High Performance Learning

Today I will be talking about three learning experiences, evaluating positives and negatives involved in their use. They will be Roller Coaster Physics (as found here), the Chinese approach to math (as explained here and shown off here), and Whole Brain Teaching (as shown here). We'll look at their strengths, their weakness, and whether or not they'd be good options for applying to my own theoretical classroom.

First, the Roller Coaster Physics. Watching the video, it is clear that Donna Migdol holds very high expectations for her students by both academic and behavioral standards. She treats the students like adults, essentially, not talking down to them or repeating information ad nauseam when they understand it the first time. And this is important for what she is expecting of her students. They are to build a roller coaster for their marble, getting it to the end safely without rushing off the track, and they have a 'budget' they can use to get all of the materials they need. Each student has their role, and you can tell from the way they talk to the camera that they are taking their roles quite seriously.

For this class, procedures and norms are everything. They have to work and communicate as a group, they have to be sure on their decisions when 'buying' materials (as there's no refunds, and they're quite expensive) and everyone has to be on top of their part of the design. As a result of holding the students to such a high level, you see them respond in kind, being quite professional and able to talk and plan with each other, all coming together to make and adjust their group roller coaster without stepping on anyone's toes.

This is a fantastic model for teaching STEM, particularly since it lets you get hands-on immediately, giving the students something real to connect their ideas to. I may have my issues with STEM focus (being a large proponent of the arts myself) but when they work, they do work wonders.

The second group I'll cover is the Chinese math class. As the video shows, there is a large focus on drilling and running the numbers with rhymes and songs as a group. This repetition does wonders to lock the idea in the student's mind, and has been a plan people and governments have used for ages to get people to quickly learn a new language. One could argue that math is the language of the universe, or of numbers, so I think that argument can be applied here too.

The class seems engaged with the teacher, and they all are working well at answering the questions, with clear norms and procedures to answer questions when called on, to repeat after the teacher, and to work as a group, but it's a bit harder to tell what the expectations are. Parents in China have very high expectations of their students, both behaviorally and educationally, but some from other countries might see those same expectations as restrictive to personality. Between the article I linked and many people I know who have talked of teaching in China, interaction between students and between the student and the teacher is very low, favoring drilling and testing over giving practical applications or help to individual students. This means that the students are very good at what they're doing, but lose out on some of the practical applications and social aspects of life. It is impossible to argue with the effectiveness of this teaching strategy, but a human side seems to be lost if one isn't careful.

The third learning strategy to cover is Whole Brain Teaching. The video for this one feels chaotic, and the website explaining it... well, didn't do a good job of explaining it to me, but I understand the theory. Students learn in multiple ways... some are visual, some are auditory, some are kinetic, and this method reaches out to all of them. The motions, sounds, and visuals all combine to teach the same thing, letting students acquire the knowledge in the way that best works for them.

There are clear procedures when it comes to following the teacher, repeating after them, and how groups work together depending on how the assignment continues, and those seem to be followed strictly and with little teacher intervention, suggesting the teacher thinks highly of the students' abilities when it comes to following instructions. However, one could argue that this entire method thinks a little less of the students than some other methods, as it hold their hand all the way through, with the teacher watching like a hawk for mistakes or non-comprehension and little freedom on the part of the student. On top of this, the actions are functional in this setting, but not all information is going to be given to you in this way in the real world, and adding motions on your own might cause a whole new set of issues when it comes to appearances for social sanity. Therefore, it's hard to determine whether the expectations for education are truly high, or just the expectations that students will follow the rules are high.

The final classroom we will be covering is my own. Now, I intend to teach English, Theater, and/or English as a Second Language to students in secondary school. I do not know my class level yet, but for the sake of this piece, let's pick Sophomores (10th Grade). The first teaching method would be the one I would want to follow as much as possible. Having students in groups builds their communication, large projects with the freedom to tackle it however you want, but expectations of a quality result, place high expectations on the students while also trusting them with the freedom to do it however they want, and as long as the base rules are well defined, I can imagine a quite composed classroom coming from this. Now, these ideas are a little harder to tie to real-world projects in English than they are in STEM subjects, and it would involve a lot more creativity, but if I set the bar, I know that the students will be able to reach it.

