Next week we will have a minimum of one hour to get back into groups and work on the lessons. I will also bring a sign up sheet for the presentation dates.
Enjoy the sun!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
After Class Seven
Next week we will have a minimum of one hour to get back into groups and work on the lessons. I will also bring a sign up sheet for the presentation dates.
Enjoy the sun!
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“Listening is a really important skill to have and I think that it is something that we should teach children in elementary school or earlier, it’s a skill that will be useful throughout their school career and beyond. Children should not only learn the basic manners and actions involved in listening but also how to take in and comprehend what they are hearing from the speaker. It is really important that they should also learn how to summarize and formulate questions about what they have heard. I think that it’s best to start learning these skills as early as possible. The text provided some interesting strategies and minilessons that can be implemented in the classroom. I especially liked the section on note taking and note making because this is something that I didn’t explicitly learn in school and had to just figure out for myself.
ReplyDeleteDuring the discussion part of our class we got a lot more involved in answering the questions than I predicted. I liked how we went from working in small groups to a whole class discussion, sometimes it’s hard to get up in front of the class but it’s not as bad when you’ve already talked about the topic in a less intimidating setting. It was really interesting to hear what everyone thought about the questions we all made up and it was too bad that we didn’t get to hear all the questions. This is a good strategy to use in any classroom where the students are reading more detailed stories and other texts; it provides an opportunity for a deeper look into characters, ideas, facts and issues.”
Teaching students to think Critically about Media ( In particular Movies and TV)
ReplyDeleteOne issue that came up in class was the ability to teach students to think critically about media, but in such a way that does not take away from their enjoyment of these mediums. One example I have is Disney movies. If you haven’t noticed there are many Disney movies which reinforce stereotypes or portray characters in certain ways. For instance, if you consider the movie “Aladdin”, the hero and Princess and given westernized accents and the evil thieves are given Arabic accents. What message does this give to children? Are they saying the good people in this world are more westernized and we should fear the other, anything that is different. Unfortunately, encouraging children to think critically about these forms of media depends on the child’s age. Do we want our children growing up faster than they should? I do agree that the representations of many characters in movies and television may influence a child’s perception of others, however if the child is not raised in a shoebox, he or she should be aware of the realities of this world. One thing which is important, is that we should remind and teach our children that usually what you see on television is not accurate. For an older child ask, do you think what you see on 90210 is reflective of all teenager’s lives? Do you really think these teenagers have the ideal lives? Perhaps promote a discussion in this class about the glorifying of television and movies.
Distance Education courses – Pros and Cons
There are many differing attitudes toward distance education courses. For one the idea of distance education is just as the name implies: distance education. The student is far away from the focus of the classroom and has no intimate contact with the professor or any of his or her peers. In some ways this can also cause students to lose interest in the course or even procrastinate. There are some advantages that I would like to discuss however. For one, the student can work individually without distractions from opposing opinions or teacher influences. In this way, the student is forced to think for him or herself. Second, there are some students who are poor listeners and learn better reading a text, so a course such as this may be more suitable for them. Third, although there are individuals who may procrastinate, there are some students who won’t. A distance education course can enhance organizational skills as well as motivation to complete an assignment without having a teacher remind you for assignments. In a sense, this can also foster responsible behaviours. Overall, I am on the fence when it comes to distance education courses. I do feel strongly against young elementary students taking distance education students, simply because I think they are more prone to lose focus. Perhaps, distance education courses are best suited for students are more focused – highschool and university students. Perhaps, it just depends on the individual.
LIFT
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the conversation about LIFT. I think that this is a great way to bring literacy into the home. I believe that there is a decrease in parents taking their children to the library and participating in literacy activities, due to lack of time and money. In addition, I think that with the ability to entertain children through technology there has been a decrease in parent and child reading time. I think that this program works because it provides the necessary materials; therefore, it is not a lot of extra work for parents. In addition, it may help bring families together as “most response activities are designed to require family members’ interaction” (Tompkins et al., 2011, p. 340). Due to the need of family involvement children will also be gaining experience with social interaction and support. I have experienced the positive effects of LIFT as many students love reading with family members and they often speak about this the next day at school. Although this is a great program it is important that parents to also spend time reading with their children as much as possible without attaching school to the activity. I think that having time to read with an adult without activities involved is just as significant.
