What makes a teacher
successful?
Having an expertise in
reading, writing, math or
science is necessary, but the ability to transfer that knowledge into another person is what makes an excellent instructor stand out. What good is it if a teacher has all the facts, but cannot communicate them in a way that others can comprehend?
Aside from comprehending the
curriculum content, teachers should have a basic understanding of how people acquire and absorb knowledge.
The following list highlights 20 principles of learning every teacher should know.
1. Students Learn Differently
It may seem obnoxiously obvious, but how many classrooms are currently designed with one learning style in mind? Worksheets and flashcards work well for students who absorb knowledge visually,
but for a child who needs to hear the information in order to grasp it,
traditional methods of teaching force him or her to use a physical sense that is not as well-developed.
The visual learner doesn’t have the same opportunity to stretch his or her other senses. If a teacher comes to the classroom with the basic knowledge that students learn differently, they will be better
equipped to arrange the lessons in such a way that all senses are activated.
2. Reinforce
Take geography as an example. If a
teacher is instructing a class of kids about the fifty states and capitals in the United States, it should be reinforced three different ways.
For the visual learner, use maps and
worksheets. For the auditory learner,
create a song that helps them remember what state and capital go together. For kinesthetic learners, activate the body.
Perhaps a teacher could do hand motions with the song, or do a map game on the floor, where students have to hop from state to state as the capitals are called out
3. Consider Kinesthetic
Learners Of all three types of learning, the kinesthetic learners are the hardest bunch to teach in a traditional setting.
Oftentimes, they need to touch, taste, and move through knowledge in order to absorb it. This requires space and opportunity that many traditional classrooms do not allow for.
Kinesthetic learners need to be allowed to try something, watch it fail, and learn from the experience. While this can be difficult logistically with a large class,implementing kinesthetic strategies will not just help a few kids, but will stretch
the other students who aren’t naturally bent towards that type of learning.
4. There Are Seven Learning
Styles Taken from Learning Styles Online .
1. Visual: Using sight
2. Auditory: Using songs or rhythms
3. Verbal: Speaking out loud the
information
4. Kinesthetic: Using touch and taste to explore the information
5. Logical: A more mathematical
approach to concepts
6. Interpersonal: Learning in groups
7. Intrapersonal: Learning alone
5. Make It Relevant
Information is only stored permanently
when it relates to day-to-day living. For example, Math concepts must be
reinforced in real life examples or the student will have no reason to absorb the information beyond the exam.
History is one of the more difficult
subjects to bring into the present, since it mainly deals with past events, dates, and people. Finding strategies to bring it to life will help with learning.
As much as possible, history should be experienced through first-hand accounts, museums, field trips and other enrichment activities.
6. Failure Is a Fabulous Teacher
People learn from failure. In fact, ask any major successful person what helped them and usually it will involve a story that harkens back to a big “mess-up”. Failure teaches even better than a perfect score
on a test.
Classic grading systems don’t help with this theory, as grades have become inflated, feared, and used as judge and jury about who learned what. Contrary to popular belief, learning from failure is anything but easy. It’s not just about “reflecting” upon what you did.
If you’d like to read about failure and learning, check out this Harvard Business Review article – the article is mainly about organizations but its lesson apply as much to classrooms.
7. Integrate The Curriculum
Rather than keeping each subject
separate, curriculums that use thematic units work well to blend knowledge together in a way that is useful and memorable.
For example, a unit on Egyptian history could incorporate history lessons, a unit on linguistics and language (with the hieroglyphics), a science unit (physics and the building of the pyramids), a
writing unit (a report on a child’s favorite Egyptian monument), and reading a book about the ancient culture.
8. Define “Learning”
The word “learn” has various definitions. In the classroom, it can be the ability to spout back facts and information on a test. While this is one form of learning, there are other forms of learning that are
just as important. Taken from Route
Ledge Education :
Memorization
Acquiring facts or procedures
Understanding reality
Making sense of the world
9. Care For Introverts
When Susan Cain released her book,
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking , earlier this year,
it drew a lot of attention onto an
important topic: introversion vs
extraversion. The debate, of course,
reached the classroom and according to an Edweek article , teachers might be
against their introverted students.
