Creating a Culture of Lasting Learning

Once again, Simon earned a perfect score on his weekly quiz. While other students struggled, this student thrived on the vocabulary and grammar chart quizzes. He outperformed most of his peers and had a perfect 100% in his quiz grade category. The trouble was that Simon was failing every test and most homework assignments. He had an uncanny ability to memorize raw information and had been a straight-A honors student throughout elementary and middle school. His parents were understandably frustrated as they sat in front of me in a teacher-parent meeting. Simon was in both my Honors Latin I and AP Human Geography courses. In both classes, he struggled through applying his raw knowledge to the larger themes of the course. He especially struggled to apply information to new scenarios within the course. Simon may have thrived in memorization, but he seemingly had little deep learning over the years. I was a new teacher and did not know how to help him, both to my own and his parents’ frustration.

Though I’ve changed the name of the student, this anecdote is true. And it has also stuck with me over the years. How to do I reach students and encourage them in deep, real, lasting learning? I believe that a blend of better pedagogical practices along with well-utilized technology can create a classroom culture of lasting learning.

I explore this topic in further depth in a paper entitled “Creating a Culture of Lasting Learning.” It is a response and a series of musings on how I as a teacher might implement better pedagogical practices to encourage deep and lasting learning in my students. Please click on the title of the work for a google doc of the paper.

I appreciate your thoughts and feedback!

Incidentally, I reference two video projects from former students in the paper. I have included them here for reference.