If I am teaching ESL, or if I need to cover remedial parts of grammar quickly, I will probably use the method in the second video at least a few times. It is one of the fastest way to drill basic concepts into students, and once they have the basics, it is much easier to give them the freedom to be more creative and tackle more complicated things. It is not quite as effective for languages outside of formulas, as language tends to be much more nuanced than numbers do, but it's still a very useful tool.

If I find I have a lot of trouble students, or ones that learn differently than my main teaching methods, I might employ Whole Brain Teaching. It can be useful both for foreign language students, as the motions give an anchor from which further understanding can bloom, and for students labeled as "trouble students" because they just don't learn the same way everyone else does. I would need to do a lot more study on the method to truly feel comfortable with it, but even from a cultural standpoint, with Hawaii's emphasis on hula and chants - storytelling through means other than words - applying more motions and vocalization to the class might not hurt.

No matter what strategy I end up going with, or even if I blend all of them, strictly defining and enforcing the rules is a must. In all ways, we should do our best to treat the students as human beings, giving them real responsibility so they can rise to the challenge. The contexts around that principle may change, but those rules should always be held in the highest of regards.


Resources:
Chen, C. (2011, June 13). 3rd grade Chinese--math class.avi. Retrieved April 24, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7LseF6Db5g

Kan Wei Associate Professor, Beijing Normal University. (2014, March 25). Explainer: what makes Chinese maths lessons so good? Retrieved April 24, 2017, from http://theconversation.com/explainer-what-makes-chinese-maths-lessons-so-good-24380

roxishayne (2011, May 31). Whole Brain Teaching Richwood High - The Basics. Retrieved April 24, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iXTtR7lfWU&feature=youtu.be

Teaching Channel. (2012, October 11). Roller Coaster Physics: STEM in Action. Retrieved April 24, 2017, from https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-stem-strategies

Caring for Your Students

When you are a teacher, you have to care. That is just the plain truth of the matter. This means you have to care for everyone: every race, gender identity, creed, sexuality, political opinion… It doesn’t matter if the students under your watch are immigrants from Syria escaping oppression or rich white children from a family that has lived in the area forever, all of them deserve the same opportunities for care, affection, and learning no matter their background.

Now, I live in Hawaii, have all my life, and a quick googling of the census data puts the population of white people living in Hawaii at either 26.7% or 22.9% depending on which number you want to go with. Either way, that seems like the kind of number that would make any place the minority, until you realize that the largest population is Asian, with 37.3%, a number small enough to make them the minority by most standards. For some, this makes the islands look like a confusing mash of cultures where nobody would know their identity… but that is not at all the case. What we have here is the end result of truly integrating immigration for over two centuries.

To add to my difficulty, I am not just white, I am a 4 family, 7th generation descendant of missionaries. The Judds, the Rices, the Cooks, and the Bonds all were missionaries, and my middle name was given to me because I was born nearly 150 years after the arrival of Elias Bond in the islands. There are reminders of my heritage all over the islands, from the Bond historic district in Kohala to Judd street on Oahu, all named after people who served the Kingdom of Hawaii and fought valiantly for its right to remain a free entity.

Do the locals, distrustful of haoles (derogatory: foreigners), look at me, a person who barely speaks Pidgin, let alone Hawaiian, and couldn’t tan if his life depended on it, and see that rich heritage working for them? No, they see a white person to yell at for their problems. What’s worse, despite the fact that I am as poor as the rest of them (as, last I checked, about 90% of students got a free or reduced lunch, and I was definitely in that number), they will often see me as a rich, entitled snob with no empathy for any of them. If I want to teach in this state (and I do, because I love this land and will do everything in my power to make it a better place and give back to the community I adore) I will be going up against a harsh cultural barrier, and I know that. But I don’t care.

