Consider the two chapters you read last week on understanding in Understanding by Design. Also consider the work you did on writing objectives in Monday's class and the classroom observations you have made here in Indiana.
Respond to the following talking points in a well thought out and well crafted comment made in the comment section. Please make your comment long enough so that others can fully grasp your thinking on this matter. Please do not make comments in multiple boxes.
The questions
According to our text, understanding and knowledge are two different ideas. Reflect on your visits to Indiana High School. What are some ways you have seen knowledge and understanding demonstrated? How are teachers' expectations around knowledge and understanding evident? Finally, how are these expectations different from or similar to those of teachers in your home country?
Please respond to this prompt by February 4th at midnight.
Thanks!
Dr. Strong and Rachel
Respond to the following talking points in a well thought out and well crafted comment made in the comment section. Please make your comment long enough so that others can fully grasp your thinking on this matter. Please do not make comments in multiple boxes.
The questions
According to our text, understanding and knowledge are two different ideas. Reflect on your visits to Indiana High School. What are some ways you have seen knowledge and understanding demonstrated? How are teachers' expectations around knowledge and understanding evident? Finally, how are these expectations different from or similar to those of teachers in your home country?
Please respond to this prompt by February 4th at midnight.
Thanks!
Dr. Strong and Rachel
Here in IAHS I observed that the teacher's way represent interrelation between knowledge and understanding.
ReplyDeleteFirst they try that the student should know the things and then allowed to work on worksheet, pair sharing, group discussion by providing real life problem where they can use their knowledge to understand the things. The teacher act as a facilitator to make the things understand. Teacher's expectation is that knowledge is incomplete without understanding.
In my country the knowledge is necessary for the marks. Understanding is limited only in the lab work and field work.
Hi Gurpreet!
DeleteI agree with your ideas. I like what you mentioned about teachers being a facilitator for learning. Teachers should not be the center of learning; they should only be there to help learning easier for the students.
--Anne
Hi Gurpreet,
DeleteThank you for your post and for your thoughts. I was struck by your comment that knowledge is necessary for marks. This thought would suggest that knowledge is easy to measure and therefore assign marks. I wonder how we as teachers can guarantee that our students truly understand, though. Can we assign marks to understanding?
Rachel
This is the real pattern followed in our education system. At some extent the knowledge is the base of understanding.
DeleteWe also assign marks on the bases of understanding also but that are limited to lab works, project works, open test book exams etc. Still a large part of marks is given through pen paper test, which is totally knowledge based.
Hi all!
ReplyDeleteKnowledge and understanding are oftentimes interchanged and misconceived. Teachers often make objectives like this: “By the end of the session, the students should be able to understand…” and in the end judge students’ understanding by giving a simple recall quiz. And if the students (or most of them, perhaps) got high, the teacher would be very happy and satisfied that he/she was able to make his/her students understand the lesson.
Knowledge and understanding are different, but they are related to one another. From my observations in IAHS, teachers give varied activities to students to identify the knowledge and understanding of students. I was lucky enough to have observed several classes where teachers demonstrated their expectations on students’ knowledge and understanding in the lessons they have in their respective classes. One example is in a Civics class, the topic about Famous Persons in the Enlightenment was discussed. The teacher tested the knowledge of the students by asking them to name these persons and their contributions. When she was sure that the students were able to grasp the concept she wanted them to learn, she tasked the students to create a presentation that contains a music video from the net that shows the personality or advocacy of a person in the Enlightenment. The students presented their outputs to the class and while they were presenting their classmates guessed the person they are referring to. I still have other examples, but it will take much of the space if I will enumerate them all. Generally, when teachers assess the knowledge of the students, they give lower level questions or exercises, and when they test for understanding, they give higher level questions or activities that make students transfer their knowledge.
This process is also similar to what we practice in our country. We also see to it that students know how to use their knowledge to other tasks or to real life situations. For instance, after discussing people who have contributed greatness to the society (literature) and adverbs (language), I let my students create info-graphics featuring a person who has contributed greatness to their society and let them highlight the adverbs used in their info-graphics.
Anna,
DeleteThank you for sharing your language arts lesson (is this a language arts lessn? Maybe a literature lesson?). This approach sounds creative and engaging for students--and for you as a teacher. I am curious how you assess students' success with that lesson? Is it through the quality of the inforgraphic? The quality of the adverbs used? The number of adverbs?
