As I started my teaching career in 2001, the extent of my abilities were giving lectures and engaging my students in debates and lectures, then giving the necessary assessment. By 2005 I was creating power points to spruce up my lectures and giving the students something to temporarily hold their attention as they copied every single word on the screen and completely ignoring the intriguing story I was telling. In 2007 I was able to incorporate short videos and music into my power points to really engage my students. At least they were listening to something. We did projects and other assignments as I attempted to address all sensory mechanisms of my students. My classroom was an area in which cognitism was practiced on a limited basis.
Fast forward to 2010 and I am planning several new ways to actively engage my students in assignments that will use all of their cognitive tools. Using technology such as concept maps or blogs will help to establish the connection necessary for long term memory, an important component for a history student. Declarative and procedural information will be enhanced with the use of episodic information, such as the virtual field trip and it will help to establish a well rounded student. These tools will allow me to simplify my curriculum, and challenge my students by providing experiences to enhance their cognitive abilities.
I would agree with Pavio's dual coding hypothesis. If you think about an illiterate person that recognizes a picture, such as a cow, but can not spell or read the word. The image of the cow and the pronunciation of the word is being processed cognitively, but the word does not register. This theory would also contribute to the importance of visualization in the memory process. It is my goals to have my students use all necessary cognitive tools in order to store and maintain long term memory. For instance, my students will gain a stronger understanding of the importance of the Renaissance if we take a virtual tour of a medieval village and then are able to compare that village with an emerging Italian city, such as Florence. Through the internet, my students will experience the lack of freedom, literacy and art associated with the Dark Ages. They will then compare the medieval town to the Italian city-states and see the art, architecture and revival of society taking place in Europe. In addition to providing my students with information, I will have my students develop different forms of media in order to establish the episodic information and developing a network model of memory.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Fred,
ReplyDeleteAs I think about my fellow teachers, I see two very different extremes. I see teachers who are willing to continue learning and changing and teachers who are set in their ways and constantly doing the same things over and over again. I think the teaching profession is one where you cannot continue to do things the same and be successful. I think it's necessary to be continually adapting teaching methods as you described. The students of today are different than the students of 5 years ago. It sounds like you’re on the right track working towards more engaging activities to incorporate in your lectures.
Allison
Allison,
ReplyDeleteI agree, there are some teachers that simply go to their file cabinet pull out an outdated file and use that lesson. Many teachers complain about having to sit through all day workshops listening to someone lecture about the latest teaching methods, but they will put their students through the same "torture". Our students live in a fast paced, instant gratification world and it is our responsibility to keep up and provide our students with a 21st century education.
Fred,
ReplyDeleteIt is apparent that you are learning much as you progress in your years of teaching. In a DB post this week I mentioned that when I was a student I thought teaching was as easy as learning some material and then spewing it out for decades. However, we know that is not the case. Your students will benefit much from all your hard work and wise implementation of research supported best practices.
Kenny
When my children were in kindergarten, their teacher had them bring in labels of products that they recognized. For example, the front of a Cocoa Krispies cereal box. My daughter knew it said Cocoa Krispies even though she could not read it. The teacher hung all of them on the wall. She used this to help teach them to read. At the time, I did not know that it was dual coding.
ReplyDeleteKenny,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. Although, I have two older sister that taught, I still took the profession for granted. I turned down an education scholarship at the University of Florida because "I would never waste my life as a teacher"... open mouth and insert foot. My biggest regret is wasting so many years avoiding teaching. I know now that is where I should have been all of my life and I am very happy that I finally woke up. Unfortunately our profession is taken for granted, even by those that are close to us and know how hard we work. Any time someone states how easy teachers have it (whatever it is) I challenge them to spend one week in my class room. I will provide all of the lesson plans and will be there to help. We are counselors, psychologist, parents, role models, and at some point we can get in a little teaching.
Lisa, that is an amazing excercise your daughter's teacher conducted. It is amazing how much we can look back understand some of the assignments and projects from the past. I always tell my students there is a method to my madness and once they gain a full understanding of the methods, the madness is clear.
ReplyDelete