Professor Lardner, an English composition teacher held a lecture on how to improve education and student learning at community college.
The workshop took place on Thursday, Jan. 28.
“We have never seen the effect of family wealth affect education opportunity this skewed before,” she stated.
Due to the pressures of making a living,”stakes are higher than ever so the things that happen in the classroom are a million times more important.”
Babies born in poorer families do not have the same opportunities and it is harder for them to be successful, according to the presentation.
The main question was “What is the role of education in this particular time and what can we [teachers] do?”
First is to address what we know about learning and education.
“As a teacher, I need to check in with my students that they are learning. The thing we know about learning is, I can’t give you a new piece of information and expect you to get it because what you already have in your brain affects your thinking on the new information.
Learning is incredibly personal and emotions really matter. If your just measuring student learning you’re not being a good teacher because of the way our brains work.” Lardner said.
Lardner continued, A terrible way of teaching is to teach just to get through the textbook. If your focus is to do that, that’s not making a big picture. You as a teacher, are just pushing.
“For example, you need to ask ‘How did you make sense of the reading?’, not just asking students if they read the material. The main point is reading and understanding.”
“Every semester is a new project for teachers,” Lardner expressed.
She has been teaching english for over thirty years but still has to teach in a new way each time.
“I teach on Monday nights so I teach a four-hour block class, just to give you a bigger picture.
“On Monday I had two more things I wanted us to do but I recognized that the students look tired. So I stopped and asked ‘How important is this material to you and how is this feeling to you to be working this way.’
“I had the student write it down and I haven’t read the responses yet but i think it matters how someone is feeling by taking time and letting go of content just to find out.”
The professor expressed that this exercise was something new for her.
Before, I was thinking “Twenty more minutes we could do two more things”. When I was a new teacher I didn’t ask and even last year I didn’t ask but this is something new.”
What else can teachers do to be more effective and help student learning?
Professor Olga Andrade of the child development department said, “I ask for a lot of feedback and what is it that they need to better meet their needs and I do a lot of group collaboration.”
Is it more important to keep teaching or let students think about what they learn?
One of the reasons teachers don’t ask students is that there is too much material to cover.
“I think that teachers focus more on the work that needs to be accomplished by the end of semester than letting you learn.
“I think what they should do is to be more interactive with the students in class rather than us just sitting there listening to a lecture.”
Michelle Canto, child development major, expressed a possible solution.
Canto expressed that she has noticed students may not feel confident asking questions.
“You ask a question and another student tries to answering it or just giggle because they understand it and you don’t, and I think teachers don’t put a stop to that and overlook it.”
“A suggestion I have is to incorporate more activities and group work that involves students and the teacher in class.”