Rachel
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ReplyDeleteUnderstanding and knowledge are two different things. 'To know' does not necessarily mean 'to understand'. Understanding is the ability to effectively make inferences in the learning process as well as the ability to transfer knowledge and skills creatively in different settings or situations or to solve problems. At IAHS, understanding is demonstrated through the different types of assessments given to students as evidence of transferability through tests, assignments and homework curtailed to a specific skill taught.Teachers endeavour to avoid 'the expert blind spot' through teaching a particular concept at a time and also having different classes for specific subjects/disciplines.In this way they expect to teach concepts effectively to students and in turn students should be able to use the knowledge(memorization) learnt to answer questions,solve different problems or create things(application).
ReplyDeleteThis is quite different from my country. We have always assumed that covering much is imparting knowledge and so teachers are always in a rush to complete the syllabus to adhere to timelines and do not actually bother much about students understanding and the teaching and learning objectives. Our system is exam oriented.We are victims of the 'expert blind spot'. This has made it hard for students to transfer knowledge learnt effectively because they forget easily, misunderstand concepts and reteaching is always needed.
Moreover, the syllabus is integrated; all skills are put in one syllabus taught by one teacher making it a challenge to teach all these skills effectively, quite different from what we have at IAHS
Hi Davies,
DeleteI was interested in hearing about how things are done in your country in terms of knowledge and understanding. The rush to crush as much information into the school year as possible is something that we deal with in the USA as well, especially is teachers and school districts have been asked to become more accountable for their students' learning. The balance between quantity and quality of information imparted to students is difficult to strike at times. What do you see as the long term positive and negative effects of an exam orientation in schools?
Rachel
There are no long term positive effects but long term negative effects.
Delete1. An exam oriented system in schools only churns out graduates who do not have the skill to apply the knowledge they have learnt in different capacities to different situations or to solve different problems. Therefore, there is no effective transferability and this impacts negatively a country's economy.
2. This is the reason why you may find a country turning to expatriates for high skilled jobs because either they have none or the ones available are not skilled enough for the job.
3. In the long run students will not be learning to understand but for the sake of exams and to move from one level to another(grades) defeating the very purpose of education.
I feel that understanding is a holistic term encompassing all the nuances of learning from factual learning of the knowledge to its application in real life situations. Some times we feel that our education delivery system misses the mark by transmitting the content knowledge without verifying its actual comprehension and application from students point of view. AS a teacher we need to ponder on the fact that what we wish to achieve as the ultimate outcome of the learning. How does the learning of the students is comprehensive in nature. Do they really take away something from it when the facts are forgotten ? To a certain extent the transmission of knowledge as facts is justifiable, but then that is not the mission of learning. It must lead a learner to higher order of understanding wherein the facts are lagged behind and it becomes the part of their whole being, no matter what the content area is.
ReplyDeleteAs teachers and education administrators we need to determine our goals and objectives, what we need to achieve with our learners . Then we also need to focus on what will be the criterion that will determine that our goals are achieved. We also need to take care of the strategies and steps that will lead us to our goals. Having taken note of all of this our whole approach to education should proceed. Beginning from Curriculum set up to Assessment and the Pedagogy.
My observation of the Indiana Area High School led me to believe that the objectives and the goals are clearly specified in the curriculum for each grade. And the teachers employ various specific assessment methods to ascertain the achievement of these goals. They also have lot of flexibility and autonomy to take course of strategies and pedagogy to proceed in achievement of the goals. The school also employs continuous reflections on the them and keep on adapting to the needs of the learners. So there is lot of flexibility and autonomy to adjust to the needs of the individual learners. I observed that in a Consumer Science class teacher conducted a pre-course survey to ascertain the understanding of the students about cooking in a very formal way. Then a group discussion was led to get to know the real extent of their understanding. I was given to understand that such an approach will give teacher to adjust to their varied needs and plan according to their individual requirements.Similarly in a language class students from all the grades were clubbed together in an ESL class room to lead them better understanding of the language. This was a unique way of combining students according to their needs and irrespective of their grades to make the learning of the language worthwhile. Such type of continuous reflection and movement leads to education process compatible to the students, teachers and parents.
