3250 - Presentation Review: Learning from Mistakes

Learning from one's mistakes is such an exceptional tool for deeper learning. I have never thought about it as an instructional strategy, but I was so happy to see it in Jennifer Aarestad's Prezi presentation on learning strategies. Jennifer made some great points on learning from our mistakes, including the way it requires a change in mindset from problem to opportunity, and the way both learners and instructors have responsibilities in capitalizing on this technique.

Jennifer's presentation was interesting and engaging in its functionality -- having to switch between frames gave adequate time to read and process each point, and the lateral movement with zoom and wide angles was visually appealing. I liked the construction metaphor as well, as her topic was fundamentally about tearing down and rebuilding our thoughts and ideas around making mistakes.

There were some punctuation errors that stood out for me in this presentation -- apostrophes are for possessives and contractions! -- and this can be a bit distracting, though not everyone would notice.

I really enjoyed the video on the My Favourite No technique -- what a great way to teach and test a technical, finite subject like math in an engaging, creative way. Thanks for that recommendation. I could definitely see myself using this technique in some way, or at least using its essence to address errors and gauge overall learning and teaching progress.

Here is the video. Spend five minutes and take a peek!

 

3250 - Presentation Review: Active Learning

Shelley Killeen created a PowToon presentation on Active Learning for her final project. In the presentation, she is thorough in her examination of the theory of active learning, and in her explanation of the benefits of this technique -- greater engagement, retention, deeper knowledge, and empowerment.

Shelley teaches hot stone massage and was able to give personal, practical testimony to how this technique assists her students and her teaching practice. An interesting statistic was that students retain 90% of what they do, and only 10% of what they read and say.

As for the overall presentation,it could have used a little variety between what she said and the screen graphics. Given that she was discussing active learning, some practical activity or demonstration may have been a better fit than reading the words from the screen. On a personal note, I would have liked some practical examples of how to implement active learning in different contexts, but this may just be my way of learning -- others, I am sure, related well to the facts and figures Shelley presented.

Shelley's voice was clear and friendly, and her material was concise. That we definitely a nice feature of this presentation, as well.
 

Chilly Classroom Climate

Barkley (2010) discusses Hall and Sandler's research into the differential treatment of male and female students in the college classroom (1982) and refers to their term, "chilly classroom climate" to describe the way "teachers often, unknowingly, make female students feel unwelcome."

The introduction of the "chilly classroom climate" follows with suggestions to avoid it -- consistently calling students by their first or last names, greeting the class as a whole or individually each day, addressing students as they wish to be addressed, and other tips all focused on establishing basic manners in the instructor. Barkley says the inequalities felt by female students are also often felt by students because of "race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, disability, level of ability, language use, and social class" and I couldn't help but wonder two things:

1. Why is this happening?
2. Is this a phenomenon really something having good manners can address or is there something deeper at work?

A study by the National Association for Women in Education (NAWE) found the transgressions against female students went farther than not saying hello or calling them by their prefered names:

"Troublesome practices by faculty members identified by the study included: using women students as examples in hypothetical situations with sexual or other inappropriate overtones; interrupting women’s comments more than men’s; responding extensively to men’s comments with praise, criticism or coaching but to women with patronizing brush-offs; and attributing women’s achievement to luck or affirmative action but men’s to talent or ability. The study even documented the tendency of faculty members to frown more at women than men students." (Morgan, 2007).

Bernice Sandler, senior researcher in residence with the NAWE wrote a paper about this subject and outlined a few of the subtle ways instructors approached women with questions and comments not as conducive to success as those asked to men: "When did the revolution occur?" (specific, focused) for women, and "When was the revolution?" (open-ended, loose) for men -- the kind of questions where "you could really shine if you know the answer and if they don't, they can try to fake it." Men were also called on more often, received more eye contact and praise from their instructors, and were more likely to be "coached" toward deeper learning (tell me more about that, what else could have happened?)

Interestingly, the term "chilly classroom climate" did not yield search results later than 2008, which made me wonder if this is the last we heard of this topic? Was it called something else past that era? Did the research conducted ten years ago spark such outcry the phenomenon was abolished from public education forever?

I wonder. 

Current research doesn't point to gender inequality under the same moniker, but it does illustrate a similar problem where men and women are assigned different roles and attention in the classroom. With children, praise is focused on gender stereotypes: “Abhishek looks so confident, and he will make a good leader while Nazneen is so caring and she will be able to handle children well,” cites author Aparna Rayapol in her article "Gender in the Classroom" (2010). In adults, gender stereotypes continue, but with less frequency and under the scrutiny of greater sensitivity than a decade ago. But they are by no means extinct, which calls on instructors to lead the way in challenging stereotypes as a mode to deeper learning. 

