Latest / The Grammar of Classical Education / The Seven Laws of Teaching - Chpt 7

Transcript

The Seven Laws of Teaching - Chpt 7 · The Grammar of Classical Education

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Hello.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to The Grammar of Classical Education, a podcast that covers the foundations as well as the philosophical and theoretical ideas of classical learning in a user-friendly and, may I even say, interesting way.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dr. Darlene Gomes from Leading to Wonder, and I'm so glad that you could join me today.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: It is so hard to believe that we have finally made it to law six in John Milton Gregory's The Seven Laws of Teaching.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but I have found that I have been challenged every single time and I hope that you're taking it as a challenge and not as an overwhelming to-do list, but just another opportunity that we have to be a better teacher.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: to impact the future generations, starting with those little ones who are sitting in front of you right now.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: By way of review, like we usually do just so they stick a little better in your head, the laws that we've covered
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, the law of the teacher.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: The teacher must know that which he would teach coming from a passion and from knowledge.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Law two, the law of the learner.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: The learner must attend with interest to the facts being learned, but that depends on the teacher too attracting that attention.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Law three, the law of the language.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Language used must be common to both the teacher and the learner.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: That one was always pretty self-explanatory.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Law number five was last week's The Law of the Teaching Process.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: We are to excite and direct the self-activities of the learner and tell him nothing he can learn himself.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Law 5 and Law 6 are basically two sides to the same coin.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Law 5 is the fact that when we are presenting information, we are doing so to encourage their learning, their work.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: but then law six is the law of the learning process which is how we can tell if we're successful what is actually happening you may recall from the last two weeks we've used the illustration of the students workshop what's going on inside their head and as John Milton Gregory pointed out we cannot see all
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: What happens inside a student's little workshop?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: We can only present the information and then allow them time to work and turn around and give it back to us.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Unless we are hearing and seeing their understanding, we don't know if they have actually learned anything.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because of this, Law 6 can really be stated, the learner must reproduce in his own mind the truth to be acquired.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: That is us looking from the outside
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: toward the Learner's Workshop.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: making sure the learner reproduces it but the how is by them telling us and showing us their learning clarifying right away learning is not just being attentive or appearing to be attentive this is actually going to be requiring mental effort on the part of the students
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Most of what we have been discussing so far in the first five laws have been very teacher focused and law six flips that over to the student.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now this law, I feel like the easiest way to grasp what the law is, is by looking at some examples to determine if the law of the learning process is actually being achieved.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: So here we go.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: The first is history.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about World War II, and after reading from the book, the students are able to find the answers to the basic comprehension questions at the end of the chapter.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's example one.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Example two, math class.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: After our lesson on four digit addition, the students are able to complete the homework in the book with a 90% accuracy or better.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: and third example, Bible Class.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: After learning about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the students are able to retell the story.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now, in all of these examples, we actually cannot truly tell if the law of the learning process has been successfully completed.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Here's why.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: In the history example, basic comprehension questions from the book usually focus on the students identifying the facts that were presented in the book.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Do they actually understand them?
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: There's really no telling.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: And math, with the completion of the problems in the workbook, even with that added with 90% accuracy, in the majority of cases, not all, but the majority of cases, especially when it comes to basic functions,
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Book problems do not fully assess their learning.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if the book throws in word problems, you are moving toward the determination of true learning.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: But if they are rote, adding the four-digit addition like we had talked about, it's really just showing they can do it by rote.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: And the third example, Bible.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Knowing the facts of the story and even being able to retell the story is not the same as understanding and being able to apply the lessons.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: We will be coming back to all of those examples to investigate them a little bit more.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: But now let's take a look at what John Milton Gregory gives as the law of the learning process by looking at what it is not first.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: John Milton Gregory says that learning is not just repeating back facts.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: You give the info, they repeat the info.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: That is not learning.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: That is merely repeating.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's not a bad thing.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's getting, for example, the multiplication facts.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: The Seven Laws of Teaching
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: There is also a difference between discovery and learning.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Students do discover facts based in part on things they've previously learned, but that is not full learning either.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go back to the workshop.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: A wrapped package went into the workshop
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: and the student brought it back out unwrapped.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: While there's clearly been some activity going on it really isn't deep learning.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: So what does learning look like?
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: How do we know if it's taken place?