Literature circles
I am a firm believer in literacy circles not only increasing reading skills, but also aesthetic speaking skills. I have used literacy circles during practicum and the students could not wait to meet with their group and discuss the books. Many times I had to remind them to stop reading ahead and to write down all of their thoughts because there is no way to remember all of them for their next literature circle time. With the program I used there were no such roles that children took on; instead they were all expected to equally contribute. Because students had the opportunity while reading to pick out a part that they connected to most, students who were shy could practice what they were going to say. I found that even my shy students would talk more than usual during this process. As Tompkins et al. (2001) state students tend to encourage one another to contribute to the discussion. This was the case during my literature circles as many students would persuade their classmates to talk by asking them what they thought about a certain topic. Furthermore, ESL students can participate as there are usually two students that are at the same level in a class. In my class I had four ESL students working on the same book. I feel that I could write about this topic forever so I will stop while I’m ahead.
The concept of distance education is one that everyone has an opinion on. Personally, I can see both sides of the argument. I think it is amazing that education is being made available to more people with the use of online courses. People who live far away from campus or who have family or work commitments can still further their education. My friend, for instance, was able to finish a program she started in Toronto once she moved to Vancouver through Athabasca University’s distance education program. However, many people who have taken regular classes find distance courses difficult because it requires students to be incredibly self-directed. Altogether, I feel that distance education courses are still a valuable resource.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the discussion questions we explored were quite useful. For one, they encouraged us to think critically about the text and the issues it brought up. Moreover, the fact that the questions were generated by us (the students) was beneficial. Seeing our class discuss something we had thought of and picked out as important was empowering. The ancient concept that the teacher holds all the knowledge and that students are powerless without their guidance certainly does not apply here. This student-directed activity is an example of the activities I hope to use in my long practicum and beyond.
The first thing I would like to touch on is what we discussed about “note taking” during class. Many people seemed to think it was unnecessary and detrimental to learning, which I completely disagree with. As a history major, I sometimes took up to 8 pages on notes during a lecture and am happy I was taught how to properly take notes and think teachers should do the same. While many classes are starting to put things online, some teachers, especially at the university level, are still “keeping it old school” and stick to lecture format that doesn’t use PowerPoint. If I had not learned how to take proper notes and pick out relevant information, I would have been very unsuccessful in my undergrad since in my four years I never once had a history teacher that veered from lecture style teaching. Because of this I think students need to learn to take proper notes. As well, I personally prefer classes when I am forced to take notes as opposed to PowerPoint’s. While I can see the point of view that note taking means you cant concentrate on the material, I found that unless I am being forced to listen and listen for important information, I will daydream throughout class. If there is a PowerPoint I will just doodle and retain no information, whereas in a lecture if you know that what you hear is the only information you will get, you are forced to listen and listen carefully.
ReplyDeleteThe second thing I want to touch on is the discussion we had in class about visual media in class and about critical analysis of video. I am conflicted when it comes to ideas of critical analysis in the classroom, especially when it comes to media. While I on the one hand think that students should be taught to use higher-level thinking and to question the world around them including video and literature, I think there is a point where kids just need to be kids as well. Kids are growing up too fast as it is, and getting them to critically analyze videos of Hannah Montana takes away from the growing up process. I played with Barbie’s until I was 12, and at no point was I wishing I looked like a Barbie nor did I develop an eating disorder because Barbie’s have tiny waists. I played because it was fun to get lost in another world and I think that’s the reason kids love Hannah Montana and those shows as well. But at the same time, I understand the ideas behind getting students to analyze these commercials and TV shows and how it contributes to learning. I just believe there is a time and a place to critically analyze, and there is a time and place and just let things be.
Q & A discussion
ReplyDeleteThis week’s question and answer activity (Q&A) was quite informative and enjoyable. Upon reflection, I began to compare it with our previous jigsaw work where we each summarized and presented a passage from the textbook to the class. There seemed to be some notable advantages to the Q&A format. First, I felt immediately engaged in the class discussion during this session - possibly due to having questions to respond to straight away. With the previous summary exercise, it was easy to listen aesthetically (read daydream) during someone’s presentation and not necessarily attend to the message. Additionally, the effort seemed more collaborative during the small group work this week. In mine, we workshopped potential questions together to gauge their merits. The overall process, in fact, builds community since we each rely on others to read their parts and create generative questions that will probe our real and present concerns related to teaching. A final endorsement of the Q&A technique, for me, is that it made me more aware of my thinking strategy. Rather than just digging in and automatically summarizing the content, as I did in the previous activity, here I was confronted with the need to first consider a suitable approach to the text, deciding in this case to scan the passage for something that would trigger juicy discussion questions.
