Thursday, July 21, 2005

What to Look for in a Classroom

After looking over the authors view of what a classroom should look like, use the previous questions to give your reflections.

posted by Barney Slowey @ 7:12 AM 

1 Comments:

Blogger Barney Slowey said...

I have been trying to not comment on your reflections so as not to influence your final...but I'm chomping at the bit...i have to break this into pieces because I don't have time to do it in one sitting so bear with me...I'm going to start with homework...I heard Dr William Galsser on public radio one day call homework the "stupidest thing we do in education"...I wholeheartedly agree...there's lots of studies out there but one I remember is that 85%of kids do not do their homework or copy others...look in the hallways before school...There are two adults in our households with Masters degrees plus and homework turns this house into a battleground...I don't know what the instructions were...I don't do Algebra 2...My daughter has other interests outside of school...What do the parents do where there aren't 2 educated parents in a house that has the amenities conducive to doing homework...When my oldest boy was in 4th grade he came home on a beautiful fall day and i wanted to go out in the woods...He had a ton of homework including a crossword puzzle on Treasure Island that the kids didn't even read...I had to go into school for the book and then help other parents with the task...I made up my mind then and there never to give homework again unless it was relevant to their life...like interviewing grandpa who was in WWII...I figured I was the professional and not the parent so if I felt the kids should know something I needed to give them time in my classroom to do it...As those of you in the brain class know I am a firm believer in using the multiple intelligences in the classroom...If I truly believe that all kids can learn then it's my obligation to find out how they learn best and then use that modality to teach them...Certainly this can be done if a teacher allows many different ways for kids to complete an assignment...A book report may be given in the form of a written document, a drawing(one of my favorites), skit, musical rap, etc..to find out more about this read Thomas Armstrong's book Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom...it is practical and has lots of ideas on how to turn your classroom into a learneer centered classroom...How can we fail someone if we don't teach to his/her strong intelligence...Shouldn't I be giving a MI survey the first day of class to see what the strengths of my class are?...in fact I will to my college freshman in a few weeks...I will also allow them to demonstrate their learning in whatever way they wish...and I suspect I will get better quality work...I am alos going to propose that the grades for the class will be A,B and not yet...I suppose I won't have a job by Thanksgiving but we will see...Someone mentioned self fulfilling prophesy idea and I remember hearing Mike McCoy who began the Special Education department in DPI give a speech as he was retiring and he said the biggest regret he had was designing a special needs assessment...It focused on negatives right from the git go and kids were labeled for life...I firmly belive that if we use the multiple intelligence approach the the new brain research we won't have to have kids in special ed...ENOUGH FOR NOW !!!

3:50 PM  

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