This quote is by George Loewenstein, a professor of economics and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. Here is a wonderful article by EdWeek (2014), "How Can Teachers Foster Curiosity?" that showcases Loewensteins work.
This was a question in a forum from my online professional development course for the Alabama State Department of Education.
"I like this question, because sometimes I struggle with struggling students. After researching this topic more and going over the Common Core Standards, the first one states that students should make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. Maricela Montoy-Wilson, a teacher at Palo Alto, California, was observed in her classroom regarding this topic via TeachingChannel.org. She states in the video, Persist Through Challenges, that as teachers, we must develop problem solvers, so creating a classroom culture where it is safe to make mistakes is the beginning. Make the journey to the destination feel exciting. Zero in on the struggle by recognizing that you can really see the wheels spinning in the students’ brains. With each step, make them feel good by justifying their thinking. They will all experience challenges in life. Normalizing errors or mistakes will definitely make the ones that struggle the most become more confident and more successful in the long run. "Jen Saul from Aspire East Palo Alto Charter School in East Palo Alto, California, has a routine called Find Three Ways. She posts a real life problem on the board, asking students for their help. Then, she passes out a worksheet that has four blank sections covering the page with a selection of ways to solve the problem at the top: skip counting, addition, multiplication, draw a picture, repeated addition, make a table, and division. The students are to find three ways of solving the posed problem. They wrestle with the problem for four minutes while she rotates around the room, offering support, and getting an idea of who to call up to the board to show their specific ways to solve the problem. After the time is up, she calls, “Heads together, butts up,” where the students at each table collaborate on how they solved the problem. This just means that they stand up and lean in with their papers next to each other, looking at the ways each of them solved the problem. They challenge one another and also offer support and help to those who did not understand or need another way of solving the problem. After the students collaborate, she calls selected students to the board to show their work. She claims that they take ownership of the problem this way, the she is not dictating how to get to a result, the students choose their own path, consult with each other, and collaborate, which are all life skills. "I have to give another detail to Jen Saul’s schedule. If you watch the video, you will notice her schedule written out on the board. It has specific time slots with specific activities. She has the time down to a minute and is very, very detailed. She definitely practices time management! "Another teacher, Chuck Pack, that gives a good point about problem solving and persevering is one from Tahlequah High School in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. One day, a student asked him that question of, “When am I ever going to use this?” Chuck Pack replied that the student may never use this, but what he is going to use is this skill of perseverance in problem solving. The student is not giving up on finding the right answer in math and practicing for future problems. He further explains that employers look for this trait. To be successful in an occupation and in life, one must have perseverance. I love these answers and strategies for helping struggling students. There weren’t lists of videos about individual strategies. All the videos based on this objective of how to instruct struggling students all had one thing in common: teach perseverance, which is part of the first standard of the Common Core Practice Standards. This is an outstanding concept." The videos below are the ones I used with exploring the topic of struggling students. Encouraging Students to Persist Through Challenges https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/persist-through-challenges-perts CCSS: Math.2.NBT.B.7 Math.Practice.MP1 Math.Practice.MP3 Maricela Montoy-Wilson, Palo Alto, CA Persistence in Problem Solving CCSS: Math.Practice.MP1 https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/problem-solving-math Jen Saul, Aspire East Palo Alto Charter School East Palo Alto, CA When am I ever going to use this? CCSS: Math.Practice.MP1 https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/getting-students-to-persevere-nea Chuck Pack, Tahlequah High School Tahlequah, OK |
Jennifer DarisI am a prospective school librarian with an elementary education undergraduate degree from Spring Hill College (2003) and a graduate degree in educational media at the University of South Alabama (2015). Archives
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