Some More Shocking Research on Study Habits

From the NY Times. For all the learners out there, these study tips were helpful. The general idea is that studying can be more effective by alternating the a) environment, b) content, c) schedule as well as by introducing some more frequent (self) assessment.

Alternating environment:

For instance, instead of sticking to one study location, simply alternating the room where a person studies improves retention. So does studying distinct but related skills or concepts in one sitting, rather than focusing intensely on a single thing.

And switching content:

Varying the type of material studied in a single sitting — alternating, for example, among vocabulary, reading and speaking in a new language — seems to leave a deeper impression on the brain than does concentrating on just one skill at a time.

And changing the study schedule:

An hour of study tonight, an hour on the weekend, another session a week from now: such so-called spacing improves later recall, without requiring students to put in more overall study effort or pay more attention, dozens of studies have found.

Plus my own little pet project. Assessment:

That’s one reason cognitive scientists see testing itself — or practice tests and quizzes — as a powerful tool of learning, rather than merely assessment. The process of retrieving an idea is not like pulling a book from a shelf; it seems to fundamentally alter the way the information is subsequently stored, making it far more accessible in the future.

Teachers! Take note of this last one. It seems some of the things we spend a great deal of time learning about is not supported by psycho-ed research.

Take the notion that children have specific learning styles, that some are “visual learners” and others are auditory; some are “left-brain” students, others “right-brain.” In a recent review of the relevant research, published in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a team of psychologists found almost zero support for such ideas. “The contrast between the enormous popularity of the learning-styles approach within education and the lack of credible evidence for its utility is, in our opinion, striking and disturbing [my italics]” the researchers concluded.

Study Tips That Work

The link is here.

I especially liked

• #1 - Adopt a growth mindset
• #4 - Test yourself
• #8 - Get handouts prior to the lecture
• #9 - Believe in yourself

#4 was misleading however, since the articles says "time spent answering quiz questions (including feedback of correct answers) is more beneficial than the same time spent merely re-studying that same material", and follows up that thought with, "self-testing when information is still fresh in your memory, immediately after studying, doesn’t work. It does not create lasting memories, and it creates overconfidence."

No Wonder They Don't Like Math

I started reading Polya's "How to Solve It" this morning and found some tasty gems immediately:

• "Thus, a teach of mathematics has a great opportunity. If he fills his allotted time with drilling his students in routine operations he kills their interest, hampers their intellectual development, and misuses his opportunity. But if he challenges the curiosity of his students by setting them problems proportionate to their knowledge, and helps them to solve their problems with stimulating questions, he may give them a taste for, and some means of, independent thinking."

• "... overhearing Polya's comments to his non-existent teacher can bring that desirable person into being, as an imaginary but very helpful figure leaning over one's shoulder."

• "Mathematics, you see, is not a spectator sport. To understand mathematics means to be able to do mathematics."

• "... to teach mathematics well, one must also know how to misunderstand it at least to the extent one's students do!"

• "Experienced mathematicians know that often the hardest part of researching a problem is under standing precisely what that problem says. [...] 'If you can't solve a problem, then there is an easier problem you can't solve: find it.'"

Next, I Will No Longer Teach My Class

At the end of my first year of teaching, I heard from another first year teacher, Mr. X., who taught a special education class with some really big challenges. He had some experience with technology and film production and so his fresh take on teaching was to:

1. Record his lessons in advance, and play them during class time
2. Work closely with his students who required the most personal attention during the time when the class learned via prepared video

Amazingly, this teacher was running his own focused Khan Academy in class. And then provided individualized special education service, while his lesson was being taught simultaneously. By him!

Now what does this have to do with me?

This year I am teaching a small class that needs a different approach to math. (Which I am fully intending to provide.) While I am teaching this class, I want to do the same thing that Mr. X. was doing. And I think, via a Technology PD session at my school, I've learned the way that I can do it.

VoiceThread

Here's what I know already I can do with VT:

• Post images
• Connect audio and video to those images
• Set up a slideshow presentation
• Write on the slides/images with colored pens (Just like Khan!)

I don't yet know what my capacity limits are for this site though. Can I do a whole lesson? Can I do a week's lessons? For how many classes? Semesters? The whole year?

