Be Specific When Speaking about Areas Where Students are Failing

Jennifer Partrick
May 10, 2010

We recognize when students are not on grade level and talk about their weaknesses in broad terms. We say things like, "She just can't read!" or "She does not understand a thing she reads!" or, "He does not know his multiplication facts! or, "He just can't add!" But, what we really need to be doing is looking deeper to those reasons why students are unable to accomplish certain academic tasks. There are other factors that are at the foundation of learning that all teachers should be aware. Barringer, Pohlan and Robinson (2010) write about the neurodevelopmental framework as espoused by All Kinds of Minds as a means to better understand how students learn and to use this information to prepare instruction to meet all students' needs. This framework consists of several constructs. These constructs are; attention, higher-order cognition, language, memory, neuromotor function, social cognition, spatial ordering and temporal-sequential ordering. As we think about learning, we can begin to look at reasons why our students are being successful or not being successful in school. We can begin to think about how strengths and weaknesses within one or more of the constructs are impacting learning and then create a plan to support our students in all aspects of their academic life.

Here is a scenario to help you understand the underlying problems of failure as it plays out so often in school. Johnny is unable to complete multiplication problems efficiently and correctly. Johnny is given the following assignment to complete: 694 x 37. Let us think about what Johnny must know in order to complete the problem. He must know the order in which to multiply each number. You begin with the 4 and multiply 7, then repeat with 9, 6. Then you start over with the 4, 9, and 7 and multiply each number in turn by 3. You need to know to place a 0 before multiplying by 3 in the correct space. You need to know multiplication facts, to place the product in the correct place, to remember to regroup any tens or hundreds and place those numbers in the appropriate place, remember to add in the numbers that were regrouped, you must not mix up the regrouped numbers, you need to add both sets of products, if there are any numbers that were regrouped during the adding process you need to know where to put them, you need to remember to add them back in, and finally you need to know your multiplication facts (again). Look at the list of things Johnny has to know in order to solve this problem, and all of the things not related to multiplication. First think about the purpose of the assignment. Is this an assignment to see how well Johnny knows his multiplication facts or is this an assignment to check if Johnny can complete the assignment correctly, following the correct steps? The answer is most likely a combination of the two. However, if Johnny knows his multiplication facts but cannot remember the steps to follow in order to arrive at the correct answer, he will get the answer wrong. On the other hand, if Johnny knows the steps but does not know his multiplication facts he most likely will also get the answer wrong. Do you see how much Johnny relies on memory in order to complete this assignment? Instead of thinking about Johnny purely from the standpoint of not knowing his multiplication facts, we can think about Johnny's challenge as not having a strong memory. Since the ‘root' of the problem lies in memory, we can think about Johnny's challenges in a new way. We can begin to think about strengthening Johnny's weakness- memory. We can begin to think about finding ways to support his weak memory so he can complete assignments, in addition to finding ways to strengthen his memory. With this in mind we can then begin to create a plan for Johnny that gets to the root of his problem.

So, to support Johnny we could consider this: If Johnny knows his multiplication facts but not the sequence, consider posting the sequence of steps in the classroom, or at Johnny's desk. This is not cheating! Posting the sequence gives Johnny the chance to complete the assignment because he does not have to rely on his poor memory to get the job done. Also, if Johnny has the steps in easy reach, as he works through the problems in the correct sequence multiple times, the sequence becomes ingrained in him from continuous use (multiple opportunities to build success).

Suppose Johnny knows the sequence but not his multiplication facts, consider posting the multiplication facts for Johnny. Again, doing this allows Johnny to complete the assignment and bypasses his weak memory. Consider giving Johnny multiplication problems related to the multiplication facts that he is learning only. Doing this gives him the opportunity to interact with those facts many times so that he is better able to memorize them.

We can also think about other ways to support Johnny's memory. Give Johnny other ways to solve multiplication problems. Other ways may not be as fast, but they will get him there. A solution is to give Johnny smaller chunks of multiplication facts to memorize at one time. For example, if he is learning the multiplication facts for 2, teach him how to skip count, or, have him memorize 2x1 - 2x5 for a couple of days, and give him simple tests before moving on to the next sets of numbers. Have him time himself doing tests and then check his answers to see how well he is doing. Give Johnny problems related to the multiplication facts that he is working on in order to give him multiple opportunities to work through those facts. Learning smaller chunks is not as overwhelming as having to memorize the entire set of multiplication facts.

Finally, as we think about areas where children are unsuccessful, consider looking beneath the obvious to glean the root of the problem. If we know the root of the problem then we stand a much better chance of strengthening it.

Reference:

Barringer, M., Pohlman, C., & Robinson, M (2010) Schools for all kinds of minds. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. San Francisco, CA