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Post by maryroman on Oct 7, 2015 21:57:39 GMT
Students learn best when challenged, but not beyond their ability.
So true. How does one know when they have reached that ability limit?
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Post by 1penny on Oct 9, 2015 16:54:54 GMT
1. Children of today different from children of the past. In the past, children spent more time outdoors and playing physically active games and activities. Today children spend much of their time on playing games on the computer or their cell phones, as well as social interactions. In the past students were expected to memorize most information but now all info is at the tip of their fingers ....no need to memorize. So does that mean todays youth is smarter or not? Information overload, instant access, and impersonal relationship interaction have replaced the slower paced learning and personnel interactions. The norm of the Traditional Family is now becoming less and less as divorce and out of wedlock children increase, thus family support is often sparse or non-existent. Also todays culture is becoming more diverse than in the past.
2. The author's line of logic makes sense to me because from personnel experience, I can relate to the different learning styles as I now understand that I am a Visual/spatial and bodily/Kinesthetic learner.
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bruce
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Post by bruce on Oct 11, 2015 15:56:58 GMT
1. The students I have in Lidgerwood are a great group to work with everyday. They are very friendly, caring, involved in many school activities, and community activities. Students today as compared to many years ago have instant communication with anyone by cell phone, are much more mobile, have more money and material items, high tech, less stable family life, and kind of expect everything to be handed over to them without the hard work.
The author on p. 39 states that "despite compelling new knowledge about learning, how the brain works, and what constitutes effective classroom groupings, classrooms have changed little over the past 100 years". "We still assume that children of a given age are enough like each other that they can and should traverse the same curriculum in the same fashion". I again do not agree with what the author has stated. Good teachers know their students, what makes them tick, and they adjust accordingly.
2. The cartoon on p. 42 and figure 3.2 on p. 43 disgusts me. It again presents the author's one sided approach to slam what she refers to as the traditional classroom. This cartoon was published in 1993 which is about the time the author left the middle school classroom. A quote from a person on the internet states "I think Calvin is gifted and his teachers don't realize it because he acts out when he is bored". Another states in response "Gifted my foot. He just refuses to do anything that doesn't bring immediate gratification to him. I mean, pretending to have Stupendous Man take a history test? That's not acting out-that's deliberately being disruptive for the sake of drawing attention to himself. Moreover, there is more to life than stuffed tigers, dinosaurs, and science fiction. Calvin still needs to learn such things as reading, writing and arithmetic-not to mention the concepts of responsibility and accountability-if he ever expects to function in society. The world doesn't owe him a life or a living; it's he who owes the world! Thumbs down again C.A.T. Maybe this is the way education is in a large school district in Virginia. It isn't this way in our district in North Dakota.
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jeff
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Post by jeff on Oct 13, 2015 22:48:12 GMT
3-1: Children in school today are much more exposed to the world around them because of technology, yet have less understanding of why these things are happening. Students today are children of the digital world, they are not afraid of it. However, it creates the mind set of it needs to be done now, the desire to see larger projects to the end are less. Because information is so much at hand the expect everything should be that quick. They have little "bits" of information all the time but struggle with the whole story of facts. Today's students because of the this however, have better ability to handle multiple tasks at the same time and get the information they need.
Understanding of how humans learn has changed the last 25 year a lot. The standard IQ test does not necessarily measure the person's total intelligence. There is many different forms of intelligence and one standard test will not measure them.
3-2: I believe the author makes some valid points. We need to know the students and what they know and what their interests are. We need to adjust our strategies to fit the students needs and growth potentials and not get them all to fit the mold of the past.
