Running head: MAXIMIZING ADOLESCENT LEARNING
Maximizing Adolescent Learning
Carol Bell
The Master’s College
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MAXIMIZING ADOLESCENT LEARNING
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Abstract
This paper summarizes and compares and contrasts the following four journal articles: A Case
for School Connectedness (Blum, 2005), Reach Them to Teach Them (Tomlinson & Doubet,
2005), The Neuroscience of Joyful Education (Willis, 2007), and Disciplining the Mind (Boix
Mansilla & Gardner, 2008). This paper will also compare and contrast these four articles to the
class Pre-Adolescents, Adolescents, and Schooling. It will also show how connecting to students
fits with a Biblical model of teaching. This paper focuses on adolescent learning but it can also
be applied to education in general.
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Maximizing Adolescent Learning
Teachers tend to get so caught up in teaching the subject matter that they forget that it is
students that they are teaching, not a subject. The following journal articles: A Case for School
Connectedness (Blum, 2005), Reach Them to Teach Them (Tomlinson & Doubet, 2005), The
Neuroscience of Joyful Education (Willis, 2007), and Disciplining the Mind (Boix Mansilla &
Gardner, 2008) all describe the importance of teachers connecting with the students and making
the content relevant to them. This paper will summarize and compare and contrast these four
articles to each other and to the class Pre-Adolescents, Adolescents, and Schooling. It will also
show how connecting to students fits with a Biblical model of teaching.
Journal Article Summaries
A Case for School Connectedness
School connectedness is essential for the success students have both inside and outside of
the classroom. Students who are connected to their school tend to get into less trouble, have
fewer health issues, stay in school, and do better in school. For students to feel connected to
school, they need to feel that the adults at the school care about them both academically and as
individuals. The school needs to have a strong core curriculum with high academic standards for
all students. The relationships between the adults and the students are very important. These need
to be strong relationships that are positive and respectful. The school needs to be a physically
and emotionally safe environment. The students need to feel connected to the school regardless
of academic achievement.
Reach Them to Teach Them
So many teachers are concerned about covering the standards that they forget about the
students. High-stakes testing has the teachers so concerned about the test that the students’
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emotional needs are ignored. This article looks at how four teachers reach their students so that
they can teach them.
Katie Carson cares about the students, and gets the standards covered during the
instructional time. She makes time to connect to the students with an attendance question every
day. She also helps them tell their story in a more interesting way and works hard at making
writing relevant.
George Murphy spends time setting up inquiry activities that are interesting and relevant
to the students. He also has a classroom environment that breeds excitement and interest. He is
not dependant on textbooks but he looks for authentic and reputable sources of information the
students can use to find the information they need. He is intent on making every lesson relevant
to the students and helping them see how it is relevant.
Chat Prather strives to connect students with important ideas and connect with the
students as individuals. He works hard to make the content relevant and interesting by avoiding
worksheets that do little to help the students remember the information or engage with it. He also
cares enough about the students to talk with them about what is going on in their personal lives.
Lori Mack works at being personable with the students. She keeps the students involved
with the content and encourages the students as the learning continues. Most of all, she tries to
make a personal connection with every student.
It is difficult to cover all the standards that need to be covered, but it is more important
for the students to have a sense of belonging. If you can connect to the students, you can teach
them the curriculum.
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The Neuroscience of Joyful Education
When students begin their school career they have an excitement about everything they
are going to learn. Unfortunately the emphasis on standardized testing has taken away much or
all of that excitement. Neuroscience has shown that students that feel minimal stress and have
time for exuberant discovery makes for more connections in the brain and more opportunities for
the students to learn new things. When emotions are attached to memories they are stored more
permanently. A teacher’s goal should be to have novel ways to teach in a stress-free environment
with pleasurable associations linked with that learning.
Here are several ways to make a lesson less stressful: make a lesson relevant, give the
students an occasional break, create positive associations, prioritize information, allow
independent discovery learning, and create a safe learning environment.
Disciplining the Mind
With the advent of high-stakes testing and national standards there is an emphasis on
learning large amounts of information; however, it is difficult for students to apply the new
knowledge or skills to new situations. Teaching mere subject matter will only temporarily
increase a student’s knowledge base. It does not help a student shed light on novel issues.
Disciplining the mind involves understanding the fundamental perspectives each discipline has.
