1. So was Madeline Hunter right after all? What did you learn in this chapter that could be applied to her Anticipatory Set?
2. Do our classes use repetition enough for students to actually learn? How could we incorporate repetition across the curriculum?
3. Whenever we lost things, my dad would always say, "Where were you when you had it last?" Also, if I forget what I am doing, because I have been interrupted mid-flight, I often go back to the location I started in to remember. Any other stories that have been given an aha by this reading?
4. What is one thing you will change in your pedagogy because of reading this chapter?
Thursday, April 15, 2010
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Chapter 5 was an interesting chapter on short term memory. The life cycle of declarative memory can be divided into 4 sequential steps: encoding, storing, retrieving,and forgetting. Our discussion group mentioned how important and applicable the M. Hunter method was for making connections in the anticipatory set and having many examples to help with the various cycles of declarative memory. The chapter 5 concept that students can best remember information that is eleborate, meaningful, and contextual also corresponds to the M. Hunter methology.
ReplyDeleteWe discussed the importance of retrieval through repetition. Does repetition cause regurgitation or proof of learning? The English teachers compared experiences with Required Academic Vocabulary. We are realizing that students are coming to some of our classes already very familiar with some of the RAV terms. We are assuming it is through repetition. The important thing is that they are learning the words, not just regurgitating them.
ReplyDeleteWe also discussed the importance of having a familiar setting. If the students learn an entire math lesson in one room, they should be tested in the same room. This could be researched when referring to standardized tests. I've been at schools in the past where English teachers proctored English tests, science teachers proctored science tests, etc. This way the students are completing the test in the room where they learned the content. Just a thought...
Madeline Hunter was right on target with good teaching practices. If a teacher provides a good anticipatory set, students link into the subject of the day; a well-established objective or goal gives them the purpose of the class, and the lesson packed with good examples are all suggestions given in this chapter. Repetition is necessary for learning. Granted, some people can learn with one or two references and examples when new material is presented, but it often takes many more repetitions for others, sometimes up to 23 times to learn. We need to work on better short-term memory and long-term memory techniques in class.
ReplyDeleteThe part of the chapter that I found interesting was how we remember things better if we are feeling certain emotions. When I have students struggling to think of a topic for reflective essays or personal narratives, I tell them to think about people leaving/dying or times they received injuries. I know these are things I find I remember really well. This chapter helped that make sense and also helps me realize I'm on the right track with helping students brainstorm.
ReplyDeleteThere were definitely some interesting stories in this chapter as well. The boy who had surgery for epilepsy and could not retain any short term memories made me think of the movie 50 First Dates but I never thought of it in terms of not being able to recognize your own apperance as you aged!
Our group discussed the value of repetition in classes. We talked about how it needs to be done right in order for it to be beneficial for students. There is no point in repeating the same thing over and over again if students don’t understand the meaning. If they don’t get why something works the way it does, then repeating the same thing multiple times will not help them learn the material. I think using repetition in how you structure your classroom is helpful for students. For example, if students know that everyday when they get to class they have an opening activity, the repetition in their schedule helps them be a more successful student.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I found interesting in the reading was the part of creating a memorable introduction to help students remember the unit. I want to try and create introductions that have students create a personal connection to the unit right away, so they are more likely to remember it.
Learners need to take ownership of their learning. We want to creat life long learners but how can we do that if the teacher is in total charge of the learning? Repeat over 2 dozen times? How about if kids use/rinse/repeat as needed? I need to repeat french verbs a zillion times to learn them but I don't need to endlessly repeat governmental checks and balances....YOU may have the opposite need. The learner has responsibility-especially at our level.
ReplyDeleteWe talked about how it is a good idea to use repetition to increase the students learning, but like anything else there is some that would abuse this style; turning it from repetition to regurgitation. Think of a time that you were in college and all you did for 2 hours was sit there and take notes; that was it. That is technically repetitious behavior but not the meaning that they were leaning toward. The correct use of repetition in the classroom is an art form with a delicate balance of use vs. overuse.