Ultimately, I would use both of these activities in my classroom - in keeping with the PDP goal of creating a “lively and varied” learning environment - but it’s useful to consider the strengths involved in each one to create the best match with the intended purpose.
Therapeutic listening
It would be ideal to include more opportunities for therapeutic listening in our language arts activities. Aside from having self evident virtue, emotional wellbeing is such an essential part of learning generally and any efforts to foster it through listening must be a benefit to the entire classroom community. Unfortunately, in my experience during full immersion it seemed to become increasingly more difficult to make time for modeling this behaviour, ie. just conversing with the students in an informal way and listening to them talk out their concerns. With the greater responsibility to account for the students’ progress during 405, I noticed that much of my listening was oriented toward collecting academic evidence of their learning. This is quite regrettable because I’m certain that the students’ willingness to engage with my lessons and take risks was due, in part, to the rapport we developed from just those types of conversations in the earlier 401 practicum.
Re Quest Strategy:
ReplyDeleteAfter rereading chapter 6, I am again interested in the ReQuest strategy outlined on page 250-1. Although it shouldn’t be, the idea of letting students ask the teacher unlimited questions after reading a passage is so far removed from what is traditionally done. After reading a passage, teachers close the book and start firing questions out to students; the better the teacher, the higher-level questioning. But this ReQuest strategy is done so differently. While yes, the strategy eventually has the teacher asking students the follow-up, higher-order questions, students get first crack at questioning. I find this approach appealing for a number of reasons: 1) students will become much more engaged and interested given the opportunity to “quiz” the teacher; 2) students are held to higher expectations by not being passive receivers of questions; 3) it encourages students to think critically and ask questions—a skill I want to encourage but can be difficult knowing how to do so; 4) having the teacher ask “better” questions afterwards will eventually help students learn what good questions look like. With the pros for this strategy being obvious, I have to acknowledge probably the primary difficulty with this strategy, establishing a respectful questioning/listening culture within your classroom before the strategy could be successful.
Collaborative Reports:
Being able to work collaboratively with a group of other people is such an important skill for both university and almost any career or job. I don’t think I am exaggerating when I state that it is impossible to avoid working with others in some capacity at some point in time. For this reason, the section in the text on collaborative reports, (p.262), is so key for educators to bone-up on because we need to equip our students with these skills. In the context the text touches on, the focus is on scaffolding how to write a research report by weaning students into it slowly through divvying up the work. I would conduct this activity with a different motivation. I see its value being teaching students how to not only work together but to gently hold each other accountable, be responsible to others for work well done, extend constructive feedback and to learn how to receive and utilize feedback.
Distance Education Courses:
ReplyDeleteThe discussion this week on how technology is changing the classroom “environment” was very interesting to me and sparked some ideas. I have personally taken many online courses because it has allowed me to work while going to school. This aspect of online courses is great for people who are working their way through school, who may have a family to take care, or who may be out of town. There are several downfalls to distance education courses, which make me question the value of having students take school by correspondence in the younger years. In a classroom where people are interacting with each other, people learn how to respect others’ opinions when sometimes this is not the case in an online environment. People can hide behind the computer and say things they would not normally say in person if they had to see someone’s reaction. In the younger years when students are learning the social skills necessary for life, an online environment may not be the best option because they are not learning how to interact with others. Online classrooms can be superficial and the discussions are often just to fulfill the teacher’s requirements. Discussions online also take a lot of time and do not flow like they would in a face to face situation. People contribute minimally and the authenticity is not there. Although online classes have worked well for me, I enjoy the real life classroom environment more and find that I engage with the material more and thus learn more.
Technology:
The discussion at the beginning of last class about smart boards and other technology in the classroom had me thinking about technology’s relation to ADHD. I have read articles and seen first hand how students have reacted to technology. The increase in number of students with ADHD makes me wonder if all the television, computers, and other technology inside and out of the classroom is contributing to this rise. When children are exposed to lots of flashing, moving, and interactive programs they get used to it and consequently cannot sit and listen to a teacher. The stimulating technological environment stunts their creativity and imagination. Smart boards have many benefits and are engaging to students but I think we should caution against using them too much because students will get used to the immediacy of information, which may be contributing to ADHD. On another note, as resources are being cut back, I wonder how necessary smart boards are. I would rather have money be allocated to providing adequate support for students with special needs than technology. I know everyone will have their own opinion in this matter, and this is just one side, but it is something to think about.