What else can I do with this? Anything better out there that I've been missing?

So excited for the potential to clone myself in the classroom!

Teachers Unite! Let's Stop Grading!

Teachers are amazingly talented professionals with a wide range of skills from delivering content instruction to all types of learners to offering support and consulting to troubled youths. But, nearly across the profession, one particular skill has way too much time being devoted to itself: GRADING.

I want to cut my grading time down to nothing. I might not make it all the way, but the closer I get the better I'll be at every other thing, from lesson planning to instruction to advising and on.

How Am I Going to Start:

1. Watch YouTube
2. Get together a team of dedicated teachers, who want to plan smarter and grade less.
3. Try and try again until we succeed.

Who's with me?

Now, What I Want To Do as a Teacher

I spoke today with two incoming seniors about some topics that I felt hit the core of what it is I want to do as a teacher.

1. Teach like an economist, not like a teacher. Economists think about opportunity cost and would teach the lesson that makes best use of the given time, attention and other precious resources. But some teachers will teach a lesson just because they taught it before, or because its part of the curriculum, or because its on the test. I don't want to get trapped in the mindset of being a teacher like that.
2. Teach students the things they need to know to succeed anywhere and everywhere. Again, teaching to assessment criteria and curricula are essential. But how about teaching what they need to know to succeed in other classes too? How about prioritizing? Time management? Leadership? Critical thinking? Problem-solving? Aren't these the things we need to know to succeed throughout high school? And in college? In our careers? In any endeavor we undertake?
3. Know what each individual student wants to be, know, and do and then teach this to them. I know that I like math and that history teachers tend to like history. I also know that these subjects are meaningful to us because they not only pay the rent but also give our lives purpose. Does this apply to every teenager who walks into a classroom? Aren't there some students for whom sports, dancing, magic, painting, etc. give the purpose to their lives? Won't some of these same students also one day pay their rent from something related to their experiences as athletes, ballerinas, card sharks, and artists? Shouldn't we encourage "extracurriculars" as having meaning beyond an after-school activity? Isn't that last history assignment displacing some time that a student could have spent on developing their hobby into something greater and more meaningful? What comes first? What the student wants to know or what I want them to know?

Of course there is a balance to strike between what I want to do and what I have to do as a teacher. I'd never want a student to fail as a result of a selfish desire to teach them more of what I want them to know. Still, I'd rather try and fail at these goals for my teaching career than never consider their importance and limit myself to a narrower view. I couldn't work like that and I won't.

Why Do I Want to Be a Teacher?

Late last night I had an excellent conversation with a student who came at me with one of those questions that you usually provide a short tweet-like answer to: "So how did you decide to become a teacher?" Often I might answer this with a "Well, I never studied to become a teacher. I actually studied economics." Or a, "I just really enjoy it." If I were interviewing for a new teaching position, of course I would be asked the same question and provide an answer similar to the latter, "I really enjoy teaching and the challenge of working with interesting young people...".

Truthfully though I already know the answer here. I think I value certain qualities in my work, those being (in no particular order):

1. Creativity
2. Freedom
3. Challenge
4. Intrinsically Rewarding

On #1, as a kid I always pictured myself becoming a writer or film director even though I never devoted much time and practice to those pursuits. On #4, I remember in college having a moral dilemma with every career I considered (business/economics didn't seem to be helping the world enough, even medicine seemed like I would only be helping a few people and the good I did would depend on the good done by others).

With teaching however, I get to hit all of these core values right in the sweet spot:

• For #1 and #2, I have learned over the years how much creativity and freedom is involved in teaching and I think this would be very difficult to give up. Once you have a job that allow you to indulge your myths of being a lone wolf and visionary artist that it a tough addiction to break.
• For #3 and #4, obviously teaching teenagers to enjoy math, science, or any subject that isn't eating or chatting is a challenge is a great challenge, but where this job gets truly rewarding is when you get to learn who your students are, what they want to be and can help advise them on how to get there.

If I have students who share my values and get to find studies and work that connect them with those values then I'm excited at that possibility. But the greatest thing will be if they are able to realize their own persona values and discover a path to transforming those values into decisions that affect the rest of their lives.