Teaching and Learning: How to increase transfer
Have you ever wondered if your classroom work is actually impacting the lives of your students? ARe you really making a difference? In my case, I often find myself wondering if my students are actually making progress in learning English as a result of my classes. Is their fluency being improved? Are they a little more fearless when speaking English now than when they first met me?
Sometimes you can easily notice improvement. Confidence is one area that I frequently see improve with many of my students. For many, speaking English is first of all, a great inner battle against the fear. There’s the fear of looking and sounding stupid: "What if I forget what to say, or how to say something?" "What if I speak with a heavy accent?" "What if I use the wrong word?" "What if I speak like Tarzan when I meet my native speaker boss?" Fear, at least in my classes, is often the first place where both myself and my student notice progress. Very often they just come out and tell me that they feel much more confident with their English speaking skills.
But what about the slower skills of say grammar and writing? Once you reach intermediate level language proficiency, progress is much harder to notice, and usually takes a great deal more time to accomplish. Is it possible to craft learning experiences that help students transfer what is taught to their slowly growing skill sets?
Keep it Relevant: Link your content to THEIR reality.
Charles Nelson over at Explorations in Learning, recently posted on this theme here: The Transfer of Expertise. Cool quote to think and ponder on:
Transfer is a problem. Although first-year composition is designed to prepare students for academic writing in other courses and eventually to their careers, the skills they acquire often, even usually, do not transfer in part because the concepts in FYC are not seen as relevant to other contexts. (Nelson, The Transfer of Expertise)
Nelson goes on to say that if teachers want to encourage concept transfer, they must focus heavily on helping students realize subject relevancy for their lives today. He suggests that one way for this to happen is via journaling "…the presence of classroom concepts and practices outside the classroom." (Nelson, The Transfer of Expertise.)
I like that idea, but I also would suggest that the teacher must first of all DELIVER content in meaningful ways. Why ask students to journal something they don’t care about to begin with? Don’t get me wrong: I think journaling or even blogging class work is a great way to encourage connection with the content. But that connection should begin solidly in the classroom with the teacher.
A Possible Application
Prepositions: They suck. They’re boring to try and teach, and even more boring to try and learn. (Prepositions are words like in, at, on, under, around, through, with, etc.) Native speakers throw these monsters around without even thinking about them, but try helping a non-native English speaker figure out how and when to use them. Prepositions are rebels. They rarely follow rules, and there are so many different word/preposition combinations out there that memorizing them is just…well..a depressing idea to contemplate.
A few weeks ago, a student gave me a three page list of word and preposition combinations and asked me to help her learn them. I took it home, and asked her for a few weeks to think about how best I could help. I knew that if I went with the typical drill and memorize routine, we would likely go nowhere, except to frustrationville. Instead, I got a new idea: Flickr+Powerpoint = an interesting and highly visual way to work on prepositions.
So I dove into flickr, and stayed up way to late prepping a series of slides that would help my student
visualize word/preposition combinations in meaningful ways. Example: "Angry with" — I got this angry looking Hulk pic here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/throughmyeyes/191432700/ by without you.
Then I plugged it into Power Point as a slide, and wrote "Angry" in nice big bold text. Then I wrote "with" and "at" as hidden text on the slide, and animated them to appear after mouse clicks. I made about ten slides like this, of course with different word/preposition combinations.
This activity was completely engaging for me in that it forced me to think differently about something I use everyday. It made me think: "How can I express this preposition visually in a way that would almost instantly make sense to my student?"
The hard work paid off. Big time. My students LOVED it. Not only were they engaged by the pictures, but they actually had fun trying to figure out what preposition went with the main word on the power point slide. Instead of slogging our way through another drill, we were laughing and actually having fun WHILE working on something that is normally not a fun thing to do.
To make the activity even more relevant, after the student got the right preposition, I got them to create their own sentences using the word/preposition combination.
Did transfer occur? Well, in some cases it’s still too early to tell. But I did notice my students successfully recycling newly met word/preposition combos in conversations held later on after the powerpoint activity was finished. (And without my instigation.) And even more interesting to me: after each preposition presentation, my students have all asked for a copy of it for their own computers so they can practice at home.
What I learned: Connect your content with your student’s reality if you want to see transfer happen.
How are you being relevant to your students? Would you share how you make meaningful links between your content and your student’s lives?
Photo Credits
The Transfer of Goods by SyN+H
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=93715447&size=s
Linked by HP - LaFilipinaNegra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/halfpinay/167702137/
I used a similar tact with photos from worth1000.com . The site has amazing pictures and I used one to pair with my journal prompts each day. I also used them to teach adjectives and nouns.
You might also like
this site which summarizes America’s colonization in a chat log and these myspace like pages for planets and I’ll end with this link to mock medieval space pages for Richard III characters.
I just love seeing stuff like that come together.
Comment by Tom — December 4, 2006 @ 6:54 pm
Transfer and Listening
Like Nelson, as a result of listening, I had responded with a presentation and tasks that would engage my students. So, I would add that to be able to “deliver content in meaningful ways,” a key component is listening carefully to our students to und…
Trackback by Explorations in Learning — December 7, 2006 @ 2:34 pm
When in pursuit of “relevance” it’s likely that some teachers will be frustrated by their students’ inability to see the connections. When this happens, it’s important to remind ourselves that “age” (or more specifically, maturity both cognitive and emotional)are factors that have to be taken into account when assessing whether or not our students are “getting it”.