Listening as a "Neglected Language Art" (342)
ReplyDeleteThe text refers to listening as a "neglected Language Art." I would have to agree with this definition, or, at the very least, refer to it as overlooked. While going through my four classes in Education 404, I have noticed a recurring message that most professors and textbooks seem to be suggesting. It seems that wherever I have looked this semester a huge emphasis has been placed on the art of "doing," a very Educational Progressivism approach to student learning, rather than "listening," a more traditional approach, as if it is an extremely negative trait to have as a teacher. I completely understand that as educators, we are looking for new innovative ways in which to teach children effectively; however, I believe that there is such a thing as too much innovation, to the point that as educators we are a tad too eager to abandon traditionalist teaching methods that we now seem to regard as obsolete. Chapter 8 does an excellent job detailing the value of great listening skills and different types of listening (346). Therefore, while I am completely supportive of Progressivism in the classroom and innovations associated with the philosophy such as "Project based Learning," I believe that teachers should not think of themselves or "old school" or boring should they resort to lecturing every now and then. Listening skills are a timeless skill that is valuable in almost any academic or social situation and teachers should not be so fixated on the “doing” aspect of education and rather form a duo relationship with “listening.”
Distance Education Classes
Personally, I’m not a fan of Distance Ed classes. I could state my reasons here, but I’d simply be restating many of the valid points that were brought up in class or already written on the blog. What concerns me is the fact that a growing trend today is the popularity of online schooling for high school students. To me, this concept just seems to be rather unproductive for many reasons.
Even though I’m not one who will take a Distance Ed class if I have the choice, I am all for Distance Ed classes for university students, simply because for many, it suits their learning styles in addition to other reasons as well. However, for a high school student, taking classes at home may stunt their skills during a vital social development period, especially if they are not registered in many extracurricular activities. Furthermore, much of last class was spent discussing fostering better listening skills, skills which aren’t developed if one is reading off of a computer screen. I am aware that other factors to combat these issues may be put in place by one’s parents, such as extra activities and sports outside of the home, just to name a few, but I’m also sure that in many cases, there is little to do from gaining the much needed “in school” experience. My opinion is definitely a tad biased as I’m a big fan of school in general; however, I think that high school students are losing out on a lot by replacing their in-school experience with a computer screen especially if it is not done correctly.
Rachel wrote:
ReplyDeleteLIFT PROGRAM
I found this week’s lecture as well as class discussion time very productive in a sense that we got in groups and each of us raised related questions regarding the portions of the readings we had to do for this week. First of all, with regards to LIFT (Literacy Is a Family Thing) program which we had brought up in the beginning of the lecture, I always wanted to promote a learning environment for children continually after school time – at home – but had never a chance to hear about a specific program that was already operating in some schools today. As much as I neglected reading in my early childhood years, it is one of my biggest ambitions as a future educator to facilitate reading for pleasure and to motivate my students to share and discuss their understanding with family or friends. I would like to try this in my future classroom; however, I am still unsure how I could possibly invite every single parent to this program who has different perspectives and preferences relating to their child’s education. Also, since LIFT program is a collaborative work between the parents and the teacher, I believe the facilitator (the teacher) must encounter everything/ every possibility in multiple levels (ie. mode of communicating with parents/students, specific outline given to the parents to follow, language barrier whose parents have minimal English skills etc.)
KWLS
In addition to this discussion, I also want to write briefly about using KWLS in ELA classroom. I had been first introduced to KWL (without the S) during my short practicum and I remember beginning my Language Arts unit on maple syrup by using this chart. To provide my students a hook to get them involved in maple syrup conversation, I personally found it quite easy bringing students’ ideas about what they already knew about maple syrup. However, I eventually ended up ignoring the ‘W’ to check where students are at and what they would like to know more about maple syrup. At that point in time, I was certainly incapable of being flexible with my lessons, so the following 6 lessons that I taught wasn’t as productive as it actually could have been. After reading this chapter, especially reading about KWLS again, I noticed the importance of spending ample amount of time discussing about ‘W’ in class rather than jumping right into the lessons to teach the content itself
Discussion Questions
ReplyDeleteI liked the strategy that we used of making up the discussion questions and sharing them with the class. It gave us a sense of accountability since we knew that we were going to be sharing these questions, so it kind of focused us into higher level thinking. This accountability may not be so important in a 4th year education course, but for a grade 4-7 class I think it would be highly effective. During my long practicum my SA shared a strategy that he used for novel studies with his class. He would have them make up the questions, and then other members of the class would answer them. To start the process each child started off with a sheet with a baseball diamond depicted on it. On the sheet was space for a first base partner, second base partner, third base partner, and home plate partner. The kids went around and signed up their classmates up in these spots (eg. if you were my third base partner, then I was yours as well). As he would assign what chapters to read he would also assign questions for the students to create. There were four levels of questions, each requiring a different level of thinking. (He assigned these questions along with the reading, but after what we talked about in class recently I would now assign the questions after the chapter had been read. I might also try to devise a method where students work together to create questions, as I found that by working together in our small group it was so much easier to develop strong questions by bouncing ideas of each other). Afterwards the teacher would tell the students to switch books with one of the base partners, and to answer each other’s questions. Having these students prepare these questions seemed to give them a better understanding of concepts from the novel, and also seemed to focus them on developing creative questions, since they were developing these questions for their classmates to answer.
Listening
It was kind of funny when we were asked “do we teach listening?, and there was a bit of awkward silence. I never really considered listening a skill as I just kind of took it for granted. However, when I thought about it, it made perfect sense that listening was definitely a skill that could be practiced. I liked the strategy that Matt talked about with “Smart Learning”, where he described how students would get into partners to share, and then when it came time to share with the class you would talk about what your partners thoughts and ideas were. Again, like the discussion questions above, it demanded a higher level of accountability, which leads to a sharper focus.
Distance Education
ReplyDeleteFrom the discussion in our class, I got the impression that people feel very negatively towards distance education classes, arguing that they are not good for people with time management problems, and that because you do not have face-to-face interaction with the professor in a lecture hall, they feel less motivated to to the work. When you enrol in a distance education class you have to know yourself as learner and what your needs are (Do you have good time management skills? Can you get work done if no one is reminding you to do it? Do you care if you do not have a professor to have face-to-face communication with? Is emailing with a professor sufficient for you?). Obviously distance education is different than lecture classes and people who enrol in them need to adjust their exceptions of the class, the professor and themselves, in order to be successful. I have taken many distance education classes and love them as they suit my learning style, as I can organize my time well and can learn independently without the help of a professor. They have been ideal for me because they have allowed me to go home to Winnipeg for summers while staying in school and taking 3 courses a summer online.
Listening
In class we also discussed if teachers teach students how to listen. I think that we indirectly teach students how to listen in that we except them to follow our instructions and if we see that they are not being followed, we repeat them or have a different type of reaction. During my 405 practicum, the ESL teacher was TOC'ing and asked if she could do an activity with the students; the activity was a listening activity where she gave the students a hand out with pictures and read to them a story and ask them to circle or colour in what she was referring to. During this listening activity the students were very quiet, quieter than they are when I was often trying to instruct them. I think that the activity was a new and different type of learning activity and because of that the students were quickly interested and engaged in it. The ESL teacher said that this is one type of activity she uses with her ESL students. While I have never tried to do a solely listening activity, i think the idea is very interesting, and because of the reaction of my students, I will be eager to try it again.
Visual Literacy is something that I am very interested in. It seems to be a form of literacy that people brush off as being flakey when in reality it has just as many opportunities for teaching valuable life skills as other more traditionally valued forms of literacy. A major goal for most schools is to produce critical thinkers, people who are practiced in analysis and who can generalize these skills into every aspect of their lives. Visual literacy can be a rich way to practice these skills in lieu of, or in tandem with traditional literacy (reading text).
ReplyDeleteIn many cases just being able to read the text is not enough to fully understand the message being conveyed. When paired with text, images can bring a readers understanding to a whole new level. This is something both beginning readers and experienced readers do (in different ways) to create meaning from texts. Images can give irony, sarcasm, clarity and so much more to text. This makes practicing reading images valuable but it is definitely the more traditional way of approaching visual literacy. There is also value in reading images that do not involve text. This can be taught through art, advertizing, or layout analysis and much more. One way that I have seen visual literacy taught in the classroom was when a teacher removed the text from a story and had the students read the visual cues provided by the illustrator to create their own unique versions of the story. This allows students to use their imaginations, rehearse reading body language, notice things they may other wise have let the text tell all while making sure that a logical analysis has taken place.
