Assistance in Learning
When
we think about assistance in education, we generally think about a teacher or
tutor helping a student to complete a homework assignment or study for a test. The
PAR framework uses assistance to mean the teacher assisting the student in gaining deep, meaningful comprehension from a reading.
Research has shown that when information is simply read, only a small
percentage of it is comprehended. When a teacher requires the student to take
an active part in their learning, they will naturally learn more, remember
more, and understand concepts more fully. This is the purpose of
constructivism. It is a student-centered
approach to learning which allows, “readers to feel comfortable with learning
because they are so fully integrated in putting it all together (Richardson, Morgan, Fleener, 2012, p. 85).” With a
constructivist approach, students are required to use higher-order thinking
skills and go beyond knowledge checks that require simply scanning through the
book or hitting CTRL+F on the keyboard. While students are learning more than
they would be by simply listening to a lecture or book reading, it may not feel as
taxing because the approach puts the students’ learning in the students’ hands.
The teacher is more of a facilitator .
Several
different approaches and strategies were given that could be used in the assistance
phase. This has been my favorite part of
this text book thus far. It gives concrete, tangible examples of strategies
that can be used in the classroom, and describes when the best time to use those
examples. While WIKA seems to be a commonly accepted strategy, it is new to me.
I have not seen this strategy used , but it seems to be exceptional. It will help the teacher assess
prior knowledge. It will help the student to put into words the reason why they
are doing the reading and what they have learned from the reading, which
ensures a more complete comprehension. And finally, it helps the teacher to see
where learning gaps have occurred. I also really like the mystery clue game. I
can see this being something students would really enjoy doing and it could be
adapted to many different situations. When students can have fun like this,
they don’t resist learning. Questions and questioning strategies are also
addressed. They QAR strategy stresses teaching students to generate their own
questions. By generating their own questions, students’ comprehension is
increased. I wonder at what age this
strategy becomes appropriate. I plan to teach elementary school and it seems
like it might be a bit much to be able to ask 10 year olds to generate their
own questions. Am I not giving them enough credit? At what point have students
developed the cognitive ability to be able to do things like formulating
questions from the reading or discerning the difference between a question that
should be answered from the reading and an answer they should be able to answer
by looking inside themselves?
Last semester, I was in a 4th grade classroom for one of my practicum experiences. In that class, students did generate their own questions and QAR was one strategy I observed on a few occasions. Furthermore, generating questions is actually a sub-standard within the language arts SOLs (I think it is in 4th grade, but it may be in other K-6 grades too). So, it must be taught in the classroom. I think that elementary students can generate questions to guide their learning, they just need to be taught how to do so. For example, the students in my cooperating teacher’s 4th grade class were fairly successful at generating questions because the teacher practiced it with them on a regular basis. With proper instruction and scaffolding, students at very young ages can accomplish more than we may think. I am not sure at what age(s) students possess the cognitive development to participate in these higher order thinking skills, but I think that it may be younger then we imagine if adequate instruction, practice, and feedback is provided. This discussion has actually reminded me about Piaget and his theory of cognitive development. Piaget said that cognitive development progressed through a stage or step-like fashion. However, other researchers expanded upon Piaget and found that children can actually understand various aspects of conservation (number, weight, liquid) at an earlier age than expected if their background knowledge and past experiences promoted earlier development. I wish I could remember the text I read that provided me with this information, it was years ago in either a child-development or educational psychology course, so I may have misremembered some of it. Anyways, I do think that students are much more capable than we sometimes give them credit for, and I am always astounded when I hear teachers say think like, “My students can’t do that, that’s too hard” (which I unfortunately heard from one teacher – not my cooperating teacher- many, many times). I say, that with well-planned support systems, students can accomplish most tasks we set for them, assuming those tasks are age and developmentally appropriate.
ReplyDeleteHey Nancy. In response to your question about what age would be appropriate to ask children to form their own questions about reading, In my opinion, because this generation of children is a lot wiser than say past generations in comprehension level and being able to understand certain things, I would say at the age of 6 or 7. Having the knowledge of technology has significantly enhanced the minds of our young people. I know of 5 year olds that are fully capable of operating an ipad or laptop without hesitation. Especially cell phones. As a result, children are capable of forming their own questions at an earlier age than expected.
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