These past seven have whizzed by quicker than (insert metaphor), and it 's hard to believe that I am one fourth of the way through my sophomore year. This class has been without a doubt my favorite class I have taken at Concordia so far. At the beginning of the semester I was overwhelmed looking through all of the assignments that the eight weeks entailed, and was not too excited about taking the class online instead of on campus. However, I quickly discovered that I loved sharing my thoughts and ideas on the discussion board, and enjoyed reading the various insights my peers had to offer. I loved the fact that instead of simply learning about Piaget, and Vygotsky 's theories we were learning how to apply them into a classroom setting. Although all the concepts and topics were valuable the ones that significantly changed my perspective on teaching were those on learning styles, the impact of poverty, and trauma-informed care. When I first began the course I thought that every student …show more content…
However, while it is true that students have their own preferred learning styles, "… evidence shows they absorb information just as well whether or not they encounter it in their preferred mode" (Paul, 2012, p.1). In fact Slavin, 2015, states that students benefit from receiving information in a variety of ways. There are many different learning styles, and acoording to Gardner 's multiple intelligences theory there are eight different types of intelligences: logical/mathematical, linguistic, musical, naturalist, spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal (Slavin, 2015). However, the specific number of learning styles, or intelligences truly doesn 't matter, it is however important for educators to remember to deliver information in a variety of ways in order to benefit the largest amount of students
And there is a four-type definition of learning styles: 1. Accommodators (CE/AE) 2. Divergers (CE/RO) 3. Assimilators (AC/RO) 4. Convergers (AC/AE)
“A learning style is a way of learning and refers to the way that you learn new information” (2). Most people have one preferred learning style and perform to a lesser standard when learning in a different style than what they’re used to. Nowadays, children are told to take a quiz in school to determine what their preferred learning style is, but after a few years, not many of these children remember what their preferred learning style is, or even if they do, they don’t apply it to their learning.
There are many thoughts and theories when it comes to learning styles. The Theory of Multiple Intelligences is one such idea that could potentially assist adult learners if fully understood and accurately utilized. It is important to note that the many theories out there about learning styles and multiple intelligences are just that, theories. That is to say, the very nature of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences cannot be fully tested and therefore cannot be proclaimed as a full proof teaching guide (McGreal, 2013). Regardless of the many critics in the scientific world, there are also a number if credible scholars who are strong proponents of Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Students and teachers alike have lauded
There are many times in a school setting when the instruction we are providing to the students can get misconstrued and turned into something that we never imagined. At Morgan Falls High School, this very thing happened. A history teacher was teaching and discussing how matters were and dealt with in the past and present times. Anytime you are teaching a subject. questions are going to come up that take your lesson a step further than anticipated. The students in this classroom began asking questions about protest and riots. They are interested to know what exactly that meant as well as how it was handled. As the teacher answered these questions with historical facts, the students began processing the information and putting plans into action
Looking back over the course of the semester, I feel that I learned many new and interesting uses for technology within the classroom – both for classrooms that have a lot of technology and for classrooms that are limited with technology. For the majority of the class, we utilized William Kists’ book The Socially Networked Classroom: Teaching in the New Media Age (2010), which provided multiple modes of instruction that both utilized and/or created technology. One of the first things that I remember, and consequently that stuck with me through the course’s entirety, is that individuals must treat everything as a text. Even a garden is a text. The statement made me change the way that I traditionally viewed Language Arts both as a student and as a teacher, as I very narrowly saw literature and works of the like as texts only; however, by considering nearly anything as a text, one can analyze, study, and even expand his/her knowledge. Kist (2010) states that society is “experiencing a vast transformation of the way we “read” and “write,” and a broadening of the way we conceptualize “literacy” (p. 2). In order to begin to experience and learn with the modern classroom and technologically advanced students, individuals must begin to see new things as literature and analyze those things in a similar manner.
In closing, implementing only one theory of learning can be limiting to the success of students in a classroom setting. A more effective approach would be “draw from two or more theoretical perspectives… to better capture the complex nature of human thinking and learning” (Ormrod, 2012). According to Howard Gardner, there are multiple intelligences in human individuals that are based on biological and cultural elements (Brualdi, 1996). Since each of the intelligences work independently of each other, but also complement each other individuals learn, teachers should teach accordingly (Brualdi, 1996).
I am a firm believer that we all learn by using divergent approaches. I also acknowledge that learners can contribute more than one intelligence. Children need an outlet to freely express themselves rather than by the traditional teaching approach. By knowing your students learning style a teacher can implement all of the different strategies to enhance students learning. This would help to promote a well- rounded education.
