October 2, 2012
Remember: By th October 9th at 4:30pm, your name should appear on the blog a minimum of 2 times to receive full credit for attending our elluminate session.
1. Read Chapter 4.
2. You must choose 1 question to answer thoroughly and thoughtfully (minimum of 200 words)by 8:00 pm on Oct 2nd. Please choose 1 of the questions from pages 153-155 from Developing Multicultural Educators. Please write the number and question so others can refer if they choose to respond to your answers/comments.
3. You must then respond to 1 other post with comments, questions, or any other meaningful conversation by the beginning of class on October 9th at 4:30pm.
Suggestions: Keep it related to your work with your ELs! Let's let these conversations be meaningful to you and your students.
USE THE REST OF CLASSTIME TO WORK ON YOUR CASE STUDIES AND REFLECTION 4.
BOTH ARE DUE NEXT WEEK!
Please post below this blog entry where it says comment next to my name.
Please post below this blog entry where it says comment next to my name.
Question #2: Recognizing Deficiency and Difference Orientations in Your Own Teaching
ReplyDeleteThe deficiency oriented teacher was defined in the book as a teacher that believes a student lacks something they should have in order to succeed in the classroom. The way the teacher learns and approaches education is the only frame of reference they have and if the student doesn’t share that same view then there is a deficiency that must be overcome (Noel 2008). In my views of students early in my teaching career I have to admit I was guilty of this. As a new teacher, when a student didn’t know something I felt they should know at their age then my assumption was that they needed to conform to my way of thinking in order to be successful. My experiences at Lilburn Middle School have changed my thinking dramatically.
On the other hand, the difference oriented teacher is one that doesn’t blame family, culture, or experiences as the reason why a student isn’t being as successful in school. This teacher sees the student’s characteristics as different, not deficient. These differences are turned into strengths that can be used to help educate them in a different way than the one the teacher may be used to (Noel 2008). As the years have gone by, I have become more of a difference oriented teacher and continue to become more and more aware of these differences as this class continues. The differences a student brings come to class become part of the framework the difference oriented teacher uses to bring out the most in the student. The difference oriented teacher must take more time to get to know the student and family and understand what types of learning environments are best suited for that particular student (Noel 2008).
Learning styles and strategies always seemed to be mutually exclusive to me. The style of learning that best supports learning was an acquired, whereas learning strategies were specific ways of teaching a certain skill. The text explained that both of these areas were strongly molded by our own personal experiences (Noel 2008). I learn best in a quiet environment by listening and visualizing. The physical setting became much more important than I expected according to the book. Everything from the amount of light, noise, and temperature affected the learning environment (Noel 2008). I never accounted for any of these factors as I prepared to teach students. In the future I will.
What did it mean to you
These reflections sometimes make me feel inadequate. There is so much more that we need to know as educators to best serve students with different cultures. The fact they are in America now always meant it was time for them to assimilate and begin “doing as we do.” I know now that in order to become successful in the classroom these students need to have their experiences heard and discussed. This information is crucial in order to best meet their needs and use what I used to perceive as a weakness and make a strength that can lead to acquiring the knowledge more efficiently. Each teacher and student has differing approaches and attitudes towards education. The teacher, in most cases, was educated in America, has a culture that is represented in the school, and has the expectation that success means following that same path is the proper way to become successful.
“…when a student didn’t know something I felt they should know at their age” – This is also something that I struggle with daily. Students should know nouns, verbs, etc. by 6th grade, much less 7th grade. I get upset when I ask 6th graders to tell me what a noun is. Instead of telling me they shrunk their shoulders. Is that expecting too much? My expectations effect my moment-to-moment interactions with students I teach in a thousand almost invisible ways. I have to work on re-wording, restating, and giving student’s time to figure out the answer. When I notice Ell students performing at a higher level than regular students, I wonder where I went wrong.
