Think Deeper

One thing I know for certain, most teachers will say they entered education because of their love for children. I think this is true, but not the only reason that they entered the profession of education. I believe most teachers are driven to connect with others and when that desire to connect meets our individual passion for subjects, the real teacher is born. When the desire to connect with children meets the desire to share the subjects that we have found to be so powerful and life giving, miracles happen. The outcome is a teacher that has the strength of a warrior and the heart of a champion. Most of these like minded teachers will seek out colleagues that share this passion and yearn to work in an organization that honors thinking.

At Holiday Park we are no different than any other public education system in America today. The pressure to measure only intellect that is standardized and identified as critical weighs heavy on the shoulders of each of us everyday. Understandably, we accept this pressure in an effort to make sure we are preparing our students for whatever awaits them in their future. I think the problem occurs when we start to focus more on the measured outcome then on the actual understanding and truths that each student develops along the way.

I firmly beleive that most of our students have been taught to look for the “right” answer to please us, the teachers. One very bright student recently engaged in a lesson with me and my first impression was that he was extremely successful in the lesson and confident among his peers. He could speak of the learning he encountered and used vocabulary words beyond his years. On a true or false test he was able to answer every question with no mistakes. Super Star…right? I thought so, until, quite by mistake, I uncovered what he truly learned. After his group presentation to the class, I wondered about something he said and asked for clarification. He just looked at me, repeated the information, and then looked at me longer. When I asked him to explain what that meant to me, he couldn’t. Matter of fact, he didn’t really know what most of the words and/or concepts were that he could spout out and answer. But, he could pass any multiple choice or short answer tests just by repeating what he read and remembering the facts. Not powerful or life giving learning at all. He will shortly forget all he learned and never be able to synthesize this learning across other content areas or life situations. Certainly not what any teacher would intend. How do we move to deeper levels of thinking and understanding for our students? How can we accomplish this along with everything else on our plates? We can, and we will. Because we, mostly you, are awesome!

So where does that put us today? I would say in a great place. We have a staff of teachers dedicated to student learning and structures in place in language arts that are proving to be successful. If we can learn to synthesize that with what we are learning about “depth of knowledge” we would see we are in the perfect place to add Level 3 and 4 opportunities to our structures to ensure deeper learning everyday. This will allow us the ability to uncover each student’s real understandings and truths that they are developing throughout the lesson. DOK level 3 and 4 allow us to engage students in critical thinking without allowing them to focus on the facts or speak concepts they don’t understand in one line answers. This is just what we are ready for, and just what our students need.

Please be thoughtful this week to the kinds of questions you are asking your students. Even more important, pay attention to the kinds of answers you are accepting. Are we assuming they understand what they are saying? Are we looking for just one answer? Do we allow multiple opportunities for our students to explain their thinking? Please use this week to be reflective regarding these questions. We are about to go on a weeklong break that will energize us and allow us to return stronger than ever. Upon return we will be able to continue this thinking and learn more about DOK together.