Double Entry Journal #6

Edutopia article

      The "dominant paradigm" that is beginning to wear includes the traditional ways to teach, using teacher and textbook. It uses lectures, discussions and readings to educate students. This article will give several other ways to give students the knowledge and experiences they need to succeed.

      In Project-based learning, students participate in large projects with groups or in the context of the whole class. The students design and engage in a project with real world subject matter, or with a practical use later. It is based on a pre- and post-test model, where students retest what they have learned by doing the project. One benefit of this approach is increase in critical thinking and a confidence in learning, as with Shepard's (1998) study. Another benefit is that it helps students with conceptual questions within tests and life. Boaler's (1997, 1998) study used a control group of traditionally taught students, and followed this group and a group of students in a project-based learning environment and rated them in tests. The PBL students rated equal in the mathematics section as the control, but higher in the conceptual problems. They learned a more useful approach to math rather than following rules. Another study (Penuel, Means, and Simkins, 2000), found that students who engaged in a multimedia project classroom had better content mastery, sensitivity to audience, and their coherent design.
    Students who may not do well in the traditional classroom have been found to excel in project based learning environments, as the approaches may be closer aligned with these students' preferred learning styles.

      In Problem-based learning, the students are given a practical problem, or situation, and must work together to hypothesize, experiment, or research solutions to the problem. It is a way of learning that involves full engagement in the situation, creating a sense of a real researcher or scientist, in students. It promotes problem-solving, in that students learn the correct way to approach each situation presented and the fact that there is no "right" way to answer it. The problems always have several different approaches to different answers that could be accepted if the students justify. The students teach themselves while the teacher is more of a facilitator for that knowledge, guiding the students using questions, and keeping the students involved. This approach helps with scientific understanding (Williams, Hemstreet, Liu, and Smith, 1998), through increased accuracy of hypothesis and critical thinking.

      In Learning by design, Students create projects. But with these projects, the learning comes from the planning and execution of these projects rather than the actual project itself. Students plan, research, learn, and build a project that is asked for by the teacher. In one study (Hmelo, Holton, and Koldner, 2000), students had a better understanding of complex systems and a better grasp of how each part of the respiratory system worked together. Another benefit is that students take more ownership of their knowledge and are more motivated to learn (Fortus, et al, 2004).

      I feel that the most important part about all three of these approaches is that the students are doing the teaching. The teacher sets the tone for learning, helps guide it, and is available for assistance to the students learning of concepts. These approaches are as successful as the students make it, if the teacher can instill an understanding of excitement in the subject matter into the students, and the students want to do the projects, then they can teach themselves by doing the projects, or solving the problems.

Double Entry Journal #5

"Part of the Deweyan ideal of a participatory democratic classroom is that everyone learns together, which does not presuppose that they are learning the same thing, though they are studying the same subject matter. At the same time, they are also studying each other. (Rud, 2010)" 

     I selected this quote because I really agree with it. It is in reference to modeling within the classroom. As a teacher we need to model the behavior, and activities illustrated in the study. This quote taught me a lot about the child's mind in reference to these kinds of activities. I never realized it until now but this quote is spot on, and even though it talks about a researchers entire perspective on the matter, I still learned a lot. As a student, when a teacher is modeling something and I am working with other students to follow his/her instruction, I tend to learn a lot about my classmates with whom I am working. This is purely unintentional, but I am focusing on what i am doing in relationship to the other students and I am learning twice as well. The article goes on to talk about how important communication is as learners.

1. Reverence is the true understanding of another's mind. It takes into account all of the known factors needed to surface a true listener. Creating wonder, models, and learning in it's purest form. Reverent listening is the combination of these factors found in teachers to create the community needed to build a worthy learning environment for students. It supports culturally responsive teaching by allowing the teacher to listen to each and every one of the students regardless of anything about the student. The teacher takes those thoughts and creates meaning out of them and becomes fully aware of that student and his/her responses.

2. My freshmen year of High school, I had an english teacher who hated males and used humiliation within the classroom by creating activities that were to hard for many of the students. She demanded us to listen to her rather than giving us the opportunity to listen to her. 

3. A laundry list of value ethics is basically a list of rules to follow that set the tone for classrooms. They are used as a tool for keeping respect for each student and rather than using reverence, they are more enforced. 