Are you?
It’s easy to assume that “group work” is always the best approach. That students who raise their hands are attentive. And that students who prefer to work alone are loners. All of which, are not necessarily true.
10. Create Space
This is a psychological and logistical
suggestion. Creativity is the birthplace of true learning, where a student can initiate thoughts, ideas, problems, and make connections between concepts. Creativity requires the activation of the
right side of the brain. Space allows the opportunity for creativity to ignite. Logistically, give students a place to stretch out, move away from a desk, or gaze at the sky outside. In the context of a
lesson, allow for brainstorming sessions.
Leave gaps in the order so students can
create their own projects using the facts
and theories in the lesson.
A teacher enables a student to learn when
he or she becomes a quiet mentor on the
sidelines, rather than the dictator of
every move or step.
[ Read more about how space affects
learning ]
11. Brief And Organized
“Bites”
When a person wants to memorize a
phone number, they divide the digits into
easy to remember patterns.
This is because the brain struggles to hold
onto a long list of numbers, but can do so
when they are organized meaningfully.
The same principle applies to lectures. A
30-minute lecture that is not structured
with categories, or organized into easy-to-
recall bullets, will not be as effective.
Using another example, the media
produces the news in sound bytes
because they know they only have a small
window of time in which to grab a
person’s attention; teachers would do well
to study the marketing techniques of
media in order to assemble information
that is retainable.
12. Use Several Different
Angles
For example, if a science teacher is
lecturing on photosynthesis, the students
will benefit from hitting the same concept
at different angles.
First, the teacher explains the overarching
concept. This provides framework and
context. Second, he explores each part of
the process in greater detail. Third, he
explains the whole process again, this
time encouraging students to ask
questions. Fourth, he asks the students to
explain it back to him.
Finally, he takes the process and inserts it
into a relevant everyday situation that
stretches the students to apply the
information in a real life example. As he
reinforces the concept with different
angles, the brain is better able to organize
the information. Trying to hit all of the
points in one explanation will overwhelm
most students.
13. Proper Method For The
Material
In the quest for “deeper” learning, some
professors might dismiss the concept of
shallow learning; the simple recall of
theories, facts, and rules. However there
is some validity to rote memorization and
the ability to regurgitate rules and facts,
depending on the information.
For example, to learn the multiplication
tables from 0-12, shallow learning is
helpful (flash cards, timed quizzes, etc.).
However, implementing this technique for
a history lesson will not serve the subject
matter.
A student may know all the dates of
important world wars, but without
understanding the social themes and
lessons learned from these atrocities, have
they really absorbed the importance of
studying history?
14. Use Technology
Never before in human history has there
been such unparalleled access to
knowledge and information. With the tap
of a tablet or smartphone, a student can
get instant answers to questions that used
to mean a trip to the library’s dusty
encyclopedia section.
This means that memorization is no
longer as necessary as it once was 100
years ago. Oral traditions and the passing
along of information verbally are nearly
extinct. Rather than resist the advance of
technology, teachers can take the
opportunity to go deeper with students,
since they do not have to waste time
trying to drill facts that are a fingertip
away.
Rather, explore themes, study deeper
sociological issues, teach the art of
invention and creativity, discover the
philosophy of critical thinking, and
encourage innovation.
15. Let Them Teach
One of the most effective methods for
absorbing knowledge is to teach the
knowledge back to another. Provide
students with ample opportunity to give
lectures, presentations, and develop
lesson plans of their own.
Teachers can instruct students to create a
lesson plan for a much younger child,
even if the concept is difficult. This forces
students to simplify the theory, find
relatable stories and real life examples,
and deconstruct the concepts into bite
size pieces.
16. Create Hunger And
Curiosity
When students are interested in a subject,
their ability to learn greatly increases.
They have more focus, tenacity, initiative,
engagement, and investment in the
material. Teachers can give students the
freedom to choose their own topics, which
enhances a class that may be stuck in a
rut or lacking motivation.
Learning how to whet a student’s appetite
for information sets them up to go after
the answer with a sense of hunger.
