innovatED
  • Home
  • Contact
  • About the Author

innovated

Listening Opened My Eyes

4/30/2014

1 Comment

 
Picture
As a high school math teacher, I have spent the last five years trying to meet the challenge that I face daily. The challenge of teaching students mathematical concepts that most of them will never use, with context they know is contrived, mostly because the state requires them to pass a test and meet a core requirement so they can graduate. To really ramp up the task, in choosing math, I chose a subject that the vast majority of my students hate long before they meet me.

As a new teacher, I set out to use inspiring stories, cool  videos, state of the art technology, and innovative, research-based instructional strategies to hook my students and show them that math really isn't that bad and that they were all capable of doing it. After my first year, I realized that my supposedly compelling lectures and class demonstrations were nothing more than a dog and pony show designed to get me good teacher evaluations without ever really considering whether or not the students were actually learning the material (and I mean REALLY learning ... not just performing on a test).

I decided to give my students a college-esque teacher evaluation sheet (link at the bottom of this page) to be filled out confidentially at the end of the year. As I poured through the student reflections, I realized, none of the responses mentioned any of the compelling lectures I had given, the cool homework we did, or the well designed tests I gave them. However, several of the responses referenced projects we had worked on, products we had produced, and discussions we had engaged in.

After three years of similar responses, it finally occurred to me that I needed to listen to what they were telling me. Whether AP Calculus or repeater Algebra, my students were clearly telling me that they understood things they actively participated in. They engaged in things they did. They needed an expert in the room to help guide them, to provide them with the tools necessary to complete the next task, to answer questions when they got too far off base, and to hold them accountable to reaching the goals, but they did not like, nor did they retain anything from my thoughtfully designed lectures.

This is not a new concept. For at least a decade, research has suggested collaborative, immersive techniques are are more effective. However, when I observe teachers, and when I reflect on my own classroom, I realize just how easy it is to fall into the trap of regurgitating my learning experience as a student instead of innovatively teaching for true learning. I realize that I am often guilty of making sure my kids can pass a series of tests but routinely fail
to teach them how to actually learn. I spend too much time thinking about ancillary school things and not enough time planning quality units and lessons that truly inspire deep, meaningful learning.

To break this cycle, I have forced myself to take sometimes grueling feedback from my students and listen to it.  I have started designing my lessons with the end in mind. Focusing on what it is I hope my students can actually do instead of hoping they can perform on some test. I have come to understand that the test scores take care of themselves. It's a giant leap of faith, but I now truly believe that if we teach for deep, meaningful understanding, we don't have to do much in the form of test prep to have good scores. Of course, this type of teaching produces much more than good scores on arbitrary, mandated tests. It produces students who are self-directed, self-sustaining learners who are eager to prove their mettle instead of eager to find a good reason to avoid my class.

Instructor Evaluation Form
File Size: 22 kb
File Type: docx
Download File

1 Comment
Pam Dantzler
4/30/2014 08:06:09 am

Excellent piece and reflection Michael! So often we, as administrators and teachers, give lip service to what is truly important....teaching for understanding rather than test items. Students are lucky to have had the opportunity to study with you. STEM is the next big step in your career.......carry on, Michael, carry on!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Michael Stone

    Click here to read about the blog's author.

    My Links
    Volkswagen eLabs
    PEF Innovation Hub
    devX PD

    My Books

    Keynotes

    Cleveland Rotary Club
    Innovating Education Through Community Partners

    NEA Foundation The Promise of Public Ed
    Leveraging Teacher Leadership to Increase STEM Education

    US Senate Briefing
    The Need for a National Organizing Body of Digital Fabrication

    NACCE California Symposium
    Scaling Innovation through Partnerships

    Volkswagen eLab Ribbon Cutting
    Why Digital Fabrication can't be an Option

    NSTA STEM Leadership
    Developing, Incubating, and Implementing Public/Private Partnerships that Matter

    Chattanooga Fab Institute
    Revolutionizing Learning through Digital Fabrication

    HCDE Future Ready Institute Launch
    Developing PBL Units with Business Partners

    STEM Fellows Celebration
    Community Partnerships for Teacher Leadership

    TSIN Summit
    Scaling Innovation in Schools

    Remake Learning Days
    Dig Fab in the Community

    America Achieves
    Public/Private Partnerships Panel

    DigiFabCon Chicago
    Digital Fabrication in the Modern Classroom 

    Redesign for Student Success (San Diego)
    Scaling Innovation through Digital Fabrication

    GE Leadership Summit
    Leveraging Innovative Technologies for Learning
    ​
    Texas Open Innovation 

    Emerging Innovations in Education

    Indiana University
    Authentic PBL

    FFT Leading & Learning
    Boston, MA

    Connecting Global Ed

    ​reMake Education Summit
    Keynote

     National Governor's Asc.
    Coding with Governors

    US Dept of Education
    Round Table with Secretary John King

    TSIN Summit
    K-12 Pathways for CS

    Google Headquarters
    Ed Foo
    ​
    NASA Headquarters

    K-12 Education Panel
    ​​
    White House
    Reducing the Racial Gap in Computing

    Boston Museum of Science
    Teaching with Toys

    US Dept of Education
    MSP CS Proposition
    Tweets by @CoachStone12

    Archives

    October 2018
    December 2017
    April 2017
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    July 2014
    April 2014
    September 2013
    June 2013


Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from IntelFreePress, Nina Matthews Photography, me_chris, 401(K) 2013, Guilherme Nicholas, .v1ctor Casale.
  • Home
  • Contact
  • About the Author