I spent the last part of my time at the computer yesterday, listening to a recent Women of the Web podcast interview with Dr. Gary Stager. It was a good interview and Stager seemed, on several occasions, to be talking straight from my speaking points — something that is deeply gratifying to me. He did a better job than most at balancing his constructivist approach with the fact that this is not an either or proposition — that although consciously constructing learning from previous knowledge, frame of reference, and skill is preferred (and natural IMHO), some times and for some objectives, teaching to the students is called for.
As is often the case, the conversation veered over to the ever persistent question, “How do you reconcile these more progressive constructivist strategies with the demands of standards- and accountability-based teaching.
It’s a hard question to answer and I hope it is a temporary question. My hope is that “modernized” schools will come to value what students are capable of learning and doing with what they are learning, than what we are capable of teaching. It was after a rather short play-out of this conversation that things shifted again — “How do you reconcile progressive, constructivist, project-based learning with teachers who are more comfortable with the traditional direct teaching approach — especially as many of these teachers seem threatened by more student-centered education.
It all reminded me of an instance, about 20 years ago, when I was director of technology for a rural school district in North Carolina. We had a lab of Apple IIe computers at the high school, where computer applications was taught. They taught AppleWorks, which ran off of a five and a quarter inch floppy disk. Raise your hands if you remember those!
There were two teachers who taught this course. One was a business instructor and the other was the school’s Art teacher. The idea of an Art teacher teaching computer applications seems much less unusual today than it did back in 1985. Toward the end of the semester the Art teacher, John Bell, had taught word processing and spreadsheets. It was time for databases. He presented the class with a problem. I do not recall the nature of the problem, but it related to a small business. Then he said, “I want you to use the database in AppleWorks to produce a report that will solve his problem.” “The user manuals are over there. Get to work.”
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This was a first for me, but it immediately made sense. Learning to rely on a users manual to learn how to operate a new piece of software or operating system seemed like a valid technology skill. But other teachers at the school didn’t make that connection. In fact, there was a vehemence to their objections that seemed down-right irrational in its emotional intensity. They said that that art teacher was not doing his job, that the students were doing it for him. Being John Bell, he let it run its course and the controversy died down. But I’ll not forget that.
If you are a parent, then you have certainly had the experience of asking your son or daughter, “So, what did you learn today?” only to be answere with an irritated shrug of the should or a simple, “noth’un!”
I wonder if a reason for many of our students’ lack of enthusiasm for learning is that it isn’t learning that they are doing. The the active ingredient of traditional classrooms is teaching. Might our students become more excited and engaged by what they constructively learn than what they are taught.
That story reminded me about my work here. 15 years as band director suddenly teaching web design.
Thanks. Stories like this make me breath a bit easier about decisions I make in class.
I find it interesting how many ed-tech’ers started out in Music. I believe that Gary Stager was a music major. At least, he is a master trumpet player. Once, when I was still working for the department of public instruction, in North Carolina, we asked the district directors of technology for their backgrounds — fully expecting mostly Math and Business. It wasn’t. It was Social Studies and Music.
What you describe was an example of real learning – where the solution is not on the answer key. Think about it, we wouldn’t want a friend to simply ask us questions that they already know the answers to. Neither do our students.
Ah, you’re literally speaking my mind!
As a student, the thing I used to find the most annoying was when teachers taught us like this: “Here are some tools. Here are some techniques. This is how you use them to solve certain kinds of problems. Now go do exercises 1-15 odd.”
That’s not learning! That’s becoming a trained monkey!
Instead, how about teaching like this: “Here’s an intriguing question. Have some time to see if you can come up with any cool ideas on how to go about answering it.” So much more fun for everybody involved 🙂
I taught this lesson, and by that I mean I had the kids do it for me, as an introduction to a Social Studies unit. I broke the class down into five groups, gave each nothing more than a picture of someone who played an important role in that era. I told them they had 20 minutes to figure out who it was and why they were important. They had at their disposal text books, encyclopedias, and laptops.
That has been a highlight of the year so far. It suddenly became a level playing field, struggling readers were just as successful as our high readers, SPED up to pace with everyone else.
There truly is much more to learning than what comes out of my/our mouths.
Like Brandt, stories like this are good for the breathing, good for the soul. We all know it’s about learning, not about teaching (though, to acknowledge your earlier remarks, it’s possible that teaching sometimes contributes to learning:-)). Yet our classrooms (and our staffroom conversations) keep forgetting this. “Damn it! I taught that yesterday and the day before, and still the kids don’t get it!”
