|
|
Post by lindsey on Oct 22, 2015 20:36:00 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. Brenda- I agree that how a teacher deals with those differences is the biggest issue...TIME is my biggest challenge!!! |
|
|
|
Post by lindsey on Oct 22, 2015 20:50:31 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. Lori- Families today are more"on-the-go" and this can definitely affect how a student comes & performs in school. |
|
|
|
Post by noreen on Oct 23, 2015 2:41:07 GMT
1. Children today are different than children from the past. I bet the same statement has been said about children from earlier generations. I know my grandfather told me, "TV going to rot our brain." The availability of technology is the biggest difference I see. Technology has a lot of advantages with a few down sides. The advancements in technology allows our children to receive information in seconds. With that access students are exposed to information and situations they may not fully understand. Children face many other challenges today. For many students, school is the place they find acceptance, understanding, and opportunities to learn and grow.
2. I agree that students come to school with issues educators have no idea that they are dealing with. Educators try to be as understanding and caring as they can.
|
|
|
|
Post by noreen on Oct 23, 2015 2:51:16 GMT
Jeff- Our sentence about teachers needing to adjust their strategies to fit the students needs and potential was well stated.
|
|
|
|
Post by noreen on Oct 23, 2015 2:59:51 GMT
Bruce-I liked how you said, good teachers know their students. I think good teachers know their students and make the changes needed to allow those students to be successfully in their classroom.
|
|
|
|
Post by cyarndt on Oct 23, 2015 14:28:03 GMT
Answer the questions below and respond to 2 colleagues. 1. How would you say that children in school today are different from children of the past? How has the understanding of how humans learn changed over the past quarter century??2. On page 42, the author presents a set of assumptions underlying differentiation. Does the author's line of logic work for you? If so, why? If not, what would you offer to refute or revise the assumptions? 1. There are many ways children in school are different today than children of the past. Not all children of the past had equitable access to education as children today. Students today are required to have more years of education, they have more access to information, and often times come to school with varied learning experiences and background knowledge. Students today communicate in more technologically ways than students of the past and also require training in interpersonal relationships. Oftentimes, students today come from more complex family compositions. Today's students also have less support at home due to lack of time (both parents working) or parent's lack of knowledge of content. The last 25 years has brought along extensive research in brain development and in understanding how we learn. We have learned about stages of development and how to strengthen our brain as a "muscle". We have discovered various strategies to increase brain activity while learning to improve capability to retention. Additionally, what we need to learn has changed overtime. There has been a shift in what occupations dominate the job market and what students need to know to be contributing members of society. 2. I believe that we, as educators, need to differentiate instruction. I think that the author is correct in that most curriculum designed for whole group learning meets the needs of "average" learners. When we have students that require more/less complex material we need to adjust what and how we teach so that we can challenge students and aid in deeper understanding of the materials we are required to teach! |
|
|
|
Post by cyarndt on Oct 23, 2015 14:34:49 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. Lindsey, I agree that it doesn't make sense to have all students learn the content in the same way and at the same rate! Students who don't understand the material and are required to continue at the same rate as the rest of the class will most likely not succeed at the next level as most information is scaffolded for learning new information. Additionally, we would have students, both above and below, that will likely get bored/frustrated and possibly cause classroom disruptions. |
|
|
|
Post by cyarndt on Oct 23, 2015 14:46:30 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. Penny, I agree that students spend less time outdoors and playing physical games! I also think you're right in that there is little motivation behind memorizing material, as information is so readily accessible. I think that our main responsibility in teaching with technology is showing students how to be critical thinkers. There is so much information out there that does not come from a reliable source and student need to be able to decipher what information is essential for their understanding. |
|
|
|
Post by mtoepke on Oct 23, 2015 15:18:31 GMT
1. There are several things that different in today's students then a quarter century ago. One of those things in technology--and as a result, its a way students have learned to have more fun/learn better with. Technology definitely has its pros and cons, and I would agree that with today's society it needs to be implemented into the curriculum and the home life the students have. And you wouldn't even have to go back a quarter century to realize this either, but I feel you have a lot more single parents. I also think that kids spend a lot more time on the new technology toys. And because of this technology, kids have a lot more things at the tip of their fingers, and whether they use it correctly or not is up to them. I also feel that kids are given less self responsibility and the blame has been put more on the teacher.