ReplyDeleteShould this be uniform across the curriculum? No. The district is too large and there would not be the uniformity that they desire.
Where is the stimulation for the students? Where are the differences in educational strategies? How can I change this material without changing the content? These are some questions that you must think about when teaching to check to see if you are using repetition effectively or not.
From Chapter 5, I found the statistics related to retention of material interesting and appalling; we forget 90% of what we learn within 30 days?!?! Even more frightening, most of what we forget is lost with in a few hours! Yikes; no wonder why I feel like I'm losing my mind!
ReplyDeleteHowever, on a positive note, I appreciate Medina's support that the more complex something is, the greater the learning. This clearly supports our efforts to increase rigor within our courses. The whole student excuse that it's too hard never did and never will cut it with this as evidence. For my own teaching, I feel that I will continue to expect/force kids to do things that they feel they can't. Building confidence and not accepting that a student "can't do in-text citations" is supported here. Because work is difficult is a good thing.
This chapter was a very interesting one as I struggle to remember the short term instead of the long term things! The more we elaborately encode information at the moment of learning, the stronger the memory. Making the intro compelling (for a lesson) may help with memory! And the intro doesn't have to be THAT creative/unusual. It can be as simple as providing an opener asking students to recall what they learned the day before and then to apply it.
ReplyDeleteI found evidence of the superiority of spaced learning vs. mass learning lending itself to the controversy of skinnies vs. the block schedule
In our group today we talked about how the responsibility should be more on the student than the teacher. It seems we as teachers may repeat, but if students want to convert their short term to long term then THEY need to review multiple times in AND outside of class, aka. Homework does this!
Today the group sat and discussed the questions, we determined that more repetition is necessary and that Madeline Hunter really did have a good plan with her anticipatory set, goal setting and real world applications. We also discussed how we see kids learning in our own classrooms and some of the roadblocks we encounter, working out solutions on how to best serve a growing population of kids who look at video games, and texting.
ReplyDeleteThe chapter we read this week on how the brain works was interesting to say the least. The reference to people with specialized brain injury and specific autistic characteristics was extremely unbelievable. To think that some people function with a brain and two eyes, but yet can not see what is in front of them due to the connections in the cerebral cortex, to the Autistic Sevant who can memorize music just by hearing it, playing yankee doodle with the right hand and Bach with the left. John Medina concedes we still do not know how or why! More study is required. Mary Wells 4-15-10
Once again I question why we are on the block system. If repletion is important, then we only have them for half of the number of days. Also the class structure changes. With 45 to 50 minute classes review for the test the day before and then the test is the next day (and a limited amount of time for the test). Now usually something is due before the test and a “short” review takes place before the test. Long term memory suffers.
ReplyDeleteI think that every teacher uses examples and tries to make the subject matter as relevant as possible to the student. That is nothing new.
I was surprised to find that you were supposed to repeat something 23 times. I always believed that repletion was good, and that homework was a source of that repletion. With students being as wired as they are today, I wonder if homework is repletion, or is it just a small part of their mind on the task.
Many of the points in the chapter were right on target. The concept that one important key to remembering is the initial encounter with an idea was very interesting. The notion that first exposures are lasting or at least important in the complex coding of a memory made me think of just how I begin a new concept in class. Often that is not how math textbooks present material. Newer materials do begin with a context on which to hang the concept. Sometimes it is difficult to do this without textbook support.
ReplyDeleteAnother idea - way back in the day, students were expected to do much of the repeating. That was the idea behind spelling lists and flash cards. And homework. And memorizing the Gettysburg Address. I'm concerned that what was student responsibility is shifting more and more to teacher respoinsibility. Yes, teacher clothing new ideas in very good context is very important. Timed repetition fo key concepts is necessary but neither of these are sufficient for real learning to take place.
I agree that making emotional connections to assist memory are beneficial. Speaking for myself I know that the classes that I liked the best and seemed to remember were the classes in which I made an emotional connection either with the subject matter OR with the teacher or my classmates. I have noticed it is likewise for my students and especially noticable in the less successful student. When they make an emotional connection to an assignment, they seem to take off with the assignment, looking forward to doing the work involved. I only wish I knew how to get that emotional connection more often!