In my educational set up Broad goals are specified to be achieved.There are assessment set up, but more of a customary nature rather than really practical in real term. There is no flexibility and autonomy for teachers in the class room. No mid way reflection as such. Students ofa grade will be given instructions as a whole class irrespective of their level of understanding. This is because of the communal nature of the society where by segregation of students on any ground is termed as infringement of their rights as individual. There is lack of political and structural will to change the system. Teacher work under tight compartments where they dare not step out of that for fear of any eventuality. Individual efforts of teachers can be seen but system as whole does not support flexibility. At the end of the session students may move to upper grade because of the inherent weaknesses of the system , but they never know the facts, knowledge and understanding and its applicability.
Thank you, Bhupinder, for your well communicated and well observed perspective not only on Indiana's local schooling situation but also the situation in your home country. How do you as a teacher coming from the system you describe reconcile the constant segregation of the American system? That is, students at the high school level are afforded many levels of instruction from which they can choose. There is no consistent course of study within the student body; that is, for example, students who are so inclined may take Advanced Placement courses while others may decide to follow a technical course. What benefits and drawbacks do you see of such a system as the American one, in which students have a comparative degree of freedom in determining their progress (or non-progress) through academia?
DeleteRachel
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ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteThere is often a misconception between knowledge and understanding. These two words are misconstrued as the same. These two has different meanings but related to each other. Knowledge are the facts, information, skills our students will acquire through experience of education we teachers facilitate. Understanding is the ability our students use knowledge effectively in new situations. Here the students can interpret, explain and have their own perspective.
In my two Wednesday observations at Indiana Area SHS, I observed that teachers facilitate learning of students by engaging them different activities. The students actively involved in the activities given. Just like in Biology class the students watched video how cancer cells multiply rapidly and recklessly. After that the teacher asked questions and the students were able to explain. For those students who did not grasp fully the teacher gave them reinforcement activity. Then, there was an assessment given using smartboard and chrome books. There was actual item analysis at the smartboard once students give their answers so it would be very easy to track who missed the answer and who got the correct answers. From there, the teacher could give feedback right away and explain items they found it difficult.
With my partner teacher’s class, which is Spanish, though I understand little the teacher was explaining correct grammar in Spanish. Then he gave Crucigrama: En Tren activity. A crossword puzzle which I was also given by my partner teacher to answer with. And Muy bien I answered it perfectly.
Knowledge and understanding were demonstrated with teachers as facilitators of learning and see it perfectly that all students are engage.
The process of learning is similar to my home country. Teachers facilitate learning by engaging students to different activities so that they will understand fully. The only difference is that our class is packed with students so it is expected that there are some students who does not perform well, or may not understand or some may be left behind. This is the crucial role of the teachers in my home country, on how she address with her diverse class. Also, the facilities in IASHS has a great impact to the learning process of the students.
Hi Rachel,
DeleteIt seems that the greatest difference between the two systems that you are noticing at this point is the expectation of inclusion and engagement. That is, the expectation in your country is that some students will be left behind while here the expectation is that all will be engaged. Without changing class size, do you believe it is possible to changes for student engagement in your country? Or would it be necessary to change the culture first?
Rachel
There is a distinction between knowledge and understanding. Knowledge means the facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education while as the understanding is a mental construct made by the human mind to make sense of distinct pieces of knowledge. Understanding means the ability of a person to apply what he/she has already learnt to new settings and situations.
ReplyDeleteWhile being at Indiana High School, I could witness these two facets of education at various points. The most important of those locations being “a special Education” classrooms. On one side the specially-abled students are taught about helping themselves with daily personal chores and on the other side they are practically given situations (like wearing their clothes, bed-making etc.) under which they transfer what they have learnt into real life. Such an ability to solve real-life problems demonstrates understanding.
In one more example, I could see an English class (ESL) where some children we working on applied skills. The students knew some word but were taught about the usage of those words thus demonstrating transfer of knowledge into day to day life spoken English.
Looking at these instances, I could see that teachers were mostly involved in not only delivering knowledge to students but also to shape a better understanding of the subject.
Well, in our home country teaching-learning is more about transmission of knowledge from teacher to student. It is rote-based. I do not over-look the efforts of the teachers but the methodologies are not as effective as here. Well, I wish to adopt and share the effective teaching methodologies with my fellow teachers in my home country so that the education for our students may come at par with the global standards.
Hi Waseem,
DeleteThank you for sharing your observations of classes here as well as a general understanding of the undergirding of your home system. I found myself wondering as I read your comment--what aspects of your home society benefit from the rote learning of your education system? Are there areas of your society that do not benefit from students who have engaged primarily in rote learning approaches? I am always curious!