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteI was absent from class last week but I did do the readings and found the information on developing listening skills to be very intriguing. I often find that the oral component of the PLO’s is one of the most difficult components to assess and develop. I agree with the text when it says that listening is often ignored as a skill that needs to be developed and is something that we take for granted that students know. I found the link between listening skills and comprehension to be very interesting. Often when I think of comprehension I make the mistake of thinking only of reading. I really enjoyed the strategies that the text offers to develop skills for the different types of listening, as well as ways for us to assess the development of these skills. What I liked most about them is that they seemed to assess listening skills in a more authentic way and in “lower stakes” situations, that is, they do not seem as formal or to put pressure on students to produce a correct answer, they merely provoke thinking and teach children how to enrich their own thinking by listening for new information.
I believe this is really important. In the school where I did my practicum, teachers struggled for a way to assess oral skills and listening was the hardest thing to assess. I recall one activity that some teachers did that focused on speaking; it was a “Fish Bowl”. Students sit in a circle and are given a topic and must speak. The teacher sits with a seating plan and “maps” the conversation. Often you end up with a very dark line between the only two students in the class who speak, who get marks and the rest are told they will have a chance to make up for their lack of speaking the next day when it is continued. I personally did not like this approach. I found that the only thing it promoted was speaking in quantity not quality, and did not require students to think about the quality of their ideas, just get words out to have a line drawn to their name. As well, it does not account for the listening component of oral literacy. Many students enjoy listening to others debate an idea and learn a lot from listening to others, we do not know what is going on in their mind as they listen, and perhaps they have great ideas that they cannot wait to write down. I understand developing speaking skills is necessary, but I do not think we should penalize students for being less vocal, nor should we focus on quantity over quality. There was a rubric to go with this activity and the quality/relevance of ideas was a component of that, but I still think that making it into a competitive activity was more detrimental than encouraging. Also, I think that students were so focused on their own role of speaking and the pressure to do so that they actually failed to effectively listen to their peers, which to me seems to undermine the underlying goal of communicating ideas to one another.
Sonja wrote:
ReplyDeleteWhenever I get my own classroom (who knows when THAT will be, thanks to the lack of jobs), I plan on implementing the LIFT program with my students. I used to work for an out-of-school care program in an elementary school in my hometown. I had two groups of kindergarteners: one in the morning, one in the afternoon. Their teacher had begun to experiment with the LIFT program (or at least, something quite similar) in her classroom. She would send a plastic storage bag home with one child every week. In the bag there was a book called “Pete the Cat” (one of my personal favourites), a stuffed cat wearing running shoes, and a journal. Each child would bring this book home and read it with their parents. At some point in the week, the child was to draw on one page in the journal, a picture of the cat doing something involving the daily life of the child. I had the opportunity to look through this journal and there were some incredibly creative drawings of Pete taking a bath, Pete helping with the laundry, Pete eating pizza, and Pete feeling lonely at the back of a closet (this particular child had lost Pete for three days and when Mom found him in the child’s closet, the child realized that this had been quite a significant event for Pete, thus he had to document it). This program not only allows children to share stories with their parents and practice their reading skills, it also helps to make reading exciting by bringing the book to life.
Listening
ReplyDeleteI found the class discussion on listening in the classroom to be very interesting. As I consider the many life skills that our curriculum focuses on, it seems as though listening receives less attention than most others (i.e. reading and writing). This is intriguing because not only does listening provide a foundation for critically evaluating information, it is also directly associated with relationships. Listening helps develop interpersonal skills, facilitating student’s relational aptitude and assisting them as they explore how to function with others in society. The textbook highlights five areas of listening, including discriminative, aesthetic, efferent, critical, and therapeutic. Each category represents an important component of communication; however, the development of therapeutic listening appears to be dispensable in many classrooms. Perhaps this reflects our education system’s focus on individual achievement and its mediocre effort to equip children with the necessary skills to support their relationships.
