MI After Twenty Years, Howard Gardner.
It was very interesting to read that when Howard Gardner called his book the Frames of Mind that he caused such a stir against the establishment that cherishes the IQ test, because to me his multiple intelligences are broder and wider and deeper than just an IQ test. I suppose also on a personal level I had an IQ test performed on me when I was quite young in primary school and they told me that I had well below the average IQ for my age. That really undermined my learning capacity for most of my life. It wasn't until I went to uni in my fourties that I started to overcome my insecurities about my learning abilities. Then very recently my son was diagnosed with learning problems and since he has been in therapy I have found out that I have some difficulties of my own. I guess if Gardners Multiple Inteligences had been used when I was in school I might have attempted a university degree a lot earlier in my life.
Now! I realize that we all have these wonderful intelligences, some are stronger than others and of course these will all develope differently depending on, Physiological factors, psychological factors and enviromental factors. This is an enlightening piece to read because we are not discussing what has already been well reasearched and documented, but what is also an ongoing development of other (as yet not completely defined) intelligences. The very fact that Howard Gardner still searchs for clearer ways to help us understand the way the mind works is an encouragment for the questions that still need to be answered.
I am glad there are people like Howard Gardner who have this much higher intelligence that mine to ask these questions and seek the answers, because people like me can then have a chance to understand our own processes of learning, and then we have the ideas of how we should help the students in our classes learn through a variety of ways. They can then present information they have learnt in a way mostsatisfyinh to themselves, or learn through variety of different styles aimed at each of the different intelligence groups.
Another important aspect of these Intelligences is that it gives educators a great basis for creating great projects for the students to get involved with at school. I see this with my own children when they have a teacher who does utilise the multiple intelligences into the structure of how the children present their research and findings, my own kids embrace the project and get excited about what they are learning and how they can show what they have learnt.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Habits of Mind and Thinking
Habits of Mind and Thinking, A. Costa and B. Kallick.
It is really nice to have things pointed out to you in such a clear way, this has helped me in ways I have never thought of before, I didn't know that Persisting was a habit of mind. Or that finding humour was, so this article made me do the whole metacognition thing. I sometimes feel that I am tripping over my shoe laces at the moment, with all this thinking about thinking, what it's working, which bits it's working and what is supposed to happen when it does all work, Oh man! what if it doesn't work the way it's supposed to.
So I will keep these 16 points as a tool for my planning of lessons. Questions that I will be able to ask myself as I plan day to day classes, am I giving depth and development to my lesson structure?. Not only will it be a tool of self analysis it will be a tool for me to develope criteria for my own personal ability to assess the students that I have to teach.
The fact that it was an Australian based trial and it had such a positive result, has given me hope that it might become a widely used approach throughout the education system, as it invests respect and responsibility back into the student.
It is really nice to have things pointed out to you in such a clear way, this has helped me in ways I have never thought of before, I didn't know that Persisting was a habit of mind. Or that finding humour was, so this article made me do the whole metacognition thing. I sometimes feel that I am tripping over my shoe laces at the moment, with all this thinking about thinking, what it's working, which bits it's working and what is supposed to happen when it does all work, Oh man! what if it doesn't work the way it's supposed to.
So I will keep these 16 points as a tool for my planning of lessons. Questions that I will be able to ask myself as I plan day to day classes, am I giving depth and development to my lesson structure?. Not only will it be a tool of self analysis it will be a tool for me to develope criteria for my own personal ability to assess the students that I have to teach.
The fact that it was an Australian based trial and it had such a positive result, has given me hope that it might become a widely used approach throughout the education system, as it invests respect and responsibility back into the student.
Solving not attacking, complex problems.