Rachel
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ReplyDeleteUBD, in fact, has helped me to draw a defining line between understanding and knowledge. Understanding seems to be a more exhaustive and holistic term in which knowledge and also skill may appear as mere complementary elements. To understand is, apparently, a key action towards creativity, transferability, and flexibility. That ability to meet different challenges in our real lives situations, and that distinctive capacity to always know “why” and “how” is remarkably related to our understanding. Thus, I strongly argue that understanding in the learning/ teaching processes is the essence of every prospective goal in this career.
ReplyDeleteDuring my visit to Indiana High school, I have had a chance to attend and observe diverse classes and courses, and therefore, to come up with a holistic idea about the different ways in which understanding and knowledge are usually demonstrated. Teachers seem to be sharing their knowledge with their students differently; some of them prefer to give lectures, some effectively depend on full class discussions, others like to use games or debates, and the rest rely on group work strategies. Consequently, students’ understanding differs and varies from a teacher’s way to another’s, and the ways in which understanding is usually assessed also seem to be numerous; there are teachers who prefer to give ordinary assignments, tests and quizzes, others prefer to rely on students’ direct and sometimes physical responses, and some of them relate students’ understanding to their ability to perform it and transform it into words or actions. The use of technology in Indiana High School is highly impressive because it equips teachers with a luxury tool to assess students in more modern, quick, and effective ways.
What is really impressive is the teachers’ constant high or positive expectation to learning and teaching, and also their positive attitude towards knowledge and understanding. My few, though extensive, discussions with some teachers at Indiana High School have revealed that the majority of the teachers there usually adopt a very positive attitude that students may learn what they teach them easily, but also come well-prepared with different plans in case students may not learn what they teach them. Their positive attitude towards “I didn’t get it” is in itself a bridge towards “I get it now”, and their positive attitude does not mean that they usually fall in that “expert blind spot”. Their ability to assess, re-assess, test and stress on learning more than teaching is strikingly impressive.
Teachers in Morocco differ in their ways of deducing evidence of their students’ understanding. Their attitudes and expectations vary from the very positive to the very negative. Some of them have creatively created their own version of the “expert blind spot” stating that “whether I teach them or not, they will never get it”. Others are totally and beautifully dedicated to teaching by focusing more on learning, and by setting understanding as a major objective of each single course and lesson.
Hi Ahlam,
DeleteThank you for a fascinating response to the prompt. I was fascinated by the spectrum of caring you talked about in Moroccan teachers. We certainly have that same issue in the USA, whereas teachers' attitudes and expectations run the gammet of hope and dedication. I am curious about the cause of this spectrum in Morocco. Do teachers in the city tend to be more apathetic than those in the country? Or is it the opposite? Are private school teachers generally more hopeful than public school teachers?
I agree that Indiana seems to have, in general, a remarkably optimistic teacher body. I wonder how your perspective might shift after your experience at a different school.
Rachel
I do believe that teachers in private schools in Morocco are generally more hopeful than the ones in public schools; their attitudes are usually positive. I can not say that I know the exact reason behind such sharp difference but I think because the environment in which private school teachers usually teach is much better than that one in public schools, they seem to have more materials, more incomes, more resources, etc.
DeleteThe relationship or the distinction between the knowledge and understanding seems complicated, we talk about two different concepts which a number of differences can be identified. Knowledge refers to awareness gained through experience or education. On the other hand, understanding can be defined as interpretation or view of a particular thing and know the meaning of something.
ReplyDeleteFrom my observation at Indiana High School, I have attended several types of classes, this differs from one subject to another, Spanish, French language, Math, science. Some teachers are able to teach in ways that involve a variety of disciplines. I have noticed that teachers use different approaches to teaching. To check that students have grasped the input/content of the lesson by the end of class, teachers mainly focus on performance-based assessment in the form of short quizzes, photo description, etc.
I think the combination of both formal and informal assessment helps the teacher figure out whether the learners have understood a given input and can use it confidently and competently.
In my own classes, I use nearly the same thing. I first start with informal assessment where I focus on how learners interact with each other and answer my questions. I also do short quizzes at the end of class or sometimes a pop quiz in the following class. This helps me plan some remedial work for future classes. One of the big differences between my high school and Indiana High School is that our work is mostly paper-based while in Indiana. it's computer-based. I was surprised to find out that m-learning is effectively integrated in the curriculum.
