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In Your Corner, Student Learning
Four Reminders to Maintain Mid-Year Momentum
The learning success our students experience comes from the interaction among multiple elements. How prepared students are to learn what we ask matters. How students think and feel about their learning matters. How we position ourselves as students learn matters. The learning path and choices we offer to students matter.
We also know that how we introduce new learning, the supports we provide, and the commitment we communicate to students that they will succeed all make a difference. We must create the supportive context students need to invest, persist, and succeed. However, in the press and pace of this time of the year, we can neglect some of the key practices crucial to the success of our students. Here are reminders of four key steps and strategies that can maintain learning momentum for our students and position them for success.
First, we need to spend time preparing students before introducing new learning. For example, we might revisit and refresh students’ prior learning that will be required for success with the learning that lies ahead. It can be tempting to assume that students will have retained and be able to recall past learning to support new learning. However, too often past learning fades with time and some reminding and practice is needed to make it available to support the next phase of learning. During the review we may discover learning gaps needing to be filled. Now is the time to address them. Deciding to overlook or ignore learning gaps now can make new learning even more difficult and require us to take even more time repeating and reexplaining new concepts and skills later.
Second, we need to discuss with students what they will be asked to learn and why the learning will be important and useful. Students are likely to be less anxious when they know what they will be learning. Students are more likely to engage when the path of their learning is clear. Further, when students understand the purpose and utility of what they’re learning, they’re likely to be more motivated and ready to engage.
Third, we need to draw on our knowledge of our students to anticipate aspects of what students will be learning that may generate misconceptions and confusion. We can mentally revisit past experiences with our students when they’ve struggled and stumbled in their understanding and develop plans and processes to minimize distracting and confusing elements. We also can point out comparisons and connections to prior learning that can help students stay on track. Our attention to preventing confusion and misconceptions is an important time saver. Having to go back and unravel misconceptions and reteach key concepts can be difficult, time consuming, and is not always successful.
Fourth, we need to remind students that we can’t be successful unless they are. Consequently, we we’ll be beside them as they learn, and they can expect our full support. Such reassurance may seem obvious, but when we tie our success to the success of our students, we position ourselves as partners in their learning journey. We become advocates and promoters of their success, not just dispensers of information and assigners of work for them to do.
Maintaining learning momentum during the winter months can be a challenge. However, our attention and commitment to the practices that make learning most accessible for our students can be the difference between “slogging” through the mid-year months and sustaining a rhythm of learning success.
Assessment and Curriculum, In Your Corner, Student Learning
Five Instruction and Assessment Practices to Abandon Now
We recently turned the calendar to begin a new year. For many of us, we now face the second half of our academic year. These annual milestones offer an opportunity for us to pause and take stock of practices and routines on which we rely as we instruct and assess the learning of our students.
It can be easy to assume that longstanding practices must be effective. Yet, some things that used to seem like good practice may look different as we consider their contribution to our students’ learning. Similarly, it may be time to re-examine some of our assessment practices to be sure they’re generating accurate and reliable information about the learning progress of our students. Here are five common instruction and assessment practices that are worth our attention as we move into the second half of the academic year.
Let’s begin with the practice of assigning unit, quarterly, or end-of-course grades based on the average of grades given throughout the grading period. Students who enter our classes with limited background knowledge and experience related to the content often score poorly on early assessments. Even though these students may perform well as their learning grows, averaging scores risks under reporting the extent of their learning growth and may not reflect their current learning status. Conversely, students who enter our classes with extensive background knowledge and experience may score well early in the learning process and receive an advantage in the assignment of grades. In fact, students who begin with significant knowledge and experience may not learn as much as their less advantaged classmates and still be awarded higher grades. We do better when we assign grades based on what students have learned than on how much they knew when they began.
Another practice worth examining is the use of timed tests to measure whether students have learned a concept or skill. Unfortunately, timed tests create a level of anxiety that can impede students’ ability to think clearly and show the full extent of their learning. This impact is most common among young students, those more likely to be subjected to timed tests. The ability to perform quickly under pressure can be a measure of memorization and reflexivity; it does not necessarily represent deep learning or full understanding.
Yet another practice worth review is relying on a pre-set pace for instruction to ensure curriculum content coverage rather than allowing the pace of student learning to drive the nature and pace of instruction. Pacing guides and quarterly instructional plans can be beneficial, but they’re not measures of student learning and don’t guarantee that students will be ready to learn at the pace we might expect. What matters most isn’t whether we have “covered” the curriculum. In fact, coverage means nothing to students who failed to learn what they were taught. If we must choose between coverage and student learning, learning is the only responsible choice.
Still another practice worthy of review is treating students who are fast learners as though they also must be good learners. We often use the terms “fast learners” and “good learners” almost interchangeably. In fact, fast learning students often are blessed with strong short-term memories. They’re capable of absorbing and repeating information quickly and accurately. However, they often forget almost as quickly as they learn, especially once their learning has been assessed. On the other hand, students who may struggle to grasp a concept or take more time to develop and demonstrate a skill may learn more deeply and retain what they learn much longer. We do well to coach “fast learners” to move their learning to long term memory and resist assuming students who require more time to learn aren't good learners.
A fifth practice that, while embedded in the traditional design of schools, warrants review is the grouping of students for instruction by age. While it is a convenient way of deciding how to organize for instruction, we know that students grow at different rates and learn in different ways. In fact, the average American classroom includes students with academic and learning readiness levels spanning 3.5 years. Nevertheless, most classes are formed based on students’ years of birth rather than their readiness to learn what is taught. While it may not be practical to immediately and completely dismantle age-based grouping practices, any modifications and adjustments that can be made to better recognize learning development and readiness as a basis for instruction will be helpful to young learners.
You may have additional practices you want to reexamine. There may never be a better time to make the commitment than now. Of course, making changes in relied-on practices can be challenging, but your students and their learning deserve your best.
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Share your story and the tips you have for getting through this challenging time. It can remind a fellow school leader of something they forgot, or your example can make a difficult task much easier and allow them to get more done in less time. We may publish your comments.
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