Two more "classics" for the classroom: Brown and Vygotsky

Google Ann Brown and you will discover the wealth available in the field of "metacognition. " Google Lev Vygotsky to incorporate another crucial illuminary into your practice with learners, "Zone of  Proximal Learning."

Our exercise for this week illuminates how to use both to supercharge your instructional practice!

Activate Our Journey into Ambitious Teaching

Nexus in the City Ó2009

…where Ambitious Learning X Ambitious Teaching = Nexus Academy

Dr. S. Heidi Bach -Professor Emeritus

Palladio International University

Albert Einstein noted,  “Problems cannot be solved by using the same level of thinking through which they were created.”

Your Experiential Study of “Metacognition” … a process to develop through the following instructional design:

Educator’s Aim: Metacognition means ‘thinking about thinking’ (Google: Brown, 1987). The exercise below allows entry into the vast store of information internally represented in mind ... our minds, our students’ minds (Google: Faulkner, 2000).

Focus on students’ comprehension of reading material this week.  Begin with teaching a class lesson, but restrict your analysis focus to the content performance and process performance of just two students. Add particularly interesting students as you gain a sense of competence and enthusiasm.  Never frustrate yourself by making your own pedagogical learning too complex, too soon. Operating in the frustration zone only obstructs learning and leads to discouragement.  Discouragement leads to “dropping out” (Google: Margolis & Fisher, 2003).   Cultivating discouragement is counterproductive, regardless of a learner’s age!

For your case study, select two students –one who is readily able to complete any particular assignment and one who is particularly challenged with comprehension and process skills. What you learn from exercising in new ways below will develop your capacity to better develop all students later. Therefore, select two with whom you have fluent working relationships.  As you exercise your thinking during the week, these students will be expected to individually share their thinking about their own thinking (i.e. metacognition) with you.

Technology:  a microphone recording devise with USB connection to download/save/review data.

Preview, prepare as needed, then use the chart below to guide your thinking about these two types of student work samples. The chart helps you apply what you know so far about the nature of the subject matter content/process, the nature of the pedagogy selected (the what, how, and why) to transmit content or processes, and your students’ interpretations of this “nexus.” In other words, what was their experience of the pedagogy used in relation to the knowledge and know-how they actually received through this transmission?

Refer to http://teachersjourneyinourcities.blogspot.com/ for further discussion of Zones of Proximal Learning, introduced conceptually through the work of Lev Vygotsky, Russian Educational Psychologist from the thirties

A. What is the ‘nature’ of subject matter? How does pedagogy (instructional design/ presentation, and activities) support this nature? (List the types of thinking and behavior required in order to be successful in your assignment.)	B. After a brief introduction to content (and processes), ask each student to verbalize (then write a description) of what s/he understands and how s/he knows that she understands/doesn’t intended learning.	C. To what extent did pedagogy  transmit content/ processes effectively for various types of students? What adjustments are needed to reinforce/repair learning according to students’ learning needs?
D.  From the lists in “C,” note Independent Zone Skills (already in secured place), Instructional Zone Skills (those still in formation and needing outside support/structure), and Frustration Zone Skills (those as yet “out of reach,” thus bringing symptoms of frustration.	E.  Instructional Zone Skills must be ‘scaffolded’ for each student now in order to correct inaccuracies, allow sufficient supported practice leading to sufficient  practice on the independent level. Frustration Zone Skills must be ‘scaffolded’ with a sequence of instructional lessons (perhaps Units) for each student now in order to reach independent zone target mastery.	F. What forms of pedagogy will work well to achieve target performance/mastery along this sequence of scaffolding? How might we group different types of students at various points along this sequence?

Apprenticeship-To-Go

As Ray Charles reminds us,  “Don’t go backwards.  You have already been there.”

Recommended Best-seller

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. This extraordinary mountain climber and exceptional humanitarian received the AAUW award this year (2009) for his efforts to establish schools in extreme, remote, and rugged circumstances. Starting schools in compromising environments and within unfamiliar cultures (Pakistan, Afghanistan) required grit.  Greg encountered the roller coaster of discouragement and persistence, engaged in literal and figural mountain climbing among disparate cultures.  Themes addressed: mobilizing community involvement, cultural differences and bridge building, practices of gender socialization, negotiating the balance of power, the power of devotion and perseverance, the power of alliance and support, the power of desire to learn, social dynamics that inculcate self-efficacy in students.

Recommended music for thinking through these exercises with fellow apprentices:

Google “World Music” then select from the subcategories of your choice.