DeleteLike us, all teachers have high expectations of their students. Teacher plays a significant role in how well and how much the students learn. I think it is important for educators to have the mindset that all students have the capability to succeed. It takes patience, confidence, and determination on the behalf of the teacher to convey the importance of academic success to their students. For a student to achieve educationally, it is important that teachers are fair and remain consistent with their rules and procedures. Teachers must maintain structured assignments and be prepared in transitioning between lessons. Both teachers and students hold high expectations of each other. When it is all said and done, both are held accountable for their role in the student's academic success.
Learning Styles:
ReplyDeleteLearning styles are simply different approaches or ways of learning. Most students learn best kinesthetically - lots of gestures, drawings, and other visual aids, but other students have various ways the learn better. For example, some learners may have a particular learning preference, e.g. visual learning style, but in reality these learners, like all learners, have to and do use multiple learning styles. Teachers cannot structure all learning in one style for any one particular group of learners. Life beyond the classroom is not like that, and our aim is to help students learn effectively both in and out of the classroom. Another potential difficulty is that teachers may label students as learners of a particular style, for example, kinesthetic learners, when it is more accurate to say that these are learners who often learn well in kinesthetic modes, but who can use other learning styles to access information.
Many learners already can and do access information naturally through multiple learning styles, and offering a wide variety of learning modes enhances learning for these students. As educators, we should heed this advice and make sure we understand how our students learn and what their needs are before developing our lesson plans. If we don't take account different learning styles we run the risk of investing time and energy into programs that are not effective because they don't help students access the learning successfully. By incorporating all learning styles for our diverse student population within your classroom, you can be sure to reach all learners.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI really took the learning styles chapter to heart. One of the focal points for our clasrooms is to differentiate instruction. As I began to think how I was going to do this, I realized in order for this to be successful I needed to know how my students learned. I'm using a Learning Styles Inventory that we are giving to our students tomorrow. The scores based on their responses will give us an idea of what style they prefer the most. This artifact will help guide what type of supplemental materials that I can give to each student based on how they prefer to learn. This chapter helped inspire me to do this.
ReplyDeleteEven before reading this chapter and giving names to certain theories, my teaching style has always been more aligned with the difference orientation. During my first year of teaching, I quickly realized that blaming students and their shortcomings only leads to failure. I soon began to find ways to change my teaching and how I interacted with the students to better help them learn. Their lack of content knowledge, diverse cultures, unique family situations, varying socioeconomic levels, and lack of parental involvement were not considered, in my mind, as types of deficiencies. These student characteristics were pieces of diversity that I have come to embrace in my instruction. I found that by embracing student differences, I was more able to pull every student into learning. Therefore, overall, I embrace the difference orientation and try to incorporate student differences into instruction to make the curriculum more meaningful. While I do strive to embrace students for who they are and treat their differences as strengths, I have also found myself leaning toward the deficiency orientation when it comes to certain aspects of discipline and classroom management. Sometimes, students enter my room lacking manners and an understanding of behavioral norms. For example, many students will enter the classroom talking very loudly and very few students push in chairs when they leave. In my opinion, these are deficiencies that impede their success. Without an understanding of socially accepted norms, students will struggle as adults. Therefore, I do not bend my classroom expectations because of these deficiencies. Instead, I recognize my responsibility to, not only teach them math, but also help them develop into successful adults. I do not immediately punish without explanation or reasoning. I explain the reasoning for pushing in chairs and entering a room quietly and how these behaviors can lead to success in the real world. I do not feel that this approach is harmful to students, diminishes their culture or impedes their identity development. I do feel that it is our responsibility to help all of our students learn the norms to be successful in the environment in which they will become adults. I am not replacing their beliefs or blaming them for their differences, but I am adding to their understanding.
ReplyDelete11. Should a Teacher Focus on Students’ Learning Styles?