Distance Education
Following our class discussion of distance education I remain unresolved as to my feelings about this form of learning. On one hand, I can appreciate how distance education makes learning accessible for many individuals who would not have the opportunity to attend a classroom (For example, those in remote areas of the world and individuals who are unable to clear their daytime schedule to attend class). I also value the opportunity for ‘green learning’ that distance education provides (For example, individuals no longer have to travel by vehicle to a classroom and school buildings can minimize their energy usage). On the other hand, I remain skeptical about distance education’s ability to develop an authentic learning community. In the traditional classroom, students have the opportunity to interact face to face and build relationships with one another. Through building friendships and sharing experiences, students become engaged in the learning environment and build a familiarity with other students that allows them to understand the community as a ‘safe’ place to learn. This is an important component of education that I believe is less attainable in the distance education context. I feel that the online environment limits the students’ ability to develop relationships and, consequently, restricts their level of engagement.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI left class today with someones text book, and want to make sure I can get it back to whoever is missing theres! Please call me at 604.612.8655 and I will make arrangements to get it to you asap!
Thanks, Mhari
Ideas about new literacies and critical thinking related to movies and cartoons:
ReplyDeleteI have a unique perspective as I grew up without a TV and still don’t have one, and rarely watch movies.
In contrast to the “listening skills” of our grandparents’ day, there is skill needed to watch and understand many movies and cartoons, and our society somewhat depends on people having this ability to pay attention to multiple stimuli at a fast-pace. I think my weakness in this skill (which I assume is due to lack of development though it could be genetic) is a disadvantage in getting along in today’s world. I actually miss a lot of the storyline and innuendos of movies because I can’t keep up with the fast pace of the scenes, and sometimes struggle to hear and make sense of what’s being said. (Postscript – I found it interesting to hear of other’s challenges to understand movies for which they had not read the book, and vice versa)
At the same time, I notice things in movies that other people seem oblivious to. I think this is important because what we watch does influence our attitudes and beliefs to some degree. Though we don’t want to take away children’s enjoyment of viewing (or reading, in my opinion) by overemphasizing critical thinking, we as teachers should think critically about what we show and how it might influence students.
For example, in one Kindergarten class I observed, the students watched a cartoon about penguins and lemurs in a zoo. I could barely follow the plot but was shocked by the way the lemur role stereotyped an ethnic group quite blatantly, using accent to identify the group and using the role to mock the group’s religious beliefs and make the lemur (and potentially the ethic group represented) look like a fool. The implicit message in that aspect of the movie is at cross-purposes to the respectful multicultural society the teacher, school, and greater community are trying to create. While this movie is only one of many experiences that shape the child’s attitudes and beliefs, it is important to be aware of the implicit messages in this seemingly innocuous entertainment as the effects may be far greater than we’d like to believe (according to some people’s understanding of the research done).
Novel Soundtrack:
ReplyDeleteDuring our discussion time our group discussed the "novel soundtrack" lesson idea at the beginning after chapter nine. Basically, the students have to develop of soundtrack or musical score for a novel that they just read as a class. While the student response journal, and teacher anecdotal notes are useful for a formative assessment. How could a teacher use this activity as a summative assessment for the unit? We discussed that he could develop criteria and use a rubric to assess each of their presentations. Another idea we had is that the teacher and class could develop a checklist to decide what they should include in their presentations, and then the teacher could use that for assessment. Also, the students could assess each other and give feedback for their classmates throughout the presentation. The teacher could then compare the students’ written feedback to their own and develop a mark based on both.
Visual Literacy:
Another question that our group had was is there a point where there is too much visual literacy in the classroom? When I tutored a grade eleven student for English, it seemed as though every week he had watched another movie in his English class. When I asked him what he thought the purpose was for watching some of the videos, he said that he did not know. He informed me that his English teacher sometimes put on a movie simply for pure enjoyment, which I think is fine as a special privilege. However, his class would watch a "fun" movie at least once a week. Perhaps, these movies did have a purpose but the teacher failed to inform the students of what it was. Even in my own practicum I noticed that my SA would simply put on a movie for the class to watch, even if they had watched it before. While the movie was on, the majority of the class was not paying attention because they did not have a reason to watch it. Although visual media such as movies, is a great tool for teaching; it should not replace the teaching itself.
