Chapter 6 of DI/UbD talks about the importance of responsive teaching in a differentiated classroom. In order to have responsive teaching students must understand the basics. Without learning the basics students will not be about to have deeper learning. Students will not be able to make connections to the larger picture. To really understand something the student has to see why they are learning the material. Teachers should not share knowledge with students but guide them to understand the knowledge. This will allow students to have the most learning possible. Guiding students will also allow them to uncover knowledge at their own rate. This allows all students to move forward. To do this a teacher can simply ask essential questions. To make all of this work together smoothly a teacher must be flexible. Being flexible allows you to throw out things that do not work and change things that might work. Flexibility allows for responsive teaching.
The class as a whole liked the metaphor used on page 89-90 about the jazz musician. This put into perspective what responsive teaching is, along with being flexible in both the curriculum and classroom. It was a consensuses that flexibility is very important to DI. We all felt that it was important to incorporate responsive teaching and the different aspects of it into our lessons.
Monday, March 17, 2008
DI/UbD Chapter # 7
A very important part a teacher as is "uncovering" material rather than simply going over it to say that it has been covered. Uncovering suggests that the material has been studied in depth and that the teacher guided students in the ways necessary for them to really be able to delve into the material and have it mean something, and also make the material lasting learning. While this certainly is not an easy task the W.H.E.R.E.T.O part of the backwards planning model can help ensure that this happens. This is an anagram that stands for Where,Why,What-Hook-Equip,Explore,Experience-Refine,Revise,Rehearse,Rethink-Evaluate
-Tailor-Organize. While this does help to diversify a lesson some of the steps are more challenging than others, one such step is the hook. Once a teacher has hooked students they must then face another challenge further down the WHERETO road. That challenge is tailoring the lesson. Once these hurdles have been cleared the rest of the WHERETO process is no problem at all.
The WHERETO model is helpful for many reasons the biggest being, it's versatility, it's straightforwardness, as well as it's ability to keep us as teachers focused. The genius in this is how easy it is to apply it to all lessons, and any subjects. As teachers we really don't have to worry about writing a lesson plan into a corner so to speak because we have the benefit of being able to know what step is next and we can figure out the flow from there. Also this model can easily be transposed into a daily agenda, and it helps us keep on track, and in a way lets students know what is expected of them for the day so it helps keep them on track as much as it is possible to do so. Lastly this method really can help prevent us from forgetting where we were going to go with a lesson plan because each step is a little mind jogger, so we will remember what needs to go there, and it will aid us in remembering what we had planned for that spot.
-Tailor-Organize. While this does help to diversify a lesson some of the steps are more challenging than others, one such step is the hook. Once a teacher has hooked students they must then face another challenge further down the WHERETO road. That challenge is tailoring the lesson. Once these hurdles have been cleared the rest of the WHERETO process is no problem at all.
The WHERETO model is helpful for many reasons the biggest being, it's versatility, it's straightforwardness, as well as it's ability to keep us as teachers focused. The genius in this is how easy it is to apply it to all lessons, and any subjects. As teachers we really don't have to worry about writing a lesson plan into a corner so to speak because we have the benefit of being able to know what step is next and we can figure out the flow from there. Also this model can easily be transposed into a daily agenda, and it helps us keep on track, and in a way lets students know what is expected of them for the day so it helps keep them on track as much as it is possible to do so. Lastly this method really can help prevent us from forgetting where we were going to go with a lesson plan because each step is a little mind jogger, so we will remember what needs to go there, and it will aid us in remembering what we had planned for that spot.
MI Chapter 6: MI and Teaching Strategies
Chapter six of Thomas Armstrong's Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom discusses teaching strategies for all of the intelligences. The chapter gives various ways of incorporating each intelligence by teaching lessons that involve them and different strategies that work. It is important to rotate and use every intelligence each day to ensure that all students are engaged and learning. For the linguistic intelligence, it is is recommended to use storytelling, brainstorming, tape recording, journal writing, and publishing. For logical intelligence you can use calculations, classifications, and scientific thinking. For spatial intelligences one could use visuals, color cues, and graphics. The bodily-kinesthetic intelligence can be catered to by using body answers, hands-on thinking, and body maps. For music, songs and discographies are useful. Interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences are addressed through group work or individual work.
Our class really enjoyed this chapter. It is exciting to think about using these strategies in our own classrooms. We all realize that we will be working with students who are very different and we needs to find ways to accommodate to their learning styles. Some of the discussions in this chapter brought up many fond memories of our favorite classes in high school. This goes to show that the MI Theory is effective, and teachers that use it are the ones who will make a lasting impression.
