Creating High Performance Learning Environments

As teachers in an ever changing, rapidly evolving world, we need to be prepared to evaluate our teaching practices and adjust and change as necessary. Currently, there is emphasis on setting high standards for our students, especially for those we believe to be low achieving students, for one reason or another. 

The idea is that by holding to the highest standards for all students, and then working towards their achieving those standards using any number of teaching methods and strategies, we can elevate all students, including those expected to be low performers, to high achieving status.

According to the research and writings of those such as Doug Lemov, in Teach Like a Champion , he realization has been that the higher one sets the bar, the more students will achieve. Theory and practice have proved this point, with one caveat, most notably reported by Robert J. Marzano in The Art and Science of Teaching, - that to be truly effective, the teacher themselves must first undergo a sincere and honest measure of self reflection, so as to be very clear on their own perceptions, beliefs, biases, which when left subconscious, may unwittingly be translating into their behaviors and affect towards students, and undermining their efforts. Such self reflection operates as a diagnostic by which the teacher may then prescribe appropriate strategies necessary to create a culture of high expectation within their classrooms, that is, or can be, as needed, tailored to the needs of each child. The most important thing is to know yourself, and your students as well as possible.

This week, we've been reviewing how we may set high expectations using the techniques of Project Based Learning and Whole Brain Teaching. These are methods which seek to involve the student in a more holistic way, activating all areas of the brain during the learning and teaching process, with the expectation that this will help students learn and perform to higher standards.

Academic expectations 
The examples we were given all seem to show that the teachers have high academic expectations of their students. We were provided two examples of American Project Based Learning and Whole Brain Teaching, and one example of a Chinese school system. However in the American teacher works with students on academic tasks, presenting a portion of information, then engaging students to become involved -- teaching each other, collaborating - and then producing a final product. However the Chinese system, was the most academically challenging of the three.

This was exemplified in the video of Crystal Chen's 3rd Grade Chinese Math recited their times tables in Chinese, which was provided context through Qingyang Chen's (who goes by Coolog in Youtube) video Interviews with Chinese High School Students. Here we were able to see the epitome of setting high academic expectations for students, As Qingyang Chen showed, it was clear from the moment you walk into the school, where you may see signs saying "nation," "future," and "pride" and in the classroom hallways, words such as "self motivation" "self-improvement" "innovation," and "triumph" are prominently displayed. For the Chinese, their entire young lives and academic program are geared towards students entry into one of two fields; and their ability to succeed and continue on to college depends on their performance in those fields. 

On the one hand, this seems a great way to ensure that the masses of the population do indeed, have a good education, have mastered academic skills. They must do so, just to survive trough high school. But, to my mind it is extremely short sighted, and very limiting. The potential of so many people is completely lost when there is so little room for any other expression or development, and basically those who are best at rote memorization are most valued and prized. 

The students interviewed seemed to understand this, in as much as they expressed that though they were interested in leadership, community service, or arts clubs, there was very little time for them to pursue those interests, or they were reserved for only a select subgroup of students. Another student expressed how much she enjoyed her one year of a project based type of learning -- only to have to return to the same grueling hand written homework that she had had before. This young lady also expressed that she had a liking for geography but, she said, she's in science so she can't study geography. One can only imagine what could come of a child with such cross curricular interests!

Behavior Expectations

From my perspective, I found that the Project Based Learning programs provided in the examples of Donna Migdol's Roller Coaster Physics and Liz Loether's Project Based Blended Learning of a Space Probe were much more promising. These are simple amazing strategies! I loved the Roller Coaster Design Challenge the most, because it was the most practical, and probably the method most suited to my personality and style. I love watching students take what they have learned and turn it into something that works in the real world.

It was clear in each case, though I think more so in the Roller Coaster Physics Challenge, that the expectations were high, not only academically, but in terms of behavior. In this case, the teacher treated the students as if they were professionals, providing them roles within their teams, expecting them to "show the science that they know" to each other, collaborating correcting and assisting each other. I love that the students talk to one another, not so much to the teacher. The expectations are that they are engineers, and they are to behave in that way. The teacher guides them through the process, and provides them the science tools that they need to know, but in effect, the students are testing their learning as they go. 

