Module 4 - Learning
Each week is a new set of terms and information building on what we learn from the previous weeks and with our own experiences. This week was no exception with Chapters 9, 10 and 11 along with the movie video clip.
Chapter 9 considers how we take the various knowledge and process it into learning. I noted the quote on pg. 340 that Woolfolk highlighted by Bruner (1996), "Being able to "go beyond the information" given to "figure things out" is one of the untarnishable joys of life." This quote made me think of my years as a girls high school track & field coach. I was a jump coach for long, high and triple jumps as well as an assistant sprint coach. I had to present different types of information to my group of jumpers. I would demonstrate, show videos that I shot during meets or practice, explain the components of jumping or just let them "feel" the movement. I recognized that each jumper learned differently and by employing all these different methods, I was able to reach each jumper intellectually. I loved when my jumpers hit a "break-through" moment and had their longest or highest jump or hit a particular position in the air or was consistent in their jump approach. Those moments when my jumper smiled and hugged her friend or hugged me or jumped up and down with an excited scream were some of the best moments for me as a coach. The joy they had for executing the jump was thrilling for them and me. Bruner's quote hit the nail on the head. When we as coaches, mentors or educators can help our students or athletes learn and execute, we will see the joy and excitement that brings. While I know I may not see that truly in the classroom, jumping and screaming, but I hope to see that smile or their "a-ha" moment during class discussion or working an assignment. As a coach, I didn't realize that I was using various skill sets in Chapter 9 with my athletes. While I may not academically know all the terms and use the lingo, I feel more confident in my ability to teach one day. I taught my athletes not knowing the terms but by what I felt was the proper approach or technique given the day, the person or subject matter.
Chapter 10 discussed constructivism and learning environments with regards to social and cultural influences. I especially enjoyed the section, "Cognitive Apprenticeships and Reciprocal Teaching" (pg. 396-398) since I believe that is where our current youth and society is at with education. Over the years, schools, teachers and parents have pushed youth to aspire to be the college graduate. Parents wanted to see their children succeed and have a better life. In many situations, parents didn't have college degrees, like mine. I believe this concept is more prevalent with Generation X since that generation has this work driven ethic instilled by their parents. Over the years, we have been driving the college degree but now college and higher learning is so expensive where graduates are in debt and may not be necessarily working in their degree field. I resonated with Allan Collins suggestion, "...that knowledge and skills learned in school have become too separated from their use in the world beyond schools" (Woolfolk, pg 396). Schools teach book smarts and teach to the test that teachers have become frustrated by the lack of knowledge application. My husband can speak to this with his current engineering staff. They each have their engineering degree but have no manner of application within the work environment. This is despite my husband modeling the appropriate behaviors, explaining the project or even outlining the steps and requirements. He has had numerous discussions with his staff explaining how to correct or note what needs to be done. My husband's boss has even done this as well but it still doesn't seem to work. The staff knows the material but has difficulty with follow through, execution and application. We as educators need to make connections with our subject matter to the world outside the classroom. This reinforces to the students that the material being taught is not just a requirement for graduation. It has use outside the classroom in the "real world." For me as a future business and technology teacher, I am fortunate enough that my classes are electives where the students know this is possibly for a career path. They are more motivated to learn and decide if they like the subject and want to pursue it further. I still need to show the application and with my 20+ years of corporate experience, I will have actual hands-on stories and examples to provide my classes. As effective teachers, we need to consider all learning styles and learning environments and how they may influence the knowledge and learning process of our students.
Chapter 11 addressed more about motivation and social views of learning. This chapter I found interesting as I am always trying to figure out what and how to motivate myself or someone else. I found the definition of self-efficacy, self-concept and self-esteem useful for an educator. Self-efficacy revolves around a task and if it was done well or not. Self-concept is how one is viewed by others as being competent in a particular subject or task. Self-esteem is our own perspective and evaluation on how we performed or executed a task (pg. 434-435). I admit I get these confused and it enlightened me regarding the differences. My oldest son probably deals with all these things because he is so anxious about how he is perceived, if he can do things "right" or if he thinks he can do a task. His self-concept can be affected by his high school music directors. My son doesn't feel seen by them nor does he believe they think he is competent in his music ability. He only experiences this with the high school directors not his private lesson instructors or with his non-high school ensemble director. It makes me mental as a parent to see him experience such swings in confidence but I know he has to figure it out. He will come to my husband and I for guidance, which we provide, but only when he asks us. If we try to insert ourselves without his invitation, we run the risk of further self-doubt and affecting his self-esteem. As an educator, I think it is important to understand theses differences because it will affect our approach to teaching. We need to identify or be aware of these situations and how we can work best to motivate the student to continue to learn. We want to provide constructive feedback but not be condescending since students can pick up on that and it can make the situation worse. Overall, learning is a complex intertwined experience and as educators, we need to gain knowledge and experience with the psychology of it. It will only allow us to hopefully be stronger educators.
