Getting feedback right – David Didau: The Learning Spy

See on Scoop.it – Engaging Learners

For the sake of convenience I’ve collated and condensed my recent series of posts on getting feedback right, and they are now available as a single download. It’s not intended to be a complete or exhaustive exploration of everything to do with feedback or as a necessarily right; instead I hope it provokes discussion and that

See on www.learningspy.co.uk

Sugata Mitra: What I think we can we learn from him

There is a lot of hype right now about ‘Saint’ Hole-In-The-Wall Sugata Mitra, and I have decided to jump on the bandwagon myself. Whether he is brilliant or not, I think theres a lot more to his ideas than I originally thought.

One critique I heard about his work is that western students do not have the motivation for autonomous learning that is evident in Mitra’s Indian students. Yes, in my experience, when left to independent study on computers, many of my students will just watch music videos on YouTube. Some do need the prompt from a teacher to get back to work, but not all students do; some quietly get on with their assigned work. What is the difference? In my experiences, it was the students motivation. Students who are intrinsically motivated by the task and are curious about the topic are the ones who are more likely to stay focused. 

What about the Indian children? Are they intrinsically motivated by calculus? Or why women don’t grow moustaches? Maybe. But I think that their motivation is more likely achievement or social motivation. From my observations, I believe those children are generally and culturally less apathetic to learning and education than many of our western teenagers. Is that because of the difference in accessibility of education between the two cultures? Thats another topic. 

What if the given task or question was to describe the latest Lorde music video? I predict we won’t have many students using the computer other than to carry out the assigned task. Is that because it is fun? Or something they’re interested in? Because it involves music? Is it relevant to them? Does it involve their pop culture? Are they curious?

How can we make the intended learning intrinsically motivating to our students? One scenario when I managed this was when I gave my students choice. Not just multiple choice, but complete choice and freedom of the context in which the intended learning can occur.  Ok there where a few boundaries to begin with (work out A, B, and C of your chosen example, and then use them to create your own example). I lifted these boundaries during the task when I realised students were achieving a great flow of important learning and should allow them to continue towards whichever direction or topic they felt they needed (or wanted) to learn. I found very high levels of engagement in these students when previously they were apathetic to everything I had offered them in class. These students didn’t achieve the initial desired outcome of creating their own example after grasping the theory. What happened instead was the students became intrinsically motivated to come to a deeper understanding of this theory that I spent weeks trying to teach whilst struggling to engage them. Each student looked closely at a different topic, and then were able to teach each other what they had learnt in another class. Finally I had found a way to encourage them to cognitively engage with the theory I was trying to teach, and it was by allowing them the freedom and choice to find it themselves.

The Granny Cloud

So what is the granny cloud doing? She (or he) is offering the students positive reinforcement, showing passion and interest in what the students are doing, and, I feel most importantly, allowing the students to be the knowledge bearer. The granny allows the students to feel in control of the knowledge and gives the students the sense of being teacher. A shift in power dynamic.

Even if we don’t like the way that it is conducted for our own teaching, I think there is something within this worth thinking about. What happens when we ask our students to explain to us something we don’t know about such as a current trend or piece of technology. In my experience I usually witness a subtle change in their body language; a smirk or a smile, a relaxed  “well….” exhaled with a sigh, or maybe even a giggle. Theres something endearing about knowing something your teacher doesn’t. This perhaps pleasurable or comforting sensation creates a different tone to the usual communication had between teacher and student. Its more friendly, open, and relaxed. It moves away from the sense of working in the classroom towards a sense of play time. It’s rapport building, it’s developing a safe classroom climate. So, can this sensation be taken and used as a tool to enhance learning?

Finally, the point of no longer needing teachers to teach knowledge as it can be found on our laptops or smart phones. To a certain extent; YES. We need to be teaching critical thinking, problem solving and creativity. If kids don’t know something, they will be able to find out pretty quick through the internet. Thats not to say knowledge is irrelevant however; we need knowledge to problem solve, to think critically and to be creative. Yes, our education system is outdated and we don’t need it anymore. We need a new one. I salute Sugata Mitra for daring to make a claim so bold that it ruffled many feathers. He managed to get us all talking and thinking. 

Bad Behaviour: Are we right to punish first? Reacting to negative behaviour positively.

I know its a bold idea, and it’s not that I don’t think we shouldn’t punish bad behaviour, but it seems to me that the cycle of bad behaviour and punishment is a common school theme for many students across the UK. How can we break this cycle? If the punishment isn’t working and the student continues to behave badly and disruptively, then surely we should be looking at another way of combating or preventing this bad behaviour; thus breaking the cycle. 

Why is it a cycle? A student behaves negatively, and so we punish them, which in turn is a negative action. And this negative action of punishment leads to students having a negative emotional reaction, again probably leading back to negative behaviour. It may not be instant. In some cases, the punishment may work for a short amount of time, but its not a long term solution. 

What happens if we stop to work out what is leading that student to behave badly, and instead of thinking of a punishment, think of a solution?

Are they disengaged with the work? Why are they disengaged? Are they finding it too easy? Is it too challenging? Are they given the support they need to work through the challenge? Do they find it relevant? Or even interesting? Do they have a good relationship with you and/or the classmates? Are they lacking something they need? Are they eating properly? Are they sleeping properly? Are they stressed? Are they happy? Do they think you care? Do you show you care? Do you ever really talk to them?

That was a lot of questions, but they are all questions I think are important to ask, and perhaps not even all the questions we should ask. 

So what happens if we don’t react to bad behaviour with a negative response, but instead react with a positive response. I definitely don’t mean praise the bad behaviour… do acknowledge the bad behaviour but do not condone it, and make sure the student sees that. The aim is to help resolve any issues there may be for that student (it is also important not to let the student use bad behaviour as an attention seeking device with no consequences). Does this student ever get a positive response from you? Does the student ever feel supported by you? Do they see that you care? Does the student ever feel that you are working together, rather than against each other? 

Positive rapport with students is so important. Emotional engagement helps promote behavioural engagement, in turn allowing deeper cognitive engagement – and thats what we are aiming for as teachers, right? Students are less likely to act out if they enjoy what they’re doing and there’s a positive climate in the room. If there is persistent bad behaviour in the room, how can we adapt our teaching to promote a positive and healthy climate in order to lower the chance of bad behaviour? This is perhaps the biggest and most challenging…challenge of teachers. If something isn’t working, can thinking about it differently lead to ideas that promote positive change, and perhaps even resolution?