Willingham's "Why Don't Students Like School" had so many key concepts that impact our teaching. Throughout this book, Willingham has offered important suggestions for teachers and how they interact with their students.
•Section 1 (Why Don’t Students Like School?): Children enter our classrooms as eager, curious students. Students want to learn. So when and why do students become bored and avoid thinking? According to Willingham, it is when the educator fails to make the content interesting. Willingham also stated that students stop thinking when the problem is too hard. Not every student is at the same level at the same time. This is why it so important to differentiate instruction within the classroom and allow students to problem solve in a way that works for them.
•Section 2 (How Can I Teach Students the Skills They Need When Standardized Tests Require Only Facts?): Willingham stated that "we must ensure that students acquire background knowledge parallel with practicing critical thinking skills" (p.29). It is through this background knowledge that students can apply information in order to learn new information and to problem solve. Without background knowledge, students struggle in school (p. 37). This is why we must expose children to a variety of real world experiences. We can utilize things like interactive maps, online videos, speeches, music, photos, etc. to allow underprivileged kids to take a virtual tour of things from around the world. We can use technology to help expose students to things that they would not have access to at home.
•Section 3 (Why Is It So Hard for Students to Understand Abstract Ideas): There are three things that we must do in order to move students to a deep knowledge of abstract concepts, we must focus on three main strategies: We need to give our students a variety of experiences and examples from which to explore and compare (p. 102); Pose a variety of questions both in oral discussion and assignments/activities (p. 103); Give students time and opportunity to practice. Deep knowledge and understanding takes time (p. 104).
•Section 4 (What’s the Secret to Getting Students to Think Like Real Scientists, Mathematicians, and Historians?): Can and should students be taught to think like experts? Do differences in learning styles and multiple intelligences really exist? We need to do what works with the student. We should still differentiate the type of teaching we do based on what works best to teach particular content. Differentiating our teaching also helps keep students from getting bored!
•Section 5 (How Can I Help Slow Learners?): Because 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 was very important. I feel these suggestions are very important to how teachers interact with all students in their classrooms (both fast and slow learners).
•Section 6 (What About My Mind?): Willingham stated that "data show that teachers improve during their first five years in the field, as measured by student learning. After five years, however, the curve gets flat, and a teacher with twenty years of experience is (on average) no better or worse than a teacher with ten" (p. 192). As educators, we obviously need to put in effort (practice) to improve. Willingham stated that there is a difference between experience and practice. "Experience means you are simply engaged in the activity. Practice means you are trying to improve your performance" (p. 192).
For me, I feel that Chapter 9 was especially important because Willingham demonstrated how all of his strategies apply to me and my thinking/teaching? "Teaching, like any complex cognitive skill, must be practiced to be improved. Teaching is indeed a cognitive skill, and everything I said about students' minds applies to yours (p. 189). The goals that we have for our students should be the same goals that we, as adults, have in our own lives/jobs. Just like our students, we need to continuously work to improve. It is easy to 'do what we always have done.' In order to show improvement in our teaching and not become stagnant, we must work at it...just like our students.
Willingham's suggestions for improvement are ones that I have heard in other classes that I've taken on cognitively guided coaching. These classes have also focused on the importance of peer coaching and feedback. It is not easy to seek out feedback from peers. However, it is possibly the most important thing we can do to improve our teaching. The feedback is not meant to criticize, but to be supportive and constructive. In the last few years, I have had the opportunity to both receive and offer peer feedback. These experiences have helped me think about my teaching in ways that I don't get to on a regular day.
This book has been very interesting to read and has provided me with many useful strategies to use when working with my students. I thought that Willingham's final quote was most powerful: “Education makes better minds, and knowledge of the mind can make better education" (p. 213). If we all think like this, imagine what we can do!
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