I believe every human is born with the ability to learn. With that being said, I'm also a strong believer it takes a community to raise a child. This is not only the community the child lives in but all the adults who has an influence in the child's life. If a child is born with a disability, it's up to the parents, school, doctors, church etc. to provide the necessary tools to adapt to society.
Do all students have a capacity to learn?
Yes, all students possess the ability to learn. I completely agree with Vygotsky's idea of "social intelligence". The amount of information that can be learned or understood by watching and/or interacting with others is endless. I believe all our students learn from other students for what is socially acceptable within our society. I currently have 2 highly functional students which is dating in my class. As I do not like the relationship, they understand the behaviors which are acceptable within the school and in my classroom.
What shapes this capacity?
I feel every adult who is involve with the students life is obligated to shape and mode the students knowledge base. If at a young age, parents instill in the child that education is important and provide by example of why education is important, I feel the child would grow to value an education. Now this may not mean the child will be intelligent but the child will have an understanding of why the educational process is important.
The biggest issues I have as a special education teacher is self determination by my students. By the time they get to the high school level, they are use to adults doing everything for them. They just say "I don't know" and the answer is given to them. As I try to make education fun through games, I attempt to force my students to figure things out on the own. As they progress through high school and the goal is to receive a job, they have to know that they have to do it themselves and if they can't, how to ask for help. My goal as an educator, I want all my students to be able to work out in the community. If I have this goal for myself and students, I have to set high standards within my classroom. I have to plan accordingly, revisit offer, and/or adjust lessons when needed to get where I want all my students to be.
How much influence do you have upon this capacity?
As teachers, we DO influence our students’ capacities for learning. I think about this on a continuing basis because how could I not influence my students learning process. Within the school year, my students are with me almost as much as they are with their parents. Regardless if my students like me or not, I influence in some capacity of their learning abilities. As discussed by Danielson, Domain 2 is what I strive for each and every school year. As a teacher I try to focus on the social and emotional aspects of learning. My number one goal is for my studetns to have fun while at school. If my students are having fun and learning within the process they will be more open to learn different things. Not only open to learning different things but things which they do not like, they may give it a try. I do my best to promote a foundation of trust and build from there.
As teachers, we DO influence our students’ capacities for learning. I think about this on a continuing basis because how could I not influence my students learning process. Within the school year, my students are with me almost as much as they are with their parents. Regardless if my students like me or not, I influence in some capacity of their learning abilities. As discussed by Danielson, Domain 2 is what I strive for each and every school year. As a teacher I try to focus on the social and emotional aspects of learning. My number one goal is for my studetns to have fun while at school. If my students are having fun and learning within the process they will be more open to learn different things. Not only open to learning different things but things which they do not like, they may give it a try. I do my best to promote a foundation of trust and build from there.
I feel I'm more in domain two but as I read I thought of different situation where i fell in other domains. My classroom is a blended of different techniques but the most important is fun and trust.
How do these assumptions about learning shape our instruction?
The biggest issues I have as a special education teacher is self determination by my students. By the time they get to the high school level, they are use to adults doing everything for them. They just say "I don't know" and the answer is given to them. As I try to make education fun through games, I attempt to force my students to figure things out on the own. As they progress through high school and the goal is to receive a job, they have to know that they have to do it themselves and if they can't, how to ask for help. My goal as an educator, I want all my students to be able to work out in the community. If I have this goal for myself and students, I have to set high standards within my classroom. I have to plan accordingly, revisit offer, and/or adjust lessons when needed to get where I want all my students to be.
I think you have a great perspective on intelligence working with a group of students who are typically not seen as having what we would call "academic intelligence"- That said in your post you seem to equate intelligence with school based intelligence- do you think that is the case? Are their different types of intelligence? Do you think we define intelligence too narrowly?
ReplyDeleteLeman,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post and agree about making education fun by actively involving students in games and allowing them to reach a conclusion or solve problems on their own. Although I am at the opposite end of the spectrum (I teach K students), I definitely believe that our students are much more capable than we (teachers) often think they are. Just recently, in talking about spatial concepts, I gave each of my students a position word, such as up or between, and asked them to show me what this word means. It was incredible at the ideas that they came up with to show me what the word between means. They used objects in the classroom, even their own bodies, to describe their word. This was a much more fun and beneficial way of talking about spatial concepts!
Hello Leman,
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you have seen the movie "Shrek". But there is a part where Shrek compares himself to an onion. In that an onion has many layers. I think our students have many layers and that we, as educators, must do our very best to improve not only the academic layer of the student but the emotional,spritual, and social layers of the student as well!
I couldn't agree more with your statement that it takes a village to raise a child. It is so important for parents to start instilling the importance of education and hard work in children before they come to school. To be honest, it seems like kids come to school every year with less motivation and beginning background knowledge than the year before. This is not true for all students, but it seems to true for some.
ReplyDelete"If a child is born with a disability, it's up to the parents, school, doctors, church etc. to provide the necessary tools to adapt to society."
ReplyDeleteI agree with this statement and might I add...you are speaking my language:) I feel like the way things are set up right now can be very confusing for parents, especially when their child has special needs. The doctors will write a prescription for "developmental delay, needs IEP," and then we have to tell the parents that we will need to do additional testing to determine if WE determine this to be accurate. I really wish we could close this gap!