The students must understand the purpose of disciplinary expertise. They are not using
the information from the past to predict what will happen in the future but to make informed
decisions. The must have an essential knowledge base. They must understand inquiry methods so
that they can understand the world and come to their own conclusions. They must also
understand various forms of communication, especially the different ways writing is used to
convey information.
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It is important to nurture the disciplined mind by identifying the essential topics in the
discipline, focus on that topic, spend a considerable amount of time on that topic, approach the
topic in a number of ways, and then develop performances of understanding.
Compare and Contrast the Articles
These journal articles all focus on different aspects of improving adolescent learning. The
articles A Case for School Connectedness and Reach Them to Teach Them focus on the student’s
relationship with the teacher and the school. They mention that when a student has a sense of
belonging or a connection to the school then they are more likely to stay in school, remember the
content that is taught, and have a healthier lifestyle. In A Case for School Connectedness the
focus is on helping kids stay in school by having a strong core curriculum, high academic
standards, and teachers that make learning relevant by developing a relationship with the
students and teach with that in mind. In Reach Them to Teach Them the focus is more on
strategies teachers use to make learning relevant.
The other two articles, The Neuroscience of Joyful Education and Disciplining the Mind,
focus less on relationships and more on the actual content matter. The Neuroscience of Joyful
Education discusses the neurological benefits of positive interactions with new learning and how
various emotions impact that learning. In Disciplining the Mind the focus is on understanding the
various perspectives of the discipline to help create a larger foundation for new knowledge.
A common theme among all the articles is the importance of making learning relevant.
The teacher has to know their students to know if the learning is or can be made relevant. When
that personal relationship is formed the students are more likely to have less stress and more
enjoyment of the learning process. If they enjoy the learning process they are more likely to
remember the content. If the students remember the content then they will do better on the state
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assessments. If the students are successful in school or if they enjoy the learning process they are
more likely to stay in school and have a healthier lifestyle. These four articles are all parts of the
learning process. They are dependent on one another and if a teacher uses one without the other
they will have some success, but for the greatest success they should use information from all
four articles.
Compare and Contrast the Articles with the Class
Pre-Adolescents, Adolescents and Schooling
These articles support much of what was taught in the class Pre-Adolescents, Adolescents
and Schooling. Since education has become mandatory for all high-school age students, there has
been a need for adolescent-centered teaching. The book, Brain-Based Teaching with Adolescent
Learning in Mind (Crawford, 2007) focuses on creating a classroom environment that has a
teacher with high academic expectations, relevant learning, and relationship driven, just like
what the articles encourage teachers to do. Crawford takes the same basic principles that the
articles discuss and gives practical ways to apply the principles.
One way for a teacher to make learning more relevant to students is for him or her to
consider the way each student learns. One way to do this is to look at the various learning styles
and multiple intelligences of their students and plan lessons accordingly. Unfortunately many
teachers have their favorite learning style or intelligence that they use all the time and they
neglect the others.
A Biblical Perspective
When God created Adam and Eve he made them very different. Each child that has been
born since the beginning has been unique. If every child is unique, why should we teach them as
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though they were all the same? In Romans 12:4-6 Paul refers to the function of people in the
church, and how different people have different gifts. He says,
For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same
function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one
another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use
them. (NKJV)
God does not treat each person in the same way, nor does He give everyone the same gifts. Each
person was different in the ancient church just as each person is different today. Teachers need to
recognize that each child is unique with their own gifts, talents, and learning styles. We should
be following God’s example and recognize that each student is different and needs to be taught
with those gifts, talents, and learning styles in mind. The secular world has noted that when you
teach to the individual student’s needs that all students get a better education. How much more
should the Christian educator care for their students and try to meet their needs emotionally and
academically?
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References
Blum, R. (2005). A Case for School Connectedness. The Adolescent Learner, Educational
Leadership, 62(Number 7), 16–20.
Boix Mansilla, V., & Gardner, H. (2008). Disciplining the Mind. Teaching Students to Think,
Educational Leadership, 65(Number 5), 14–19.
Crawford, G. B. (2007). Brain-Based Teaching With Adolescent Learning in Mind (2nd ed.).
Corwin Press.
The New King James Version. (1998). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.
Tomlinson, C. A., & Doubet, K. (2005). Reach Them to Teach Them. The Adolescent Learner,
Educational Leadership, Number 62(Number 7), 8–15.
Willis, J. (2007). The Neuroscience of Joyful Education. Engaging the Whole Child (online
only), Educational Leadership, 64.