Welcome back to Wise Wednesday’s! It has been a busy week as our long practicum is just about a month away. Nonetheless, I am here to discuss another book written by Daniel Willingham, titled Why Don’t Students Like School? The title itself invites for some curiosity, which first caught my attention. However, as I delved deeper into what Willingham argues within his book, I realized that his discussion provides some insight into our students who get frustrated in completing classroom activities.

Willingham argues that people like to solve problems, but they do not to solve unsolvable problems (p.4). If schoolwork has become just a little bit too difficult for a student, then they will begin to grow a dislike for school. In relation to this, he argues that humans are bad at thinking and that thinking is usually a slow and arduous process. Willingham uses the example of learning how to drive a car for the first time. When you’re first learning how to drive, you are focusing your attention in steering, accelerating, and braking. Over time and with enough practice, driving begins to become second nature and you begin to barely think about going through the motions as you drive. This does not mean that humans do not like to think, it is just that it does take a long time to learn and process new information. Where trouble lies is when people (such as our students) are working on a problem for a long time, yet there is no sense that there is any progress that has been made (p.9). I think we can all think of a time when this has happened to us.

So what does Willingham suggest? Ensure that you give enough necessary background knowledge before you ask your students to begin a task, meaning: scaffold, scaffold, scaffold. Further, when necessary, give “cognitive breaks” to students (p.19). I perhaps did not realize this, but we do ask a lot out of our students during the school day – even for students in primary grades. It is understanding how some students may become more frustrated with their work as the day goes on because they have used a lot of their cognitive skills to stay focused throughout the day. This brings in the importance of having brain breaks scheduled in during the day, to allow children to stop and do a quick, fun activity that will re-energize the students.

I see many connections between Willingham’s discussion and my experience to my practicum school. I have seen first-hand the implications of failing to scaffold enough for my students (as a result of my teaching). Many students became frustrated and needed extra help from me. Thankfully, I have learned my lesson! I appreciate how much scaffolding I see being done in my classroom and it is something that I continue in trying to implement within my unit plans. I am constantly asking myself whether I am providing my students with enough knowledge and information in order to guarantee success for all of my students.

Reference:

Willingham, D.T. (2009). Why don’t students like school? A cognitive science answers questions about how the mind works and what it means for the classroom. San Fransico: Jossey-Bass.