2. I would have to agree with the author on her bullets but where I seem to struggle is finding that line of what I think the student is capable of doing and what the student is actually accomplishing. I know can definitely tell what students struggle more and I have tried modifying things several times to help them, but if they don’t want to help themselves or try to do better, then I get stuck. I will never give up on a student and will always be there to help, but in order to provide that, they must have the internal desire and self-motivation.
|
|
|
|
Post by mtoepke on Oct 23, 2015 15:23:42 GMT
Answer the questions below and respond to 2 colleagues. 1. How would you say that children in school today are different from children of the past? How has the understanding of how humans learn changed over the past quarter century??2. On page 42, the author presents a set of assumptions underlying differentiation. Does the author's line of logic work for you? If so, why? If not, what would you offer to refute or revise the assumptions? 1. There are many ways children in school are different today than children of the past. Not all children of the past had equitable access to education as children today. Students today are required to have more years of education, they have more access to information, and often times come to school with varied learning experiences and background knowledge. Students today communicate in more technologically ways than students of the past and also require training in interpersonal relationships. Oftentimes, students today come from more complex family compositions. Today's students also have less support at home due to lack of time (both parents working) or parent's lack of knowledge of content. The last 25 years has brought along extensive research in brain development and in understanding how we learn. We have learned about stages of development and how to strengthen our brain as a "muscle". We have discovered various strategies to increase brain activity while learning to improve capability to retention. Additionally, what we need to learn has changed overtime. There has been a shift in what occupations dominate the job market and what students need to know to be contributing members of society. 2. I believe that we, as educators, need to differentiate instruction. I think that the author is correct in that most curriculum designed for whole group learning meets the needs of "average" learners. When we have students that require more/less complex material we need to adjust what and how we teach so that we can challenge students and aid in deeper understanding of the materials we are required to teach! Cynthia, that is one thing that I'm trying to change my mindset of this year. I'm trying to move away from the what would I want the "average" student to learn and pick out things that would challenge my stronger students but also pick out some not so complex so that the ones that are below average are not totally lost. And for the more challenging problems we often discuss but sometimes I ask myself if I should somehow require a student that I know struggles to meet with me so we can talk one-on-one to tackle the more difficult problems. |
|
|
|
Post by mtoepke on Oct 23, 2015 15:39:09 GMT
Don Nash- I would say the big difference for me is the home life of our children. When we have a parents night for a sport there are many with two sets of parents, sometimes there is just a Grandparent. There is a lot of nontraditional situations and kids in many cases really do not have much of a foundation at home. The next biggest difference is the ability to work. When I was in school almost everyone in our school were farmers and every kid had chores. I for example milked the cows 6:00 each morning from the time I was nine till I graduated from high school. The third thing would be gadgets the kids have. Just about every kid has a computer, a cell phone, a lap tap, a radio MP3 player and the like. They can be a real asset or help but for most it just gives them something to mess around on. I think we have more visual learners than auditory learners. I also believe that kids want instant response to questions and E-mails etc. So, they are not as patient as they used to be. When we did research papers we went to the Wahpeton Public Library, NDSSS library and the Fargo Public Library. Today, they can sit in the comfort of their homes/schools and get all the resources they need to write a good sound paper. IN my opinion as I study Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates human beings have not changed much the last 2500 years. The author says that students differ in experience, readiness, interest, intelligences, language, culture, gender, and mode of learning. I would say in southern California this probably is true in all accounts. Let's see in Lidgerwood. Experience- I would say most kids are very similar here if they have lived here all their lives. readiness- I would dare say there is a lot kids who are not ready by kindergarten so this may be somewhat true. interest- If their parents were not interested in school there is a pretty good chance their kids will not have much interest. Intelligence- We have had an unreal number of kids who are in special needs programs. So, we are similiar in that regard as we are with the number of children on free and reduced meals. language- No problem here! Culture- very similar. We have some Native-Americans and some Hispanic kids. For the most part they have done well here. gender- boys and girls- who doesn't have that? mode of learning. Well, this is the big question. I had the same teacher 1-3. 