In effect, this, too, is what the Whole Brain Teaching is really all about, too - engaging the entire brain in an activity. In the case of the roller coaster, many of the same elements were present --

• Prefrontal cortex - students were involved in decision making and planning 
• Motor cortex - Students were involved in physical movement as they actually got down and dirty, bending twisting taping their roller coasters together. The reasons for each movement were related to some fact or concept that they were learning about, so this physical action related to the content will certainly help them to retain information. 
• Visual cortex - Through the use of the computer simulations, as well as drawings, and actually running the roller coasters, the visual cortex is also engaged, and this all contributes to learning and problem solving 
• Limbic system - The roller coaster challenge is competitive, but ultimately, there is the inherent challenge and thrill of accomplishment in itself --- as well as the sinking sensation of defeat when things don't go as planned -- that comes of working on such a project . Definitely the emotions are involved in this process. 
• Wernicke’s area, Broca’s area - Language was involved in many levels, as teachers led and students listened, as students discussed and learned from one another, and as the teams worked together to collaborate and share their ideas, and create new solutions. All of that involves language. 
• Nucleus acumbens - Hope has a power and an energy in itself! Engaging in any kind of activity where there is the hope of accomplishment or of experiencing some form of success -- seeing that marble make its way all the way to the end, hoping it would, wondering if it will.. all of that creates that dopamine producing effect that WBT talks about. 

The  Whole Brain Teaching video was powerful and very exciting to see as well. 

It is amazing to see how much more quickly we can remember things when we are engaged in them so completely. This was similar to what we saw in the 3rd Grade Chinese math class - this kind of rote memorization by way of using physical, language, sound, gestures to help the brain absorb the information.

I had mixed feelings about this video, though. 

As I watched the teacher engage in whole brain teaching strategies as she delivered her lesson on longitude and latitude, I am sure that all the students got the point and learned what longitude and latitude were. But, I am just not convinced that it was all necessary. In the case of this video, I am actually prone to think that the teacher's expectations were actually set rather low, if she believed that these strategies would be necessary for her students to absorb these concepts. Perhaps I missed something in it, but it struck me as a lot of activity for something that could have been learned much more quickly and easily in a more old fashioned manner.

I watched another video, How To Begin Whole Brain Teaching: 1 that was an intro to how to do Whole Brain Teaching, and it worked great for learning rules - but I am not sure how i would use it to teach an actual lesson. This method attempts to engage all parts of the brain - the areas listed above - by using a system of call and response, using physical movement, and building in some sort of challenge or expectation of reward. These elements each serve to work from a different are of the brain, presumably then strengthening the students' ability to learn the content being presented.

My impressions - there is something militaristic about the approach - like Army running cadences. Or, from another perspective, it reminded me of the way some eastern practices are taught. For example, in typical and traditional Ashtanga Yoga and Tai Chi (and other martial arts, to be sure) the class performs the entire series of movements, similar to the Chinese 3rd graders. Newcomers and beginners simple begin with the class, and perform as much of the series as they can remember. At the end of the session, the teacher turns attention to the beginners, and works with these small groups to bring them up to the next level. Slowly but surely, each student adds to his or her ability, bit by bit until they are able to perform the whole series, too. In the 3rd grade class, there were students who definitely were not participating as much as the other students. I wonder if that is what was happening in that video? 

Norms and Procedures

In the end, the one thing that all of these approaches have in common are their norms. No matter which method one may use, it is clear that the norms must be clearly set from the outset. This was most obvious in the example of the Chinese school system, but they are evident in the way the classes work together, and how the students move through their work. It would not be possible to engage in these kinds of projects if there were not firm norms and rules in place. 

