Blog Assignment Week 2
This week has been overwhelming, and incredibly interesting at the same time. Today will mark my 3rd time rereading the text because every time I go back to it, I find something that I missed before. I can't believe the capabilities of our minds, and how intricate its design really is. Here are some websites that I found really interesting:
First, I browsed a website titled Benchmark Education and I found reading comprehension metacognitive strategies that can be taught to students. While the strategies are specific to reading, I believe you can transfer them to other subjects. The site offers planning and assessment guides, as well as sample lessons. I also found another site titled, Metacognition that provides an in-depth explanation of metacognition and provides a broad set of study strategies (generating questions and answers, writing summaries, writing elaborations, and using organizers).
Another great resource titled, Brain Connection provides many scholarly articles related to learning and brain- based research. The article that I chose to read was written on Gardner's Multiples Intelligences theory and how it impacts learning. The intelligences range from musical to linguistic, and reinforces that the brain must have information presented in different modalities so that various connections within the brain can be elaborated upon (Ormrod, Schunk, & Gredler, 2009). Other articles on the site discuss topics such as problem-solving, I.Q. tests, ADD/ADHD, motivation, reading, and behavior. The broad spectrum of topics allows you to find an article that interest or baffle you on the topic of brain-based research.
Positscience is a website that I found helpful when I was reading through the anatomy of the brain in this week's resources. I used the site for additional visual aides to the topics discussed on pg. 32 in Learning Theories and Instruction.
Lastly, the Teach Hub is a website that offers specific strategies for incorporating brain-based techniques into your classroom. An article on this site that I read was written on the topic of getting the attention of your students. The ideas listed were unique, as well as helpful, and allowed me to see how to apply brain-based research in my teaching. For example, you can get the attention of your students by varying your daily routines and using visual cues or music. This also relates to the suggestions for maintaining the attention of your students on pg. 58 in Learning Theories and Instruction.
My Real- World Connection
This week I have been in training for a language-arts program that my school has adopted. This program is based in brain research and believes in using sight, sound, and touch to deliver a more effective program. It also delivers explicit instruction in spelling, grammar, reading, and writing. Most spelling, grammar, reading, and writing skills constitute procedural knowledge, and therefore the teacher is expected to model all initial learning. Then, the teacher coaches and fades away as the children become more automatic in their skills. The program also believes in connecting spelling, grammar, reading, and writing so that the children can form more elaborate connections between the subjects in their LTM Here are all the principles that make this language arts program effective (Spalding, 2003):
1. It is student-centered
2. It establishes high expectations
3. It defines a purpose and meaning for learning
4. It requires higher-level thinking (Bloom’s taxonomy)
5. It prescribes sequential instruction
6. It provides multi-sensory instruction
7. It requires active participation
8. It believes in diagnostic teaching (constant assessment- formal and informal)
9. It integrates instruction between subject areas.
These principles can also be used by instructional designers to evaluate an elearning or training classrooms.
References
Ormrod, J., Schunk, D., & Gredler, M. (2009). Learning theories and instruction (Laureate custom edition). New York: Pearson.
Spalding, R.B. (2003), The writing road to reading. New York: HarperCollins.
Overbaugh, R. & Schultz, L. (n.d.) Bloom’s taxonomy. Retrieved from: http://www.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment