The Master Teacher Blog

Many schools have formal checklists for finishing the school year. These tasks are, appropriately, designed to ensure an orderly close-out to the year, and they are often heavily weighted toward logistical and procedural tasks. As examples, most end-of-year checklists include items such as putting away materials and equipment, completing maintenance and repair requests, and finishing any remaining storage and inventory tasks. Our completion of these and similar tasks will make it easier for maintenance, purchasing, and other staff to complete their work over the summer.

However, these are not the only important steps we need to consider as we wrap up another year. Often, there are things not yet said that should be said, steps not taken that need to be taken, and commitments not made that deserve our attention and action before we leave. They may not be on the formal checkout list, yet they can be even more important those tasks that are. Here are six steps that can make the summer better—and the fall worthy of anticipation.  

First, if you have a lingering conflict, disagreement, or other unfinished business, tend to it now. If you need to apologize or make things right with a colleague, student, parent, or other person, don’t leave it for later. We cannot know what the summer will bring. There may not be another opportunity, and carrying an unnecessary emotional burden can drain the very energy you need to be replenishing. 

Second, if there is someone you need to thank, someone whose support needs to be recognized, or appreciation that needs to be shared, do it now. What you have to say may be exactly what they need to hear. There may never be a time when what you have to say will mean more. The longer you wait, the less weight your words are likely to carry. 

Third, if you are part of a team, schedule time to meet before everyone scatters for the summer. Now is a good time to create an initial plan and list of priorities for next year’s work. Time spent sorting out logistical, alignment, and resource issues before you leave can relieve pressure in the fall and give everyone a head start on their thinking, planning, and arranging as they have time over the summer. If someone new will be joining the team, this also may be a good opportunity to get acquainted and begin building the new team. 

Fourth, consider what you will need immediately in the fall. As you put things away, be sure to place the items you will need first in easily remembered and easily accessed spaces. You might even make a list of a few things that you want to remember and attend to first and create a file or place the list in a desk drawer or other handy place. Having a few things ready when you return can ease some stress, save some time, and help you have a smoother re-entry when you return. 

Fifth, if you have not done so yet, finish your professional learning plans for the summer. Time will pass quickly once the school year fades into history. Committing, scheduling, and registering for professional learning events and activities now can ensure that they are not overlooked or forgotten. By making commitments now, vacations and other summer activities can be scheduled around the learning you want to gain.  

Finally, once this year has been “tied off,” it is time to refocus your attention on recharging your energy and rejuvenating your spirit. Returning in the fall with renewed passion and a fresh mindset is much easier to accomplish when time with family and friends, pursuing hobbies, or just engaging in activities that feed your soul has been a focus for the summer.  

The final days of the year, especially once students have departed, can be filled with mixed emotions. We may want to leave as soon as possible! However, we cannot afford to leave the year with unfinished business that can compromise our effectiveness, sap our energy, and add to our stress in the summer or fall.  

We might not think much about tapping our students’ brain chemicals to support learning. Yet, those chemicals play an important role and thus are worthy of our attention. Naturally produced by the brain, these chemicals serve a variety of purposes, from making us alert and keeping us safe to calming our nerves and helping us to feel pleasure.

Dopamine is one of these brain-produced chemicals, found in the pleasure and reward center of the brain. Consequently, it can play a particularly helpful role in learning. Specifically, researchers have found that dopamine can have a positive impact on learning in three ways.

First, dopamine increases motivation. Dopamine has the effect of increasing the desire to repeat behaviors that generate feelings of pleasure, accomplishment, and reward. Dopamine is the ultimate positive reinforcement, and, equally important, it can be tapped repeatedly without losing its impact. The more we experience dopamine, the more likely we are to seek it.

Second, dopamine increases engagement and lengthens attention spans. Consequently, it increases learning efficiency and leads to success with fewer unsuccessful attempts. Dopamine also increases spatial learning, helping us to feel a stronger sense of context and connections.

