WHAT IS GOOD FOR ONE, IS NOT GOOD FOR ALL!!!
Cognitive theory concentrates on how and why a person learns. The learner is simply viewed as an information processor--much like the computers in front of us. As a teacher, we input the information into our students minds, they process that information and then give us the output we desire. This process is repeated no matter what the standard may be........
In my opinion, there has been so much emphasis put on state standards and passing "The Test" that many of our teachers have forgotten the importance of teaching our students utilizing a variety of strategies/methods. When we are teaching our students we need to teach them using real-life scenarios--something they can take from our classroom and effectively apply to their daily lives. Within our classroom we have learners at a variety of levels, so how are we supposed to teach all of these learners the same standard? It will require some planning on the front end--but with differentiated instruction, the teacher will be able to do just that (no matter what level of learners you have). You simply take the standard at hand, and break it into "three different levels of learning". One level being for your upper students, the next for your average learners and finally for your below standard learners. With this type of planning and instruction--all learners can be met at their current level and we can spend more time working on the concept of "Growth" for each student, no matter what level of learning they are at.
As I stated earlier, there is so much emphasis put on "The Test" whether it be from the state or federal government, that we aren't able to consider each student as an individual and that each person learns completely different. At some point we have to look at changing the concept that all students will be able to meet all standards and instead concentrate on these students learning how to apply the learning in the classroom to their daily lives. We need to make a shift from inputting the information, allowing the learner to process the information and then give us the desired results, to one that allows the learner to explore the standard being taught, process the knowledge they gained from the exploring/researching, and then using that knowledge to produce a solution for the standard that was presented. If we can make the shift from the teacher being the one "giving the information" to the student "exploring the information" then I believe our students will become more thought provoked, successful members of society.
The following blogs were reviewed before making this post:
http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/01/isms-as-filter-not-blinker.html
http://www.kaplaneduneering.com/kappnotes/index.php/2007/01/out-and-about-discussion-on-educational/
From reading your blog post I would think that you were at my building this week! There is great frustration from "the test" right now due to the fact we know the students have learned a mass amount of information, but because the didn't perfect the test they weren't considered to pass the test. I would rather see the hands on exploring and completing projects more than learning to fill in the blanks. This also allows kids to learn at their levels. I think this is more meaningful learning assignments for the students too.
ReplyDeleteBrandy -
ReplyDeleteYour post speaks for all classroom teachers today.
at my middle school we are differentiating, we are scaffolding,we are breaking the standards in to smaller, manageable chunks of teaching and learning. All of this is done in an effort to make the learning successful so the students can pass "the test."
Roger
differentitiatng
Hello Brandy,
ReplyDeleteI can feel your passion here.... :-))). You wrote “many of our teachers have forgotten the importance of teaching our students utilizing a variety of strategies/methods. ....... You simply take the standard at hand, and break it into "three different levels of learning". One level being for your upper students, the next for your average learners and finally for your below standard learners.”
That sounds more like ability grouping. Once you have the 3 levels/groups, the educator would still need to consider the -ism strategies for reaching the individuals within the group.
-April C.