This very teacher-directed lesson will become part of our exploration of Mental Models.
After ending our War of 1812 Inquiry, where within the constraints of the discipline students were free to demonstrate their learning in ways meaningful to them as long as their work could be QR coded, my 7s now find themselves in an extremely teacher directed learning environment. It's necessary. There are gaps evident and sometimes (see John Hattie) explicit instruction is the way to go. This assignment is not about "THE BIG IDEA". It's about filling in a few holes in the foundation so that the next time students enter into Inquiry, they are better able to communicate their learning.
The task was developed by our middle school Science teacher, Jacqui Swartz, who with very little time, has an inordinate amount of curriculum to cover. We've decided to combine Science and Language.
The activity is laid out step by step. Students understand that we are "hoop jumping". We are engaged in this task to develop a skill. Practice is needed the same way hockey players practice shots. The structure or essay formula is important. Just as a mechanic is not free to put brakes together in "ways meaningful to him or her", a student must learn to follow instructions.
Below is the grade 6 version.
My students know that they are following a recipe and why we are doing it. It's quite interesting to watch how they approach learning with this kind of task.
After ending our War of 1812 Inquiry, where within the constraints of the discipline students were free to demonstrate their learning in ways meaningful to them as long as their work could be QR coded, my 7s now find themselves in an extremely teacher directed learning environment. It's necessary. There are gaps evident and sometimes (see John Hattie) explicit instruction is the way to go. This assignment is not about "THE BIG IDEA". It's about filling in a few holes in the foundation so that the next time students enter into Inquiry, they are better able to communicate their learning.
The task was developed by our middle school Science teacher, Jacqui Swartz, who with very little time, has an inordinate amount of curriculum to cover. We've decided to combine Science and Language.
The activity is laid out step by step. Students understand that we are "hoop jumping". We are engaged in this task to develop a skill. Practice is needed the same way hockey players practice shots. The structure or essay formula is important. Just as a mechanic is not free to put brakes together in "ways meaningful to him or her", a student must learn to follow instructions.
Below is the grade 6 version.
My students know that they are following a recipe and why we are doing it. It's quite interesting to watch how they approach learning with this kind of task.
Though I am now a high school librarian, my years teaching middle and high school students were often filled with necessary days such as the one you describe in this post. Though it's rarely "fun" to students or teacher, ensuring that students have a solid grasp on a concept is so very important and sometimes best achieved by direct instruction. I completely agree that students must learn to follow very basic and clear instructions. As we know, not all teachers' classrooms are innovative or engaging, and it is just as important for students to learn to thrive in that kind of environment as in one that captures their attention each day.
ReplyDeletehttp://arnoldjessicaedm510.blogspot.com/
Hi Jessica, Learning to follow instructions is an important skill. It's definitely not about "fun". It is, however, having respect for the task and the learning that comes from this kind of structure.
DeleteHeidi - what you describe is how many teachers teach every single day. I am quite interested in your student's reactions - are they engaged? Or compliant?
ReplyDeleteHi Sue,
DeleteTeaching like this every single day ... interesting. My students were compliant ... to greater and lesser degrees. Engaged is one of those vast, sweeping terms used these days that I now struggle with because it has come to mean many things. What is your model of engagement? What does it mean to be engaged? Carnegie Mellon has recently released research where they calculated that there are over 2 trillion ways to teach. If we were to leave it just at the task and continued to learn in this way, I would lose student interest. This was novel, therefore engaging for some. If I was to leave it at that, I would however, be doing a disservice to my students. Our next step will be to debrief. We are going to explore the models of inquiry and teacher-directed to see where/what/if value lies in it for them. Students need to recognize models of teaching and learning so that they know how to conduct themselves in each.
Heidi, thanks for sharing what you did here. You mentioned that there were some gaps in the students' learning. I haven't seen you share much about these types of "direct lessons" before, so I'm just curious why you think the need was there this time. Do you anticipate that you'll need to continue with this type of instruction in the future? I agree with you that sometimes we do need direct instruction. While I've been doing a lot of inquiry in the classroom, I sometimes see these gaps as well, and I sometimes choose to do what you did. It's not that I won't go back to inquiry again (because I always do), but it's because there are some other student needs there.
ReplyDeleteI've been listening to some teacher discussions though, and I sometimes find that as people are hitting these roadblocks, they're seeing this as a reason to give up on inquiry. Have you experienced this as well? How would you respond if you heard these comments?
Thanks again, Heidi! I love learning from you!
Aviva
Thanks for your thoughtful comments and questions Aviva.
ReplyDeleteEffective teachers use many different strategies to help students develop competency in many different areas. Many of my students this year are reluctant writers who lack confidence in their ability to communicate in writing. After feeling so successful from their War of 1812 Inquiry, this was the right time to introduce a more precise and structured writing assignment. This was a quick and efficient way to move a large group of students forward in their skills. They needed practice with sentence structure, transition words and paragraphs.
Abandoning inquiry is not a solution to skill gaps. Teachers must persist with the process. The skills learned during inquiry are as essential as those learned during direct instruction. Here's an example that might help teachers understand the importance and place of Inquiry.
One of my students who had often been scattered and disorganized in his learning, approached the essay task very methodically and thoroughly. He demonstrated careful thinking and his synthesis of information was beyond what I had seen from him in the past. He took time to read challenging texts carefully and to compare what he found on several different sites before drawing conclusions. When I asked him about it, he attributed his success to the skills and research strategies he had developed during the War of 1812 Inquiry where he had had to decide for himself what was significant and where creating something for an audience had motivated him to be accurate. So although he was now in a teacher-directed model, he continued to think with complexity.
Finding the balance is the art of teaching! It did feel strange to be back in a teacher-directed model. After seeing the complexity of thinking that emerges from inquiry, I would never want to return to it as my go-to method of instruction.