There are many times when I read an educational research study and think, "I could have saved them some money." That's because much of the time, the results of an experiment just confirm what we have been instinctively doing.
(Sometimes it doesn't. That's next week's post.)
Teachers are, by nature, experimenters. We try new things. If they work, we do them again. If they don't work, we might refine it and give it one more shot with the next class. When we teach for a while, we find a lot of things that work and a lot of things that don't, and we like passing that wisdom on to younger teachers. We also see that fads come and go, but solid pedagogy stays. In the 23 years I have been teaching, I have seen the same fad return four times with a different name; so when I sit in a meeting or PD workshop in which everything old is downplayed in favor of something new or hear people say, "This is the direction education is headed," I can't help but laugh. Meanwhile, some of the basic techniques of education have stayed around since Socrates.
There are things we just know, so when we see it backed up by research, it should be affirming and allow us to practice those techniques with more intentionality. It's one of the reasons I love to attend Learning and the Brain. I may not agree with everything every speaker says, but I know that they are not just parroting buzzwords or fads, and they can send me to the actual experimental data. While they present new ideas, they also embrace what has been working for decades and explain why it has always worked.
Here are a few practices you have been using intuitively that you can feel confident about because the research now shows us why it works.
1. Daily, Weekly, Unit Review Questions - Teachers have opened class each day by asking questions about what we learned yesterday for as long as there has been schooling. We knew that connecting what was learned yesterday to what is being learned today was a helpful practice. Now, we know why. The research on retrieval practice is clear. The act of trying to recall information increases myelin on the brain cells, making them stronger and able to work more efficiently. Actors know this, which is why they learn their lines by putting the script down and trying to remember them. Doing this daily, weekly, and before a test also allows for spacing and interleaving, both of which current research supports. Keep doing these things when someone downplays "drill and kill" because whether it is in fashion or not, it is good for the human brain.
2. Breaking Things Down - We were chunking and scaffolding before we started calling it that. Teachers have always divided large projects into parts with mini-deadlines. In addition to holding students accountable, the research shows that the reason it is helpful is the reduction of cognitive load. There are only so many things we can hold in our working memory, so breaking things down allows the brain to work at capacity (something called desirable difficulty) without trying to overload it. Providing support while students develop a skill and then removing the support after it has become part of their practice reduces cognitive load. This point was driven home for me during hybrid learning last year. The first few weeks, the tech part of hybrid teaching was overwhelming. I had to remember to turn on certain things and make sure the computer wasn't muted except when switching to the iPad for a demonstration when the computer had to be muted to avoid feedback that sounded like an alien invasion. In the beginning, I had all of this written down, but after a couple of weeks, I knew what to do and could focus on other things because the cognitive load had been reduced. It works the same way for students. Supports they may need at the beginning will not be necessary after practice.
3. Guided Practice Followed by Independent Practice - If there is anything this physics teacher knows, it is that for any new math skill, I must follow these steps. First, I do an example while students watch and copy. Second, we do a few together as a group with students providing the next steps as I write. Third, students work on a problem while being allowed to ask questions of me and each other. Finally, students do a problem themselves. Math teachers have always known this works, but the research shows why. It involves scaffolding, engages metacognition, allows for a growth mindset to be encouraged, and allows for retrieval practice.
4. Growth Mindset - Speaking of growth mindset, Carol Dweck's work served to solidify what teachers and coaches have always known. Attitude matters. How many classrooms have posters on their wall with something like "Your attitude determines your altitude" or "Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right"? Coaches have long encouraged players to visualize themselves making the shot perfectly. Music teachers have more faith than anyone because they listen to the cacophony that starts the year and know it will be music by Christmas. More importantly, they make the players believe it will be music one day. Teachers have said, "You'll get there" to their struggling students because we know that the belief that appropriate hard work has a result is critical to learning something new. The work of John Hattie shows that nothing has more impact than the teacher's belief that they can be effective. That means the growth mindset of the teacher matters more than any other technique or practice.
Teachers, our job is hard, and the pandemic has made it harder. Sometimes, the professional development we engage in is fantastic, and sometimes it is crushing because it makes us believe that we are failing if we aren't always chasing the newest fad. Please know that you have instinctively been doing a lot right for a long time. While you want to grow, don't reject those established things you know to be effective. Let the diagram below show you how your common everyday practices are scientifically proven to be the right things.
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