Third, dopamine improves memory. The sensation dopamine creates increases our ability to focus. It also improves working memory, a powerful driver of academic success. Further, dopamine aids in recollection of past events and experiences, thus extending recall of what has been learned.

The bottom line: Dopamine can be a powerful force for learning.

Of course, this is a time of the school year when we are often challenged to motivate our students to focus on learning and recall what they have learned. Finding ways to tap dopamine in the brains of our students can be a key to meeting this challenge. Here are six strategies to employ.

First, we can offer students opportunities to be creative, curious, and inventive. The arts can be a great vehicle for students to express themselves. Composing, drawing, painting, performing, and designing activities are excellent stimuli for dopamine. Dopamine flows in a context of imagination and discovery.

Second, we might design learning activities that involve teamwork. Dopamine can be activated when we engage in efforts and activities that extend beyond ourselves. We often find significance and pleasure in being a part of something larger than us. Activities such as collective problem solving, service projects, and project-based learning are good examples. Experiencing human interaction and peer recognition and feeling supported can be effective generators of dopamine.

Third, we might coach students to set goals, track their progress, and celebrate accomplishments. When students feel as though they are on the right path, maintaining focus, making progress, and reaching benchmarks, dopamine can be plentiful. In fact, when we teach this skill and habit to students, we equip them with a lifelong, autonomous way to access dopamine whenever they choose.

Fourth, we can provide positive feedback, encouragement, and reassurance. Our timely, specific, positive, and actionable feedback can provide a shot a dopamine for students, especially for students who may lack confidence, have a history of learning struggles, or be prone to giving up. Of course, our feedback needs to be connected to students’ actions rather than their abilities or characteristics. Students can control their actions, such as the strategies and effort they employ, but they cannot control their natural ability or physical characteristics.

Fifth, we can activate dopamine through games, fun, and humor. We might change up some routines or inject some fun where possible. As examples, we might shift the label for learning geometry proofs to something like, “What the Logic?” or relabeling quizzes to “Show What You Know.” Starting the day with a relevant but respectful joke can break the routine and stimulate a dose of dopamine. Even finding humor in unexpected happenings and distractions can create some dopamine flow.

Sixth, we might introduce new and exciting challenges. Simulations, investigations, and explorations can be great ways to create a rush of dopamine. The key is to position the experience to be challenging enough to require effort, but not so difficult as to feel beyond reach.

Finding ways to engage students, increase learning efficiency, and extend recall of what students learn can be a constant quest. Fortunately, designing activities and employing strategies that release the flow of dopamine in our students’ brains can help us to meet this challenge, especially now.

We are approaching the time of the school year when end-of-year activities are starting to occupy our planning and fill our to-do lists. In response, our anxiety may be growing. We might find ourselves wanting to create the perfect experiences, say the perfect things, and be the perfect teacher. However, striving too hard for perfection can work against our goals and take a toll on our emotional and physical well-being.  

Certainly, there are times when we absolutely must get everything right. These are occasions when the consequences of missteps can have significant life consequences. Typically, activities such as these are well-defined and depend on already established high levels of skill and significant practice.  

Fortunately, life does not exact dire consequences for most mistakes. Forgetting a detail, overlooking a task, or even saying the wrong thing is almost always fixable. In fact, in most situations we are the only ones to notice, or even care very much, that something had to be adjusted, redone, or added to a plan or activity.  

There is nothing wrong with wanting to do well, of course. Learning, seeking to improve, and setting high standards can be important contributors to success. However, when our expectations shift to constantly pressing to be perfect, pursuing unrealistic goals, being unwilling to take risks, and seeing mistakes as failure rather than as opportunities to learn and grow, our perfectionism becomes problematic. While seeking to perform at a level of excellence can absolutely be a good thing, preoccupation with avoiding failure can cause significant harm to the quality of our work, our feelings about ourselves, our personal and professional relationships, and even our health.  