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jeff
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Post by jeff on Oct 13, 2015 22:52:27 GMT
Chapter 3 1. School children today are much more diverse. So many classrooms have children from different ethnic groups, or even different countries. The experiences that they bring to school are so great and so varied. The structure of households is also varied. Not all children come from a two-parent household and modest income. Some children live with one parent; others, with grandparents. There are a few very important realizations that have occurred in the past several decades as to how humans learn: (1) Humans can grow and strengthen their brains just like they grow and strengthen muscles. Humans are not born with a degree of intelligence. (2) Technology now gives us the benefit of looking into the brain. We know what works best for the brain. It seeks meaningful patterns and resists meaninglessness. (3) Humans learn best when they are challenged, but not beyond ability. 2. I agree with the author's assumptions. Doesn't every teacher see many of the differences among her students? I think most do. However, how a teacher deals with the differences is the whole issue. Differentiation to its fullest extent requires training, effort, and time. Very good point Brenda on the changes of the family structure. |
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jeff
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Post by jeff on Oct 13, 2015 23:05:48 GMT
1. Children of today different from children of the past. In the past, children spent more time outdoors and playing physically active games and activities. Today children spend much of their time on playing games on the computer or their cell phones, as well as social interactions. In the past students were expected to memorize most information but now all info is at the tip of their fingers ....no need to memorize. So does that mean todays youth is smarter or not? Information overload, instant access, and impersonal relationship interaction have replaced the slower paced learning and personnel interactions. The norm of the Traditional Family is now becoming less and less as divorce and out of wedlock children increase, thus family support is often sparse or non-existent. Also todays culture is becoming more diverse than in the past. 2. The author's line of logic makes sense to me because from personnel experience, I can relate to the different learning styles as I now understand that I am a Visual/spatial and bodily/Kinesthetic learner. I agree Penny, that children as a whole are less active today. I sometimes wonder if the students were more active if some would perform better in school. Kind of the healthy body, healthy mind thought. |
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lori
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Post by lori on Oct 15, 2015 1:41:53 GMT
1. Children in school today are more visual learners who have more access to technology. Most students today have some type of electronic device at a very early age compared to the children of the past who had limited access to technology. Households have changed over the years. In the past more children grew up in a two parent household where a parent was home in the morning and at night. These children were also expected to help out more at home and had many chores to help the survival of the family. Now more children are raised in one parent households or are living with grandparents and many children have to learn to take care of themselves at very early ages. They also aren't expected to help out as much at home. Families of today are more on the go.
The understanding of how humans learn has changed over the past quarter century by the brain seeks meaningful patterns and resists information that is meaningless. The brain likes to chunk information and connect it to things we already understand. Technology also has advanced extremely and we we can look inside the human brain and see how it works. Each learners brain is unique and needs to be nurtured.
2. I agree that students do differ in experience, readiness, interest, intelligences, culture and levels of learning. In our profession, the students who walk through the door all come in as unique individuals at different levels. We as teachers need to work hard to meet individual learners and give them ample opportunities to be high quality performers. We need to guide our students to develop their strengths, become creative individuals and problem solvers.
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lori
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Post by lori on Oct 15, 2015 1:46:42 GMT
1. Children of today different from children of the past. In the past, children spent more time outdoors and playing physically active games and activities. Today children spend much of their time on playing games on the computer or their cell phones, as well as social interactions. In the past students were expected to memorize most information but now all info is at the tip of their fingers ....no need to memorize. So does that mean todays youth is smarter or not? Information overload, instant access, and impersonal relationship interaction have replaced the slower paced learning and personnel interactions. The norm of the Traditional Family is now becoming less and less as divorce and out of wedlock children increase, thus family support is often sparse or non-existent. Also todays culture is becoming more diverse than in the past. 2. The author's line of logic makes sense to me because from personnel experience, I can relate to the different learning styles as I now understand that I am a Visual/spatial and bodily/Kinesthetic learner. Lori- Yes the families of today have changed and the children spend way more time on electronic devices than in the great outdoors. |
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lori
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Post by lori on Oct 15, 2015 2:05:26 GMT
Chapter 3 1. School children today are much more diverse. So many classrooms have children from different ethnic groups, or even different countries. The experiences that they bring to school are so great and so varied. The structure of households is also varied. Not all children come from a two-parent household and modest income. Some children live with one parent; others, with grandparents. There are a few very important realizations that have occurred in the past several decades as to how humans learn: (1) Humans can grow and strengthen their brains just like they grow and strengthen muscles. Humans are not born with a degree of intelligence. (2) Technology now gives us the benefit of looking into the brain. We know what works best for the brain. It seeks meaningful patterns and resists meaninglessness. (3) Humans learn best when they are challenged, but not beyond ability. 2. I agree with the author's assumptions. Doesn't every teacher see many of the differences among her students? I think most do. However, how a teacher deals with the differences is the whole issue. Differentiation to its fullest extent requires training, effort, and time. Lori- I agree that we see the differences among our students and yes we all react differently |
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tammy
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Post by tammy on Oct 19, 2015 2:10:09 GMT
1. I think children come to school today with a lot more baggage than students of the past. We have students with divorced parents, single parents, unmarried parents, remarried parents - the definitions of "home" and "family" have definitely changed. The stability of our students' lives are no longer a given; they don't always have adults they can rely on. Children now also have more technology available to them on a regular basis. They spend a lot of time being entertained by technology and not doing activities that can help them grow both physically and intellectually. These kinds of issues were also present in the past, but not to the extent that they are now.
