Audrey Neumann - Blog #6 - Routman Ch. 4

I enjoyed reading this chapter, and especially appreciated reading how Routman broke down the four phases of learning - demonstration, shared demonstration, guided practice and independent practice. Knowing about the model is one thing, but understanding it is something completely different. Much of my focus throughout the year has been trying to get my fifth grade friends to be more independent. I want them to get to a point of independence where they can be an advocate for themselves not only in school, but in life. Routman discusses how independence is an integrated goal of the leaning model - yay! I am glad to know that while the learning model is best for my students to develop as learners, it also helps them to develop as independent learners and thinkers.

This quote from the chapter stuck out to me: "Students do best when the skills they need are explicitly taught in meaningful contexts." Routman emphasizes how it does not benefit students to break learning into bits and pieces and expect them to put it all together. Students benefit from seeing the whole picture, and how the skill that they're learning will apply to other things. This part of the chapter truly had me reflecting our our STEAM initiative at roebuck and our PBL focus in science. Through PBL, our students create a driving question that is routinely brought up and helps to guide their learning. I did not realize until reading this chapter how much of a benefit this is for our students. The driving question allows them to see how the bits and pieces we learn in the classroom will be applied later to something greater. Knowing this, I plan to include more driving questions in units, even those that are not classified as a PBL to better help my students understand content.