Experts note that perfectionism is often a defense against emotional pain. Perfectionism can seem to keep us from feeling negative emotions. Unfortunately, it can also deprive us of experiencing many positive, life-enhancing feelings that should accompany the moments, accomplishments, and celebrations associated with the end of the school year.  

As we approach the busy, pressure-packed weeks that lie ahead, here are eight strategies to push back against the press for perfection: 

• Set realistic goals. We need to consider the time and energy we have available. Otherwise, we might plan and aspire to accomplish far more than is reasonable or even possible. Our attention needs to be on what matters most and what will make the greatest difference.  
• Focus on what you can control. We cannot predict much of what will happen in the weeks ahead, much less control it. We may need to modify our plans and adjust our approaches, but our flexibility is not evidence of inadequacy or failure. The most we can ask of ourselves is to attend to what we can control. 
• Pay attention to your emotions. Pressing for perfection often generates a familiar set of emotions; we can begin to feel anxious, experience dread, or be tempted to put off dealing with tasks and issues where we feel the press to be perfect. When that happens, we may be receiving a signal that it is time to reassess and create space to recalibrate. 
• Limit and replace negative self-talk. What we say to ourselves influences our attitude, our commitment, and our performance. Constant self-questioning and negative expectations can undermine our confidence while increasing the pressure we feel. We can “flip the script” by replacing negative internal conversations with affirmations, positive images, and optimistic expectations.  
• Embrace learning mistakes. Allowing ourselves to be in situations where we might make mistakes can be a good step toward countering pressure to be perfect. Making mistakes when trying new things, nudging ourselves beyond our comfort zones, and building new skills are evidence of growth and invitations to learn.  
• Don’t be distracted by today’s “big deal.” Our emotions can magnify our perceptions. We need to keep our experiences in perspective. We might remind ourselves that what seems like a big issue or significant disruption today is often left behind and forgotten in as little as a few days or a week.  
• Practice going with the flow. Not everything always has to be fully planned and tightly controlled. Allowing ourselves to be spontaneous, to move forward without a full plan, or to embrace surprise can be difficult at first, but it can also leave us feeling freer and more open to opportunity and growth. 
• Keep the big picture in view. The pressure we feel to be perfect can lead us to focus on narrow issues and overlook the larger context of our work. Seeking perfection in every detail can distract us from what really matters and result in our missing the pride and enjoyment of a full view of our contributions.  

Wanting to do well is a worthy aspiration, but perfectionism can be a constant source of stress. In the words of Brené Brown: “When perfectionism is driving us, shame is riding shotgun and fear is that annoying backseat driver.” 

By this time of year, students often fall into a pattern of using a familiar yet narrow set of study strategies. While some of their go-to approaches may seem to be working well enough, exposure to and use of a wider array of strategies can break up tired routines, add novelty to study experiences, increase the amount of learning students gain, and lengthen the time they retain it.  

Students may be unaware of additional effective ways to study and need instruction and support to try them out. Some students may know additional strategies, but they have gradually migrated away from them and need a reminder. Students may also be reluctant to try new study techniques, assuming that the strategies they are using are good enough.  

Regardless, we want students to know and be able to apply the best study strategies for the content or skill they are learning. We also know that when students play an active role in exploring, practicing, and deciding the best strategies for themselves, they are more likely to engage with and ultimately adopt the tools that meet their needs.  

Consider dedicating time during a coming week or unit to introducing and having students try out a variety of study strategies. Each day might feature a different study strategy for students to apply and evaluate. The curriculum content and skills you already have planned for the week or unit can be a useful area of application for a set of study strategies that are research-based and experience-proven. We might even choose a fun title for the series such as Put-Study-Strategies-to-the-Test Week or Five-Days-of-Study-Tool Tryouts. The key is to position students to try, reflect, and assess the impact of each study strategy on their learning and recall.  

Each day of the week might feature a different study strategy for students to test. Once we have introduced a piece of content, a new skill, or a learning challenge, we might teach or review the learning strategy to be tested that day or evening. We can begin class the following day with feedback from students about their study strategy experience and invite recommendations for how and when the strategy might be used.  