4. I can't currently recall having a teacher that exhibited these values. That isn't to say i had bad teachers. Just not ones that followed all of these rules.

5. A toxic school culture is one that does not give respect. One that demands it, without giving any in return. This kind of culture is one that chooses to not listen to their students and prefers to tell them what they need to do without establishing ritual or sharing sessions.

6. I really like the quote I stated above as a great addition to my philosophy.

7.link!!
This webpage explains what routines are in the classroom and how beneficial they are to students. One thing I have witnessed in observation of a music classroom is a "Rhythm of the Day," This is a different rhythm written on the board each day that the students enter the room to. The students are tasked with figuring out the rhythm, particularly how to play it, before starting the day. This activity is open to the whole classroom, and by the end of the activity, the entire classroom plays the rhythm together.

activity 3

Michael Robinson 9/13/12 In Victoria Purcell-Gates’ Essay, “As Soon as She Opened Her Mouth…” she builds a scenario on which to further illustrate her point. It includes a middle-eastern foreign exchange student, Phil, in driver’s education class in America. The boy speaks very good English, so language is not a problem. He is having trouble in the classroom because he has never experienced automobiles in his country. He has never needed to use them and so he doesn’t see the point in them. He has rarely witnessed a car ride nor heard the language associated with driving a car. His trouble lies in his lack of experience in automobiles in general, not in his language, or his intelligence. All of the class requirements depend on his background with driving. She makes a good point and drives that point home with the final paragraph of this section of the essay: “Are we going to interpret this as a flaw, a deficit, in Phil? Or are we going to interpret it as a lack of crucial experience, a difference in the experiential backgrounds between Phil and the other members of the driver’s education class? (Purcell-Gates, 129)” Most people would assume the child is some kind of “back desert dunebilly,” or something; not knowing anything about cars. A concerned teacher, on the other hand, would take this as a chance to change this boy’s life, to give him the experiences he needs to succeed in this class. I really like this situation Purcell-Gates uses, because it is a great thing to think about to keep ourselves from judging our own students. Using this principal, I learned that we cannot judge our students because of their language. If they speak some way, it is because of their experiences in their lives, and if they can’t do something, it is not because they are dumb, or ignorant, it is because they have NOT experienced that concept. Not having experience in a concept, as a teacher, can sometimes be rewarding for the students. In Luis Moll’s research article, he mentions one teacher who had great success in culturally responsive teaching. Hilda Angiulo, a bilingual sixth grade teacher who used basal readers and novels and other media outlets to teach, decided to become more culturally responsive in her classroom of construction kids. “She took a big risk, since construction was a topic she knew almost nothing about.” This ended up helping her not only learn more about construction from her students, as well as guest speakers, but also to get her students to begin understanding the English language, especially in writing. So, how can teachers overcome cultural deficits perspectives on their students? By opening their mind and learning. There isn’t only one way to do everything, and many teachers believe that the way they teach is the best way for students to learn, and many times this is not at all the case. By allowing the local culture to be integrated into the classroom, and allowing the students to embrace it, the classroom can become a more successful place for us all. Still, some schools and teachers contribute to poor literacy instruction. This is because they write students off as ignorant, or lazy, just because they are having trouble learning material. Rather than adjust and work to teach the troubled students, the schools are content to “pass them along,” setting these kids up for failure. This is known as a cultural deficit idea of education. “Cultural deficit theory… the belief that certain groups were intelligently inferior to others, particularly the group in charge. (Bolima)” This pertains to education and the culture in which poor testing individuals are pushed into. Schools and teachers follow this “deficit” theory by thinking that students have a problem because they cannot learn a concept, rather than thinking they learn it in a different way, or they do things in a different way. This is called the cultural difference theory. This theory explains that students are all different and have all different experiences from one another. This makes them learn more difficultly in things they haven’t been exposed to as much. It is a theory of “everyone can learn the information, only in different ways,” and “everyone has had different experiences with these concepts, and that is okay.” As stated, many schools and teachers adopt the close-minded “cultural deficit theory,” which can be very bad for the students who need the extra help, or have had the lack of experience needed to properly learn. This can be helped by adopting a better, more open-minded variation to that theory. The “cultural difference theory,” where all students are different and need different guidance and have had different backgrounds, needs to be the overall function of the schools or teachers. One way the “Where I’m From…” project helped me shape my culturally responsive teaching strategies was by showing me that many people come from many different backgrounds that are very different, as well as very similar. I learned that many other students in my class love the outdoors, as do I. I also learned that many of my classmates are very close to their family, where as I am not as close to my family. As a teacher, I need to learn how to pick up on much of this from my students, and embrace it. I can ask students to show and tell about a family member, or I can ask students to write about experiences they have had in the outdoors. I also learned ways to make the rift between home-life and school-life, more meaningful, and how to encourage students to learn from their parents, whether it is what to do, or what not to do. I have always believed that a wealth of knowledge is learned outside of the classroom, and that many people can and will learn concepts with or without help, outside of the classroom. Another thing I learned was that I need to appreciate others’ love of different things, like family. Letting students show their love of their family can be a great way to help tie the knots between school and home, and in turn, begin learning in the ways THEY want to learn.

