Have you ever been in a situation that everyone else in the room understood something and you felt like the instructor was speaking another language? Same here.
What about when the roles are reversed and you could teach the topic in your sleep but your peers all seem years behind? Me too.
But why? What makes Jimmy a natural-born chemistry whiz, Kate a star mathlete, and Bill so good with fixing things with his hands?
Our brains! This week in our readings, there were a few thoughts on brains that really intrigued me. Both from Strategies for Great Teaching, the first was one of Caine and Caine's Principles of Brain/ Mind Learning. Principle #9 states, "Each brain is unique." Duh, right? But how often is this fact ignored in our education system?? How often do we prescribe the same readings, lectures, and paper tests to hundreds of students who all have different backgrounds, different prior knowledge, different strengths and weaknesses, and different brains? Okay, off my soapbox.
But seriously, everyone learns in such unique ways and this was really highlighted by the second chunk from the readings that I wanted to share. Gardner's Multiple Intelligences.
We were asked to take a self-assessment quiz from Edutopia to determine where we fall within the Multiple Intelligences. At first, I was hesitant because as a self-diagnosed indecisive overthinker, I hate quizzes like this. After receiving my results, I began to understand the truth and value behind the Multiple Intelligences and after reading about them, I'm sold. To briefly share my example, my top intelligences were interpersonal, naturalistic, intrapersonal, and linguistic. Boom! I was like, woahhh, that's me! I love to communicate with others, nature and the outdoors is my sanctuary, I talk to myself like nobody's business, and if you give me a good topic, I'll gladly write a book. And for as long as I can remember, this has made a difference in the way that I learn. But enough about me.
Why does this matter as educators? Are we really expected to cater to so many different ways of learning on top of everything we already do? Why can't we just lecture with a PowerPoint every day? Bottom line, the best educators already do these things! And hey, shout out to Ag Ed for fundamentally incorporating the Multiple Intelligences into its roots. Seriously, look at the three- circle model, look at the FFA motto, walk into a typical ag class and tell me what percentage of the teaching is 100% lecture based.
It's pretty cool to think about and as you can see, gets me pretty hype. I'm so excited to learn more about the Multiple Intelligences this week and how we can further incorporate them into our daily instruction. Feel free to take the self- assessment and let me know if you agree with your results or not!
We all learn and process in different ways. Every brain is unique. It's time to start educating with that in mind.
References
Reardon, M. & Derner, S. (2004) Strategies for great teaching. Chicago, Illinois: Zephyr Press
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| https://quotabulary.com/confusing-quotes |
What about when the roles are reversed and you could teach the topic in your sleep but your peers all seem years behind? Me too.
But why? What makes Jimmy a natural-born chemistry whiz, Kate a star mathlete, and Bill so good with fixing things with his hands?
Our brains! This week in our readings, there were a few thoughts on brains that really intrigued me. Both from Strategies for Great Teaching, the first was one of Caine and Caine's Principles of Brain/ Mind Learning. Principle #9 states, "Each brain is unique." Duh, right? But how often is this fact ignored in our education system?? How often do we prescribe the same readings, lectures, and paper tests to hundreds of students who all have different backgrounds, different prior knowledge, different strengths and weaknesses, and different brains? Okay, off my soapbox.
But seriously, everyone learns in such unique ways and this was really highlighted by the second chunk from the readings that I wanted to share. Gardner's Multiple Intelligences.
Why does this matter as educators? Are we really expected to cater to so many different ways of learning on top of everything we already do? Why can't we just lecture with a PowerPoint every day? Bottom line, the best educators already do these things! And hey, shout out to Ag Ed for fundamentally incorporating the Multiple Intelligences into its roots. Seriously, look at the three- circle model, look at the FFA motto, walk into a typical ag class and tell me what percentage of the teaching is 100% lecture based.
It's pretty cool to think about and as you can see, gets me pretty hype. I'm so excited to learn more about the Multiple Intelligences this week and how we can further incorporate them into our daily instruction. Feel free to take the self- assessment and let me know if you agree with your results or not!
We all learn and process in different ways. Every brain is unique. It's time to start educating with that in mind.
References
Reardon, M. & Derner, S. (2004) Strategies for great teaching. Chicago, Illinois: Zephyr Press
You make a great point Victoria! We visited many chapters during state office and saw many programs in action, not a single one of them were 100% lecture based. Our three circle model makes this impossible, so we have a great starting spot, now we just need to make it even better!
ReplyDeleteVictoria, I took the quiz and was really surprised by how well it pegged my strongest intelligences! As a student in high school, I never got to experience ag ed and how it embraces and engages so many different kinds of intelligences for all kinds of learners. It's great to know that you understand the importance of this happening and why it is one of the main reasons that the ag classroom is such a unique and student centered learning community!
ReplyDeleteVictoria, the uniqueness and individuality of students is something so special yet so challenging to the teaching profession. You will have classes of every level/every type of learner and providing instruction that reaches each can be quite perplexing. My simple advice to you is to utilize two principles, 1.) Teamwork allows/forces everyone to contribute something, hopefully utilizing their areas of strength/expertise/interest. 2.) Real-world scenarios provide very diverse experiences that can engage the theoretical thinkers as well as the more practical thinkers. Think about real-life, it throws both types of situations out there all the time. Keep doing great things.
ReplyDeleteVictoria, I loved how you included the multiple intelligences assessment in your reflection!
ReplyDelete