Section 1: “Why Don’t Students Like School?”
In this book Mr. Willingham outlines nine principals from his extensive research on cognitive and biological development of the human brain. His goal is to help teachers connect with the developing minds of our students.
In chapter one the principal he talks about is “People are naturally curious, but they are not naturally good thinkers; unless the cognitive conditions are right, we will avoid thinking.” Each principal is then broken down into parts. The first part “The Mind is Not Designed for Thinking” states that thinking is not one purpose our brain serves best and even though were not good at it, we actually like to think. But if we can get away with it, we will rely on memory instead of thinking. Most of the problems we solve are ones that we have done in the past so we do what we have done in the past. Willingham also says that the brain also helps us to see and move and most of the brain is devoted to seeing and movement. He also states that “We are naturally curious, and we look for opportunities to engage in certain types of thought. But because thinking is so hard, the conditions have to be right for this curiosity to thrive, or we quit thinking rather readily.”
The next section of chapter one is “People Are Naturally Curious, but Curiosity is Fragile.” Willingham states that the brain enjoys mental activity in some circumstances and it usually depends on the level of difficulty. If it is too hard we will avoid it and if it is too easy we will lose interest. He says to find the “sweet spot” or the middle ground that grabs their interest and maintain it. Willingham end this section with “Instead of making the work easier, is it possible to make thinking easier?”
The next section is “How Thinking Works.” In this section Willingham states that there are four factors in successful thinking and if any of these factors are inadequate, more than likely thinking will likely fail. The four factors are: “information from the environment, facts in long-term memory, procedures in long-term memory, and the amount of space in working memory.”
In the last section of the chapter “Implications for the Classroom” Willingham recommends seven items that teachers should consider for fully engaging students in the learning process: Be Sure That There Are Problems to Be Solved – identify your challenges and outcomes. Look for negative outcomes. Respect Students’ Cognitive Limits – develop mental challenges but keep in mind cognitive limitations. Clarifying the Problems to Be Solved – develop key questions and make the material relevant to them as much as possible. Reconsider When to Puzzle Students – make them curious but know when to. Accept and Act on Variation in Student Preparation – self-defeating to give all students the same work. Change the Pace – monitor your students engagement and plan shifts. Keep a Diary – Your experience in your classroom is your best guide. Whatever works, do again; Whatever doesn’t discard.
In conclusion the amount of thinking required must be just right to retain a students interest. We as teachers need to know our students in order to plan effective lessons so students don’t become frustrated or bored and end up not liking school.
Your reference to Willingham’s statement “Instead of making the work easier, is it possible to make thinking easier?” fits well with a professional development that I am conducting in our elementary building this year called ThinkingMaps. Teaching our students to consistently use eight task-specific graphic organizers from Kindergarten through 5th grade provides our students with mental tools that make thinking easier for them throughout life. When they are confronted with a task or problem that requires a certain mental thought process such as “compare and contrast two things”, the students use the Double Bubble thinking map. All of our teachers, k-5, use this common language to simplify the thinking for the students. I totally agree with your reference to Willingham’s statement, “If it is too hard we will avoid it.”
ReplyDeleteYou made reference to Willingham stating that we need to find the "sweet spot" to grab their interest and maintain it. You later stated that we as educators need to plan effective lessons so students don't become frustrated or bored. I agree with all of that! However, please tell me that I am not the only one who finds it difficult to find that "sweet spot" with every student. Maybe that's where I need to do a better job with the formative assessments that we are reading about in Unit 5.
ReplyDeleteI teach 6th grade math and a perfect example this week was addressing the standard of dividing with decimals. I know that my higher end students were bored out of their mind. They understood the concept the first time. But, I had some students on the lower end who were still struggling with division as a whole. Adding the decimals in there just added to their frustration. I find it difficult in the regular classroom to deliver that just right lesson or keep a pace that satisfies the needs of all students.
I did appreciate Willingham's statement about it being self-defeating giving all students the same amount of work. I do modify math assignments, quizzes, and tests for all students who I feel need it regardless of being on and IEP or not. Some think that by giving them less to do doesn't help with the gap that obviously exists. That may be true, but unfortunately I don't have the resources outside my classroom to help minimize those gaps. I do know it helps with the frustration level of the student and I would rather have them do five problems well versus not attempting ten.
I thought that it was interesting what he said about not being natually good thinkers and also that we are better at remembering than thinking. But his examples made things make sense. We do so many things automatically, I never had thought about this before.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kathy. I have concerns that finding the sweet spot for every child is challenging. I think that finding this place where a student is learning at his or her best can be closely linked to the modes of learning. I try to formulate lessons that cover all learning styles. I also think that I could do a better job with the formative assessments. Maybe that would help as well.
ReplyDelete