We understand a lot more about how the brain works and how we learn than we did years ago, so now the challenge becomes how are we going to use that knowledge. Presenting information in a variety of ways to our students is one way, but how much time do we have in one hour, day, or week?
2. I agree that the students come to us differentiated and we need to meet them where they are at and help them grow from that point. I don't agree that everything needs to be differentiated. If we're not pushing our struggling students to learn more and to be at the same level as their peers, then where does that leave them in the end? We have standards that we expect all students to reach in order to pass a grade level, class, and eventually graduate, and the "real" world expects that from them, too.
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tammy
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Post by tammy on Oct 19, 2015 2:18:45 GMT
Bruce, Thanks for the great plug for our kids and our community! I think it means more coming from you as being someone who hasn't been here for a long time and someone who doesn't have other connections to our kids. I also agree with your comment about the cartoon. Having grown up here and coming back here to teach, I think our teachers do take the time to get to know our students and that we do truly care about them.
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tammy
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Post by tammy on Oct 19, 2015 2:24:34 GMT
Chapter 3 1. School children today are much more diverse. So many classrooms have children from different ethnic groups, or even different countries. The experiences that they bring to school are so great and so varied. The structure of households is also varied. Not all children come from a two-parent household and modest income. Some children live with one parent; others, with grandparents. There are a few very important realizations that have occurred in the past several decades as to how humans learn: (1) Humans can grow and strengthen their brains just like they grow and strengthen muscles. Humans are not born with a degree of intelligence. (2) Technology now gives us the benefit of looking into the brain. We know what works best for the brain. It seeks meaningful patterns and resists meaninglessness. (3) Humans learn best when they are challenged, but not beyond ability. 2. I agree with the author's assumptions. Doesn't every teacher see many of the differences among her students? I think most do. However, how a teacher deals with the differences is the whole issue. Differentiation to its fullest extent requires training, effort, and time. I agree it takes a lot of effort and time to differentiate! Where do you get that extra time and training? Maybe it's a work in progress. By the time we figure it out, there will be something else new. |
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joel
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Post by joel on Oct 21, 2015 14:44:18 GMT
3. There is little difference between children today and those in the past. Students still work with their minds, bodies, and hands to learn. The biggest difference is not so much the students but the resources they have at their disposal when it comes to learning. These resources give students the chance to learn through a variety of mediums and to learn nearly anything whenever they want. Our understanding of how students learn has not changed much considering John Dewey and George Counts are still referenced authorities in education. Today, educators are more aware that students have the ability to learn without a teacher even being present. However, what students choose to learn and what they need to learn to be productive citizens is often two different things.
3. I agree with the author to a point because I think the ideas are good starting points but should not necessarily drive the classroom or the curriculum at all times. Tests have their place in education but are not always the best predictor of what students need in the classroom or in helping to shape their life and outlook. I like the catch phrase best practices, but I also know that these fall by the way side like fads and that teachers need to see the real person behind the student and this may require individual modifications and it may mean allowing the student to suffer the consequences of their actions. Life is rarely full of modifications to suit each person’s individual needs.
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joel
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Post by joel on Oct 21, 2015 21:50:15 GMT
Tyler, your answer reminds me of a comment I heard once about how to handle students that sleeping during class. The advice given to me was that teachers do not know much about a student's home life and some off task behavior can be forgiven once before it needs to be addressed as a discipline problem. As teacher we need to see students as both individuals and as students because these two perspectives take us in different directions as times.
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Post by lindsey on Oct 22, 2015 20:23:50 GMT
#1. The children we teach today are different from children of the past. Today's children often come from one parent households. Many students today lack a steady hand to monitor school progress or homework or even to listen to the events of a school day. Children also spend a good deal of time living in cyberspace & are accustomed to quick entertainment, yet there imaginations are less active. Children today also are itching to use technologies that frighten many of the adults "in charge" of their worlds. The understanding of how humans learn has some changes, however educators, psychologists, & researchers have drawn three consistent conclusions: we think, learn, & create in different ways, the development of potential is affected by the match between what we are asked to learn & how we are able to apply our particular abilities to the process of learning, and learners need opportunities to discover & develop their abilities in a range of intelligence areas.
#2. Children come to our classrooms with different skills, knowledge, attitudes, habits, strengths, motivations, confidence, support systems, & approaches to school...it does not make sense for all students to learn the same content in the same way & at the same rate.
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