Chapter 4: Question 11: Should a teacher focus on students’ learning style?

Naomi Onike

          Chapter 4: Question 11:    Should a teacher focus on students’ learning style?

Learning styles pertain to consistent patterns of behaviors and performance one uses to acquire learning.   It has been broken down into different components as follows

·        Physical Settings; involve amount of light, temperature, sound or design

·        Social setting; whether individual like to study alone or in groups

·        Learning Senses; visual (reading, watching a video)

·        Auditory; listening

·        Kinesthetic; practicing, role playing

·        Tactile; writing, building, or constructing

·        Cognitive learning style; sequential learner or analytical, left-brained and Global learner.

The reality is that individuals are not limited to just one component of learning style in their quest to acquire knowledge.  Some may perform well under two or three components or even more.  To restrict students just to learning style that is theirs will be a huge mistake.  All the same, it is necessary for teachers to understand the learning styles of their students.  This will help the teacher know how to plan lessons in order to accommodate the styles of their students. 

Ch. 4- # 2: Recognizing Deficiency and Difference Orientation in your own teaching.

According to Noel (2008), deficiency orientation is when a student is lacking something and the teacher feels the student should have it in order to succeed properly. From my experience as a math teacher, a couple of my accelerated math students take a lot of time to finish a task. I always assumed that this delay is because of their lack of interest in math, and also the lack of content knowledge. Later, I came to know that the two students are interested in math but their pace of learning and working is low compared to other accelerated students. Also, I have another Hispanic student who is not succeeding in my math class and I assumed that he is not succeeding because he doesn’t like school at all. Later, I realized that he is not succeeding in math because he has so many family problems. As Noel (2008) stated, deficiency orientation is very dangerous because teachers end up blaming the students’ failure in school on wrong assumptions rather than knowing the students’ learning needs and personal issues.

According to Noel (2008), difference orientation means the teacher sees the students’ characteristics as different, not deficient. After a few weeks of teaching experience, I started to see my students’ characteristics as different, not deficient. I have a student who is in my regular math class, and he is a special needs student. He just moved in from a different state. It is very hard to keep him on task, and I tried many different ways. However, none of my techniques worked. Then, I realized that he can be kept on task by giving him rewards. He is good at math, but he finishes his task only if he gets a reward.

In my perspective, every child is different in their learning style. As a teacher, we should use the difference orientation rather than deficiency orientation.

9. Learning Styles and Intelligences Emphasized in Schools

When I was in highschool I really struggled with Math.  My teachers always used one method to teach math.  They would stand in front of the class and teach from the overhead.  I never would pay attention and my mind would wonder off as the teacher was lecturing.   Our desks were in straight rows and facing the front of the room.  She taught from the textbook and gave practice problems from the book.  This method did nothing for my learning style. Not everyone learns the old fashioned way.   In today's math class students are able to be reached in a variety of ways.  We have various technologies that keep the students attention.  I do not think my  math teacher every did  cooperative grouping learning where we could teach each other and share examples. 
At Lilburn the teachers have a variety of  methods for keeping the students attention.  The students are able to interact in the classroom at various levels and this helps with comprehension.  Most of the desks are arranged in groups.  Students are given hands on manipulatives to work with.  The textbook that is used can be accessed from  home and it has a tutorial video that mirrors the lesson for that day.  Also it has video interactive games for the students.  They can take practice quizzes and complete practice problems.  I wish this technology was available when I was a student in high school.  Teachers today are able to reach the whole child with a series of strategies that help students to make connections with the lesson.

ESOL Mini Conference Notes

My Notes from the Conference to Share:

Panel Discussion presented by- Beatriz Uribe, Eunsook Lee, Lan Schlect, Yisu Brasel, Vesna Vujinovic

Students from Bosnia- school bell can remind students of war sounds/emotions
Use your HEART when instructing

Students who speak Spanish are Hispanic
Students from Latin countries are Latinos therefore, Latinos are Hispanics, but not all Hispanics are Latinos
"They're all Mexicans." Be careful; many differences among our Spanish speakers (bad words- may be a bad word in one country and not in another)
Different accents
Use of Formal vs Informal You
s, c, z-th sounds  doesn't mean that students have a lisp!
Many reasons for immigration-not all are poor! Parents can be lawyers, doctors, teachers highly educated
Find out- Where is the family from? Are they educated? What kind of support is available at home?
Sometimes parents have a 2nd grade education- Be Sensitive!
What obstacles do you face with students?
Send homework that the child can do alone.
Be aware of immigration issues- Deportation causes fear in families
Parents may have low education in technology- send paper copies home
Make workshops/training for parents on technology
Don't use siblings for translations= get a school or county translator!!
Don't assume that when a parent nods their head that means they understand
Diversity goes beyond their PHLOTE (Primary Home Language Other than English)
There is a huge increase in transitional students (students who leave and come back)

