Resources

Dialogue on Learning - FAQ

The Questions:

1.   Isn’t all this talk of alternative instruction and assessment methods just a “dumbing down” of the curriculum and standards?

2.  How can I really tell if my students have “learned?”

3.      I have to prepare students to create a particular end product.  They can’t create a model or collage for the English 101 final!  So what can I do?

4.      Why is it important to know about brain research?  Isn’t it enough just to do what we know works from past experience?

5.      I don’t have the time or the knowledge for changing every part of my course.

6.      Gardner’s MI theory makes a lot of sense to me, but I don’t understand how I can teach my course eight ways! Maybe teaching with MI in mind works for instructors in non-content areas such as English composition, but I teach accounting.  We have to get through a lot of content in fifteen weeks. How can I possibly teach everything eight ways?

7.      Ok, I'm ready to try something and I hear you about making small changes.  What can you suggest that would be very small and not require much preparation?

8.      Won’t my students think I’m treating them like children if my class doesn’t look like a “real college classroom?”

9.      How can I develop the trust necessary to use brain-compatible methodologies in my class effectively?

10. If I allow students to do different things to complete an assignment, how can I be sure that “standards” have been met?

Our Thoughts:

1.      Isn’t all this talk of alternative instruction and assessment methods just a “dumbing down” of the curriculum and standards

Absolutely not.  In fact, the opposite is true.  By allowing students to learn in ways that suit them best, we are actually enabling more students to achieve high standards. 

Allow me to illustrate with an example from my discipline, ESOL and foreign languages.   Most of us probably have unpleasant memories of trying to learn another language by memorizing grammar rules.  And for most of us, it didn’t work.  In spite of hours spent with grammar charts and vocabulary cards, we would not be able to get to the hospital in a foreign country to save our lives.  Of course there was always the rare student who did manage to acquire fluency.  He or she undoubtedly had a strong linguistic intelligence. 

Today, we have moved away from these traditional approaches in teaching languages to a broad spectrum of instructional approaches.  Although these changes were made without the understanding that we have today of how the brain learns, the new methodologies are very much consistent with current theories based on brain research.  Movement, music, visuals, manipulatives, and interactive practice of real life situations are now the stuff of foreign language teaching.  Today, by the end of their first semester of language instruction, students are expected to give short oral presentations, something that would have been unheard of in first semester language classes twenty years ago.  Are students today still learning the grammar?  Yes, but they are learning much more.  Thus, incorporating alternative instruction and assessment methods to language instruction has enabled more students to achieve even higher standards.  (Thoughts of Annette Bell)

2.      How can I really tell if my students have “learned?”

I gave traditional pencil and paper tests for years, tests that mirrored the range of examples and applications we had worked on in class and homework; questions that I believed would show students’ ability to demonstrate and apply their knowledge.  Then I began to substitute performance tasks for some of those tests and discovered, not happily, that some could perform quite well with exam problems similar to class, but when asked to use those concepts and apply them in new situations they clearly had little actual understanding and, in many cases, actual misunderstandings.  Have you really learned, can you say you understand the material, if you can’t apply it to a new situation?  And some who had performed marginally on the traditional exams showed real depth of insight on their alternative assessments.  So while I couldn’t “unzip” the brains in either case, I believe I got a lot closer in the second.  But what about the students who are more comfortable in the traditional format?  I had them write their own exams—they usually turned out more difficult and more interesting than any I had ever written.

What is the bottom line?  I learned to clearly identify the learning outcome(s) I am seeking and to offer the students options for demonstrating their mastery of those outcomes.  Not as easy as writing a single test but oh such much more interesting and enlightening.  The hardest part for me? - getting over my own biases/assumptions that the “easiest” or most “rational” way to demonstrate knowledge of math and statistical concepts is through traditional math computations applied to formatted problems, and recognizing that as my, not necessarily their, comfort zone.  (Thoughts of Khaki Wunderlich)

3.      I have to prepare students to create a particular end product.  They can’t create a model or collage for the English 101 final!  So what can I do?

In most of our classes students do have to create an end product such as correct responses on a math exam or an essay exam for an English course.  However, students can take many paths to learn how to create that end product.  The trick is to identify the skills and concepts your students need in order to create the end product.  Next, develop brain-compatible and MI-friendly projects to teach the skills and explore the concepts.  For example, I use graphical organizers and three-dimensional models to teach composition students rhetorical modes and video clips to introduce writing topics.  After completing these activities, the students use what they have learned to write the essay.  (Thoughts of Lisa Ford)

4.      Why is it important to know about brain research?  Isn’t it enough just to do what we know works from past experience?

