In a time where breadth seems to be the way to go, Ellin Keene, author of Mosaic of Thought, argues for a "National Conversation" and so I would like us to be a part of that conversation. What is essential for our students? Keene would argue for a the learning theory that asks this of us...
Learning Theory:
To focus on a few key concepts;
of great import
taught in great depth;
over a long period of time;
and applied in a variety of texts and contexts.
Seems simple almost...doesn't it? Please take the time to think about and respond to this in terms of you and your students. Let's begin this conversation with your thoughts and ideas in response to this theory. Think about an area that you have done this, or would like to do this....and ultimately what IS essential for our students?
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This is theory is the basis for Special Education. It is my job as a Special Educator to take the lessons in the classroom and break them down into the key concepts. Then I present these concepts to the identified students in a multitude of ways. I teach the concepts in depth and reteach them as often as I can.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that nearly every teacher would agree with this theory. However, the "luxury" of time is what the regular classroom teachers are lacking. How can they keep up with teaching every concept in depth when they must keep up with district expectations and state-wide testing.So, in my opinion, this theory is an ideal.
I went to a workshop this past Thursday with Ellin Keene and it was an eye opening, inspiring day. Ellin did discuss the Learning Theory and it made a great deal of sense to me. It seems simple enough and I wished I had known about it earlier.
ReplyDeleteThis year has been a trial and error year for me since it is my first year with my own classroom and teaching a grade level I didn't really have much experience teaching. Often times I have found myself getting frustrated with myself for feeling like I have not been teaching a concept effectively. I have also gotten frustrated with my students because I couldn't understand why they didn't understand a concept that seemed so easy to me. What I am now realizing is that things need to be taught in great depth over a long period of time.
I couldn't understand how a comprehension strategy like questioning could be taught over a 6 week period when I spent about a week on it. I now know that I need to find different ways to address this strategy and apply it to different situations and different texts.
I am now beginning to think about what I will do next school year and I am looking forward to this summer to organize my thoughts and have time to plan units of study over a longer period of time. I was beginning to feel as though this year was wasted but I now know that everything I've learned has been a stepping stone to where I want to go.
I read Mosaic of Thought last year and really enjoyed the text. I do agree with this theory and believe that it is ideal for any classroom. To focus on a few concepts, and really expose students to it using different genres and texts is a wonderful thought. However, like Lisa said above, I feel like I don't have that luxary as a classroom teacher. I feel so pressured by curriculum maps and district and state standards that I don't have time to go into depth on concepts I would really like to spend a lot of time on. I feel like students would really absorb more if I didn't have as much to cover. However, time isn't a luxary.
ReplyDeleteNow that I am implimenting and have been trying Reader's Workshop this year, I feel like I can spend more time on the Reading Strategies. I feel like next year and in years to come, I will get more comfortable and have more resources so I may be able to go into depth more. I look forward to this. However, at this point, I feel like their is so much on my plate in terms of curriculum, that I don't have the time to really dig deeper into certain areas.
I also read Mosaic of Thought and agree with the learning theory, but is it not realistic to think that with all the district expectations and assessments and everything else the classroom teachers have to do, that there is enough time to focus on all the key concepts and teach these concepts in great depth over a long period of time. I do believe that during grade level meetings, each grade level could pick a few key concepts they believe to be important and go in depth with them. That may ease up some pressure. I don't know....just a thought. As a Title 1 teacher, I've been able to go in some depth with some connections and schema. Again, I have other areas of concern I need to do with the children and now and then I'm able to work on some of the key concepts.
ReplyDeleteI remember a professor of mine at UNH telling me how important it is to uncover the curriculum, not cover it. That was about 11 years ago. To this day, I don’t feel as though I’ve done a good job of uncovering the curriculum. In the area of science and social studies I don’t feel there is enough time. I barely get to “cover” the curriculum given in our maps. Each year something else seems to get added on without anything being taken away. I do feel that this is possible when using the reading workshop model and comprehension strategies. I feel that there are many ways you can approach each strategy and use a variety of genres as well. I don’t feel like I am there yet. I spent the first two years learning about the strategies and reading Mosaic of Thought and Strategies That Work. I used what I learned from these books to introduce the strategies to my students each year. I was only experimenting and touched upon the strategies throughout each year. This year I am now learning about reader’s workshop and trying to combine that with the strategies. I still feel like I am just getting my feet wet and I struggle trying to keep to the reading workshop model every day each week. With more practice and tweaking of my schedule I think I will become better at using the reading workshop while using the strategies. If our school day was longer I think it would be a lot easier to spend more time on the curriculum we teach. Students would be able to explore topics more in depth. I think I would be able to be more creative in the way I teach the curriculum too. I think it is essential for students to experience a topic in depth, through a long period of time, and in a variety of ways.