ReplyDeleteAs a gifted student in GCPS, I was in fact exposed to the concepts of brain hemisphere dominance as well as 3 of the basic learning styles (back in the day, I do not recall a distinction between kinesthetic and tactile). I think those FOCUS and PROBE teachers wanted to expose us to the concepts surrounding metacognition as a method of being successful in academically demanding classes and to encourage us to be more aware of ourselves and how we can adapt and adjust to meet the challenges of the world both within and without the school walls.
I have been working as a regular classroom teacher since late 1998. Those first few years were spent in a high school, and at some point I had a collaborative Reading Specialist for a period or two each day to support my Technical Language Arts students, a grouping level for students no longer prescribed by GCPS. When my collaborative partner first handed me a copy of a learning styles inventory as well as one of a cognitive styles inventory, I was curious about how these would play out with my 9th graders. The students worked through the inventories, shared results with me and each other, and got a basic summary relating to their results to help explain themselves to themselves.
I did not record their answers or their styles. I did not make note of who was right vs. left hemisphere dominant. I did not try to use this information in a way to restructure my lessons for each student. What I did was help expose my students to different approaches of learning, helped them realize that they learn in similar ways as well as methods divergent from their peers, and highlighted for them the notion that certain subjects or concepts might be more difficult or easy to grasp depending on their learning styles or brain dominance patterns. I encouraged them to try to overcome some of the gaps of this categorization by developing methods of study that utilized their strengths and talents in learning (for instance, color coding notes via ink shades or paper choices –tactile - versus listening to the notes on a tape - auditory). I also made sure to tell them to be aware that some of these styles and patterns may change as they grow and develop, to keep an open mind to new ways of learning, and to strengthen their own study weaknesses with such awareness of self. Finally, I reminded them that with all documents of this sort, gaps as well as overlaps between categories and survey questions can leave some of us feeling like we do not fit the results we have been handed and not to take all of that too seriously. When we attempt to deconstruct on paper that which is intangible, we cannot harness all the truth to the matter; still an inventory is not a terrible place to help start a discussion about learning.
I think it is important for teachers to know about and have some experience with teaching to specific learning styles so that all styles can be addressed within a lesson. It is important for students to have several opportunities and methods to gain knowledge and respond to content, but to actually link one child to one style prevents true metacognitive awareness and can even lock a child to a style that may not serve him or her well. Students have the right to learn as best they can. My goal as an educator is to efficiently present as many varied opportunities for that learning as I can.
Chapter 4. Q7. Balancing Deficiency and Difference Orientations in the Classroom
ReplyDeleteUsing the description of Ms. Vanderbilt’s classroom, in Figure 4.3, examine the description to determine the use of the deficiency and difference orientations. First, indicate the ways that Ms. Vanderbilt uses deficiency orientation in her classroom. Second, write some ideas for how a teacher could use the difference orientation to enhance the education and identify development for students in Ms. Vanderbilt’s classroom.
When a teacher uses deficiency orientation with her/his students she/he believes that the student needs something in order to succeed. Generally when a teacher believes in deficiency orientation and use it in the classroom is because believe that is only one way to learn, if the student do not learn in that way is just because then that student is deficient. In Ms. Vanderbilt case it is obvious that she hold a deficiency orientation with her students. She works in a Head Start located in the Southwest area of Chicago (she came from the Midwest area of Chicago). Her 25 students are black and Hispanics from a poor socioeconomic community but a community that believes and respects school and education. Her From the 25 students 16 are girls (10 black, 6 Hispanics (2) Spanish speaking) and 12 are boys (8 black, 4 Hispanics (1) bilingual). Her classroom environment seems rich and warm and she looks very happy to work there.
All this sounds excellent but here is the problem. Ms. Vanderbilt believes that her students are in disadvantage because they live in a poor community. She believes that the only way they can succeed is having them learning the same things students in the suburbs learn. That’s why her curriculum is conducted to expose her students to a way of life they have not been “privileged” to know. She believes that exposing them to active enrichment programs, like attending the youth symphony and visiting the museum they will have a big opportunity for academic succeed. More than that she encourages them to bring lunch based on the food poster posted on the wall and remind them the nutrition unit they finish last week. Obviously Ms. Vanderbilt does not know anything about differences between deficiency and difference orientations.