17. Brainstorming Not Always
Effective
The age old saying, “Two heads are better
than one,” is very true. Brainstorming is
thought to be the birthplace of profound
ideas.
But new studies suggest that that may not
be true . Brainstorming introduces
groupthink – a psychological phenomenon
where the group forms its own beliefs –
and when it doesn’t, the most
charismatic individual tend to take over .
In fact, Jeremy Dean of Psyblog wrote
about the subject,
“… Why not just send people off
individually to generate ideas if this is more
efficient? The answer is because of its
ability to build consensus by giving
participants the feeling of involvement in
the process. People who have participated
in the creative stage are likely to be more
motivated to carry out the group’s
decision.”
In other words, groups are not where
ideas are born. Groups are where ideas
are evaluated.
18. Forming Habits
Psychologists agree that it takes
approximately 30 days for a new habit to
form. Parents who are teaching children a
new routine (like brushing their own
teeth) have to help their child for at least
30 consecutive days before the brain turns
to “auto-pilot”.
This is the point at which it becomes a
regular habit.
In learning, the same concept applies.
Teachers can explain to students the
importance of daily study rather than
cramming information the night before.
The small, incremental, and daily
rehearsing of information paves a path in
the brain that remains permanently.
Study habits can become regular with
guided encouragement to keep going
while the brain catches up to the new
norm.
19. Feedback: Not Just What,
But When
In the same way that failure stretches a
person, feedback is crucial to how
students learn. When they can
understand their strengths and
weaknesses, accept and receive
constructive criticism, and be redirected
to the areas that need assistance, the
overall process of learning is enhanced.
That much you probably already know.
But studies have shown that when you
give feedback matters just as much as
what feedback you give. Imagine taking a
pill now and being able to see its effect in
5 years vs in 24 hours.
20. Teach How To Learn
“Learning” is an abstract concept to
many.
By helping students understand the art of
learning, the techniques of learning, as
well as the different learning styles, they
will be empowered by the process. It can
be discouraging when a new topic or
theory is evasive or difficult.
Students who understand how to learn
will have more patience with themselves
and others as they grasp new material.
successful?
Having an expertise in
reading, writing, math or
science is necessary, but the ability to transfer that knowledge into another person is what makes an excellent instructor stand out. What good is it if a teacher has all the facts, but cannot communicate them in a way that others can comprehend?
Aside from comprehending the
curriculum content, teachers should have a basic understanding of how people acquire and absorb knowledge.
The following list highlights 20 principles of learning every teacher should know.
1. Students Learn Differently
It may seem obnoxiously obvious, but how many classrooms are currently designed with one learning style in mind? Worksheets and flashcards work well for students who absorb knowledge visually,
but for a child who needs to hear the information in order to grasp it,
traditional methods of teaching force him or her to use a physical sense that is not as well-developed.
The visual learner doesn’t have the same opportunity to stretch his or her other senses. If a teacher comes to the classroom with the basic knowledge that students learn differently, they will be better
equipped to arrange the lessons in such a way that all senses are activated.
2. Reinforce
Take geography as an example. If a
teacher is instructing a class of kids about the fifty states and capitals in the United States, it should be reinforced three different ways.
For the visual learner, use maps and
worksheets. For the auditory learner,
create a song that helps them remember what state and capital go together. For kinesthetic learners, activate the body.
Perhaps a teacher could do hand motions with the song, or do a map game on the floor, where students have to hop from state to state as the capitals are called out
3. Consider Kinesthetic
Learners Of all three types of learning, the kinesthetic learners are the hardest bunch to teach in a traditional setting.
Oftentimes, they need to touch, taste, and move through knowledge in order to absorb it. This requires space and opportunity that many traditional classrooms do not allow for.
Kinesthetic learners need to be allowed to try something, watch it fail, and learn from the experience. While this can be difficult logistically with a large class,implementing kinesthetic strategies will not just help a few kids, but will stretch
the other students who aren’t naturally bent towards that type of learning.
4. There Are Seven Learning
Styles Taken from Learning Styles Online .
