Aiming for Sticky Learning

Aiming for Sticky Learning.

 

 

I remember being in sixth grade, my marks were finally reflecting how much hard work I was not putting into my schoolwork. I was no longer getting away with good marks by not studying or paying attention in class. I had to finally work hard! So that's what I did, I worked my butt off in class. Before every test, I would study really hard, get good grades and…that's it! Mission accomplished. Getting good grades was the only thing that mattered to me in school. It mattered because it made my parents proud and it made me feel smart. However, if you asked me "what did you learn last week?" after a unit was finally done, chances are I'd be staring at you dead in the eyes with no answer. I could never remember what I learned because the information was never more meaningful or important to me, then getting good grades.

 

Education should be focused more on growth mindsets. It should be a place where students can discover their skills, passion, and talents. There will be times where you fail but the goal should always be to learn, whether you are learning from your mistakes or striving for the best. This happens when sticky learning is the goal. As educators, our goal is to provide knowledge in a way that becomes meaningful and interesting to the student because let's face it, the brain does not pay attention to boring things! So, practicing simplicity when teaching or giving examples that the learner is already familiar with or even striving for unexpectedness in student's learning, may help them want to want to learn more, become more interested, and it may help them remember what is being taught. 

 

Sometimes a student can become a victim to blocked practice when the information is not interesting enough, which then promotes the opposite of sticky learning. However, imagine spiraling the curriculum? Kristin Philips, a school principal, does a really good job with explaining this and she helps refresh the goal for teaching. Teaching is not a checklist of the curriculum; some subjects need a lot more time and repetition in order for students to truly understand what is being taught to them. By spiraling the curriculum, teachers are returning to key concepts like multiplication or division, many times throughout the school year. The goal is for students to learn effectively by making sure the knowledge sticks, and because these concepts are "end of the year" goals and not expectations that are to be strictly learned by a certain season or month, to teach them over and over again might not be such a bad idea. I believe this concept is especially helpful for students who may take longer to grasp information, for this may give them a chance to excel and progress in their learning. It can help students like me, go beyond the idea of just getting good grades, but to actually learn something for a better reason. If possible, spiraling the curriculum is definitely something I would love to try in my teaching experience. Going back to my grade 6 experience, if my teacher spiraled the math unit "Area and Perimeter", who knows, I might have actually understood it, remembered it, and I would've been way more prepared for it in grade 7. With that being said, be inspired to "try something new, no one will die!" - Kristin Phillips.

 

Linda @NU