As a seasoned teacher, reading through Theory Based Principles of Learning really did not give me many new insights. It seems that in my earlier teaching years, these issues were easier to address. However in the last four years, the student body at MATC has changed significantly. 90% of incoming students are under prepared learners with almost non-existent study skills. They range in age from 22 to 49, are single parents, and are trying to shuffle school with jobs and child care. Their main goal is to finish courses quickly and in the easiest manner possible. Attendance is problematic, state curriculum demands are unreasonable, and the feeling of many of my math colleagues is that we are doing a job that should have been done during the first 12 years of our students’ schooling. Thus, we are presented with many issues to try to overcome.
We presently gather prior knowledge of our students through placement tests given day one of the courses we teach. These tests consist of a series of math problems from General Math through Intermediate Algebra. What is measured is tool use—not critical thinking or application of knowledge.
I believe it’s important to present learning objectives and goals, give feedback continuously, use criteria based rubrics, and use different forms of assessment. Since all instructors have a BlackBoard shell per each course they are teaching, these items can be posted using this learning system. All students also have an MATC gmail account which can be used for instant messaging and e-mail—a good way to get students involved with each other’s learning.
I am constantly harping at the other instructors to meet and go through the course outcome summaries for all of our courses—the courses are presently jam packed with topics and concepts. I look for a general agreement on what should be stressed and what can be touched on. Once this is done, I believe “mastery” is more attainable. I also truly believe that if only certain parts of the curriculum are stressed, there is more time for class discussions, student collaborating, and class projects. This would move the instructor into those different roles of synthesizer, moderator, challenger, and commentator vs constant lecturer.
One of the biggest problems I have encountered is my students’ inability to make connections—to synthesize. They memorize a series of facts and once the unit is over, they don’t see how the previous unit ties in with the new. Technology can be used as an aid in this area—blogs, web sites, applets, etc. I blame this on the frantic pace of our courses but also on the lack of study skills owned by my students.
So, as summer progresses, I will start jotting down new ideas and strategies and look forward to continuously learn.
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Michele,
ReplyDeleteI always struggle with meeting the needs of students who will not put forth the effort to meet me halfway. Evolving theory shows how we, as educators, must constantly change our teaching style to meet the ever changing demands of our students. But many of our students come to us without the skills necessary to do the work. It would be easy to point the finger elsewhere and ask why these students are simply passed to the next grade when we know they are not prepared. At the same time, the pressure on school systems to have low failure rates has watered down the curriculum. My classroom is filled with students who find school as nothing more than an inconvenience, and many would state that they will not lift a finger to acquire any knowledge. The theories we have seen in the initial readings are nice, but often theory and reality don't align. When we were in school, no one developed individual learning plans to meet our specific learning styles. Work was assigned and expected to be completed, just like it is in a real world job. I do hope we find some strategies that will help bridge the learning gap between what we expect and what students are willing to achieve. :)