So, here’s the thought that I ended with yesterday—the thought that, with your help and indulgence, I would like to spend a few days exploring.
At the intersection of the teaching and learning is the experience. For the past decade, an inordinate amount of time, money and energy has been spent on trying to manipulate both ends of the process, but our greatest hope in transforming schools lies in our willingness to focus on the learning experience. In the school of my dreams, this is where teachers and students meet!
I’ve had the opportunity to visit a couple of schools over the past few weeks where students have proudly offered to sing me a few of the songs they’ve been learning. All of them are sung to familiar tunes; all have a similar theme:
Busy Brain Song
Tune: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Head and Eyes and Mouth and Brain
Work together when we train
Readers need a busy brain
Working hard to make great gains
Head and Eyes and Mouth and Brain
Work together when we train
Metacognition Song
Tune: I’ve Been Workin’ On the Railroad
We’ve got metacogntion runnin’ through our minds
We’ve got metacognition, and it isn’t hard to find
Can’t you hear our thoughts a callin’
Listen to our song
We’ve got metacognition
Learning all day long
Schema Song
Tune: Frere Jacques (Are You Sleeping)
Schema, schema
Schema, schema
What I know
Watch It grow
I can make connections
Meaningful connections
Text to self
Text to text
Text to world
Ok, I can’t take any more! It’s not bad that we want our children to make meaningful connections with the world. In fact, it’s this sense of connection that is at the heart of any good learning experience. But the very fact that we are teaching grade one children songs like this is probably a good indication that we really don’t get it!
In order to make deep connections to the world, our children need to have stuff with which to connect. There is no by-passing this requirement. No amount of talking about it, singing about it or dancing about it is going to make it happen. The only way that we can form these deep connections is through direct experience. I realize that I’m not the first to come to this realization, and I know that I won’t be the last.
But everytime that we substitute a teaching strategy for a field trip, we’re short-circuiting the process. Everytime we show children a video instead of engaging them in an authentic experience, we’re denying them the opportunity to connect on a deep level. Everytime we teach them a song about metacognition instead of engaging them in an experience that actually turns their brain on, then we’re missing the point.
T.S. Eliot once wrote, “We had the experience but missed the meaning”. I fear that we’re in grave danger of turning his sentiments on their ear! And what good is meaning, if it’s not grounded in experience.
Hmmm….
I don’t understand. Did we miss “self to world” somewhere along the way there? SheilaSpeechless right now
“Self to the world”? Yes, indeed. Once you get your voice back (!), I think that your point speaks about the larger conversation around the purpose of school-based education. Is it just about the text?
“In fact, it’s this sense of connection that is at the heart of any good learning experience. But the very fact that we are teaching grade one children songs like this is probably a good indication that we really don’t get it!
In order to make deep connections to the world, our children need to have stuff with which to connect. There is no by-passing this requirement. No amount of talking about it, singing about it or dancing about it is going to make it happen. The only way that we can form these deep connections is through direct experience. I realize that I’m not the first to come to this realization, and I know that I won’t be the last.
But everytime that we substitute a teaching strategy for a field trip, we’re short-circuiting the process. Everytime we show children a video instead of engaging them in an authentic experience, we’re denying them the opportunity to connect on a deep level. Everytime we teach them a song about metacognition instead of engaging them in an experience that actually turns their brain on, then we’re missing the point.”
As a parent I agree whole heartily, and schools these days spend far too much time on the process, and neglect to turn on the brains of students. I remembered careful lesson preparation by teachers specifically for my child, on measurement, and other crucial skills needed to accomplished the task at hand. All came to nought, and it was quite evident the frustration on teachers’ faces, and their hastily written notes addressed to me, saying the words, “Having trouble”, which was code to fixed it. I fixed it, using what I had at hand by providing practical experience as I call it, or the education lingo of authentic learning, until the day, that one teacher decided to follow my cues on the how-tos connecting the stuff needed to make the deep connections and deep understanding. The first experience at school, came in the way of measuring the dimensions of the school building using a yard stick. Suffice to say, my youngest child never had a problem using measurements and what the lines between the whole numbers stood for, after spending a couple of hours on a nice May day, measuring the school.
So very true Stephen, “In order to make deep connections to the world, our children need to have stuff with which to connect. There is no by-passing this requirement. No amount of talking about it, singing about it or dancing about it is going to make it happen. ”
And as my youngster use to state in frustration mixed with the tears, “Stupid songs, but I still don’t know how to do it!”.
To me it is common sense, and most people would think this is so, and with the advent of the brain and cognitive science advances, there is the science behind to support the statement of, ” Everytime we teach them a song about metacognition instead of engaging them in an experience that actually turns their brain on, then we’re missing the point.” My child like most children, learned best when the experiences turns on the brain. In the case of my child, I was carving new neuro-pathways, bypassing the short circuitry in my child’s head. For another child, a different reason but at the end whatever the reason is, to make the deep connections to direct experiences.