Teaching Self-Regulatory Behavior

Self-regulatory behavior has become a big topic for me recently. Self-regulatory behavior is the idea that students and learners “self-regulate;” adopt behaviors that help them enhance their own learning. For example, reading an article and writing notes in the margin is a type of self-regulatory behavior. Underlining key or important sentences is another type of self-regulatory behavior. Re-examining notes taken from lecture, or deciding to finish homework immediately after school rather than right before class is another type of self-regulatory behavior. Most experts agree that everyone self-regulates. The most successful students however, have self-regulatory behaviors that work! As educators and parents, we sometimes think that good self-regulatory practices are self-evident, that the value and importance of good organizational skills are obvious. As someone who has tried to motivate young learners, the reality is somewhat different. . . 

In a recent discussion with colleagues, the question came up “Can self-regulatory behavior be taught?” Certainly many attempts have been made at teaching study skills to young learners but my experience is that teaching of the study skills is often so poorly done that it becomes counter-productive. Requiring a journal, for example, where the student reflects on what they do/do not do to enhance their learning many times can become just another assignment that needs to be completed. Teaching note-taking skills, unless done carefully, becomes another exercise in frustration for both the student and teacher. Does that mean that teaching study skills is a bad idea? Certainly not. I think my colleague could have asked the question differently: “Can self-regulatory skills be taught effectively?”

One possible technique is modeling. Zimmerman& Kitsantas, two researchers with an impressive background in self-regulatory research, conducted an excellent study indicating that students can acquire long lasting self-regulatory behaviors through observation and emulation modeling. The study indicates that students learn more effectively when viewing “coping” models rather than “mastery” models when learning fractions. In plainer English, the research indicates that when students watch a model who struggles to complete a problem (making mistakes, self-correcting), they learn more effectively than when watching a model efficiently complete the same problem with no errors.

The reason I am interested in this research is because, as I have stated in a previous post, I have a YouTube channel (FerranteMath) where I’ve created a series of videos where I explain step-by-step how to solve algebra problems. Taking a page from the Zimmerman & Kitsantas study, I have not edited out any initial mistakes I’ve made but instead have left in the parts where I self-correct. I also am conscious of “thinking out loud” and explaining why I make the choices I make while solving the problem. The feedback I’ve received so far from both students and parents has been overwhelmingly positive.

A second technique for teaching self-regulatory behavior is choice. Give students, especially older students such as high schoolers, more choice in their learning. Deci, Vallerand, Pellitier, and Ryan have written persuasively about creating autonomy-supportive classrooms versus the traditional teacher-driven classroom. Their research has shown that giving students greater autonomy promotes more cognitive flexibility, creativity, and self esteem. They suggest that teachers (and parents) take the point of view of the learner and relate what is important from a student’s point of view. Doing so helps create a level of interest in students that has a better chance of being internalized rather than externally imposed. As a teacher of over twenty years, I can attest to the notion that internally motivated students become life-long learners rather than those who are driven from external motivations.   

Helping to Motivate Student Learners

I recently read an article called “The Four-Phase Model of Interest Development” by Suzanne Hidi and K. Ann Renniger. The authors describe the phases learners progress through in developing interest in a subject area.  I kept looking at their model as it related to how educators can help encourage interest development in their students. Being a math instructor, I am constantly looking for ways to capture the imagination of my students and encourage their interest in mathematics. After reading Hidi’s and Renniger’s model, I was able to verbalize what had previously been more of an intuition on my part: the teacher’s own interest plays a key role in encouraging a student’s interest in a subject area.

At the beginning of the article, Hidi and Renniger observe that teachers often “do not have a clear understanding of their potential role in helping students to develop interest” (p. 111). Many instructors believe simply that students either have an interest in their subject matter or they do not, but the reality is that creating situational interest and then sustaining that interest over the long term is greatly within the control of the teacher and the classroom environment created by that teacher. I remember when I first started teaching, the question “Are we ever going to use this math stuff in real life?” was asked regularly. Upon reflection, I did not have a good answer in response. Except for keeping me in a job, using a quadratic equation has never crossed my daily life either practically or philosophically! Then, a few years ago, I was introduced to TED videos during a faculty inservice. Since that time, I have used TED videos regularly in my classroom instruction to help bridge the gap between the abstract use of mathematics and the potential and exciting applications of mathematics in the real world. Couple of examples:

Robert Lang has an excellent presentation on TED explaining how origami and mathematics have combined to produce stunning new applications in the real world.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/robert_lang_folds_way_new_origami.html 

Ray Kurzweil has an awe-inspiring presentation where he uses mathematics to demonstrate how advancements in creative products will produce mind-boggling breakthroughs in health, education, welfare in the coming years.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/ray_kurzweil_announces_singularity_university.html 

I have come to regularly use TED to help inspire and motivate my students. Creating a rich and imaginative atmosphere in my classroom has led to the extinction of that dreaded question (Are we ever going to use this stuff?) forever.

