Learning and Teaching Seminar developed and conducted by Ilene Alexander, David Langley, Jane O'Brien and Christina Petersen for the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of Minnesota.
Presentation by Andreas Schleicher Tackling the School Absenteeism Crisis 30 ...
Teaching that Sticks Seminar
1. Teaching that Sticks! A New Look at Teaching Impact A Seminar Developed & Conducted by Ilene D. Alexander David Langley Jane O’Brien Christina Petersen
11. What do you (need, presume to) know about the students in our classes? What do the students (need, presume to) know about your discipline, course topics? What are the most difficult concepts for students to master, especially at the start of your course? What do you know about who, what, when, why, where and how students stumble when they encounter these concepts?
14. SMART Learning Outcomes Specific Measurable/observable Attainable for target audience within scheduled time and specified conditions Relevant and results-oriented Targeted to the learner and to the desired level of learning “Effective Use of Performance Objectives” http://hsc.unm.edu/som/ume/ted/
21. (That) I Learned in Class Today (What) I Learned in Class Today is also good.
22. Teaching & LearningLearning & Teaching Learning refers only to significant changes in capability, understanding, knowledge, practices, attitudes or values by individuals, groups, organisations or society. Frank Coffield
23. We need to be taught to study rather than to believe, to inquire rather than affirm. Septima Clark, Citizenship Schools - founder
28. Credible Assessment Tasks Engaging and worthy problems Questions of importance Actual or similar to issues faced by adult citizens and consumers or professionals in the field Wiggins (1993) In context Authentic
36. Test out a rubric – THE TRUTH The truth is a chewy treat, like toffee only less sweet, and slightly nutty like birch bark, with a salty aftertaste as steely as a flint spark, best doused with straight whiskey or dark coffee. Tom Boss
52. Attribution Theory Internal, controllable attributions - “I didn’t study enough” Stable, uncontrollable attributions - “I will never be good at math!”
57. TASK- Think &Talk What areas of your course are you already using emotion to motivate your students? Share an example with your partner
58. Design principles “The most basic way to make people care is to form an association between something they don’t yet care about and something they do care about.” Find out what motivates your students Use emotion early Use emotion strategically Heath 2007
59. TASK - Do Recall the Credible Task that you identified in the previous session. Design a classroom activity for your course that purposely incorporates emotion. How are you going to “hit ‘em in the gut?”
Activity: On a 3 x 5 card, write your response to this prompt:Thinking about your own goal/objective for today please write a one sentence statement summarizing one thing you want to learn – do, ask, accomplish, enact, realize, make happen, accomplish – today.Please copy this statement onto a second 3x5 card. We’ll return to these cards at the end of today’s workshop.
In the UK, a scheme of work is a guideline that defines the structure and content of a course. It maps out clearly how resources (e.g. books, equipment, time) and class activities (e.g. teacher-talk, groupwork, practicals, discussions) and assessment strategies (e.g. tests, quizzes, Q&A, homework) will be used to ensure that the learning aims and objectives of the course are met successfully. It will normally include times and dates. The scheme of work is usually an interpretation of a specification or syllabus and can be used as a guide throughout the course to monitor progress against the original plan. Schemes of work can be shared with students so that they have an overview of their course.The key parts of a "scheme of work" include:Content / Objectives or Outcomes / Methods of delivery (student and teacher activity)/ Assessment strategies / Resources / Other Remarksscheme (skm)n.1. A systematic plan of action: "Did you ever carry out your scheme of writing a series of sonnets embodying all the great epochs of art?" (Edith Wharton).2. A secret or devious plan; a plot. See Synonyms at plan.3. An orderly combination of related parts: an irrigation scheme with dams, reservoirs, and channels.4. A chart, diagram, or outline of a system or object.v.schemed, schem·ing, schemesv.tr.1. To plot: scheming their revenge.2. To contrive a plan or scheme for.v.intr.To make plans, especially secret or devious ones.[Latin schma, figure, from Greek skhma; see segh- in Indo-European roots.]