Hi Zineb,
DeleteThank you for your response! I was very interested to read your observations of IHS and your observation that m-learning is effectively integrated in the curriculum. While I do not disagree with you, I was wondering what criteria you are using to decide effective integration. From your perspective, what makes the program successful? I can't wait to hear your thinking on this topic.
Thanks,
Rachel
Hello everyone!
ReplyDeleteThese chapters gave us the opportunity of viewing teaching and learning from another conception. We only teach if we learn in advance, and so, we will be able to transfer skills and awareness. The most teachers strive for good results in the school year that is basically defined as good or bad grades, but the students have failed and dropped out of school. To learn how to learn is the gate for grasping the meaning of understanding and to apply it to guarantee the knowledge.
At IAHS I’ve already had the opportunity to observe that there is a very well organized planning for the lessons. Teachers define their objectives based on the student’s needs and set the pace they will be developed, acting as facilitators in process. It sounds to me that the students know what, why and how to do. However, I couldn’t notice if they are able to transfer, to go beyond by their own, maybe I didn’t have time to realize it yet, since this is a kind of very specific and individual action.
In my country we have faced many challenges in order to enhance teachers strategies, to make parents present in their kids’ school life and to engage students in a process where understanding, knowledge, assessment can come true and change our current background.
Hi Gicelma,
DeleteThank you for your response. You covered a lot of points in a small space. You bring up a point that no one has brought forward thus far--that learning how to learn is essential. You also touched upon the organization of lessons. Do you think there is a link between being effective in the classroom and the organization of a lesson? That is, if a teacher is not organized, can s/he be an effective teacher?
I also appreciated your recognition of the limitation of what you have been able to see in classrooms thus far. You noted that you have not been able yet to see if students can transfer what they learn in the classroom. What would "tranfer" look like to you? Would you recognize it if you saw it?
Rachel
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteUnderstanding differs from knowledge in the sense it can bear various forms, different interpretations can all accepted as valid if they are constructed using cogent pleas. The person defending the argument might. however, need to select from his previously learnt knowledge and transfer it to the current situation appropriately.
ReplyDeleteDuring my observations at IAHS, this facet of understanding was encouraged and stimulated by my partner teacher Jim Dykun in one his French 4 class. Each student is invited to choose a topic for discussion or debate. To permit students to organize their ideas, Mr. Dykun provides them with a series of questions pertaining to their topic as homework; students can add other details or select any relevant pictures as well. The other students prepare questions to ask their peer presenting prior to the class. This way all the students are ready to participate in the discussion or debate and show their understanding of the topic.
Last Wednesday, Lamine, Mansour and I were invited to be part of a debate ‘for or against Animal testing’ during which some students, despite their lack of mastery of the target language, could demonstrate their understanding of the topic by giving pertinent arguments in favor of their position. Some were even able to give alternatives to animal testing.
In my country, teachers do similar activities with their students with more or less success: the main hindrance being large classes.
Hi Kally,
DeleteThank you for your response. I was impressed with Mr. Dykun's set up of the debate, and that the students were able to participated in spite of their lack of fluency. I wish my French teacher had been able to do that type of activity when I was in high school.
You remarked that teachers in your country do similar activities with their students but that their success is limited by class size. Do you believe that there is a cut off point in terms of class size for success with student-centered activities like debates? What would that cut off be?
I was also curious how Mr. Dykun assessed students' success with the debates. Were some students more successful with the debates than others? How did Mr. Dykun mark the activity? Did he assign marks for the activity?
Just curious.
Thanks,
Rachel
From our reading, I understand that knowledge and understanding are two different ideas. Knowledge has more to do with facts and answer to the "what" questions while understanding has to do with the meaning behind the facts and tends to answer to the "why" and "how" question.
ReplyDeleteMy partner teacher, Mrs Dress teaches biology. In one of the lesson that I had observed, her goal was clearly to have students construct a food web in an ecosystem of their choice and prepare an energy pyramid accordingly. What I have observed is that she carefully planned her lesson so that she would check on her student's knowledge and understanding throughout the lesson. It was an ongoing process. Each student picked up a handout as they entered the class and there was a "Do Now" session. In this particular lesson, students are to do some labeling activity (label the different trophic levels of an energy pyramid) and knowledge is demonstrated. Students only needed to have the factual piece of information to complete the exercise. After that, students were to answer the next session of their handout, where they would need to explain why energy level decrease in size from bottom to top. This is where understanding is being demonstrated.
Throughout the lesson, Mrs. Joy checked on the students' knowledge followed by understanding as each piece of information is being introduced and / or built on the previous one!
