Joan Moser
January 24, 2014
My husband stood beside me as I made soup a few weekends ago. He watched me lean over, stir, smell, add more dill, lean over, stir, smell, and add more garlic. "How do you know what to add just by the smell? How did you learn to do that?"
I had to think about it for a moment because it's something I do with such automaticity. It's just one of many skills I learned at the elbow of my parents by listening in, watching, and imitating. I don't remember Mom directly teaching me how to know what herbs to add to soup. Dad didn't sit me down and give direct instruction on how deep to plant bean seeds in the garden. Some things were explicitly taught, like how to balance a budget, fold towels just so, and put together the inner workings of a clock, but as often as not, learning took place "at the elbow."
I was recently sitting on the floor working with Carson, teaching him how to use transitions in his writing. At the end of the conference I looked up and noticed Michael was watching us. With a little smile he quickly went back to his writing. In the following days I became aware that Michael periodically listened in on conferences taking place near him. My initial instinct was to mention that he should pay attention to his own work. Thank goodness I didn't. It wasn't long before I noticed an interesting thing. Not only was Michael applying his own strategies, but he was applying strategies others had been learning as well. In his writing, I could see where he had revised, adding transitions just like Carson. He was using Flip the sound, a new accuracy strategy for him, just like Jameal.
Direct instruction is a wonderful thing. But just like me, students have many ways of learning things. I certainly don't want to discount the value of the learning that is taking place "at the elbow".