As I embark on this new school year, I have a lot to think about. At our school, we are also embarking on a new philosophy, culture, and approach to learning in our Upper School - the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program.  A lot of what we are learning in these discussions of Project Based Learning, Whole Brain Learning, and of critical thinking and collaboration, classroom culture and norms and procedures -- all of this lends itself to my ability to successfully prepare my middle school students to participate in the IB program when the time comes. 

And so I aim to establish high expectations in my classroom beginning the moment they enter the door. Like the Chinese schools, I'll have posted words (along with Mr. Spock and the Peace sign!) around my room that will let them know clearly that I expect the best form them, and that I believe that they can be their best. The IB has a series of terms that are meant to describe the Learner Profile:

• Inquirers
• Knowledgeable
• Thinkers
• Communicators
• Principled
• Open-minded
• Caring
• Risk-takers
• Balanced
• Reflective

However I think it's important to note. While these terms represent high expectations, they are not the same as those in the Chinese school. These are terms that symbolize high expectations of another kind - it's way more than getting a high score on a standardized test. 

I appreciate the concept of whole brain teaching and thinking. I believe that there is value in this method. After all, the teachings of unity of body breath and mind is signature of yoga, and the mastery of mind and chi (energy) are the domain of many other eastern philosophies and practices for thousands of years. But I think that the way that the Whole Brain Method is demonstrated here, makes it a method that has its place and purpose and should be used judiciously. Whole Brain Teaching In a Math class for learning one multiplication tables? Yes! Or Geography, working on the capitals of the world's nations? Absolutely. Perhaps in Science, running through facts about the Table of Elements, or in Language Arts, learning vocabulary or memorizing a poem. Perhaps. But for areas requiring problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration and creativity, I don't know that this method would be very useful. 

I guess what I am getting at is that I think there are times and places for each of these techniques, and that it's best to find a combination that suits the teacher and the particular needs of a particular class or individual student.

In another discussion, I spoke about my son. He is going into 3rd grade, in an American curriculum school using Singapore Math. I have found that many times, I really wish that he had been taught the rote memorization of math facts, because it definitely helps in later math, if you can quickly pull the basic math facts into play without having to figure them out all the time. I see this with my son. He's learning really great conceptual aspects of math -- I see him doing things that remind me of algebra, and I know that the students work with each other to work their way through these problems, so I know he's getting a great foundation for algebra, for critical thinking, collaboration, etc. But there is no denying it - it's so hard to see that he still has to count and figure out basic arithmetic and multiplication facts before he can move on and get the answers he's looking for!

I can see the value of all of these approaches. I hope I can, and I will try to use as many different techniques as I can, to help my students. Though it is hard to imagine me actually teaching in the Whole Brained Teaching method, I imagine it will be useful when it comes time for them to learn certain technology facts, or for, say memorizing a keyboard or something. For me, my preferred method and what suits my style best would be project based learning. 

What I will take from these examples are some of the methods used for maintaining structure and forward movement. I like the idea of providing the challenge with restricted resources, and challenging them to come up with solutions using the materials provided. I also like the way their progress is staged, moving from theory to planning, to testing, then actually constructing a product to test the theory. I like the idea of chime sessions, where students who have been working in a similar project in small groups, are brought together to share their experiences, and learn from and help each other.

To conclude, it is clear that the world of education is exploding with new possibilities as we learn more about the brain, how we think, and how we are meant to work and learn together. We are carving out new ways to teach - but I think the lesson is that there must be a thoughtful mix of strategies. There are times when techniques like Whole Brain Teaching may have incredible teaching and learning value -- making addition and multiplication facts quickly memorable and well embedded in the memories of our students. But these must be balanced with lots of opportunity for project based learning approaches, where students are challenged to use their critical thinking, where they can collaborate and work with and learn from each other, and develop their leadership, creative, diplomacy, and other skills - all while having the ability to call on those math and science facts quickly and readily, when needed -- so that they don't lose time counting on their fingers, while trying to solve real world problems.


Bibliography 

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