Comment by tefl trouper — December 12, 2006 @ 11:45 pm
I think this is a really interesting way to get your students to understand hard concepts. I believe teachers can really keep students interested in complex ideas simply by finding a fun way to present material, especially with visuals. I agree that if students can find a relationship between the subject their studying and the reality of what’s going on in their life they will usually pick up on the material much faster. I remember when I was in high school asking myself when I was ever going to use the material I was learning in real life. I think that giving examples of situations students are going to have to apply these concepts to in real life will top off their interest after applying these techniques you have talked about in your blog.
Comment by Jfmeena — February 13, 2007 @ 3:52 pm
I think this is a really interesting way to get your students to understand hard concepts. I think others can really keep students interested in complex ideas simply by finding a fun way to present material, especially with visuals. I agree that if students can find a relationship between the subjects their studying and the reality of what’s going on in their life they can usually pick up on the material much faster. I remember when I was in high school asking myself when I was ever going to have to apply these concepts to in real life will top off their interest after applying these techniques you have talked about in your blog.
Comment by Jfmeena — February 13, 2007 @ 4:00 pm
I think this is a great way to involve students in the learning process. This activity went way beyond just teaching prepositions, your students were able to see a problem-solution take place- the student confronted you with a problem, and you took it, reworked it, and presented the solution for them to participate in. It was fun-which grammar hardley ever is (even for native speakers!)Plus, you gained their curiosity (they asked for copies) which means you definately have them engaged; if they are interested, they will be more willing to work harder, even if they don’t get it the first time. It’s great to see you so engaged in your students as well- it is hard not to get frustrated, and you made your questions productive!
Comment by Trish K — February 19, 2007 @ 9:00 pm
You did a lot more than just giving them a learning tool for prepositions; you provided an opportunity for your students to see how a problem they could face with language could be solved in a unique way. When the student came up to you and showed you the paper, you created a solution and showed it to the entire class. That in itself was wonderful because you already know one thing for sure- you created a moment for them that raised their curiosity. Your students already asked for copies! They are probably more willing to take on such a large task, and continue trying to improve, even if they didn’t get it as quickly as they wanted. You were able to show them a lot more than grammar (which native speakers don’t particularly like) in an active environment! It’s great to see that your concern and care became an active part of the way in which you conduct your class!
Comment by Trish K — February 19, 2007 @ 9:21 pm
I really found this article intersting because it highlights some fears I have in my future as a teacher. Currently I am about a year away from having my own classroom and during this time I am working as a gymnastics coach. There are times when I feel so frustrated when my students are struggling with a specific higher level skill because I feel as if I am failing them in some way. This makes me nervous that I will have the same problem in my high school English classroom. Your advice on how to teach to transfer made a lot of sense. If you can make a child feel as if the information you are providing is relevant you can increase their intrinsic motivation. Without that motivation transfer can become impossible but with that motivation you have a better chance of seeing improvements. You examples were really interesting and useful for me to see the ways in which teacher’s find ways to connect content to life.
Comment by Patty — February 21, 2007 @ 8:33 am
Your use of photos was a great idea. Perhaps you should give it to the English teachers for the students that already speak english! I am absolutely terrible with english, but perhaps if I had an activity like this I would better remember things. And this brings up an idea for all teachers, to use pictures and multimedia for any subject specifically ones you wouldn’t think to use.
Comment by Kristin — February 21, 2007 @ 1:18 pm
as a future english teacher it is alway interesting to see new ways of teaching what can sometimes be seen as a boring subject. i really like your idea of using visuals with words. i think it is a great way to engage the students and maintain their attention. i feel like kids today have become more reliant on visuals instead of their own imagination or creativity, but if using memorable images can help them make the connection then i think it is a not only a good idea but a very applicable one as well.
Comment by leah s — February 22, 2007 @ 12:11 pm
as a future english teacher, it was refreshing for me to read about new ways to get and more importantly keep my students’ attention. especially in regard to grammar. it is so easy for students to just glaze over when words like adverb, adjective and prepostion start to be dicussed. in a world where people, especially children, are driven by the visual, putting images with words, ideas and concepts is a very interesting and seemingly successful endeavor. i had never thought about turning prepositions into a powerpoint and making it interactive. the only thing i could ever think of was the way i was taught: memorizing a long list words, all in alphabetical order of course. it is refreshing to see new and more applicable ways to do things.
Comment by leah s — February 22, 2007 @ 3:38 pm
I really like this blog because I am going to be an English teacher and I really like how this teacher went out of her way to help one of her students. I am probably going to ask myself this question everyday; “Am I really making a difference?” I want to have a huge impact on my student’s lives and make sure that they are getting the most out of my lessons. I am taking Italian right now and I can relate to the students who don’t want to say anything because they will sound weird. I feel that way all the time and in my classroom I don’t want my students to feel that way. I also agree that transfer is a big issue and that the teacher needs to focus on this. Relating material to the student’s lives is the best thing to do for this kind of subject; for any subject really. I think if you do this than the student’s will become more interested in the subject. When I become a teacher I am going to focus on relating my lessons to current events, I think this can help answer the question some students might ask, “When am I ever going to use this is my life?” Being an English teacher I do also want to have my students free-write in journals and blogs. This I think helps the student’s get to know each other. I have just started using blogs this semester in one of my English classes and it is the best idea ever. But along with this I do want to focus on my relationships with the student. I believe this is the most important issue in a classroom. When my students need help I will figure out how to help them in the best way possible. It may take more of my time but that is what I want to do.
Comment by Mitzi — March 6, 2007 @ 9:19 pm
These comments have been invaluable to me as is this whole site. I thank you for your comment.
Comment by Rosie — April 30, 2007 @ 8:49 am
When the student came up to you and showed you the paper, you created a solution and showed it to the entire class. That in itself was wonderful because you already know one thing for sure- you created a moment for them that raised their curiosity.
Comment by supra skytop — October 28, 2010 @ 7:48 pm