Korea- 5,000 years of history; almost all Koreans in the US are from South Korea
Struggles include: American school systems/activities such as spirit wear, relay for life, field day, Valentines Day
Helpful for parents to preview upcoming events and expectations
Lot of pressure to study-a lot of competition, so it is the norm to send children to school for extra help (to get ahead!) Korean School on Saturday is common
Teachers are seen as authority figures, parents are not always used to approaching teachers
Korean students do not have middle names; be sure to address students by their whole name such as Eun Sook not just Eun (which means clear/shiny silver) it would be like saying Clear
Do not write students' name in red ink- this means blood
Do not use the internet translation services-severely changes the grammatical structure
Be careful when writing in cursive-can be hard to understand
Eye contact seen as disrespectful
Normal to use the middle finger to point
Age of independence is older than in the US
Common for females to hold hands with females; males to hold hands with males
Teachers should initiate conversations with parents
Use both hands to hand papers back to students

Chinese- notes home and school functions can be confusing
Chinese language- millions of dialects, but all understand Mandarin (official language), doesn't use verb tenses normal to hear or read from a student "I yesterday go to movie." ending sounds "I read a lot of book."
No distinction between gender (He/She/It)= all the same in speaking
Teachers need to explicitly teach prepositions

Vietnamese- "Asian" does not equal a language or a culture of people; it is a continent
There are more differences than similarities with "Asians"

 

Notes from Bridging the Divide between GCPS culture and the Cultures of EL Students and families- Elizabeth Webb

Support   Lead   Inspire

How can you be "world class" if you are not globally competent?

Culture is: beliefs, cutoms of a particular society, group, place or time; has it own beliefs, ways of life, art; formed from humans @ a particular place, time, circumstances
They way buildings are formed and food is made- depends on the raw materials available and how humans discover how to live together
The Earth came to be and was formed with people all from different cultures
A way of thinking, behaving or work that exists in a place or organization
Artistic activities (music, theater, painting)
How we care for ourselves as physical beings may be the most important part of our culture.

What chacterizies American culture?  - democracy - equality - freedom to say, write, act   - inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

Cultures are on a continuum just like people
Think about the Olympic Opening Ceremonies  Individuality vs. Group
London- individual   Beijing- group

What characterizes GCPS culture?
-Teaching & Learning - World Class - Gwinnett is Great - Success Lives Here - Accountability- Data- Assessment -Diversity - CONINUIOUS QUALITY IMPROVEMENT- reducing gaps in minority and poor students- Achievement of each individual student - supports and interventions - parent involvement

What might EL parents experience or have experienced?
Schooling as a privilege - may involve fees
Not universally available
Students must adapt to school environment who do not achieve relegated to lesser track
High stakes exams determine long term economic success or failure
parent questions may be viewed as disrespectful

Culture vs. Linguistics

Multiculture - Intercultural - Bilingual - Globally Competent- Plurilingual - Monolingual - Culturally Responsive

WE ARE ALL ON THE SPECTURM OF ENGLISH LEARNERS!!! WE ARE JUST IN DIFFERNET PLACES ON THE SPECTRUM.

Plurilingual- Learning language for specific purposes. Take a risk! It expresses warmth and outreach to speak in another language to our students and families

Characteristics to Cultivate  = Curiosity and Empathy  
Jeremy Rifkin on Empathy "We are soft wired to experience another's plight as if we are experiencing it ourselves."
We all desire socibility, attachment, affection and have a drive to belong.
Video: http://www.ted.com/talks/jeremy_rifkin_on_the_empathic_civilization.html

Saturday 9/29/2012 at ISC

Reflection 2 from Chapter 3 is due TODAY!

Agenda:

Report to the ISC Grayson Room by 8:25am

 Saturday September 29, 2012

Panel Discussion with GCPS Translators 8:30-10:00

Breakout Sessions -Attend the sessions of your choice

session 1 at 10:10
session 2 at 10:55

Cohort Meetings (and working lunch 12:00-12:30)

12:30-3:30 Computer Labs. We will meet in the Galileo Lab.

Week 7 Learning Styles

October 2, 2012 

REFLECTION 3 from the conference is DUE TODAY!

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.  

I completely agree that sexism and racism are like viruses tearing apart the fabric of our nation. When we allow divisions between individuals based on gender or race, we are undermining the many factors that we have in common, like patriotism and pride. As educators, we must continuously encourage unity and a sense of "togetherness." Without expereriencing events like September 11th to unite us all, how will our students ever be open to working together toward a common goal in the future? We must put aside our prejudices and focus on what unties us, not divides us.