This is a video from the old cartoon Animaniacs. It is to help memorize the Presidents and important historical events.
Our class really enjoyed this chapter. It is exciting to think about using these strategies in our own classrooms. We all realize that we will be working with students who are very different and we needs to find ways to accommodate to their learning styles. Some of the discussions in this chapter brought up many fond memories of our favorite classes in high school. This goes to show that the MI Theory is effective, and teachers that use it are the ones who will make a lasting impression.
This is a video from the old cartoon Animaniacs. It is to help memorize the Presidents and important historical events.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Multiple Intelligences Chapter 5 MI and Curriculum Design
This chapter starts by giving a brief history of the theory of multiple intelligences. The theory can be traced back to Plato when he mentioned education as being something that people should find amusement in and not as being compulsive. Then the idea was further developed by Jean Jacques Rousseau in the 18th century. He said that learning should not be done with books but by experiences. This idea has continued though out history and just recently it has become stronger and is now being used in the classroom. A teacher that uses the theory of MI is very different than a traditional teacher. While a traditional teacher will stand in front of his class lecturing a teacher using the theory of MI will spend some time lecturing and writing on the board but he will also spend time catering to the other intelligences besides verbal. The chapter then went on to make a list of different ways of incorporating the different intelligences in your classroom. This list includes using Socratic questioning for logical, videos for spatial, field trips for kinesthetic, word games for linguistic, mood music for musical, peer teaching for interpersonal, and independent study for intrapersonal learners. The chapter then goes over a seven step process for creating a lesson based around the theory of multiple intelligences. Your first step is to think of the specific topic or objective you want to teach and write it in the center of a web. Next you are to ask yourself how you can incorporate the different intelligences into the lesson plan. Then you want to consider which of the methods you just brainstormed can be used in your class. After deciding which intelligences you are going to use you should brainstorm ideas of how to use them in your lesson. In this step you should write down everything that comes to mind and then go back and circle the activities that are the most appropriate. The last two steps are to design the lesson around the intelligence and activity you chose and to implement it.
Almost everyone who read this chapter commented that they liked the lists of ways to incorporate each intelligence into their classroom. Some people commented that they felt the book is getting repetitive and that they get it all ready, multiple intelligence is the way to go. People also commented on how they have had past teachers that brought in many of the different types of intelligences and how much better those teachers were at teaching than the teachers who stood in front of the class and lectured every class. Overall most people were positive about the chapter and found the list of ways to get the intelligences in the classroom to be very helpful.
Almost everyone who read this chapter commented that they liked the lists of ways to incorporate each intelligence into their classroom. Some people commented that they felt the book is getting repetitive and that they get it all ready, multiple intelligence is the way to go. People also commented on how they have had past teachers that brought in many of the different types of intelligences and how much better those teachers were at teaching than the teachers who stood in front of the class and lectured every class. Overall most people were positive about the chapter and found the list of ways to get the intelligences in the classroom to be very helpful.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
MI Chapter 2
Chapter two of Multiple Intelligences In The Classroom deals with knowing where you stand as an educator and where your strengths and weaknesses are. Before you can properly assess your students you have to know where you come from yourself. After you know your weaknesses it is important to compensate for these by using outside resources to strengthen your teaching. Some of the best places for help are your fellow colleagues. They have had the same problems you have and you can find out how they worked certain areas into their unit. It is a good idea to have a team of colleagues that you meet with and talk about how you can incorporate all the multiple intelligences in your classroom. Another place you can go for ideas is you students. If you cannot draw very well then ask a student if they would not mind drawing the pictures for you. All students are different and they all have different strengths so it is likely that there will be a student with a certain intelligence in your classroom that you can use. One of the other spots you can go to develop your weaknesses is technology. You can supplement your lessons with technology such as using a calculator in math if you are weak in logical-mathematical areas. Then there are ways that you can develop your weaker intelligences. Most of the developments of intelligences rely on biological endowment, personal life history, and cultural background. Whether or not an intelligence develops or not is based on crystallizing and paralyzing events. Crystallizing events are measures that happen and positively act to further your intelligences while paralyzing events hinder the development of certain intelligences. Some factors that either promote or hinder the development of intelligences are: access to resources, historical-cultural factors, geographical factors, familial factors, and situational factors. It is important for a teacher to be able to recognize these events in his own life and try to develop the intelligences that are not as developed.
