By next class on 4-14-2009 please take a few moments to reflect on the class discussions and readings from the class on 4-7. The reading for the class on 4-14 were sent via email. If you did not receive them please contact Skip and he will re-send them.
Thanks,
Gary and Skip
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Last night was another fun class. Thank you Darla, Amy, Thora and Donna for giving us great presentations. I found the information to be surprising that boys are statistically behind girls in school all the way through college. The impact of kids raised in single family homes is having such a negative effect on kids in the classroom especially boys. I also found it interesting that Sternberg considers being practical or having street smarts to be an intelligence. I was wondering how teachers could best promote this intelligence in the classroom. The primary grades are doing a great job meeting the multiple intelligences, but I feel more work needs to be done in the older grades. The article that I read http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/mi/implementation.html was about three types of teaching strategies (learning stations, simulations, and presentations)that are conducive to tapping into the multiple intelligences. After looking at the article closer, each learning activity might only tap into three or four intelligences at a time. The bottom line is to differentiate instruction in order to be attentive to the individual needs of the students in your classroom.
ReplyDeleteHave a great week! -Diane
Hello Everyone. Again last night was fun and interesting. As the night worn on we just kept talking and talking… Teachers love to do that and I love being a teacher. I enjoyed hearing people’s ideas and watching the presentations. There is so much valuable information to help us continually modify and reflect on our practice. I enjoyed the laughter—What a great bunch! When I think about Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences I think about designing lessons that offer a broad reach so as to be inclusive as possible for students in our class. I think that good SIOP lessons do much of the same thing. I also believe that it is a teacher’s responsibility to expand their own horizons and be willing to spend the time and energy to write/deliver lessons that address more than one learning style. This not only allows our students access to the material, but it is also what makes teaching so interesting. I think too that we also need to “let go” of some of the control and allow our students to show us what they know by allowing them the freedom to direct some of their own teaching. Set broad parameters and allow them to explore and capitalize on their strengths. Much in the same way that we need to embrace playing with technology we need to allow for free experimentation with our students. The articles I looked at were written by Thomas Armstrong. The web page is www.ThomasArmstrong.com This site is worth checking over. He has written several outstanding books that you can view on his website. He offers presentations for designing lessons that follow the theory behind multiple intelligences. To get started Dr. Armstrong suggest writing your lesson plans by starting with a hub and 8 spokes – each one representing one of the intelligences and finding ways to address that intelligence in your lesson. I also visited Concepts to Classroom. The website is http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/mi/index.html Great material, plus they have an interactive piece that helps you know what your learning preference. You answer several questions. I thought about having my kids use the tool so that I could have more information about them.
ReplyDeleteTake Care,
Ray
Once again, I agree, it was another informative and beneficial class. I thought it was particularly interesting to look at gender issues. I think it would be hard for anyone to argue against the fact that boys and girls learn differently. Often, however, it is not something that I am necessarily thinking about on a daily basis. Going back into the classroom on Wednesday, I had a new level of awareness regarding gender differences. I particularly focused on increasing the amount of opportunities for movement during our daily routine and our activities. I want to work on maintaining a consistent focus on being sensitive to all children and their varying needs. This means that I need to be more observant in the classroom, and more importantly, a better listener. I think that children will tell you what they need, in one way or another, and you just have to be open minded and accept each individual for who they are!
ReplyDeleteAlso, in case anyone is interested in reading the article that I shared regarding emotional intelligence, here is the link:
http://www.edutopia.org/emotional-intelligence-missing-piece
Melissa Weller
Hello classmates! Yep, we had another fantastic night of learning. I had to laugh today when I was singing Old MacDonald Had a Farm and two boys jumped during the song to do “quack quacks here!” The song started out as a quick transition between reading stations to start writing workshop, but then we all had to jump around and be farm animals. The boys were so happy!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the presentations. Everyone worked so hard and it was great to see similar topics done in different ways. Darla, I am going to have to read that book! You made it sound so interesting. Thora, thank you for reminding us about the flexibility needed when working with technology that doesn’t always work they way we expect! I appreciated your calmness. Amy, thanks for the tips about the juggling books. I have used them in the past, but am now going to dig them out again. Donna, I loved the ear plug and glasses experiment. Great thinking! “Old School” style works well too! The poem was an excellent tie in.