Here is a potential line-up of strategies students could test over the course of a week. Of course, you might spread the tryout period out and address one study tool each week throughout a unit. The key is to plan for the intentional application of these strategies, however that best fits your particular schedule, curriculum, and students. 

Skill 1/Monday—Self-Quizzing  

Advise students to create questions and pre-assess themselves on the topic or content before they begin to study. Even incorrect answers help to focus attention and look for key information as their study period unfolds. When finished studying, students can self-test again, using questions from the pre-assessment and developing other questions that seem relevant from the study session. The time spent pre- and post-testing themselves will generate more learning than additional time they might have spent simply rereading or reviewing highlighted content.  

Skill 2/Tuesday—Interleaving   

Coach students to include multiple skills or concepts within the same learning or study session. For example, students might study math and chemistry in the same session, mix new information with review of past learning, or address content out of chronological order. The process of addressing multiple concepts or skills in the same session keeps the brain alert and improves its ability to differentiate elements and aspects of the content students are learning.  

Skill 3/Wednesday—Drawing/Visual Organizers  

Drawing pictures of what we want to remember has been shown to be more than twice as powerful as writing down new content. It is important to note that the artistic talent displayed, or the quality of drawing students produce, does not appear to influence the benefits gained from the drawing activity. Further, the amount of time invested in drawing pictures for this purpose also does not appear to be a significant factor in the strategy's effectiveness. Even a few minutes spent drawing what students read and hear can generate significant advantages in later recall.  

Skill 4/Thursday—Retrieval Practice  

This strategy can fit well later in the week or unit when we want students to recall what was learned earlier or access background information in order to prepare them for new learning. Students begin with a “brain dump” by recounting, verbally or in writing, everything they can recall from prior learning related to the recall target. Students can quickly refresh their memories while identifying areas that may need reinforcement. Interestingly, this approach has been shown to be more efficient and effective than reteaching. Of course, we can encourage students to repeat this process on their own as they prepare for exams individually or in small groups. A key benefit associated with this activity is its ability to extend recall well beyond the completion of a unit of study or an exam.   

Skill 5/Friday—Teach a Friend  

Have students develop a mini lesson to teach the content or skill they are learning and share their lesson with a family member, friend, or classmate. The process of organizing information and sharing with others helps to deepen understanding, clear up confusion, and fill learning gaps. In addition, teaching consolidates new learning and extends learning retention.  

We want to give our students access to the best and widest set of study strategies possible. The more options they have, the more likely they will be to choose an option that works for them. When we involve students in exploring and testing study tool options, we also increase the likelihood that they will remember and continue to use a wider array of tools after they leave us. 

Background knowledge plays an outsized role in learning success. In fact, a recent major, peer-reviewed study points to background knowledge as a key factor in determining whether and how learning occurs. The researchers intended to study what accounts for why some students appear to learn faster than others. However, they discovered that rates of learning vary little across most populations. What appears to accelerate the learning of some students is the amount of related background knowledge they possess and their ability to apply it to the learning task before them.  

The study was conducted at Carnegie Mellon University and was released in early 2023. It included more than 7000 youth and adult learners from a variety of backgrounds, learning histories, and geographic areas, as well as 1.3 million observations and 27 datasets. Participants were given a variety of learning tasks in math, science, and language.

Given the role background knowledge plays in learning, our challenge is to do all that we can to ensure that our students possess what they need to learn successfully. We also need to help students activate the background knowledge they already possess. If students haven’t recently engaged with their relevant existing background knowledge, it may not be immediately available to assist their learning efforts. Further, we must help students make connections between their background knowledge and the learning with which they are about to engage.

