after the list was posted, my other branch was loading these into an empty room to clear space in the lobby.And by the end of the day Sunday, that room looked like this.By the way, the Triangle YMCAs will be collecting until the 10th, so drop by with anything you would like. Don't even worry about finding the list; they are collecting pretty much anything you can think of. Friday, they'll drive them up to the Ys in Western NC to distribute to their people. Also, if you know someone who has been displaced by the storm, they can come into any Triangle branch and be issued a free 30-day membership. We had someone come in a few days ago from Wilkesboro just to take a shower because they hadn't been able to for a week. (Imagine the basic human dignity that just comes from feeling clean. We were so happy we could provide that for him.) A member from Asheville was driving through town a few days ago, and she scanned in just to use the bathroom because she was tired of stopping at gas stations. We take so much for granted until we can't.
My church was loading a truck on Saturday to take up to our sister church in Asheville, and halfway through the morning, they had to go rent a second truck. So, people are doing what they can.
As teachers, parents, or anyone else who influences the lives of kids, we have a moment here as well. I'd like to address a few of them.
Teach empathy - The obvious first step is to teach kids empathy by asking them to imagine what it would be like to be trapped without food or the inability to get clean. Ask them to donate things. They are amazing when you give them a cause.Teach the value of small actions - Some won't be able to do much because they just aren't in a financial position themselves, but it is always so good to know you contributed to a larger whole. A student who can provide one package of toilet paper might feel like they aren't doing much, but if your whole school or church is collecting, and they see their donation as part of a truckload, they can recognize that a lot of little adds up to a lot.
Model sanity - If you are online, you have read a lot of nonsense in the last few days. From the people who are disparaging FEMA with the false assertion that they are denying aid but sending body bags or that Biden and Harris haven't visited the area (or accuse them of just engaging in a photo op when they are there) to those who won't acknowledge the good that Samaritan's Purse is doing simply because they don't have any respect for its founder.
If you have influence over kids, it is your responsibility to stay above the fray on these things. Tell them instead how grateful you are to live in a country that has an emergency management agency. Tell them you are happy there were governors who declared the state of emergency before the storm hit (something they couldn't have done 50 years ago) in order to get the funds freed up as quickly as possible. Recognize out loud that a lot of people are helping - including people you don't like - and that is a good thing.
Sunday, September 29, 2024
Practical Advice for Your Student - Part 2 - Studying For Tests
After I began attending Learning and the Brain conferences in 2018, one of my favorite things to do was have individual conferences with students who were not performing as well on tests as they would like. I knew that I had advice that could help them because of what I had learned about cognitive science and memory.
I started by asking them how they currently study. Their number one answer was, "I look over my notes." I asked them what that meant, and it was clear why their study habits were ineffective. They were basically re-reading the words they had copied from the wall with no context or processing. For a couple of years, I gave them better advice about studying for tests.
Then, I realized I needed to start expanding these conversations. We discussed, first, what they were doing in class while learning. I then addressed more effective study techniques. Then, finally, we talked about how to deal with questions during the test.
Sunday, September 22, 2024
Practical Advice for Your Student - Part 1 - Note Taking
After I began attending Learning and the Brain conferences in 2018, one of my favorite things to do was have individual conferences with students who were not performing as well on tests as they would like. I knew that I had advice that could help them because of what I had learned about cognitive science and memory.
I started by asking them how they currently study. Their number one answer was, "I look over my notes." I asked them what that meant, and it was clear why their study habits were ineffective. They were basically re-reading the words they had copied from the wall with no context or processing. For a couple of years, I gave them better advice about studying for tests.
Then, I realized I needed to start expanding these conversations. We discussed, first, what they were doing in class while learning. I then addressed more effective study techniques. Then, finally, we talked about how to deal with questions during the test.
So, that's what I will do with this blog as well. We'll start with note taking. Students tend to fall into one of two extremes.
- Note taking is not only copying what is on the board. Before I had a textbook, my students had to rely on their notes. Parents would come to conferences and say, "We don't know how to help because we can interpret his notes." I would look at them and find that they had copied the words from the slides and nothing else. Literally nothing else. No examples. No practice problems. No thoughts of their own. It needs to be more than that. What is projected on the wall or written on the board is an outline at best, not the only things that are important from the lesson.
- Note taking is not a class transcript. The other extreme is when students become court stenographers, attempting to write down every word that is said in class. This is more likely to happen when they are taking notes by typing on a laptop because it allows them to gain speed. But, it also shuts off any processing of the information through their brain. By writing more, they think about it less. This is what leads some to believe that taking notes by typing is ineffective. It's not the typing that causes the problem; it's the lack of thinking. When taking notes by hand, we usually summarize what we hear to save time. It's that summarizing that is helpful.
- Notes should be a collaboration of brains. So what notes should be then? Well, as I already mentioned, they should be a summary of what happened in the lesson, not just what was projected but also the important parts of what was said. This takes practice because students have a hard time identifying what was important. (By the way, for some good advice in this area, see Daniel Willingham's great book Outsmart Your Brain.). They should also involve thoughts from the student himself. It's probable that he thought of something while the teacher was explaining that would be useful to his memory later on. The purpose of note taking isn't to have notes. The purpose of note taking is to jog ones memory later, so write down anything that will be likely to help with that.
- Notes are for the student. The important thing to remember is to write down what will help YOU to remember. Notes aren't for the teacher or for your parents. They are for the student to have a memory aid for what happened in class. This is frustrating for parents who want to help their student study. They want to be able to pick up the notes and make sense of them. But they weren't in class, so it won't help them remember what happened in class. The best thing a parent can do with their child's notes in helping them study is point to something and say, "Tell me about this." The child should be able to look at that note and retrieve an episodic memory from that day's lesson. If they can, these are good notes, no matter what they look like. Conversely, if they can't, these are not good notes.
Feedback is Essential - for Everything
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