ReplyDeleteI think that it is more important to repeat process than facts. For example, if students do research components only on one big paper, they forget what they are. Providing names for what they are doing is important to internalization of the process. So every time they are forming questions, they should be calling it "Presearch" assuming that the quest for answers in education is RESEARCH. This will internalize a process. Same thing for the famous "Think aloud." Going over our processes will enable students to take responsibility for their learning as they become familiar and remember the routines.
ReplyDeleteI don't think teachers are solely responsible for student learning: I do believe teachers are responsible for providing a learning process that will work for students who may need a different method than that which works for the teacher.
Rule #5
ReplyDeleteI found it a little discouraging that students forget so much so quickly after class. Also, that they forget 90% after 30 days. The ways to get them to retain more information were very interesting to me. I didn't realize that we need to go back to the beginning when we receieved the information to retrieve the information.
For example, if I'm sad when I learn something then I can remember it better if I'm sad when I try to retrieve my information. Interesting!
One thing I'd like to change in my teaching based on what I've learned is that I need to do a better job of getting the students' attention before I start a unit. The good ol Hunter's anticipatory set! It's true though....everything old is new again. Too often I'll get too eager to get going on a unit and then realize that I left some kids behind.
One of the things Nancy, Katie, and I discussed this morning was the importance of introductions and how vital they are to a student's memory. We need to catch their attention right away in order for them to pay more attention to the rest of the information and then retain it. It's not just unit introductions that we have to focus on but daily introductions. This can be done through bell ringers, journals, etc.
ReplyDeleteThis morning we discussed how Madeline Hunter's idea of using anticipatory sets is very effective. It was proven in this chapter. It is important to create a strong introduction for the content of the day because it can help students remember the information easily later on. If it's true that we forget 90% of what we learn, it has to be true that creating an easy or memorable way of introducing things could create a stronger memory of the information.
ReplyDeleteKatie, Michelle and I discussed the importance of the anticipatory setting and introducing new material.
ReplyDeleteAlso, repitition is necessary for learning. Kids need to hear something 23 times...is that correct?
I found the contextual element of memory very interesting. If we need to be in the same environment we learned something to remember it, then what does that say about computer learning? How often is an APEX student learning geometery going to find themselves sitting in front of a computer while trying to figure the arc for a toliet at a construction site? The same can be said for most of what we do at school, which is an artifical place unrelated to the places students will be asked to use their knowledge in the real world. All theorical knowledge would be useless if this were true so. Luckily the effect size for this is only 15% so we have an 85% chance of keeping our jobs! :>)
ReplyDeleteRight away I thought of 50 First Dates! Our required academic vocabulary has the students draw a non-lingistic representation of each term, but I never give them pictures as a testing method, just definition. Maybe I will create a quiz using pictures and they come up with the definitions.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there were several points of interest in this chapter, two statements really caught my attention. 1) If we must be in the same situation/environment in order to remember something, does temperature, mood, etc. also affect memory? Is that why some people have to trace their steps in order to remember something? 2) If emotions and mood are related to memory, then if a student decides they aren't interested or that they aren't ever going to use the material, does that mean they won't remember it? I know I'm more likely to remember things that I'm interested in and less likely to remember things that I'm not. Perhaps that has to do with my emotional investment?
ReplyDeleteMy blog from last week, Ch4 on Attention, didn't work, so I'll have to update it later. Today we're working on Ch5, short-term memory, and right away I'm disappointed. How long is it? From my minor in Psych days, I was taught Short Term Mom is 7 bits 20Sec. In this book, in this chapter, this info is missing. You need to read the next chapter on Long Term Mem is get 7 bits 30sec. Nonetheless, it is what it is. The point here is, unless you do something with that stimulus from your sensory register (touch, smell, sight, hearing) it will go alway. Is it still there, sure it is but the connection is weak. That's why sometimes only under hypnosis can people remember something.
ReplyDelete