I First Became Aware That There Might Be A Problem A Few Years Ago, When One of My Kids Was
I First Became Aware That There Might Be A Problem A Few Years Ago, When One of My Kids Was
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I first became aware that there might be a problem a few years ago, when one of my kids was
studying weather systems: high- and low-pressure systems, cold fronts and warm fronts. We were
trying to help her prepare for a test and also do some sort of homework, and she didn’t get it at all.
We were really frustrated, my husband and I, because all we really had as a reference was the top
half of this worksheet that explained the concept. So we were having trouble explaining it to her,
and at one point I finally said to her, “You know, in your class, didn’t your teacher ever draw a
diagram on the board?”
I said, “Did you guys ever do anything like where the teacher would grab a small group of kids and
say, ‘OK, you three, you’re going to be a cold front, and then you three, you’re going to be a warm
front. Come up to the front of the room, OK. And I want this group here, I want you to wiggle
around really fast because you are, I don’t know, high pressure. And this group, I want you to
move really, really slowly.'”
I was trying to figure out if there had ever been some kind of physical demonstration of these
concepts. It seemed like even a three-minute re-enactment of how these systems work would help
the kids get it right away.
I said, “Well how did you learn this? How did you actually learn this for the first time?”
“What do you mean ‘we read the book’?” I asked. “Did everybody sit down quietly and read it and
then the teacher talked to you?”
“No. We just opened it up to page 36, and then she would read a little bit to us, and then explain
something, and then we would read a little bit more, and then she would say something else, and
that was it.”
“Is it like that all the time?” I asked, hoping for a no.
This was a couple of years ago, when my kids were all still in elementary school, but since that
time, I’ve seen this pattern more and more as they’ve gotten older: Every day, for the most part,
information is delivered to them in some really basic way—usually PowerPoint—and the kids copy
down what the teacher tells them to from the slides. Then they have some sort of worksheet where
they’re basically regurgitating what was on those slides. After this cycle repeats four or five times,
they have some kind of test. And that’s it.
This is not good. If we want our students to actually learn the facts and concepts and ideas we’re
trying to teach them, they have to experience those things in some way that rises above abstract
words on paper. They have to process them. Manipulate them.
To really learn in a way that will stick, they have to DO something.
I realize I’m probably preaching to the choir here—that people who read these posts are probably
doing a lot more in class than this information-in, information-out model—and if that’s true for you,
then great. But I listen to teachers talk all the time: in schools, on social media, in private
messages, and I know that things are not going well for you all of the time. I hear teachers talk
about “covering” concepts in class and even reviewing them with games, only to end up with half
the class failing an exam. This is incredibly frustrating; I know. But the truth is, just because you
covered it, it doesn’t mean they learned it.
And I know that this is going to upset some people, but if you have a lot of students failing your
tests, and those students are in class and they’re showing up, then the problem is not them. The
problem is you. It’s something you’re doing, or maybe something you’re not doing.
First, let me say that authentic, project-based learning is probably the best way to have students
experience meaningful learning. But many schools and classrooms aren’t quite there yet: They
deliver instruction in a more traditional way. That model can still result in solid learning, if it’s
implemented correctly. And that’s where I’m seeing a problem. I think we’re skipping over one of
the most important steps in our lesson plans.
1. Anticipatory set: This is where we get students interested in the lesson and set objectives
for the day.
2. Direct instruction: Facts, concepts, and skills are delivered via lecture, video, reading—
some way of getting the information into students’ heads.
3. Guided practice and application: With the support of the teacher, students apply what
they have just been taught.
4. Independent practice and application: Students apply the learning on their own.
5. Assessment: The teacher measures how well students have met the objectives.
I think what’s happening is that we’re skipping over the third step. We’re going right to independent
practice (often at the lowest levels—basic regurgitation), but students aren’t being given any kind
of task to actually process or apply the material in a meaningful way. We go straight from direct
instruction to independent practice to assessment.
In some cases, we may even be skipping both steps 3 and 4. Not too long ago I had to help
another of my kids study for a social studies test. All we had to work with were notes copied from a
PowerPoint. I didn’t understand the meaning of half of them, because they were just bulleted
phrases, so it was nearly impossible to review the material. When I pointed at individual items and
asked my kid to tell me what they meant, that turned out to be too difficult. The teacher had just
told them to write down that bullet point, but my kid left class that day not really knowing what it
meant.
Because I was a teacher myself, I know there’s got to be more to the story. I remember how
students could misrepresent or oversimplify the things we did in class. I would bet that this teacher
took time to explain these concepts before having students copy down bullet points. But it wasn’t
enough. My kid was in class, paying attention, writing down the notes, but still didn’t learn a whole
lot.
Apart from the poor quality learning, this gap in our teaching is a problem for two more reasons.
For one, it doesn’t align with the standards. Look at any social studies standards for middle
school, in pretty much any state. Do any of them say that kids need to be able to identify names of
significant people in historical periods, or be able to regurgitate facts about certain cultures or
regions?