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: And we have the responsibility to ensure that it has taken place.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: but how do we do that if we don't know what we're looking at and that's where john milton gregory begins to break it down into what he refers to as stages now before going into this i do want to put a little 21st century caveat here this is very similar to what we would talk about as bloom's taxonomy
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: where you have those levels of learning and you have to start at the basic to move up so there's a correlation here however it's important to understand that there is a philosophical difference between Bloom's taxonomy and the basis and the foundation of that compared to John Milton Gregory's stages of learning
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: So with that being said, back down away from the 21st century to John Milton Gregory.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now he gives us these stages very concisely and very clearly, and we're going to talk about them in conjunction with our workshop analogy to hopefully help you see how it will live out in a classroom.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: so stage one is memorization and that is the basic the students can repeat the facts they've committed them to memory if you say what is two times two they will say it is four they don't have to stop and count it out on their fingers that's memorization
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: that with the workshop is the facts go into the workshop and come right back out of the workshop so that is the first stage memorization the second stage is understanding of the facts are added in
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: So the facts go into the workshop after some thought and some work time.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: The students bring the facts back out of memory and they're able to describe what they're doing, what they've done.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Keyword here is they're able to describe it.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: They're able to tell you what the fact is, meaning the two times two example would be two times two is four memory.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Two times two is four because I have two groups with two in each group.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: That is moving to the understanding stage, which is stage two.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Stage 3 is Explaining and as John Milton Gregory says it, it is translating accurately into other words with no loss of meaning.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: so when the facts went into the students workshop they played around with them they were able to then turn them into their own words and give out that information now we're getting to the real learning
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: So that would be, back with that math example, two times two is four.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Two times two is four.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: I have two groups of two because that's how you as the teacher have explained it.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: But when they get to the real explaining and that step of learning, you could say to them what is two times three and without having to really
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: 2 x 3 is 6 and 2 groups of 2 they would be able to say 2 x 3 I have 2 groups with 3 in each group so I have 3 and 3 is 6 so do you see how they're able to work it through and explain it with a real understanding coming into view at this point
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: The teacher will begin working to help refine and reframe their understanding because there is a good chance you're going to find holes.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: When you let them do the talking is when you will see there's a problem in the workshop that we need to address.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: now this is where class discussions really can come into play everyone's bringing out their little thought projects and together you're comparing and discussing them and you are hearing what they're thinking you're looking into their workshop in the most unique way possible
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: I do have to stop here for a second and refer back to Law 5, The Law of the Teaching Process.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you have been clear and you have presented the facts to the students using language that they know, attracting their attention, giving them time to take their facts into the little workshop, you will still have a variety of items coming out.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: For example, let's just say your Becks are a model car.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: You gave them all the same model car.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: You described that model car.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: You talked about what the model car is, what it does.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: You played together for a bit with that model car and you sent them into the workshop with that same model car.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: As they're working, some of your little workers will come out holding the car and have absolutely no idea what they're holding.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Patience and encouraging thoughts are required.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: At the same time as this little one doesn't know what's in his hand, you've got the little worker next to him coming out with a full description of every piece of the car because he took it all apart, put it all back together, and is now ready to go build another model car.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: and you will have a third little worker who comes out with completely empty hands looking around at everyone else's car wondering why they have a car and he doesn't have a car
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: and let me tell you if you've experienced it you know that you will have to resist the urge to say what did you do with the car that i gave you were you even listening when i gave you the car
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: Truthfully, not helpful in the moment.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Not really helpful at all.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, when this happens, you do need to keep notes if it continues to happen with the same little worker
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Then you need to make sure that you are letting his supervisor know that this is a continuing problem.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: I say that to put a little note.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Remember in the classical model, the parents have to be involved.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm not saying you need to run to that little worker's supervisor parents every single time when it happens.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: But you need to keep them in the loop.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: That is part of our connection with the parents.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: We are not taking the place of the parents.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: We are working with the parents.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: So enough about the variety of workers.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure those of you who've been teaching have seen that happen time and time again.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Be encouraged.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's normal.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: But be warned.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: Workers do work at different paces, and your task is to try and keep up with them as best you can.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: So back to John Milton Gregory's stages.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: We have memorizing, understanding, explaining in their own words,
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: and Stage 4 is Proving.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now at this point, the student can give answers to questions like, how do you know that?
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: And what makes you say that?
