Learning and Teaching Theory
Response to the following:
1) After having read chapters 1-6, revisit your personal learning theory that you developed in the first assignment. How has your theory changed based on what you have learned in the program thus far?
2) According to Wormeli, what is a teacher to know and be able to do to meet the needs of all students?
In the first assigmnent, I stated my learning style as cognitivist, with a leaning toward constructivism. As an engineer and math teacher-to-be, I tend to think (and learn) with a more orderly approach to organization, reasoning and problem-solving. However, I am drawn to more open-ended higher level discussions and learning from the perspectives of others. From my professional experience, I believe that true cognitivists tend to become the technical experts, while those with constructivist tendencies relish management roles where answers are not always arrived at procedurally. Making the jump from a doer to a leader is partially dependent on the ability to: 1) think outside the box, 2) make decisions and solve problems without all the facts or information, and 3) take risks, make mistakes and apply the lessons learned.
What I have learned since the first assignment is that the levels of learning are much deeper than that. I am very visual with a kinesthetic lean and I am left-brained. Through education, work and life experience, I have developed significant strength in most of Howard Gardner’s separate intelligences. I’m still not very musical, but I can read music and play the notes on a piano – and I can master the “easy” level of Guitar Hero and RockBand!
I have also learned, through reflection in this class, that one can adapt their natural tendencies. I have found that my success in the professional world was partially due to my (subconscious) ability to develop strength on the opposite side of the spectrum for the various categories defined by the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator or the Index of Learning Styles.
I now feel that I not only understand my own tendencies, but better understand how different the styles of others can be and, most importantly, how to acknowledge and incorporate these differences in lesson planning in order to meet the needs of all students.
In order to ensure the success of all students, the teacher needs to understand: 1) what needs to be learned, 2) how it should be taught, 3) how to determine if students are learning, and 4) how to use feedback and instructional adjustments to keep students moving toward mastery. The following information from Fair Isn’t Always Equal (Wormeli) helps define how the teacher can use these steps effectively.
In order to determine what needs to be learned, the teacher begins with the SOL. By “unpacking” the standards into the necessary skills and content to be learned, the teacher determines the essential and enduring knowledge (EEK) that the students must learn to meet the standards. In addition, the teacher must be able to define what will be considered mastery of the EEK.
The “bridge” between what needs to be learned and how it should be taught is pre-assessment (as well as getting to know students more deeply than simple knowledge of content). Determining the level of student readiness helps to refine what needs to be learned and understanding the level of readiness, along with the students’ traits, needs and strengths/weaknesses, provides insight into how it should be taught.
To best meet the needs of all students, the teacher needs to be able to differentiate instruction. Based on the EEK and the pre-assessments, teachers can incorporate various approaches, styles and strategies into their lesson planning to meet the different needs of their students. Teachers need to understand tiering and be able to effectively challenge the different levels of student readiness, while ensuring mastery of the EEK by all.
Most importantly, teachers need to be able to determine if the students are actually learning what is being taught. Teachers need to be able to design and implement effective assessments. Effective assessment is authentic – matched to what and how the students learned – and relies primarily on formative – measuring and affecting understanding of the EEK during the learning process. Formative assessment should be frequent, short (minimal number of focused questions), clear (easily understood and applied questioning) and fun (incorporates interests of the students). All assessments should use varied question types to meet the needs of different students and a format that is efficient for both test-takers and test-graders.
Lastly, the teacher must know how to use assessment results for the benefit of the teacher and the students. From an instructional standpoint, the teacher must be able to use assessment results to adjust what needs to be learned and how it should be taught in order to keep all students on the path to mastery. To help the students make their way on this path, the teacher must provide timely and meaningful feedback to them. Feedback should be given shortly after assessment and should be constructive rather than a simple grade.
To ensure the success of all students, the teacher needs to be able to view these four steps as iterative cycles of implementation, not simply as rungs on a ladder climbed sequentially from beginning to end. The teacher must also establish an administrative foundation underneath to meet the needs of all students. This foundation includes developing policies for make-up work, redo’s of substandard work, grading, extra credit, etc. and then sharing this information with the students so that they may understand and use these as tools and motivation for mastering the essential and enduring knowledge.
Reference
Wormelli, Rick (2006); Fair Isn’t Always Equal