Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Aw, this is such a sweet scene, I’m a little jealous! It’s amazing to hear about a community that seems to care so much about its students, and also foster care between students. You never know what type of relationships kids have outside of school, so it’s nice to hear that the egrets of Prairie Creek are able to be appreciated by each other.
I agree that positive reinforcement is vital for a good learning environment. And I don’t think positive reinforcement has to only come with academic related things. Like you show, there can be positive reinforcement in social situations! It reminds me of Bloom’s three circles of the affective, psychosocial, and cognitive. Social learning is just as important as cognitive, and as psychomotor learning. Prairie Creek seems to understand that.
I hope you do get to go back and visit!
I enjoyed reading your post, Molly, such thoughtful insights. First, I thought your point about the teacher prioritizing achievement rather than development was really interesting, and shows how the process of learning is often less valued. He seems to be wary of not having oversight over al his students and structuring their process of learning, even though there are better resources out there for some students. I wonder how much the school/administration promotes TORCH, and if there are any rules for students needing to be in their assigned classroom a certain amount of time.
I also thought the story about the American Dream was a good little anecdote. It definitely says something that most of the white students thought it was achievable. Do you have any ideas about why the American Dream is taught? Do you think that Mr. Dube is having them write about the American Dream to have them question it? I know as a high schooler, I probably would have needed someone to help me in critically thinking about this concept, and was definitely not given that. I’d be curious to know the teacher’s learning objectives for this!
Trina, it’s so nice to read about your observations at Prairie Creek. Molly’s lesson plan seems like a great introduction to scientific thinking because the kids got to observe/hypothesize about familiar things. It may have been harder to understand the principles of making observations if they were in a “lab” setting and had unfamiliar substances around them (just a guess!). I’d be curious to see the students’ science notebooks, and also to see if there was a difference between what the 2nd versus 3rd graders wrote. I know the grades are combined, but is there a distinction between learning ability?
Also, I love the pictures! It must be so fun to get to spend time outdoors with the kids!
Hi Chisom! Your blog post was entertaining to read, especially the observations of Halloween and the “frat boys.” I think your point about praise and grades is very important for behaviorism! It’s true that grades act as reinforcers for many students, but I don’t think all. It seems like parents’ reactions to grades are a bigger reinforcer for some kids than others. Perhaps a student isn’t internally motivated to get good grades for the sake of the grade/learning, but they want to get good grades so that their parents will be proud or not punish them. In addition to grades leading to praise/punishment, getting good grades can also lead to scholarships or getting into a certain school. As you mentioned, students want to have good prospects for the future, so they may work hard in class to get good grades and as a result, they get into a good school or win a scholarship. Grades are very tied into all sorts of reinforcers! The grade itself doesn’t really matter, it seems, but the result that comes from it, whether that be a parent or teacher’s praise or something larger. Perhaps the reason not everyone wants to be a straight-A student is that they have tied different meanings to grades and so the outcomes of grades aren’t as rewarding/punishing as they are for their fellow students.
Adam, your response really brings me back to my high school days! I think your observation about how males were more assertive in using their phones than females was interesting. It’s as if the females know they shouldn’t be on their phones and want to hide their disobedience in the pretense that they’re doing their work, whereas the males just don’t care. It seems like this fits the general stereotype that females care more about school than males. Although I noticed this difference in phone usage/distractions in high school, too, I never thought why it could be. I also found your intervention into the Alex situation quite interesting. Your response “Man..” seems very “male” to me, but I appreciated your explanation of why you chose to intervene like that instead of taking time to explain why he should touch the other student without asking. I wonder if Mitch would have responded differently (perhaps worse?) if you had said something else or if a female had said something instead of you.
Renee, your discussion on identity is so thought provoking! For starters, your observations of the 11th graders vs 9th graders is very curious — these students aren’t that far apart in age but they likely perceive themselves to be. One initial thought is that the longer you’ve gone to a school, the more established and comfortable you may feel at that institution. I struggle to believe that these high schoolers have found their identity (they may think they have, but just wait for the crises to hit), but perhaps they have found habits and routines that fit their personalities. I also think it’s easier for 11th graders to act consistently because they have to hold up the standard of what others expect from them. After all, how much of our identities is based off how others see us? As you mention, perhaps internally all these high schoolers are in identity turmoil, but are masters of putting on an act. Additionally, your point about fluctuation of identity stages is interesting. I’m inclined to think that if you think you’re in identity achievement but then you realize that identity doesn’t fit, you were never in identity achievement and were just not actively in a state of crisis. However, with that logic, can you ever be in identity achievement?
Then, in response to your first point about identity formation in the classroom, I’m wondering to what extent practical skill and education such as in chem class can ever lead to identity formation. Is it a process of realizing whether you’re interested in chemistry or not? I don’t know if the material in the class can lead to identity formation, but I think your discussion of group work is important, and that group work can teach students lessons about themselves that has nothing to do with the subject they’re learning!
Anastasia, it’s really nice to read about your tutoring experience with Mike. SSC seems like a great opportunity to not only observe but also become a part of these high schoolers’ lives. I appreciated that you said you spent time just chatting with Mike before getting into the work. It reminded me of what you wrote about your own ZPD experience with Art. You noted that because you trusted your partner, their role as an MKO was strengthened and it seems as if you’re trying to build that trust with Mike and the other students, as well. This idea of trust and MKOs makes me think of an experience I had this summer with a new physical therapist. I love asking questions and learning about anatomy, but I also rely on my PT for my health. PTs act as MKOs. However, the therapist I saw this summer was not a great listener and I had a hard time trusting that he was going to give me the right exercises and tools for me to feel better. In this situation, the MKO wasn’t as effective because I didn’t trust him and so had a hard time trusting his medical knowledge.
It seems like you have a lot of opportunities to compare different teaching and learning structures with your two classes! Your discussion on technology made me think back to my high school days. My school district received a grant for all high schoolers to receive MacBooks and, as you said, the technology was often a hindrance to learning. We would waste half the class watching the teacher struggle with their own technology and the students would all play Tetris in the meantime. It was wholly unproductive, and we were rarely given any real need to use technology.
I also related to the Global Studies. I had to take Oklahoma history as a senior in high school to fulfill graduation requirements. The class was a freshman class and, four years older than some of the students in the class, I had a very different experience in the class than the freshman. Whereas I could write long research papers, some of these kids didn’t know how to put a sentence together. I think classes that everyone has to take are interesting, but they often don’t work super well. I’ll be curious to hear more about that one!