Admittedly, students come to our classrooms with varying amounts of background knowledge. For many students, their family background (including a history of formal education), levels of parental and familial engagement, and even economic and cultural factors, can influence the academic background knowledge they possess. Yet, there are a variety of steps we can take and activities in which we can engage students to assess and build background knowledge before we begin planned instruction. Here are five initial activities upon which we can build:

• Pre-assessment activities. We might have exploratory conversations with students about what they already know, or we might ask them to respond to a series of prompts in order to uncover their current knowledge, understanding, and areas of misconception.
• Storytelling. We can share engaging stories with students to fill in information gaps, help them see relevance in what they are going to learn, and spark interest in the topic.
• Virtual field trips. We can employ videos and other media to help students to understand elements (such as historical events or figures), build context, and experience authentic applications.
• Graphic organizers. We might use mind maps, charts, and other structures as advance organizers to build understanding and reveal important relationships.
• Visual representations. We might choose tangible objects or pictures to demonstrate key concepts, connections, and content.

Many students may have previous experience, or otherwise have background knowledge, that is relevant to what they are about to learn, but they may not immediately recall what they have learned. Yet, with some refreshing and reminding, their background knowledge is likely to be renewed in preparation of supporting their learning. Consider these activities to assist in activating background knowledge:

• Vocabulary review. When we have students revisit key terms and language associated with what they have previously learned, we can stimulate their recall and uncover what they already know.
• Brief reteaching. We can provide students with brief reteaching lessons to activate their recall and emphasize elements of past learning that will be important in the learning that lies ahead.
• Peer conversations. We might give pairs of students discussion prompts that draw on what they know and invite recall of previously learned content. After a discussion, students might record or report what they learned about what they already know.
• History mystery. We might conjure a fun mystery that will require students to draw on past learning to solve. We could include hints and clues that point to key elements of past learning as assists to solving the mystery.

The final step in tapping background knowledge is to help students connect what they already know with what they are going to learn. While building and activating prior knowledge sets the stage for learning, making connections can jump-start the process. Here are some options on which to build:

• Present a preview. Once students have built the necessary background information and refreshed what they already know, we might present a preview of what they will learn next. Following our introduction, we can present questions or lead a discussion about how what students already know might connect with and support what they will be learning.
• Tap curiosity. We might present a question or dilemma that stimulates imagination and “hooks” students on finding answers. When the “hook” is embedded in what students already know, and points to what they are going to learn, it will be a sure winner.
• Design a small-scale problem. We can present students with small-scale problems that can be solved with information they already have and skills they already possess. We might follow up with an introduction to the new learning that builds on what students already know but requires making connections and going beyond their current knowledge and skills.
• Create a simulation. We might design a multi-part simulation, the first phase of which can be engaged with the background knowledge students already possess. When students reach a barrier or challenge that demands more knowledge or skill, we can introduce new learning to complete the next phase, and the cycle can be repeated as new learning grows and becomes more complex.

The crucial role that background knowledge plays in learning demands that we ensure that students have the knowledge and skill foundations to benefit from our instruction. We also must be certain that the background knowledge students possess is active and ready to be tapped. Finally, we need to help students to make the connections necessary to allow what they already know to support what they are going to learn.

Reference:

Koedinger, K. R., Carvalho, P. F., Liu, R., and McLaughlin, E. A. (2023). An astonishing regularity in student learning rate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States of America, 120(13). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2221311120

Most of us have probably heard of the term lean manufacturing, a process popularized by Toyota. The focus of lean manufacturing is to improve quality and reliability, without increasing the time and other resources required to support the manufacturing process. While the thinking behind lean manufacturing has been applied by other activities, only recently has the approach been applied to the process of learning.  

Yet, learning is an activity featuring ample opportunities to increase efficiency and effectiveness. Consider that we forget 75% of what we learn in just seven days if we fail to apply it, according to research by psychologist Herman Ebbinghaus, the discoverer of “The Forgetting Curve.” Meanwhile, estimates are that college freshmen retain less than half of what they learned in high school. It is not unusual to find that students fail to recall much of what they have previously learned, even over the course of a few weeks or months.  