Solving not attacking, Complex Problems, A five-state Approach Based on an Ancient Practice. Margret J. Wheatley and Geoff Crinean. 2004
I found this a very useful article in so many ways, with a variety of techniques that I will be able to develope into tools that I can use in many ways in the classroom. I found it interesting that we have been given an article that would function in the corporate world, as a template for teaching methods in the school enviroment. I can see its use not only in a modified way, to be used in the classroom, but it could become an underpinning strategy for dealing with other faculty members and middle managementand in an endless variety of situations.
Firstly, my understandings/ impressions of this article, were how useful it would have beeen last year when I was really struggling with a very recalcitrant group of year 11 students who didn't want me as a teacher, wouldn't do their work, wouldn't come to class, there were endless problems. I really recieved no support or back up from anyone else at the school, no programmes were written and I was really sinking. I did try my best, but nothing seemed to be working, reading this article I can see so many strategies that I could have employed to help me and help the students.
I can apply these five stages for many situations eg, when there are coflicts betwen the students themselves. Not every class starts out as a cohesive group, using the strategies presented in this article you can develope plans that will at least help you the teacher smooth the issues out and help the students to a more fullfilling educational outcome. I can see ways that these five stages can be incorporated into the way you teach the curriculm and help students not only reach the outcomes required but it helps to teach in this constructivist mode. So you are really teaching them to use their cognitive skills, you are able to put Blooms taxonomy into play and develope sound outcomes and learning for these young ones.
This is the reason I have come to this uni, I just wasn't getting the support or guidance I felt I needed to be a good teacher at the other uni that I was attending. This article is proof enough to me that I have made a good decision. I know that there are conflicts everywhere, in the classroom, student Vs student, teacher Vs student, it can happen in the staffroom, it can happen between teachers and managment. So it's eveywhere, so I am going to try and learn these of by heart and add them to my back-pack of tools for teaching.
I found this a very useful article in so many ways, with a variety of techniques that I will be able to develope into tools that I can use in many ways in the classroom. I found it interesting that we have been given an article that would function in the corporate world, as a template for teaching methods in the school enviroment. I can see its use not only in a modified way, to be used in the classroom, but it could become an underpinning strategy for dealing with other faculty members and middle managementand in an endless variety of situations.
Firstly, my understandings/ impressions of this article, were how useful it would have beeen last year when I was really struggling with a very recalcitrant group of year 11 students who didn't want me as a teacher, wouldn't do their work, wouldn't come to class, there were endless problems. I really recieved no support or back up from anyone else at the school, no programmes were written and I was really sinking. I did try my best, but nothing seemed to be working, reading this article I can see so many strategies that I could have employed to help me and help the students.
I can apply these five stages for many situations eg, when there are coflicts betwen the students themselves. Not every class starts out as a cohesive group, using the strategies presented in this article you can develope plans that will at least help you the teacher smooth the issues out and help the students to a more fullfilling educational outcome. I can see ways that these five stages can be incorporated into the way you teach the curriculm and help students not only reach the outcomes required but it helps to teach in this constructivist mode. So you are really teaching them to use their cognitive skills, you are able to put Blooms taxonomy into play and develope sound outcomes and learning for these young ones.
This is the reason I have come to this uni, I just wasn't getting the support or guidance I felt I needed to be a good teacher at the other uni that I was attending. This article is proof enough to me that I have made a good decision. I know that there are conflicts everywhere, in the classroom, student Vs student, teacher Vs student, it can happen in the staffroom, it can happen between teachers and managment. So it's eveywhere, so I am going to try and learn these of by heart and add them to my back-pack of tools for teaching.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Facilitating Deep Learning in the Adult online Learner, Fabio J. Chacon, Ph.D
I'm sure Kathryn has included this paper just for my benefit so when I reflect upon the hows, whats, whens and whys, I will have a platform to help me express this. This article most closely reflects what Kathryn has constructed in ED4134 for all of us to learn, and then be able to develope and use in the classroom when plan programmes and lessons. Learning to do all our work on this blog site has helped me understand "the concept of accomodation" a little better. I am learning something new and I consciously feel that my knowledge structures are adjusting.
