Comments on last session

Comments on last learning session with Nuddy
Role play

Our group had to play out the senario of two teachers and two students discussing teaching and learning in a course they were involved in. The teachers and the students had different perceptions about the way the class was going and they were meeting to share meaning and communicate their differences in perception to each other.
Kamla and Earlene were from the student’s body sharing their perceptions on the way the classes were going. Joanne and Marlene were the teachers to whom the complaints were laid. They said the students were complaining that the lessons were boring so they got very sleepy during class. Students were just not motivated to learn.
The teachers were adamant that the lessons were going well and that they were not doing anything that they hadn’t always done. Their teaching style was upfront and had always worked before. They had been taught in that manner and look where it got them, they were teachers and had been for a long time.
One of the student’s said that they had heard of a teacher that was using new strategies to teach, where there were lots of different interesting activities for the students and that the classroom was very interactive. There were lots of beginnings and endings. The students used different media, such as e-portfolio to present their assessments.
Teachers who have not kept up with the latest teaching methods may still be working from the old model where the teacher supposedly had all the answers. Their style was usually lecture style and there was not much interaction nor reflection on what was working for the students to enable them to learn.
Much research has been done on why and how students learn or don’t learn. Teachers are now expected to look at themselves if the students are not learning continually reflecting on their teaching. Teacher and learner share responsibility for learning.

REview:How to Teach So Students Remember by Sprenger, Marilee

To find this link copy the address below:

http://manukau.eblib.com.au.ezproxy.manukau.ac.nz/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=280350
The book starts off telling a story about two young students, one who is really good at chess and the other riding a skateboard. The writer asks these two boys how they got to do what they do so well?
It seems both first of all saw someone else with the skill which made them want to have it also and so were motivated to set about getting it for themselves. This involved a series of steps simplistically put,
Have a target. Picture themselves doing it, make mistakes (this they realize from not winning or falling over and hurting themselves) while doing all of this they will be getting lots of practice.
The author gives us seven steps for learning and remembering namely:
Reach – engaging students in their learning. If you can engage them you are helping them reach for their target.
Reflect – give them time to think while they are learning
Recode – students make the information their own by organizing it in their brains using their working memory and accessing prior knowledge. (Constructing)
Reinforce – This is giving feedback from both teacher and student
Rehearse – that means practice
Review - look at the whole thing again
Retreive – Bring out the information when you need it. It will be there if it has been stored in long term memory.
So we need and want their attention. It is necessary for thinking. Andreason (2001) says that attention is the cognitive process which allows us to control irrelevant stimuli. And it there are five types of attention; sustained, directed, selective, divided and focused. The brain is always attending and it is quite an art to turning it off. (through types of meditiation). Luckily the attention process can be instructed and fortunately the anterior cingulate will focus on what we bring it’s attention to. (Now don’t ask me about that as do not want to go into the biological aspects as my brain won’t cope with those aspects at this point in time).
So whether the information is retained in memory depends on the individuals love for the subject matter and its dramatic, emotional, auditory and visual impact. (Shaun Kerry (2002). It is through these elements that we can get the students attention and interest.
I can see how presentation is important and as a teacher I must be aware of this so that I can use the most effective methods/activities possible to engage the students.
Some thoughts. We really want to make the most out of our time teaching. What I mean by that is;
To make the experience optimally worthwhile we need to make it memorable, for both oneself and the student so that both parties get the most out of the experience. Of course, for this to happen means not only that we must know what we want the student to learn but also be adaptable and skillful enough to use the appropriate resources, which includes oneself, to teach them so they will become engaged in the lesson itself. Learning Outcomes need to be clearly and explicitly laid out so that the student will also know what it is they are learning. I cannot afford to become complacent regarding teaching matter. I must always have a learning outcome in mind before I set out to present it to a student or class. This will either give them enthusiasm for the Outcome or disinterest. If it is something they want to learn or is necessary in order to achieve a higher goal they will be motivated to do it.

Now the way we go about facilitating the student to achieve this goal is also important. Scaffolding the learning will enable the student to build on the knowledge they already have on the subject. If it is completely new information the way we present it will be crucial. We would not want to start at the end without then tracing back to the beginning.
For example, if I want to teach the student how to apply for a job I would need to teach them how to find and read the advertisement first, or I may need to teach key vocabulary first.

3 June 2010
I was pleased to meet Nuddy today to talk about my thoughts and ideas around developing my ePortfolio.
Traditional assessment looked to the end product without taking into consideration how one got there, perhaps it was all other peoples ideas and words whereas constructive learning deems the process more important than the end product because an idea one may have had at the beginning of the process will begin to change as more information and knowledge is added to understand the subject.
Constructivisim is making one’s own meaning from information and knowledge acquired.
Nuddy’s comparison of Gramsci to Friere gave me food for thought, perhaps Gramsci might not be so boring as I imagined. Just because I always gave up when things got to difficult to comprehend in the past doesn’t mean it would be in the future or now. I usually gave up too easily when I didn’t understand.
Nuddy suggested I could take a part in team teaching in a class with him to some students at an appropriate level. My first thought was, wow, that would be a great experience but then immediately wondered if I would be up to it. And why not?. That will be great.
Even though it might be challenging for me to be in a class and presenting something to a group of students with whom I may feel a little intimidated (this is why I used to think I would love to teach children) it would be a great opportunity which I wouldn’t want to miss, and so thank Nuddy for the offer.

Here is are some great links, the first to Literacy Maths for practice. The second for an example of an eportfolio and the last to more samples. The initial link was from Nigels wiki comment;

Session 5

Gosh tonight's lesson was just great. We practiced the process of creating a lesson that brings in all the elements required for a successful lesson. Of course, I have a long way to go to perfecting it. And I need to practice and practice for it all to become second nature.

It is just getting more and more engaging session by session.

Wish I had taken up teaching years ago. It is like having a new puzzle to play with each time and finding the pieces and filling them in.