Give Me One Good Reason

Over the past two or three years, I have focused more and more on the "why" of learning.  This happened for many reasons.  It happened partly because of a guest speaker I heard at my school district driving home the importance of telling students the purpose of any learning activity.  It also came about partly because my school district started asking us to visibly post the “why” of each lesson.  I’m not going to lie, I was extrinsically motivated to focus on stating the purpose of each lesson in order to keep my job!  However, the main reason I have focused so much on telling my students why we are learning whatever it is we may be learning is that I believe in it – I guess you could say I “bought in” immediately when I started researching the power of why.

I can only remember one teacher who ever told us why we learned a subject – and he didn't so much as tell us as have a poster on his wall listing what jobs used math every day.  Almost daily in high school, I would wonder (in my head), “Why do we have to do this?  I will never use this in real life, will I?”  If someone was brave enough to ask these questions out loud, the response was usually some form of “because I said so”, which I don’t have to tell you doesn't really go over well with high school students. 

After researching information on stating the purpose of learning and thinking about my personal school experience, it quickly became my goal to make sure my students always understand the reasons for learning.  I strive to make sure they understand why we do what we do all the time.

I focus on - almost obsess over - giving students the reasons for learning.  At the beginning of each of the past two years, my 3^rd graders and I have listed what we all want to be when we grow up and talk about whether or not these jobs require reading, writing, or math.  (Spoiler alert:  every job requires all three.)  At the beginning of each unit or objective, we decide as a class why what we are learning is important.  The impact I have seen from these changes in my classroom has been tremendous.  It may or may not be measurable by an assessment, but I have seen the impact in the engagement levels of my students.  When they understand why we do what we do, they are automatically more engaged than when I just give them a project and tell them to get to work.

This year, I want to take this a step further.  Or farther.  I never really know which of those is correct…

This year, it is time to make the kids tell me why.  Why are they learning?  Why do they think the way they do?  Why is their answer correct?  Why are they in that trash can?  (Okay, let’s hope the last one doesn't happen…again…)

After watching a video during a recent math boot camp session, I was inspired to create the poster (with help from my friend and colleague Miss Cattron and Office Max) at the top of this post.  We watched a video during this district PD session of a group of 4^th graders working on division – a concept that so many kids struggled with.  Among the many things I took away from this video, the one that stuck in my mind was a simple statement that the teacher probably says every day.  The teacher, Lynn Simpson, said “Now remember, if you think it's true or if you think it's false, you want to have a really good reason.” 

It was, and I hate this phrase but I will use it anyway, an “aha!” moment for me.  Good learners – successful people in general – always have a reason.  I have always made students give reasons for behavior (see the trash can question above), why don’t I do it for everything else?  Don’t get me wrong, I have students explain answers.  I have students tell me more details, but I have never worded it as a “reason”.  If it is powerful for me to tell kids why we are learning, wouldn't it be just as powerful (if not more so) for them to tell me why they think what they think? 

This has become a classroom motto for the upcoming year:  we have to have a reason for everything we say, do, and think.  From our behavior to making inferences to multiplying, we have to have a reason.  I’ll let you know how it goes…

If you are interested, check out the video I referenced in this blog.  Reasoning about Division