I have also noticed the way Mrs. Dress assessed her students. Often times, she would check on students' knowledge very quickly to identify misconception if there is any before she proceeded, then students will be given time to work independently on exercises that will require them to not only "know" but "understand".
These expectations are very different from the general practice of teachers in my school back home. Generally teachers would load the students with a lot of facts to make sure that students "know", formative assessment throughout to check on their "knowledge" and before the lesson ends, a quiz or assignment to check their "knowledge" and/or "understanding" and the teachers may not even be aware of the difference between "knowledge" and "understanding". More often than not, if the students did well in that last quiz, they are considered to have "understood" the lesson. Personally I am guilty of this until UbD challenged my thinking and beliefs.
Hi Jewel,
DeleteThank you for your post and your explanation of Mrs. Dress's approach to teaching biology as well as your understanding of knowledge and understanding.
I am curious--now that UbD has challenged your thinking and beliefs on students' expressions of understanding, will your classroom approach change? Do you think it needs to change in order for students to truly learn in your classroom?
I will be interested in seeing how your thinking and approaches continue to change over the semeter.
Thanks again!
Rachel
Yes, my classroom approach will definitely change! I am totally guilty of the twin sin, right now my school is going through one awesome program call the Ground Up School Transformation, never before have I seen teachers so alive in teaching till a couple of years ago when this program started in my school. However, I was so excited to find new activities ideas for my students and I somehow feel the more activities, the more engagement there is the more learning took place. As we all know that is far from truth, also I just had to teach everything in the standards and text books and I am forever rushing to cover everything. Now that I am challenged, I need to really sit and rethink my lesson plan, starting from the big idea, starting from my goal, work backwards. I am not teaching for them to do well in exams and then walk away from school not learning anything, I am teaching for them to truly learn, to understand! Not to know!
DeleteSo yes! my approach will change and it is definitely a must happen for my students to truly learn!
I have been observing at least three different classes: a reading class, a biology class, and a French class. Nowhere in each of those classes did I see the teacher behave like an ‘Expert Blind Spot’.
ReplyDeleteIn the reading class, the teacher gave a story text which students studied, and there was a reading assessment tool to check students’ understanding of the text. Later on, students were asked to design their own story in a PowerPoint presentation format, which they successfully did.
About the biology class, students were given a lesson on the energy pyramid and food chain. The particularity for this class is that there are two teachers in the same class. After an exercise presented on the smartboard, each student was then supposed to provide their own example of energy pyramid associated with a food chain.
In the French class, there was a panel discussion about the issue of testing new cosmetic products on animals. Students were disposed in a face to face format according to whether they were for or against.
All the three examples above focus on students’ understanding and efficient use of knowledge learned in other situations.
In my country, teachers adopt the same content of making students understand through group or pair work in view to applying knowledge in other contexts. However, the only hurdles are large classes ( over 35), lack of new technology facilities in the classrooms.
Hi Mansour,
DeleteThank you so much for your comments. You are fortunate that you were able to observe three different classes taught by different teachers.
I noticed that you didn't say much about knowledge and understanding, but you did discuss how teachers focus on understanding and integrate knowledge to promote that underderstanding.
I am interested that you also talked about the approaches taken here paralelling the approaches taken in your home country. However, classes seem larger than American classrooms and facilities are not the same as the ones you see here. What approaches to assessment are taken in your home country? With such large classes, are assessments mostly summative or are teachers able to make use of formative assessments as well?
Thanks,
Rachel
Last week I observed three teachers of different subjects. First, my partner a history teacher as a veteran teacher seems to lay emphasis on the knowledge by trying to cover content through mini lectures and then he assesses the understanding of the students with open-ending questions, but most of the time students show their understanding by recalling the inputs that they try to express in their own words. second, I observed an English teacher and that day he was dealing with creative writing, he first gave guidelines on a topic and then students worked individually and then shared in groups in discussion. Last, I visited a French lesson with a 10th grade, firsts it was about grammar the teacher enhanced the critical thinking of the students through quizzes and afterwards a 12th grade whole class discussion about prepared topics, the students showed their understanding by transferring their inputs in different contexts. There, both teachers verify the students’ understanding through the outputs and their capacity to transfer their knowledge in real life situations.
ReplyDeleteIn my country, most of teachers tend to lay emphasis on the coverage of the content because of the end of year national exams, therefore focusing on the knowledge rather than understanding. However now with the communicative methods, a very few teachers are trying hard to lay emphasis on the understanding that they assess through the abilities of transfer in real life situations.
