Final Blog!

I cannot believe this is the FINAL blog, classes seemed to fly by faster than ever.  I really enjoy online classes and this one in particular was set up nicely and I enjoyed the class very much.  The one thing I learned that I think is the most important is simply HOW to teach, how there are many different ways and approaches and this class opened my eyes to many different strategies, tips and tricks.  Everything we went over is important, and I am not just saying that to get out of picking and describing one thing.  Before this class I didn't really know what was in the package of teaching, but through this class I have been highlighted on many different areas of learning and even laws and issues within a teaching environment and how to deal with them. 

I honestly really didn't like the blogs much unfortunately. =/ They were nice to be able to put our own thoughts and take on things and it also allowed us to have a little more freedom in what we chose to write about.  Also it allowed for pictures, but I feel they could have just as easily been a discussion in WebCT with the same requirements, on a website that we are continuously on, rather than going to this separate website.  I guess I am just not a "blogger."

Anything like blogging or WebCT discussions would be helpful for teaching and learning because students in today's schools are technological learners and introducing a computer type assignment would allow kids to more easily be able to express and relate to the things they are learning and hear comments from teachers and students quicker.  Also, it may allow for extra learning time by being able to work on assignments and continue learning within the home.

Howard Gardner - Multiple Intelligences

I feel that the revelation of Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner, though it has been discussed often, is the most influential person and theory of learning.  When you sit in a classroom and look around, you can visually, right away, see how many people are different.  Now just because they look different doesn't mean they "are different," but imagine how many people would learn differently from you.  Imagine the student in class who loves music and can easily remember the lyrics and melody to a song, but cannot remember a lecture from a teacher.  Imagine the student that stares out the window and want nothing more than to experiment on the different types of fungus that grown on trees.  Everyone has different interests, personalities, and learning styles. 

 Howard Gardner was born in Scranton, PA and actually wanted to be a professional pianist.  He loved playing the piano and was very good, but he ended up teaching it instead.  Gardner is now 67 years old and  is a teacher at Harvard Grad School.  He was a piano teacher, got his Ph.D., studied with many famous psychologists and philosophers, worked at a hospital for 20 years, is co-director of Harvard Project Zero, theorized multiple intelligences, written over 400 research articles and 20 books.  WOW.  Gardner is clearly a busy man and has done many things and I find that very admirable. 



As we all know, multiple intelligences is a theory based off of students learning in different ways.  It is made up of spacial, linguistic, bodily-kinesthetic,  logical mathematical,  musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic.  Together, these intelligences help students individually identify who they are as a learner and how they are better able to learn. 
I think it would be amazing if children at a younger age could be made aware that they do learn differently and they are ways they can help themselves learn all different materials in ways that are specific to them.  I feel schools are geared toward left brain people, toward only some aspects of multiple intelligences, and that does not give students enough to help them learn in ways best for them.  I am not saying school sshould split up kids based on their highest scoring intelligence, I am saying, make them aware of their strengths to help them individually help themselves.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2699/is_0004/ai_2699000478/

http://www.howardgardner.com/index.html

Education is a Recipe

Recipe's require planning, much like an education.  You have to first think if you have the right ingredients.  You then go shopping for the missing ingredients.  Once you have everything together you follow a set of instructions to get the perfect result.

Education requires the same type of planning, you must determine if your child is ready to start school, then once they are in school until the time they graduate they follow a curriculum much like a recipe, this leads to, hopefully, the perfect end result of an educational success, a student who did well and graduated.  Now, of course, some recipes don't turn out as planned, the oven could have been a few degrees too cool, or an ingredient could have accidentally been left out, but it still can be fixed.  The end result for these recipes can have different outcomes, BUT, the most sought after outcome, the most important, is success of the students learning, achieving an education, making that dish juicy, delicious, and right on time for your guests arrival.
 Throughout the process of receiving an education, some recipes may go through bumps.  Your muffins may deflate and your toast may get burnt.  Some recipes cannot recover from this, much like some students.  They may act out, have bad behavior, skip one too many classes and this is definitely a sad event, but with great teachers, and a great environment, they can be helped and maybe even saved to become the most scrumptious meal anyone has ever had! 

 

I have learned many things in this class.  The two most important I feel is the issues facing racism and cultural diversity in classrooms.  These two I feel work hand in hand and I feel that it is still a problem even in today's melting pot America, and that it does need to be handled in schools.  Cultural diversity is something that is growing everyday, and every child will be exposed to culturally different kids more and more.

I also liked learning about curriculum.  It is something you always hear about as a student, but it is never something you know a lot about.  As a teacher it is so important to know what it is, how it works, and how it is applied.  Curriculum, I feel, is the base of the "recipe" for education.

http://www.foodservices.uwaterloo.ca/foodbuzz/modules/pdfs/HowToFollowRecipe_osu.pdf

http://www.salemstate.edu/webct (this is what I used to look over past assignments and information)