Africa, origins of humankind, offers African Drumming, uses the Djembe creating the master flow –contemporary and folk- African rumba, jazz, Ethiopia, Senegal, Gambia, Ivory coast, Mali, Guinea.

Websites your find helpful during your process:                                       

Music to purchase? Contact:

Putumao World Music 411 Lafayette St, NY, NY 10003 (212-625-1400)        

Classical Music:

Ferde Grofe’s Grand Canyon Suite (1921-1931) “The richness of the land and the rugged optimism of its people has fired my imagination.  I was determined to put it to music some day.”

Pop Music:

Dar Williams – When I was a boy

Film for Reflection

The Kite Runner (2007) – Various circumstances contribute to at-risk conditions. Comprised of at-risk circumstances, conditions entail more than type of readiness. Circumstances have long-term and cumulative consequences, whether positive or negative.  If society’s ultimate educational goal is preparation of citizens capable of lifelong learning and contributing to the greater well-being, then conditions which shortchange our capacity to set those children at-risk of failure. 

Set in Afghanistan, the narrator flees the Taliban as an adult. Through flashback, we witness damage done by class discrimination, loss not only to a boy, a family, a friendship but also to a nation. Most of our at-risk students, from one generation or another, come from other cultural backgrounds.  Generational transmissions structure perceptions that affect learning. To what extent does a child’s relocation process influence his perception of self, other, surrounding resources, self-efficacy? What projections and inferences might adults engage that confront or sustain inequities?

Content Websites

www.CarnegieMellon

www.Vygotskyzoneofproximaldevelopment

www.brownmetacognition

www.bloom’staxonomyofthinking

www.at-risk

Quote in conclusion, by Pascal:

“There is a reason that reason does not know.”

Rules in School

Rules in School

Please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haim_Ginott

Natural and logical consequences date back to Haim Ginott in the sixties

...his wisdom is shared from decades of studying children's thinking and behaving.  Parents and teachers seeking need a basic, simple, and effective principle for developing children's capacity to make informed choices habitually.  Natural and logical consequences evokes a child's ability to think and choose.


Haim Ginott is a classic in the field of child psychology.  His guidance flows from what is currently today best practices from wide knowledge bases: child development, attachment theory, self-efficacy, and neuropsychology.  The principle of natural and logical consequences operates in the home and classroom as simply and effectivly as that basic invention, the wheel!

The wheel works across time, because it fits reality. It's organic, it flows from reality. The same is true of  natural consequences, which evolve into use of logical consequences. Better than coddling, excusing, overlooking, or pretending with kids. "Reality therapy" is what Haim Ginott called this application of his life's work with kids. He encouraged parents and teachers to use reality therapy with kids at home and in school. If we all followed his advice consistently, we might have been able to purchase condos on the moon by now!

Just the same, I am glad newbies are digging the oldies but goodies ... strategies that work here and now because they make sense...did then, do now! Take a look at Rules in School. Encourage parents to visit the Global Parent Academy blogspot to learn how to practice these tried and true strategies at home!

Learner Rubric

                                  Listen...Focus...Attend...FollowPrompts...Stay on Task...Get Help...Think..Initiate



Tenderfoot


Pupil


Student


Scholar


1. Just beginning or rudimentary skills 
2. partially proficient for grade level expectations
3. proficient for grade level expectations 
4. advanced for age/grade level

Teacher Journey Rubric

    Intellectual...Avid Learner...Organized...Generative...Self-Regulating...Creative...Conscientious

Novice
1
2
3
Apprentice

Teacher

Lead Teacher

Master Teacher

Professing Teacher


Note:  the cells are now open for entries/details...let's hear from all our urban teachers. If you work/or have worked in a suburban or rural area, please note that shift in perspective and experience.

Recognize EFFORT ... not "smarts" to encourage ongoing learning

A is different from Z, but both structures consist of straight lines and angles.

A is leven more like  V, except they are directionally opposite, and the first letter additionally sports a midway horizontal line.

When mastering the alphabet visually, many young learners require less instructional intervention (time on task) to differentiate A from Z, than A from V.  Recognizing and remembering that A is not V seems to pose greater challenge.

Knowing this perceptual axiom operates in human learning, think about how you would  rate (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) the following pairs for ease of differentiation (1=hard to differentiate; 5=easy to differentiate):

1. A vs O (hint: straight lines vs curved lines -with not other features: EASY to differentiate; rate: 5)
2. A vs B
3. C vs O
4. I vs. O
5. E vs B
6. T vs I
7. D vs A
8. D vs O
9. F vs E
10. F vs B

Through this exercise, we learn that the more features that an item or event (x) has in common with another item/event (y), the more thoroughly we must examine their similarities and differences in order to tell them apart.  

