Question 1: 5 habits of mind as described by Arthur Costa
Persistence: the ability to stick to a task until it is completed. This involves recognising when
an idea or theory does not work, and being able to step back and start anew with a different theory. Often systematic methods of analyzing a problem are used, which include knowing how to begin, knowing what steps must be performed, and what data needs to be generated or collected. The ability to sustain a problem solving process over time, means the person is comfortable with ambiguous situations.
Managing impulsitivity: thinking before they act, intentionally forming a vision of a product, plan of action, goal or a destination before it is begun. striving to clarify and understand directions, developing a strategy for approaching a problem and withholding immediate value judgments about an idea before fully understanding it. Reflective individuals consider alternatives and consequences of several possible directions prior to taking action. They decrease their need for trial and error by gathering information, taking time to reflect on an answer before giving it, making sure they understand directions, and listening to alternative points of view.
Listening To Others—With Understanding and Empathy: Some psychologists believe that the ability to listen to another person, to empathize with, and to understand their point of view is one of the highest forms of intelligent behavior. Being able to paraphrase another person's ideas, detecting indicators of their feelings or emotional states in their oral and body language (empathy), accurately expressing another person's concepts, emotions and problems— are all indications of listening behavior (Piaget called it "overcoming ego-centrism"). They are able to see through the diverse perspectives of others. They gently attend to another person demonstrating their understanding of and empathy for an idea or feeling by paraphrasing it accurately, building upon it, clarifying it, or giving an example of it.
Thinking Flexibly: Flexible people are the ones with the most control. They have the capacity to change their mind as they receive additional data. They engage in multiple and simultaneous outcomes and activities, draw upon a repertoire of problem solving strategies and can practice style flexibility, knowing when it is appropriate to be broad and global in their thinking and when a situation requires detailed precision. They create and seek novel approaches and have a well-developed sense of humor. They envision a range of consequences and consider alternative points of view.
Thinking About our Thinking (Metacognition): this is our ability to know what we know and what we don't know, the ability to plan a strategy for producing what information is needed, to be conscious of our own steps and strategies during the act of problem solving, and to reflect on and evaluate the productiveness of our own thinking. While "inner language," thought to be a prerequisite, begins in most children around age five, metacognition is a key attribute of formal thought flowering about age eleven. the major components of metacognition are developing a plan of action, maintaining that plan in mind over a period of time, then reflecting back on and evaluating the plan upon its completion. Planning a strategy before embarking on a course of action assists us in keeping track of the steps in the sequence of planned behavior at the conscious awareness level for the duration of the activity. It facilitates making temporal and comparative judgments, assessing the readiness for more or different activities, and monitoring our interpretations, perceptions, decisions and behaviors. An example of this would be what superior teachers do daily: developing a teaching strategy for a lesson, keeping that strategy in mind throughout the instruction, then reflecting back upon the strategy to evaluate its effectiveness in producing the desired student outcomes.
(ref: www.habits-of-mind.net/whatare.htm)
Question 2: Gardner
Musical intelligence relates to "skill in performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns. It encompasses the capacity to recognize and compose musical pitches, tones, and rhythms. According to Howard Gardner musical intelligence runs in an almost structural parallel to linguistic intelligence". People who strongly relate through music, may find it easy to learn by writing the material into a song, hearing music from the particular era (i.e. for history), perhaps even learn maths through looking at musical intervals?! Music, as a general rule has a great influence on people's mood. It can be a great motivator to keep going when on a long walk, and even playing soft music in the background can bring a more relaxed atmosphere and make students more receptive to learning - this is of course age and subject dependent. This musical intelligence can also be incorporated in a theatrical context, i.e. by allowing students to present research through a musical/theatrical performance.
Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence entails the potential of using one's whole body or parts of the body to solve problems - as with maths, looking at proportions etc. It is the ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily movements (Howard Gardner sees mental and physical activity as related). This could even involve imagination to relate bodily movements to various other animals or objects' shapes etc.
Spatial intelligence involves the potential to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas. Using a variety of objects and/or people in the classroom to give an idea of distances or relative sizes is one way of incorporating this intelligence, as is using the human body as a guideline to drawing certain shapes - one example of this is using the extremities of the body when stretched out: hands, feet and head, to explain how to draw a 5-pointed star. This last example also relates back to bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.
Logical-mathematical intelligence consists of the capacity to analyze problems logically, carry out mathematical operations, and investigate issues scientifically. In Howard Gardner's words, in entails the ability to detect patterns, reason deductively and think logically. This intelligence is most often associated with scientific and mathematical thinking and is one of the more commonly used intelligences in the educational system.
Question 3: Piaget
Piaget's main observation was that children are different to adults in the way they learn, think and act - rather than being a smaller, yet similar version of adults.
He also saw that children construct their own knowledge through their interaction with the world, i.e. through their own actions and the effect of these on the world.
Piaget recognised 4 different stages of cognitive development:
- Sensorimotor (birth to 2 years) - The mental structures are mainly concerned with the mastery of concrete objects, how to hold them etc.
- Preoperational (2 years to 7 years) - The mastery of symbols takes place - memory and imagination are developed, the use of language matures. Thinking remains mainly centered around the self and its experiences.
- Concrete operational (7 years to 11 years) - Children learn mastery of classes, relations, and numbers and how to reason. Connections between symbols and what they represent are made and operational thinking (mental actions that are reversable) develops.
- Formal operational (abstract thinking) (11 years and up) - The last stage deals with the mastery of thought: the use of symbols related to abstract concepts.
Question 4: Vygotsky
Similar to Piaget, Vygotsky thought children learn through their social interactions. More than that though, he realised that greater learning was achieved through adult guidance and/or peer collaboration; that is adults pointing out certain objects or ideas throughout the children's development, so that they may themselves come to their own conclusions/realisations. It is simply drawing attention to an element that will guide them to a new level of thinking. Vygotsky pointed out that "adults mediate the world for children and make it possible for them to get access to it".
He emphasised that "skills developed with adult guidance or peer collaboration exceeds what can be attained alone.
The "Zone of Proximal Development" relates to the limited time span in which learning can occur, as well as the level of understanding and development that the students/children are at. In a sense children need to be "warmed" to what they're about to learn, by reminding them of what they have learnt so far and connecting it to the new. This natural progression helps them make sense of it.
B)
Question 1: according to John Hattie, "expert" teachers:
"combine new subject matter content knowledge with prior knowledge" and can relate "to other subjects in the curriculum". Lessons are catered "according to their students' needs and their own goals". This relates back to Vygotsky's "Zone of Proximal Development" and means the teacher clearly takes into account where the students are at in terms of knowledge, needs and general understanding of Life ("experts needed to know the ability, experience and background of students they were to teach").
There also seems to be a certain flexibility and adaptability among expert teachers: they "can anticipate, plan and improvise as required by the students" and "are more adept at monitoring student problems and assessing their level of understanding and progress". They can "detect when students lose interest and are not understanding". This means the teacher will not get stuck in delivering a lesson the way s/he planned it, if it is clearly not working as well as expected or hoped for. Knowing the students well also means the signs of disinterest or confusion/misunderstanding are easier to read.
This point is also touched on by Hattie: "expert teachers have high respect for students [...], as learners and people, and demonstrate care and commitment for them". This care for students is important in creating a positive classroom climate and modelling positive relationships (Vygotsky - the importance of social interaction), and thereby addresses Glasser's drive of being safe & secure, as well as being loved and accepted. This in turn means students feel comfortable enough to ask questions; this is a vital sign of students' interest & motivation and helps deepen students' learning. This is addressed several times throughout Hattie's description of expert teachers: they "engage students in learning", are "skillful at keeping the lesson on track and accomplishing their objectives, while allowing students' questions and comments as springboards for discussions". "Student questioning is high".
Through this interaction with the students, teachers are also giving constant feedback. This helps the students to further their learning whilst feeling supported, encouraged and understood (this goes back to the positive classroom climate and to being able to "detect when students lose interest and are not understanding").