Course Design as a Constructive Meaning Making Process, a question posing process, an opening of gaps to explore ideas in order to restock thinking/doing – start here with #5 on the HO: Philosophies and Practicalities of the Teacher / gather some data about yourself, reflect on your thinking & learning abt tcgPeter Elbow – Embracing the Contraries, and alliances (obligations) toA. Knowledge (Profession)Learners (Students)We can operate as C. Stewards (Gatekeepers)Seeing students in relation to us / one another asD. Allies (Apprentices)What’s the (generative) analogy here?For me: Instructor (Facilitator) Guide (Cousin)Cousin: In kinship terminology, a cousin is a relative with whom one shares one or more common ancestors. The term is rarely used when referring to a relative in one's immediate family where there is a more specific term to describe the relationship (e.g., one's parents, siblings and descendants). The term "blood relative" can be used synonymously and establishes the existence of a genetic link. A system of "degrees" and "removals" is used to describe the relationship between the two cousins and the ancestor they have in commonUSE ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS HO HERE
Let’s move to other four factors to consider in light of teaching a UofM class – things to consider well in advance of the first week, day, 10 minutes:Activity – for your course, another way of looking at this: - what do you know /presume to know / need to know about the students in our classes? - what do students know / presume to know / need to know about your discipline, your scholarship? - what are the most difficult concepts (threshold concepts) for a student to master at the start of your course? - what do you know / presume to know / need to know about how students who stumble most encounter/frame/are confused when working with these concepts
Grad 8101 – they don’t really understand “learning” as a concept, practice, constructEng 1201 – don’t see the first six elements of fiction as central to being able to do the final – and / or think there are no rules, no schemes, schematics in lit analysisPlot, Setting, Character, Conflict, Symbol, and Point of View are the main elements which fiction writers use to develop a story and its Theme.
Let’s start the planning: - what do you want students to know, be able to do or understand at the end of that segment, ideally? - what if you shaped the session with these students in mind? - how could you make use of this first segment to (a) learn more about them – lives and knowing, and (b) get them to know something about the thing being studied? Grad 8101 – learning; definitions of learning, empirical research on learning, adult learning theories / 1st ten minutes: HW from rdgs w/ peers, construct w/ dissent allowedEng 1201 – literature as more than, and better than, “great books” / 1st ten minutes: come up to OHPs and add to What is “literature”? / What is “multicultural literature”?
About Writing ObjectivesNEED: UofM SLO/SDO HO – what would it mean for students in your class “to Understand”? What would you need to observe – see in behavior, in writing?Grad 8101 – learning Make the familiar strangeEng 1201 – literature Rethink an idea of literary, of literature
ActivityNEED – VERB chartLearning outcomes should be smart. Specific outcomes allow both you and your students to understand what you are looking for. A learning outcome should also be measurable and observable. They should describe what you want your students to DO. To accomplish this use action verbs that can be measured. Learning outcomes should also be attainable, relevant to the students and targeted to the desired level of learning. Let’s look at a set of learning outcomes as an example.Grad 8101 – learning Make the familiar strangeEng 1201 – literature Rethink an image of literary person, of literature
Locate and critically evaluate informationAppreciation of Difference & Tolerance of Ambiguity
About Assessment – from “Engendering Competence”
Activity – introduce CATs here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk7yqlTMvp8 8101 –@ end of class Minute Paper: Assess whether we had created / maintained a “culture of learning” in the class session; for next class, produce a definition with follow up drawing/diagram/document/photograph/graphic/image reflecting their understanding of how learning happens – for them as individuals or for learners in their course/field1201 - @ end of class Directed Paraphrase of a definition of literature that we could use for this course
About Class Session PlanningNEED: Classroom Patterns chartTwo elements in place: objective, assessment idea, now to plan the class session to provoke the learning frames by these two notions
Activity – Put the pieces together: outcome, assessment, teaching – learning activitiesGrad 8101 – learning Make the familiar strange Evidence of Learning: HW, discussion session, new writing, info/ideas from teachers, CAT and link to next classEng 1201 – literature Rethink an idea Gathering of data from multiple sources – self, peers, teachers, printed texts – that is sifted, weighted, assembled
About Learning – what is it? what does that process look like? where & when does it happen? how does learning happen – individually, collaboratively, hybrid? how do I know it’s happening in my class?About Learning – Coffield & the more learning or everybody’s everydayLrng refers only 2 signif changes in capability, understanding, knowl, practices, attitudes or values by indiv, grps, orgs or society. 134More lrng 4 more stu stimulated 2 lrn more w tcrs & peers energized by knowl construction & open 2 understanding that shifts perspectives. 138
Activity – Mrs. Clark example: 129 characters, including attribution.
For the last session before our wrap-up, I’m going to talk about using emotion in your teaching.