It is my firm belief that what matters in a person, as I will now paraphrase from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is the content of their character, not the color of their skin. This means that I don’t judge people by how they look, only how they act. This is doubly important in Hawaii, where more than one case of a smelly bum being turned out of a museum has resulted in said bum walking down the street to another one and buying a multi-million dollar painting there instead. But on top of that, there is a spirit of aloha that so infuses any native to the islands (whatever their race may be, as even the Native Hawaiians are descended from Polynesian explorers, making this place truly a land of nothing but immigrants) that it cannot be untied from their very way of being.

Aloha is hello, aloha is goodbye, but it is more. Aloha is wishing perfect strangers well, it is greeting everyone with an open heart and understanding, and trusting people unless they prove you can’t. It is being a good neighbor, respecting each other, respecting ohana (family), respecting the ‘aina (land). This spirit is what I want to bring with me into the classroom: one of respect. Not just for the teacher, but for the students, for the school, for the books, and for each other.

In my class, which will be open to everyone, the desks will either be arranged in a circle that everyone, including myself, if equal in, or else around tables where everyone in the group can discuss with each other. I won’t focus my pictures around the class on any specific race or gender, but motivational, supportive phrases (and possibly some helpful knowledge. No class is complete without a map, even if it’s an English class). Since I will be in secondary school, this is when students should have already learned lessons of respect, though so few seem to. Still, I will make it clear what I expect: they aren’t kids anymore, and while they are still learning, they should do their best. I will treat them like responsible people so long as they prove that they can be, and will greet every single one of them with eye contact, a smile, and an open heart and mind so long as they are willing to do the same. Respect and trust will be the foundations of all of my actions in the classroom, and to start off, I will expect each of them to agree to rules we all come up with as a group, showing I am willing to listen to them and take their voices and concerns into account.

This will continue into the school year. I won’t waste student time if they clearly can do more, as I will challenge them, trusting them to push themselves to learn. If someone new enters the class, they will be greeted like an old family member, with that spirit of aloha making them one very soon. If bullying starts, I will listen to both sides, wanting to know why the bully bullies, if I can fix it, and how to stop the behavior without stunting anyone’s learning. But bullying is one of my triggers, as it is a complete lack of respect. I will not be a bully. I will not tolerate bullying. I am as appreciative of jokes as the next person, but cross that line from fun to hurtful and I will not stop in my efforts to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

I may be quixotic, but I am an actor. I have studied for years to understand and feel the experiences of people completely unlike me in situations I hope I’ll never have to face. Empathy is linked into my soul, and I hope that that skill is something I can teach all of my students as I combat the ignorance that breeds bigotry, hatred, and fear. It’s a hopelessly romantic notion, but then… we all strive for that impossible dream.

Mobile Learning: Engagement, or Entrapment?

When asked why a teacher should be prepared to use mobile devices in the classroom, the answer is quite simple: It is the wave of the future, and it's already passing over us. Mobile devices are an amazing tool that is going largely untapped in our schools and, frankly, most other parts of our lives, and the benefits of using it towards teaching are astounding. Even in my own personal mobile learning task, which I recruited middle-aged and older actors to do after a show (when everyone's brains are fried) the simple use of technology and one little question garnered a wealth of untapped curiosity and learning in people who wouldn't have given the topic another thought if I hadn't needed someone to video for my lesson.

The impact that technology has on teaching, and the availability of knowledge in any form you could want it, is staggering considering the world just 10 years ago, let alone 20 or 30. But we have to make sure this new tool is being used for good, and not just as a gimmick. There are plenty of advantages to it, sure, but the risks of distraction cannot be ignored. This is why the question of requiring mobile learning devices is still questionable at best.

