LEARNING AND BEHAVIOR CUES

 By: Dr. Armãndo R. Tolliver | EDUCATOR | March 29, 2017

            Occasionally, there are times in the classroom when a teacher may find the majority of the class off-task, in the middle of an assignment, or just finishing an activity, when he or she needs to grab the students attention in order to get everyone back on-task, give further instructions, or conclude an activity. In the same way, there are times during a lesson when a teacher may need to remind and reinforce students’ ability to do a particular task, use a set of skills, or exercise what students already know about a topic to address questions or enhance further learning. Then again, perhaps a teacher is delivering a lesson. It is well planned, and the learning activities are structured to reflect the needs of the students. Everything seems to be going well, and the students should be learning. But, how do we know? The best-kept secret a teacher has in his or her disposal is a variety of ways to quiet their classroom, grab their students’ attention, set the stage for learning, guide students from familiar territory to new concepts, and monitor student behavior indicators about concerns or difficulties in learning. In fact, Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock (2006) suggested that some 80 percent of student-teacher interactions involve, what they refer to as, cues.

            I have found that having a verbal or non-verbal signal that will grab students’ attention quickly is essential. This not only helps with transition periods, but works great in an emergency situation as well. For example, in a situation where the entire class is noisy and off-task instead of using my first instinct, which is to raise my voice above the noise level of the room and demand attention that may incur some unwelcome side effects, I move to the front of the classroom and cue the students with a physical-verbal attention signal. “If you can hear me touch your head. If you can hear me touch your chin. If you can hear me touch your left ear. If you can hear me touch your other ear.” The students respond physically and then know it is time to listen. Another one I use is, “If you can hear me clap one. If you can hear me clap twice. If you can hear me clap three times.” I continue until I see all of the students clapping. If the class is between activities and talking among themselves, one cue I use to grab their attention and give further instructions is to raise my hand and say, “One, two, three, like Tupac all eyes on me.” I use the non-verbal stare, alongside proximity until I have everyone’s attention. The count prepares the student for the signal, followed by the command “all eyes on me,” plus the non-verbal stare and proximity for added reinforcement. I have seen many teachers flick the lights on and off, but in an effort to minimize our class carbon footprint, I regularly keep the lights off. So, obviously this cue would not work for me, but it is a good non-verbal attention cue. Positive reinforcement for correct behavior is also a good attention cue. “Thank you, Marcus, for focusing on me when you saw my hand raised. Jessica, thank you too.” Being able to get and keep your students’ attention is important. Effective teaching requires it. My advice is once you find one or two cues that work for your classroom keep them, and make sure to use them often.

            Teachers want the time spent planning and teaching to generate the most effective and sustained learning. Therefore, it is also necessary to have cues for scaffolding or purposeful reminders given to students about what they are about to learn. In the educational setting, scaffolds may include models, cues, prompts, hints, partial solutions, think-aloud modeling, and direct instruction. When using scaffolding as an instructional technique, the teacher provides tasks that enable the student to build on prior knowledge and internalize new concepts. In order to provide students with an understanding of how to link old information or familiar situations with new knowledge, the teacher must guide students through verbal and nonverbal communication and model behaviors.

            For example, before starting a lesson on cells, I told students, “Hey, last week we had a lesson on the characteristics of life and I asked you to list all of the things you have in common with a beetle. Remember, we watched a short video too. Explain the characteristics common to all organisms.”

Teacher: All living things are… Students: Made of cells. Teacher: All living things can… Students: Reproduce. Teacher: All living things are based on… Students: A universal genetic code…DNA. Teacher: All living things…Students: Grown and develop. Teacher: All living things must… Students: Obtain and use materials and energy…metabolism. Teacher: All living things will…Students: Respond to their environment…stimulus response. Teacher: All living things must maintain… Students: A stable internal environment…homeostasis. Teacher: And as a group all living things… Students: Change over time…evolution. Teacher: Great job, well today we are going to focus on the fact that all living things are made of cells, but…organisms can be very different.

This was a way to point out to students what I wanted them to remember and pay attention to for the new lesson. In constructing these linkages, it was important for me to focus on important information because the cue and opening question hit on student memory, but was about to transition to something new or unfamiliar to the student. Similarly, it was important to use explicit cues and not be ambiguous or subtle with students about what they were about to learn, removing all the guesswork out of learning.

            One way I go about doing this is to ask inferential questions to help students fill in gaps, connecting what they already know with what they are about to learn. During instruction, I also use inferential question to help student make connections to their previous knowledge and make connections to their new knowledge. For example, “So, what is a cell?” A student responds, “The smallest unit of life.” I responded, “Great. You know that cells are the basic unit of all life; however, there is basic cell structure that is present in many but not all living cells –the nucleus. So, let’s talk about this thing called the nucleus and how it helps to categorize cells into prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms.”

Also, I ask analytic questions that require students to really think about what they are about to learn and start to analyze why it might be important or what it really means. For example, “So, why might it be important to have different categories of cells?” A student responded, “Well, there are unicellular and multicellular organisms, and mutlicellular organisms don’t just contain many cells. They have different kinds of cells doing different jobs, like skin cells, muscle cells, and red blood cells.” These questions made students dig into what they were about to learn in a more deeper and profound way. As students are aware of the direction in which the lesson is heading, they can make choices about how to proceed with the learning process.

Learning behavior really tells teachers about the quality of learning. Think about it, when you are interest or picking up on information, what are you doing? In contrast, when you are not interested or understanding what is being discussed, what are you doing? This reflection also helps when thinking about students. If a student is not understanding, you might find that the student is exhibiting disengagement in the learning, evidence of frustration, minimal communication and interaction, or stagnation in learning. Each of these cues could be evidence of a problem that requires added attention with the student. In these instances, I find use a different approach or technique. Alternatively, I point the student to worthy sources. I have found that supplying resources for learning helps to decrease confusion, frustration, and wasted time. Equally important, is encouraging students to remain focused throughout the tasks and activities. This type of instruction and use of cues engages most learners because they are constantly building on prior knowledge and forming associations between new information and concepts.

Suggested Citation

Tolliver, A. R. (2017). Learning and Behavior Cues. [Education Project Online]. Retrieved online at http://www.educationprojectonline.com/2017/03/learning-and-behavior-cues.html.

References

Marzano, R. J., Pickering. D. J, & Pollock, J. E. (2006). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.