Bear with me while I use an analogy from “Car Talk” to answer this question.  A caller once asked Tom and Ray, “When driving a standard transmission vehicle, should one step on the clutch or the break first to slow down and stop the car?”  Unfortunately, I have a hard time remembering the answer because, whichever way I do it, I succeed in stopping the car.  However, I recognize that one way is better for my car’s engine than the other. 

In the same way, as teachers we may experience success with our own tried and true methods.  But have we asked ourselves what the impact of our methods has on the learner.  If we’re honest, we have to admit that some things don’t work for all of our students, and we often don’t have a clue why.  By knowing how the brain functions, we get a better understanding of how our students learn.  We can begin to explain why something works for one, but not another.  We can develop strategies that will help more of our students learn better more of the time.  We have a meaningful rationale for what we do.  (Thoughts of Annette Bell)

5.      I don’t have the time or the knowledge for changing every part of my course.

Rome wasn’t built in a day.  Start with one small change.  (It’s better not to make too many changes at once anyway because there are often aspects of the new program/activity that need “tweaking.”)  One small change tends to lead to more change for many reasons:

a. We get more ideas growing from one.
b. We get infected with the excitement of the students and want to create more excitement over learning.
c. We start talking with colleagues and ideas sprout from these dialogues.
d. Change begets more change.So, my motto (and I practice what I preach) is to START WITH A CHANGLING SEED!

“In truth, I do not expect that initial efforts to apply any new ideas are going to be stunning.  Human experimentation is slow, difficult and filled with zigs and zags.”  -- Howard Gardner

(Thoughts of Marilyn Webb)

6.      Gardner’s MI theory makes a lot of sense to me, but I don’t understand how I can teach my course eight ways! Maybe teaching with MI in mind works for instructors in non-content areas such as English composition, but I teach accounting.  We have to get through a lot of content in fifteen weeks. How can I possibly teach everything eight ways?

Gardner, in a 1997 Educational Leadership interview by Kathy Checkley, answers the “eight ways” question like this:  “It’s … nonsensical to say that everything should be taught seven or eight ways.  That’s not the point of the MI theory. The point is to realize that any topic of importance, from any discipline, can be taught in more than one way.” 

To me, creating an MI-friendly classroom means creating learning experiences that encourage students to use their intelligence strengths and to develop their weaker intelligences.  Here’s my three-step approach for creating an MI friendly classroom:

1.   Identify Students’ MI Strengths and Weaknesses

Discuss multiple intelligences with your students early in the semester. Get them thinking about how they learn, so that as you introduce MI-friendly activities, your students realize the approach is based on teaching/learning research. An in-depth exploration might include having students identify their MI profiles using an instrument such as C. Branton Shearer’s MIDAS (http://www.angelfire.com/oh/themidas/).

2. Develop Complex Projects

Rather than developing “eight ways” for each lesson, consider developing complex projects that encourage the use of combinations of intelligences.  Here’s an example of a complex project for English composition students:  research the problems faced by the homeless population in our area and propose solutions.  MI-friendly tasks that students select as they work on this project could include interviewing experts, creating three dimensional models or flow-charts, exploring the portrayal of the homeless in film and literature, writing songs, and creating artwork.  Students would write essays, write a research paper, and pass an exit exam as required by our English Department, but they would learn the concepts and develop the skills necessary to achieve these tasks as they work on the solution of the complex project.

3.   Identify Core Concepts and Develop MI-friendly Activities

Focus on depth rather than breadth. Isolate the core concepts in your course.  In English composition, understanding rhetorical modes is a core concept; therefore, I’ll present the concept several ways. For example, I’ve developed a 30-minute visual/spatial and interpersonal activity for learning the rhetorical modes. Working in teams, students create a logo for a rhetorical mode. The groups then present their work to each other and try to guess which rhetorical mode is represented by each logo. This activity creates wonderful “aha!” moments for students with visual/spatial and interpersonal strengths. Students with linguistic strengths may get more out of my short lecture with textual examples. For accounting students, a core concept would be debits and credits. I’d suggest developing a variety of MI-friendly activities for this core concept. Our challenge is to identify core concepts in the course and then orchestrate learning experiences that give students opportunities to use their MI strengths and to develop their weaker intelligences.