No. They want students to be able to understand the relationships between social movements and
changes and other influences. They want students to be able to explain and analyze things. I just
randomly pulled up Wisconsin’s standards for grade 7 social studies. Here’s an example of what
these students should be doing when they learn history (from page 10):
These standards are GORGEOUS. If students are actually doing these things in Wisconsin middle
schools, that would be amazing. But if Wisconsin is like a lot of other places, my guess is that
students are sitting through PowerPoint lectures, copying notes from the PowerPoints, and
transferring that information to worksheets and tests.
I know it seems like I’m picking on social studies here, but that’s just because social studies is
such an information-driven subject area. The same could be said for science, health, and other
content-heavy classes. Even in English language arts, which really should be driven more by
practicing reading and writing, there are some teachers who manage to run mostly lecture-
worksheet-test-based classes.
The other problem with this kind of teaching is that it makes kids hate school. I already dealt with
this extensively in this post about excessive use of worksheets, but it’s worth repeating: When we
do little more than have students copy down information or fill out worksheets, we are making
school an awful place to be.
In a 2014 article, instructional coach Alexis Wiggins reported on her findings after shadowing two
high school students through a typical school day. She was horrified by the amount of sitting and
passive learning these students were subjected to. Friends of mine who work as instructional
consultants and coaches, who visit hundreds of classrooms every year, say they see more low-
level seatwork than anything else.
My own kids hate school more and more the older they get. And they rarely bring home anything
lower than an A. The other parents I talk to—who live all around the country—report a similar
pattern more often than not. This is not an isolated issue.
I think this epidemic of passive learning has come about for a couple of reasons:
The first two reasons need to be addressed at an administrative, policy level. But the last one we
can deal with right now.
Now comes the good news. This problem can be solved in so many ways, and the solutions don’t
have to be complicated, time-consuming, or fancy. Simply add activities into your instruction that
will help students build more pathways in their brains, see patterns, connect to previous
knowledge, and experience some novelty so they remember the material better.
In between the direct instruction step and the assessment step of your planning, start adding in
some of these activities:
1. SORTING
Organize the material by similarities and differences, categorize it, label it, do something that
requires students to activate schema and create connections. An inductive learning lesson would
be great for this.
2. KINESTHETIC WORK
Doing short role-plays and simulations can really help students visualize relationships and
processes. This can also be done by creating models with Play-Doh or cardboard, or doing some
kind of a maker project that connects to your standard.
3. DISCUSSION
Even giving students a few minutes to discuss a topic—especially if they are taking some kind of a
stance on the content and backing it up with evidence—can do so much to help them process and
learn the content. But make sure all students are participating! Check out this big list of discussion
strategies for tons of ideas.
4. GRAPHIC REPRESENTATIONS
Having students put the material into any kind of visual form will help them remember it better and
understand how concepts are related. Graphic organizers and sketchnotes are two ways to
accomplish this. Students can do these on their own or they can be constructed as a class with
your support—for especially challenging concepts, this may be most effective.
5. WRITE TO LEARN
When students process ideas in writing, they are forced to synthesize the information that has only
entered their brains passively, so stopping instruction every now and then to have students write
short summaries or give their opinions on the things they’re learning is a really effective, efficient
way to cement their learning. This video from the Teaching Channel shows just how simple this
can be to implement.
6. MINI-PROJECTS
For learning to be active, it doesn’t have to be a super complicated, long-term project. Students
can do mini-projects that take just a day or two. This poster project, where students have to rank
leaders of early America, then back up their choices with evidence, is a perfect example of a
project that could be done in a short period of time.
7. ANTICIPATION GUIDES
Anticipation guides are simple forms where students state their opinions on key statements before
a learning activity. This primes them for the learning that is about to come. Once the direct
instruction is done, they revisit the guides to see if their opinions have changed. This would be a
really simple way to boost engagement and give students a bigger stake in a lesson.
8. QUALITY NOTE-TAKING
Although students seem to be taking a lot of “notes” in class, it’s not clear that this is being done in
a way that results in high-quality learning. If your classroom practices are aligned with the
research on note-taking, this activity can be a powerful processing tool.
9. RETRIEVAL PRACTICE
Asking students to recall information is a great way to help them learn it better, but I’m not exactly
talking about the kind of recall they do on worksheets. Whether it’s stuff that just needs to be
memorized or concepts that require more complex processing, building periods of retrieval
practice into your instruction will boost learning.
BONUS: COLLABORATION
Most of these activities would be enhanced by some kind of collaboration: Have students share
their write-to-learn responses with a partner. Do sorting tasks with small groups. Any time they
work together, they’re engaging with the content in a different way, which introduces more novelty
and more opportunities to process it differently.
This is not an exact science, and no teacher designs instruction perfectly all the time. But if
you’re not getting the results you want, try to do more of this: When planning your lessons, ask
yourself if students are doing anything with the material, or if you’re just setting things up so it’s
information in, information out. If it’s the latter, start adding in ways to have students engage with
the stuff they’re learning. There are a lot of different ways to do it. Even though it adds a little bit
more time, you’re going to see such big benefits. Not only are your students going to learn better,
you will all—both your students and you—like coming to school a whole lot more. ♦