I Couldn’t Do It Until I Could.

Shared by: Anna Dawahare, English Department

Learning objectives/skills fostered: This activity prepares students to be receptive to the learning opportunities of their classes.

What to do/ how to do it:

This activity can be done in a number of ways, but here are two good options:

Begin with brainstorming activity in one of the two following ways:

a.    Moodle:

• Post a forum to Moodle for students to think about a time (or times) in their lives that they can remember when they obtained a skill or type of knowledge that had seemed overwhelming or unfathomable. 
• Give the students a few examples but not so many that they will just repeat what you have said (examples might include learning to ride a bike, learning a new language, breaking a personal best record in athletics, etc. You can remind them that learning to crawl, walk, and speak were also skills they learned, but tell them to try to think of skills they actually remember learning).

b.    In Class:

• Ask students to think or free-write for a few minutes (no more than 3) about a time (or times) in their lives that they can remember when they obtained a skill or type of knowledge that had seemed overwhelming or unfathomable. 
• Give the students a few examples but not so many that they will just repeat what you have said (examples might include learning to ride a bike, learning a new language, breaking a personal best record in athletics, etc. You can remind them that learning to crawl, walk, and speak were also skills they learned, but tell them to try to think of skills they actually remember learning

In class either after the Moodle forum or after the in-class free-writing session, ask each student to draw a picture/visual representation of one of the experiences from his/her brainstorming session . This should not take more than 6 minutes.

Have students tape their drawings around the room. If you have a very large number of students, they do not need to tape their pictures to the wall.This should take no more than 2 minutes.

 Have students walk around the room and put their initials or small mark on any skill/knowledge they had also achieved. If you have a large class, students can walk around the classroom and look at the drawings as they are held. With a large class, the objective should be to look at at least 12 other students’ drawings. This should take no more than 5 minutes.

Finish with a discussion about how any type of skill or knowledge takes practice, even the discipline you are teaching

a. Invite each student to mentally tally up the number of skills/types of knowledge he/she had thought about during the activity

b. Ask a few students to share their experiences.

Potential questions:

• How hard had the skill seemed?
• How long did it take them to learn that skill/knowledge?
• What was the worst thing that had happened during the process (skinned knee, embarrassment, etc.)?
• Did having the new skill or knowledge set make up for/outweigh the pain of learning?
• Can you remember how you thought/felt before you had that skill/doesn’t that skill seem innate or natural now, even though you can remember a time when you didn’t have that skill?

Remind students that with practice, the skills/information you are teaching will become a part of them, just like the skills/knowledge they recalled during the activity.

 

How/why is this a culturally relevant teaching practice, high impact teaching (HIP) or high operational practice (HOP from Pedagogy of Confidence framework)? This activity engages all seven of the High Impact Practices. It gives students the chance to see themselves as successful and capable, to think critically (challenge dominate thinking), incorporate learning in non-traditional ways (though artwork), encourages them to use their own voices, and creates a sense of community by enabling them to discuss and see shared experiences. This exercise also prepares students by addressing the following High Operational Practices:

1. It helps identify and activate student strengths;
2. Situating learning in the lives of students;
3. Building relationships

 

Learning challenge addressed: Fear of Learning/School. Fear of trying for fear of failing.This activity challenges the mindset that specific types of knowledge (math, science, economics, philosophy, language arts, etc.) are something people are innately good or bad atby encouraging them to remember times when they mastered a skill they had to practice to learn.

Context best used for: This exercise could be used in the first weeks of class or any time in the semester students seem to be on the verge of being convinced they cannot learn what the professor is teaching (for example, after a disastrous midterm or set of essays).

Materials needed: Professor or students will need to provide notebook paper and pens or pencils. The professor will need to provide tape. One option also requires access to Moodle. This activity will be most successful if the professor also holds the belief that students can succeed and an ability to convey belief in students’ future success.

Tips for successfully implementing:

I think this is an activity where teacher mindset is key; believing that what this exercise teaches is true—that any type of knowledge can be learned with practice—and believing in your students’ potential for success will make this activity work well. Also, encouraging students to actually get up out of their chairs and talk to each other will also help in this activities success. This activity can be truncated or stretched out, depending on time constraints and the needs of the class.

References 

Desrochers, C. (2014). The five gears for activating learning, Retrieved May 1, 2016 from http://www.csun.edu/undergraduate-studies/cielo/five-gears.

Jackson, Y. (2011). The pedagogy of confidence: Inspiring high intellectual performance in urban schools. New York: NY, Teachers College Press.