Distance Education
ReplyDeleteI see that most people are not in the favour of distance education particularly because there are no face-to-face interactions involved and hence, loose interest, motivation plus engagement with the task or even procrastinate. There are advantages in taking distance education course however. I took 4 online courses in one semester. No doubt, in the first week of the semester, I found them overwhelming as there were so many deadlines to be kept in mind without any reminders but by the second week, I was comfortable with the online courses and totally suited my learning style plus needs at that time. In order to be successful in distance education course, students need to manage their time properly, and don’t leave tasks till the last minute. I agree that students might procrastinate as there is no direct intimation with teachers and no reminders of the deadlines but, this is what makes a student responsible for his/her learning. Online courses are great for visual learners and for students who cannot concentrate and listen for longer periods of time. Also, it is good for people who are working their way through school or who may be out of town. At the end of the day, it merely depends on an individual - how responsible he/she is for his/her learning, his/her learning styles and how well he/she can organize time to achieve success in online courses regardless of no reminders and face to face involvement with other students and professor as in a regular classroom.
Teaching Critical Thinking to Students
Critical thinking involves an individual to think beyond what is presented to how and why, and so what? Teachers should start teaching students to think critically in primary grades as they are exposed to many types of persuasion and propaganda. If students will have the ability to think critically, they can easily evaluate the advertisements and not get influenced by propaganda devices such as repetition, faulty cause and effect (395) etc. Critical thinking is not only required for evaluating advertisements, but for all sorts of media, books, historical contexts, etc. Critical thinking can be taught through modelling, “providing direct instruction in thinking process, and encouraging practice of thinking processes through interactions with others” (Woolfolk et al., 2010).
Reference:
Woolfoll et al. (2011). Educational Psychology. Pearson Canadan Inc. Toronto, Ontario.
I have to admit that reading this portion of the text was quite eye opening for me. I realized that I did not think of listening as a big teachable area in my practicum classroom. I was the teacher that they talked about who just expected the students to know how to listen because of their age and ability level. I was really fascinated to read about the 5 different types of listening and I find the text did a good job of giving strategies to teach these important skills and did a thorough job of giving rationale for it as well. I hope to try some of these strategies out soon as I hope to get a job ASAP. (Fingers crossed) One strategy that I found that I think would be really great was making connections. I can be an inattentive listener when being read to if I am not engaged in the story. I have done this before because I was trying to engage myself and I find it is really useful. I think that it helps inject yourself into the story when you can make connections to your personal life.
ReplyDeleteI read aloud to my class in 405 and the kids really enjoyed it and I did as well. I read them this story throughout the term called "The Boxes" It was a good story and they really loved it. I think one of the main reasons they loved it was because the main characters were kids around their age. I think they were able to relate to these characters and imagined what it would be like if it were them in the story. I think that this relates back to my first point about making connections through listening. I was also the teacher that the book talked about, I found it very hard to find the time to read aloud to the students. The day never seemed to have enough hours in it to get everything done. After reading this chapter though I have way more reasons to justify using valuable class time for reading aloud. I found it very helpful to have a rationale for why reading aloud was worthwhile and what exactly the students can gain from it. I was not that interested in books growing up after I hit grade 4 really, and I do not remember being read to at school very much at all and it was about this time at home that it stopped as well. These were probably some of the reasons that I did not maintain a passion for reading. Just something I found interesting.
Class 7:
ReplyDeleteListening & Speaking: Show and Tell
During class a type of show and tell was brought to our attention which I thought was very inventive. One of my colleagues suggested that the “VIP” for the day can bring in a special object which will go into a class “Treasure Box.” The other students can ask the VIP three questions in order to find out what the “treasure” is. I like the idea of using this as an activity which incorporates listening and speaking because once the object has been guessed (or after three questions have been asked which did not reveal what the object was) the sharer could discuss what the important points about his/her object are and why it is personally meaningful to them. This would allow the student to practice thinking about what is important to them to communicate about their object of interest and how they can communicate this orally. In this activity, not only is the sharer practicing the art of communicating meaning but so are the students when they think of questions to ask the sharer and when they revise their predictions about what the sharer has brought to show based on answers about the object that may seem to indicate that a previous prediction could be right or wrong.
Viewing & Representing:
While reading the chapter on viewing and visually representing I thought about how metacognition could be taught in the context of these language arts. If we teach strategies for communicating meaning visually, such as setting mood with the use of colour as shown in figure 9.1 in our language arts textbook, knowledge of these strategies could be used when students analyze their interpretation of text. For example, to teach students how to analyze the effects of colour on mood we could ask students to visualize the setting, atmosphere, and an event while reading a piece of text which has no graphic representation. We could then ask what sorts of colours they could “see” in their mind while thinking about these aspects of the text and what emotions these colours produced inside of them. This could lead into a discussion about the ways in which artists, authors, film makers, etc. use colour to produce certain feelings in their audience.