Brain Power
Last September, I paid a visit to my daughter’s fourth grade classroom to see why my daughter was suddenly passionate about school. To be honest, arrived at her school expecting to walk into a chaotic classroom where students were allowed to do whatever they wanted, and the teacher was more friend than authority figure. Instead, what I found was a class of students fully engaged. They were asking clarifying questions, offering unique perspectives, challenging each other’s thinking, and drawing valid conclusions based on their discussions. I left her classroom both inspired and challenged to find ways to elicit that level of engagement from my own students.
Unfortunately, classrooms like Ms. Hagen’s are few and far between. Soraya Umewaka, in his article, “Translating Facts into Knowledge” (2011), urges educators to use their knowledge of neuroscientific research to motivate students to want to learn. He highlights the need for students to be engaged in their learning, through self-monitoring, exploratory questioning, and opportunities for cross curricular connections. Additionally he encourages educators to put more emphasis on the thought process than the answer by “helping them make that leap from learning facts to understanding how it applies to reality” (Umewaka, 2011, p. 28).
I personally believe most educators want to have a classroom like Ms. Hagen’s but need guidance on how to get there. Dianne Rees offers suggestion in her June 2010 blog post, “Tools for Metacognition”. She suggests modeling desired behaviors through techniques like think out louds, requiring learners to justify their thinking, incorporating opportunities for self-reflection reflection into lessons, and opportunities for research outside of the classroom. Though Rees is quick to highlight these strategies ay not translate into motivation to learn, as it did for my daughter. They can go a long way in building confidence in themselves as learners, which is a step in the right direction.
Resources
Umewaka, S. (2011). Translating Facts Into Knowledge. Mind, Brain & Education, 5(1), 27-28.
doi:10.1111/j.1751-228X.2011.01106.x
Rees, D (2010)Tools for Metacognition. Instructional Design Fusions. http://instructionaldesignfusions.wordpress.com/2010/06/28/metacognition
Teach the Teacher 