Very good question.  In one of the classes we studied the teacher 
emphasized getting the right answers on the worksheets and assumed 
that if students did get the right answers, they had mastered the 
material.  Understanding that getting the right answer was the name 
of the game, the learners developed strategies to increase their 
chances of getting the right answer that sometimes subverted the 
purpose of the exercise.  So in respect to this class, you may have 
identified a problem.  Yet in other classes, teachers orally quizzed 
learners while correcting their work to diagnose whether they really 
did understand and then helped them if they did not.  I do think it 
is possible for learners to get correct answers on some workbook 
exercises without really understanding what the exercise is designed 
to teach.  For that reason, the diagnosis step is quite important.



At 10:07 AM 6/29/2006, you wrote:

>Julie asked  "Are there other classroom norms besides "sticking to

>business" that are important?"

>

>I was surprised when I read Hal's study on engaging learners that most

>of the classes in the study used an individualized workbook approach.  I

>have never found this approach to be very engaging.  I wonder what the

>students are engaged with.  Are they engaged in learning or getting

>through the workbook pages?  Do they struggle to make sure they

>understand the concepts or just plow through to get done?  When

>correcting their answers using the key in the back of the book do they

>think about where they went wrong and be sure they understand or do they

>just change their answer to the correct one?   I have seen students take

>a workbook home over the weekend and do the whole workbook and believe

>that they now have moved up a grade level in reading. I think there are

>much more engaging approaches than the individualized workbook approach.

>Jane Meyer

>Canton City schools ABLE

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