Chapter 1
Group work is beneficial to the students in many ways, it allows for the collaboration of ideas, and disagrees with peers in a more intimate environment. Each member should have their own role and each role should be as important as the next. Each member needs to count on the others to obtain the final task. This allows for the teacher to stand back and have the students assume a greater responsibility for a given task. I have used group work many times and each time the results have been extremely positive. Students prefer in my science class to learn from doing then learn from boring instruction. I would like to know more about how to keep each group member engaged so that one does not do more work than the next.
Chapter 2
As stated above group work will encourage students that are unsure about a concept to obtain help from their peers. Peer to peer interaction is key for the understanding of concepts. Peer interaction will help with social skills and interpersonal interactions while allowing the student to formulate ideas with that of others in their group. Group work as well is so much more interesting and engaging than reading from a text book or listening to the instructor for hours. I used grouping with students that were vastly different in their personalities and they just blew me away with what they came up with as a group. I did not think they would work well together and I was very much wrong. I wonder how much group work is too much?
Chapter 3
This chapter deals with issues when grouping students up to complete tasks. Each person in a group has a certain status when the group is initially formed. Regardless if the students believe this to be true or not there is a pecking order to any group. In school there is a social status that students follow and this social status will be incorporated in the groups students are in. As well some students are more vocal while others are shy allowing for a more dominant position by some students and a more subservient position by others. Other issues with group work is keeping students on task while some students view group work as a social connection and have a hard time being on task others find group work to be non productive. With each of these issues mentioned above I as a teacher need to be pro-active and keep my finger on the pulse of my students so that I can mediate when needed so all students have a voice in their classroom groups.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Week Three Reading Reflection: Ethnography
3 things that you learned/connected with
• I learned that ethnography is based on the views of the person that is doing the filming and shows the audience what they find the most important.
• Ethnography is guided by a point of view
• I learned that with careful thought and consideration that ethnography can be rewarding and can show and describe things that most people may not see or would not have focused on initially
2 things you disagree with or have questions
• I do not agree with that the person filming or providing the ethnography can use their biases to get their point across. I believe that there should be more of a check and balance system and with this there is no check and balance system.
• My second question builds on the first statement. How does one make ethnography without pushing ones biases into their piece?
1 thing I would want to learn more about
• One thing I would like to learn more about would be if schools would be interested in making ethnographies part of a class that would show how the school evolves throughout the year. The final showing could be done the last few weeks of school to the entire school. I would like to know if this would even be feasible.
• I learned that ethnography is based on the views of the person that is doing the filming and shows the audience what they find the most important.
• Ethnography is guided by a point of view
• I learned that with careful thought and consideration that ethnography can be rewarding and can show and describe things that most people may not see or would not have focused on initially
2 things you disagree with or have questions
• I do not agree with that the person filming or providing the ethnography can use their biases to get their point across. I believe that there should be more of a check and balance system and with this there is no check and balance system.
• My second question builds on the first statement. How does one make ethnography without pushing ones biases into their piece?
1 thing I would want to learn more about
• One thing I would like to learn more about would be if schools would be interested in making ethnographies part of a class that would show how the school evolves throughout the year. The final showing could be done the last few weeks of school to the entire school. I would like to know if this would even be feasible.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Disrupting Class Reflection #2
This article was interesting and insightful and made me ponder on aspect of my teaching style and that of whom I have studied under. There is no doubt that there are many wrong ways to go about teaching, many ancient, out of date ways to get the point across. The problem with these approaches is that the point is lost in translation.
I learned many things in this article; one I found interesting is that the author states we learn genetically and from our experience from early years. This is interesting in that scientist have a debate over which is more important nature vs. nurture. Another point I found interesting and learned was that 1/3 of a budget goes to special education. Though this is important I can not see the justification of giving so much money to one program when the majority of students are not in the special education program. Lastly, I learned that there are eight distinct types of intelligence. I find this fascinating; to understand that there are so many ways people think and comprehend is riveting.
Two aspects of this article that I disagreed with was the premise that if a teacher has 120 students that he or she would have little time. Currently I am teaching classes with 35 plus kids so I am looking at 180 students. Second idea I would disagree with would be using computer based learning more than teacher based learning. Though computer based is important and should be done we should make sure that there is plenty of time for students to interact with peers and the teacher.
One aspect of the article that I want to learn more is the eight type of intelligence. I find this fascinating, to figure out the different types of intelligence of each student in my class would make teaching that much easier.
I learned many things in this article; one I found interesting is that the author states we learn genetically and from our experience from early years. This is interesting in that scientist have a debate over which is more important nature vs. nurture. Another point I found interesting and learned was that 1/3 of a budget goes to special education. Though this is important I can not see the justification of giving so much money to one program when the majority of students are not in the special education program. Lastly, I learned that there are eight distinct types of intelligence. I find this fascinating; to understand that there are so many ways people think and comprehend is riveting.
Two aspects of this article that I disagreed with was the premise that if a teacher has 120 students that he or she would have little time. Currently I am teaching classes with 35 plus kids so I am looking at 180 students. Second idea I would disagree with would be using computer based learning more than teacher based learning. Though computer based is important and should be done we should make sure that there is plenty of time for students to interact with peers and the teacher.
One aspect of the article that I want to learn more is the eight type of intelligence. I find this fascinating, to figure out the different types of intelligence of each student in my class would make teaching that much easier.
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