In 100 words or more, comment on the following:
In “The Moral North Star” (p. 8) William Damon says that students will pursue excellence more ardently if they understand why the knowledge schools require is important. How do you respond when students ask, “Why do we have to do this?” How might your responses to this question instill in students a sense of purpose?
In addition, don’t forget to comment (in 50 words or more) on another participant’s comment on this question.
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17 comments:
The question that students pose, as pointed out by Damon in his article “The Moral North Star”, is both common and important. Students need to know why they are expected to learn something, and how it is directly applicable to their own lives, both today, and in the future. When planning my lessons, my rationale is something I constantly keep in the forefront of my mind. I know that as a learner myself, I learn and retain information much more efficiently if I know how it applies to me and my purposes. I try to always have an answer ready for my kids when they ask me the question “Why do we have to do this”. As a reading teacher, I work with kids who are emerging readers, and often frustrated and lacking motivation. Damon’s article is particularly relevant to these cases because finding the real-world relevance in their learning is a key factor in fostering student understanding and motivation. By guiding them in their purpose for learning, I hope to help instill in them a general sense of purpose that will lead them to become life long learners.
Usually when students ask “Why do we have to do this?”, I have to resist the urge to become my mother and reply with “Because I said so!”. But instead of wasting my breath telling them why what I think I’m teaching is important to them, I ask them to give me a reason they think it would be important to participate in the activity or complete the assignment. If the student says “I don’t know”, then I ask the class to help the student come up with at least one reason. One of the things I tell my students on the first day of class is that anything can be interesting if they just make the effort to relate it to their own lives. Asking students to relate the subject at hand to their personal lives helps instill a sense of purpose because they see (or will hopefully start to see) that all their experiences have value and can help them to reach their goals, even if it doesn’t look that way at first glance.
Teaching in the primary grades, I do not often get questions such as, “Why do we have to do this?” or “Will we ever use this when we grow up?” I do try, however, to make my daily lessons relevant to their young lives. Fortunately, teaching: how to read, how to write, the concept of addition/subtraction, telling time, etc. is obviously important and even the youngest of students can see the need or purpose for it.
I think simply ensuring that, as teachers, we are stating the objective throughout each lesson is a small step towards answering the students’ questions of “why” academic knowledge is so important.
A: response to Dstark
I like the fact that you tell your students “anything can be interesting if you relate it to your own lives.” That is wonderful food for thought for all students, young or old. I find when I take a class that I am not too fond of; I am much more interested if I can apply it to my work or personal life.
When a student asks, “Why do we have to do this?” I back up and explain (I often feel it is something I have covered several times, but repetition is good for storing information). The rationale is something we have already discussed, stated in my lesson plans and on the assignment sheet/board. I often have them say the rationale back to me in their own words. Additionally, it has to then be connected to a long term goal. For example, grammar is important because (unfortunately) people judge us on the way we speak and write. Therefore, when students venture out to apply for jobs, they will be more prepared in the area or writing and speaking.
In this article, Damon points out a common realization among educators today, namely that we will never get students to acheive their full potential until we can show them the relevance of what is being taught. I always look for ways to point out the real-life applications of the skills I teach, and as a result, I find that I rarely hear the students ask, "Why are we doing this?" I teach English, which admittedly makes this an easier task than for some other subject areas since the need to be able to read, write, and speak proper English are udeniably essential skills in any future that students may envision for themselves. I feel that by starting out teaching the relevance of all the skills we enforce in the school setting, students have a bigger buy-in, and although they may not immediately comply, they can at least admit to themselves the importance of what is being taught. To begin with, I like to draw the parallels between real-world expectations and school expectations. Teachers=bosses, grades=paychecks, awards=bonuses and promotions, detention=write-ups and warnings, rules=laws,etc. This addresses the expected behaviors, language,and skills when working with others to acomplish a task. All of which are common expectations in any job. Then I like to point out the relevance of learning to speak, write, and read formal English. I give an example of an interview in which one applicant responds in casual register: "Well, no. I ain't got no experience, but I'm real smart and I learn stuff fast, and I get along with people real well." versus a formal register response: "Actually no, I don't have experience in this particular position, but in my previous position, I was able to aquire new skills in a minimal amount of time and work with a variety of personalities to accomplish a task." I then follow up with the question, "Who would you hire?" The students choose the second applicant. I then add new information, "What if you wanted to hire someone for the least amount of money and didn't want to provide any benefits, now who would you hire?" This usually makes a few light bulbs go off. I like to follow this up with the fact that laws, applications and contracts of all varieties are written in the formal register. If students want to live in a nice home, purchase a cellphone plan, or apply for a scholarship or military position, they will need to be able to read and write in complete sentences with high level vocabulary. If they do not aquire these skills, they leave themselves open to be taken advantage of or left behind by those who do. This lesson doesn't reach everyone, but it reaches most.
A: response to Lela
I like that you ask students to relate your objectives to a long-term goal and to getting a job someday. It seems like lots of students think school is of no importance to them and that life will be so much different and better when they graduate, but they don't recognize that they need to learn skills now to have that better life in the future. I used to teach high school students and we were doing a project/unit on career exploration and one of my students said she shouldn't have to do the assignment because she was just going to college to find a husband and then she was going to be a rich housewife (sigh).
