I haven't had the chance to implement Developmental Learning Theory in a classroom setting myself, but I have had the opportunity to use it in other ways. During summers, I work as a camp counselor at a summer camp near my home in Grayslake, IL. I've had the same group of boys from the summer they were seven to this most recent summer when they were all nine. I had to learn to present instructions to them in a way they could understand, in a developmentally appropriate way, if I wanted a good response from them. When we were going to play a game that most of them had never played before, I learned by trial and error that I could explain and talk until I was blue in the face, and most of them would remain confused by the rules of the game. At ages 7-9, my boys just can't visualize an unfamiliar game that has several steps and rules. As I grew familiar with my group and the best ways to help them understand new concepts, I realized it was easier for everyone if I just showed them, step by step, how to play the game.
I didn't realize it at the time, but I was using Developmental Learning Theory to take my instructions from abstract (verbal instructions) to concrete (real life demonstration). The first time I tried this, it was like I could see lightbulbs popping up over their little heads, and many of them said "ohhhhhh, now I get it". After that, I never wasted much time explaining rules to them using only verbal instructions. I knew that if a task or a game involved more than one or two steps, I would need to demonstrate each step at least once, and then further help those who forgot the instructions to later steps. This took a bit of patience on my part because coming back from a year at Drake, I wasn't used to repeating myself five or six times (literally), but that's to be expected, and it was all worth it when I could see a kid make a mental breakthrough and understand a concept that previously confused them, even if it was just a simple camp game.
My group, young as they are, aren't unique in the sense that they need developmentally appropriate instructions. Often, I watched other counselors, whose kids were around 10-12 years old, get incredibly and inappropriately frustrated when their kids weren't responding to their instructions. The counselors figured that since their kids were approaching middle school age, they should understand all verbal instructions. While the 5th and 6th graders were certainly more developed than my youngsters, there were still certain concepts or complicated instructions that they couldn't visualize and really understand just through being told. Their counselors needed to realize that the kids were trying, but the information wasn't being presented in a way they were developmentally ready to comprehend. The counselors should have calmed down, switched gears, and looked for a more concrete way to communicate with their campers.
Although I didn't realize I was using Developmental Learning Theory with my group, the steps I took definitely helped both myself and all my boys during past summers. I'm excited to go back to work with them now that I have a better (and more concrete) understanding of DLT. I think that my new knowledge about presenting information in a developmentally appropriate manner, along with my campers being a year older and more developed, will result in much better communication and understanding between us.
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ReplyDeleteYour blog post provided a very good example of Developmental Learning Theory. You had a lot of good support as to how DLT helped your group of students learn. I like how you mentioned that because of their age, the concrete examples that you provided by using DLT better helped your students learn. However, what I thought was more important was that you mentioned that even the older students, who one might think didn't need concrete examples, still learned better after using this theory. Even at our age, I think it's easy to see that we can better retain information if we are taught using concrete examples rather than abstract. Therefore, we are able to be sure that we actually learned something.
ReplyDeletei loved reading your real life story because I have a similar story as well about a situation nannying a 3 and 6 year old over the summer. It's hard giving examples to children and not having them fully understanding. But learning how to take a breath, think of a different and easier way of using DLT based off of the age group and using that to get the children to understand is exactly what Kruse was trying to get us to understand.
ReplyDeleteI also liked reading your post and as Jess has I have a had a very similar experience to you. I work at a summer camp as well. I mainly work with 8-10 year old girls, and although girls may be a little more capable of listening to instruction then boys are at this age their problem wasn't listening to me but rather wanting to actually partake in the activity. When a child does not want to partake in something it is usually due to the fact that they just simply dont understant what you are trying to tell them and would rather just stick to something that thy already know. Therefore I as well instead of trying to explain a game to them using a whole bunch of gibberish just simple tried to physically show them by me doing it as well as them doing it and by allowing them to correct their own mistakes. I found that after them doing it once or twice and making a mistake or two had no problem remembering the game for the next time we played it as well as their participation level increased dramatically!
ReplyDeleteJoe, I completely agree that when working with younger kids, the DLT is even more essential as I also had to work with younger boys as a nanny this year. The idea of playing the game WITH the kids, not only shows your commitment to them, it also helps you walk through the experience with them so you can find the flaws in your explanations. Plus, what better way to get to know your kids well than having fun with them?
ReplyDeleteI also like how you address patience, since a lot of the developmental theory has to do with trial and error and patience. It is my hope that htere will never be an impatient teacher, since there will always be kids that learn at different rates in a classroom. Really loved reading your blog Joe, and I bet leading a summer camp gave you great insight into your future teaching career!