http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/01/isms-as-filter-not-blinker.html
http://karlkapp.blogspot.com/2007/01/out-and-about-discussion-on-educational.html
Post derived from the above websites:
Most of us do feel that Learning is "One size fits all". But after you feel that way and get into the classroom and experience the different students or people you find very quickly that "One size does not fit all". Now the problem exists in how do you produce a way or ways to affect "All" students to adequately learn? This is where not only the _ism comes into play but the different learning styles are visible.
So now the schools are harping on the teachers to learn Differentiation among the students.
In learning this you have different styles of teaching that people feel are the best to teach the students such as Understanding by Design (UbD) and The Best Practices to name a couple. In this the teacher also has to study and prepare in order to deliver the best way to teach all students. We know that students learn from behavorism and cognitivism but which is best? We tend to think the best is the way we learn because that is our comfort zone but at this point we need to keep our students in mind.
The books that we are teachers read provide theories and suggestions, however we need to be diverse in being able to understand and teach it. My question is how can we do that? Then you have technology playing a vital role in the schools and this is a new thing that we need to learn and provide our students with because of the change of time. As time passes, things change or progress, so we have to progress in order to move our students into the changing world.
Simply put, Bill Kerr stated, "It seems to me that each _ism is offering something useful without any of them being complete or stand alone in their own right."
So between Behaviorism and Cognitivism, you have the good and bad aspects but you have to find your median to help provide the best learning for the students.
Natalie,
ReplyDeleteI have worked with some individuals who truly feel that learning is “one size fits all.” However, after teaching various grade levels within different locations, I can definitely see with my own eyes that this is not true. Learning will never be a one size fits all experience. Today, our classrooms are very diverse. Students come with their own set of prior knowledge through different day-to-day interactions. Through observations, you can see the different in social interaction, language, learning styles, and behaviors to different actions, and much more. I think when others have not experienced that classroom feeling and have not interacted with a group of students; they don’t particularly see the interactions that take place. Therefore, they may feel that learning is, “one size fits all.” However, as stated by Kerr, “_isms do not stand still, they evolve, listen to criticism, and move on.” Just as learning evolves over time, learning theories evolve as well. Every year there are new strategies that are introduced for use in the classroom as well as new theories or information about existing theories.
Natalie, You are right about districts harping on teachers to differentiate instruction, which I think is great. What I don't like is the fact that districts spend lots of time, resources, and money to identify students who may learn differently, or have special needs, then the teacher is required to teach differenttly, but when it comes to the testing that is so important, the students are tested in the exact same way. Is it me, or does this seem counterproductive?
ReplyDeleteNatalie, I found your post to be very enlightening. I understand Kiana's point. Although, we are encouraged to differentiate instruction, by not providing the same during testing the concept seems contradictive. I worked for many years in special education and the contradiction created many problems and confusion for both the students and their parents. I hope that someday "soon" revisions will be made to IDea that consider the confusion this creates.
ReplyDelete