Corey writes as a young boy who hates school. The article tells his story and his reasons for hating school.
If you were a teacher observing this boy in the situation and had a chance to read his “soliloquy,” what would you say is his main problem?
The main problem is not the boy’s but rather the teacher’s and the education system’s. I see the problem being that the school system is trying to force an exceptional child into a set mold. It is very clear that that this young man is very intelligent and eager to learn. School is supposed to be about learning; why then is this young man saying that he is no good at school? Because the learning that that school was trying to support was trivial. History is not about the memorization of facts; it is about the effects of happenings. Writing is about communicating, not about simply putting words on paper. From the sounds of this story the school supported no connections or authentic assignments. In fact, the boy’s teacher at times would not allow him to make a connection between what they were learning in science and an authentic example, even though the connection was very real. Now that is a problem!!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Learning styles....fact or fiction?
In class we watched a video about learning styles. The video was asking if it is possible that learning styles don’t really exist. Do learners really have preprogrammed learning styles such as visual, auditory, or kinesthetic? Do people really learn better if they are presented with information in one way rather than another? These are the questions posed by the cognitive psychologist who produced the video.
He said that different information is stored differently. Such as the shape of a certain object—that some information must be stored visually. A person who has a good auditory memory still needs to be able to see the shape of that object to be able to remember it; you would not try to describe the shape of the object with just words. The psychologist’s most important statement was that learning is meaning based. In other words for a task like learning vocabulary words, the learning does not take place through a visual picture. Research was shown that indicated that there was not a difference between the learning of a person labeled as an auditory learner and a person labeled as a visual learner depending on how the information was presented to them. I am not sure that I understand or agree with everything that was suggested in the video though a number of the ideas made sense. This is a good topic for further research.
His final comment—good teaching is good teaching. I definitely agree with that statement; good teaching involves presenting information in different ways, regardless of learning styles.
He said that different information is stored differently. Such as the shape of a certain object—that some information must be stored visually. A person who has a good auditory memory still needs to be able to see the shape of that object to be able to remember it; you would not try to describe the shape of the object with just words. The psychologist’s most important statement was that learning is meaning based. In other words for a task like learning vocabulary words, the learning does not take place through a visual picture. Research was shown that indicated that there was not a difference between the learning of a person labeled as an auditory learner and a person labeled as a visual learner depending on how the information was presented to them. I am not sure that I understand or agree with everything that was suggested in the video though a number of the ideas made sense. This is a good topic for further research.
His final comment—good teaching is good teaching. I definitely agree with that statement; good teaching involves presenting information in different ways, regardless of learning styles.
A teacher as a facilitator vs. the traditional teacher role?
How does the role of the teacher as facilitator differ from more traditional teacher roles?
The traditional role of a teacher in a classroom is a teacher-centered classroom. The teacher is the possessor of knowledge and teaching centers around what the teacher has to say. Traditionally a teacher is supposed to have all of the answers. A teacher who acts as a facilitator prompts the students in certain directions and lets the students discover things. Questions are asked by the teacher and room is given for student ideas.
The traditional role of a teacher in a classroom is a teacher-centered classroom. The teacher is the possessor of knowledge and teaching centers around what the teacher has to say. Traditionally a teacher is supposed to have all of the answers. A teacher who acts as a facilitator prompts the students in certain directions and lets the students discover things. Questions are asked by the teacher and room is given for student ideas.
Why are students not actively involved with the technology that is already in schools?
In discussions with high school students I have encountered a number of different approaches to technology in my local high school, especially as it relates to computer use during school. For many students computer class is boring because the teacher is unable to share much beyond the students’ current knowledge. Oftentimes new technology is dumped on the teachers with no training, and the teachers are afraid to do anything with it. The students did not feel like they were learning anything, and they found many other things to do on the computer that that they found more interesting than class work. Other students told me that they were able to go beyond the safeguards and walls set up within the technology at the school, whether that means Facebook or another non school related site.
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