I love the way we have our class organized. We can really think, and discuss, about something deeply for a few hours. It sure makes the topic stick in your brain for the next day. All day the boys/girls thing was on the front burner.
I also enjoyed reading the Curious Dog book. I find the perspective to be very intriguing.
Here is that link to all the statistics that I mentioned last night: http://www.boysproject.net/statistics.htm It’s startling when you read through them. I look forward to next week, take care, Jill
I will continue the echo on what a great class and what a great group of colleagues to learn from and walk through this next phase in learning to be better teachers. It is great to share ideas, experiences, and opinions with a great group of teachers while we can disagree and laugh all at the same time.
ReplyDeleteTuesday was a good refresher and reminder about the multi-intelligences for me but I am fascinated on the gender differences. It is a common fact that we all know that boys and girls are so different but I never evaluated my classroom, the set up, my teaching, my books and the environment through the eyes of meeting the needs of boys and girls. The gender-segregated classrooms are also such a new unfamiliar world to me. I still even after talking about them and researching them cannot agree that I think it is a great idea.
Here are a few od the articles I found interesting
http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080829/FEAT01/808290344
http://www.salisburypost.com/Lifestyle/032909-Single-sex-classrooms-
http://educationalissues.suite101.com/article.cfm/single_sex_classrooms
I will continue to be thinking of my boys in my room to be conscious about meeting there education needs in order to help them love school and find success. Thanks again and I look forward to next Tuesday
Melanie Kent
Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone for being so helpful with your computers, flash drive, and for your patience and support. The one fun thing that happens when technology doesn’t go as planned is—you learn. Now I know that neither of my Macs (2007, 2008) have the same port for projection media as the power books. Apparently it is not universal like a USB port. Plus, I had no idea keynote had the split screen feature. That could be a really useful feature if reversed for the presenter. I’m definitely going to look into that so I can turn it off if I don’t want it.
ReplyDeleteI ditto your thoughts about how wonderful it is to be able to discuss an issue with a little more depth. It’s so powerful hearing the different insights, ideas, and experiences. I’m really enjoying how this class is progressing and is laid out. Thanks Gary and Skip for allowing us to interact with so much discussion.
These are the two books I had mentioned:
Laughing Allegra: The Inspiring Story of a Mother's Struggle and Triumph Raising a Daughter with Learning Disabilities. by Anne Ford
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
I feel that Laughing Allegra is a very insightful read. It allows you to gain some understanding, empathy, and sympathy for parents and families that have a child that is learning disabled. Anne Ford helps you to identify with the different stages of a grief type process that occurs when parents are processing and comprehending the needs of their child-especially when the needs are severe. It was an easy enjoyable read. Our local library has a copy.
Al Capone is really my 5th grade son’s suggestion. He has read it twice. It is about children living on Alcatraz during the time Al Capone was there in 1935. Autism had not been officially named. One of the characters has autism and needs special schooling. I know his teacher took the class on a virtual tour of Alcatraz when they read it. It is a Newberry Award winner.
Ray’s suggestion for using the spokes on Gardner’s M.I. wheel is a great one. I was introduced to that when I did my student teaching. We used that type of a document with our formal lesson plans. They wanted to make sure we were teaching lessons that would work for our “whole” class-gender, culture, language, etc… That document really worked well, and it helped make sure you hit all of the intelligences by the end of a unit. Plus, it’s an easy way to brainstorm areas in a lesson or concept for differentiation.
The statistics brought forward on boys were amazing. To think that in general, men make more money than women in the work force, but fewer men are becoming educated. Does that mean that our society will become more economically separated with even less middle class? It really is a serious and important question we have to ask as educators.
I know I'll be paying even closer attention to my students making sure I'm engaging them on more of their levels regardless of their learning profile- gender, culture, intelligence, style.
I know this is getting long, so take care!
