Masters in Teaching and Learning DKIT 4 -3

Masters in Teaching and Learning, DKIT 4 -3 -2011 Marian Mc. Carthy, Ionad Bairre, TLC , UCC, Cork Introducing Teaching for Understanding

Getting Started: Teaching for Understanding The Project Zero Exercise: n Think about the following questions: on your own and then with a partner n What do I understand really well? n How did I come to that understanding? n How do I know I understand it? n n Feedback : group response and discussion mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie

What do you understand really well? n n n n Lack of sleep Industry background (hotels) Sports development Student engagement Work in my own business (flavours) tiling Interaction of disciplines for building services Quality gurus n n n n n Role of DNA in our cells Golf Map & compass Empathy with students Business plans Time Newtons second law Attachment theory How to write chinese characters singing

What do you understand really well? n n n Building control regulations Fly fishing How to motivate my children Bandaging animals How to get a blood sample from a dog Lipid nutrition How to cook a roast dinner Knitting Baking Hurling Electronics

How did you come to that understanding? n n n n By catching fish Training &practice Experience Problem solving Learn first (studying), then understood then apply (doing it) Playing in competitions Other styles of singing n n n Being given out to ! Having to use times/deadlines Trying to explain it to others Performance – doing something under pressure Watching someone else Trial & error

How did you come to that understanding? n n n n Having a curiosity for the topic Listening Finding time for the topic Being aware of how you are behaving Discussing with your peers Multiple tasks Being taught by someone with more experience n n n n Teaching some one else to help you understand it better Feedback & experience Experimenting Being assessed, looking at something from a different perspective Crisis management Making mistakes Good teacher

How do you know you understand it? n n n Clean plates ! Present situations to students Trained people and give them key lessons Handicap comes down , seen as an expert ! Sales Apply it successfully, don’t get lost ! n n n n n Ask the critical questions Read the water /river Response from people Asked to produce something for someone else Want to improve it and you can evaluate it Failure Experience from the failure Predict & anticipate Can answer questions

Implications n n n n Applying practice and feedback , assessment & reward Takes time, need to put effort into it Not linear Stop & think Constantly ongoing Perseverance Let your guard down Dynamic & diverse ways of learning

Implications for how we know we understand n n n n n Flexible & read the class Creative Different ways of assessing the class You assume they know it Treat them as experts – let them self assess Challenge them Work placement Presentations in class Get students to teach part of the class

Reflecting on this exercise MMc-Reflective Questions : n What kind of a process is learning in the above? n What does understanding look like? n What are the implications of this exercise for how we teach? n What are its implications for how our students learn? n mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie

What is Understanding? Chap 2: TFU, Wiske (1998) Knowledge, skill and understanding are the stock in trade of education- What conception of these underwrites what happens in schools? n Knowledge is information on tap n Skills are routine performances on tap n But understanding calls for more than reproduction or routine n mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie

Putting understanding up front. . . n “Understanding is a matter of being able to do a variety of thought-demanding things with a topic – like explaining, finding evidence and examples, generalising, applying, analogising, and representing the topic in a new way. Understanding is being able to carry out a variety of “performances” that show one’s understanding of a topic and at the same time, advance it”. n D. Perkins and T. Blythe, “Putting Understanding Up Front” in Educational Leadership, 1994. mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie

Defining understanding : Chapter 2, Perkins, in Wiske, Tf. U: Linking Research with Practice Understanding is the ability to think and act flexibly with what one knows. n An understanding of a topic is a “flexible performance capability” n learning for understanding is like learning a flexible performance- learning to hold a good conversation, to improvise jazz- rather than rote learning n mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie

Understanding…contd. Learning facts can be a crucial backdrop to learning for understanding, but learning facts is not learning for understanding n This performance view of understanding contrasts with the prominent representational/mental image view of understandings as things possessed, rather than performance capabilities n mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie

The Representational View n In casual speech, phrases like “I see what you mean”, “I see the point”, “I see through you”, “I see the answer” testify to a firm link in folk psychology between perception and understanding. Therefore, understanding- asseeing requires achieving a mental representation that captures what is to be understood. mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie

Implications of representational model n Understanding lies in possession of the right mental structure or representation. Performances are part of the picture but simply in consequence of having the right representation. A flexible performance capability is a symptom. It does not constitute the understanding but simply signals possession of an appropriate image. . mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie

The performance view Understanding is seen as lying in the performance capability itself, which depending on the case may or may not be supported by representations n Understanding performances go beyond rote and routine- they challenge n They do not undermine the importance of basic knowledge and skill-we need these n mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie

Why performance over representational view? We can have a mental model of something without understanding it n A mental model is not enough for understanding simply because it does not do anything by itself n For performances that show understanding a person must operate on or with a model-must manipulate and interpret it =runnable n mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie

A performance view: contd. . . 2 No one views acquiring a complex performance as a matter of “getting it” n Performances acquire attention, practice, refinement. n Performances involve multiple aspects that need careful and artful coordination. n Developing understanding = attaining a repertoire of complex performances n mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie

A performance view: 3 Attaining understanding is less like acquiring something and more like learning to act flexibly n in this model, teachers less in the role of informers and testers and more in that of facilitators or coaches. Their challenge is one of choreographing performance experiences that constantly extend understanding n mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie

A performance view: 4 Though teachers acting in the performance model may well give a lecture or grade a test, these are supportive, not central, activities. n The main agenda is arranging, supporting, and sequencing performances of understanding. n mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie

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PZ Classroom , Harvard (1998) & Perrone (2000) Lessons for new teachers: Generative Topics: Central to the discipline Exciting to students and teachers Accessible to students Multiple connections, think points and entry points mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie These topics give you the big picture - the key ideas in your field around which lessons can be organised History: Revolution English: Stereotypes Science: Evolution Business: Money

Understanding Goals Science: “Students will Publicly state what understand why some teachers want students things sink and others to understand float” State as explicit Democracy: “Students statements or open will understand the ended questions relationship between Explicitly link to UP’s rights and assessment responsibilities” mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie

Performances of Understanding These challenge students’ Active engagement by misconceptions, students that develops stereotypes, and rigid and demonstrates thinking understanding of one DTS: Build a character or more goals sketch of X in a key scene, varied, complex and focusing on props, costume design, set design and often collaborative sequenced purposefully mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie lighting.

Ongoing assessment Clear, public criteria tied to U Goals Formal and informal assessment tied to each performance Varied sources: self, peer, teachers Indicates progress and informs planning mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie Any discipline: “Students brainstorm a list of questions about a particular topic, before they begin to study it. They review the list regularly and identify which questions they have answered”.

TFU framework…. n “At first glance the framework seems simple and rather obvious. Five years of collaborative research have demonstrated that this framework is more subtle than it first appears. Teachers who have used the framework to structure extended enquiry about their practice have found that it stimulates them to learn more about their subject matter, their students and their assumptions about learning even as it guides them to make profound changes in the way they plan, conduct, and assess their work with students”. (M. Stone Wiske, Teaching for Understanding; Linking Research with Practice Jossey Bass 1998) mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie

The Dimensions of Disciplinary Understanding Knowledge: ( What ? ) What questions do experts ask? What do they need to know about? Forms (How Expressed? ) Methods: (How? ) How do experts find out? How do experts communicate? What are the tools of the discipline? Purposes (Why? ) Why do they do what they do? What is the goal? How do experts use what they know? mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie

Teaching for understanding PEDAGOGICAL FRAMEWORK n Generative Topics: central, accessible, exciting, making multiple connections n Understanding Goals: public, interrogative, holistic and specific – the big picture n Performances of Understanding –what the students do to demonstrate and develop understanding n Ongoing assessment : continuous feedback to students mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie DISCIPLINARY FRAMEWORK – THE DIMENSIONS OF UNDERSTANDING n n n n Knowledge – conceptual frameworks of the discipline Method – how experts think in the discipline Purpose – why this topic is worth studying – ownership Form – how understanding is represented “Pedagogical content knowledge” Tf. U fuses the two So. TL lens- grammar of practice

Sot. L steps TFU AND SOTL n n n Tf. U as sotl process : It has all the rigour of good curriculum design and its focus on student learning The focus is on active learning and student performance/doing to demonstrate and develop understanding Methods of assessment provide raw data for faculty re their student learning – and for me It helps faculty to develop a language of practice – the naming of parts mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie EMBEDDING SOTL IN THE CULTURE n Developing a community of practice n Building trust and security over time n Creating opportunities for discussion and reflection at each session n Providing food for thought n Aligning assessment with So. TL n Providing opportunities for teachers to publish and to gain recognition ( President’s Awards, NAIRTL grants and publications and international conferences )

Bibliography: key texts n n n n n Bernstein, D. , Burnett, A. , Goodburn, A & Savory, P. (2006). Making Teaching and Learning Visible: Course Portfolios and the Peer Review of Teaching. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Co. Blythe, T. (1999) The Teaching for Understanding Guide Cross, K. P. (1996). Classroom Research: Implementing the Scholarship of Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey - Bass. Hetland, L. (2002). Introduction to Tf. U video resources, Harvard: Project Zero Classroom, 1 -5. Hutchings, P. (ed. ), (1998 a). The Course Portfolio: How Faculty Can Examine Their Teaching to Advance Practice and Improve Student Learning, Washington, DC: American Association for Higher Education (AAHE). Mc. Kinney, K. (2004). The scholarship of teaching and learning: Past lessons, current challenges and future visions, in C. Wehlburg & S. Chadwick- Blossey (eds. ) To Improve the Academy: Vol 22. Resources for Faculty, Instructional and Organizational Development (pp. 3 - 19). Bolton, MA: Anker. Mc. Kinney, K. & Jarvis, P. (2009) Beyond lines on the CV: Faculty applications of their So. TL research. IJSo. TL, Vol. 3. No 1. Shulman, L (2004) Teaching as Community Property: Essays on Higher Education Wiske, M. (1998) Teaching for Understanding: Linking Research with Practice mmccarthy@education. ucc. ie