The two readings for this week, Chapter 3 from out textbook, How People Learn, and the Put Education First article related very well together. It was very easy for me to relate to the Wiggins & McTighe article -- from the student's point of view. When I was in high school, sometimes I felt that the only reason I was there was to memorize facts, and be able to repeat those facts on command, i.e. tests. Because I was just expected to know certain required things for the tests, as soon as the test would over, I would just kind of forget about all the material that I had "learned." according to How People Learn, in order to have success transfer of information, a degree of mastery of the original subject is required. In high school, it is very hard to keep high school students interested in a certain subject long enough for them to acquire "mastery" of the subject area being studied.
Because it has become apparent over the years, that it is difficult to engage students in the necessary transfer, meaning, and acquisition of new concepts and information, Wiggins & McTighe have developed 12 steps to help with transfer, meaning, and acquisition. Teachers have to do more than just tell students about the things they are learning. For the students to truly learn, the information has to be applied and analyzed by the students. When students are able to apply what they are learning, it is more likely that they will be able to retain the information even after the assessment/test. In order for a student to fully benefit and learn what is being taught, (s)he must be able to correctly understand the subject, be able to acquire new information and build upon prior knowledge, and be able to transfer what is learned to real-life situations, to help with further learning.
Similar to last week, I felt that the concepts in this week's readings were aimed more at teacher than librarian, but the more I think about, the more I realize that a librarian -- any librarian, not just a SLM librarian -- is a teacher. Sure, we may not be in the formal classroom setting, but we can also look at a library being a huge classroom with no subject area boundaries. As librarians, we are still in situations that require us to teach in a way. We don't have the required time each week when we must teach a certain subject, we are in a library to teach patrons at anytime. We don't just help patrons find what they need, or just help with their research. Hopefully, we get the change to teach them how to correctly perform research, and how to use -- yes, I know I just used the word use -- what they learn. So, yes, teachers are the only ones responsible for helping students, librarians are also, our students just don't have a specific age range, and we're not in a classroom.
As for class reflections from this week...I wasn't there, and I'm sorry I wasn't, but it was probably better for everyone that way.
Yeah, I think librarians are teachers, too (surprise). I really didn't find any library-centric readings that covered the idea of transfer as well as the education readings did ... for better or for worse!
ReplyDeletePS - Hope you're back with us on Monday!
ReplyDeleteYour comments are right on target with today's class discussion (Happy V-Day!) and I agree that skimming the surface doesn't help students form prior knowledge to build on. [Prior knowledge, for instance, reminds me the proper phrasing is "...upon which to build."]
ReplyDeleteI think the reason it is generally so hard to keep high school students interested enough for mastery learning is the traditional high school environment. Mastery doesn't tend to be a priority because it takes so much time and learning activities have to be engaging and effective (not just entertaining or just rote memorization). It's definitely not easy! I think that's relevant in public libraries too--how often do patrons just want a quick reference interaction without going into the deep interview process that we know is (often) necessary in order to help a patron find the information they really need? Maybe we need a cultural shift on the national level toward more deliberate learning and striving for mastery and understanding. It would probably make us be a lot better at understanding each other and at solving problems...
ReplyDeleteYour point about high school students being a tough audience to keep interested enough for mastery made me think about the one group of people in my high school who really did seem to consistently acquire transferable knowledge: the trade-school kids. Those of us in academic classes often learned and then forgot and then learned different stuff in a constant cycle, but the students studying auto shop or cosmetology through a special arrangement with the local community college were clearly internalizing their classes as lifelong skills instead of just ways to earn a passing grade. Maybe the key to mastery learning is to think not in terms of acquiring information, but of acquiring new abilities?
ReplyDeleteOn an unrelated note, these ideas also make me REALLY THANKFUL that I won't be working with high school kids.
What you point out about high school students learning facts (and not so much gaining knowledge) is something that I can only imagine has grown worse with the increased emphasis on standardized testing in public schools. It seems as though people are starting to realize that multiple choice tests are not a good way to measure learning (imagine that), so I wonder what changes (if any) we'll see in the next decade or so.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe in students learning straight facts and then being tested on them. I do not think it really helps their learning process nor make them successful in the real-world. I know we need to memorize some information as building blocks (letters, numbers, etc), however, we can't always apply this to life. For instance, I had several friends who scored perfect or near perfect on the ACT, but when they got to college they did not do well because they could not apply their knowledge. They just knew what they had memorized, not concepts.
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