Hi Lamine,
DeleteI was interested in seeing that there is a change underway in your country's education system. Is that change occurring at a national level or at a local level only? Also, you mention communicative methods--what does that mean in the schools in your country? Does that mean that teachers are asking students to communicate more in their lessons? And would you say that teachers in your country are more focused on understanding or knowledge?
Many questions, but I am very curious.
Thanks!
Rachel
Alright, this change is initiated by the government with new curricula but at the local level many teachers are reluctant because there are no means for in-service training and also others generally the veteran teachers would argue that what they have been doing for years is hood so they are not going to change for the sake of changing.
DeleteCommunicative method means to shift from teacher-centered to learner-centered by trying to enhance the 4 Cs in interactive classrooms but the sole problem is long curriculum that they have to cover for the standardized exams nationwide since Communicative methods are time-consuming if you have don't a pre or in-service training. therefore the majority would rather lay emphasis on knowledge through coverage than understanding. However, now with the new generation of teachers we can be hopeful for a full implementation of the communicative methods in years to come.
Understanding and having knowledge about a subject are indeed different ideas. To understand is to be able to wisely and effectively use—transfer—what we know, in context; to apply knowledge and skill effectively, in realistic tasks and settings. (WIGGINS; MCTIGHE, 1998). Knowing that they are not the same, I could observe on Indiana High School, both cases. Which of them with different teacher at different of students at the English classes. One of them asks the students questions about a book read based on a worksheet and they gave her direct responses and she complemented with the full responses that in fact were the ones she was looking for. The other teachers, show them a video that portrait the book they have read, she asked questions and let the students talk and kept asking questions to them in order to intrigue to keep trying find a better answer to her. As I understand we cannot presume the following assumption “these expectations” are the same everywhere. Are understanding and knowledge different ideas in different places? As I can realize from reading the chapters and overserving the classes it does not differ a lot from my home country. Many of our teacher centralize the binomial teaching – learning on the first one. If the student really understood that content and are going to be able of using it realist tasks on society get not that attention on curricula development. As the book well portrait most of our curriculum is based on “ coverage”, and teach to the test. The question that we should ask ourselves is what is supposed to be the compulsory education for? The capacity of understanding by transferring and applying the knowledge in our daily lives should be the main idea of our curriculum, that’s why the question, what should we teach our students that are going to make difference in the world should be always, in my opinion the center of the matter.
ReplyDeleteHi Tina,
DeleteThank you for posting and for bringing up a point that no one else has yet addressed--What is the purpose of compulsory education? I would imagine that the purpose would be different in every country. However, in the USA, when we try to answer this question we always come to a standstill. Why? Because the world is changing so fast that we cannot envision the world in ten years. So how should we focus our students' studies without knowing where we are going?
Do you think that the teachers you watched in Indiana were educating for the future? How do you know?
Thanks,
Rachel
There is a thin line between understanding and knowledge as both are interrelated and often used in teaching and learning. However, there’s a difference between these two ideas. In my opinion, having knowledge is knowing facts and comprehension; often by memorisation or familiarity of input that a learner often sees or does. However knowledge is useless if it is non-transferable in other areas or aspect of life or cannot be applied in other situations. A learner only achieves understanding when he can apply, produce and use the knowledge in a new or different situation. Only then a teacher can say that a learning objective is achieved.
ReplyDeleteDuring my observation in IAHS, most teachers have a clear desired understanding of their students. In an ESL class, my partner teacher enriches students' vocabulary by teaching 5 new words in a day and students have to read and pronounce the five new words. The teacher then corrected students' pronunciation and explained the meaning of the words. After that, the students filled in the blanks and checked their answers with the teacher. From that activity, it was basically about input and knowledge. Into the next part of the lesson, the teacher went through a short story with students. Again, the teacher let the students read the words aloud and corrected their pronunciation when it was necessary. Once a student had finished a paragraph, the teacher would ask the students what they understood about the text. The students were able to understand the feeling or emotions that a character in a story goes through. Their empathy shows that they understand what the character better. The most interesting part is when students were able to relate the new vocabulary that they have learnt in the previous lesson and replaced the word in the story. The teacher praised the students for being able to relate the story with the words that he or she has learned in the class. This clearly demonstrates understanding in different context such as short story. Meanwhile in writing activity, students work on their own fiction story and I was informed by the teacher that the students were able to use most of the vocabulary in their writing even though every one of the writes a different genre of story. This shows that students not only have the knowledge of the new vocabulary but also were able to understand and use it in different context correctly.
