How Can I Help Slow Learners
This whole book has been a very interesting read, but this chapter was motivating because we all have students like this (slow learners). According to Daniel Willingham, “Americans view intelligence as a fixed attribute………but, in China, Japan, and other Eastern countries, intelligence is more often viewed as malleable. If students fail a test or don’t understand a concept, it’s not that they’re stupid-they just haven’t worked hard enough yet……..intelligence is under their control.” (pg. 169)
The cognitive principle that guides this chapter is:
“Children do differ in intelligence, but intelligence can be changed through sustained hard work.” (pg.170)
It is argued that intelligence comes from either genetics (all nature) or from experience (all nurture).
Most researchers seemed to have believed that the range of intelligence was set mostly by genetics,…but during the 1980’s they discovered that over the last half century IQ scores have shown quite substantial gains……huge increases in IQ scores. This was observed in dozens of countries, including the United States. (pg. 176) Upon being investigated, the studies showed that there is strong evidence that the environment has a powerful impact on intelligence, because geneticists agree that the gene pool could not change rapidly enough to account for the change in IQ. The effect is called the “Flynn Effect,” named after James Flynn, who first described it. (pg. 176-177)
Implications for the Classroom
How does this affect our students and our teaching? “If intelligence were all a matter of one’s genetic inheritance, then there wouldn’t be much point in trying to make kids smarter.” (pg. 179)
1. Praise Effort, Not Ability – You want to encourage your students to think of their intelligence as under their control, and especially that they can develop their intelligence through hard work. Therefore, you should praise process, rather than ability.
2. Tell Them that Hard Work Pays Off – Praising process rather than ability sends the unspoken message that intelligence is under the student’s control.
3. Treat Failure as a Natural Part of Learning – Try to create a classroom atmosphere in which failure is neither embarrassing nor wholly negative. Failure means you’re about to learn something. Model this attitude for your students. When you fail, let them see you take a positive, learning attitude.
4. Don’t Take Study Skills for Granted – All students must learn new skills as homework becomes more demanding-skills of self-discipline, time management, and resourcefulness. Don’t take for granted that your slower students have these skills, even if they should have acquired them in previous grades.
5. Catching Up Is the Long-Term Goal- It is important to be realistic about what it will take for students to catch up. If your slower students know less than your brighter students, they can’t simply work at the same pace as the bright students; doing only that, they will continue to fall behind! It may be smart to set interim goals that are achievable and concrete.
6. Show Students that You Have Confidence in Them – Ask 10 people you know, Who was the most important teacher in your life?....most people will always respond with an emotional response such as, “She made me believe in myself…..or She taught me to love knowledge.” In addition, people always say that their important teacher set high standards and believed that the student could meet those standards.
Listed as a footnote at the end of the chapter, Daniel states, “This is not to say that students don’t have learning disabilities. Some do. My conclusions in this chapter do not apply to these students.” (pg. 187)
In Chapter 8, Daniel T. Willingham's guiding quote was "Children do differ in intelligence, but intelligence can be changed through sustained hard work" (p. 170). He points out that intelligence is a combination of genetics and environment. I think this is most definitely true. Genetics can definitely play a role, but the environment in which a child is brought up in also has a huge effect on the success of that child.
ReplyDeleteBecause some of our students are fast to learn new concepts and some students struggle with almost every new concept, Willingham's list of classroom implications is important. I feel these suggestions are very important to how teachers interact with all students in their classrooms (both fast and slow learners).
Willingham's take on praise was especially important: "Praise effort, not ability" (p. 183). He says that the type of praise we give our students can be crucial in their success. "...Those who had been praised for their ability ('you're smart') were more likely to describe a fixed view of intelligence than those who were praised for their effort ('you worked hard"), who were more likely to describe a malleable view of intelligence" (p. 182). We want our students to try their best. In order for that to happen, students must hear us praising their efforts so that they continue to try.
Willingham's reminder that teachers need to "treat failure as a natural part of learning" (p. 184) is also crucial to student success in school. He says that "fear of failure can therefore be a significant obstacle to tackling this sort of challenging work, but failure should not be a big deal" (p. 184). Failure is hard for our students; failure is hard for us! It is critical that we create an environment where students feel safe to try new things, challenge themselves, and at times fail. I have a poster in my classroom that states: "mistakes help us learn." This is difficult for students to believe at first. Through modeling, acceptance of my own mistakes (and I make plenty!), and encouragement when students make mistakes, students are more willing to try, fail, and try again.
Throughout this book, Willingham has offered important suggestions for teachers and how they interact with their students. I feel that these are perhaps the most important. If a student doesn't believe he/she can succeed, then even the most interesting and involved lessons will fall flat.
The super summery, Amy, is very good. You made this chapter easy to comment on because it is very well written, and you picked out the important points.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this chapter because it is what I do everyday in the resource room. I enjoyed the refresher course in the basics of environment and genics and its effects on our students, and what we can do as teachers to make school a place of success and safety.
Michelle's ending remarks are how I feel about this literature circle assignments; this book has been full of good suggestions for every/any teacher in age, experience and grade level of students in the classroom.
Once again, I should have checked my spelling...summary.
ReplyDeleteWillingham has some great points in helping students in this chapter. Slow learners need to have goals set that are attainable to help their self-confidence in achieving. Study skills are also very important. Students need to be retaught these skills and we can't assume they have them. Praise is very important for students. We all like praise when we accomplish what we set out to do. We just have to remember what praise will grow good students. (I'm praising myself right now for finally signing in before I type my comment and not have it post several times.)
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