Knowing vs. Remembering

The dichotomy between knowing a topic and remembering information needs some more attention. I am noticing that on assessments some students can mask a lack of true understanding with their excellent memory skills, as long as the test presents a question or problem in a format they are familiar with.

For example, if I ask students to fill in the data on a blank chart, and certain ones have seen that chart format in their book or notes or on a study guide, they can complete the chart successfully. But if I ask them to provide that same information in sentence form, they might struggle to do so. A student who really understands the concept, on the other hand, will be able to answer successfully regardless of their familiarity with the format of the question.

This suggests that we need to focus more on finding ways for students to reach understanding during instructional time, so that they will be ready for assessments. A first step will be to raise students awareness of the difference between the two - and thus my lesson plan for tomorrow.

This Again

In a meeting today, I made a positive response about an organization and added (without really thinking) that any organization is only as good as its communication.

The notion of communication keeps popping up, all the time and in any situation. Communication in a relationship, in a business, in school - without it, any of those endeavors will stumble.

So boiling it down to its simplest terms, education is about helping kids become good communicators. Can they process information and can they express themselves? Everything else follows.

A Lesson in Assumption

So many lessons naturally occur in life. Here's today's:

Three times a year, our students choose elective courses. They receive a description of the seven options and rank them from most to least preferred. Because some options are more popular than others, not everybody receives their top two choices, and my colleague does her best to create groups that are relatively equal in size.

Today, students found out their electives, and two eighth graders immediately went into 'outrage' mode, insisting they had gotten their seventh (and last) choice.

They hadn't. I checked with my colleague who said everyone got their fourth choice or higher, and the upset students had actually gotten their third choice. Somehow, in the twenty-four hours since making their selections, they forgot what they had picked and immediately assumed the worst. And I immediately bought into it. Oops.

I assume that it wasn't rabble rousing but more that their perceptions and memory were obscured. By time? By excitement? By youthful hypersensitivity? Who knows . . . what I do know is that it happens often. Our perceptions influence our reactions, and when memory is involved, our perceptions can take another step away from reality. And that's a good lesson to remember.