"Inspiring young people to question gender stereotypes enables them to make informed choices about their futures and broaden their opportunities," according to an article published on The Line (2015). "As a teacher, you are in a position to call out examples of gender stereotyping and encourage students to question and dispute them. This might be through highlighting examples in teaching materials or through calling out students’ comments and behaviour."

"The first thing that teachers need to consciously understand is that sex is a biological fact and gender is a social construct," says Rayapol. "Boys and girls do not have any natural psychological or social differences, but it is society that makes them learn gender roles."

Now we are talking. As instructors, basic manners should indeed be extended to all students, but there is the need for deeper examination of our beliefs and social constructs if we are truly going to move forward in gender equality. 

Equality and inclusiveness has become an ingrained part of our learning as instructors. Not only is it a bullet list of points, but an obligation to promote equality and teach students to deepen their learning by keeping a watchful eye on stereotypes in the learning material.   

So, do we still have a "chilly classroom climate"? I am confident we can find instructors who still transgress in this area and who may extend the arm of "humour" or, in some cases, total oblivion too far, but the positive is awareness and advocacy in the greater realm of teaching that empowers students to not accept this behaviour.

Going back to my questions, the reason behind the "chilly classroom climate" was perhaps a sign of the times, and a by-product of the process women and others who experienced this phenomenon have had to go through to see some shred of equality in education (and other places).

While I appreciate Barkley's book is about engagement strategies, not feminist theory, I do believe the answer to keeping the climate toasty warm in the classroom goes beyond and list of points on how to be respectful. The matter's historical prevalence suggests a deeper, more thorough examination of our stereotypes, ability to think critically, and confidence to advocate -- both as students and as instructors -- is in order if we are to eradicate this problem for good. 


Resources

Barkley, Elizabeth F. (2010). Student Engagement Techniques: a handbook for college faculty. San Francisco: Jossey Bass. 

Hall, R.M., and Sandler, B. R. (1982). The classroom climate: A chilly one for women? Project on the Status and Education of Women. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges. 

Line, The (2015). Promoting gender equity in the classroom retrieved from http://www.theline.org.au/promoting-gender-equity-in-the-classroom#sthash.ZfCKgphu.dpuf.

Morgan, Joan (2007). Women still face 'chilly classroom climate.' – classroom environment in women’s education retrieved from http://diverseeducation.com/article/7500/.

Rayapol, Aparna (2010). Gender Equality in the Classroom retrieved from http://www.teacherplus.org/things-to-think-about/gender-equality-in-the-classroom.

Sandler, Brenice R. (2008). The Chilly Climate retrieved from https://sun.iwu.edu/~mgardner/Articles/chillyclimate.pdf.

Metacognition - Sing it!

This is a great video about a teacher who wrote a song about metacognition for his grade 6 class. I like the way the song -- which is rather catchy, by the way -- engages the students and breaks down the intimidation of learning "big words" or abstract concepts like metacognition. It performs the same function as a "team cheer," bringing the class together as a group, making this something that belongs to them and them alone, again increasing the appeal and engagement.

While the concept of a song may be to juvenile for adult learners, it does speak to the value of creating cohesiveness, inclusiveness, and "team spirit" in the classroom as a way of keeping learners feeling comfortable, welcome, and confident learning new things.

Metacognition and Executive Functioning

I am facilitating a forum on metacognition, which means I am reading a lot about it and about strategies to help teach it or at least promote it in learners. I wouldn't get into in the forum, but I can't help but think about how difficult it must be to keep on top of one's own learning if one's executive functioning skills are lacking.

I have an almost-11-year-old son who struggles with organizing his thoughts and actions, largely due to a generalized anxiety disorder. I know there is a big school of belief that says anxiety is a symptom of something bigger, but that's just it: there is nothing bigger. Just a big ball of anxious thoughts in his mind that distract him from everything else.

Anyway, consider someone who is so distracted by worry, the information they intake in day to day is consistently disorganized and muddled, without clear, logical connections. My son understands finite subjects: sports, science (unless he makes a "mistake"), math, and physics because the line from A to B is clear and there is no place to get lost along the way.

He struggles with applying old information in new situations (ie; remembering the things you do at swimming lessons are to be applied when you are in the ocean trying to stay afloat); following more than two directions (brush your teeth, make your bed, and pick up your book -- off he goes to pick up the book); and in social referencing (laughing means good right? no, not always).

