Just say, "I’m Disinclined to Acquiesce to Your Request" to Telling

This week I started reading a book recommended by both an elementary ELA teacher and a secondary ELA teacher in our district, so I thought it must be worth digging into more.  The book is “Reading Nonfiction: Notice & Note” by Kylene Beers & Robert Probst and even though I just started it, what I read,  as well as some discussions with colleagues concerning what I read, made something “click” in my head about teaching that I couldn’t quite put my finger on earlier.

In the book, Beers and Probst were discussing the definition of nonfiction and pointed out how it should go well beyond “not false” or “true stories”.  Their point is well taken, especially with today’s “fake news” dilemma  via the internet making clear that all “nonfiction” is not necessarily “true”, but rather is the viewpoint of the author.  Students, they say, must approach reading nonfiction with a more critical eye and, in fact, it’s their discussion on the definition of nonfiction based on the student’s developmental stage that got me thinking.  

• Primary Students- Nonfiction, because of their concrete thinking, is simply a book about real people or real things.
• Elementary Students-  The definition of nonfiction, because these students can begin to think of another’s perspective, is not limited to just  real people or real events, but also includes beliefs and ideas of others.
• Middle School Students- The ability for this age group to think more abstractly expands the definition of nonfiction to include the author’s claims or assertions about real people, real events, beliefs, or ideas.
• High School Students-  Due to student maturity a more sophisticated, and shorter, definition of nonfiction can be used.  Nonfiction is now able to be defined as “the body of work in which the author purports to tell us about the real work, real experience, a real person, an idea, or a belief” (Beers & Probst, 2016, p. 27).

The point here is that the teacher must always be aware, be able to recognize, and be able to consider the student’s developmental stage, even with something as “simple” as the definition of nonfiction.  However, many times educators believe they are making something more developmentally appropriate by using more simple or complex vocabulary, but in reality we need to take into account how the students think when considering the term developmentally appropriate.  This is when the light bulb finally went on for me. It makes sense, if you think about it, as parents it doesn’t matter if you tell your seven year old “no” or “I’m disinclined to acquiesce to your request” (a favorite Pirates of the Caribbean quote) to a demand they might make, because they are still going to be persistent until they understand and can “see” why their demand is not appropriate.  

In “The Art of Changing the Brain”, Dr. James Zull points out that teachers must see things through their students’ eyes and suggests that “teachers balance their teaching so students use both the front (analyzes info) and back (takes in info) cortex (part of the brain)” (Zull, 2002, p.136).  The reason behind this is as “experts” of a topic, teachers need to be aware that they are working with novices and even though our brains, whether we are an expert or novice, basically sense the same things, “the difference is the experts know which part of the sensory data is important and which part isn’t” (Zull, 2002, p.141).  That is why, as expert teachers, we have to consider carefully what we are going to show our students and how to show it.  By allowing students a chance to “ notice once shown” (the situation they are put into by the teacher) then they will be able to make their own connections and therefore “learn” the concept.  That is something students can’t do if we, as experts, rush the process and tell them what is important to remember.  In fact, our brain is designed to ignore a repeated sound after a while which is a phenomenon called habituation.  Dr. Zull half  jokingly points points out that nothing demonstrates habituation more than a lecture” (Zull ,2002, p. 149), but it is an important point to remember as educators.

As educators we do need to have a certain amount of content knowledge, but it is not the content knowledge that separates out the more effective teachers from less effective.  It is not “Do you have the knowledge to teach?” it is “Do you have the understanding of how kids learn?”.  If you have that understanding, and enough content knowledge, you can put kids in situations that allow them to make their own connections rather than “telling them the answer”.  The origin of the word “teach” comes from the Old English term “techon”, which means “to show”...not to tell.  Putting students in situations and giving them time to process and make or see connections is what we should be doing, but we must be able to recognize where the students are developmentally, understand the scaffolds of our subject area well enough to know where the students fit, and have the ability to put them into the next best situation that would allow them to see, and ultimately make, those connections.

References

Beers, Kylene & Probst, Robert. (2016).  Reading Nonfiction:  Notice & Note Stances,
Signposts and Strategies.  Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann.

Zull, James (2002).  The Art of Changing the Brain.  Sterling VA: Solution Tree Press.
Stylus Publishing.