No. 19: Learn-it-all school cultures, how to memorize right, and make writing fun
Know-it-all cultures, memorizing facts, and writing essays - how schools have it wrong
First, some numbers…
63% - increase in homeschooling students in 2020-21 school year, followed by only 17% drop in 2021-22 1
52% - K-12 teachers are reporting burnout 2
55% - of educators indicate they are ready to leave the profession they love earlier than planned 3
Know-it-all vs learn-it-all school cultures
Most schools unintentionally support a know-it-all cultures. How? They
Ask questions that mostly have just right answers.
Support competition that rewards those with immediate response.
Create projects that have an end (we know it all, so we are done.)
The product of a know-it-all culture can give you all the facts and theories, but is not able to talk about how they are tested, or put into practice. A know-it-all does well on tests, and in traditional schools, but does that translate into life?
We need to create cultures in schools of learn-it-alls, not know-it-alls.
The learn-it-all is curious, an experimenter, a hungry seeker of new knowledge, developer of ideas and engager with people. Being a learn it all should be the goal.
Read further at School of Thought
How to do memorization right
via Ms. Fab
1. Pair memory with meaning
Kids need to learn the what and the why.
They need to memorize important facts and learn what they mean. They need to know the reason things work the way they do.
Genuine learning happens when we can get to the right answer because we understand how things work.
It helps us store in our brains not only facts and figures but, more importantly, the reasoning process that leads us to these answers.
Read about principles 2 and 3 at Ms. Fab | Or read the Twitter thread
Why we shouldn’t teach kids to write through academic essays
Academic essays are incredibly dull, and that’s how most kids learn to write. They draft essays that are cram-written late at night, graded in red pen, shoved in a drawer, and never seen again. The grade point average at the end of the year is the closest their writing will ever come to having meaning.
The exercise feels irrelevant and boring, and for a lot of kids, that’s the only writing experience they’ve ever had. It’s no wonder they hate it so much.
For kids to love writing, they need to experience three things:
The joy of writing about topics they love
The tangible results of publishing publicly and finding their coven
The benefit of experiencing a feedback loop around their writing and their ideas
When students feel those three things (and get rid of all the nonsense in academic writing like boring prompts and word count requirement), their perception of writing completely changes.
Learn the 3 things in detail at Rebel Educator
Till next time…
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. - John F. Kennedy
K-12 workers are the most burned-out employees in America.