I hope you enjoyed the great great suggestion last week from Kate Fergus of Ohio ABLE Professional
Development Network (PDN)! Here's another great suggestion from Kate.
Contextualization
Sometimes, we forget that our students actually have the
thinking skills necessary for success in the adult education classroom; it’s
just that they’ve never had to apply those skills in an academic context. For
instance, adult learners are often excellent problem solvers – especially when
it comes to hands-on challenges such as those a mechanic or engineer might
face.
One student I worked with for years, we’ll call him Steve,
was an especially gifted problem solver – he just didn’t see himself that
way. Steve was fairly typical (if there
is such a thing as “typical” in adult education!) for an adult learner: he
placed at EFL 2 on his initial TABE, was diagnosed with severe dyslexia, and he
wanted his GED as soon as possible. One day, while we were working on a
fractions lesson together, using pizza to explain parts of a whole, Steve was
clearly frustrated and needed a break. During our short ten-minute time-out, I
asked him what he did over the weekend. Steve’s response? He dug an irrigation
canal around his 10-acre property. My reply: “WHAT?!”
What Steve didn’t realize and what I only then understood
was he had the problem solving know-how all along, he had just never applied it
in a purely academic environment. When it came to problem solving at home, he was
all over it! This was a gateway to understanding for him – I just needed to
present information in a context that he understood.
From then on, Steve and I worked on math and reading in a
language he was familiar with: home and yard maintenance and repair. As much as
he enjoyed pizza, we found that talking about fractions in the context of his
home and property made the concepts more immediately understandable and
applicable to him. We did math in terms of how to maintain his yard. We tackled
informational non-fiction by doing activities using how-to manuals on home
repair. Suddenly, Steve was making connections that were once overwhelmingly
challenging and seemingly impossible for him. He flourished.
What if your students aren’t interested in home repair or
yard maintenance? I know I’m not! Let’s start with something more interesting
and even less academic: pop culture! Believe it or not, a whole lot of our
students are watching the Walking Dead and not reading about early
colonial settlers. That’s ok! We can use the lessons of the Walking Dead to
teach our students how to make connections and learn content that will more
than likely appear on one of the high-school equivalency assessments they’ll
ultimately face. Here’s an example I’ve been using lately – all you need is a
basic graphic organizer and a little knowledge about zombies!
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Challenge Faced
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Walking Dead Survivors
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Early American Colonists
|
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Communication
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Isolated – no modern communication channels (phone, etc.).
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Isolated – no modern communication channels
|
|
Threats to Survival
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Multiple threats!
·
Weather (harsh winters)
·
Disease
·
ZOMBIES
·
Other humans
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Multiple threats!
·
Weather (harsh winters)
·
Disease
·
Unfamiliar wild animals
·
Other humans (colonists, natives)
|
|
Food/Sustenance
|
No system of food distribution, must rely on farming and
scavenging.
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No system of food distribution, must rely on farming and
scavenging.
|
|
Ultimate Goal
|
To build a small community of survivors
To rebuild civilization
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To build a small community of colonists
To establish a larger colony
|
OK, perhaps it’s not the most academic exercise one can
imagine, but it certainly helps illustrate the challenges the early American
colonists faced in a context that is entirely understandable and familiar to
our students: zombies! When our students can see the connections between what
is NOW and what WAS, it helps deepen their understanding of the new information
and even, dare I say, enhances their interest in the subject at hand. At the
very least, it lends itself to a rich discussion that engages even the most
disengaged students.
We see contextualization in other areas, too – most
recently, in terms of career awareness and preparedness. Teaching math and
reading comprehension skills by using concepts specific to a career pathway,
such as nursing, truck driving, or heavy equipment operation, will not only
help your students who are interested in that career field better understand
the challenges faced by professionals in that position but also make the
concepts more immediately applicable and relatable.