Now I hope that I am right in how I am seeing this. Because of all this new awareness that I am experiencing; I can see some really exciting ways that I can engage students through the use of technology to be creative and have fun while they are learning (don't tell them that they are learning, you can do that later). I also see how technology will give all the students, with all different learning styles, a chance to really engage in deep learning that will develope their metacognition.
The development of the process of unstructured/ structured will be a most useful process for me to develope in my teaching skills, because I teach creative areas Visual Arts and Textiles and design, you need the structured elements. But the unstructured processes are utterly vital to developing creativity, and ones own expression. Through my own experience of this unit so far, I have felt the powerfully creative force that is released through the use of technology. The ability of the mind the do so much latteral thinking and quantum leaping, just using the world wide web is exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.
I had a little chuckle to myself when reading "Discussion Patterns of Online Students" as I had attempted to do my Dip Ed through U.N.E. last year and I saw this happen frequently, I have also experienced it in class discussions with my Visaul Arts students, at all levels. I find as a teacher if you are listening carefully you find the words that you can use to pull them back on to the topic, and this chit-chat can actually develope their individual schema. I do get a bit overloaded with all this infinitesimally analysed process of how everything goes in and how it is processed and what happens when it is processed. So I hope we have more discussion about this in one of our classes.
I'm sure Kathryn has included this paper just for my benefit so when I reflect upon the hows, whats, whens and whys, I will have a platform to help me express this. This article most closely reflects what Kathryn has constructed in ED4134 for all of us to learn, and then be able to develope and use in the classroom when plan programmes and lessons. Learning to do all our work on this blog site has helped me understand "the concept of accomodation" a little better. I am learning something new and I consciously feel that my knowledge structures are adjusting.
Now I hope that I am right in how I am seeing this. Because of all this new awareness that I am experiencing; I can see some really exciting ways that I can engage students through the use of technology to be creative and have fun while they are learning (don't tell them that they are learning, you can do that later). I also see how technology will give all the students, with all different learning styles, a chance to really engage in deep learning that will develope their metacognition.
The development of the process of unstructured/ structured will be a most useful process for me to develope in my teaching skills, because I teach creative areas Visual Arts and Textiles and design, you need the structured elements. But the unstructured processes are utterly vital to developing creativity, and ones own expression. Through my own experience of this unit so far, I have felt the powerfully creative force that is released through the use of technology. The ability of the mind the do so much latteral thinking and quantum leaping, just using the world wide web is exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.
I had a little chuckle to myself when reading "Discussion Patterns of Online Students" as I had attempted to do my Dip Ed through U.N.E. last year and I saw this happen frequently, I have also experienced it in class discussions with my Visaul Arts students, at all levels. I find as a teacher if you are listening carefully you find the words that you can use to pull them back on to the topic, and this chit-chat can actually develope their individual schema. I do get a bit overloaded with all this infinitesimally analysed process of how everything goes in and how it is processed and what happens when it is processed. So I hope we have more discussion about this in one of our classes.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Cultural Change Needed
Cultural change needed to exploit ICT in schools, Dr Alison Elliott.
An interesting article with some interesting oberservations about what I feel are very fundamental issues that relate to the development of ICT in the classroom. It certainly raises many issues and questions for me. I think many teachers that I have met, work with technology very effectively in the classroom, issues around this can relate to time and availability of computer labs and the system holding up and not breaking down. The curriculm has big holes in the implimentation of ICT, just how much extra load are we willing to pile up on our already heavily loaded teachers.
