2.5+Anything+a+kid+can+say+or+underachieving+students

Post reflections by Monday @ 2am.

The article, “Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say”, summarizes the author’s (Steve Reinhart) journey in questioning and changing his teaching style in order to implement an approach that maximizes student learning. Through Steve’s research, he moved from a traditional method of instruction to a more student-centered, problem-based approach (1-3). He came to the realization that if his students were to ever really learn mathematics, they would have to do the explaining, and he, the listening (1-4).

In order to get students to actively engage in learning mathematics and feel comfortable in sharing their ideas, Steve implemented the following questioning strategies (3-2 through 3-6):
 * Never say anything a kid can say
 * Ask good questions
 * Use more process questions than product questions
 * Replace lectures with sets of questions
 * Be patient

In implementing his change in the classroom learning environment, he also had to make sure that students realized that they were expected to be active participants (5-2). He highlights 11 techniques to encourage student participation (5-3 through 5-10, 6-1 though 6-6). In my teaching experience, this is a change that can make students of all ages uncomfortable. Many students feel secure in the passive role of listener, but research shows that feeding information to students does not guarantee that the information is received and/or mastered by the student.

This change in classroom culture is also difficult for teachers to implement. Since we want our students to be successful, it is a natural tendency to want to tell them the answers, do things for them, and show them shortcuts (6-7). Unfortunately, this takes the responsibility of learning out of each student’s hands and cheats the student out of making sense of the mathematics he is learning.

I understand this teacher sentiment, as most people who go into teaching do so because they desire to help people. It is similar to letting your child take his first steps. You want to hold his hand because you care, but you have to let go so that the child can master walking on his own. This is the same concept with learning mathematics in the classroom. The teacher must care and be engaged with her students, but should create a classroom environment that pushes the students to learn in their own way. **//(Susan Copeland)//**

In summarizing "Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say," the big idea surrounding the article seems to be as the title indicates-- that teachers need to shut their mouths and let students figure things out for themselves. Like many teachers we have read about, Steven Reinhart admits that his class was not as successful as he had hoped it would be and he knew his students could learn in better ways than he was providing (1-1). Reinhart's article discusses how to change from a teacher lead lecture to student driven discussion and learning.

One valuable lesson I got from Reinhart's article was to work on change gradually (1-2). As I go to my pre-internship, I see many things I have been taught to be unsuccessful-- book work, teacher-driven discussion, limited group work... and yet the thought of taking over and completely restructure the classroom is daunting. I appreciate that Reinhart realizes that making a 100 percent change over night is not plausible and even he changed a little at a time (2-3).

The change of mindset that Reinhart adopted was that no longer could he do all the talking and have his students just listen to him, no matter how well thought out his lessons were. Instead, "specific questioning techniques" needed to be used as a tool for learning (2-2). His first suggestion was completely original-- to never say something a kid could say (3-1). I too especially like this idea because allowing students to form answers on their own will help them build higher level thinking skills to a degree much higher than if the teacher sits in front and tells them without having them think. Another questioning techniques I though would be useful was using process questions instead of product questions because questions should strike further thought, not be easy and quick to answer (3-4).

Another idea that stuck out to me was to allow discussions to take time (3-7). Personally, I have had classes where the professor would set a timer and the buzzer would sound right when the discussion got going. Teachers should be flexible enough to let students have time to think, and this also plays into how important wait time is; Reinhart stated that students need more time on process questions and not allowing them this time could harm their confidence or lead them to giving up (3-6).

I really aspire for a student-centered classroom like Reinhart and others have boasted about. A large majority of the classes I've taken have not been this way, but the ones that were stick out in my mind and I feel those are the ones I benefited the most from. Reinhart's suggestion to try and change 10% of a lesson each year is what resonates the most to me because it makes this goal actually seem possible //Katie Pingle//