Thanks for these stories. They’re important for us classroom teachers.
Good blog post, as always.
Slight correction though — Women of the Web 2.0 has not yet had Gary Stager on.
I believe the show you heard was “Teachers Are Talking”!!
@ ed tech talk!!!
Jennifer
I think there are benefits to both project based and traditional teaching strategies. But I think that where traditional strategies are used there has to be a hands on component. There are things I do in my class where I have to provide some preparation. There is also the clock to be considered and where setting a class loose on the manual to find out how to do something would be great in the best of all possible worlds much of the time would be lost to students’ resistance to this method. I have to at least do something to get them started or else the time runs out before the project is done. I use del.icio.us to post links that will help students finish a project but the students have to hunt through the links I provided for the information. I do encourage students to ignore my links and try to find the information on their own and many students will usually take that option but others insist on more guidance. If I were a better teacher I could probably figure a way around this, but with classes that only last about 45 minutes the time usually runs out before I arrive at success.
Cordially,
J. D.
Perhaps your “throw-away” remark about parents will be the subject of a future post. I spend a good deal of time explaining to parents how to ask the “right” questions to avoid the one word answers adolescents love to give. For example, “Please explain what you are studied in science today” keeps the discussion moving and helps the youngster review that day’s learning. For math, I suggest, “Tell me a success you had today in math.” or, if we aren’t in the car, “Hey, could you show me a math problem you did today.” Since this is a technology blog……I use my monthly parent blog to guide parents by writing about what is going to happen in the next month in class. This way, they know the topic and can better formulate questions to engage their children. As always, your post today was fun to read, and stimulated the gray matter between my ears.
Keep up the stellar work,
Paul
I had to add a comment about music teachers and technology. Not sure why the connection; however, I currently work with an elementary teacher who is a new Technology Applications teacher and a previous choir teacher. First of all, she is a good teacher. She has good classroom management skills and has built a supportive, warm environment for her students. This is her first year teaching students technolgy applications and I hope she never misses choir! She is able to make a connection between the tech apps curriculum and the core content areas increasing the meaning for students! I didn’t hire her, but I sure am glad to have her on my team!
Raising my hand about the old school 5.25″ floppies!
You should really come on over and see what my middle schoolers are doing in their wikis.
It starts out a little something like this:
“Okay, guys, check out the new documents to see which group you’re in and who else is in your group. Then go to your group’s wiki page and start researching what you’re going to need to address the four sub-topics related to the group’s topic. You’re going to need some images too, so start looking for images and contacting owners for permission as needed. Remember, you’ll be evaluating yourself and your teammates on your efforts toward the group’s success.”
The students are in four different technology class periods, so the wiki and e-mail are essential tools for communication during these kinds of projects.
P.S. We ALWAYS use Citation Machine to cite our information sources. I link to it right from the wiki pages. So thanks for YOUR contribution.
Raising my hand. I used to spend a lot of my time teaching Appleworks. I have a copy of the Apple II Reference Guide which is even older. The school where I worked threw out all of those manuals and I rescued it from a trash barrel. I can’t bear to throw it away. It makes me smile every time I look at it.
There are still days when I wonder if all the years I spent teaching teachers was worth it. The days I spent teaching students WAS worth it but there was only one of me and all those kids.
Midge
I am an art teacher and this is my first year offering an after school animation workshop. To be honest, I am often just steps ahead of my students in terms of figuring out the software and technical trouble shooting. Fortunately, I had a sixth grade student in the class that reads computer manuals as a hobby in his spare time. He has taught me through his passion for figuring out how technology works, the joy of embracing the learning curve! So often teachers say, “I don’t want to learn how technology works, I just want to use it.” I finally see that it is the process of learning that is more important than the finished product. After this epiphany I am conscious of how much I have controlled this workshop in order to get a great product. I was doing most of the editing and directing with one recording station. Now, I have 3 stations set up so students can work in teams to shoot, edit and burn. Students enjoy the freedom to experiment, make mistakes and learn how to improve their shots. The environment is full of inspiration and energy because students have the incentive to learn how to use Movie Maker and Audacity for soundtracks. It is a messy process but I feel they are learning much more from this workshop than I had imagined! I hope to incorporate this type of teaching into my regular art classes. I have to remember to let go of control and allow my students to enjoy and learn from the process. This is something that cannot be measured or assessed but I trust that it is good and necessary.