Through my experiences being a middle school business teacher, I have noticed that my students learn in a variety of ways. I have those students that can read an assignment and remember the information for the rest of the quarter. Then there are some students who need to see the information come to life. This can be done through acting out certain concepts, or hands on activities. The last kind of learning style that I have come across is the one where the students have to continually repeat the information over and over until finally somehow it sinks in. This is sometimes the most difficult and frustrating way to teach, because you continually repeat the same information over and over, and it can sometimes seem the students just don't get it or care.
I feel all students can learn. The problem that we are facing as educators is our students have been taught that if there is a problem, they will be given the answer without digging for the answer themselves. I currently have a student who on every assignment makes the comment that he doesn't understand, or he cannot do it. When I go over to help I find out he has not tried to solve the problem, but was waiting for me to come and solve it for him. Unfortunately I am seeing this behavior more and more. One way I have worked on solving this is by saying I will not accept any answer that has "I don't know" in it. Thankfully I have noticed some difference, but I realize that once they leave my class, there is a good chance that the next class will not challenge them.
The learning theory that I best relate to, is the constructivism approach. Unless students do not listen at all in or out of school, they have some idea of what is going on in the world. I teach a subject in which they can bring up material that relates to them. Through leading questions, usually I can have a pretty good conversation on business issues that relate to my students, and when my students leave, they feel they learned something pertinent. Last week after the vice presidential debate my classes wanted to discuss what was said. I moderated the conversation, but they used personal experiences to defend issues and teach each other about the issues going on with the presidential election. It was truly an amazing class.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Sean, I hear you on the lack of initiative issue. I've also seen that very same thing when training adults. Like you, I have had to take a firm approach along the lines of "Do not raise your hand to tell me you don't know. You may raise your hand and show me an answer that you have formulated and I'll either confirm it for you or help you find the correct solution.
The timing of your post is ironic. I was sitting in a training today (yes, zoning out!) and it dawned on me that I had not read one post that dealt with the attitude part of learning. That WANTING to learn is as important as how you learn. Kuddos to you!
For many years, teachers have spoon feed the information to the students. They don't know how to think for themselves. Each year the teacher states "they won't spoon feed you in the next grade," but they do. When students face college or the real world they are overwhelmed. I think that it is great that you are challenging your students.
I am trying to have my students think for themselves. I will give the class directions and I have about 7 students who always say "I don't know what we are doing?" I tell them that I have already told them what to do and I am not going to repeat myself. They are starting to learn to listen the first time or get a classmate to explain to them what is going on.
Post a Comment