"What Engages Underachieving Middle School Students in Learning?" is an article that shows the importance of motivation, and shows how many students in schools are feeling. It is disconcerting to see people happily identify with being an underachiever, because this means that they recognize there is more that they could do (2-1). Public schools were created to educate all students, but if there are unmotivated and underachieving students in a school, then that public school is not doing its job. This means that we need to use a wider variety of teaching strategies that allow us to reach a wider variety of students (2-5). The biggest influences on a students learning are the learning environment, experience, motivation, and meaning making (3-6). Relationships, trust and respect were more important to these six students than activities, choice, curiosity, and pace (3-7). This is interesting, but also surprising, because many students want to be able to learn in their own preferred way, but these students cared more about the teacher showing they care. If the teacher cared, and showed this, the students would be more motivated. This is important, because it shows that students do not care so much about learning in different ways as they care about their personalities being respected and noticed. Thus, if you understand a student and what makes them tick, you will more than likely be a more effective teacher. Students want the environment to reflect what is important to them, like being wrong as a learning opportunity, not a mistake (4-2). This shows that the students understand what needs to be done more than the teacher does sometimes. It is important for students to feel the connection with the teacher, because then the students feel like the teacher cares and is genuinely invested in them. Experience gives students details that allow students to remember things easier (4-4). This is important, because the easier students remember different things, the easier learning new topics will be. The experiences valued by each student are different, but many of them liked hands-on activities and other things that were not straight book work (4-5). It allowed students to use their different abilities to their advantage, while still learning new things. Experiences will affect different students in different ways, so doing the same thing all the time for every student is not effective. Motivation, which is what, drives students to learn. Motivation is not what the teacher determines should motivate students, but it is what interests students, what peaks their attention, and what makes them want to interact. A good way to motivate students is to give them some autonomy and allow them to do something that interests them, because they will not give you their full effort otherwise (5-4). Students want a choice and an input into the work they do, because if they can help decide, they are more apt to give their best effort (5-7). Choice and input allow us as teachers to gauge the similarities and differences between students, and use this information to find an activity that they like and will want to do. --**Josh Kaylor**

“What Engages Underachieving Middle School Students in Learning?” is an article that brings awareness to the emptiness students feel in their learning. Mike Muir interviewed 6 students, as well as some of their teachers, and brought to our attention how their first-hand experiences are proof to their motivating and yet sometimes unchallenging schoolwork. The author brings to attention the challenge our public school system is faced with and how difficult of a task it really is, educating all youth in the country (2-2).

Muir has made four main points that, if worked on effectively, will bring forth a greater atmosphere for //Meaningful Engaged Learning//. These four components are (3-7): - Environment - Experience - Motivation - Meaning

The //environment// a teacher is to create or maintain is not all about how the classroom physically looks. The relationships, trust, and respect should be woven into the atmosphere of the classroom (3-8). Two students interviewed, Eric and Ben, talk about how they do not learn well when they teacher acts “grumpy” and can often relate boring classes with the teachers that are too serious and those “not having much fun” in the classroom (4-1). Muir stated that “working form student strengths rather than focusing on their weaknesses” was a great way for teachers to help their students succeed (4-2).

The //experience// component focused a lot on how the teacher can present the lessons in a way to cue the students memory and recall past experiences (4-6). Many of the interviewed students talked about they disliked a lot of bookwork because of the lack of activity and involvement in the lesson (4-8). Students are good at recognizing when bookwork is given out to the extent to where the see it was busywork and not actual, meaningful work. Doris, a student that was interviewed, saw “differentiated assignments as a form of fairness” (5-1). Differentiated assignments, as I can think of them, seem to be assignments over the same concept or topic but just the difficult is altered to fit each student or each group of students’ level of understanding. This seems to be a great way for the teacher to dial-in his or her assignments for the diverse learning abilities of their students.

//Motivation// is a very important component for the students to harness in order to stay fully interested in learning. Bringing the material to the students, finding ways to make the learning interesting, and sparking the students’ curiosity are ways not to __make__ students get involved in their learning, but to get their minds rolling and questions flowing. The kind of work that the students interviewed felt most close to were the hands-on work and projects that they had a choice in (5-7).

Finding //meaning// is not easy when students are faced with academics that are piled on top of their non-academic activities. Making connections, associations, context for the students is necessary for students to realize what they learn in the classroom is needed for most things outside of the classroom (6-2). Ben and Eric pointed out how they found meaning in their learning when they were able to find what they were learning useful and Eric talks about how he can see math being used in everyday life (6-3). The students need the examples of careers and continuous situations in which what they learn in classroom will be used at times, if not at all times, throughout their life. Teachers need to find these ways that the students can connect what is being learned to their own lives (6-6).