Expert teachers are "passionate about teaching and learning. They show more emotionality about their successes and failures in their work". And perhaps it is this passion which gives them the care for and belief in their students and means they aim higher. Hattie explains that "they aim for more than achievement goals and motivate their students to master rather than perform." Through this they "enhance students' self-concept and self-efficacy about learning, they set appropriate challenging tasks" (thereby keeping the students motivated) and "aim for both surface and deep outcomes". This seems to be achieved through a "balance between content-centred and student-centred instruction". "Students engage in challenging tasks to a great extent of the time" whereas usually the majority of classroom time is teacher-focused, with students only listening to what is being said. The high degree of student questioning clearly shows the teacher's confidence within the subject area - to be able to answer those questions - and perhaps also a more humane approach in that it is OK to not always know the answers, even as a teacher. Also, the fact that expert teachers seem to be "more adept at developing hypotheses about learning difficulties or instructional strategies", shows they are well informed about educational issues & students' learning abilities, as well as in their subject area.
It seems to me that the most important qualities of the expert teachers are their passion (about teaching and learning) and their caring, humane approach to students. These are the basic drives that lead to all the other qualities identified by John Hattie, and to expert teachers having "positive influences on students' achievement".
Question 2: Individual differences in classroom
The first step in catering for individual differences within the classroom, is by using a variety of ways to teach. This is to address multiple intelligences as explained by Howard Gardner, and therefore different ways of learning, by using visual, musical, linguistic etc. materials, and giving choice in the way research/projects are investigated and presented. Allowing time for class discussions where opinions may be expressed, issues discussed and hopefully resolved together, is also a way of giving everyone the opportunity to be proactive in the ongoings of the classroom, as well as to express their individuality and differences.
Teaching Emotional Intelligence is also a way of recognizing and addressing differences, teaching healthy relationship models, whilst still allowing students to stay on track with their work.
C)
Question 1: B.O.S.
On the Board of Studies website, the following are available for French taught in primary school:
- a 72 page-long syllabus that applies to all the levels from kindergarten to year 10,
- a 4 page guide for the syllabus
- a link to a "Syllabus Briefing Presentation"
Though not specifically for french, foundation statements are also available on the primary school page: k6.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/, see the "Primary Curriculum Foundation Statements" heading (first one, in orange). This information is needed when writing programs.
The "Official Notices" & "Special Needs Education" sections on the Home page of the Board of Studies website, are also good areas to look at, especially the first for any up-to-date information on syllabus changes.
Question 2: Lesson Planning
The importance of planning: well, there's nothing quite like entering a classroom not knowing what to teach!! It is important to know what the outcomes for the lesson are (to be looked up on the Board of Studies website), as well as how the content is going to be presented to the students. This needs to be done in a way that will motivate the students to engage in the lesson. For without student motivation, they will easily get distracted and this could be a recipe for disaster. By stating the outcomes clearly to the students, they will also know what is expected of them, giving them clearer direction as to what to do. By incorporating group activities, the students' drive for social interaction is acknowledged (Vygotsky) and using different media facilitates learning for different intelligences (Gardner).
Although it can be refreshing to be spontaneous within a lesson, it is important - as a general rule - to look at all aspects of learning and teaching psychologies.
What factors to consider in prior learning and background: It is important to look at the students' current understanding to be able to build on that knowledge, guiding them to the next step of understanding. This is called the "zone of proximal development" and is best put into practise by looking at the students' general interests. It is through these that it will be possible to motivate and engage students in the learning process.
Different strategies for gaining students' attention: This is, again, done by including students' interest in the way a lesson is presented. Bringing fun into the lesson is always an extra motivator for the students to participate, and by having some sort of an intrigue or a dilemma to be solved, the students' may become curious, arousing their desire to solve the mystery. Having a foundation of trust and respect with the students is also vital for students' to respond to the set tasks, as they will not want to engage with someone they dislike or mistrust.
Different assignment strategies that enable you to know/measure what students have learnt: By having a variety of assessment tasks and interactions and discussions within the classroom, it is possible to observe how much the information/task were learnt and integrated. This gives them the opportunity to use/show the learnt outcomes in a variety of activities, and to still ask questions if anything is misunderstood or unclear.
No comments:
Post a Comment