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Learning+profiles+&+achievement:+do+learning+preferences+have+a+place...-a0195675694
Thora
Hello All!
ReplyDeleteI am posting this on Saturday, but I enjoyed reading through all of your thoughts and reflections from our class on Tuesday evening. Like Melissa, I went to school the next day and made it a point to add as much movement into my day as possible. We "cheered" our spelling words, and sang a few action songs among other things. One suggestion that stuck in my mind this last week was to move around the room as you teach, rather that standing in the same place. I tried that too. It was good to be reminded about the needs of our boys (and many of our girls as well).
Right at the end of class, Gary had asked us if we thought our educational system was set for failure for boys, or for certain learning styles. I don't believe our system is "set". As long as teachers are willing to be stretched and put the needs of their students first, there is always hope. I know I have hope in our educational future when I look around the room at all of you!
See you next Tuesday,
Jessica Multop
From Caitlin Vallerga
ReplyDeleteThrough getting my ESOL/Bilingual Endorsement I feel as though I have focused a lot on multicultural issues but not at on gender issues. Tuesday’s class really got me thinking about how to better accommodate for both genders in my classroom. I plan on reading Darla’s book, The Trouble With Boys, this summer (but not all one weekend). What I found most interesting about Darla’s presentation and the book was that the author suggested giving boys as much recess/play time as possible. Being curious, I decided to try giving my class a little bit of extra recess time on Wednesday. For a short break between lessons, I took my class outside for ten minutes to play some games on the playground. When we got back inside, I noticed that my students were a lot more on task and able to focus. It would be interesting to try this out over a longer period of time and on a more consistent basis.
Here is a link to the article I brought on Tuesday. It provides a pretty thorough summary of Howard Gardner’s life and of his work.
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm
I look forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday!
I feel so privileged to be a part of this group. I have already gained a tremendous amount of information and appreciate the variety in points of view and experience that everyone has to offer.
ReplyDeleteJessica, I liked your comment regarding our educational system not being “set”. I agree completely. The teacher can make all the difference simply by being willing to keep learning and to try new things to benefit the students. I find the energy in our cohort to be refreshing and extremely encouraging.
I liked the idea of using the wheel and spoke diagram when designing a lesson in order to reach a variety of learners. I’m planning on trying that. Also, I found the statistics that Gary shared to be very alarming and an additional support as to the critical state of boys struggling with academic underachievement.
I’d be glad to share the book I read with anyone who is interested in reading it. I know everyone has a lot of spare time!
Darla Linn
Hello Everyone,
ReplyDeleteI hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend! I really enjoyed having a house full of family and I am really enjoying the peace and quiet now!
I have been thinking a lot about our discussion from Tuesday and I am so thankful that our readings and insights have challenged me to seek out how to best serve the students I work with. Gender is a topic that is so important to consider when approaching the classroom. Being up to date on the most recent research and statistics is encouragement and incentive to reach each student right where they are and celebrate the differences while encouraging greatness.
I now have a sesitivity to the needs that boys have in their schooling experience and hope to see those shocking numbers change in my lifetime.
I read three articles on brain development and practical methods of how to teach boys and girls differently. All of the articles were written by Leonard Sax who was a guest editor for a special edition of Education.com there is a whole page devoted to gender in education. It would be a great site to add to your RSS feeds!
Thank you for your participation with my presentation! You are all good sports, and you look fabulous in 3D glasses!
Donna
Hello Everyone,
ReplyDeleteGreat class, filled with many wonderful ideas and thoughts. I did find the gender statistics Gary read alarming. I strongly feel must look at the differences in males and females in order to correctly teach them. I have been reading a great book entitled: Bringing up Boys by Dr. James Dobson. It addresses the similar concepts that were presented by Darla. When I went back into class on Wednesday, I saw first hand so many of the things we discussed. My little girls (not all) sat quietly and my boys seemed to be in constant motion. I think we can only become better teachers if we take the time to get to know our learners. Once we know them, then we can adjust our teaching methods to help them become successful!
Hope everyone had a great Easter and I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow night.
Amy
this is a test www.yahoo.com
ReplyDeletewww.yahoo.com