Chapter 9 considers how we take the various knowledge and process it into learning. I noted the quote on pg. 340 that Woolfolk highlighted by Bruner (1996), "Being able to "go beyond the information" given to "figure things out" is one of the untarnishable joys of life." This quote made me think of my years as a girls high school track & field coach. I was a jump coach for long, high and triple jumps as well as an assistant sprint coach. I had to present different types of information to my group of jumpers. I would demonstrate, show videos that I shot during meets or practice, explain the components of jumping or just let them "feel" the movement. I recognized that each jumper learned differently and by employing all these different methods, I was able to reach each jumper intellectually. I loved when my jumpers hit a "break-through" moment and had their longest or highest jump or hit a particular position in the air or was consistent in their jump approach. Those moments when my jumper smiled and hugged her friend or hugged me or jumped up and down with an excited scream were some of the best moments for me as a coach. The joy they had for executing the jump was thrilling for them and me. Bruner's quote hit the nail on the head. When we as coaches, mentors or educators can help our students or athletes learn and execute, we will see the joy and excitement that brings. While I know I may not see that truly in the classroom, jumping and screaming, but I hope to see that smile or their "a-ha" moment during class discussion or working an assignment. As a coach, I didn't realize that I was using various skill sets in Chapter 9 with my athletes. While I may not academically know all the terms and use the lingo, I feel more confident in my ability to teach one day. I taught my athletes not knowing the terms but by what I felt was the proper approach or technique given the day, the person or subject matter.
Chapter 10 discussed constructivism and learning environments with regards to social and cultural influences. I especially enjoyed the section, "Cognitive Apprenticeships and Reciprocal Teaching" (pg. 396-398) since I believe that is where our current youth and society is at with education. Over the years, schools, teachers and parents have pushed youth to aspire to be the college graduate. Parents wanted to see their children succeed and have a better life. In many situations, parents didn't have college degrees, like mine. I believe this concept is more prevalent with Generation X since that generation has this work driven ethic instilled by their parents. Over the years, we have been driving the college degree but now college and higher learning is so expensive where graduates are in debt and may not be necessarily working in their degree field. I resonated with Allan Collins suggestion, "...that knowledge and skills learned in school have become too separated from their use in the world beyond schools" (Woolfolk, pg 396). Schools teach book smarts and teach to the test that teachers have become frustrated by the lack of knowledge application. My husband can speak to this with his current engineering staff. They each have their engineering degree but have no manner of application within the work environment. This is despite my husband modeling the appropriate behaviors, explaining the project or even outlining the steps and requirements. He has had numerous discussions with his staff explaining how to correct or note what needs to be done. My husband's boss has even done this as well but it still doesn't seem to work. The staff knows the material but has difficulty with follow through, execution and application. We as educators need to make connections with our subject matter to the world outside the classroom. This reinforces to the students that the material being taught is not just a requirement for graduation. It has use outside the classroom in the "real world." For me as a future business and technology teacher, I am fortunate enough that my classes are electives where the students know this is possibly for a career path. They are more motivated to learn and decide if they like the subject and want to pursue it further. I still need to show the application and with my 20+ years of corporate experience, I will have actual hands-on stories and examples to provide my classes. As effective teachers, we need to consider all learning styles and learning environments and how they may influence the knowledge and learning process of our students.
Chapter 11 addressed more about motivation and social views of learning. This chapter I found interesting as I am always trying to figure out what and how to motivate myself or someone else. I found the definition of self-efficacy, self-concept and self-esteem useful for an educator. Self-efficacy revolves around a task and if it was done well or not. Self-concept is how one is viewed by others as being competent in a particular subject or task. Self-esteem is our own perspective and evaluation on how we performed or executed a task (pg. 434-435). I admit I get these confused and it enlightened me regarding the differences. My oldest son probably deals with all these things because he is so anxious about how he is perceived, if he can do things "right" or if he thinks he can do a task. His self-concept can be affected by his high school music directors. My son doesn't feel seen by them nor does he believe they think he is competent in his music ability. He only experiences this with the high school directors not his private lesson instructors or with his non-high school ensemble director. It makes me mental as a parent to see him experience such swings in confidence but I know he has to figure it out. He will come to my husband and I for guidance, which we provide, but only when he asks us. If we try to insert ourselves without his invitation, we run the risk of further self-doubt and affecting his self-esteem. As an educator, I think it is important to understand theses differences because it will affect our approach to teaching. We need to identify or be aware of these situations and how we can work best to motivate the student to continue to learn. We want to provide constructive feedback but not be condescending since students can pick up on that and it can make the situation worse. Overall, learning is a complex intertwined experience and as educators, we need to gain knowledge and experience with the psychology of it. It will only allow us to hopefully be stronger educators.
Cindy thanks for telling us about your real life experience that tied into chapter 9. I do not have an experience, but I can not wait until I see that for the first time in the classroom. I think chapter 9 and chapter 11 are really intertwined. The way you talked about showing your jumpers and them having their "aha" moment to me feels like intrinsic motivation. From the research that I have done it is hard to get students to be motivated intrinsically so you are already doing that. Granted they are getting some Extrinsic motivation also by winning meets or beating records, but from what you say they are more happy knowing that they worked hard and did better and were proud of themselves. I know what your son is going through. I went through high school and college with low self esteem because I was overweight and at the same time I was always focusing on what others thought of me. I would try hard to impress people I hung around and new people I met. In my opinion I would not worry too hard about this. He will eventually grow out of and will not care what others think, but worry about how he feels about himself. Just be patient.
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