2 frames for observing and teaching

Understandings:
There are so many things that I have read in the past week that just make sense and I agree with, yet I always thought was wrong or inappropriate in the classroom, mainly due to the way I experienced my own schooling, and how most teachers I know talk about the way they teach. Letting children explore and learn through playing, while being there to pitch in and lend a hand is one of these. Of course! Yvgotsky's theory encourages teachers to plan curriculum that extends children's knowledge, and to scaffold their learning by putting them in situations where their competence is streched." So many teachers today are just worried about getting their lesson plans for the day completed, that they will cut off a discussion that errupts between a few students about a class topic, dismissing it as side chatter. They should be embracing it, it is an unanswered question that has sparked interest, and they should be letting it continue, and even getting the rest of the class involved in it.

Another Understanding is that doing something just because it is fun isn't enough. Dewey stated that the process of learning is enjoyable, but it also needs to be educational. So even a reward to a class that meets a goal or beats a game, should be educational as well. The example the book gives with the ice cream party, how the teacher talks about how ice cream is made, seeing what favorite flavors their parents like, how ice cream is made, visiting a yogurt factory etc. makes so much more sense, instead of just giving the kids ice cream and saying congratulations. It is so much of a missed opportunity. This feeds right into Piaget's point on how real world experience can not be substituted. Talking about an ice breaker game will never substitute the experience of playing it. I hope to incorporate as many real life experiences as possible when teaching.

Easy Applications:
One of the biggest lesson's I've learned from Piaget is the science behind permanence leading to seperation anxiety. I've seen it many times before, but never knew why it was happening...thus not being able to appropriately respond to a parent's concerns about this. I could tell them everything was going to be alright, and I knew it would be, but I never knew why. Now I do, and it's because the babies no longer have an out of sight, out of mind way of thinking, and they know their parents are somewhere else, and they want them back now. I can confidently tell parents why their child is acting like this, and that it is just a stage their child is going through that will pass.

Another Application I will apply in my class room will be Montesori's belief of allowing children to take responsibility. I will help children be everything they are capable of. And have the tools readily available that they will need to do this. I will also schedule large periods of time for them to work on projects and not interrupt them unless absolutely neccesary. If someone is passionately working on a project and it's time to move on to another subject, I will let them finish and help them catch up to where the rest of the class is. How can you interrupt someone's passion for learning?

Segregated schools discussion

I thought today's discussion stemming from the reading of "Segregated Schools" was a healthy start to talking about issues of race and education. I especially appreciated the honesty of participants in describing their own experiences, or in some cases, lack of experiences. I hope that we can build on that conversation as the months progress.

I thought it might be helpful to provide some links, especially for those outside Oregon, to get a better sense of Oregon's school financial issues and demographics.

First, the House overrode the governor's veto of the school budget, which essentially sets the amount school districts will be receiving. Here is the latest:

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/06/house_overrides_school_budget.html

While this is generally good news for Oregon students (and prospective teachers!), it's still disappointing that the Legislature wasn't brave enough to cut more tax breaks and raise taxes on beer, wine and cigarettes.

Here is a link to the story about the proposed reform of Portland high schools that we discussed:

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/06/portland_high_school_overhaul.html
Portland School District has tried a variety of high school reforms, particularly in its so-called failing high schools, in the 15 years I've lived here. None has succeeded.

Finally, I thought folks might be interested in the demographics of the school where you will be interning. If you go to this link, you should be able to look up your school and learn about both your ethnic makeup.

http://www.ode.state.or.us/sfda/reports/r0067Select2.asp


Thanks, Michael

What's the big idea?

After I read "Concept-Focused Teaching" I kept thinking back to my daughter's second grade science curriculum. She learned about "habitats," and although she had a song to describe them and could talk about several animals and their habitats, I just couldn't figure out why she needed to learn that bears live in caves. It's good information if you're hiking, but other than that, what's the point?

This sentence in the article caught my eye: "Whenever we take a standard... and change it into an objective, we run the very real risk of reducing the content to trivia." I could summarize the science I've learned in that one word: trivia. What was your science experience like? Did you have teachers who focused on the big idea? When you think about teaching the concept of  "light" what are ways to point to the standards and not reduce them to objectives? What are some constraints we might face as teachers that would limit us to teach objectives?

M.A.T. Blog

The Lewis & Clark M.A.T. Program Blog will be a place for us to continue our conversations from class across all cohorts.