The use of ICT in schools is directly related to funding, not necessarily teachers ability to teach with it. The cost issue is fundamental to creating a divide between the haves and the have nots. Education is constantly being kicked from pillar to post by state goverment and federal goverment. And there is little support to teachers that wish to develope further in these areas, finding the money for casual teachers to replace staff out on new technology courses is almost impossible. The model of the "sage on the stage" as opposed to the "guide on the side" it really is about being a bit of both, and the wonderful development of ICT at this stage is making it a far more possible to teach using both manners. Reading through this article it seems to me that teachers are the ones who constantly need education in how they can best educate using all the tools in the eduation bag, not just one or the other. Again how much money is in the kitty, who says where it goes, how it is spent etc, it is a hugely complicated web to me at this stage.
An interesting article with some interesting oberservations about what I feel are very fundamental issues that relate to the development of ICT in the classroom. It certainly raises many issues and questions for me. I think many teachers that I have met, work with technology very effectively in the classroom, issues around this can relate to time and availability of computer labs and the system holding up and not breaking down. The curriculm has big holes in the implimentation of ICT, just how much extra load are we willing to pile up on our already heavily loaded teachers.
The use of ICT in schools is directly related to funding, not necessarily teachers ability to teach with it. The cost issue is fundamental to creating a divide between the haves and the have nots. Education is constantly being kicked from pillar to post by state goverment and federal goverment. And there is little support to teachers that wish to develope further in these areas, finding the money for casual teachers to replace staff out on new technology courses is almost impossible. The model of the "sage on the stage" as opposed to the "guide on the side" it really is about being a bit of both, and the wonderful development of ICT at this stage is making it a far more possible to teach using both manners. Reading through this article it seems to me that teachers are the ones who constantly need education in how they can best educate using all the tools in the eduation bag, not just one or the other. Again how much money is in the kitty, who says where it goes, how it is spent etc, it is a hugely complicated web to me at this stage.
Article by Rowe
Personal Computing: A Source of powerful Cognitive Tools. Helga A.H.Rowe.
This article led me to feel that computers should be the new blackboards of the future, and that learners will be more comfortable with them than holding a pencil in their hot little hands. This sets off some very deep alarm bells for me as an educator, and begs many questions on the level of metacognition and other cognitive capacities. The reference to learners having limited memory capacity, now for junior learners, I would have thought that building the foundation stones step by step was an essential process. When has the human mind or brain done this huge change that now requires us to jump from peak to peak without the filling in of the valleys. I've raised 3 children of my own and I have always been acutely aware of their learnling styles and capacity, and I've done reading at school. Now from my experience I have found that children fare better in a well developed step by step learning approach than trying to jump the gun and get them to develope new cognitive strategies and then put them inthe position of having to generate hypothesis and decision making skills etc this is for far more advanced learners. While I will of course acknowledge that yes,you will have some children in every class that will be able to fulfil this new vision of learning, I feel that has to be introduced very comprehensivly into all primary schools at the same time and not based on some quota system so the schools with only 170 kids will get 1 computer per classroom and schools with 570 kids will get 5.
I guess I am concerned that this article made me feel that there is a move towards a huge reliance on the computer to do a lot of the mental work for us that we used to do in our heads, some people are better than others at doing this. What happens when the systems break down, and thats just what they do. So what happens then when the baseline as I will call it, the step by step instruction, the foundation stones of what we need to learn hasn't been put into place.
I don't accept that the human mind has limited capacity, I'm sure that the great mathmeticans and philosophers would understand what I am trying to say. Computers are an adjunct to learning and they will only be a useful tool in cognitive learning if all the basic steps are in place.
This article led me to feel that computers should be the new blackboards of the future, and that learners will be more comfortable with them than holding a pencil in their hot little hands. This sets off some very deep alarm bells for me as an educator, and begs many questions on the level of metacognition and other cognitive capacities. The reference to learners having limited memory capacity, now for junior learners, I would have thought that building the foundation stones step by step was an essential process. When has the human mind or brain done this huge change that now requires us to jump from peak to peak without the filling in of the valleys. I've raised 3 children of my own and I have always been acutely aware of their learnling styles and capacity, and I've done reading at school. Now from my experience I have found that children fare better in a well developed step by step learning approach than trying to jump the gun and get them to develope new cognitive strategies and then put them inthe position of having to generate hypothesis and decision making skills etc this is for far more advanced learners. While I will of course acknowledge that yes,you will have some children in every class that will be able to fulfil this new vision of learning, I feel that has to be introduced very comprehensivly into all primary schools at the same time and not based on some quota system so the schools with only 170 kids will get 1 computer per classroom and schools with 570 kids will get 5.