ReplyDeleteI have always wished that I was an "expert" at something. I'm a good cook, a decent skier, and can hit a golf ball with reasonable accuracy. But I'm not great at any of those things. I admire people who focus their efforts in one main direction. Olympic athletes, chefs in 5-star restaurants, now those people are experts.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think about the way I used to teach reading and compare it to my classroom today, I think I am guiding my students towards a competancy that would help them become expert readers. After reading and discussing Mosaic of Thought and Strategies That Work with my colleagues at school I felt I was on the right path, but I still had more questions than I did answers. Learning about Readers' Workshop has filled a lot of those gaps for me. I am hoping that next year I can go much more in depth with each strategy rather than "bouncing around" as I have been doing.
Several weeks ago at a Staff Council meeting my principal shared with us an article by Kieran Egan that was published in the "Educational Leadership" magazine. The title is "Learning in Depth," and it discusses the concept of first graders being assigned a topic of study that they will continue to research until they graduate from high school. She writes about creating "a world of experts" and also believes that "Chances are,students who have had the opportunity to learn something in depth will become lifelong learners." Adam asked us to consider how we could initiate a program such as this, modified to cover grades one through five. Imagine one of my first graders beginning to learn about apples (the example from the article.) As the student's abilities and experiences increase he/she would go from learning what a few types of apples are to areas of the world where they are grown to finding examples of apples in songs and poems to completing scientific research on their nutritional value.
Obviously this task would take time, which is a resource we all complain there isn't enough of. But if we can raise a generation of expert readers, I can only wonder what other benefits these students would gain in their lives.
To me the Learning Theory is far from simple. It brings many questions to my mind. My first thought is that it would be interesting to be able to focus only on teaching a few key concepts. Who would decide what those few key concepts are though? There is so much to learn throughout our whole lives… how do we decide what would be essential? Initially, I think about the basics that we’d probably all agree on; kids need to know how to read, write and do arithmetic. Do we stop teaching about history and science to focus on those basics? I think that would be a huge mistake. Or do we integrate science and history with the reading, writing and arithmetic? I believe that’s the best idea.
ReplyDeleteAs others in the blog have written, teachers are given standards and curriculum maps that encompass so much material that I find it is really difficult to think about teaching only a few key concepts. Because of my experience as a teacher, I know I’d say…what about such and such? We can’t leave that out!
I know my students and I love taking the time to focus on one subject area. Right now we are studying about matter in science and beginning to study the Revolutionary War in social studies. Both are huge subjects and I love teaching both of them and believe the students become infused with curiosity and want to learn. It is difficult to do both subjects justice with our time limitations. But we try! Would it be better to spend full days and months studying one of these areas? I’m sure it would, but I don’t see how.
Are the strategies of reading the few key essential concepts Ellin Keane refers to? It seems so. I see that teaching reading strategies and teaching children to be independent readers are stepping-stones to becoming independent learners. Are the reading strategies what we should “teach in great depth, over long periods of time, applying them to a variety of texts and contexts?” Will that be enough? Can we use them to teach all the things we are told to? Or is it enough to teach, model, and practice the strategies with students so they are able to become great thinkers as they grow and can learn to use their minds well to thrive in our complex world?
When I read this theory, the first thing that comes to my mind is, "Oh wouldn't that be nice!" It seems that the opposite theory has been the standard since I have been in my classroom. Every time something new comes down the line, I hear that my students need to be "exposed to" this and that, without really focusing on expertise in any area. In our math program, we are told NOT to spend too much time on any one lesson or concept. I know that very often we will hit on something that the students want to run with - a science concept or a particular book or a line of inquiry - and I always know in the back of my head that something else that I'm supposed to do is suffering if I allow students to follow their interest and satiate their curiosity.
ReplyDeleteMaybe, as others have said, the reading strategies are the keys and the things that we should be teaching in depth over long periods of time. If students learn to read and think critically about their reading - these skills will certainly carry over into all of their studies. Maybe if we spend our time making them experts in thinking strategies, they will take those strategies and use them to follow their interests. Maybe it isn't our job to make them experts - but to give them the skills to make themselves independent learners so that they can become experts in whatever they choose.
