As a teacher and parent I would be a millionaire if I had a pound for every time I had heard those four words.
‘I don’t get it’
However I think we must as parents and teachers enable our young people to take responsibility for their actions and their learning. It is too easy to do everything for them for an easy life. It is difficult as a parent to let go and begin to encourage independence you only have to count how many Cath Kidston cups I went through to prove that.
However my eldest is able to function as an adult actually that is an understatement she manages me! If my children are thirsty they get a drink, if they are hungry they make a sandwich, they are responsible for PE kits and packed lunches. They think for themselves and it is at times very stressful.
However one thing that drives me crazy is when my children are asked a question and they respond “what” without processing what they have heard because it’s easier for me to tell them again than it is to engage cognitively with what I am saying . They hear but they don’t listen.
It is too much effort to think.
I still have students who at age 16 do the same. I have students asking me how to do something despite the fact they have three examples in front of them, colour coordinated post it’s , a list placed in two different places a poster with the answers on in their books a wall display with answers and I have just told them -will respond ‘ I don’t get it”
I don’t think it is just my students and I don’t think it is just my children. However this must be a symptom of something and I cannot help but wonder if the fact that our children have everything at the drop of a hat without much effort has something to do with it.
My youngest was completely baffled last night after she watched Dr Who and said put the next one on. She didn’t understand she couldn’t watch the next one. Just like when she wants to know something she speaks it into google or when they want to listen to a song they ask Alexa.
I am basing this on nothing more than observation. However it is clear that our kids are wanting instant gratification that requires limited effort, the new age of technology is brilliant no one is denying that who doesn’t love to talk to light switches (can you remember the episode of friends where billionaire Pete had a huge flat screen video calling system that was voice activated it seemed so futuristic and here we are with video calling and voice activated gadgets in 2018) in fact I saw a job advert for a teacher of “all things internet ” yeah I didn’t know what that was either but upon enquiry – friends not actually for the job. All things internet refers to the smart home But we are moving deeper into the technological age which is great with more and more AI entering our lives we need to ensure that as machines are doing more and more for us, we don’t raise a generation unable to think for themselves.
This was written in 2018
So an update mid pandemic
In 2021, the pandemic has reshaped the world and certainly reshaped how we use technology and despite students being hugely impacted by schools closures (well schools never closed some students were in and all students got lessons)
I did notice a shift in students attitudes. A year ago asking them to do something online would result in many questions, claims that they didn’t know how and requests for paper.
The introductions of live lessons saw students having to learn how to navigate a teams meeting, creating and submitting digital work. Initially there seemed to be a few hiccups but within a few weeks students were demonstrating the ability to work independently online. Their ICT skills and independent learning skills improved drastically.
Scaffolding and modelling is a ‘must do’ as a teacher we demonstrate, we show students what a ‘good one looks like’ this is good practice. However there is a shadow side to this. If we over scaffold and don’t remove the scaffolds enough to enable independent learning we are not setting the bar high enough and at risk of encouraging passive learning.
The do it now tasks which are a popular way of starting a lesson, ensuring recall and promoting the embedding of knowledge.
However I began to notice something, when circulating the room a number of students hadn’t written any answers. It became clear, they switch off for five minutes, wait for the answers to be revealed then write the answers in. Should they be unlucky enough to be asked for the answer they would simply say – they didn’t get that one or actually read the question and attempt to answer.
I was honest with the classes I taught, I explained what passive learning was and that I expect an all questions answered.
EVEN IF YOU DONT KNOW
The confused looks said it all, I explained further that wrong answers are okay – I Love wrong answers it shows they are not scared to take a chance, that they know it’s a safe to fail environment. Again blank faces.
I told them to answer as best as they could
There were some wrong answers but not as many as previous blank answers. The next challenge was ‘ now in purple pen’ consistently used in every lesson, not a new concept but still people would not activate their brains and swap pens. I then had to say 3.2.1 pens down, now pick up your purple pen, now we will check the answers
It felt highly patronising but it worked. Somethings a little calibration or snap- ‘back in the room’ was needed.
In conclusion I think we need a balance we need to scaffold and support, we need to encourage students to engage and eradicate passive learning but we also need to ensure they feel safe enough to go it alone and risk getting it wrong.
Kelly Isaac 