According to the Iowa Core Curriculum, Teaching for Understanding is leading students to engage in a variety of thought-provoking activities such as explaining, finding evidence and examples, generalizing, applying, making analogies, and representing the topic in new ways. Teachers assist students in making connections between prior knowledge and new knowledge to develop understanding of a concept. Teachers who teach for understanding 1) make learning a long-term, thinking-centered process, 2) engage students in assessment for learning processes, 3) support learning with representations conceptual models, 4) teach for learner differences 5) induct students into the discipline, and 6) teach for transfer (Perkins, 1993).
In your opinion, what does it take to teach for understanding? Why is teaching for understanding important? Explain.
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ReplyDeleteI think that it is important that teachers incorporate hands-on activities in order to teach for understanding. Students learn better when they have the opportunity to experiment and solve problems on their own. I think that students are more likely to understand and remember material if they are actually involved in their learning. It is also important that teachers relate new information to information that students have already learned. I just recently learned about the process in which information is stored in the brain. Learners are more likely to remember a new idea if they connect it with something else in long-term memory while they are storing the new idea. This is why teachers should always try to connect what they are teaching students with something that the students already know.
ReplyDeleteTeaching for understanding is important because it ensures that students fully understand material. It is important that teachers teach for understanding so that their students remember the information that they are taught. A lot of times, students memorize information for one test and then they forget all the information after they take the test. Doing this doesn't help them grow as learners at all. I feel that it is very important for teachers to help make learning interesting and fun for students so that learning is meaningful and beneficial for students.
I think it is important to teach for understanding because that way you can ensure your students are engaging in mastery learning. This means that the students will master the goal/material before moving on to the next goal and material. If you teach for understanding, you won't be moving on without all of the students understanding. This is crucial so that they can build upon what they already know, like Katelyn mentioned. Also, it prevents them from building upon misunderstood or incorrect information.
ReplyDeleteIn order to teach for understanding, you will need to present the lesson/content in a variety of ways, especially if some students are not understanding. This also helps when students understand the assessment process, and can utilize it to self-assess if they understand the material that they should be learning. You will also need to show examples or model skills that the students are expected to learn. However, once you have done that, it would be best to have them create their own problems or examples to solve. I think that is one of the best ways to tell if you are completely understanding something. Another strategy to teach for understanding would be to teach across different content areas. The more times that a student sees something, and in a variety of applications, the better they will understand.
I think it is very important to teach for understanding. When doing this, most of the time it requires you to do more in depth with the content you are teaching. When teaching for understanding, students are able to connect the information they are learning with some other prior knowledge they may already have. By doing this, students are more likely to remember information better and can more readily retreive it when discussing the topic in class or possibly for assessment. Especially with the elementary grades, I think students need to be presented information a variet of different ways. We have been working on this during reading and writing. Students have an opportunity to learn as a whole class, individually and also as small groups or partners. Younger students need lots of practice and need to be presented this information in different ways so that they have a better opportunity for understanding.
ReplyDeleteIn order to teach for understanding, I believe that it is important to incorporate a variety of different techniques. The teacher should start off by asking open-ended questions when the class is having a discussion in order to discover what kind of prior knowledge they may possess. This is vital because without discovering what the students already know, you won’t be able to accurately teach to their true ability. Also, in order to engage the students, I would suggest picking your unit themes according to the students’ interests so they can make connections with the material they are being presented with. If the students feel that what they are learning is relevant to their every day lives, they are more likely to be more engaged in the lesson. I would also argue that teaching in multiple ways such as a combination of auditory, kinesthetic, and visual techniques would be an effective way to reach all students’ most effective way of learning.
ReplyDeleteTeaching for understanding is very important. I believe so because it is the basis of instruction. It is very important for students to be encouraged to think deeply about the subjects they are learning so they can grasp a better understanding of the material. With a better understanding of the material, the students will be able to carry the learned material with them for longer.
Kat makes a very good point with her reminder of "mastery learning." This is a very key point of teaching to understanding. If the teacher moves too fast and the students fall behind in the subject matter, they wont be able to build off of what they know. I agree with Katelyn that without a solid foundation, the information is only learned for a short amount of time in comparison to a long period of time.
ReplyDeleteI agree that when teachers are teaching for understanding, it is important to present the information in a variety of ways. This is important because it allows all students an equal chance of learning, no matter what style of learning they prefer. I also agree that it is important that teachers model the skills that they expect their students to develop.
ReplyDeleteGoing back to what everyone has said about teaching for understanding, I think it is also important to review what you have learned at the end of a lesson, or at the end of a unit. For example, in class on Wednesday, Mrs. Griswold had the students list what they have learned about multiplication over the past several lessons. It is important to do this because it is sort of a final opportunity to make sure that the students are getting the main points of the lessons. Sometimes you don't fully understand something until you see it summed up by somebody else.
ReplyDeleteTeaching for understanding is very important as a teacher. You want to make sure your students are grasping ideas and concepts that you are teaching them. I think it is very important to teach the material in many different ways and be able to accommodate all your students learning styles. Using repetition of concepts and incorporating them into different lessons is also very important so the students can see them being put to use in different areas. I also believe that students need to see the concepts or materials in a way that they can relate to them. This could be by using a unit that interests them or just presenting it in a way that they may use it outside of school. I think using formative assessments is the best way to see if the students are really understanding what they are being taught. During lessons it is important to question students and to let them explain to you what they are doing so you can check for understanding. This is also a time to check your own teaching strategies because if the students are not understanding, you need to figure out a different way of teaching the material so they are able to understand.
ReplyDeleteI do strongly agree with what Kat said earlier about mastery learning. There is a very good chance that some students are going to have a harder time with certain subjects than others do. In this case you need to make sure that all students understand before moving on to the next lesson. Students need to master the material before learning new things in order to keep moving on, otherwise they will be left behind. Mastery learning is especially crucial in math because if a student never really understood addition, they are going to have an extremely hard time learning multiplication in the future.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Kat said earlier. Mastery learning is a very key point of teaching to understanding. If the teacher moves too fast and the students fall behind in the subject matter, they will not be able to suceed in future learning of the topic. I also agree with Katelyn that you need to present information in a variety of different ways. If a student does not understand the information the first time, try something else to teach them the concept and they may be able to understand the information better. I also think it is important to come back to the material multiple times to refresh students learning. When doing this, you can also go more in depth and build upon what the students previously learned.
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