I was probably in 6th grade when my parents decided to take my brother and me out of school for a few days and head from Pennsylvania up to New Hampshire for our first skiing experience. I’ll never forget our family friend (and ski instructor) saying to my parents, “it’s a good thing you’re not letting your kids’ schooling interfere with their education“ – a quote attributed to Mark Twain. This early teaching has stayed with me throughout my life to such a point that just last week I took my own children out of school early for their very first skiing experience. I must proudly say, that 3o years after that first ski trip, I still remember that first training I received on the slopes, the hours of practice that I committed and can still utilize those skills to safely traverse down a steep mountain today and can share those skills with my children. This is just one example of the numerous survival and life skills that are not taught in formal schooling.
That said, we spend years in a formal educational setting in which the instructor is responsible for creating an environment that is as equally meaningful and memorable as my weekend on the slopes in New Hampshire. That’s a pretty high standard. How can the instructor replicate such a stimulating experience while ensuring that new information is retained? First, the students must be engaged. Engagement occurs when the instructor is able to tie the learning topic to the students’ life experience, to create a lasso between previous knowledge and new material. It can also occur by bringing the topic to life through technology using a video or interactive game. Second, there must be opportunities for practice. Learning does not happen through a single, simple exposure to a topic. Like skiing, learning any material, skill or concept occurs through repetitive practice. Repetitive doesn’t mean boring. Repetitive means exploring a concept from a variety of different perspectives, different mediums and different activities. It’s the instructor’s responsibility to make the repetition fun. Third, the information must be retained. If the instructor has effectively engaged the students and created meaningful opportunities for practice, retention of material should come along naturally.
The effectiveness of instruction is measured through both retention and production. After days of practicing pointing my skis together as a wedge, or pizza as my instructor taught me, I was able discover how to shift my weight in order to turn and traverse the slope eventually making it to the bottom without falling. Effectively, I was able to pull all the concepts I had learned together and successfully ski. As information is processed, an observant instructor watches shaky legs hold strong. The watchful instructor notes furrowed brows relax, and frowns turn to smiles as lightbulbs go off inside students’ heads. The keen instructor listens to hear the level of confidence in oral expression shift from shaky to strong. The wise instructor sits in the back of the classroom while the empowered student goes to the front of the class to take on a leadership role putting together the pieces of material learned and demonstrating the retention of knowledge. This is how we know concepts have been mastered and learning has occurred.
Our path to learning involves choices just as getting to the bottom of the mountain requires the skier to make choices. As a skier, I can select the green circle (easy trail), the blue square (moderate trail), or the black diamond (difficult trail). In the classroom, I also choose my path; I choose how hard to challenge or push myself. I’m not alone in this. My parents, teachers, peers, even spouse guide me in one direction or another. In high school the learner, with guidance, can select the level of difficulty between general courses, honors, and AP. On the level of a classroom assignment or project, the learner determines his/her level of effort as applied to the given task. As an instructor I must guide my learners down the appropriate path and encourage those who are comfortable on the green circle to challenge themselves with blue square material. In my ESL classroom, when I hear a green circle response to a question, I gently push the student out of his or her comfort zone to produce a blue square response and those who give blue square responses are pushed to the black diamond level. Technology additionally, provides a unique way for learners to follow level-appropriate learning paths. Consider a tool like Newsela where instructors and students can select level of difficulty of content, allowing learning to be customized to a particular level for each student. Many language learning tools are designed in such a way providing varying levels of difficulty so that each learner faces unique challenges.
Whether online or in the classroom, the learner is ultimately in charge of finding the right path down the mountain while the instructor provides guidance and meaning along the way.