Understanding how students are motivated, where they find meaning, and when the students are most curious about their learning are tools teachers need to equip to set their students up for success at the greatest level. **(Ryan Sherman)**

//What engages underachieving Middle School Students in Learning?// is a study about six individual and different underachieving middle school students. The author, Mike Muir, cautions the reader that you need to keep in mind that it is a small sample for the case study and that all six students are from the same demographic region of rural New England. Mike chose underachieving students that by most teachers were deemed as bright but unmotivated and interviewed all six students in hopes of finding the answer to the difficult question of “How do I motivate //all// children to learn?”(2-3). Mike breaks his study down into what he calls a “Theory for Meaningful Learning”, which consists of four components (3-5)… The author assumed that his findings would focus on intrinsic motivators such as hands-on learning, giving students choice, and finding a way to peak a student’s curiosity, all which were confirmed by the students but the strongest motivator he found was that of the student-teacher relationship (3-6). All of the students different aspects of a student-teacher relationship as being a big motivator, some of these examples include trust, respect in the classroom, a sense of humor, and feeling safe to ask questions or make mistakes(4-1). Teachers need to remember that learning is mostly achieved through finding patterns in experiences. Which is predictably why all six students stated that they felt that they learned best from experience driven learning such as projects and hands-on activities, especially when these experiences gave the students the ability to have personal input or choice in what the experience was to be (4-3).
 * Environment
 * Experience
 * Motivation
 * Meaning Making
 * Environment**
 * Experience**

Motivation is key to getting students to decide whether or not they will learn, by finding what motivates students a teacher will increase the likelihood that their students are more willing to learn. Out of the two types of motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic, intrinsic seems to have the most power over a student’s willingness to learn (5-3). The most effective intrinsic motivators appear to be making learning more interesting by relating it to your students’ interests and introducing choice in to the classroom giving students the feeling of some control over what they are learning.
 * Motivation**

Another part of the decision of whether or not a student decides to learn is finding meaning in lessons. Students have difficulties just memorizing facts but by making connections between these facts and everyday life a teacher can help guide students toward learning (6-2). One big way of doing this is to show or demonstrate hwy what they are learning is relevant to their lives, whether it be using math to calculate shopping discounts or showing ways that ancient history connects to today’s society. **(Hutch)**
 * Finding Meaning**

In the article "Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say!", it tells the story of Steven Reinhart and his experience he had with teaching, and transforming his teaching style. At first, he had a teacher-centered classroom that was a direct-instruction model (1-3). However, he soon noticed that this style of teaching was not as effective as he had hoped.

Thus, Steven began his research. He discovered new ways to run a classroom, which involved having it be student-centered rather than teacher-centered, and having the student explain to the teacher their thoughts on the subject matter, instead of the other way around. Thus, the //teacher// was the listener (1-4). Steven also discovered that getting the entire class to participate, and having everyone discuss together helped a great deal. Middle school students are self conscious and nervous by nature, so getting them to loosen up and let their guard down allowed them to grow and develop in the classroom (2-1). That way, they feel comfortable enough to ask questions when they don't understand something, or to help out a classmate and explain to them in such a way that the teacher might not be able to.

There are five things that Steven likes to recall upon in his classroom that he had discovered during his research. The first would be to never say anything that a kid can say. Thus, by allowing them to say it on their own, it's helping them discover the concepts and ideas of mathematics on their own. The information will be retained in their minds much easier this way, compared to when it is simply told to them (3-2). The next reminder of Stevens would be to ask good questions. By doing so, it encourages the students to elaborate on their own thoughts and think about and reflect upon the mathematics they are learning (3-3). The third reminder is to use more process questions than product questions, which means to ask the students question that require them to put thought into it, and critically think to find an answer rather than a product question, which is only looking for a simple computation answer (3-4). Replace lectures with sets of questions is the fourth reminder. This means to get the students to use their minds when learning material. When a teacher stands up at the front of the class and "transfers" information from the overhead notes to the notebooks of the kids, it doesn't engage their brains at all except for the movement of their pencil. Thus, ask questions instead of having teacher-based lectures (3-5). Lastly, be patient is the final reminder, and in my personal opinion, one of the most important ones. You can't rush learning, and you can't force someone to think better or faster. A teacher needs to understand that every student is different and will learn at their own pace, so sometimes it takes awhile for them to discover key concepts on their own. Also. requiring that students participate is essential to their learning process (4-2). The best way that kids learn is by articulating and explaining their thought process, so by not participating, it could hinder their experience. Thus, requiring that students participate is a must.

Overall, from Steven's experience, he learned that it is important to "...place the responsibility for learning directly on their shoulders" (6-7). Encourage them to express their ideas, and ask questions that allow them to explore and discover on their own. It is the best possible way for them to learn. **-Shanna Thorn**

Teachers need to remember that learning is mostly achieved through finding patterns in experiences. Which is predictably why all six students stated that they felt that they learned best from experience driven learning such as projects and hands-on activities, especially when these experiences gave the students the ability to have personal input or choice in what the experience was to be (4-3).