Practical Application for Parents and Teachers: 

If we want our children to more quickly change their behaviors from the kind we disapprove of to the kind we approve of then we must make it easy for them to differentiate.  Smiles and affable talk clearly indicate parents and teachers approve of the behavior displayed.  Neutral face with a firmly stated "No"(or some equivalent of "No") typically indicates disapproval -with an explicit or implicit invitation to shift to an approved behavior.

We make it  hard for chidren learn to control their impulses (i.e.,  master the necessary shifting to approved behaviors)  when we muddle our verbal, voice tone, and body language cues.  When we mix communication features of a YES vs NO, we delay the development of impulse control.  We make it harder for learners to distinctions between our "approving" and "disapproving" responses to their behaviors.  This delays development of their ability to eventually "self-regulate."

We send mixed messages to our children when we disapprove but smile ... or talk sweetly. this hardly means adults need to speak harshly or loudly or use aggressive strategies like character assassination, disparaging labels, cruelty or meanness.  A simple statement of disapproval  -coupled with natural/logical consequences - consistently applied will do more to shape behavior, than punishment, or enduring parental exasperation. 

 The more important it is to select an appropriate response to x vs y, the more important it is to differentiate between them.  This is true for all life forms, regardless of age or species.  Parents and teachers who cultivate paying positive attention to children, build up a positive emotional/relational bank account!  When children get the positive guidance and consistent attention needed to strengthen bonds as children evolve - they are less likely to seek attention through unpleasant and irritating means. They are also more likely to engage those things we want them to accomplish when they have recieved recognition for these things consistently in the past.

Dr. Carol Dweck, Ph.D. reminds us also to be very careful to recognize and reward the effort exerted.  When focus is placed on the effort given a task, children learn that time and accuracy matter -which they do.  The single greatest factor determining school success is time on task.  Just spending time on a task, without persistent effort to become more accurate, just makes us better at being inaccurate! Practicing reading books that are too hard for us, turns us off from reading, and does nothing to build fluency and vocabularly.  Careless practice of anything simply reinforces carelessness.

Dr. Dweck reminds us that children who have been admired and recognized for their "cleverness" or "smartness," (in contrast to the effort they willingly engage), eventually refrain from engaging anything that is not immediately easy and rewarding.  Their positive identities have been tied to being so clever or being so smart...they do not want to risk diminishing this image -so they begin to decline challenges, become defensive.  As they age they learn different ways to hide the fact that they do not really know -and asking for help becomes a sign they are no longer "smart" enough, "clever" enough.

To avoid this result, be observant of the many opportunities we have in a morning, day, weekend, and week to "outloud" recognize our children's effort and those specific behaviors displayed while exerting these efforts.  When we consistently  recognize and compliment specific efforts, our children will also.  this is how children continue to grow in competancy and self-esteem.  They come to realize that growth is change...and the effort they exert makes change reliable.

EXAMPLE: I notice you put our clothes for tomorrow out on the chair as I asked you.  You did it the first time I asked you.  You did not whine or complain.  Also, you cheerfully asked me questions about whether or not this or that peice of clothing was appropriate for school.  You even walked into the kitchen to ask your wuestions, instead of yelling from the other room.  I really appreciate the time you took and each of your efforts to follow my guidance.  You did it on time!  And you aksed for my help in pleasant ways.  I am proud of the ways you are working to help yourself grow more skillful.

Remain in The Zone!!!

Our independent zone of performance refers to that range of being and doing where outside assistance is not needed whatsoever in order to accomplish set goals.  What can the learner do satisfactorily on her own? Operating in this zone grants our sense of competence.  We easily grow from here.

But what if the learner doesn't want to grow ... yet?  What if s/he is satisfied with the status quo? To push learners to move from this independent zone of performance too quickly can reduce their tendency to generate enthusiasm, operate with self-confidence, and make positive self-assessments.  Also pulling and dragging the learner out of his comfort zone exhausts the one exerting the effort! What's a teacher (and parent, or grandparent) to do? 


Knowing our students allows us to  activate learner motivation to know!   Knowing areas of natural interest makes it possible for adults to foster learner connection to new learning.  Tap into each child's expressed, natural interests.  Comparatively speaking, our elder educators (1960's, 1970's, 1980's) began all new learning with a thorough review of these motivating factors ...as well as the range of content children knew and skills they were able to demonstrate.