Where I am From Video!!

Here is my "Where I am From..." video. I am a musician and a dedicated educator currently. In the past, I just wanted to have a good time with friends out in the woods with tents, music, and good times.

Double Entry Journal #4

     This week I read this article. It is basically a short summary of an ongoing research project after a year. The project was whether or not working with each student's dialect within the English classroom, rather than harping on "Standard English," makes a positive change within the learning environment. The project, after a single year, was successful. The teachers participating actually noticed a positive difference in students' grasp of "Standard English," when the teacher adopted the use of the students natural dialects in the lesson plans.

One thing I learned from reading this article is a good way to go about research (I know not what the reader was expecting, right?). Bringing in multiple professionals of different environments and experiences as well as using a previous study or piece of literature as a basis for beginning research are two good ways to get started. I like that they studied two books that pertained to their study. They did not just read it, they "studied" it. That is a great way to go about it, it may seem simple, but I enjoyed the enlightenment.
 Another thing I learned from this article was that I didn't know students had trouble learning Standard English just because it doesn't pertain to their original dialect. I figured students learned it like it was a completely new subject, like math, or music, something they never may have experienced, but are open to new things.
One last thing I learned was that is a great idea to honor students own dialects when teaching a subject, especially language.

• Build bridges of meaningfulness between home and school experience.

An example of this would be teachers using examples of the way students' parents act (in a positive way), or talk, at home to drive home a point. The teacher would learn about the student's experience, and use it in context of the lesson. This can show how learning at home is just as great as learning in school.

• Use small groups to foster collaborative learning.

An example of this is to have students sit in a group and create a paragraph to read to each other, each group member reading the same paragraph to the other group members. After each person reads the paragraph, have the others in the group talk about how that student read that paragraph compared to how it is written on the page. Then to compare each others dialects.

     I don't have too many examples that come to mind of good or bad literacy instruction. I didn't pay a lot of attention to these things when I went through school. I do know how much I used to correct other people's grammar if anything was wrong. At the time, what I didn't know was that speaking and written language are two different things. So, technically I was mostly wrong during those situations.

 

    This video is a video posted for Mr. Triplett's class in college talking about his appalachian dialect. It includes an interview with a student who has a similar dialect and about her experiences with other people asking about her dialect. I think it pertains, since it is one example of this dialect that we have been using as an example for classroom lectures. This video also mentions that many people stereotype those with this dialect and that sometimes it can hinder students' abilities to learn effectively. 

Where I'm From

I am from beautiful, whistling songbirds outside my tent, from Microsoft and Yamaha.
I am from the brick house near the source of pepperoni rolls, above the wooded ravine.
I am from the sweet silence of the forest, the sweat covering my body.
I am from special plates and inappropriate jokes around the dinner table, from Robert Ralph Robinson and Doris Virginia Abbot and Rebecca Leigh Robinson-- Stubborn, Silly, argumentative, story-tellers, having discipline.
I am from a religious mom, and a non-religious dad, and I had my choices.
From my mother's crush on Paul McCartney and Mariah Carey.
I am from my dad's self-reserve, and my mother's million friends.
I'm from home, I am from West Virginia, pepperoni rolls and chocolate milk.
From the Weekend camp-outs, and the Music Festivals and I am from learning.
I am from Summers with the neighbors, and Winters with the friends. 
I am from being myself, from encouraging the "Silly," and never letting myself be anything else.

--Michael Robinson