Today's students tend to be more of visual learners than auditory learners. It has become unacceptable as a teacher to spend every class period of everyday lecturing students and giving notes. The students of today need to be visually stimulated by technology that they know and are comfortable with (computer, tv, etc.). Today's technology needs to be used in the classroom in order to reach the students on the level and understanding of which they know best. This can assure them that they can be successful. Once they get that though into their head, teaching the content becomes easier.
Once we can implement the proper learning tools for out students, we have to reinforce the importance of the effort that they are putting into their work. Since research "tells us that not all students realize the importance of effort", I will make sure that I consistently reinforce their effort through positive reinforcement (in the form of praise and compliments) combined with consistent feedback. (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). At times I will pull up data from a chart that shows the exam that they may have just taken and which questions were most commonly missed. This allows us as a class to go back and re answer those questions and gain a better understanding of the material. They also get the opportunity to see which ones that they may have missed that others did not. This allows them reflection time and the opportunity to get the correct answer. It also provides a form of review in which that the students tend to remember longer for the simple fact of it being presented to them on the smartboard. If my students do fail a test or an assignment, I will reinforce the fact that they need to put in more effort and will take class time to physically show them what they can do to improve. I will spend more time trying to correct the negative behavior than sitting there reinforcing what they already know, that they failed. This is a confidence booster for them because they know that I have not given up on them and it helps them realize that they should not give up either.
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Karl,
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you that today’s learners seem to be more visual than auditory. Wonder why? Technology is a way to teach these students. However, I will have to disagree and say that my students don’t know and aren’t comfortable with technology. School is the only place, most of my students, use technology. I wish technology would assure my students success.
I really like your idea of pulling up data charts and reviewing commonly missed questions! I’m sure your students really benefit from it. This would be a great tool for elementary classroom teachers! I would love to have that knowledge, at my fingertips, after a test or quiz! It would make things much easier for me!
Megan
Karl,
ReplyDeleteI agree that students are visual learners and technology is a large aspect of their daily lives. By incorporating technology into the classroom, students will show more interest in the subject material. In my opinion, teaching a class with only lecturing and note taking is obsolete.
Kelley
Hi Karl,
ReplyDeleteI think that data charts is a really interesting way of tracking missed questions. Do you find that it takes a lot of time to track this data, or is it just something that you have built into your routine?
I think that understanding how effort correlates with results is important for students to realize. It sounds like you are using this very effectively in your own classroom!