Missing concepts/skills were re-introduced, methodically -usually through sequentially arranged examples. Misconceptions were corrected, methodically -usually through sequentially arranged examples.  Through homework practice assignments, copious homework, students in most cases made up what they might have been missing. Parents, for the most part, understood their role as essential in remedial territory.

The new (aka unfamiliar) learning was then introduced -when the majority of the class was ready to benefit experientially and academically.  Educators selected sequences and methods of instruction in the new concepts/skills (the instructional zone ) largely published in well-designed, state of the art publisher textbooks.  This new layer of instruction was designed to engage firmly with the class' bank of prior learning (independent zone). As with the physicians' Hippocratic Oath -Do No Harm- teachers took care to avoid too-much too-soon exposure to information/methodology beyond the learners' range of distress (frustration zone).


The downside of past practices during these earlier decades includes the following:

1. we operated w/o the benefit of the Great Bank of Future Awareness (e.g. special education principles and pedagogy, differentiated instructional developments,  Response to Intervention or RTI, flexible grouping, etc.)
2. we delivered instruction for the most part to an entire class, except in primary grades when rapid, average, and slower rates of learning-to-read led to grouping class members.  Without hindsight yet into the mechanics and wisdom of flexible grouping,  a bluebird tended to remain in the bluebird nest!
3. The fields of Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences were being conceived and newborn.
4.  Instructional methodologies for correcting misinformation and setting the tone for new learning were generally experiential (field trips), sequential (we not only carved pumkins, but grew them from seed and made pumpkin pie for our school's Thanksgiving Day dinner), and methodical (we followed step-by-step together). 

Rushing through foundational phases of learning and practice was unheard of, yet.  However, during the sixties, social unrest due to social justice issues led to social action demonstrations among students in higher education.  


Rocks rippled the rivers of social institutions across the nation.  From 1963 into the early '80s, reading and math SAT scores declined 40-50 points. President Regan commissioned eighteen individuals to assess/guess factors of decine.  


The commission made recommendations in hopes of ultimately matching  math and science scores "competitor" countries reported - higher than we could report from some areas of our nation. 


If you were to commission a nationwide study of America's Schoolhouse across fifty very different states

• how would you ensure appropriate representation?  
• which roles in education deserve representation?
• what levels of education earn representaiton?
• what questions would you ask before deciding representation?
• list indicators of high performing students vs low-performing students?

Compare your investigative responses with the actual data archived at:
(http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/index.html)


 The commission finally recommended four areas to consider when making educational improvements.

1. content (more than half of our states then required only one math and one science course to graduate from high school) 
2. expectations (since no one textbook can address needs of "disadvantaged students, the learning disabled, and the gifted and talented," funds should be made available.
3. time (programs for continually disruptive students need development to relieve the burden placed on teachers to maintain discipline). How's this one? Instead of rigid age adhearence... graduation, placement, promotion, and grouping should be based on academic achievement. 
4. And how about this one: since greater instructional diversity is needed by underachieving students, they need to spend more time in instruction beyond what can be accomplished in a normal day.
5. teaching (career ladders shuld distinguish among beginning teachers, experienced teachers, and master teachers).  How's this one? Master teachers should be involved in preparing and training new teachers.

 Honestly, when we examine the four areas of recommendations, we can begin to seriously question how and why subsequent "improvement" initiatives overlooked many points that would generate enormous good, and overshot the mark in others so that already high performing kids in high performing disticts now have performance anxiety! 


The archive makes for easy reading.  Unfortunate interpretations of the report directly led to follow-up commissions.  These escalated emphasis on test scores (numbers are easy to collect) - finally being challenged by those who know test scores do not equal authentic learning.  The whole can of worms is wide open now and within lie the remnants of these Deadly Assessments for Money and Prestige (DAMP).


During DAMP times, we were pressed to teach to the test.  The test that did not match our curriculum.  We revised our curriculum to "wag the dog," so to speak... and our districts got the money needed to run some recommended programs.  We gave up our power as professionally prepared educators, in favor of our district's expressed need for money.  What's a teacher to do under deadly circumstances?  We left our own Zone of Proximal Development behind, coerced to engage a mandate cleverly called No Child Left Behind.  Good educational practice was left behind.  Common sense was left behind.


We are coming back to our senses; conversations now indicate far more agreement among parents, teachers, administrators, school boards, university systems about the DAMP days.  Time to dust off Vygotsky's text on The Zone ... and let it do its magic in your classroom. (Educators, take time to share with parents how practicing The Zone at home can make home life more pleasant and productive!)
See www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/.../lr1zpda.html

Zone of Proximal Development

One of the greatest concepts that educators can incorporate into our instructional plans for learners is called,  the Zone of Proximal Development.  