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Again, if you'll notice, it involves the students talking out their thoughts.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: bringing it from the hidden workshop into the light of day to be examined by the teacher and shared with his other workmen.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, that brings us to stage five, connecting and using.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: The student has dabbled into this higher level of learning when he's able to connect the ideas he's learned to other maybe seemingly unrelated ideas.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where you will most clearly see that the spark has been lit.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: They are moving forward with the facts that they've made their own.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: So walking through John Milton Gregory's five stages of learning in the little workshop would look something like this.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: You as the teacher have spent time presenting, discussing all of the values and importance of the model car.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: The little ones that you gave the car to bring it back out to you and say, this is a model car.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's memorizing.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: They're able to describe what the model car actually is.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: This is a model car.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a real car.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a model car.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's understanding.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: They're able then to explain in their own words what it is.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: This is model car.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a real car.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's much tinier than a real car and it can't really run and people can't fit in it, but it looks just like the big car.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: Only smaller.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's the third stage of explaining.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is a model car, not a real car.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Again, they're starting to show that understanding.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: They've done the explaining, but then they're going to go on with it.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: it's much tinier than a real car and it can't really run and people can't fit in it but it looks like the big car only smaller see see the tiny little wheels they don't really run because the motor doesn't really run like in a real car stage four they've proven their understanding of why it's not a real car
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, with all of the above, the young worker may then go on to say, someday I'm going to have a real car, just like my model car, only I think I would like to figure out how to make my model car work like my real car works.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: I wonder if we made the model car just a little bit bigger, if we could get it to work.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Well, not really big, but just a little big, big enough to have the parts actually work.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that's stage five.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: They have made connections and are using the ideas that they've learned
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: So see, learning is so much more than just presenting the facts back to you that you've given.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's go back to those original three subjects that we used as examples in history.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe memorization if all they had to do was copy the answers from the book, but memorization really isn't even that.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: you're getting closer to understanding and explaining if they have to answer why questions that aren't actually spelled out in the book so even though those questions can be used make sure your discussion or when you're checking over them you're asking those deeper questions
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: to the math example.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: There is so much with math that you can play with, but it takes time.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: However, teachers of younger students, it is especially important that you get them extremely solid in those lower stages so that they can move forward from there.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: But don't just rely on practicing the basic functions without allowing them the opportunity to go a little farther.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Have them practice explaining how they got the answer.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: Explain it to the partner.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Pretend to be the teacher and explain it to the whole class.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: Check their understanding with story problems.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: Have them explain with a story problem how they got their answer.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Even with younger students, you can give them problems with right or wrong answers and ask them to prove why they're right or why they're wrong.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: Encourage them to connect and use the ideas that they're seeing in math class in everyday life.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe even share how you had to use math in the real world.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, in the Bible example, I beg you, those of you who are teaching Bible, please do all you can to keep Bible from being just a subject for the head.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: Knowing the people, knowing the places, knowing even the references, do not let it be a subject that hits only the head.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's got to hit the heart and that is actually aiming for one of those higher stages.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Make it something that they see as applicable.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: require them to put application to what they're learning not just retell the stories but pull the lessons out we are teaching them if we're in Christian schools how to rightly divide the word of truth and that starts with how we can understand it as well
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: I actually thought we might make it through the whole chapter today, but I think in the spirit of John Milton Gregory's Sixth Law, I'm going to give you a little time to play with this information in your own private little workshop.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: I really do challenge you this week.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: Be aware of the stages of learning you expect from your students.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly where do you most comfortably sit?
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: Are there any stages that you seem to skip over?
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: Do you need to push yourself to push your young scholars just a little bit further?
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: Please don't get too wrapped up in the law of the learning process just yet though.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: John Milton Gregory is going to present some limitations like the age of the students and the subject matter before giving us some rules and violations.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: So for this week, just be mindful of where you are.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about how you can improve the use of the law next week.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for joining me this week.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: As you stand before your classroom full of students, or if you're sitting next to your little one or two learners,
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, the work you are doing as a teacher is impacting them.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Best practices, blood, sweat, and tears are the hard things.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: Building those young scholars, not just for a year, but for a lifetime, is ever so worth it.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: So whether you are all in with classical ed or you're just kind of curious or even you just want to be a better teacher, I hope you'll stick around and join us for this next podcast.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: To get the latest episode as well as a fun little teacher's newsletter complete with a couple of classroom freebies, please sign up for the Leading to Wonder newsletter.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: Or you can subscribe to the podcast directly on Apple Podcast or Spotify or wherever you listen.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: To learn more about me and Leading to Wonder, you can visit my website at leadingtowonder.com.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: No spaces.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, to reach out to me directly with questions or comments or even for information regarding in-house or virtual teacher training workshops.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: feel free to email me at Darlene at leading to wonder.com have an amazing week and remember as E.B.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: White said always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder