THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER

TOPIC: TO RETAIN OR PROMOTE - A Ridiculous Decision to Make

Date: November 5, 2007 Newsletter Edition: Volume 8, Issue 33

We look back in history and wonder "How could people ever have believed the world was flat?"

We challenge each other to "Think out of the box."

Yet, we perpetuate a system of decision-making in education that is as antiquated as thinking the world is flat; it is a system as completely restrictive as in-the-box thinking.

Each year (particularly in elementary school) we make a decision whether to pass a student in everything or hold the student back in every subject.

Here's an analogy to demonstrate the absurdity of the situation (which is a lose-lose proposition):

Part One:
Don, you do wonderful work in the gardens, but you haven't learned a thing about fixing things around the house. For your own good, we cannot afford to let you continue to try more intricate repairs until you demonstrate you know how to hammer a nail into a board and restart a circuit breaker after a storm. Therefore, next spring, you will continue to do only the most basic repairs until you show you are capable of trying something a little more difficult."

Part Two:
Don, we know that holding you back because you are inept with repairing things is not good for your self esteem and we're sorry about that. Unfortunately, we're also going to have to restrict you in your gardening. For the next year you are not allowed to move ahead with your gardening - you can only do what you did last year. Yes, it's true you might feel better about being told you are a complete idiot with regard to repairs if we could allow you to take justifiable pride in the way you handle your gardens. Unfortunately, we do not have sufficient time or personnel to monitor your work in the gardens and provide you with the necessary resources so you'll just have to repeat doing what you've already demonstrated you can do very well.

Is this really any different than holding a student back and forcing him/her to repeat everything because he is lagging in certain areas?

What's the solution?

I'll offer some suggestions in the next newsletter.

For now I will just repeat that the situation that currently exists is absolutely ludicrous. It reflects in-the-box thinking and doing what we've always done by too many people who contradictorily keep postulating on the need to think "out-of-the-box."

I recall a grant application about ten years ago that began with these words: "If we keep doing what we've always done, we'll keep getting what we've always gotten."

So why do we keep doing what we've always done and then complain about the number of drop-outs and ask as if we didn't know, "How did this student get all the way to 10th grade without knowing . . . ?"

The tail is persistent in wanting to keep wagging the dog and too many of us go along because . . because . . . I give up. Why do we go along?


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Please know that your work in the field of education is as meaningful to our society as anything anyone can possibly do. Thank you for caring about the future of our children!!!!

Feel welcome to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com. Requests to be dropped from this list will also be honored.
Copyright (c) 2007, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.


The Institute is currently registering teams for the 2008 summer constructivist conference, July 21-25, at St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York. Don't miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER

TOPIC: Happy Children, Shel Silverstein, Oscar Wilde and Larry Byrd

Date: October 29, 2007 Newsletter Edition: Volume 8, Issue 32

Oscar Wilde once said, "The best way to make children good is to make them happy."

I was about to seize upon these words to post on our web site alongside our "Strategy of the Week," but I began to have second thoughts. Some people will interpret this to mean that the Institute is saying we should just let children do whatever makes them happy and they will be good.

Of course, I don't transfer Oscar Wilde's words to the classroom or home in quite that manner. I believe children are happy when they are engaged in something they find interesting, relevant, meaningful, or all of the above. I believe children are happy when they can take pride in what they feel they are accomplishing. I believe children are happy when they are praised for being successful when they know they really have done something well.

I decided not to use Oscar Wilde's quote on our web site because it would take too long an explanation to avoid misinterpretations. So I chose another quote which we ran last week on the Institute web site. The quote is from Shel Silverstein: "But this bridge will only take you halfway there. The last few steps you'll have to take alone."

Silverstein's quote brings to mind a story I ask Larry Byrd to share at the end of a workshop. (Larry Byrd is to human relations what Larry Bird is to basketball.) I also often think of this story when I am scaffolding a classroom lesson. As Larry tells it:

"Our son Keith was 4 with a birthday that allowed for placement in kindergarten in the current year or the next. We thought Keith was ready for school and very much wanted him to be accepted into the Washington DC school system the year he would be turning five. The school required an interview with the school doctor whose recommendation would be the determining factor. As we did in other situations, I rehearsed Keith on what he would be asked and how he could respond:

"Keith," I said, "the doctor will ask you your name. What will you say?"

I'll say, "My name is Keith Byrd, sir."

"And then the doctor will ask you how old you are. How will you respond?"

"I'm four but I'll soon be five, sir" Keith said assuredly.

"Very good, Keith. And then the doctor may ask: "Where do you live?"

The youngster thought for a minute and then explained: "If you just take me to 21st and Missouri I can go the rest of the way myself."

Isn't this the role of a teacher or parent? Isn't our job to take each child to 21st and Missouri and let the child go the rest of the way alone?

How we get them far enough along the way - to 21st and Missouri - without taking them so far that they don't have to think for themselves is what "scaffolding" is all about. If we don't take them far enough, there is the danger they will become lost and give up. If we take them further than we need to, we deprive them of the chance to become independent learners.

If the scaffolding of a learning experience were easy, every one could teach and every one could be a good parent.

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Please know that your work in the field of education is as meaningful to our society as anything anyone can possibly do. Thank you for caring about the future of our children!!!!

Feel welcome to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com. Requests to be dropped from this list will also be honored.
Copyright (c) 2007, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.

The Institute is currently registering teams for the 2008 summer constructivist conference, July 21-25, at St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York. Don't miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER

TOPIC: A Reader Asks about Aligning Classroom Practices with Theory

Date: October 22, 2007 Newsletter Edition: Volume 8, Issue 31

A few weeks ago I began a newsletter with this question:

If you work in a school district (or are the parent of a student), can you answer this question within the next 30 seconds:

What is the theory of how people learn that guides school and classroom practices in your district?

A reader asked for amplification the following day with this question of her own:

"What's the response you'd like to hear? Please explicitly expand for me. Great provocative question. . ."

What IS the response I would like to hear?

Actually, any response (including the reader's) that demonstrates thought, would delight me. Paul Vermette, after more than 20 years of teaching, observed, "I've come to the conclusion that my primary - and perhaps only - purpose in teaching is to challenge students to think." Paul's comment demonstrates his trust in people - that if he can encourage them to think (obviously about something relevant to what he is teaching) then he trusts they will go the rest of the way themselves.

What is the specific response I would like to hear to the question I posed a few weeks ago? How about this?

"Our district facilitated a collegial discussion among our entire staff and ultimately reached a consensus on a basic set of beliefs about how we think people learn. We used a process that only required several hours of staff time spread over a month or two. Our belief statements are brief and can fit on less than two sides of a sheet of paper. Teachers do not feel that the belief statements are restrictive; in fact the belief statements are actually liberating in that we recognize that teachers may use entirely diverse sets of strategies that are aligned with our beliefs in order to accomplish the same results.

"We now have our belief statements posted and published so that our entire educational community is immersed in them and we will continue publicizing our beliefs so that it becomes impossible for any staff member or concerned parent or student not to be aware of them.

"Our teacher evaluation procedures are aligned with our beliefs.

"We will establish a criterion that when anyone proposes a new initiative or seeks funding of any kind, the strongest argument will be to demonstrate how the request is consistent with the school's beliefs and will move the school toward its vision. Our board of education will use the district's belief statements as a North Star for decision making that impacts pedagogical practices. In fact, when people want to challenge a decision at any level, or a teacher evaluation, the best argument will be to demonstrate how the decision is inconsistent with the agreed upon set of beliefs."

And finally, a few years from now I would like to hear someone say,

"We are proud that our belief statements (our theories) about how children learn have become the North Star that guides our decision making and are the catalyst for collegial discussions about problems in our district. In fact, we set aside 20 minutes at all staff meetings to share new information and classroom strategies; our discussions begin by identifying the belief statements that validate the new information or strategies."

If I'm dreaming, please let me sleep.

---30---

Please know that your work in the field of education is as meaningful to our society as anything anyone can possibly do. Thank you for caring about the future of our children!!!!

Feel welcome to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com. Requests to be dropped from this list will also be honored.
Copyright (c) 2007, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.


The Institute is currently registering teams for the 2008 summer constructivist conference, July 21-25, at St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York. Don't miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER

TOPIC: School Administrators and the question of "Support"

Date: October 15, 2007 Newsletter Edition: Volume 8, Issue 30

John Schuerholz, of the Atlanta Braves baseball team recently announced his retirement as one of the most successful general managers in the history of sports. He was quoted as saying: "I let people establish themselves, do their jobs and support them."

We have some excellent school administers who see their role as Schuerholz defined his. They have an excellent staff with a great deal of expertise, training, and experience; the job of the administrator is to "let them do their jobs and support them."

Of course this doesn't mean ignoring those few who aren't doing their jobs, and it doesn't mean not evaluating, and occasionally weeding out. Certainly John Schuerholz dropped some players and gave stern warnings to others. But he also hired the best people he could find and then he let them establish themselves, let them do their jobs, and he SUPPORTED them.

When they looked good, he looked good; and that's why he kept his job for 18 years in a field where general manager turnover equals the turnover in school administrators. The only difference is that most school administrators leave of their own choice to move up the ladder or retire while most general managers are told when to leave their positions.

I recall reading an article on cooperative learning that cited a study indicating that in schools where teachers did a good job in the classroom, administrators were praised even by parents who had never met them. The point being that when administrators view their roles as helping shape a school's vision and then supporting the experts they've hired as they strive to reach that vision, it is a win-win situation because everyone shares the credit.

As Pat Flynn said to me years ago, "If you don't trust the people you hire to do the job, the job won't get done." On the other hand, if you do hire good people and then trust them to do the job . . ."
---30---

Please know that your work in the field of education is as meaningful to our society as anything anyone can possibly do. Thank you for caring about the future of our children!!!!

Feel welcome to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com. Requests to be dropped from this list will also be honored.
Copyright (c) 2007, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.


The Institute is currently registering teams for the 2008 summer constructivist conference, July 21-25, at St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York. Don't miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER

TOPIC: ACTIVITIES AND PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR THE CLASSROOM

Date: October 8, 2007 Newsletter Edition: Volume 8, Issue 29

Pat Flynn, Paul Vermette, Mike Smith and I wrote this book for YOU.

We wrote this book for teachers administrators, staff developers, college students and professors of pre-service students.

What is in this book you may find of value?

- Constructivist-based lessons in math, science, English and social studies that were taught by Paul Vermette. These are not summaries; these are step-by step narrations of what Paul actually did in the classroom to engage students with information, motivate them to use their text books, assess what they are learning and cause them to increase their learning through reflection.

- Four specific strategies for enabling students to teach students that which we want each of them to learn. The strategies are carousel, concept mapping, jigsaw, and literature circles. There are 81 pages of examples from kindergarten to 12th grade - in math, science, social studies, and English.

- Seventeen Intentions of an Effective Teacher; these can serve as guidelines for lesson design. Since we first published these 17 Intentions in a newsletter, we've received numerous requests from teachers and administrators for permission to share these with their colleagues. You have our permission.

- Two chapters by outstanding teachers. Beth Konkoski of Virginia has written about the role of the teacher while students are engaged in group activities. Sonia Basko who teaches in Rochester, New York devotes a chapter toward the importance of preparing students for a constructivist classroom. Each of these chapters contains pages of practical suggestions and strategies that can be applied to all classrooms.

- There are chapters on important aspects of assessment that are critical for any classroom, but often not addressed in staff development. And there is a focus on reversing the traditional way of teaching or parenting; instead of explaining and then giving students a chance to apply, the authors suggest that Engagement Must Precede Explanation.

We wanted to write a book that would have practical application in the classroom. The feedback we've received so far indicates we have accomplished our objective - see below.

For your copy, send $20 to:
Institute for Learning Centered Education
414 Bagdad Road
Potsdam, New York 13676

Your copy will be sent immediately.

READER REACTIONS to "CAPTIVATING CLASSES with CONSTRUCTIVISM"

"The detailed descriptions, especially Paul's explanations of why he did what he did, were extremely worthwhile." Peg D'Arpino, high school math teacher, Fort Myers, Florida

"I love the '17 Intentions' to help us in making a more metacognitive process out of lesson planning and implementation."
Julie Ludwig, Administrative Intern Jefferson-Lewis, BOCES

"I like the myths that you address and I find the graphic organizers at the beginning of each chapter very helpful. I really enjoy the lessons and find them helpful in getting 'the big picture.' Connie Devlin, student, Niagara University

"This book is a must for any teacher wishing to understand and apply the Constructivist philosophy in their practice. It will be the anchor for the library of every student-centered teacher. My hat's off to the authors." Jim Pelech, Professor Benedictine University, Chicago, Illinois; also Board Member, Association for Constructivist Teaching

"Different parts are 'best' for different reasons - variety of topics and approaches shared gives the reader/practitioner many options of ways to implement the 17 intentions. I will build my course for student teachers around this book and also design workshops around it." Pat Baldauf, Certified Facilitator, Glasser Institute; Supervisor of Student Teachers, College of St. Rose

"Very practical information that can bee applied in the classroom. There were multiple lessons where you could see the 17 intentions in play. Constructivist theory in practice! We loved the parts where we could add our own information/thoughts. The visuals and concept maps aided in meeting the objectives for each chapter."
Ken & Christina Schaffer, Earth Science (Ken), Art (Christina), North Carolina

This book came at the perfect time in my teaching career. After 18 years I knew I had to do something different; I needed to stop blaming the students. This book is the ideal of how I want to teach. There was logical progression of thoughts presented so I understood the constructivism model (authentic learning which naturally motivates students). The explanations really helped me understand this new information. I loved the way your book was formatted after teaching ideas (concept maps, reflections)
Deanine Kowalski, 7th grade special education teacher Gloversville, New York

"The analysis allows the reader to dissect the steps and the rationale behind them. In essence, it provides a clear model that prospective and current teachers can follow to ensure that their lesson plans are student-centered and provide prior engagement necessary for optimum learning." Veronica Brierley, Professor, Niagara University

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Please know that your work in the field of education is as meaningful to our society as anything anyone can possibly do. Thank you for caring about the future of our children!!!!

Feel welcome to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com. Requests to be dropped from this list will also be honored.
Copyright (c) 2007, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.


The Institute is currently registering teams for the 2008 summer constructivist conference, July 21-25, at St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York. Don't miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER

TOPIC: "Stand and Deliver" or Actively Engage?

Date: October 1, 2007 Newsletter Edition: Volume 8, Issue 28

In a newsletter last May I responded to an article by critics of constructivism who claimed that constructivist theory requires teachers to stand back and deny students adequate support unless there is a direct request for it. This is simply not true.

Beth Konkoski-Bates is an outstanding secondary English teacher in Virginia. She sent me this e-mail in response:

I find it fascinating that anyone capable of achieving a PhD and publishing articles like this believes that when a teacher stands and instructs directly, the students must absorb the information. Actually maybe fascinating is the wrong word. Disappointing would be better.

And while you attack this from a theoretical position, I attack it from my classroom each day and the classrooms I see of teachers who use (a more traditional) direct instruction approach. Given the technology available to today's students, a "stand and deliver" teacher is an opportunity for kids to engage in endless other activities as they are granted permission to remain passive while the teacher engages.

The attackers of constructivism have clearly not been in a high school classroom in recent years (since their own high school perhaps) and seem to be basing their assessments on the way that they learned. I think it is pretty clear that anyone going on to get a PhD probably liked school and found themselves able to gather the information needed for assessments through direct instruction. That does work for some kids, but certainly not most of them. And it seems so against any information we have about how the brain works.

Finally, of course I agree with you that assigning things for kids to do with the plan that they will "discover" learning and then walking away from them is a very bad idea, but it isn't any more damaging than "covering the curriculum" via lecture and then feeling comfortable with the fact that the kids who got it are worth an education and the rest are lazy. In order to avoid such elitist thinking what we need is a blend of all the methods and yes, it can happen; they do not have to exist in completely separate worlds.

--- 30 ---

Please know that your work in the field of education is as meaningful to our society as anything anyone can possibly do. Thank you for caring about the future of our children!!!!

Feel welcome to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com. Requests to be dropped from this list will also be honored.
Copyright (c) 2007, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.

The Institute is currently registering teams for the 2008 summer constructivist conference, July 21-25, at St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York. Don't miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER

TOPIC: Encouraging Students To Participate in Class Discussions

Date: September 24, 2007 Newsletter Edition: Volume 8, Issue 27

Public speaking is often cited as the number one fear of most Americans. It is hardly surprising that most teachers have difficulty generating good class discussions or even encouraging students to respond to probing questions. Except for the usual few whose hands are the first and only ones raised, most students sit quietly when they are asked to talk about something relevant to the lesson.

To understand how to encourage students to speak up when the teacher wants class dialogue, let's first look at the reasons students would prefer to clam up:

When students are asked to speak, it's usually to respond to a question demanding a factual answer which students may not know in which case they fear being publicly embarrassed.

Most students have been ridiculed, or seen a peer ridiculed, for not having the "right" response and they freeze up with this recollection firmly embedded in their minds when they are called upon.

Some students, like many adults, are not comfortable speaking until they've had adequate time to think (which is actually a good thing), but few teachers allow more than two seconds of wait time after posing a question and putting a student on the spot for a response.

The most significant suggestion I can offer is that a culture of dialogue needs to be created in the classroom. Students must be called upon to speak frequently, in non-threatening ways, must be reinforced when they do speak, and it must become part of the culture and expectations of the classroom so that speaking and sharing is frequent and as much a part of the classroom environment as taking attendance.

Here are suggestions for increasing the frequency of student responses and the thought behind them:

While occasionally you may want to call upon a particular student with a question to which there is a right and wrong answer - so that students know they need to pay attention - do so infrequently.

Ask for perceptions: all students are experts with regard to their perceptions: "Who can share one idea she has about whether songs should use grammatically correct sentences?"

Ask for opinions supported by rationale - don't argue with the rationale: "What is one significant contribution of the Industrial Revolution to the advancement of our society? Justify your response with a one sentence explanation."

Use class openings and closings as opportunities: "Let's go around the room and each person is to give a one sentence response to the question "Which president was the most outstanding and why?"

Rotating report-outs are great: "In groups of four address each of four questions on your hand-out and have a different reporter ready to share your group response to each question." When we can read something we've recorded (particularly if it has been affirmed by others in our group) it is still public speaking, but with a lot less tension.

Sufficient wait time - In "The Case for Constructivist Classrooms," (Jacqueline Grennon and Martin G. Brooks, 1982, ASCD) it is recommended that teachers allow sufficient "wait time" after posing a question. This creates a level playing field for those people who want to think about a response before offering it publicly. The teacher can announce, before posing a question - "Don't raise your hand until I announce I am ready for a response." Or, "I will call on someone whose hand is not raised after you have had some time (could be 15 seconds, could be longer depending on the complexity of the question) to think about your response."

Constantly pose questions and challenge students to respond. Alexandria Bay High School principal Ron Hockmuth was a guest in my university class last semester and his topic was "Inquiry Based Learning." He began by asking one of the students to count the number of questions he posed until he asked for her tally." He then proceeded to dialogue with the class and we quickly got involved in what seemed like an ordinary dialogue. After seven minutes, Ron turned toward the young lady keeping count and asked for her tally: "You've asked 47 questions in seven minutes," she reported.

It's a matter of a teacher having a mind-set that "I am going to ask more questions than make statements."

I am proud that in my last 90 minute class, every student spoke in front of the entire class at least three times (even if for only ten seconds each time), a majority of students spoke at least five times, and four students were in front of the class "teaching" for 30 minutes. I used most of the ideas offered in the bulleted suggestions (above).

I am even prouder that in a recent class that was conducted for 75 minutes by four students, they had every one of their 22 peers engaged in public dialogue even more than I usually do.

It has to become part of the culture of the class. If we only call on students to speak in front of their peers occasionally, and if the few times we call on them it is in what the student will regard as a high-stakes situation (i.e. they will either be told they are right or wrong) then the times we do call on them are counter productive. They learn to dread even more those times when the teacher looks at them, points, and asks a question instead of becoming comfortable offering their thoughts.

I've been privileged to observe Paul Vermette of Niagara University teaching lessons to students at all grade levels, K-12. He builds into every lesson some "success experiences" for his students. These are times he asks them for a response in front of the entire class with a question he is sure they can answer - not because it seeks a simple fact, but because it asks for a perception, an opinion, or personal information they are sure to know. For instance: "List on your paper three pieces of furniture in your home so we can create a math lesson on measurements using them as examples." After allowing a minute or two for students to write their responses he will call upon several students, in succession, to read their responses and then he will build part of his lesson around their responses. The point is that Paul knows every student is capable of responding correctly to that question and he wants some of them to feel the success of giving a response that the teacher (he) can reinforce.

Gerry Peters, a retired math teacher and now a staff developer, suggests to teachers that the best way to motivate students is to create success experiences early in a lesson.

Bottom line: If you want student dialogue (which often also means student thinking), you have to make it a priority. You have to try different approaches until you find the ones that work for you. You have to make it part of the culture of the classroom.

--- 30 ---

Please know that your work in the field of education is as meaningful to our society as anything anyone can possibly do. Thank you for caring about the future of our children!!!!

Feel welcome to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com. Requests to be dropped from this list will also be honored.
Copyright (c) 2007, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.

The Institute is currently registering teams for the 2008 summer constructivist conference, July 21-25, at St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York. Don't miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER

TOPIC: Few Schools Align Theory with Classroom Practice

Date: September 17, 2007 Newsletter Edition: Volume 8, Issue 26

"What is the theory of how people learn that guides school and classroom practices in your district?"

In how many schools can you walk up to each teacher separately, ask this question, and expect a similar response? I doubt there are 100 schools in the country where this would happen.

Let's see, there are Central Park East, Ithaca Alternative School, and School Without Walls in New York State. When last I visited the Ronald Reagan Elementary School in Lake Elsinore, California I could (and did) speak with many teachers, secretaries, cafeteria staff, custodians, and students and almost all of them could offer an accurate articulation of the learning theory that was driving school practices. I'm sure there must be schools in other parts of the country that can boast alignment between theory and practice. But how many?

My point: successful department stores, grocery chains and other businesses lay out their wares and instruct their sales people according to defensible theories about how shoppers shop. I read in USA Today many years ago that department store managers understand that most people go toward the right when entering a store and, therefore, this dictates that products management wants customers to see first are positioned accordingly.

Periodically, state education departments encourage schools to create mission statements, vision statements, action plans, and a whole host of plans that more often than not become shelf art if they even reach a point of completion that enables them to make it to the shelf. Rarely is there any follow-through. Rarely can you walk through the halls of a school a year after teachers have been put through time consuming activities to design these statements and find a single person who can quote the school's mission, vision or other kind of statements - much less demonstrate that their work is being guided by it.

I am suggesting that the starting point should be a school-wide consensus on:

How do students learn
What does our consensus on how students learn suggest in terms of how teachers should teach

I AM NOT implying that teachers should be limited in how they teach. There are already too many schools that are using scripted lesson plans which limit the flexibility of their teachers to apply the expertise they have gained through training and experience.

There are a wide range of practices that teachers can use in classrooms that can be consistent with researched based theories of how children learn. Schools need to reach consensus on the learning theory that will guide teaching practices; then, as long as teachers can justify their practices as being aligned with sound theory, they should be allowed and encouraged to use their judgment with regard to how they teach.

If you work in a school district, can you answer this question, off the top of your head, within the next 30 seconds:

What is the theory of how people learn that guides school and classroom practices in your district?

If you are a parent and asked this question of the first ten teachers and administrators you see in the school your child attends, how many similar responses will you receive?

--- 30 ---

Please know that your work in the field of education is as meaningful to our society as anything anyone can possibly do. Thank you for caring about the future of our children!!!!

Feel welcome to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com. Requests to be dropped from this list will also be honored.
Copyright (c) 2007, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.

The Institute is currently registering teams for the 2008 summer constructivist conference, July 21-25, at St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York. Don't miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER

TOPIC: Let's Get Serious about Improving Our Schools

Date: September 10, 2007 Newsletter Edition: Volume 8, Issue 25

I've heard the platitudes from politicians and education commissioners since before most of you were born and most of you have heard them, too:

" If It Aint Broke, Break It
" Top Down Support for Bottom Up Reform
" If We Keep Doing What We've Always Done, We'll Keep Getting What We've Always Got
" No Child (is to be) Left Behind

Here's one I propose adding to the list:

"All we need to improve our schools is for the people at the top to take their platitudes seriously and act upon them."

There are many ideas that could be implemented that would improve education. Those in the trenches - teachers, administrators, board members, parents, students, school staff, and others - are changing and improving educational approaches continually. But there are two changes that need to be implemented in our schools if we are serious about providing an equal educational opportunity for all children and if we are serious about enabling all children to achieve to their maximum potential:
1. Schools need to be safe, with adequate heating and cooling and a pleasant environment
2. Certified, qualified teachers need to be in every classroom

It's as simple as that.

Is there not ample research supporting the inability of people to concentrate (and learn) if their basic needs are not being met? The conditions in some schools are unsafe and deplorable. The fact that States publish lists of unsafe schools and allow some schools to remain on these lists more than a month is proof we are not doing enough. When students come to schools that are unsafe, too cold or too hot, or with leaks in the roof, or decaying walls and ceilings, should this not constitute an emergency requiring immediate action by political and educational leaders?


The New York Times, August 27, was among many newspapers to publish an article citing
Schools Scramble for Teachers Because of Spreading Turnover

Is it surprising that the schools that are unsafe and those with the fewest certified teachers are almost exclusively in the economically disadvantaged communities?

Is it astonishing that most of the schools on lists of schools in need of improvement are from economically disadvantaged communities?

If we want to provide equal educational opportunities to all, then the playing field has to be levelled. This requires adequate funding for schools to be safe and classrooms to have certified teachers.

Approximately twenty years ago, there was much publicity about education reform in Texas. As I recall, teachers were required to pass tests that were designed to increase the level of competence of teachers in Texas schools. The number of teachers removed from the ranks (or denied entry) was announced and bold predictions were in print that Texas would have qualified teachers in every classroom. (In fact, I think New York City went through a similar cycle in the 1960s or 70s.)

However, within a year or two, the newspaper accounts indicated that Texas was being forced to accept uncertified teachers into its classrooms because there was an insufficient supply of certified teachers.

Duh!

What good does it do to raise the standards for hiring and retaining teachers if you have to lower them later on to attract people into the classrooms? Unless salaries and working conditions are sufficient to attract and maintain qualified teachers there is no way for schools to guarantee children the kinds of teachers to which they are entitled. When demand for teachers exceeds the supply then standards are lowered and warm bodies are put in classrooms where certified teachers cannot be attracted.

The student-loan bill just passed by Congress and expected to be signed by the president is a tiny step in the right direction because of its provision that future teachers can gain loan forgiveness if they stay in the profession for ten years. I don't know all the details of the bill, but just the fact that it is addressing the rapid turnover of teachers is encouraging.

However, what this country really needs is a SURGE mentality when it comes to addressing the problems posed by school safety and uncertified teachers in the classrooms. There are many aspects of education reform that are needed. Will any have a greater impact than the school safety and quality teachers?

ATTENTION POLITICIANS AND EDUCATION COMMISSIONERS
Turn the platitudes into behaviors. Act now!
You have no right to hold professional educators, parents or anyone else (but yourselves) accountable for improving education until you first provide a level playing field that includes adequate funding for safe schools with certified teachers. Why is this the responsibility of our political leaders? By definition of the term "economically disadvantaged" the people in economically disadvantaged communities are not in a position to provide sufficient funding to make schools safe and hire qualified teachers for every classroom. The children in these communities suffer. Fewer graduate high school and go on to become contributing members of society. Then we all absorb the higher costs that go with a graduation rate that is not as high as it might be.

---30---

Please know that your work in the field of education is as meaningful to our society as anything anyone can possibly do. Thank you for caring about the future of our children!!!!

Feel welcome to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com. Requests to be dropped from this list will also be honored.
Copyright (c) 2007, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.

The Institute is currently registering teams for the 2008 summer constructivist conference, July 21-25, at St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York. Don't miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER

TOPIC: MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES and the START of the SCHOOL YEAR

Date: September 3, 2007 Newsletter Edition: Volume 8, Issue 24

Here is a repeat of an article I run every year at this time. It discusses strategies for helping students understand their own multiple intelligence strengths.

As you read Carol Amberg's description of how she teaches multiple intelligences and then helps students use an understanding of their strengths throughout the school year, please consider another important idea: to teach a concept requires learning over a period of time; it requires experience with a concept in a variety of situations.

How does a person gain an understanding of the concept of the word "integrity"?

I understand the concept of "integrity" by applying my definition in different situations - for instance, I wrestle with "integrity" when hearing of a ballplayer using a corked bat, when seeing someone lie about his age in order to get a discount, and when discussing what constitutes cheating on a test. My learning of the concept of "integrity" grows with each different situation I think about.

Because few of us grasp a concept in one class period, or even a week, it is important for a teacher to revisit important concepts throughout the year. Therefore, I am suggesting that teachers identify the most difficult concepts embedded in the standards their students will address, and introduce them early in the school year so that there are numerous opportunities to have students apply their understanding in a variety of situations. Gouverneur world literature teacher Carol Amberg introduces the concept of multiple intelligences during the first week of school and this allows the full year for students to apply this concept.

Teaching about "Multiple Intelligences" to high school students:

Here is how Carol teaches about multiple intelligences:
"On the first day of class, I introduce communication theory and ask the students to brainstorm diverse ways we send messages (body language, sign language, writing, talking, dance, scent, songs, etc.). I have a "wheel graphic" of the multiple intelligences, labeled in 'shorthand': Word Smart, Math Smart, Body Smart, People Smart, Self Smart, Music Smart, Picture Smart, Nature Smart posted on the bulletin board. I introduce multiple intelligences using that and we talk about how people with each kind of "smarts" send and receive messages.
"Then I ask the students to come up with jobs in which each intelligence would be an asset (i.e. architects = spatial intelligence, athletes = bodily-kinesthetic, etc.) We carry that over into our discussions of characters we meet in poems we analyze together, each of the first three days, and authors we discuss (i.e. Thoreau must have had nature intelligence to live at and write about Walden Pond).

"This is carried over into our first novel, "Siddhartha" where we conclude that someone who practices meditation develops intra personal intelligence, someone who becomes an ascetic scorns bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, etc. In other words, I try to weave it into everything we do to reinforce the learning. The same thing goes for how we receive messages through our senses, so poets and writers appeal to them through imagery.
"I find that starting with theory and then recognizing concrete examples as we go helps them apply the theory as well as remember the examples. The process culminates in the students designing projects near the end of the semester where they choose one self-identified preferred/strong intelligence and one weaker one and use both in demonstrating their understanding of a communication concept."

Thank you, Carol, for the permission to share your innovative work with multiple intelligences.

---30---

Please know that your work in the field of education is as meaningful to our society as anything anyone can possibly do. Thank you for caring about the future of our children!!!!

Feel welcome to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com. Requests to be dropped from this list will also be honored.
Copyright (c) 2007, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.

The Institute is currently registering teams for the 2008 summer constructivist conference, July 21-25, at St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York. Don't miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER

TOPIC: Newsletters to Resume on Labor Day

Date: August 30, 2007 Newsletter Edition: Volume 8, Issue 23

This summer, for the first time since I began writing this weekly newsletter, I took time off. Hopefully, you've noticed that you haven't received a newsletter in two months.

Preparing for our annual conference and meeting a deadline for our recently published book ("Captivating Classes with Constructivism") became overwhelming and I had to choose between continuing the newsletter throughout the summer or spending what time I had working in our flower gardens. The gardens won out.

The newsletter will resume next week.

Meanwhile, I hope you will access our website and review the feedback from our highly successful week-long summer constructivist conference that was held this past July at Grand Island, New York. Pay particular attention to responses to the question:

What, if any, changes will you make in your day-to-day work as a result of your experiences this week?

One teacher wrote: "I will make my classes more student centered." Quite a few indicated they will "challenge students to think critically more often."

As you review the feedback to this question (see page 8 of the "2007 Conference Feedback" on our web site) you will see what an enormous impact the conference had on practices of teachers, administrators, parents, students, staff developers, and others who were in attendance.

I hope you will consider joining us next summer, July 21 - 25, when the conference will be held at St. Lawrence University. Discounts are available for early registration.

Check out conference registration information as well as feedback from 2007 at our web site:

www.learnercentereded.org

On Labor Day, this newsletter will resume with a column on:

beginning the year teaching students about multiple intelligences;
or a diatribe on the need to make all schools safe and to have a certified teacher in every classroom - not just the classrooms of communities that are economically able to attract good teachers

What next week's column doesn't address will be the focus of the newsletter the following week.

Meanwhile, please know that your work in the field of education is as meaningful to our society as anything anyone can possibly do. Thank you for caring about the future of our children!!!!

Please feel free to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com. Requests to be dropped from this list will also be honored.
Copyright (c) 2007, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.

The Institute is currently registering teams for the 2008 summer constructivist conference, July 21-25, at St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York. Don't miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER

TOPIC: "The School Without Walls," Joe Torre and the Cleveland Cavaliers

Date: June 12, 2007 Newsletter Edition: Volume 8, Issue 22

Susan and I walked toward the front door of "The School Without Walls" in Rochester and two students smiled at us, said "Welcome to our school," and asked where we were from and if this was our first visit.

The atmosphere as we entered the high school was friendly and welcoming as it has been since it opened in 1971. Principal Dam Drmacich has been providing facilitative leadership since 1986. During our two hour guided tour, students and staff approached him comfortably and respectfully - often with humor, always with respect. It becomes apparent spending just limited time in this school that the comfortable environment translates into well motivated students and higher achievement. Our visit also called to mind several items I've read recently.

As the Yankees reeled off their sixth straight victory after an abysmal start to the season, manager Joe Torre attributed the turnaround to a change in the players' attitudes. "They were so tight . . . it seemed nobody smiled for days." Torre tried strategies designed to relax ("loosen up") the players. According to Alex Rodriguez, "I think our mood came, and then winning came after."
Cleveland was trailing San Antonio by 28 points in the second quarter of their championship series second game. The commentator, a former star player himself, said that the first thing Cleveland had to do was to become more determined - "They have to change their mood," he said - and then they may be able to narrow the score differential."
I can't recall the exact quote or the person to whom it was attributed, but recently I read of research indicating that when we function out of fear it inhibits our creativity and our ability to perform to our maximum potential.

The School Without Walls has demonstrated its success through its reduced drop-out and absentee rates, student advancement to colleges and the work-force, and with all kinds of evidence of student achievement particularly its culminating projects that are a requirement for graduation. One can't help but conclude that it's the warm, relaxed, caring attitude that is responsible for students who are obviously well motivated and achieving at closer to their capacity than is the case for students in most schools.

The tone is set at the top by a principal and a staff who treat each other and their students with respect. The curriculum reflects a balance between courses necessary to graduate and address New York State standards and courses offered, based on student input, because they are relevant to the students and are perceived by the students as being relevant to their needs and interests.

Kudos to School Without Walls for demonstrating that there are better ways to educate our children than what we have accepted as the norm too often and in too many places. And the thought keeps sticking to my mind as I reflect on this school, the Yankees and the Cavaliers - the mood comes first, then the results!

---30---

The author welcomes comments, feedback, reactions of any kind to the thoughts expressed (above).

Please feel free to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com. Requests to be dropped from this list will also be honored.
Copyright (c) 2007, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.

The Institute is currently registering teams for the 2007 summer constructivist conference, July 23-27, at Grand Island, New York, within sight of Niagara Falls. Don't miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER

TOPIC: Links to Exceptionally Interesting Educational Web Sites

Date: May 27, 2007 Newsletter Edition: Volume 8, Issue 21

Tim Bedley teaches a 4/5 combo class in Wildomar, California. He and his students have not only created words and music to define the California standards, but also their songs articulate strategies we want students to utilize. Tim tells us, "I have posted some videos and support text on my website that documents this project. I made my students into writing teachers for 2nd and 3rd grade classes. They prepared a lesson, taught it, and then reflected on the experience. It was pretty amazing.

Here is Tim's web site address: www.timbedley.com

Check it out along with these other interesting sites:

Leading Edge
www.realworldlearning.info
The e-mail address says it all, Bruce Bonney and Jack Drury have been lending their expertise and building their knowledge of performance learning activities for many years.

Sally Grimes
http://www.grimesreadinginstitute.com/ Referred to us by FableVision, Sally's work is at the core of where most educators agree the focus needs to be: student literacy

FableVision
FableVision.com

An exciting company that uses creativity and animation to provide terrific resources in support of student learning.

Frank Spagnolo
http://www.mrspagnolocentral.org/resources/Administrators/default.htm

A creative, exciting professional editor in Western New York, Frank has designed a Web Site that every teacher will love for its practical ideas.

Adirondack Curriculum Project
www.adkcurriculumproject.org

Facilitated by Jack Drury of Leading Edge and under the leadership of Sandy Hildreth and other talented, dedicated educators, the Adirondack Curriculum Project offers numerous examples of active learning lessons that connect New York State Standards with Adirondack agencies and environmental resources.

Generation YES
See the Generation Yes blog at http://blog.genyes.com The focus is on technology that inspires people to teach and learn in ways that are authentic and engaging.

Please feel free to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com. Requests to be dropped from this list will also be honored. Copyright (c) 2007, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.

The Institute is currently registering teams for the 2007 summer constructivist conference, July 23-27, at Grand Island, New York, within sight of Niagara Falls. Don't miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.orgor, e-mail a request for information.

THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER

TOPIC: Merit Pay is Demerit Pay

Date: May 24, 2007 Newsletter Edition: Volume 8, Issue 20

It sounds good: the best teachers should be paid the most money.

In 1973, a researcher contacted three schools in Massachusetts that had been acclaimed the year before for negotiating merit pay into their teacher contracts. In response to the question, "How is it working out?" he received these responses:

We scrapped it because it caused more divisiveness among staff and between teachers and administrators than it was worth for the anticipated benefits.
We never implemented it. The committee created to establish criteria for granting merit pay was unable to agree on how to set up or administer the process.
We abandoned it because the district was unwilling to increase the budget for teacher salaries significantly enough to make the awards worthwhile. Instead, we awarded merit raises to a select few, but since the overall budget didn't increase any more than neighboring schools, the result was that all other teachers got a below average raise and we risked not being competitive.

Evaluating teachers for merit raises is not analogous to other public and private sector positions that are often cited for having exemplary merit programs. In a small office, the boss interacts with employees and sees them regularly in the performance of their work so she is in position to make judgements about performance. In a school situation, most administrators are already over-loaded with work demands on their time so that it is difficult to even observe those probationary teachers whose tenure status has to be determined by the supervisors. If merit pay is implemented, can you imagine the increase in workload for an already over-worked administrative staff?

Even when administrators observe teachers, it can be difficult to get an accurate assessment. Some poor teachers can perform very well in front of an outside audience; some of our best teachers can freeze when put on the spot by an administrator who is observing when the teacher thinks the stakes are high.

Perhaps the best solution lies in differentiated staffing such as Rochester implemented in the 1980s. Meaningful roles with extra duties were created such as allowing teachers to be mentors for a year or two for new hires and teachers in need of improvement. There were at least four categories of extra or differentiated duties and it enabled outstanding teachers to apply and be considered for roles that paid extra and were, for some, a welcome challenge in addition to or instead of their regular duties.

Here are a few additional true anecdotes about merit pay and then I'll propose another alternative:

A secretary who worked for a state agency spoke about her experience with merit pay: "Five of us were each given merit raises of $100 and our names were posted on the bulletin board. After a week of being taunted by our co-workers with comments like, 'Who are you sleeping with?' four of us offered to give back the $100 if management would remove our names from the bulletin board."
A teacher once explained how she got her merit pay in a district that tried it for a few years: "I learned quickly that if I arrived at school five minutes before the principal and left for the day five minutes after he departed, I was awarded merit pay."

I was motivated to address merit pay by an article in the newspaper recently:

Lawmaker Aims To Stop
VA Brass's Big Bonuses

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The chairman of a House panel wants to stop hefty Bonus payments to senior Veterans Affairs officials until they reducea severe backlog of veterans waiting for disability benefits.

Rep. John Hall, D-NY, said Friday he was introducing legislation to place a hold on this year's bonuses after the Associated Press reported that senior VA officials involved in a budget foul-up which jeopardized veterans' health care received performance bonuses ranging up to $33,000.

Imagine that: bureaucrats mess up and get merit pay of $33,000; this is more than some beginning teachers receive as their salary for an entire year.

How often do we hear of corporate executives receiving "performance bonuses" of hundreds of thousands of dollars the same year their companies have declared bankruptcy?

If it isn't practical to implement merit pay in schools, but it is desirable to reward the better teachers, what's the solution? The solution IS NOT a few hundred dollars which will damage staff morale and pit people against others with whom they need to work together.

Good teachers, and there are many of them, want the pride that comes with seeing the results of all the extra time, effort, and caring they pour into their profession. Good teachers want the resources and support they need to do the job the way they want to do it. We're not talking about a lot of expenses. We're talking about the extra $50 the teacher wants that will make a creative project even better. We're talking about approval to do something that may not fit perfectly into "the way we've always done things." Good teachers are frustrated by the time they have to put into going through the bureaucracy for resources and support of ideas that should come automatically. Good teachers often spend their own money because of the bureaucratic obstacles to reasonable requests they make for small amounts of funding.

In 1997, I went before a group of superintendents and asked what they would need to make it worth their while to support a grant initiative we were exploring. Most responses were in terms of thousands of dollars of technology or other kinds of equipment for their districts. When I posed the same question to a group of outstanding teachers, they were thrilled at the thought that the grant might provide them $200 that they could spend, at their discretion.

We received the grant and each teacher was allowed to apply for up to $200 as long as he stated how the money would be used. The teachers' judgement was trusted. This was worth more to these teachers than merit pay.


Please feel free to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com. Requests to be dropped from this list will also be honored.
Copyright (c) 2007, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.

The Institute is currently registering teams for the 2007 summer constructivist conference, July 23-27, at Grand Island, New York, within sight of Niagara Falls. Don't miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.orgor, e-mail a request for information.

THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER

TOPIC: Frank McCourt and the Mission of Schools

Date: May 17, 2007 Newsletter Edition: Volume 8, Issue 19

The inspiration for this very brief newsletter comes from author Frank McCourt and St. Regis Falls' Board of Education member Tom O'Bryan.

It was my privilege this weekend to be at Syracuse University as the proud uncle of a graduating senior, Erica Woltz. These words from commencement speaker McCourt were among the many gems he shared:

"Find what you love and do it. If you don't love what you're doing, you're dead."

As I pondered this advice, I recalled what board member O'Bryan had said to me at our conference last summer: "The most important function of a school is to help each child discover what he likes doing and can do well so that the child is prepared to go out into the world."

Sometimes we get so hung up on whether a child can punctuate sentences, understand the science curriculum, and get high scores on a growing number of assessments that we can forget that these are simply means to an end. The "end" is summarized well in the words spoken by Frank McCourt and Tom O'Bryan.

As I reported a few weeks ago, Dr. Seuss was a below average student. He obviously discovered what he does well and loved to do. Was his success because of or in spite of his formal education?

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Please feel free to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com. Requests to be dropped from this list will also be honored. Copyright (c) 2007, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.

The Institute is currently registering teams for the 2007 summer constructivist conference, July 23-27, at Grand Island, New York, within sight of Niagara Falls. Don't miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER

TOPIC: An Article Critical of Constructivism - Is there a Rebuttal?

Date: May 6, 2007 Newsletter Edition: Volume 8, Issue 18

An article in a recent issue of Educational Psychologist cries out for rebuttal by anyone with a belief in constructivist theory. Here is the headline:

Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work:
An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching

WOW - that's quite a mouthful. The authors - Paul A. Kirschner, John Sweller, and Richard E. Clark - take an interesting tact. They give constructivism their own definition, and not one that many proponents of constructivism would accept; then they attack their own definition.

For instance, they equate constructivist practices with "an unguided or minimally guided environment." They go on to say that a constructivist environment "is generally defined as one in which learners, rather than being presented with essential information, must discover or construct essential information for themselves."

They imply that the only alternative to "unguided" instruction is "direct instruction." They further go on to equate "the minimally guided approach" with discovery learning, problem-based learning, inquiry learning, experiential learning and constructivist learning. They state clearly on the second page of their article: "The goal of this article is to suggest that based on our current knowledge of human cognitive architecture, minimally guided instruction is likely to be ineffective."

From a course in logic many years ago, I recall that the conclusion of a deductive argument is not valid unless the premises are valid. Unfortunately, the first premise of the authors is faulty:

Constructivism = minimal guidance

The authors assume that a constructivist environment requires "minimal guidance" and then they base their conclusion on that faulty premise:

Constructivism = minimal guidance
Minimal Guidance is bad pedagogy
Ergo, constructivism must be bad pedagogy

Aye, there's the rub! One must accept their definition of constructivism in order to agree with their conclusions. Many proponents of constructivist theory DO NOT agree that it equates with "minimal guidance".

Actually, classroom practices based on constructivist theory allow for a greater degree of individualized instruction, including - where necessary to meet a student's needs - a high level of instructional guidance, perhaps more guidance than is possible in a more traditionally functioning classroom.

The key word in rebutting the contention that constructivism means "minimal guidance" is SCAFFOLDING. An effective teacher scaffolds a lesson. This means the teacher provides as much support for each student as necessary, but not one bit more. As with a painter's scaffold, the purpose is to protect one from falling through the cracks, but - within a learning context - to provide enough support so that any student making an effort will be capable of achieving success. In other words, a well scaffolded lesson provides just enough support to enable the student to be successful, but not so much as to deprive the student of the opportunity to learn to be a responsible, independent learner. How much guidance the teacher provides each student depends on the student, the task, and the objective.

The authors have attempted to equate constructivism with "unguided instruction" and then to discredit constructivism by attacking it as if it were "unguided instruction".

What this article does successfully do is make a case against a learning environment that provides minimal guidance for students. We agree. It is an ineffective learning environment that provides "minimal guidance" to all students including the ones who need much more. But this would not be a constructivist environment. A constructivist environment provides the minimum guidance that every student requires. If a student requires a great deal of guidance and structure then a valid constructivist environment will afford the student that level of guidance.

While I am rebutting the paper of the three university scholars who did the writing, I cannot resist the temptation to point out something else. There is an excellent book entitled "In Search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivist Classrooms," by Jacqueline Grennon Brooks and Martin G. Brooks. The preface of the book begins: "Constructivism is not a theory about teaching. It's a theory about knowledge and learning."

Yet, the authors of the article knocking constructivism insist that constructivism is "an instructional theory" notwithstanding the admonition from Brooks and Brooks that it IS NOT a theory about teaching. Even worse, the authors attack constructivism as if it were a practice and not a theory. Providing any degree of guidance, minimal or otherwise, is a practice that should evolve from one's theory of how people learn. The article might read better if the authors recognized constructivism as a theory of how people learn (not an "instructional theory") and then either challenged or agreed with the theory. Or, the authors should make clear that what they are attacking are the practices they feel some practitioners are using in an attempt to reflect constructivist theory in the classroom.

What's the difference? The difference is that practitioners can have different ways of trying to apply a theory. However, to attack the way someone is applying theory in practice is different from attacking the theory itself. Nowhere in the article do the authors seem to make this distinction. In fact, they seem too consumed with coming up with their own definition of constructivism and then attacking it as if others agreed.

To be perfectly clear: there is nothing in constructivist theory of how people learn to suggest that "minimal guidance" is an integral part of that theory.

--- 30 ---

Please feel free to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com. Requests to be dropped from this list will also be honored. Copyright (c) 2007, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.

The Institute is currently registering teams for the 2007 summer constructivist conference, July 23-27, at Grand Island, New York, within sight of Niagara Falls. Don't miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.org or, e-mail a request for information.

THE INSTITUTE for Learning Centered Education NEWSLETTER

TOPIC: John Wooden on Teaching and Learning

Date: April 27, 2007 Newsletter Edition: Volume 8, Issue 17

Many years ago, Pat Flynn said that a major part of school reform will be a shift from judging teacher success by measuring what we teach to, instead, assessing what students learn. When I began teaching middle school English, before most of you were born, our major concern was "Did we cover the curriculum?" as opposed to "How much of the curriculum did the students learn?" (Has it changed much in the past forty years?)
I was reminded of Pat's observation recently when I read this quote from the legendary John Wooden who coached UCLA basketball teams from 1948 - 1975:
"If they're not learning, you're not teaching."
Yes, there are some students whose attitudes and behaviors may make it difficult, if not impossible, for them to be taught. Nevertheless, as Pat indicated many years ago, our measure of success in school must be based on what students are learning, not how much we are teaching.
Legislators and other politicians need to allow teachers to help students learn what is critical to their future success. The platitude "Less is more" will only have meaning if standardized assessments begin to require deeper coverage of less curriculum.

---30---

The author welcomes comments, feedback, reactions of any kind to the thoughts expressed (above).

Please feel free to forward this message to a friend or colleague. If you know someone who would like to be put on the list, please send a message to Don Mesibov at dmesibov@twcny.rr.com. Requests to be dropped from this list will also be honored.
Copyright (c) 2007, Institute for Learning Centered Education. All rights reserved.

The Institute is currently registering teams for the 2007 summer constructivist conference, July 23-27, at Grand Island, New York, within sight of Niagara Falls. Don't miss the opportunity for this unique conference that models the constructivist behaviors that teachers are using increasingly in the classroom. Check out the website of The Institute for Learning Centered Education: www.learnercentereded.orgor, e-mail a request for information.