Educational Psychologist from the thirties, Lev Vygotsky, coined this term and delineated relevant pedagogical concepts.  Operating within each learner's Zone of Proximal Development is sorely missing from public school classroom practice since government pressures: frantic curriculum cramming,  and emphasis on obtaining the highes test scores - to obtain prestige and federal/state program funding, financial support.


On Wednesday, look for an opportunity to explore the nature and applications of Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development through this blog forum.  See you then!

next ...in the city

I hugged a teacher friend on Sunday and asked how the first couple of weeks are going at school. "Fine, for me. So many teachers though have thirty students in their classrooms this year!"

(Anyone who works with human beings knows that complications are multiplied by the number of human beings involved. When human beings are below the age of 24, complications grow exponentially.)

"Kids have to be very well-behaved ... in charge of their focus, attention, and emotions to function effectively in academic learning groups of thirty!" "Are the kids able to handle this?" I queried further.

"Not really..." rolling her eyes. "Most classes include a dozen special education students as well," she tacked on in shared disbelief.

"Are teachers getting additional support in such conditions?"

"No."

In fact, my friend noted,"No one is even dealing with it! " Shell-shocked, teachers deal with whatever seems to appear on their plate...something like mothers and fathers. But let's be honest...when we have extraordinary conditions, we need complementary support. Or else discouragement rears its head...and "dropping out"in its myriad forms follow...for kids and adults...it's only human!

So let's hear from all the teachers who have worked with large groups of kids in need. I will begin the list of strategies and paradigms that can help shell-shocked teachers survive and support kids thriving under these currently extraordinary conditions:

Recommendation #1.

Investigate Peer Teaching ... i.e., students teaching their peers:

ASCD's September periodical (Educational Leadership) showcases the effectiveness of training student teams to present key lessons to their peers on a regular basis ... with professional teacher direction and guidance. Peer instruction becomes great pedagogy for multiple reasons...read about it! the goal is for all students to take the role of peer teachers. Contact www.ASCD.org for details and connections to this middle school program in Newark, New Jersey. Peer instruction is as old as formal education. Remember, we keep returning to the "classics" because they work.

Let's hear from parents and teachers everywhere ...

March moves us into the promise of spring once again. We might notice how the entire period of childhood resembles this changeable and inspiring season ... of new developments, new characteristics, first-time understandings, renewed efforts, directions, attitudes and behaviors. Every moment is an opportunity to take the better part of what our children present to us us and strengthen this!

Express appreciation for that part presented, give your expression the time and space it deserves so that its strength takes root in our children's awareness. As a privileged guide for each child in your charge, allow yourself the time and space you need to ensure that your words and actions truly reflect the good you believe can flourish.

This week make space and time throughout the day to pause, breathe, vision such good. Redirect yourself, selecting the posture, facial expressions, movements, and thoughts in alignment with this good. Elect to be this good in the space and time surrounding the children in your life here and now. Notice how your being matters for good for you and for them.

With gratitude we enjoy this greater good multiplying beneath the surface of all that is visible, the fabric of our eternal spring!

Professing with Parents and Teachers,
Heidi Bach, Ph.D.

In loco parentis...professing with parents and teachers

Dear One,
Where ever you find yourself in the day or evening, remember that now is your time for being fully alive, fully present to both yourself and the process of educating our young. Pause.
Breathe richly inward. Release any thoughts constrict or limit your fullest sense of Being. Continue the ebb and flow of breath and release. Draw sacred nourishment deeply within. Allow that Spark of Presence -the One who is you- to fill the space of your awareness.

Allow growing awareness of who you intend to be through those essential qualities of wisdom, order, and strength. Experience how your qualities can harmonize and balance the world around you here and now. Bring this way of Being into the world of children learning now the ways of the world, Breathe this very way of Being into the world children inhabit ... that of classrooms, schedules, curriculum, and standards. Know that your True Present Being becomes the way learners may well experience their wholeness above all else that might seem diminishing, illusive, of ignorance, error and discouragement. Know that one secure presence is all it takes for a child to sense the greater truth available in the world inhabited in any here and now.

In gratitude now, relish your adult capacity to Be the One Present. Enjoy such presence, moment to moment. Your eyes, your smile, your firm and caring tone, your hands, and your movements are all ways you express such presence. Know this and rejoice. And so it is!

With love,Professor and Friend - Heidi