Many people felt that this chapter brought up good ideas. They felt that it is important for a teacher to know his own shortcomings and to try to work with others to make the impact of these shortcomings less noticeable in the classroom. Almost everyone found it interesting that there were events labeled “crystallizing” and “paralyzing” that affected how a person’s intelligences developed. The ways that intelligence could be developed intrigued many people and they reflected on their own lives and agreed that the situations listed in the chapter do change people’s intelligences and interests.
Many people felt that this chapter brought up good ideas. They felt that it is important for a teacher to know his own shortcomings and to try to work with others to make the impact of these shortcomings less noticeable in the classroom. Almost everyone found it interesting that there were events labeled “crystallizing” and “paralyzing” that affected how a person’s intelligences developed. The ways that intelligence could be developed intrigued many people and they reflected on their own lives and agreed that the situations listed in the chapter do change people’s intelligences and interests.
Abstract/Reflection DI/UbD Chapter 2
Students learn in all sorts of different ways so it follows that students fail to learn for all sorts of reasons. As a teacher it is important to teach responsively (respond to student's needs) so that each student may overcome his/her various barriers to learning. This idea of teaching responsively does quite a lot to stress the importance of student-teacher relationships and how strong ones are needed in order to teach responsively. There are many different ways to accomplish this feet of responsive teaching, and they include teaching in multiple ways, attending to student interests and also through the use of clearly defined rubrics. This page can offer more advice on how to teach in a way that is responsive to students.
The general feelings about this chapter were enthusiastic, as it had a lot to teach us as prospective teachers. I believe we all made some connection with what we were reading, and were able to store away some of the scenarios and suggestions for future use. Some of the sentiments that were derived from the reading were that teachers must always have a plan b if something goes awry, and this chapter with its talk of being able to respond to a student's need by it bizarre or untimely definitely requires this ability. Also it was mentioned in reflections, that students are just as much in control of the lessons as teachers are because if they don't understand something it will cause a slight hitch in the rest of the lesson. To minimize this it is our job as teachers to do the best that we can to prevent students from getting lost in the material, ways to do this can be found at the following link. Another, and in my mind the most important aspect to remember is that learning happens with not to the student.
The general feelings about this chapter were enthusiastic, as it had a lot to teach us as prospective teachers. I believe we all made some connection with what we were reading, and were able to store away some of the scenarios and suggestions for future use. Some of the sentiments that were derived from the reading were that teachers must always have a plan b if something goes awry, and this chapter with its talk of being able to respond to a student's need by it bizarre or untimely definitely requires this ability. Also it was mentioned in reflections, that students are just as much in control of the lessons as teachers are because if they don't understand something it will cause a slight hitch in the rest of the lesson. To minimize this it is our job as teachers to do the best that we can to prevent students from getting lost in the material, ways to do this can be found at the following link. Another, and in my mind the most important aspect to remember is that learning happens with not to the student.
DI/ UbD Chapter #1
Chapter one of Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design describes how both differentiated Instruction (DI) and Understanding by Design (UbD) work together. Many teachers wander how to meet state and district standards while catering to the different types of learners in the classroom. Following a UbD/ DI curriculum can help answer that question. This chapter defines UbD as a curriculum design model that focuses on what is being taught and how to meet the standards. DI “focuses on whom we teach, where we teach and how we teach.” Combining both UbD and DI allows teachers to create the best curriculum for all students in their classroom. Together both UbD and DI follow state/ district standards while focusing on each student as an individual. This chapter also had a number of different axioms/ corollaries. Each axiom/corollary gives examples on how both UbD and DI work together.
This first chapter allowed me to understand how to incorporate this model into my teaching. The way that this chapter presents scenarios makes it easier to come up with my own ideas of how to integrate DI and UbD into my own lesson plans. It is important to remember that “UbD/ DI are a way of thinking not a program.” A teacher must be flexible. If the class is falling behind the teacher must be able to look at the problems and fix them. It is also important to keep ideas that work and change other ideas that did not work. Using UbD/ DI in my classroom will allow me to accommodate all my student's needs while following state/ district standards
This first chapter allowed me to understand how to incorporate this model into my teaching. The way that this chapter presents scenarios makes it easier to come up with my own ideas of how to integrate DI and UbD into my own lesson plans. It is important to remember that “UbD/ DI are a way of thinking not a program.” A teacher must be flexible. If the class is falling behind the teacher must be able to look at the problems and fix them. It is also important to keep ideas that work and change other ideas that did not work. Using UbD/ DI in my classroom will allow me to accommodate all my student's needs while following state/ district standards
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