Much of the thinking and research related to lean learning is occurring in the world of adult learning, primarily in the workplace. Businesses have clear incentives to have the learning of their employees be efficient, so that minimal production time is sacrificed to classes and other learning activities. They also want employees to retain what they learned to avoid having to relearn what they once knew.  

Lean learning thrives in the presence of several conditions. For example, it works best when it is driven by a specific need, is seen as useful, or has a purpose. Lean learning practices also fit best with skills and concepts that have immediate application and can be applied in real-life settings and situations. Lean learning is typically iterative. Learning starts with just the essentials of what is to be learned, and additional information, skills, and applications are added as learners are ready for them. Introduction of new content and skills is driven by and aligned with the specific needs and interests of the learner. Further, lean learning is enhanced when learning and practice are shared with peers.   

There are obvious opportunities to apply lean learning principles and practices with our students. However, there also are challenges in the context of standardized curricula, set schedules for instruction, and frequent difficulties providing real-time, real-life applications for learning, especially if we are just starting.  

You might consider starting with your own learning to gain experience and build confidence with the approach before engaging students. Consider this brief lean learning cycle as an example of a place to start: 

• Identify a skill you would like to learn. For example, you may have a technology tool or application with which you would like to become proficient, or you may want to try a new discussion or questioning technique. The list of potential topics and skills is limitless. (Condition: Specific need or purpose) 
• Engage someone to help you learn the essential information you need to get started. And, if possible, enlist others with a similar interest or need to learn with you. Often, as little as 20-30% of the full scope of the skills is enough to begin. Focus on what is crucial to be able to do something with what you learn. (Conditions: Focus on essential learning and learn with peers) 
• Apply what you have learned as soon as possible, optimally within a few hours or days, while the learning is fresh and the recall is clear. The longer you wait, the less you will remember, and the more difficult it will be to practice productively. (Condition: Real-life, real-time application) 
• Get feedback on initial attempts, ask questions to clarify and extend your learning, and capture any insights you gained. Ask yourself: How did it go? What do I need to learn next? What did I discover from the initial application? (Condition: Explore what you want to learn next) 
• Repeat the cycle to build the next level of learning, expand your skills, and gain expertise while your initial experience is fresh and feedback is still recallable. With each iterative cycle, focus on new applications, more sophisticated skills, and new insights upon which to build. (Condition: Iterative cycles) 

The principles and conditions that underlie lean learning are not new. However, too often they are ignored in large-scale learning efforts and neglected when what we need to learn is challenging. Take some time to build your lean learning expertise and then offer the same opportunity to your students.  

We know that the environment within which learning occurs matters. The right environments can encourage and facilitate learning, while environments filled with conflict, fear, and confusion can have the opposite effect. As we approach the midpoint in the school year, now is a good time to step back and consider what is working well, what may need attention and adjustment, and what may need to be abandoned and replaced.  

A good place to start is to conduct a scan of how well the current operation of your classroom reflects your hopes, expectations, and priorities across nine key aspects of operation. Here are questions to stimulate and support your reflection:  

• Instructional strategies: How well are instructional strategies aligned to individual student readiness and needs? Do classroom activities regularly include variety, novelty, humor, voice, and choice? How well informed are students of their progress? How frequent, timely, and effective is the learning feedback students receive?  
• Learning focus: How consistently are students actively engaged in their learning? Are students more focused on learning or on grades? How often do students set goals for their learning? How frequently do students have opportunities to review and reinforce previous learning?  
• Learning Progress: Whose learning is on track, and who is falling behind? What recognition and encouragement do successful students need now? What supports are available and accessed by students who are struggling? What role do students play in monitoring their progress? How might students become more involved in and accountable for monitoring their progress?  
• Emotional climate: What is the emotional tenor in your classroom? What is the level of worry, fear, and stress? What might be done to lower the levels of emotion that may interfere with learning? How anxious or stressed are you?  
• Relationships: How strong and stable are your relationships with students? Do students seek you out when they have academic and personal concerns and struggles? Do students accept, support, and encourage each other? Have families bought in to your course expectations and goals? 
• Management activities: How well are classroom routines addressing transitions, learning activities, and student behavior challenges? In what areas do you still have to remind students of routines and expectations? How frequently are you able to anticipate potential issues or problems and take steps to prevent their emergence? What opportunities exist to make better use of time?  
• Behavioral issues: What types of behavior issues are you finding to be most frequent and disruptive? What have you tried that has been effective in moving students to more acceptable behavior? Where do you struggle most with behavior issues? How are you ensuring that all students are treated equitably? Where might you access support to expand your strategies, receive coaching, or other types of assistance?  
• Technology use: How integrated is available technology with learning activities? What is the balance of student engagement with technology as consumers, appliers, and creators? What opportunities exist for students to use technology to extend their learning beyond simply consuming information and regurgitating it? 
• Physical supports: How well does the arrangement of classroom furniture reflect student learning and engagement goals? Is the room aesthetically pleasing and reflective of the cultures and demographics of students? Are supplies, materials, and equipment organized and readily accessible?  

Obviously, there may be many aspects of your classroom environment that deserve attention. However, be careful not to become overwhelmed. Choose a few areas on which to focus. Meanwhile, do not forget to pause and reflect on what is working well, lessons you have learned, and successes you have achieved. 

The saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words” may contain more truth than we assume. We know that looking at a powerful image can stir our emotions, stimulate our curiosity, and stay in our memory for a good while. As an extension of this, a recent study points to significant power in creating pictures of things we want to learn and later recall.  

The study examined whether picture drawing as part of the learning process can enhance performance and build long-term memory. Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada found in multiple trials that drawing to-be-learned information produced results superior to any other known mnemonic techniques, including visualization, viewing pictures, listing physical characteristics, writing, tracing, or associating the information with a mental image. In fact, drawing pictures of what needs to be remembered was more than twice as powerful as writing down new content.  

The researchers noted that at least four powerful learning and recall processes are at work when we draw a picture to represent words and concepts: elaboration, visual imaging, motor movement, and pictorial representation. To draw, we must notice or create physical characteristics of what we want to learn and remember. This step requires us to elaborate beyond what we see or hear. As we draw, we create an image of the object of our attention. This step engages the process of visual imagery. The act of drawing involves hand movement, thus further solidifying our attention through motor activity. Finally, the product of the process is a pictorial image with multiple links to our observation, imagination, and actions.  

Importantly, the artistic talent displayed, or the quality of drawing people produce, does not appear to influence the benefits gained from the drawing process. Further, the amount of time invested in drawing pictures for this purpose also does not appear to be a significant factor in the effectiveness of the strategy. In fact, even when study participants were given only a few seconds to draw a picture, they still experienced significant advantages in later memory. Age also does not appear to be a factor in reaping the benefits. Drawing activities improved learning and memory for young learners, adults, and even individuals more advanced in age.  

The potential benefits of this strategy for students are obvious. The deeper observation and engagement associated with drawing pictures can enhance the learning performance and memory recall of our students.  

Meanwhile, the process also does not have to be time consuming, as students can benefit even from making short, rough drawings when time is limited. Of course, there may be circumstances when allocating more time to the process will allow students to add details and enhance the depth of their learning and extend their recall.  

We can support students to engage in drawing as a learning and memory assist by: 

• Sharing and discussing with students the research on the benefits of drawing to enhance learning and memory. 
• Guiding students to notice elements or aspects of what they want to learn that might be converted to a drawing. 

• Encouraging students to create a mental image of the information or content they want to learn and recall.  
• Reminding students to pay attention to their hand movements as they draw to create an even stronger connection between the image and their experience. 
• Having students practice drawing pictures of what they want to learn and then explain their drawing to other students to reinforce the experience. 
• Replicating the research study to test this approach against other mnemonic strategies. (The full research report is available via the provided link.) 

Giving students tools and techniques to enhance their learning and extend their recall can be a great way to build their learning capacity. We also help them to expand the array of strategies they have available when they struggle or need to learn something particularly important.  