A second thought occurred to me while reading the article. The research literature is pretty clear that intrinsic motivation -- motivation that comes from within -- seems to be more instrumental in encouraging and sustaining interest development than extrinsic motivation. Making the transition from a situational, external interest to a sustained, ongoing internal interest seems to be key for helping create life-long learners in any content area. The question is what is our role as educators in helping to make that transition in our students? I am a big believer in creating a rich educational environment no matter what the content area being studied. Exposing students to a variety of applications like TED, offering different projects as a means of assessment, using a variety of pedagogical methods, group work, etc., is most likely the best way to encourage and sustain that interest especially in a young learner.

Professional Learning Communities: A Primer

This paper is a primer I prepared for a group of teachers and administrators interested in learning about Professional Learning Communities or PLCs. The paper is written in a question-and-answer format and includes a list of references at the end.

1.What are Professional Learning Communities?

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are communities of educators forming groups dedicated to meeting, discussing, and sharing ways to improve their pedagogical skills. Astuto, an educational researcher called these groups professional communities of learners (1993); communities where teachers and administrators seek, on a consistent basis, to share their expertise with one another and then act on that shared experience. Other authors have called these arrangements communities of continuous inquiry and improvement (Hord, 1997). Regardless of the name, the common thread uniting these communities is a desire for the members to be life-long learners in a collaborative setting.

PLCs can meet on a monthly, biweekly, or weekly basis depending on the availability of time and the will of its members. Membership can be either voluntary or mandatory although there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that voluntary communities are more productive and last longer. Louis and Kruse (1995) identified a number of specific factors that support productive learning communities: (1) dedicated time to meet and discuss; (2) size of the school (small schools producing more effective PLCs); (3) teaching roles that are interdependent; (4) established group communication structures; (5) teacher autonomy; and (6) teacher empowerment. Additionally, staff participation in the selection of new teachers and administrators for the school with the possibility of encouraging staff that are not in tune with the program to find work elsewhere is also considered a vital component of PLCs that envision a shared leadership of the school.


2. Why Professional Learning Communities?

In addition to the list of attributes listed above, some researchers have suggested that PLCs can also provide opportunities for teachers at different professional stages to improve on their subject matter knowledge and their instructional strategies (Borko, 2004; Grossman et al., 2001). Research supports the notion that established PLCs help teachers improve their pedagogical practice by learning from each other and/or from outside experts (Ball & Cohen, 1999; Borko, 2004; Wilson & Berne, 1999). Institutional efforts to encourage professional development programs through the promotion of PLCs also seem to create new learning opportunities for novice and veteran teachers and help prepare them to meet the needs of a diverse student population (Darling-Hammond, Bullmaster, & Cobb, 1995). Teachers participating in high quality PLCs become leaders in their schools, support other teachers in improving the quality of science teaching and learning (Spillane, Diamond, Walker, Halverson, & Jita, 2001a). Finally, Newmann (in Brandt, 1995) shows a link between student learning of high intellectual quality and school professional communities that achieve the same degree of academic excellence.


3. Where did PLCs originate?

In 1990, Peter Senge’s book, the Fifth Discipline, caused a minor sensation in corporate boardrooms across America. Senge suggested that performing for someone else’s approval -- rather than learning to become more adaptable and to generate creative solutions to problems -- creates the very conditions that ensure mediocre performance. Senge further suggested that frequently dictates designed by well-meaning performance-enhancement committees end up paralyzing those individuals charged with carrying out the actual performance of the company. At best, dictates from higher up on the organizational structure only allowed workers to maintain the status quo. Rather than reflecting trust in those across the organization to use their creativity in order to find localized solutions to problems – solutions consistent with the purpose and values of the overall organization – solutions that are mandated are usually poorly suited to the real problem at hand.

Senge advocated, instead, a different organizational structure better suited to a complex, interdependent, and fast-changing society. Senge's envisioned organizational structure is oriented toward learning rather than controlling mechanisms. Senge saw this newly conceptualized learning organization as one “where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together” (Senge, 1990, p. 3).

