James a Hills\' \"Better Teaching

James a Hills'

"Better Teaching with Deming and Bloom"

Quality Progress 37:3 p 57-64.

The article is a case for combing the techniques of two men, Deming and Bloom, to help students and teachers better design assignments to met the individual needs of the student. By using a rubric based on the assignment and the objectives of the assignment, the mentor or teacher can adjust each assignment to help maximize the potential of each individual student. The author uses a case study to describe how the rubric would work for a writing assignment. He shows how a student with poor skills in making a paper "reader friendly" would benefit from the rubric. Mr. Hills also uses his experience in the classroom as a basis of his article. He cites his success in using this technique as a positive argument.

Mr. Hills discusses each of his twelve points in turn and provides reasons to implement the technique in the classroom. He uses the classroom as sort of an office space with each student being a part of the system. The teacher becomes more of a mentor instead of a lecturer and the teacher's desk is turned into a help desk. Each student then becomes more responsible and in charge of their own pace and success in learning. The author also states that it allows student to do peer mentoring in the form of "interns" for those who show superior skills in a given subject or in a given skill that is part of the learning objectives of the assignment.

Main Point

The main point of the article is to persuade educators to adopt this technique in their classrooms. Mr. Hills shows how to construct a rubric that allows a teacher and a student to focus on certain skills within a learning assignment to not only increase the student's knowledge of the material but also the student's individual skill set. Mr. Hill suggests using a point system in the rubric to show the areas that a student needs work on. He uses the example of a writing assignment to show how a mentor can demonstrate to a student the specific areas they need work on. In the example, the student was told that he had a lot of information in his paragraphs but because of this, his paper was not "reader friendly." The mentor then tells the student that he needs to work on his organizational skills. When asked about organizational skills, the mentor directs the student to a glossary to look up the definition and then also to a fellow student, designated as an intern and who has shown superior aptitude in the skill, for help. As the author goes through the article, he demonstrates with each point how his technique not only improves the retention of material by the students, but also their individual skill set.

Author's argument

The author uses a case study and examples from his own teaching experience to promote his ideas. He presents the study in a conversation form then uses example rubric's to show how the mentoring relationship works and how the mentor/teacher uses the computer and other resources to encourage the student to achieve the skills desired.

Author's Conclusion

The author concludes at the end of the article, that if educators would start employing the techniques he has listed in the article, they will see not only an increase in their students' grades but also in the students' ability to accomplish life skills. They would also see an increase in their students' retention of the material that is being studied.

Problems

One problem that occurs in this article comes from the author making a statement then failing to provide the support needed to back it up. For example, on page 58, the author tries to support his argument for his technique by stating, "The mentor manages the process, not the student, and the need for classroom space is reduced by 80%." (Hills, 58). The author then fails to give support to his argument. Making a statement to support an argument is good, but when you fail to support that statement, it becomes more a matter of opinion than fact. The author would have been well served to explain further how the reduction in classroom space is achieved.

The other problem with the article is that it fails to answer some questions that arise. One question that rises is, does the mentor/teacher present everyone with the same subject matter on an assignment or are the need for lecture completely eliminated and the onus for learning completely put upon the student? If a teacher still needs to present basic information to the students in order to complete their assignments, then doesn't the need for multimedia materials such as smart boards, chalk boards, etc., still exist; and with that the need for normal classroom space.

Another question arises in terms of the "Interns." If the intern is supposed to be a student who shows an aptitude for the skill that is being developed or for the subject matter that is being taught, how is that student going to be able to complete their own assignments is a timely matter.

A third question arises in the adaptability of the students. In the traditional model of education, the whole class receives the information needed for an assignment and is expected to complete assignment in a timely manner to turn it in by a certain date. It seems with this method, while one student continues to struggle with an assignment, another can be moving way ahead of the class. Is there a chance that the more advanced students will grow to resent the slower students because of the added burden of becoming "Interns" is being added to their plate. The interns can also feel resentment because they are moving ahead and having to do more work than those who are having trouble.

Suggested fixes

To fix the first problem, the author needs to explain in more detail in how instituting this technique with result in the need for less classroom space. If the students need resources and space to move around to the help desk, would not classroom space still be needed? It would be helpful if the author included a diagram of how he set up his classroom for the implementation of the technique also it would help if he included testimony from other educators on to the effectiveness of this technique in reducing classroom space.

To answer the questions that arise, the author needed to spend less time arguing for the technique through the case study and more time explaining how the technique works and how you address the concerns of the student who are achieving success at a much higher rate. He also needs to address the concerns about the presentation of material and what resources are needed for said presentation.

Strengths

The main strength of the article is the use of the case study. It does allow the reader to see the technique in action. While it does bring up the above questions, it gives a good example of how the technique could be applied to a writing assignment.