I teach in a special education self contained class. If I can't give my students a reason for what I'm teaching, they won't trust anything I ask them to do in the classroom. I tell my students that they can always ask the “why” question. I believe in the value of what I teach. My students have to work so hard that we don't have time to waste on anything that they don't have a reason to learn. I have to capitalize on students' existing needs. My students learn best when incentives for learning in a classroom satisfy their own needs Some of the needs my students bring to the classroom are the need to learn something in order to complete a particular task or activity, the need to seek new experiences, the need to perfect skills, the need to overcome challenges, the need to become competent, the need to succeed and do well, the need to feel involved and to interact with other people. Satisfying such needs is rewarding in itself, and such rewards sustain learning more effectively than do grades. I try to design assignments, in-class activities, and discussion questions to address these kinds of needs. I try to make my students active participants in learning. My Students learn by doing, making, writing, designing, creating, solving. Even though it takes time, students don't 'buy in' to the work if they don't feel ownership. Understanding the 'why' helps them feel ownership. "Because I said so" is direct, forceful and expedient which is why we use it so much. Quite simply, it's easy. But it doesn't teach anything, except that authority comes from power rather than right. If we overuse it, we run the risk of raising children who come to identify authority with power, rather than identifying authority with what is right..
“Why do we have to do this?” This question resonates throughout schools everywhere. Is it a question you hear more in the primary, the middle, or the high schools? As a primary teacher I can verify that I do hear it in Kindergarten. Kids want to know…Why? How does this help me? I may even hear this question more in within this age group because they are more inquisitive and open to asking questions. After ten years of teaching, the majority of the time kids pose the “why do I have to do this“ question, I have a meaningful answer. With the grade level I work with I need to keep the answer very concrete to “why”. For example when kids are asking “Why do I need to cut this” my response is that it helps their hands and their minds practice and learn to work together. After reading this article I can take this response one step further…I can ask the kids…what type of jobs/things would you like to do as an adult where you will need to have your brain and hands work well together?
A:Response to dstark
Ha, I had to giggle with the "because I said so." Eek, not going to fib to any of you..I have responded with that answer once or twice in my life...who hasnt as a parent, as a teacher to that super constant questioning child it has been, "because teacher has given you a direction." :-) I will say after reading this article I see the absolute power and importance to taking a step back and walking kids through the steps to realizing "why"!
Response to Bobbie Sue
I often wish that we could do more of this in the regular ed classes as well. I know in my heart that some of my students will probably never excel at "book learnin'," and it kills me that they have already written themselves off as stupid or slow because they can't do well on a standardized test. I also hate the opposite, when students feel superior to others because learning on paper is easy for them, when in reality they have fewer real-life survival tools and skills than some of the lower scoring students. It would be nice to focus on trades and hands on activities that prepared students for a job outside of school.
Initial Response to Question 1A
I am fortunate in that few, if any, of my elementary music students have ever posed this question to me. I do try to justify the value of my lessons (to myself) beyond their daily goal. For example, when I teach my third graders about the instruments of the orchestra, I am helping to prepare them for playing an instrument themselves in a few years. This is a life-long hobby, and perhaps even a possible vocation. Also, as we work on various warm ups for our voices, I explain their purpose. Later on, I have the students use the warm ups in place of lyrics as we work on a section of music. They can almost always hear an immediate change in their sound, if they are doing the exercise correctly. This usually motivates them to work a bit harder on warm ups at the beginning of class.
With my upper elementary students, we discuss vocations that are available in the field of music. Often times the students have been completely unaware that the job of a disc jockey, sound technician, or electronics technician have direct ties to the classroom lessons. When possible, I try to invite guest speakers into the classes to explain their vocation in more detail and field students' questions.
The performance aspect of the music classroom is sometimes where I meet the most resistance from my upper elementary students. I sometimes hear the phrase, "I don't like to sing," or "I will be really embarrassed to sing in front of people." I remind them that I need each person's unique voice to contribute to the sound of our choir. I use the analogy of baking chocolate chip cookies, but leaving out an important ingredient (chocolate chips, for example). Everyone is important. I also remind them that I will never ask them to sing alone unless they volunteer. Finally, I assure them that, unlike sporting events, everyone in the audience wants each of them to succeed.
Responding to Bobbie Sue (Question 1A)
You make some excellent observations! The old stand-by of "I said so," really is the easy way out. I guess I had never considered how important the "why" must be to those students who face great challenges. I agree with you when you say that "If we overuse it, we run the risk of raising children who come to identify authority with power, rather than identifying authority with what is right." This is so logical, yet like you have said, it takes time to explain the reasoning. I also think that student ownership over learning is extremely important. All students will feel more motivated to learn if they can identify with the purpose at hand. It is through these definitive purposes that students can truly judge their sense of accomplishment so that the learning has value in their eyes.
In Response to dstark;
You are so right about having the initial reaction of wanting to say "because I said so" when kids want to know why they have to do something. I like what you said about all experiences having value and being able to help students reach their goals. What a great point to make for the kids!
In response to Jolene:
I teach K-6 and I do notice that the primary kids are less likely to specifically ask why they have to know something, but as you pointed out, it is much easier to get them to buy into the learning and understand it more readily if they know how it applies to their own lives.
1A
To respond to a student’s question “why do we have to do this?” the teacher must first understand, “why do we have to do this?” I have seen far too many meetings, PIR, and classrooms in which the teacher does not have the answer. I believe this could be a great target question to every lesson, unit, quarter, semester or school year for each teacher and student involved.
After all, it is not just the students who are looking to pursue excellence. The teachers, the paraeducators, the administrative staff, and all the people that come together to create a climate of learning want excellence. We all must answer the question, “why do we do this?” Only after self-reflection can we then guide students to the answer of this question.
A: response to Sheri Moore.
I appreciated that you take the time to give a concrete answer. I have a son in 1st grade, and a daughter that is four. They do want to know why they are doing something, and it helps them learn to reason and problem solve. No big explanations are needed, but answers that are concrete make sense to them.
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