Monday Mush by Jennifer Johnson

I have always wanted to have a “guest writer” for a mush and flush.  I thought our rock star reading facilitator was a good place to start.  She has passed on several great quotes and videos that I used, so I thought she should write the whole thing.  Thanks, Jennifer, it is great stuff!

“If adults constantly bombard them with speeches they call lessons, then these students have had an entirely passive experience of education that doesn’t allow them to think for themselves.” – José Vilson

 

This week when I ran across this quote, I immediately thought about the voice of Charlie Brown’s teacher.  Not a single word is understandable, and it all sounds the same.  “Wua, wua, wua, wua,…”  Poor Charlie Brown sits with his head down on his desk slowly drifting off to sleep. No learning today.

In following the theme of “transferring the learning”, this quote also reminded me of a recent conversation with a teacher.

 

“There’s no excuse for all those kids to be in the red group!  They should know how to do it.  We talked about it for an entire week!”

 

And there, the method of instruction is revealed…talked about it.  Whatever teaching concept “it” may be at the time, talking about it and teaching it are two very different things.  Talking does not equal teaching.  Will students remember it tomorrow, next week, or next year just from hearing you talk about it?  Probably not.  And why should they when next year’s teacher is going to just talk to them about it again and next year’s teacher and so on.  It’s no wonder that after a few years of hearing teachers talk about this and talk about that, they’ve now developed into expert passive learners…just sit and get…wait to be told what to do…can’t think for themselves.   

 

So let’s be real, we talk too much.  The longer we talk, the less students listen.  And if they aren’t listening to you, what are they really doing?  Inferring?  Analyzing?  Creating?  We can only wish…

Take a look at the following diagram and notice how much we learn just from hearing it. 

 

Now look across at the learning outcomes we are able to do just from listening.  If listening is the only form of instruction, then we’re only equipping students to be able to do low level skills such as defining, describing, listing, and explaining.  That’s not enough to effectively learn.  That’s not enough to remember years later. That’s not enough to dig deeper.  That’s not enough for STAAR.  That’s not enough to problem solve.  That’s not enough to think on your own.  We must teach students in ways that equip them with the skills to think for themselves. 

 Don’t misunderstand, every level of learning has its place when scaffolding instruction.  Students must read text, listen to an explanation, see an anchor chart, video, or powerpoint; however, these instructional practices only count for roughly half of what’s required to learn.  If we stop here, we aren’t teaching enough.  In fact, we are limiting our student’s thinking.  We didn’t learn to ride a bike by reading about bikes or hearing an explanation about how to ride a bike.  We learned to ride a bike by doing it…riding a bike!  

A thousand hearings isn’t worth one seeing,

and a thousand seeings isn’t worth one doing.

We must push on and expect our students to explain what they’re learning, expect our students to write about what they’re learning, and expect our students to do the learning.  Learning can be hard.  It can be frustrating.  It can be confusing.  Our students need to feel comfortable with these emotions in order to press on to what’s more difficult. 

 

Today marks the beginning of talking less and allowing students to think and do more.  As with anything, it will take time so don’t give up too quickly.  Be patient and supportive as you provide them opportunities to think for themselves.  It won’t be long before they surpass our expectations!