Chapter 4 Learning Log

What?
This week was about cultural diversities. I loved the lesson we had in class where we looked at pictures of people and talked about what kind of a student they would be. I found it to be a horrible and very eye opening activity. I never thought people really judged that quickly about what kind of a student someone would be. Don't get me wrong if a kid was covered in chains and earrings I wouldn't necessarily think they were super excited to learn, but at the same time he might be. I am definitely perfect at this by any means but I thought all the students would be good students. Actions mean much more to me than a photo of a students. I can't tell what kind of a student anyone is going to be by a picture, their parents probably dressed them up for picture day anyway. I thought it was a very interesting lesson but it was also sad to see how quickly some of their teachers will judge them and I hope that does not affect them and put the bar down any lower.

So What?
I think as teachers we need to be extremely careful not to judge people based on their nationality or even on the color of their skin. Everyone talks about how America is a huge melting pot but sometime I don't think people have grasped that concept yet.

Now What?
This is a hard question for me on this one. Now What? I think really the only thing I can do is examine myself and see how quickly and to what degree I judge students. Also, make sure I am willing to give any student the same amount of help and determination no matter where they are from.

Chapter 5 Learning Log

What?
I loved our discussion in class this week about teaching students with mental handicaps and those who are gifted. I thought what Kristen Wright and Doctor Cox had to say was very relevant and will come up in our careers frequently.

So What?
It would be very niaeve for any teacher to think that this would never affect them or be present in our classrooms. We shouldn't be afraid to teach those who might learn differently or a little slower than the rest, or even those who may not be able to learn at all. It is important for us to remember that everyone deserves a right to get an education and be in the school system. No one should be shut out because they are not the "norm."

Now What?
I think that being a teacher is teaching all who are willing. To do this we need to learn as much as we can about the different conditions and learning types to help us reach out to many. We must not think that only teaching the masses is what we are paid to do. We need to look at EVERY student individually and ask what they need to learn and find a way to provide that for them.

Chapter 10 Learning Log

What?
This chapter was the social cognitive view of learning. It was similar to behaviorism buy added a little to it. It said that enviornmental, personal and behavioral variable all influence each other and have and effect on who a person is and how they learn.They believe that one person can learn from observing others and their actions, however, they also believe that learning is an internal process that may or may not lead to a behavior change. They also say that reinforcement and punishment have indirect effects on learning and behavior. In class we talked about the Bobo doll experiment. I thought it was really interesting to see that after observing an adult beat up a bobo doll the children not only did the same thing but found new and interesting ways to hurt the bobo doll.

So What?
I thing this is very important to us as future teachers. They could take what they see us do and do it themselves. This could be good or bad. We need to conduct ourselves in a good way all the time. If they see us calmly handle a bad situation it might have an effect on them. At the same time if they see us blow up at a student of colleague they might think it is appropriate to do the same.

Now What?
I think we just always need to keep in mind we are always being watched. We need to act accordingly . Our actions are a huge things to the students and we should always have them in mind at school.

Chapter 9 Learning Log

What?
This chapter talked about human behavior and how it is often a result of their experiences in with their environment. It talked about being born as blank slates and the thing that we do and what we experience writes on our slate and makes us who we are. It talked about having emotional responses to certain stimuli and possibly stimuli that are closely related. It talked about positive and negative reinforcement and how to use them effectively.

So What?
I think this is just another thing that will help us to better understand our students. I don't necessarily believe everything that behaviorist say but I think if you take all of the different views on learning and combine them you will have a pretty good advantage when teaching. You will better understand your students and what they are going through at different stages of their lives, and you will better understand how they learn at different stages of their lives.


Now What?

My now what is always to put into action what you have learned. If you get information and just log it away and keep it just so you will know the information it will benefit you nothing. We always need to take what we learn and use it to make our classrooms the best they can be.

Chapter 7 Learning Log

What? Chapter 7 talked about how schooling and our outside influences shape our understanding of different things. Students must come up with their own understanding about everything. Making students understand one thing all in the same way will never work. We all think and learn things differently, therefore, we all remember and process things in different ways. The way I remember one thing can be totally different than they way someone else remembered even though we experienced the same thing. I really liked the activity in class where we all had to decide on a definition for a chair. Something that would seem so simple was extremely hard to define. Everyone had their own opinions on what a chair is and what it should be. We split up into groups and had different things to define. I noticed that there are certain things you can agree on. One group had a triangle and it is rather difficult to argue what a triangle is. However, family, fairy tale, maturity and things like that are hard to come to a definition that everyone would agree on.

So What? The thing I really learned is that teaching will never be an easy task. We need to be able to modify our teaching so that many different people can learn the information. We cannot teach one lesson and expect all the students to have our same knowledge about that subject. We will need to ask questions and really make sure that they know what we have taught before we can move on.

Now What? I think every time I am planning a lesson I need to keep in mind all the different students I will have in class. It would be great if I could come up with a lesson that would address all different types of learning so they can all learn at once. Since that won't happen very often I need to be open to helping struggling students on an individual basis so they too will be able to learn at their pace.

Chapter 6 Learning Log

What? This chapter was about Cognitive Psychology. We talked about learning, memory and how it is stored. We talked about different ways to teach so that many different learning types could be addressed. We talked about how all information goes in through the brain stem and filtered in the RAT and then is sent to different parts of the brain depending on what type of information it is. It was really interesting to learn about how it all works. We learned that it is stored in different parts of the brain depending on the type of information it is. It is not stored in some big storage house of the brain. Learning and retaining information is such a delicate thing. If it is not done in the correct manner it will be of no use to you because you will not be able to find it.

So What? I think everything we talk about in this class will help us be better teachers. If we can understand this week (combined with many other things) and think of ways to address different learning types, we will be able to reach more students. We need to keep in mind how our brain works and how it files knowledge away to understand how to teach better.

Now What? Now I need to come up with ideas to help each of the students learn. I need to also think of ideas to help me teach in a way that the students will be able to remember and retrieve the information they are taught.

Chapter 3 Learning Log

What? Chapter 3 was all about development. It talked about Eriksons developmental stages which I really like. I think it is pretty close with the ages. Of course some people get to one stage faster and another stage slower. I thought they do a pretty good job of showing what people go through. Everyone has or will have felt all the different stages in their lives. The chapter also talked about Kohlbergs stages, which I also thought were pretty good. I liked how it was more different ways of thinking and living instead of stages of life. Gilligan came in and said that Kolberg was off a bit by just testing boys.
So What? I think this is really good for teachers. We will be able to know what is going on with our students. Instead of just thinking they are acting up just because we will have an understanding of what they are going through.
Now What? Now it is time to put it into action and use this to understand our students better.