Creating an MI-friendly classroom takes time. A reasonable first step is to identify one core concept for a course, and to develop a few MI-friendly activities. Also, recognize that we’re often most comfortable teaching in ways that use our own MI strengths.  If you’re most comfortable lecturing (linguistic), you might find it unsettling to present a bodily kinesthetic activity, such as asking students to use toothpicks and clay to create a three-dimensional  representation of the concept of supply and demand. However, if taking this personal creative risk results in students experiencing that wonderful “aha!” moment, your creative risk-taking will be energizing and inspiring for you and for your students.  (Thoughts of Lisa Ford)

7.      OK, I'm ready to try something and I hear you about making small changes.  What can you suggest that would be very small and not require much preparation?

As with dieting or exercising, it is best to start small.  If you’re the kind of person who has to test the water before plunging in, here are a few suggestions.

a. Begin a class by showing an unusual picture on an overhead or by passing around an interesting artifact
b. Show a short video clip to stimulate interest and engage emotions
c. Incorporate a reflection question in an assignment or at the completion of an activity.  Here are some possible questions:   How did you go about completing this activity/assignment? What did you find easy about the activity/assignment?  What was most difficult?  If you could do this activity/assignment again, what would you do differently?  What did you learn from doing this activity/assignment?
d. Enrich the environment of your classroom by creating a “tool box” with markers, post-it notes, scissors, clay, etc.  Allow students to use any of the items in the tool box to create a model to use when participating in a discussion.
e. Develop one assignment for the semester that incorporates choices in the ways the assignment will be completed.  (Thoughts of Annette Bell)

8.      Won’t my students think I’m treating them like children if my class doesn’t look like a “real college classroom?”

Our “brain-compatible learning classroom” at TC3 has artwork, posters, student projects, plants, fish tanks, books, building sets, art supplies, mechanical toys, a computer with internet connection, a TV with a VCR, a fountain, and even stuffed animals.  The uneasy feeling that this enriched, lively classroom setting might not be a “real college classroom” can be an obstacle for both faculty members and students.  While we may be comfortable with the idea that children learn by playing, we might not be comfortable yet with the idea that adults also learn by playing.  Sharing with students and colleagues the current research on how we learn will help remove this obstacle.  Furthermore, when people see for themselves that the serious “play” taking place in this setting facilitates learning and creative risk-taking, they may begin exploring ways to enrich their own classroom or home environment.  (Thoughts of Lisa Ford)

9.      How can I develop the trust necessary to use brain-compatible methodologies in my class effectively?

Recently, we heard Stephen Brookfield, the author of Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher, talk about his own feelings of “impostership.”  When we try new things in our classes, when we are unsure of the outcomes, we are bound to feel like imposters.  Should we share those doubts with our students to gain their trust?  Brookfield gave an excellent example of taking white water rafting lessons from an instructor who begin the class by saying, “In this class, we are all experts.  I know that I will learn as much from you as you will learn from me during this course.  If we run into a problem, we’ll work out a solution together.”  While such an approach sounds democratic and student-centered, it would do nothing to inspire our trust in that instructor, especially if one were fearful of white water rafting!  It is important, he concluded, to assure students that we are credible teachers.

Still, as we try new things, we can’t be certain they will work.  And occasionally some ideas will bomb.  We can’t let that paralyze us.  But how should we deal with it?  Here are some suggestions:

a. Clearly explain the rationale for any new activity you try.
b. Be careful to observe student behavior and make interventions to change the activity or end it if necessary.
c. Ask students to participate actively, but also to observe their own feelings and behaviors as they engage in the activity.
d. Plan a time of “debriefing” after the activity is completed to find out what worked well and what didn’t.  Show respect for all responses without getting defensive about negative feedback.
e. Thank students for their help and suggestions.  (Thoughts of Annette Bell)

10. If I allow students to do different things to complete an assignment, how can I be sure that “standards” have been met?

It is true that assessment becomes more challenging as we accept different kinds of assignments.  We have found that two things happen as we encourage students to demonstrate their understanding of a topic in ways that are compatible with their particular intelligences.  First, we as teachers find we have to put more effort into defining what it is exactly we want our students to know.  For example, in ESOL, it is absolutely necessary for my students to be able to name the part of speech of a new vocabulary word?  No, but it is important that they be able to use that new word appropriately.  Secondly, we find that we as teachers have to stretch ourselves into those intelligences we are less comfortable with. 

So I have to ask myself, can my ESOL student demonstrate the ability to use that new vocabulary word correctly in a number of different ways?  Absolutely.  My verbal linguistic students may feel most comfortable giving a definition, but students who use a song or a movement or a drawing can demonstrate that knowledge just as accurately.  As I learn to accept and deal with these alternate demonstrations of knowledge, my conception of the “standard” does not become watered down, but more flexible and it becomes easier for me to judge whether a particular demonstration meets the standard or not.  (Thoughts of Annette Bell)