group differences discussion

The Ladsen Billings article and Connell article both portray similar views, stating that there is an obvious gap between poor people (typically African American) and middle/ high socioeconomic families (typically white). I defiantly agree that there are differences between the education within these groups. The reasons as to why there are these differences and how to close the gap are what differs between these two authors. However, I think the bigger issue is ultimately closing the gap, and providing equal education for every child.

I agree with Ladsen-Billings analogy of the education gap being more like a education deficit to an extent. However I think that if teachers work with their students parents, there would no longer be a deficit. I think that if parents and teachers are on the same level and everyone is working together, students will not fall behind. This gives students the proper education at school, and parents the knowledge of how to help their children at home. If students parents are not willing to work with you or with their child at home, I think working with the child one-on-one and giving them strategies to work by themselves at home can definitely help. While Ladsen-Billings does not blame this gap solely on income levels, and says that minorities fall short even when compared to counterparts that make the same amount of money, I feel as if the economic differences account for the majority of the differences between African American and white families. The other differences she accounts for, historical, moral, and sociopolitical, make a lot of sense in the scheme of things. However, I feel as if the sociopolitical gap may have been closed a little bit with the election of President Obama. His election became a huge stepping stone for African Americans. I, also, think that the historical gap will close as time goes on. America has been working to make everyone equal for quite sometime and the generations that were apart of segregation are starting to die. For example, my mom grew up in a household where her dad (my grandfather) would not allow her to watch TV shows where there were people on the shows. This is not something I am proud of by any means, but it just shows that generations not too long ago had racist views. My grandfather is no longer this type of person, and as we evolve people are becoming more open minded. With this open mindedness, I think this historical side of Ladsen-Billings article will fade.

The main thing that stood out to me in the Connell article was the discussion of power. I never realized how much power teachers and schools have, and how that may be viewed negatively by those who may feel as if teachers and school are superior to them. Again, I think teachers need to try their hardest to work with parents and become their equal. I believe this is the best way for teachers to level out the playing field. However, if it is not done correctly it could make it worse. Another part of the power discussion that really stood out to me was the power struggle between males and teachers. I have seen this first hand in my class that I am intern-shipping in. One particular student, a boy, was in a constant power struggle with my mentor teacher. It got to the point to where he was sent to solutions, a six month program where the student is by himself instead of in the classroom. This type of "punishment" hurts the child more, and basically gives him the message to just drop out of school. Maybe coming up with another way to discipline students rather than giving them the message to "just drop out" would be better. I never really thought about the type of message these types of punishments sent to children but after reading Connell's article, it makes a lot of sense. The last thing that I really liked from Connell's article is the discussion of multicultural teaching. We had a discussion over the power of multicultural teaching in one of my other classes, and I think it could be extremely effective in classrooms of poverty. They have different realities than middle class suburb families and should be taught differently. Teaching things that relate to them and interest them will obviously be much more effective than teaching them things that are unrelated to their lives. Overall, this gap between these different groups of people is an injustice and needs to be addressed.

Blog 11

1. What are a few ways that you will promote healthy peer relationships in your classroom? (Application)
2. What are the different characteristics of peer relationships Ormrod discusses in chapter 3? (pg 77) (Knowledge)

Blog 10

1. What is one way Vygotsky's and Piaget's theories are alike and what is one way they are different? (Evaluation)
2. What is assimilation and accommodation? (Knowledge)

Blog 9

Chapter 5 questions:
1. How do you plan to include students with disabilities in your classroom? (Synthesis)
2. What are some common characteristics of students with disabilities? (Knowledge/ Understanding)

Blog 8

1. Explain the differences between overt and covert learning strategies. (Understanding) 

2. Based on your prior knowledge of problem solving, how could you use the problem solving strategies listed in the book in your future classroom- algorithm and heuristics (Synthesizing) 

Blog 7

Cognitive learning seems to be all about learning strategies, memory, retrieval, and knowledge. This makes a lot of since to me because we all have little tricks that we use to help us remember things. I think, as teachers, keeping cognitive learning and all the things that fit into the cognitive learning theory is important. If we know children remember things easier because our lesson is unusual, or if we trigger an emotion then why not intentionally teach with those strategies? It makes our job easier as educators because the students will be completely engaged in our lesson and the children will remember it because you used which ever teaching strategy in order to help them remember it.

I think that if children are aware of how they learn best and can identify their weaknesses and strengths, they will be able to succeed in school. As teachers we can help them by giving them tools and switch up our teaching strategies to focus on differentiated learning. A website I visited said that if children have a hard time with auditory knowledge, they may have trouble hearing blends and therefore have a hard time reading. Knowing this, can help us help students. This is just one of many examples on this website, but knowing where a child falls short cognitively is important.

Some learning skills that can help students include:
- meaningful learning- relating things to things they have already learned
-elaboration- learners use prior knowledge to embellish on a new idea
-rehearsal- repeating information
-organization- making connections
-visual imagery- pictures, envisioning
-mnemonics

Teachers can also use different skills to help students learn such as:
- distinctiveness
-use of emotional overtones
-connections
-regular practice
-relevant retrieval cues
-wait time


http://www.learningrx.com/what-is-brain-training.htm

Constructivism- is constructing your own knowledge

When thinking about constructivism, I think about exploration, experiences, the environment, reflection, problem solving, active learning, etc.

This is my favorite learning theory because I believe students will learn best when they are constructing their own knowledge through explorations they are interested in. I feel it is the teachers job to facilitate the students learning and provide curriculum (that is required) within this context. If the teacher can relate it to what they children are interested in, I think they will remember/ learn it better because it will be more meaningful.

This is similar to the cognitive learning theory due to the fact that they both rely on past experiences but constructivism relies more on the children being active in their learning. While in the cognitive theory it seems to be more of the teacher directing learning in a meaningful-ish way.

Field Trip

Friday October 11^th I went to an open session held by Deborah Ball, the Dean of education at the University of Michigan. It was interesting to me for a few reasons. First of all, it was interesting to hear the different professors talk about teaching students skills to teach. This was interesting to me because as a group, everyone was concerned about the best way to teach students skills. It seemed as if this is more important than teaching theory. I think this stood out to me a lot because when we really think about it, what are we teaching children? Skills, skills to insert themselves in society. We are giving them skills and tools to use in the real world, after school, or to further themselves in school. I think if teachers looked at teaching that way, teachers could be better teachers. Instead of trying to teach students bookwork, if teachers focused on teaching students curriculum by giving them life-skills, students may benefit more.

The next thing that I thought was so interesting was how Michigan’s program assessed their students. The students have to pass certain criteria each year in order to advance to the next year. If they do not pass, they have to work on whatever they failed to master before they could move on. I think this is important because as it was said at the open session, it weeds people out but it also ensures that you never get behind. This is also important at the elementary level. If students just meet the minimum to move to the next step without ever mastering the skill or knowledge, they will fall behind! This is not ok on so many different levels, if students get so behind they won't be able to keep advancing. This will set them up for continued failure.

The last thing I found interesting was the dual track program Michigan has set up. Majoring in the subject you want to teach, as well as, education makes a lot of sense. This way you have your specialty area mastered and will be able to better educate your students more efficiently. I feel like the CFS program at UT does a great job of preparing students to work with children, but I do not feel like I have had enough education on the actual practice of teaching. This is where it seems UT is falling short with their program, to me. It is great that I know all about child’s development but it will not help if I do not have a good practice of teaching. I know I will get more education and practice within the next year but as a senior I wish I had more at this point. I think Michigan does a great job of giving their students a lot of experience in both their specialty area and the education aspect.