Let it be Theirs

I just finished reading Betty K. Garner's Getting to Got it and picked up some great insights on working with struggling students and empowering them to use their strengths to become more equipped learners. A theme that I kept seeing throughout is the unintended negative effects of adults doing too much for children, especially for students who struggle. I include several quotes below along with my reactions.

"Unless students interact creatively with information to construct meaning, there is little or no change." -page xv

I think about a lot the history classes I've taught as a teacher and taken as a student; we didn't DO enough with the information presented. I think about classes I've taken with tons of great information and factoids that I never did anything with that I've since forgotten. The information was great; it was interesting and provocative stuff; I worked hard finding cool information as a teacher and worked hard to remember the information as a student. But we never did anything with it; we never used it to do or create anything. Most of it's been lost; it wasn't learned.

"Too often, teachers make connections and point out patterns for students without realizing we are teaching them to imitate what we do rather than to construct meaning for themselves." -page 6

"...he mediated meaning- by asking questions rather than telling him what to do or solving the problem for him." -page 10

"Too often, well-meaning parents and teachers short-circuit students' cognitive development by doing the mental work for them.... We unintentionally encourage them to become passive recipients, to depend on others than on their own capabilities or need to know." -page 15

I wrote about doing the work for them after reading Margaret Searle's Causes & Cures in the Classroom. We mean well when we do it; it's to model what it's supposed to look like; it's to give them a sense of accomplishment; it's to prompt them; it's to help them do well on the test; it's to help them out in an awkward or embarrassing moment. It may even be more for us and our own comfort or ego than theirs. Whatever the reason, when we do it for them we're robbing the long-term to satisfy the short. Instead of telling we ought to ask; instead of lecturing we ought to converse; instead of talking we ought to listen; instead of trying to affect the result we ought to facilitate the process. 

"Sometimes teachers get caught up in doing lots of activities that keep students busy and may even produce wonderful products or displays. However, the time would be more effectively spent designing and implementing activities to help students develop the cognitive structures that will equip them for independent learning." -page 24

Impact won't be known until later. Whether they can do what they were taught how to do down the road is how we'll measure the extent to which it was learned now. They're only students for a small, minuscule amount of time when compared to how much life there is post-student; they need to be able to learn for a lifetime if they're going to thrive. Individual tidbits of information come and go; independence is forever. 

"The true level of understanding is evident in the kinds of questions students ask." -page 26

I used to love when there were no questions; I used to always think that if there weren't any questions then I must've taught it really well. Perhaps I was off base. Perhaps I wasn't focusing on the right stuff. Perhaps they weren't doing enough with the information I was providing. Perhaps I was doing too much providing. I think I was doing too much providing...