Over the next year or so, Senge’s book and his description of learning organizations moved into the educational environment. As Senge’s paradigm was explored by educators and shared in educations journals, the label became professional learning communities. Studies by McLaughlin and Talbert (1993) seemed to support this fledgling educational paradigm as they confirmed that when teachers had opportunities for collaborative inquiry, the result was a body of wisdom about teaching that could be widely shared. In a professional learning community, teachers could consider educational goals and their meaning in terms of their own classrooms, their own students, and their own subject area. Teachers who made effective teaching adaptations for their students belonged to a professional community that encouraged and supported them in transforming their teaching. Through discussion with other teachers and administrators in the professional community, teachers' ideas of good teaching and classroom practice were defined (McLaughlin & Talbert).


4. What are some benefits of PLCs?

There is substantial research that shows PLCs have a positive impact on teacher practice (Grossman et al., 2001; Little, 2002a; Lachance & Confrey, 2003; Stein et al., 1999). Hord (1997) lists an extensive litany of the many benefits of successful PLCs. A shortened version of this list follows:

· a reduction of isolation of teachers;

· an increased commitment to the mission and goals of the school;

· an increased vigor in working to strengthen the mission of the school;

· a shared responsibility for the total development of students and a collective responsibility for students' success;

· a powerful learning that defines good teaching and classroom practice and

that creates new knowledge and beliefs about teaching and learners;

· an increased meaning and understanding of the content that teachers teach and

the roles they play in helping all students achieve expectations;

· a higher likelihood that teachers will be well informed, professionally renewed, and inspired to inspire students; and

· more satisfaction, higher morale, and lower rates of absenteeism.


Conclusions

Professional Learning Communities are worth exploring.  If professionalism demands a constant need to update and improve, and if indeed, we as professional educators are to model being life-long learners for our students, then PLCs may be a natural evolution in our profession. If community is a key ingredient in improving teacher instructional practices and student achievement, then mechanisms that encourage and support PLC membership should be carefully encouraged and facilitated.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ball, D. L., & Cohen, D. K. (1999). Developing practice, developing practitioners: Toward a practice-based theory of professional education. In L. Darling-Hammond and G. Sykes (Eds.), Teaching as the learning profession (pp. 3 – 31). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Borko, H. (2004). Professional development and teacher learning: Mapping the terrain. Educational Researcher, 33(8), 3 – 15.

Darling-Hammond, L. Bullmaster, M.L., &Cobb, V. L. (1995). Rethinking teacher leadership through professional development schools. The Elementary School Journal, 96(1), 87 – 106.

Grossman, P., Wineburg, S., & Woolworth, S. (2001). Toward a theory of teacher community. Teachers College Record, 103(6), 942 – 1012.

Hord, S.M. (1997). Professional learning communities: Communities of continuous inquiry and improvement. Austin: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.

McLaughlin, M.W. & Talbert, J.E. (1993). Contexts that matter for teaching and learning. Stanford, California: Center for Research on the Context of Secondary School Teaching,Stanford University.

Senge, P. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Currency Doubleday.

Spillane, J. P., Diamond, J. B., Walker, L. J., Halverson, R., & Jita, L. (2001). Urban school leadership for elementary science instruction: Identifying and activating resources in an undervalued school subject. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 38, 918 – 940.

Wilson, S. M., & Berne, J. (1999). Teacher learning and the acquisition of professional knowledge: An   examination of research on contemporary professional development. Review of Research in Education, 24, 173 – 209.

Social Media as an Instructional Tool: The Future of Education?

Last month, I presented at a small math conference on a topic that has become of increasing interest to me -- Social Media as an Instructional Tool. For the last few weeks, I struggled with how to begin my presentation. Then, after reading the chapter entitled "The Influence of Experience and Deliberate Practice on the Development of Superior Expert Performance" in the Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance, an idea coalesced. Ericsson makes the observation that “(i)n virtually every aspect of human activity there have been increases in the efficiency and level of performance” (p. 690). He then goes on to cite Roger Bacon, a thirteenth century thinker who argues that to master mathematics in less than 30 to 40 years was impossible (p. 690). Ericsson then notes that despite Bacon’s claims, “today the roughly equivalent material (calculus) is taught in highly organized and accessible form in every high school” (p. 690). I now had a way of beginning my presentation . . .