Although Ms. Vanderbilt work in good faith it would be much better if she learns about difference orientation. In this kind of orientation the teacher does not assume the student is wrong or deficient instead sees the student characteristics as different not as a deficient. Having such diversity in her classroom she easily uses their background culture and learns about different painters from their countries and here the orchestra class one day. She can substitute the food on the poster for their country. Also they can learn a foreign language because a lot of student’s know another language rather than English. Introduce new cultures knowledge between students, and also attract parents to school.
I'm sorry I really don't know why my name is no showing here. It's me Miriam Martinez
Delete9. Learning Styles and Intelligences Emphasized in Schools
ReplyDeleteReading this chapter helped me realize that my classes are focused on helping students complete specific types of work in specific ways in a specifically structured setting. However, I have tried to allow for different learning preferences through varied activities in reading and vocabulary study. For example, it seems that equal numbers of students become frustrated with the noise level and lack of focus they experience during small group reading as students who struggle to stay on task during silent, independent reading. While silent, independent reading will be required of students on local and national tests, students might learn better under different circumstances. Vocabulary study in ELT is another opportunity to broaden the spectrum of learning styles that students can express. Because of the smaller group and more flexible curriculum, incorporating kinisthetic and tactile activities (vocabulary charades, for example) is more feasible. It is important to vary the physical, social, and and sensory environment so that all students can experience different ways of learning.
I appreciate the way you were willing to look at your own delivery methods and style to see the areas where students cry out with their differing needs and where their classroom experience is not being as well served as you'd like it to be. What was really interesting to me here was how much your recollection of student activity and response mimicked my own experience in the ESOL Cohort group. We all seem to learn differently in there, each with various behavioral and communication distinctions that could be difficult to manage with a larger class size. Also, if we were identity-emergent teenagers and not confident and degreed adults, those differences could cause us as well as the instructor to develop self-doubt and fear as we tackle our content as well as our relationships with each other. Maybe those differences already do. Just a thought :-)
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteQuestion #2
ReplyDeleteThe difference orientation model is the ideal model for an educator teaching a diverse population of students. However, it is difficult sometimes to escape from using the deficiency model because sometimes our students do have genuine deficiencies. I think it’s really important to have an open mind, to be patient and creative in assessing students, and to not make assumptions about students based on their race, ethnicity, or gender. I find it difficult as a math teacher to avoid using the deficiency model because frankly speaking, you can notice deficiencies very quickly in math. For example, when a new student enters my classroom and I find out on the first day that they do not know their basic multiplication, I know there is a deficiency. While I don’t feel that there is a “single way of knowing”, I do feel that there are basic skills that must be taught in order to get to a level where more creative or challenging differentiation can take place. I would never assume that a child is lacking in basic skills because of their background, but I do subscribe to making sure that students know the most basic and fundamental knowledge about what we teach (such as single digit multiplication in math), and that sometimes forces us to lean towards using more of a deficiency model.
While I do believe it’s important to address basic deficiencies, I definitely feel more confident and more satisfied when I lean towards the difference orientation model. I did state that student deficiencies need to be addressed, but I think you have to balance it with recognizing the different ways students express what they know. I love revealing to my students in class that math isn’t really about numbers (if it was I would be terrible at it). Math is about developing a process for solving problems. I remind my students that the correct way to solve a problem is the way that works for them, as long as they can make sense of their conclusion and can correctly solve the problem. I feel that it’s important to assess students in several different ways because real life is not a standardized test, and students don’t have to ace these tests to be successful in life. However, in order to get into college and into certain professions, students must be able to perform in ways that may not be the best way for them to show what they know. It’s a difficult challenge, but I think that ultimately an educator has to find a balance between the two models without resorting to assumptions based on factors that are beyond the student’s control.