Ready or Not, Here it Comes....

Information, content, experiences and stimuli of all sorts bombard us everyday. Thousands of bits of data intersect with our cognitive processing, whether we realize it or not. Our ability to internalize any portion of these bits is what we'll focus on for a few moments.

Here's the scenario...
I'm in a conversation and someone mentions the company's balance sheets. I immediately visualize the type of documents to which they are referring and the type of info that is contained on them. The conversation continues regarding the state of the balance sheets.

Reflection....

Two years ago, if someone had mentioned the word balance sheets, a question would have been my brains response as I tried to understand what balance sheets were and the type of information they contained. Any conversation that followed on the topic of balance sheets would have been skewed and not fully understood because of the question that I had on balance sheets. The cognitive focus was trying to decipher what a balance sheet was not on the purpose of the balance sheet and the related organizational impacts.

How does this apply to my learning....

It has become so clear to me the impact that the timing of content delivery has on the learners ability to understand a topic and be able to confidently move forward onto learning a new topic. When questions arise related to a topic, I've learned that if I'm unable to either recognize or articulate my questions, then my learning is stalled. My cognitive processing then responds like a skipping record stuck on a point in time and in need a nudge to move forward back onto the track where the music will continue to play.

I've also learned that although I may think I understand a concept, and maybe I'm just slow taking in new content, it takes several intersections with the content before I can fully understand and can actually recall the content. And sometimes it's not until I go forward to learn other content that I'm able to then revisit previous content which will then be more meaningful to me.

Applying this to UbD....

What are the learning objectives and the instructional methods that are most effective for new content integration and student understanding to take place. And will variances and combinations alter the level of understanding students are able to achieve? I'd say definitely. To me this is where teaching and learning gets complicated and perhaps where a classroom teacher has benefits I've not experienced to realize its possible. I can absolutely understand the value of differentiated instruction.

Using myself as an example, I know that there are a few methods that help me to understand content better than others. How does a classroom teacher keep track of the most effective methods of learning for each student and then implement those methods to meet the individual learning needs of students within the course of a school day?

Summarizing...

Although students may be responding to assessment with indicators pointing to a basic understanding of content, time and exposure to related subject matter may facilitate deeper understanding. Delivering content using several methods of instruction may aid in greater student learning because they are designed with the student in mind. UbD and DI may help to move the learner to a higher level of content acquisition on Bloom's Taxonomy.