Show Me The Money

Why Telling Isn't Showing

Reading this question subconciously conjures up a hesistant, and somewhat shameful, groan on my part.  I groan and almost feel sick to my stomach because I think back on my last nine years of classroom teaching and am ashamed to admit that A LOT of my teaching has probably been TELLING, rather than SHOWING! 

As classroom teachers with many demands, I think we get caught up in trying to race through all the material we need to cover in a day, quarter, and of course before the almighty FCAT!  With that in mind, I know that I have thought that if I just simply tell my students what they need to know, that somehow magically they will actually know it when they come to some test question or problem they need to solve. 

Silly, silly me!  Beers could not be more right when she says that telling, indeed, is not showing and not TEACHING!  In her book When Kids Can't Read: What Teachers Can Do, Beers sympathizes with my inadequacies when she says, "We sometimes confuse explaining to students what is happening in a text with teaching students how to comprehend a test." (p. 40).  If students cannot make their own brain connections in order to comprehend what they need to do in a present and future settings, then no amount of the teacher telling them what to do, how to do it, and how to understand something will register in their brain.  Furthermore, students may learn to become dependent on teachers in order to "think". 

If we as teachers do not equip students with the cognitive tools to read and comprehend, well sadly, they cannot simply rely on our explanations.  And just how do we teach and equip our students to be comprehensive, independent readers?  Beers says, the "key lies in the words explicitly and directly" (p. 41).  We must explicitly and directly model and show students how to make inferences, recognize the author's purpose, compare and contrast, and all many reading skills required to become successful dependent readers. This cannot be done by simply following a scripted directive, for our ability to empower our students relies on our ability to respond and make connections with our students' questions and comments. 

Beers offers a six-step approach to teach by SHOWING, rather than TELLING:
1.  Choose which specific strategies you will model and what text to use.
2.  Tell your students specifically and directly which strategy you will be modeling while reading the passage.
3.  Read the passage and model the strategy by using a "Think Aloud" approach.
4.  Give students authentic and multiple reading experiences in which they can practice the strategy. 
5.  Continue modeling when using new genre or based on students' needs.
6.  Give students chance to practice independently.

These basic steps, coupled meaningful and personalized teaching and learning experiences, are powerful tools to help students grasp meaning, rather than just hearing it from teacher.  It's not enough to just tell me about the money, I want you to show it me so I can feel it in my own hands and my own pocket.  Without 
that, instruction has little to no value. 

Reference:
Beers, K. (2003).  When kids can't read: What teachers can do.  Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.