LET ME LEARN IN SECONDARY EDUCATION

These are the words of Chris Bloom, a Kansas high school teacher. She is talking about her student Colin, who has difficulty completing his senior literature research paper:

"When Colin took the Learning Connections Inventory, he scored a 30 in precision, a 27 in technical, a 23 in confluence, and a 20 in sequence. Colin?s precision keeps him from ever feeling he has enough information. He keeps accumulating more. He is always saying, ?I still have to get a few more articles.'"

Colin's problem is not that he doesn?t understand the material or the process of gathering scholarly articles on a work of literature. Instead, he cannot stop doing this research and move on to the next step. He cannot get around to synthesizing his critical sources and developing a thesis for his paper.

Understanding that Colin?s first-use learning patterns do not lend themselves easily to the task of writing a standard literature paper, Chris can help him by setting limits?on the number of sources he should use, on the length of the preliminary outline, etc. More than that, Chris makes a key point: Because she and Colin both have access to the LCI and the Let Me Learn vocabulary and approach, ?Colin and I have a basis upon which to have a conversation. If I explain to him why he is having problems and we look at his patterns, it suddenly becomes clear, and he can change. His reality of himself is altered.?

The anecdote, which is taken from Chris?s Let Me Learn Journal, is a great illustration of the power of the Let Me Learn philosophy and practice. A student like Colin might have been labeled a ?procrastinator? in the past. Teachers might have shaken their heads, and said, ?Well, he?s a bright kid, but?.? Understanding that his problems have to do with his first-use learning patterns and how they match with particular kinds of assignments gives his teacher ways to help him?and gives him ways to help himself. Colin can learn and execute strategies for performing the tasks that writing literature papers, and many other learning challenges, require.

LET ME LEARN?S IMPACT

Let Me Learn is changing the ways high school teacher are approaching the teaching challenges they face every day. When teachers learn about their own learning connections, it gives them insights about themselves. When they add that knowledge to knowledge of their students' learning connections, they begin to see the interaction between learner and instructor in a new way. Pupils who may have been labeled as inattentive, disruptive, or difficult suddenly become valid students whose learning connections didn't fit into the traditional school molds.

Classified students are also "revealed" to have specific learning abilities. Moreover, teachers and students understand why the outcomes that they experience occur. As one teacher who used Let Me Learn techniques with juniors and seniors remarked in her journal: "I believe that using the Let Me Learn instrument with my junior class and bringing some of that flexibility into my senior class allowed me to see each of my students as individuals and help each in a unique and individual way. If you looked at my grading scale, you would not see all A's and B's, but the students who received C's and D's understood why and the grade reflected what they were willing to invest in the class or what they believed they were capable of performing. I think we all left knowing there was no mystery behind the grades?Every student in the class can be a success in his or her own way. It does not mean that each receives an A, but that each receives a fair grade, teacher understanding and respect."

By adjusting their teaching style, this teacher and others found they could reach high school students better when the students were given a chance to express what they know in their own way. The social, emotional, and intellectual challenges faced by high school students are enormous, and these challenges, in effect, become their teachers? challenges too. But Let Me Learn is providing teachers with new ways to approach them.

LET ME LEARN IN ACTION

How are teachers using  Let Me Learn and the Learning Connections Inventory and applying what they learn from it to lesson plans and classroom culture? The teachers themselves are glad to testify to the efficacy of the Let Me Learn approach.  More