1. Visual: Using sight
2. Auditory: Using songs or rhythms
3. Verbal: Speaking out loud the
information
4. Kinesthetic: Using touch and taste to explore the information
5. Logical: A more mathematical
approach to concepts
6. Interpersonal: Learning in groups
7. Intrapersonal: Learning alone
5. Make It Relevant
Information is only stored permanently
when it relates to day-to-day living. For example, Math concepts must be
reinforced in real life examples or the student will have no reason to absorb the information beyond the exam.
History is one of the more difficult
subjects to bring into the present, since it mainly deals with past events, dates, and people. Finding strategies to bring it to life will help with learning.
As much as possible, history should be experienced through first-hand accounts, museums, field trips and other enrichment activities.
6. Failure Is a Fabulous Teacher
People learn from failure. In fact, ask any major successful person what helped them and usually it will involve a story that harkens back to a big “mess-up”. Failure teaches even better than a perfect score
on a test.
Classic grading systems don’t help with this theory, as grades have become inflated, feared, and used as judge and jury about who learned what. Contrary to popular belief, learning from failure is anything but easy. It’s not just about “reflecting” upon what you did.
If you’d like to read about failure and learning, check out this Harvard Business Review article – the article is mainly about organizations but its lesson apply as much to classrooms.
7. Integrate The Curriculum
Rather than keeping each subject
separate, curriculums that use thematic units work well to blend knowledge together in a way that is useful and memorable.
For example, a unit on Egyptian history could incorporate history lessons, a unit on linguistics and language (with the hieroglyphics), a science unit (physics and the building of the pyramids), a
writing unit (a report on a child’s favorite Egyptian monument), and reading a book about the ancient culture.
8. Define “Learning”
The word “learn” has various definitions. In the classroom, it can be the ability to spout back facts and information on a test. While this is one form of learning, there are other forms of learning that are
just as important. Taken from Route
Ledge Education :
Memorization
Acquiring facts or procedures
Understanding reality
Making sense of the world
9. Care For Introverts
When Susan Cain released her book,
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking , earlier this year,
it drew a lot of attention onto an
important topic: introversion vs
extraversion. The debate, of course,
reached the classroom and according to an Edweek article , teachers might be
against their introverted students.
Are you?
It’s easy to assume that “group work” is always the best approach. That students who raise their hands are attentive. And that students who prefer to work alone are loners. All of which, are not necessarily true.
10. Create Space
This is a psychological and logistical
suggestion. Creativity is the birthplace of true learning, where a student can initiate thoughts, ideas, problems, and make connections between concepts. Creativity requires the activation of the
right side of the brain. Space allows the opportunity for creativity to ignite. Logistically, give students a place to stretch out, move away from a desk, or gaze at the sky outside. In the context of a
lesson, allow for brainstorming sessions.
Leave gaps in the order so students can
create their own projects using the facts
and theories in the lesson.
A teacher enables a student to learn when
he or she becomes a quiet mentor on the
sidelines, rather than the dictator of
every move or step.
[ Read more about how space affects
learning ]
11. Brief And Organized
“Bites”
When a person wants to memorize a
phone number, they divide the digits into
easy to remember patterns.
This is because the brain struggles to hold
onto a long list of numbers, but can do so
when they are organized meaningfully.
The same principle applies to lectures. A
30-minute lecture that is not structured
with categories, or organized into easy-to-
recall bullets, will not be as effective.
Using another example, the media
produces the news in sound bytes
because they know they only have a small
window of time in which to grab a
person’s attention; teachers would do well
to study the marketing techniques of
media in order to assemble information
that is retainable.
12. Use Several Different
Angles
For example, if a science teacher is
lecturing on photosynthesis, the students
will benefit from hitting the same concept
at different angles.
First, the teacher explains the overarching
concept. This provides framework and
context. Second, he explores each part of
the process in greater detail. Third, he
explains the whole process again, this
time encouraging students to ask
questions. Fourth, he asks the students to
explain it back to him.
Finally, he takes the process and inserts it
into a relevant everyday situation that
stretches the students to apply the
information in a real life example. As he
reinforces the concept with different
angles, the brain is better able to organize
the information. Trying to hit all of the
points in one explanation will overwhelm
most students.