For starters: not everyone will have one. At the moment, very few schools have the funding to give every kind of student the devices they'd like, or even the bare minimums. In my personal school district, they are aiming to have a computer lab for every grade, but many schools are running on about 100 computers shared between 1200 students... Not the best ratio. And, depending on where you are, there's no guarantee that every single student will have access to a computer, let alone a mobile device capable of the more advanced things technology can do nowadays, so even the best intentioned, most forward thinking teacher will need to have backups for the children, technologically, left behind at home without support.

But if we assume that the funding was there and all students had access to a mobile device purely for learning... it would have to be privatized to the school. There would need to be a private network, not for fear of other schools or students sharing ideas (sharing information is the main boon of the internet) but because public forums and systems are a danger. I honestly wish this weren't the case, but as soon as you have something open to the public, someone will come along and mess it up. It's the reason there's always graffiti and a broken toilet in any park restroom. If you're setting up a classroom network, you must make sure it is private to the students. They can share whatever they wish (though there would need to be someone making sure the content is appropriate and giving warnings and punishment to those who break the rules), and should be encouraged to, but if everyone's getting their own system, they need to be kept under watch for everyone's privacy and safety.

Finally, and the private network would do wonders here, there can't be outside distractions. Things like Twitter and Facebook are incredible tools to interact and coordinate with people outside of the classroom, or to bring parents into their students lives in a way they are much more likely to check on a regular basis, but within school walls they are a menace trying to pull people from their task and constantly making people judge themselves against the entirety of human existence. These are just sadness generation sites, and if people want to make themselves sad on their own time, fine, but no checking on it in class.

With the ground rules in place, let's move to how these devices can better the classroom: They engage every type of student. This, alone, might as well be a miracle. Creative learners, visual learners, auditory learners, avid readers... everyone can find ways to get the information presented to them exactly how they need it, if they go searching, and a teacher that is on the ball will have a list of possibilities on hand to give to students who are struggling, or just to vary up their own instruction.

On top of that, flipping the classroom, with videos at home teaching lessons, will free up the teacher to focus on the student's understanding, making sure they gain knowledge that lasts and not just memorized formulas and facts for tests. English teachers have already been doing that (books were the first technology able to be taken home and read on their own, with discussions happening in the class) but new innovations like the Khan Academy are opening up this door to more and more subjects.

These are just the tip of the iceberg. Videos and reading, home research... it's all taking the old ideas and letting them follow into the home life. People are making games and tools that allow you to diagram anything from sentences to molecules to entire cities with a few strokes of your finger. Scavenger hunts with GPS could send students on an adventure like Captain Ahab, or get ESL students to take pictures of things they don't know to discuss in the class... The possibilities are getting endless, and the limits are now the teacher's creativity and their (or someone else's) programming capabilities.

If you plan on designing mobile activities for your own class, follow some simple words of advice:

1. Be Engaging: Not every lesson has to be a game, but if the students don't want to learn, they won't.
2. Real-World Applications are a Must: The biggest thing to stall learning is "Ugh, *eyeroll* why do I need to know this?" The biggest solution to that problem is showing them exactly why it's important to know.
3. Allow for Creativity: Whether it's a presentation, a report, or just how the student learns on their own, let them be creative. They might have an idea that really resonates with those around them that you never even thought of.
4. Be Flexible: The world, and its technology, is always changing. Be able to change and adapt, no matter what the world throws at you.
5. Be Willing to Say "No" to Gimmicks: Not every lesson needs to be on a mobile device. Sometimes, two students talking, or just some pencils and paper, is all you need to make the lesson work. Just because a million new ways have appeared doesn't mean you should throw the baby out with the bathwater.

With careful planning, some effort on the school's part, and creativity and intuition on your own, the wonders of mobile learning can be integrated into any curriculum and unlock wells of hidden potential in your students. Embrace the new technology... but carefully, lest we be swept under the wave of the future, rather than ride it towards a brighter tomorrow.