If he has this much trouble processing the everyday world, how can he manage layered, compounding learning principles like history or literature, which require referencing old material, analyzing, and forming opinions? Truth be told, he doesn't and it terrifies him. And just to keep things interesting, he is deeply aware of how he processes information differently and will do anything to escape being exposed for not understanding. He is the kid that touches the item the teachers says "Don't touch" so he can get over the anxiety of not knowing why he can't touch it. He will talk your ear off to get out of an assignment, or flat out refuse instead of saying, "It is just too much for my brain." You can see how teachers begin to see him ...

So, what does this have to do with Engagement Strategies in and adult education blog? For one thing, this is not a phenomenon restricted to children. Adults struggle with executive functioning, anxiety, and sensory processing (a whole other part of the equation I don't have the finger strength to get into at the moment), but whereas kids are easy to label and "punish" adults learn to cope -- sometimes in healthy ways and sometimes not.

I think it is really important to learn about non-traditional ways of learning and thinking and to watch for these in our classrooms of all ages. We learn to judge because it is a survival mechanism so I am not saying we reserve judgement at all costs, but that maybe before we lay blame, we ask a question:

Rather than, "Why on earth would he do something so stupid?" we ask, "I wonder why he did that. What might be going on?" When we replace scorn with empathy great things can happen.

As for strategies, I have had to teach my son the basic art of keeping record of his day, making lists, scheduling his time, rehearsing what he says on the phone, etc. At first he hated those records and lists -- I once found his planner in the woods behind our house. But I had to hold my reaction (frustration) and see deeper (with empathy) that he hated these so-called helpful items because they were reminders of what he sees as inadequacies.

In my world, we don't run from deep feelings; we sit together and push through them so we become stronger. That meant going out to the woods, getting that book, and dealing with the anxiety of knowing he needs a little bit more. It means making news lists, but putting them in private places with a promise to refer to them. And it means staying positive and normalizing the process -- if we were injured we would wear a brace to play hockey -- the notes are the brace for your brain.

I could see a great deal of shame permeating the learning process in adults struggling with these issues. I have met a few adults like this and can spot them a mile away. It means I have to think about the kinds of strategies should I keep in my teaching tool box to deal with the relationship between learning awareness and executive functioning.

The Story of Story-telling Begins

Storytelling is an effective way to convey information because it contextualizes problems which are,  by definition, are decontextualized in the classroom (most of the time, anyway). The use of storytelling in adult education is centuries old, beginning with families, tribes, and communities, and leading today to some of the most progressive classrooms.

I am researching this topic because it is a top contender for my final project. Here is a paper on storytelling, its cultural roots, and its relevance in contemporary adult education. Don't read all 276 pages (well, you can, but I'm sure life has more to offer) but be sure to check out pages 10-18 for a brief look at the relevance of storytelling as we know it. Enjoy!

Learning Styles

I just wanted to comment a little further on the myth of learning style. This amazing video looks at the downside of using learning style labels points out a number of interesting points. I think the idea of presenting information in many different ways appeals to the biological process of thinking, remembering, association, etc. but it also takes our brains through the filing cabinet of past experiences that we must access to facilitate learning. Robust or extrapolated learning is the core of Montessori education and helps plant the seeds of learning new concepts in a meaningful way. 

Interestingly, this infographic dismisses learning styles on the premise (just one of many) that individual differences, experiences, special needs, etc. render moot the classification of learners into tidy boxes. I would argue, however, that although I agree we can't logically (or accurately) profile learners, there are certain cultural and biological conditions that would make certain types of learning more appealing to certain individuals. A person with sensory processing dysfunction or ADHD might be physically incapable of reading 172 pages on neuroscience, but a gaming lesson might do the trick. Someone else coming from a home or culture where storytelling is important may relate quicker and easier to the rhythm and cadence of this method.  

To be clear, I am not defending learning style theory because I believe it is fundamentally flawed on many levels, not the least of which is the inverted pyramid of thinking around it that suggests teachers need to run about like long-tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs revamping lessons to accommodate. However, I do acknowledge there are many reasons individuals may or may not absorb information in a particular way, and I think it is valid, crucial, really, to acknowledge these.  

Maryellen Weimer (2104) nails the point in her article about the value of acknowledging learning styles (ways of learning?) published here >>, “The point is not to match teaching style to learning styles but rather to achieve balance, making sure that each style preference is addressed to a reasonable extent during instruction.”

There is strength as well in knowing a person's learning style in order to stretch it out and provide opportunities for growth. People who pigeon-hole themselves with hard and fast learning styles aren't ever having to function in chaos or push through a little discomfort. I think it is essential to hep students move through challenges so they can walk away with a new life skill.

I believe in multi-modal lessons and would continue to offer all subjects in many ways in order to both meet each learning need and to trigger the biological process that instigates learning.