Are They Learning or Am I Just Talking?
During the last two weeks I’ve been trying to take the spotlight off myself and let my students drive more of the learning in the room. I need to back off and let my students learn things more than just give them information.
I’ve given them too many definitions. It’s not enough to just tell them what something means. They have to come up with the definition on their own to really understand what something means.
So I’ve been using more guided questions and having longer class discussions.
What is an animal?
One of the major science concepts is talking about the definition of an animal. Most of my students think an animal is something with four legs and fur. Lions, cats, dogs, and hamsters are animals. To some students, frogs, turtles, spiders, snakes, crayfish, and birds are not really animals. People are absolutely not animals.
My initial urge was to define animal and tell them what animals were. I squelched that urge. I asked my students to give me ideas of types of animals.
They gave me a long list. It started with small furry animals. Eventually somebody included a bird. Some kids disagreed and we discussed it. The class decided that a bird was a type of animal.
We kept adding animals and somebody said a turtle was an animal. The class was split in their decision on the turtle.
So I asked them to tell me what all the animals have in common. Somebody said, “they’re alive.” I agreed that was true, animals are alive. So then I asked if we could add a plant to the list of animals. They all said no, and somebody said that animals can move. I put that on the list of what defines animal.
Somebody else said animals eat food and drink water. The class agreed with that. Somebody said animals have fur. But another student pointed out that birds don’t have fur, they have feathers. So fur stayed off the list.
I asked about the turtle again. Are turtles alive? Do they eat, drink, and move? The students discussed and decided that a turtle is a type of animal.
Student Success
The discussion went on for a while and we eventually had a good list of qualities that defines animals. Animals are alive, eat food, drink water, move, can make noises, and live in a habitat.
It’s not exactly the list I would have written to give them. But it’s something I’m prouder of than anything I could have written because the students arrived at the definition through their own discussion and debate. They used higher order thinking to decide what an animal was. I was more of a guide than a teacher. Now they all know what an animal is because they built the definition themselves.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I am a middle school teacher working on my master’s degree. Part of one of our assignments was to be involved in a teacher blog. Many of the sites I have visited were not what I was looking for. One of my classmates posted that she had found your site and she enjoyed it so I checked it out also. I have enjoyed reading through your site. What a great idea!
“Are they learning or am I just talking?” I asked myself this very question just last week. Thanks for reminding me to use this technique. Sometimes we get so rushed that we just give the information the quickest way. This approach may have taken a little longer but your students probably retained more of the information due to their involvement in the activity. I think I will use a similar plan this week! Did you have any students reluctant to be involved? If so, what did you do to give them a little push?
Keep up the good work!
I found this article to be quite interesting. I wanted to share a little percentage with you about the voices in the classroom. At a recent collaborative meeting, our principal shared with us that one of the big Learning Focus gurus told her that in the classroom students should be talking and ‘driving’ the lesson for at least 80% of the time. I have tried to take this into the classroom and sometimes find it quite difficult to enforce. My students love to talk, but they do not always want to talk about the subject matter! Guided question discussions are always fun, but then I always have that student who wants to take a slight detour or I have to cut that baby off who really wants to share their thought, but we have run out of time. Discussions are so wonderful and key to learning, but how do you manage the discussion in a time constraint situation?
Terri,
If I notice a student isn’t paying attention, I usually just slip their name into a sentence. It gets their attention and doesn’t disrupt the lesson. If a student is paying attention but just reluctant to participate, I will usually walk over and quietly tell them that I’m going to call on them soon. It gives them a moment to think of what to say. Often, if I tell a student that, they will raise their hand before I even call on them. Sometimes that little push is enough to bring them out of their shyness or complacency.
Best,
Lauren
Melissa,
I’m working to find the balance between student-led learning and teacher-led learning. I agree that I tend to default to the fastest method of delivering information. Student discussions make for better learning, though, which is why I’m trying to use it a lot more than I did last year. I’m still developing my questioning strategies, and I think more experience will help me to focus the discussions better.
Right now, if I need the lesson to go faster, I strategically call on the students who I know understand the lesson or can explain their thinking clearly. Sometimes I just need somebody to jump start the discussion. It’s hard to take a break from drawing out the low and shy students, but sometimes it just needs to speed up, and that should guide who you call on next.
And finally, I know that the student led lessons are resulting in high levels of learning and understanding. So if we don’t get through all the practice I had planned, it’s okay. High quality lessons are more important than a high quantity of lessons.
Best,
Lauren
I think this is a great post! Too often I think we just want to give students all the answers without having really think about it. I like how you encouraged students to figure out what they thought an animal was. In the end, like you said, they came up with a list that they thought of themselves. By doing this they had to take a little bit of ownership and pride in knowing that they “figured it out”.
Great post! I remember in grade school when teachers just told us information. It seems so much harder to learn. But when there was a project that helped you learn it, it was so much easier and way more fun too! I couldn’t agree more with Sall about how students can take pride and ownership in knowing that they figured it out!
This is a great way of teaching, it helps that studetns understand things in different ways, and it also allows them to talk through different ideas that they have. Letting your students talk to each other and figure out the problem on their own gives them the satisfaction of accomplishing this and it is also rewarding to you to see that they are able to solve their problem. Great Job!
I am a sophmore college student majoring in elementary and special education. I enjoyed reading your blog and how you realized that just standing and lecturing in front of your classroom may not be the best way to teach. But by having a group decision can help get the students involved in the subject and make learning more of an experience.
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