"Less is More", is a turn of phrase I have often come across and not one I have often felt inclined to agree with, who wants a slither of Gateau when a slab of it is on offer. It has often irked me when parents speak of "quality not quantity" when it comes to spending time with their children... No, it should be a Quantity of Quality.
This lesson with Richard, on the subject of Communication and learning, has at last given me a satisfactory setting for such a statement, less can be more.
TEACHING doesn't equal LEARNING, although they are of course associated. A chord was struck by the statement made by Richard, "learning comes from the moments of quiet, when a student can assimilate the information...". I whole heartedly agree, It has been my experience that the most efficient way to take on-board information has been in small, regular amounts with time to ponder over it.
Long gone, it would seem, are the days of long arduous lectures from a monotone tutor, throwing information out in the vain hope that something would stick. Rather, lessons should be engaging and active, it returns us to the need for well planned lessons- SMART week 4 " Nuts and Bolts".
What about during the class?
Say LESS and achieve MORE.
A vital method in stimulating and aiding further leaning is achieved by questions. Whether these are Open, Closed or Nominated, will depend upon the class and the subject matter. Sadly the art of skilfully asking questions is an art often neglected by educators, perhaps because they feel more comfortable in " Teacher talk mode" as they know where they are going and there is less likely to be a spanner thrown into the works.
Questions can add so much to the learning experience for the students and Tutor.
" Knowing only involves remembering - understanding requires that students "own" the reasoning." - Petty,G. (2009). Questioning. In: Teaching Today a practical guide. 4th ed. Cheltnam: Nelson Thornes Ltd. 192.
Questions allow for a greater quality of learning, giving students transferable learning. This means that rather than just being given rigid facts, a student is encouraged to reason on the facts and principles behind them, they can then transfer the principle ideas to other situations.
( example - Petty,G. (2009). Questioning. In: Teaching Today a practical guide. 4th ed. Cheltnam: Nelson Thornes Ltd. 190-191. )
Questioning has other valuable benefits too. Feedback is enhanced as the Tutor is quickly able to give feedback and receive feedback, as the students responses can tell him so much about the direction the class is taking. When a student makes a response to a question it contributes to the building up of their self confidence - content students can only be a good thing!
During a class exercise we gauged the value of the different Question strategies - material from Petty,G. (2009). Questioning. In: Teaching Today a practical guide. 4th ed. Cheltnam: Nelson Thornes Ltd. 197-199.
In pairs one of us described verbally the process to create our own piece of paper art, the "hands on" student was not allowed any hands on assistance or was permitted to see the diagrams. It was hard, not because my tutor was unclear, but this circle of communication kept being broken. With such a practical exercise, it really lent itself to a video clip or clear diagrams not just verbal instructions. Added to this, the numerous other voices of the other teachers made focusing on what my teacher was saying very difficult.
In essence, if as a teacher of the future, I am thinking of dropping routinely into " Teacher Talk Mode" and expect the lines of communication to remain... Think again. Mix up the techniques, utilise the varied resources, allow students to be active participants and listen...
Less talking will mean more learning.
No comments:
Post a Comment