Reflecting on Bacon's statement helped me realized that what has begun to change in the last few years is not the ability of human beings to learn; what has changed is our instructional techniques. Instead of being in a Master/Apprentice relationship, or a “Sage on the Stage” type of relationship, today, teachers would do well to realize that we are entering an age of social and cooperative learning. Mainly due to phenomena like YouTube or Facebook or Twitter or Wikipedia, user-generated content and interactive dialogue are becoming dominant modes of instruction and influence. I can go to YouTube right now and type in practically any topic and be able to find someone who has produced a video explaining their understanding or experience of that topic. Of course, the quality of that instruction might be questionable, but I think we're just at the beginning stages of an incredible resource. There are an increasing number of “experts” online willing to share their knowledge in a condensed, creative, and efficient manner; a manner that allows learners to bypass the all-too-often inefficiencies of poor instructors in some traditional classroom settings where feedback is many times lacking and assessments are often poorly designed.

That thought spurred me to thinking that perhaps the “10 year rule” of expert development (a notion made popular by Malcom Gladwell in his book Outliers) might just be a snapshot description of expert development given our recent past instructional practices. Could it be possible that given better instructional techniques (social media? more immediate feedback? more expert feedback and demonstration?), the amount of time needed for expert status might be shortened? I wonder.

Deliberate practice is still a valid concept. Clearly, on some level, intentional practice does make perfect. Yet, there is something in the back of my mind that causes me to question whether the ten year rule might be modified given better and more efficient exposure to already expert behavior. I think social media might be the beginning of a profound change in the way we learn and think and instruct and possibly in how we develop expertise.

A Brief Reflection on Teaching

As a high school math instructor, one of my primary roles is to help young people learn how to problem-solve; how to form, organize, and connect different mental structures; how to make sense of the world from a mathematical perspective. To do so, I must teach the language of my discipline, but I believe I must also model how to learn, how to approach the world as a curious and engaged learner. Current studies indicate that knowing and understanding content is key to developing expertise (Eccles, D. & Feltovich, J. 2008) – and I believe that is true – but my experience has taught me that I am most effective when I share with my students my own quest for knowledge, my own creative questions, my own sense of wonder at the world.

How do we, as instructors, move from teaching simply content to modeling curiosity and wonder? How do we teach our students to take initiative in their learning? To make mistakes? To strive for excellence in not only an area of interest but in all areas of learning? There are no easy answers to these questions. I believe what is important is to acknowledge that the enterprise of teaching is a dynamic and life-long journey. As men and women called to help mold the next generation of learners, we must be in a continual dialogue with our internal selves, with our colleagues, with current pedagogical practices. If we cannot live our own talk, how can we expect our students to do the same?

FerranteMath

I created this blog for a couple of reasons.

At the beginning of my career, I told myself that I would change careers once I got comfortable teaching the same material in the same manner over and over again, year after year. I did not want to become someone who was marking time, waiting for retirement or fading slowly away. My students deserve better . . . and so do I. Fortunately, that scenario has not come to pass.

Although I have been a teacher, mostly at the secondary level, for over twenty years, I find that I still have new techniques to learn, new material to explore, new students to motivate. I am also particularly excited by the advent of the world wide web and the incredible opportunities social media sites like YouTube have created. I created this blog as a way of keeping track of my thoughts -- and sharing them with you -- as I continue to evolve as a life-long learner and educator.

Just a couple of years ago, I began a doctoral program in education at the University of San Francisco. As a professional, I found sitting on the other side of the desk after so many years one of the best moves I could have made. My teaching is invigorated. I have taken my twenty-plus years of teaching experience and brought that perspective to my doctoral studies. As a result, those classes have become wonderful opportunities to reflect upon past teaching practices and improve upon any future instruction. The instructors in my program, as well as my fellow doctoral students, are incredible individuals. They have helped me return new and exciting ideas to my own classroom as well as stretched me as a human being.

One of those new ideas is FerranteMath. Last year, I created FerranteMath on my own YouTube channel so students and their parents could see firsthand, online lessons generated by me and my students for different problems and concepts covered in my Algebra classes. At the same time, I have discovered a whole new world of user-generated content that is insightful, motivating, and renewing. I wish I would have had this resource growing up! Check it out.

 http://www.youtube.com/ferrantemath

The other reason for creating this blog is to share on occasion, different personal reflections and essays on various topics in education. I am well aware that education is a life-long process and, as such, ideas can evolve and change over time. I would like to share that journey with you.

I hope you enjoy the site.