4/5 and 5/6. Do you think they cared that I was a more visual learner than auditory??? NO, but they were tough and they were tremendous teachers. They were also fair but we had to adapt to them not the other way around! Could they afford the time to differentiate things all the time? Probably not but they cared for us and they did everything possible to help us learn. We of course have a lot more means and ways to adjust our teaching to our students today. Don, considering that you believe that students are more visual learners, what types of adaptations do you feel may need to be added to assist students in learning the material? If students are given the opportunity to have information at their fingertips with instant response, what can we as educators do to promote the responsible use of this information? How can we help students develop these skills so that they can be more critical thinkers in how they take in the information that is so readily available to them? I would say in my experience (close to home  ) students very much differ in their experiences. Even if the students have lived in Lidgerwood their whole lives, their daily experiences would be very different. Students interpret and reflect on new information given to them and attach the new information to experiences they may have had to help them retain that information or know how to process it. Now, considering that information, student A from Lidgerwood that comes from a two parent household where both parents work may not have had the same educational experiences (story hour, preschool, being read to nightly, opportunity to explore museums, take family vacations outside of our area, interacted with people from various cultural backgrounds, food experiences, and fundamental needs) as student B with the same type of two parent household where both parents work. Now take into consideration, those students that have non-traditional (quickly becoming the new norm) family settings and we begin to get very different "cultural" backgrounds. Culture is more than just nationality. Culture includes intellectual achievements, musical connections, lifestyles, customs, beliefs, and behavior characteristics. I agree that the home life has changed a lot and that's why it's important to know but the student side and the every day life of each student so that we can best assist them and make them the most successful that they can be. |
|
|
|
Post by paulette on Oct 23, 2015 16:17:05 GMT
Mary, Hopefully, the teachers have done a good job in teaching students how to cope and adapt and the students have learned and picked up some of these modifications and adaptations to help them after they graduate. Even some good study skills or organization is helpful. It may not solve everything but if we have done a good job, students remember that.
|
|
|
|
Post by marissao on Oct 23, 2015 17:42:55 GMT
1. One main way that children in school today are different from children of the past is the use of technology. Children are learning how to use technology at a younger age and enjoy using it within school and outside of school. Since technology is changing almost every year, we as teachers need to adapt to the changes and try to use it within our classrooms to keep up with it. How humans learn has changed over the past quarter century by grouping people into eight intelligence categories. The eight intelligence categories are verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical-rhythmic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and naturalistic.
2. I agree with the author that student differ in experience, readiness, interest, language, culture, intelligences, gender, and mode of learning. Because of these differences within the classroom, we as teachers have to discover a way to meet each student’s needs. Each teacher need to make modifications for each students rather than the students making modifications to learn. That is a huge way for each student to improve and be successful in school.
|
|
|
|
Post by marissao on Oct 23, 2015 17:44:23 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 with you that children in the past spent more time outdoors and now students spend most of their time playing video games or some form of technology. |
|
|
|
Post by marissao on Oct 23, 2015 17:46:29 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. I agree with you on the point that since each student is different in their learning style, we can not teach each of them the same way or same rate to meet their needs. Each student is special in their own way and we need to remind them that each and everyday. |
|
) students very much differ in their experiences. Even if the students have lived in Lidgerwood their whole lives, their daily experiences would be very different. Students interpret and reflect on new information given to them and attach the new information to experiences they may have had to help them retain that information or know how to process it. Now, considering that information, student A from Lidgerwood that comes from a two parent household where both parents work may not have had the same educational experiences (story hour, preschool, being read to nightly, opportunity to explore museums, take family vacations outside of our area, interacted with people from various cultural backgrounds, food experiences, and fundamental needs) as student B with the same type of two parent household where both parents work. Now take into consideration, those students that have non-traditional (quickly becoming the new norm) family settings and we begin to get very different "cultural" backgrounds. Culture is more than just nationality. Culture includes intellectual achievements, musical connections, lifestyles, customs, beliefs, and behavior characteristics.