13. Proper Method For The
Material
In the quest for “deeper” learning, some
professors might dismiss the concept of
shallow learning; the simple recall of
theories, facts, and rules. However there
is some validity to rote memorization and
the ability to regurgitate rules and facts,
depending on the information.
For example, to learn the multiplication
tables from 0-12, shallow learning is
helpful (flash cards, timed quizzes, etc.).
However, implementing this technique for
a history lesson will not serve the subject
matter.
A student may know all the dates of
important world wars, but without
understanding the social themes and
lessons learned from these atrocities, have
they really absorbed the importance of
studying history?
14. Use Technology
Never before in human history has there
been such unparalleled access to
knowledge and information. With the tap
of a tablet or smartphone, a student can
get instant answers to questions that used
to mean a trip to the library’s dusty
encyclopedia section.
This means that memorization is no
longer as necessary as it once was 100
years ago. Oral traditions and the passing
along of information verbally are nearly
extinct. Rather than resist the advance of
technology, teachers can take the
opportunity to go deeper with students,
since they do not have to waste time
trying to drill facts that are a fingertip
away.
Rather, explore themes, study deeper
sociological issues, teach the art of
invention and creativity, discover the
philosophy of critical thinking, and
encourage innovation.
15. Let Them Teach
One of the most effective methods for
absorbing knowledge is to teach the
knowledge back to another. Provide
students with ample opportunity to give
lectures, presentations, and develop
lesson plans of their own.
Teachers can instruct students to create a
lesson plan for a much younger child,
even if the concept is difficult. This forces
students to simplify the theory, find
relatable stories and real life examples,
and deconstruct the concepts into bite
size pieces.
16. Create Hunger And
Curiosity
When students are interested in a subject,
their ability to learn greatly increases.
They have more focus, tenacity, initiative,
engagement, and investment in the
material. Teachers can give students the
freedom to choose their own topics, which
enhances a class that may be stuck in a
rut or lacking motivation.
Learning how to whet a student’s appetite
for information sets them up to go after
the answer with a sense of hunger.
17. Brainstorming Not Always
Effective
The age old saying, “Two heads are better
than one,” is very true. Brainstorming is
thought to be the birthplace of profound
ideas.
But new studies suggest that that may not
be true . Brainstorming introduces
groupthink – a psychological phenomenon
where the group forms its own beliefs –
and when it doesn’t, the most
charismatic individual tend to take over .
In fact, Jeremy Dean of Psyblog wrote
about the subject,
“… Why not just send people off
individually to generate ideas if this is more
efficient? The answer is because of its
ability to build consensus by giving
participants the feeling of involvement in
the process. People who have participated
in the creative stage are likely to be more
motivated to carry out the group’s
decision.”
In other words, groups are not where
ideas are born. Groups are where ideas
are evaluated.
18. Forming Habits
Psychologists agree that it takes
approximately 30 days for a new habit to
form. Parents who are teaching children a
new routine (like brushing their own
teeth) have to help their child for at least
30 consecutive days before the brain turns
to “auto-pilot”.
This is the point at which it becomes a
regular habit.
In learning, the same concept applies.
Teachers can explain to students the
importance of daily study rather than
cramming information the night before.
The small, incremental, and daily
rehearsing of information paves a path in
the brain that remains permanently.
Study habits can become regular with
guided encouragement to keep going
while the brain catches up to the new
norm.
19. Feedback: Not Just What,
But When
In the same way that failure stretches a
person, feedback is crucial to how
students learn. When they can
understand their strengths and
weaknesses, accept and receive
constructive criticism, and be redirected
to the areas that need assistance, the
overall process of learning is enhanced.
That much you probably already know.
But studies have shown that when you
give feedback matters just as much as
what feedback you give. Imagine taking a
pill now and being able to see its effect in
5 years vs in 24 hours.
20. Teach How To Learn
“Learning” is an abstract concept to
many.
By helping students understand the art of
learning, the techniques of learning, as
well as the different learning styles, they
will be empowered by the process. It can
be discouraging when a new topic or
theory is evasive or difficult.
Students who understand how to learn
will have more patience with themselves
and others as they grasp new material.
0 comments:
Post a Comment