What:
After reviewing several of my other blogs and thinking about what I believe learning to be, I have decided that my theory would be that most students learn by interest. This is not so simple as it sounds... you must consider what does interest mean. Interest defined by dictionary.com is "the feeling of a person whose attention, concern, or curiosity is particularly engaged by something." Thus in my theory attention (particularly concern and/or curiosity) must be met. To met interest must include to important things: 1. the student must already have the appropriate "readiness" or preparation to be interested -- no one is interested in things that they have completely no idea or preparation for; 2. Lastly the student find the subject matter applicable in someway, or it will have no affect and will presumably be lost with short-term memory.
So What:
I believe my theory will be very "real" and valuable in my classroom. I believe it will be real because I know it is truly apart of my beliefs about education (not that I didn't enjoy learning from other theorists, but I didn't like, believe or trust everything we learned), and I feel it will be valuable because I feel spiking students interests is the beginning of worlds, doors, and learning. We have all been that student that, in some situation, just needed something to be interested in the subject matter -- interest, personal connection, and readiness might have made a world of difference in that content. As a future English teacher I am lucky because I have a whole world of text to self connections in novels, stories and poems, but how relative and worthwhile is the material if the students are not interested? Or if the have no previous knowledge or skills to find interest in it? Obviously, if the students find no value there is no value for them because they wont learn it! For me, my classroom philosophy will be to inspire students to think for themselves and to achieve my philosophy goals I will have to peek their interest. I believe learning should be exploring thoughts, ideas, concepts and connections, but exploration can only occur when there is a reason to explore-- Interest!
Now What:
In my future classroom I will implement my personal theory through first a student intelligence test (creating interest through their abilities), evaluation of students KWL on certain types of literature, observation of classroom culture and student grades (Hootie tootie British literature is going to cut it if I have a room full of lower class Harlem students), and student opinion - let the student choose once in a while what they want to learn.
I feel to accomplish my goal to peek student interest and inspire critical thinking skills, I will need a little more education on adolescent development, particularly the brain. The brain is so immersed in personality and development, that I feel it would be helpful to study more in hopes to understand my students, their interests, and their abilities better.
Further I feel that a more in depth examination and study of Kohlberg's moral development stages would help me understand and maximize appropriate student morality level thinking. In life everyone is fascinated by morality and the positive and negative effects of it, thus understanding my students moral development will help them increase their own personal moral development by implementing zone of proximal development morality topics.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Chapter 4
What: In class we discussed group differences and how that can affect our ability as teachers. In the book is discusses as term of "equity" meaning absence or bias toward particular individuals or groups of students. Continuing in class we examined how our culture can appear, to us, to be right, but other diverse students might see our cultural inflictions as unfair, rude, demeaning, or even biased. Further the chapter explores the foundations of groups diversity and how our cultural "lens" can affect our behavior towards students.
So What:
I feel it is important for teachers to be aware of their biases because then they can adapt and change. Understanding how or why a teacher might stereotype a certain student into a category will promote the awareness that will later promote changing behavior. A major portion of a teachers classroom time grading and assessing students should not be infringed by biases -- classrooms should be as objective and fair as possible for students needs and abilities to be met and developed.
Now What:
As a future teacher I have learned a lot about my personal biases and subjection. I feel grateful that I have had the opportunity through classes like ESL and Ed. Pysch for helping me become more aware of my personal flaws when relating to diversity or differences. For me, awareness is essential to a safe classroom culture where students can feel welcome, safe, and successful.
So What:
I feel it is important for teachers to be aware of their biases because then they can adapt and change. Understanding how or why a teacher might stereotype a certain student into a category will promote the awareness that will later promote changing behavior. A major portion of a teachers classroom time grading and assessing students should not be infringed by biases -- classrooms should be as objective and fair as possible for students needs and abilities to be met and developed.
Now What:
As a future teacher I have learned a lot about my personal biases and subjection. I feel grateful that I have had the opportunity through classes like ESL and Ed. Pysch for helping me become more aware of my personal flaws when relating to diversity or differences. For me, awareness is essential to a safe classroom culture where students can feel welcome, safe, and successful.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
What: In class we re-covered a lot of what we learned in our two prerequisite classes. We reviewed important parts of special needs students such as IEP, IDEA, inclusion, least restrictive environment, etc. IDEA- Individuals with disabilities Act, IEP- Individualized Education Plan, Inclusion- mainstreaming students with disabilities into the regular classroom, Least restrictive environment- one in which a child can thrive and meet their potential without restriction in the classroom. Further we discussed differentiation strategies and theories to which help meet the needs of many diverse intelligences.
So What:
Understanding how to help and address the needs of special needs students help schools, teachers, parents, and the child to progress forward on the right path for that child. Throughout the semester we have discussed many ways that students differ, and the important part for teacher is to appropriately address those differences in students so the student can maximize learning potential-- this also follows along with Gardner's multiple intelligences, where students are more capable of learning when specific intelligences are enhanced and explicated.
Now What:
As a teacher I want all my students to succeed, not just the easily taught "teacher's pet," but all my students to achieve success in learning. Whether I have students with difficult special needs, IEP's, or just need extra support my job is to be there for them, to teach them in the way they need. I understand that the real world of teaching is not "Polly Anna" and perfect, and most likely I wont be able to always fully address a students need, but dang it I will try!
I, actually, love Gardner's Multiple Intellegences because it gives me an opportunity to be creative with my lessons and activities... which in truth, lets be serious, old school teaching was a little mundane and needed a little more sparkle. I think activiely approaching new and creative ways to teaching helps many types of student intellects engage and achieve success in school.
So What:
Understanding how to help and address the needs of special needs students help schools, teachers, parents, and the child to progress forward on the right path for that child. Throughout the semester we have discussed many ways that students differ, and the important part for teacher is to appropriately address those differences in students so the student can maximize learning potential-- this also follows along with Gardner's multiple intelligences, where students are more capable of learning when specific intelligences are enhanced and explicated.
Now What:
As a teacher I want all my students to succeed, not just the easily taught "teacher's pet," but all my students to achieve success in learning. Whether I have students with difficult special needs, IEP's, or just need extra support my job is to be there for them, to teach them in the way they need. I understand that the real world of teaching is not "Polly Anna" and perfect, and most likely I wont be able to always fully address a students need, but dang it I will try!
I, actually, love Gardner's Multiple Intellegences because it gives me an opportunity to be creative with my lessons and activities... which in truth, lets be serious, old school teaching was a little mundane and needed a little more sparkle. I think activiely approaching new and creative ways to teaching helps many types of student intellects engage and achieve success in school.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Chapter 10 Social Cognitivism
What: Basically chapter 10 covers how behavior is cognitively constructed. The chapter covers three major points: the power of observation, the role of control, and the importance of motivation.
Observation is discussed through modeling, as the chapter defines modeling to be a person who demonstrates a behavior for someone else. "Students learn many academic skills, at least in part, by observing what others do" (350). There are many ways that people learn and react to something from a model; a major example of modeling behavior in the classroom is the direct instruction model.
The role of control is explained as how people can be masters of their environments, such as self-regulations that lead to personal goals. People can often choose the activities in which they participate, thereby controlling the particular experiences they have. When people (or in my case students) observe models demonstrating certain behaviors, they can control what and if they learn by paying attention and by encoding what the see in particular ways. Furthermore, controlling oneself leads to a more independent life, where the individual seeks their own goals by evaluating themselves with personal reinforcement after.
The importance of motivation is explained as to consciously choose certain activities, work hard at them, and persist in the face of failure-- or in other words the individual must have high self-efficacy to truly have solid motivation. Ultimately, an individual must have control and motivation to essentially take charge of their own motivation.
So What?
Obviously as a teacher, modeling and motivating is a very important aspect of the job description. It is essential to model behavior that is directed toward students in a way that will enhance their learning -- obviously students wont learn from a model who is not respected, thus the teacher (me) must have the students respect and attention to show them modeling behavior. Also, as a teacher, I think it is important to teach our students how to develop and regulate their personal self-regulative life style -- as a secondary teacher this aspect is HUGE to helping our students achieve independence for life after high school.
Now What?
Modeling is a natural ability for most adults (at least with somethings) and it should be a natural skill as a teacher. The best example of teaching through modeling is the lesson plan of Direct Instruction, which in jest give the students a model then allows the students to later practice the modeled behavior. Although, as a teacher, I will not need to plan a full out direct instruction plan to model behavior, it is a lesson plan that I will use when I want to show my students how or what to do.
Observation is discussed through modeling, as the chapter defines modeling to be a person who demonstrates a behavior for someone else. "Students learn many academic skills, at least in part, by observing what others do" (350). There are many ways that people learn and react to something from a model; a major example of modeling behavior in the classroom is the direct instruction model.
The role of control is explained as how people can be masters of their environments, such as self-regulations that lead to personal goals. People can often choose the activities in which they participate, thereby controlling the particular experiences they have. When people (or in my case students) observe models demonstrating certain behaviors, they can control what and if they learn by paying attention and by encoding what the see in particular ways. Furthermore, controlling oneself leads to a more independent life, where the individual seeks their own goals by evaluating themselves with personal reinforcement after.
The importance of motivation is explained as to consciously choose certain activities, work hard at them, and persist in the face of failure-- or in other words the individual must have high self-efficacy to truly have solid motivation. Ultimately, an individual must have control and motivation to essentially take charge of their own motivation.
So What?
Obviously as a teacher, modeling and motivating is a very important aspect of the job description. It is essential to model behavior that is directed toward students in a way that will enhance their learning -- obviously students wont learn from a model who is not respected, thus the teacher (me) must have the students respect and attention to show them modeling behavior. Also, as a teacher, I think it is important to teach our students how to develop and regulate their personal self-regulative life style -- as a secondary teacher this aspect is HUGE to helping our students achieve independence for life after high school.
Now What?
Modeling is a natural ability for most adults (at least with somethings) and it should be a natural skill as a teacher. The best example of teaching through modeling is the lesson plan of Direct Instruction, which in jest give the students a model then allows the students to later practice the modeled behavior. Although, as a teacher, I will not need to plan a full out direct instruction plan to model behavior, it is a lesson plan that I will use when I want to show my students how or what to do.
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