Roots of Learning » individualized education

Creativity and the Education System

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 01:19:26 +0000

This is worth the 20 minutes it takes to watch.

The Merits of Single Sex Education

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 02:30:17 +0000

I just read an article from the Washington Post describing how a middle school in Northern Virginia will be piloting a voluntary program wherein students will attend single sex classes in the core academic areas. I laud this effort. Many students, both boys and girls, will – in my opinion – likely flourish in this new setting. I hope that this growing trend in K-12 education keeps growing. Unlike some critics of the idea, I do not believe that single-sex instruction leads to a confirmation of stereotypes. Rather, teachers are less able to ‘gloss’ over divergent learning styles. If a teacher knows that she is facing a class of all girls, or all boys, each day, then she will tailor her teaching to their styles. This brings up my only concern with this program. I hope that those in charge who have made the decision to go forward with the single-sex instruction have not neglected to invest in appropriate training for the teachers to prepare them for the different methods that they will need to employ. I hope to hear more examples of this, and will update my blog as I find them. For those reading this, if you know of a program such as this, please let me know!

Heather

Cognitive “Sweet Spots”

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:38:19 +0000

I just read an article by Greg Toppo of USA Today. UVA cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham is the author of Why Don’t Students Like School? Here is a question from an interview with the author:

Q: After all we’ve learned about the mind and brain, why is it so difficult to make school enjoyable for students?

A: School is all about mental challenge, and that is hard work, make no mistake. Still, people do enjoy mental work or, more exactly, people enjoy successful mental work. We get a snap of satisfaction when we solve a problem. But solving a problem that is trivially easy is not fun. Neither is hammering away at a problem with no sense you are making progress.

So the challenge for a teacher is to find that sweet spot of mental difficulty, and to find it simultaneously for 25 students, each with a different level of preparation. To fight this problem, teachers must engage each student with work that is appropriate for his or her level of preparation. This must be done sensitively, so that students who are behind don’t feel like second-class citizens. But the fact is they are behind, and pretending that they are not does them no favors.

For parents who are working with their children, the problem of meeting the needs of 25 is not relevant; however, sometimes the problem of perspective is. When does a parent know that their child is exceeding expectations? How does a parent know when a child is struggling – do we all have tunnel vision when it comes to our own children? I would love to hear from other parents on this issue.

Sometimes when I am working with my 9 year old on his writing, I think that while he is bright and knowledgeable, this is not shining through as much in writing as in other areas. But when I see his writing compared to others of his age group, I feel reassured that he is progressing at a decent pace. I guess my question to other parents is, how much of what we expect our kids to do comes from our personal knowledge of them as individuals and their capabilities, and how much of it comes from what we expect from any child of their particular age group?

- Heather

Experiential Learning Resources from UC Davis

admin — Sat, 02 May 2009 20:52:21 +0000

“Tell me and I forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I understand.” – Chinese Proverb

Constructivist learning, experiential learning, whatever you want to call good teaching where the student is intimately involved as meaning-maker is desirable for the development of true understanding. UC Davis has some wonderful resources for teachers, home schoolers, or anyone involved in children’s learning.

Check out these three training modules from UC Davis.

Learning Styles Quiz

admin — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:09:52 +0000

I just stumbled upon a learning styles quiz at Edutopia. It is interesting because it classifies intelligence according to the categories naturalistic, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, visual-spatial, logical-mathematical, and verbal-linguistic. I found the results surprising because I have always ‘seen myself’ as a visual learner – and have read that, overwhelmingly, people are visual learners. However, in this particular quiz, I scored very low in that area. Instead, my strongest score came in the area of “intrapersonal,” which describes a person who is “…connected to who you are and how you feel, and you know your own limits and abilities. You often set goals for yourself, self-manage, and reflect on results.” This is an excellent description of me, but is it my intelligence? That may be open to debate. I think that if you want to measure your learning style or that of your child, do so periodically and do so using a variety of evaluation tools. In my opinion, this is not a science, but it can shed light into the way we think and learn, and on what learning activities would be most beneficial for us. I am now going to give the quiz to my eldest child – I’ll report back later! I’d love to hear others’ insights!

- Heather

What is “Gifted”?

admin — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:16:52 +0000

Parents and teachers have differing thoughts on the definition of a ‘gifted’ student. Is it a successful student? An early reader? An outlier? A “nerd”? Is every student gifted? Is a gifted student necessarily a divergent thinker or a great writer? Are there commonalities among all ‘gifted’ children?

Certainly, we all have gifts, and in some ways it is very destructive to the self esteem to divvy kids up according to abilities. On the other hand, if you are a parent of a child whose learning needs lie outside the ‘regular’ classroom, you know that individual learning needs on the ‘upper’ end of the ability spectrum are as important to meet as those at the ‘lower’ end of that spectrum.

What is ‘gifted’ to you? Do you think the label is helpful or divisive?