I guess I am concerned that this article made me feel that there is a move towards a huge reliance on the computer to do a lot of the mental work for us that we used to do in our heads, some people are better than others at doing this. What happens when the systems break down, and thats just what they do. So what happens then when the baseline as I will call it, the step by step instruction, the foundation stones of what we need to learn hasn't been put into place.
I don't accept that the human mind has limited capacity, I'm sure that the great mathmeticans and philosophers would understand what I am trying to say. Computers are an adjunct to learning and they will only be a useful tool in cognitive learning if all the basic steps are in place.
Tis is great!
last night when I shut down my computer I thought to myself "no, tomorrow I'll have all the difficulties in the world again and not be able to access my site and blah blah blah" But hey, it's worked I'm here, tis is Great, I'm now a happy little vegemite. Now all I have to do is learn how to add all the pretties.
The other day when I walked to uni I just looked at all the colour and activity, young and old, around me and once again felt that pulse, that rythm of life to quote the wonderful performer Sammy Davis Jnr in the movie "Sweet Charity".
Most people maybe don't notice this but I've been away from it for a long time now so my senses are more acute to the vibrations of society around me when I re-enter the city enviroment. I love being back in the city, the old euphorism "you can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl" well flip that and I guess that it applies to me a bit. I fell in love with this very alternative guy who is a wonderful potter with a huge talent, who built the home we live in out of mud brick from the local area and it's out in the middle of the bush.
It is very beautiful where we live and we nurture and take care of our land, we have abundant wildlife around us, and I have a healthy appreciation for the fact that I couldn't live in the city with ease ever again. You see both of these enviroments have such different vibrations, the city has a vibe that bounces up of the concrete and zaps around you, like you're inside a pinball machine. Where as at home in the bush, there is an absorbance that happens. It's subtle and in the long run extremely seductive, it nurtures your soul. You learn to feel the earth breathe and sigh and the energy that the earth gives you is regenerative, and although I love to come into the city, it leaves me poophed at the end of the day.
last night when I shut down my computer I thought to myself "no, tomorrow I'll have all the difficulties in the world again and not be able to access my site and blah blah blah" But hey, it's worked I'm here, tis is Great, I'm now a happy little vegemite. Now all I have to do is learn how to add all the pretties.
The other day when I walked to uni I just looked at all the colour and activity, young and old, around me and once again felt that pulse, that rythm of life to quote the wonderful performer Sammy Davis Jnr in the movie "Sweet Charity".
Most people maybe don't notice this but I've been away from it for a long time now so my senses are more acute to the vibrations of society around me when I re-enter the city enviroment. I love being back in the city, the old euphorism "you can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl" well flip that and I guess that it applies to me a bit. I fell in love with this very alternative guy who is a wonderful potter with a huge talent, who built the home we live in out of mud brick from the local area and it's out in the middle of the bush.
It is very beautiful where we live and we nurture and take care of our land, we have abundant wildlife around us, and I have a healthy appreciation for the fact that I couldn't live in the city with ease ever again. You see both of these enviroments have such different vibrations, the city has a vibe that bounces up of the concrete and zaps around you, like you're inside a pinball machine. Where as at home in the bush, there is an absorbance that happens. It's subtle and in the long run extremely seductive, it nurtures your soul. You learn to feel the earth breathe and sigh and the energy that the earth gives you is regenerative, and although I love to come into the city, it leaves me poophed at the end of the day.
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