I think often the I can statements do a good job of framing the purpose for the lesson and activities, but don't always go far enough in helping students understand WHY this is a valuable thing to learn. I often say somewhere in my lesson, "I bet you are wondering why Ms. Morrow is making you learn this, who cares?" I sometimes even ask students to raise thier hands if they felt that way. I try then to explain why this skill is important. I think this is especially important with some of the literacy strategies we teach. By fourth grade, a lot of our kids have heard about inferring a hundred times already, they have probably sat through almost the exact same lesson in a earlier grade, just with a simpler text. Most of our students are also such strong readers, that they feel it is a waste of time to stop and write out/ask questions as they read, because it takes away from enjoying the story. I try to explain that even the best readers end up reading something that is difficult to comprehend, and all readers will eventually use some strategies. I try to make explicit that many of us are already doing this, but today we are trying to slow our brains down and notice how we comprehend.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
purpose for learning
This seems to be a very hot topic at Lake Harriet right now. Today the associate superintendent came for a learning walk at our school. Diane had volunteered to have her and her team visit/observe our room. They only stayed for about 15 minutes but the most important thing for the district people was did we have our learning target posted (I can statement) and were the students able to explain to the visitors what they were learning.
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I like the distinction you're making between asking kids to explain WHAT they're learning and WHY they're learning it. There's a big difference there. Maybe the "I can" statements need to be expanded to "I can X and this is important/meaningful/worthwhile because Y" Let me suggest that when you ask kids, "Why are we learning this anyway?", you give them a chance to answer instead of you explaining it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it's important to listen to your stronger readers who resist always having to document their strategic thinking. When would "real" readers do this? Probably if they were expected to talk about or write about what they read (in a book discussion, for a project or paper). In those cases, closer reading is required, and writing down ideas is a way to "hold their thinking". You're right to notice that too many school'ish requirements around reading will squeeze the enjoyment right out of it.