I agree with many of the comments, frustrations and hopes that have been expressed. Focusing on a few key concepts and teaching them in great depth would be a dream. I get more excited about teaching when I am planning my instruction that way. I have so many great resources and complete thematic units on my shelves that I am always dying to use. The children are much more interested and involved when you do that. They can make connections more easily when we use the same concepts in a variety of ways. They come up with interesting responses and ideas. Using this learning theory would help with what I feel is essential which is helping my students learn how to be learners and to be strategic about their learning. There would be time to talk and reflect and actually let them ask questions and pursue further research to answer their questions.
ReplyDeleteBut right now as many have noted, there is just so much to cover and so little time. There are 5 themes of geography, 6 traits of a writer, 7 good reading strategies, 12 units of math, a basal or no basal, regions across the US, 50 states and capitals, everything you ever wanted to know about NH and more. I was just scoring some writing samples, and it became very clear that most of the class still cannot focus well on a key idea and develop it. Supposedly they have “done” 6 traits since grade 1. So are we just covering the curriculum…or are the children really learning essential skills?
I love the ideas I have learned through the book study and the course this year. Reader’s Workshop will be a stepping stone for me toward realizing this theory of learning. Weaving the comprehension strategies throughout the day and throughout the curriculum is becoming easier. They are definitely part of what is essential. Getting to a point where we focus on a few key concepts will take time. It will take conversations across grade levels in my building to work toward a common focus of what is essential for our students. And as Gigi noted…who gets to decide? We all have things we want to hold on to. And the district and state testing cannot be forgotten.
As Tomasen stated above, this theory seems simple and it makes so much sense. Ultimately, this is where I would like to go as a teacher. I don't think I am there yet. I find that instead of taken fewer concepts and teaching them to my students in great depth, I am trying to cover too much and the depth of coverage is inconsistent. Like Colleen stated, we introduce a concept in math but quickly move on before all of the students have mastered it. Will this hurt them in the end or will it not make a difference? As a new teacher, I often fear that I will fall behind, thus, I don't teach as thoroughly as I would if I had all the time in the world.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the reading strategies, I have been experimenting and trying new things as I learn them. However, I am excited to start fresh in September and hopefully have the chance to spend more time teaching these strategies.
I believe that focusing on a few key concepts is certainly the way to go. It's a given that teachers will never have enough time to cover all the curriculum requirements in depth, so it makes sence to me to find the best way to organize my time. I too am familiar with "covering" and "uncovering" the curriculum. The terms were brought to my attention during a Master's class at Leslie College two years ago, and I agree that "uncovering" is essential in the classroom. It seems to me that the way to use my time to best educate my students is to teach them to be independent learners by stressing reading strategies, since reading is the key to knowledge. Students will always have different interests, but if they hone their reading skills they will be able to explore subjects in depth in order to satisfy these interests. This allows the educator more time to cover the necessary subject matter in greater detail. Again, time constraints will allways be a problem but teaching the students to become independent learners should improve this situation.
ReplyDeleteHaving the luxury of time to teach a few key concepts is every teacher's dream. However, given the constraints of time, we seem to have to rush through some of the content we teach.
ReplyDeleteThis year has been all trial and error for me. I was very uncomfortable in the beginning with the reader's and writer's workshop. But as this year has progressed and by taking this class and being able to listen to other teachers, I am feeling more confident that I will be able to do a better job with reader's and writer's workshop in my classroom next year. I think that Ellin Keene's theory also pertains to an educator learning to teach in a new way. We need to focus on learning key concepts over an extended period of time. This type of change does not happen overnight.
I look forward to incorporating what I have learned this year into next year's lesson. I am excited to guide my students into independent thinking and reading.
As I look through my plan book and scan the upcoming weeks, I am reminded of just how much I have to teach and how little time is left. If only Ellin Keene's Learning Theory was in place! To focus on only a few key concepts and really be able to explore those concepts in an indepth manner would be ideal. Imagine the teaching that could be done if we had the luxury of more time, because we had a manageable amount of concepts to teach! Just thinking about that idea alone has me inspired. I feel like we as teachers get bogged down by the amount of stuff we have to teach that we end up just "covering" some of the material and the passion disappears. We teach the material because we "have to" and don't have time to make learning "come to life". Our students end up "learning" about a concept only to "take a test" and forget most of what they "learned". I find myself thinking, "Is that what is really essential?" No. I think what is essential for our students is that they really get the time to go indepth with a concept and feel the passion behind the teaching. Maybe I'm being naive, but I feel like sometimes all a student needs to be hooked is a teacher who is passionate about what she is teaching. But with so much to cover, unfortunately sometimes the passion gets pushed aside so the material can be "covered". It's too bad, because in the end everyone loses out on something.
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