Learning and the Brain: The Job of a Teacher

In December, we ordered forty copies of Neuroteach for our faculty; they were gobbled up quickly. This winter, approximately twenty five of us are meeting as a professional learning community (PLC) to discuss the implications of the book's content.

Lesson #15: The Job of a Teacher - Check for Understanding

Early in the book, the authors offer two lists: research-based things every teacher should do, and an unconscionable list of research-based things teachers should never do again.

Never: 

• give pop quizzes for a grade (this places memory and fear in conflict)
• start class by going over homework (the brain needs engagement first)
• teach right up to the end-of-class bell (we need to consolidate before leaving class)
• allow passive study techniques (the brian learns by being active)
• apply "lazy" or "dumb" labels to students (almost every brain has the capacity to succeed)
• define students as single channel learners (we are all multisensory learners)
• allow students to fall into the bell-shaped curve (capacity is equally distributed)
• dominate your teaching with lecture (this fails to engage and check for understanding)
• praise achievement over effort (effort is the precursor of achievement)
• ignore the emotion-thinking connection (our brain structures combine these functions)

Always:

• check for student understanding
• assess frequently
• teach active study habits
• teach effective effort
• insist on student engagement
• utilize the arts and performance to enhance learning
• teach students about how the brain learns
• let students play with ideas
• build opportunities for consolidation into every lesson

In our first and second sessions, we pondered the neuroscience research supporting those lists. The discussion prompt for our third session was: What have you encountered in Neuoteach that you would propose as an improvement to Proctor's teaching/learning commitments? We didn't vote on the dozens of important recommendations, but we had a frontrunner. Our PLC will recommend to the full faculty that we change the way we check for student understanding:

• more frequent, low stakes assessment
• help students self-assess
• develop reteaching loops
• permeate the belief that every student will work until they understand
• don't settle for low effort grades

Members of our group offered that some of this happens in their academic departments. For example, the math department already does this with the SWYK (show what you know) constant checking, the science department has a "grade/no grade" concept, and world languages ask students to speak constantly in the target language to show what they know.

What if… 

1. Proctor's standard practice was "I am not giving you a grade yet until you demonstrate significant success"?
2. Extra help was not an option but rather an expectation for every student who hadn't yet earned a grade?
3. We more overtly discussed the strategies that breed success?
4. A student could explain more explicitly (metacognitive reflection) why they didn't achieve?
5. Former Proctor parent and teaching expert Jon Saphier (The Skillful Teacher) preaches reteaching loops in which lessons that are not mastered are retaught so that a student can gain deeper understanding; this is so much easier in the age of teacher-made videos, recorded classes, Khan Academy, and similar opportunities.  

Here is a mini-manifesto concerning the job of a teacher: We can teach attention skills, focus skills, and executive function. All students would benefit from this. Let's help students understand what it looks like to be a better student rather than how to earn a better grade. We can focus on learning objectives and the path to reach the goal (i.e. standards-based assessment). We should not succumb to the view that students lack the capacity to attend over long stretches. There is little neuroscience evidence for that - we should expect more. By building metacognitive awareness and having students reflect on why they haven't yet met standards, we can harness what Carol Dweck calls "The Power of Yet" - the understanding that every student has the capacity to perform at high levels if the educational environment is designed to ensure student understanding.

Read More From The Learning and the Brain Series