This picture was taken in the first horrible days of hurricane Katrina, when people were literally stranded in downtown New Orleans. This picture of the human toll of the aftermath of the flooding leaves an impression. But, as the Heath brothers say in Made to Stick, an emotional response alone isn’t enough. We also need to connect it to our learning outcomes or our learning tasks. Let’s say you were teaching a course in civil engineering and wanted to impress upon students the importance of monitoring and maintenance of infrastructure, when what they were most excited about was designing new neighborhoods and cities. You could tell them about cost savings and show statistics, or you could show them a picture that shows them in a very real way what can happen when infrastructure isn’t maintained.
In the next 30 minutes, I have a very basic argument that I hope to convince you with. Emotion leads to caring. Caring leads to a motivation to learn. And students who are motivated to learn are better learners. If you want your students to be motivated for your topic, you need to make them care about it. Emotion can be a means to that end.Or as the brothers Heath say “Hit ‘em in the gut!”
Here’s my outline. We’ll briefly discuss motivational theories. Then we’ll take a “gallery” tour of how others have used emotion in the classroom. Hopefully, many of you will realize that you are already doing this in your courses. Then I’ll talk about ways to leverage emotion in your course and lesson design and you’ll finish up by creating a punch of emotion to motivate your students. Along the way we’ll draw upon the work you’ve already done before lunch.
Like everyone else I’m basing my course/session design upon integrated course design. You’ve already heard about designing intended learning outcomes in David’s section. You’ve also talked about assessment and feedback in Jane’s session. For this session, I’m going to focus on learning and teaching activities.
Let’s work backward from where we want to be. We want to motivate our students. I’m going to talk very briefly about some different theories about student motivation and learning. Many of you will be familiar with some or all of these theories.
Intrinsic motivation theory tells us that students can be motivated by external factors like grades or impressing the instructor. Students may be motivated by intrinsic factors such as a genuine interest in the subject matter or a love of learning (one of the SDOs we’re trying to promote). Students who are intrinsically motivated tend to be more creative, involved in their learning, and up for a learning challenge. You can encourage intrinsic motivation in your students by:Curiosity – how can civil engineering help prevent disasters like Katrina?Challenge – Not too difficult but also not too easyControl – Topics for projects or papers
Expectancy value theory states that students are motivated when:Activities that are valued – credible activities mentioned in Jane’s sectionExpectancy of success – sounds similar to what we said for intrinsic motivation, set it up with staging, as Jane said, communicate that through your feedback
Attribution theory describes the different beliefs students have about their own abilities to learn. Let’s say a student has performed poorly on a math exam. If she believed that her poor performance was due to internal, controllable attributions such as “I didn’t study effectively” she will be more likely to put in additional effort to improve for the next exam. If, however, she believes her performance was due to stable, uncontrollable attributes, such as “I will never be good at math” she is not as likely to put the effort into improving for the next exam. So, is there anything you can do about this? Yes, the type of feedback you provide student can have an effect on their beliefs. Move students to believe they can control the outcomes with your feedback, setting up assignments and activities
Now that we’ve spent a short time on theories of motivation, lets’ now talk about how others have used emotion to get their students to care about their subject.
Emotion – disgust, fearCaring – about their eyesMotivation – I am going to wear my eye goggles
Emotion – empathyCaring – I want to help people like himMotivation – learning engineering will help me help people
Emotion – inspiration, hopefulnessCaring – he’s like meMotivation – I can do this, I belong
I suspect that some or many of you are already using emotion in your teaching to motivate your students. Take a minute to think about ways that you are already doing this and share this example with your partner. Here’s an example from my own teaching. Take 5 minutes to share this with your neighbor.
So, now lets talk about design principles, ways to purposely leverage emotion in your teaching to motivate your students. As the Brother Heath say in Made to stick…..Find out what motivates your students. How do you do this?Use emotion early.Use emotion strategically. Don’t overload them.
Now that you have ideas from this presentation and ideas from your own teaching and from your discussion partners, think back to your credible task that you wrote on the board. What I would like you to do now is design a classroom activity for your course that purposely incorporates emotion. In other words, how are you gonna hit ‘em in the gut?Take 8 minutes to work on this.
So in summary. We talked about some theories of motivation in the classroom. We then talked about using emotion to encourage your students to care about your subject and hence motivate them to learn. Page 20 of your handout has some take-home messages about ways to motivate your students and much of what we talked about today hopefully provided you with some ideas for how to create that motivation.Any questions?