Source:

Fernandes, M., Wammes, J., & Meade, M. (2018). The surprisingly powerful influence of drawing on memory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 27(5), 302-308. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721418755385 

It is not unusual to hear complaints that students are too dependent on us as their teachers. We may believe that students too often wait to be told what to do, how to do it, and if they are doing well enough. Unfortunately, we can unintentionally contribute to this problem. We undermine learning independence when we are quick to tell our students what to do, how to do it, and condition our approval on their pleasing us.  

Of course, we live in a world that is quickly becoming one in which imagining possibilities, figuring out what to do, and learning even when there is no one to teach us is crucial to success. If we hope to prepare today’s students for their future, we need to nurture an increasing learning independence as they progress through their school experience. The question is, how can we nurture learning independence while remaining in a position to provide support and guidance when needed? Here are eight strategies that can help us get started.  

Tap learner interest and curiosity. Students own their curiosity, so it can be a starting point on the path toward independence. Interest gives students a reason to inquire, explore, and pursue what they find compelling. We can nudge students towards independence by feeding what is already driving them. 

Provide meaningful learning choices. The nature of choice making is that if the subject or issue is important to the student, the student is more likely to value and take ownership of what they have chosen. Value and ownership are elements capable of driving independence. Students are far less likely to seek learning independence if they see the topic as something we have chosen for them rather than something they have chosen for themselves. 

Present and expose students to challenges that feature multiple solutions. Students often believe that the problems they are presented in school must have one singular solution and that success is achieved by finding that solution or providing the teacher with the answer they are seeking. Yet, life more often presents challenges that can be solved through a variety of processes and that lead to multiple answers. Our role is to ask what else might be important, how else a situation might be approached, and what other solution might also be effective. 

Allow students to experience struggle and setbacks. When we step in too quickly as students begin to struggle or experience a setback, we risk fostering dependence rather than independence. Struggle can be an effective force for learning, and setbacks can provide excellent opportunities to seek new strategies and approaches. We can encourage greater independence by asking questions that help students to reflect on their thinking and examine what else they might try. We can encourage and coach, but we need to be careful not to take over and provide answers that students can discover and develop on their own.  

Give opportunities for students to work in groups. At first, this strategy may not seem to be an obvious tool to foster independence as students may still be dependent on other members of their group. However, group work shifts the focus of learners away from our direct support, thus it can be an important intermediate step. Further, if we structure the group’s work to foster independence and autonomy, risk-averse students can gain confidence as they experience the support of other group members.  

Expose students to authentic problems and real-world challenges. Authenticity is an attractive feature in learning, as the purpose for learning becomes more apparent and the results become more rewarding. When students see the outcomes of their efforts and learning as making the lives of others or the community better, the incentive to learn becomes stronger. Further, we can position ourselves as resources to support their learning rather than the assigner of content and skills to be learned.  

Coach students to set learning goals. For many students, setting goals for their learning makes them more likely to take learning seriously than when we set and present goals to them. Of course, students often have limited experience and skills in goal setting, so we may need to provide early support and coaching. Modest, short-term goals are likely to be most effective at first. Over time, though, we can gradually shift the responsibility to our students and coach them to increase the length and significance of goals they set.  

Help students build the skills and reflection capacity to assess their own learning. Of course, we have a responsibility to assess, provide feedback, and share accountability for the learning that occurs in our classroom. Unfortunately, for many students, we become the sole judge of what is satisfactory or excellent. Yet, students can develop the ability to apply standards, rubrics, and other measuring tools to their learning. Not only does this skillset better equip students for life, but as students assess their learning, they also become less dependent on us and can better engage in discussions about how they are doing, what they need to do next, and how good is good enough.  

Nurturing and coaching students to be independent learners is not easy. They often prefer to have us tell them what to do and how to do it. Our students can become frustrated as we nudge them to become more independent in their learning. However, doing so is a key responsibility and gift from which students can benefit for the rest of their lives.