In this course I experienced an important change in my beliefs about teaching; I came to understand that there are many different theories and methods that can be tailored to suit the teacher and the needs of the student. The readings, especially those from Lyons, G., Ford, M., & Arthur-Kelly, M. (2011), Groundwater-Smith, S., Ewing, R., & Le Cornu, R. (2007), and Whitton, D., Barker, K., Nosworthy, M., Sinclair, C., Nanlohy, P. (2010), have helped me to understand this in particular. In composing my essay about teaching methods and other themes, my learning was solidified, my knowledge deepened by my research and my writing skills honed.
For my assignment I have decided to choose a group which I have just finished taking for level 1 Hairdressing and they have progressed on to level 2 Hairdressing. This is within my current role as a hairdressing lecturer at Hugh Baird College which I have done since October. Within this group there are a couple of people who have support workers. There is one student within the group who has severe learning difficulties and is a more mature student. She also has many health problems which results in her having to carry an oxygen tank around for when she has any problems with her breathing due to her having problems with her heart. There is also another student in the class who has learning difficulties, she is very clever but just needs someone there for when she needs something explaining. She also has a support worker that comes in to give her support. This student has also been going through personal problems at home and has attendance issues. There is another student within this group who has severe dyslexia. She doesn’t have a support worker but the support people who are in there do give her help as she can have a tendency to give up, not to listen and just needs to be kept on track so by sitting next to a person that does have a support worker she gets the help from them. These three students have all had their level 1 qualification extended for a year were the rest of the group have progressed on to level 2 Hairdressing. Two of these students may progress on to level 2 but one doesn’t have the ability to be able to do this as the requirements are too high for her. The reason the course was extended for them was because they were struggling with the work that was required for this qualification, but as the col...
In Education, you are forced to always consider the possibility of classroom deviation. What if certain students are unable to work together based on group dynamics; or if certain students have different developmental needs than the rest of the class? But in the process of creating the unit plan, I overlooked these crucial factors. I had unintentionally created the perfect classroom.
There are several ways in which a teacher can accommodate every learning style by doing simple things in the classroom. Examples of this would be a certain seating arrangement or even just changing all the time to reach each students style. Knowing and learning styles might be one of the most important things to learn from your students at the beginning of each school year. There are several tests out there that can help with this, but know each style is also important. Knowing your own learning intelligence as a teacher will also help you and is important. This allows you to know in which way you will best be able to absorb information that is important in our teaching. Multiple intelligences are a vital part of any teacher’s lesson plans and are especially necessary in the ever-changing diversities of the schools. Learning styles will bring out the strengths and weaknesses.
Overall my experience of being in Lingleville ISD was a great experience that allowed me to learn a lot not only about the students in the classroom, but also helped me learn a lot about myself. Going in to this classroom I expected to only learn things about classroom management and maybe a few strategies. After spending a few days in this room I learned many other things. I did learn about classroom management but I also learned about content, strategies, organization, lesson planning, and inclusion adaptations. I learned that an inclusion special education student can really thrive being in a mainstream classroom, not only academically but also socially. It was a wonderful learning opportunity to get to be a part of that. My mentor teacher
Classrooms in the past never really took into consideration that all students learned differently, so one method of teaching was used. This method being, oral lectures that students were expected to take notes on, followed by long winded exams. It wasn’t until later down the line that educators realized that not all students are capable of learning and understanding lessons in this way, and researched different ways to improve teaching. For example, Howard Gardner came to the conclusion that each person is one of seven intelligences. : If a student enjoys reading or writing stories and doing puzzles, then they have the intelligence of Linguistic. Students who are drawn to more strategy type games and logic kind of games are said to be of the Logical-Mathematical Intelligence. Students who are very active whether it be in a sport or art activity, such as dance, are said to be of the Body-Kinesthic Intelligence. Spatial students learn with pictures, they need to see things to understand, they are drawn toward drawing and building with blocks. Musical Intelligences are students who are drawn to music, they have the ability to learn by listening and can many times hear things that others are not able to. Students who thrive at being the leader and being in charge of their peers have the Intelligence of Interpersonal, these types o...
As an educator, there is always room for reflection and growth. Being in this class has provided an opportunity for both. From my knowledge gained in this class I believe that I have become smarter and have learned how to implement different tool into my teaching as well as general life as a teacher. Of the topics discussed in this class, commitment to students, avoiding burnout and reflective practices had the biggest impact on my professional growth.
In these two weeks I taught on my own. That was an interesting and exciting experience. I think the students really enjoyed my lesson, which was exciting. However, I was a little bummed out when my cooperating teacher did a very similar lesson right before I taught mine. All in all though, it was just more practice for the students and I think they are really starting to get a tighter grasp on sequencing. I was a little frustrated because I wanted to try some different attention getters during my lesson, but I have only seen my cooperating teacher use one of them so I had to keep repeating the same attention getter, which I found to be less effective. One of my partners taught this week also they did a good job. I felt that she needed to have