My second observation was a drama class. The teacher did an activity whereby students had to answer a few prompts about drama. On a scale of 1-5, students had to rate which question was the hardest to answer. Most of them had difficulty in answering the “What is theater?” The teacher told the class that although they might think they know what drama is, it seemed like it was the hardest question for students to understand. Here, it can be seen that students’ understanding of ‘theatre is not achieved yet.’ However, towards the end of the lesson when the teacher recaps the lesson, students were able to define what theatre is and the teacher also added that students will have a deeper understand more about what Theater as they go through the semester , which I believe will be a beautiful journey of discovery.
This final part was left out when I copy+paste my response on this blog.
DeleteOften time in my school, my colleagues and I would have different opinion on what we want to achieve at the end of the lesson. During the preparation of our lesson plan, the hardest part for us to do is to come up with a good lesson objective. Most of us would write “At the end of the lesson, students will know how to…” even after writing it, we would pause and question our learning outcome. Coming from an exam-oriented culture and high expectation from parents and society, most of the time my teachers fall under the two sins of a lesson: to cover the syllabus as much and fast as we and to have the most exciting activity-based learning which is a mostly factual and do not focus on students’ understanding. Many times, it baffled us when students could not apply the same knowledge we had taught when a different question is given to them which is rather similar to what they have learned in the class. What I learned from the reading and observation has opened my eyes of my misconception of knowledge and understanding
Thank you, Calvin, for your comments.
DeleteI found it very interesting that you and your colleagues differ in your opinion of what you want your students to achieve by the end of the lesson. Why do you all differ so much in this area? You suggest that this difference may be due to difficulty in writing objectives. However, could it be due to other reasons as well?
I also find it interesting that you discussed the role of high expectations of parents and society in the two sins of a lesson. If society plays such a large role in the speed and direction of education, is it realistic that educators might change the fundamentals of a classroom?
What do you think?
Rachel
From Philemon:
ReplyDeleteMany people do not know that there is a difference between knowledge and understanding. They use them interchangeably oblivious that there is a slight difference, notwithstanding. Learners should not only gain the knowledge and skills in the classroom but also be able to reproduce it and apply it in a new situation for it to be meaningful. Only by doing this does learning become effective. We are living in a world full of challenges and effective learning in class helps to solve them. This is the chief goal and objective of learning; knowledge transfer.
At IADS , students are taken through learning activities geared towards effective and efficient learning. Apart from the use of modern technology in the classroom and thanks to the use of backward design approach, teachers employ effective teaching and learning methods that enable the content learnt in the class to be applied outside of the school. For example, in the life skills lessons I have attended for two days at the school, learners are practically taught what they really apply after school. Some students with disabilities have a programme in which they attend to community service on Mondays and Thursdays, e.g they have paid employment in which they use the knowledge gained in the classroom in assisting in community service. Moreover, they are taught community signs and symbols found in the society to ensure safety. Like road signs, emergency symbols among others.
To ensure effective content delivery , teachers not only use modern technology in class but effective learning strategies like discussion groups, question-answer technique and issuing assignments everyday .That is , teachers engage and involve the learners in class. By doing this, knowledge transfer is realized and thus it becomes meaningful.
In my country, there are a lot of challenges which hinder effective transfer of knowledge. These include lack of resources in school from human to material. There is a challenge of the work load for teachers because of the large numbers of learners in the classes. This renders teaching and learning inefficient and thus insufficient transfer of knowledge; most of the content is theoretical. However, teachers try their level best in content delivery by employing different teaching strategies and methods like discussion groups, question answer technique, pair discussions among others. Lack of adequate facilities is the greatest undoing. I strongly believe that, by the end of this programme, I will have enough knowledge and skills that I will employ to boost learning and understanding.
Hi Philemon (why do I feel like I am talking to myself?).
DeleteThank you for your comment. I was interested in your statement that, by engaging and involving learners in class, knowledge transfer is achieved. How do you think that teachers measure that transfer? Do they measure the transfer at all? How do you think teachers should determine whether learning is meaningful?
You listed many factors that hinder the effective transfer of knowedge in your country's schools. Which do you think is the primary barrier to knowledge transfer aside from the lack of adequate facilities?
Thank you for an interesting post.
Rachel