answer questions for chapter 7
posted by Barney Slowey at 1:15 PM
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
About Me
- Name: Barney Slowey
- Location: Rice Lake, Wisconsin, United States
I am going into my 44th year in education with 17 years as a high school history teacher, 5 years as a middle school English teacher, and 11 as an administrator. My admistrative jobs included principalships at every level as well as a director of instruction job. Since leaving the system I have devoted my time to work with teachers through graduate classes, insevices, mentoring for two years with teachers in Osceola implementing Brain Based Learning through Multiple Intelligences. This summer I will be co-facilitating a seventh Masters Program with a laptop community in Rice Lake Kimberly and Pulaski.
Previous Posts
- answer questions for chapter 6
- answer questions for chapter 5
- answer questions for chapter 4
- answer the questions for chapter 3
- answer the questions for chapter 2
- Answer the 3 questions for chapter 1
- Answer the following questions for all the chapter...
- IntroductionsPleas let us know who you are, where ...
- brain based teaching and learning
2 Comments:
Hi all..Glad to see you acknowledging each other as you go along...Keep in mind that Pat is reading SECRETS OF THE TEENAGE BRAIN and his responses will be different...Several of your comments led me back a few years to a couple of exciting teaching and staff development activities I was involved in while a middle school principal...the 7th grade had 4 teachers that were interested in Native American history and took the first 9 weeks and taught a unit on that subjuect...so the math, science, English and history was integrated into the unit...They transformed their classrooms and did a lot of work in the school forest and other areas around the community...they tied in with a tribe near the community to get some authenticity...the finale was the building of "homes" on a piece of land that was an old Indian locale next to the river...they had a feast, voyageuers(sp?), games, stayed overnight and the whole nine yards...it was a huge success and the parents came for all the fun on the final day...here are som of my thoughts on this endeavor...1)it was great PR 2)the kids learned real life math, wrote authentic diaries, acted out real history that they read and that they gleaned from real Natives, and the science was real...and so much more 3)they learned to work together on projects 4)the staff and kids were on a different level and there was a mutual respect for each other 5)as principal I had no discipline problems and very few the rest of the year (lesson...when kids are actively engaged in relevant learning there are few discipline issues 6) kids were using all the multiple intelligences especially the ones they were strong in...I'm thinking especially the Bodily Kinesthetic intelligence where we know that 95% of the kids we label "at risk" are BK learners...I bet Gary would attest to that cuz that's who most of the kids are in alternative schools...The other innovation we did was that we held inservice with kids at the beginning of school just like teachers...I questioned the sitting the kids down the first day and starting right off with the first lesson and homework assignment...so we took 3 days and interspersed logistics with outside team building exercises...hand out locker assignments and then a teacher did an exercise...draw up the mission statement and another teacher from that grade level do another team building activity...we had cook outs, water melon treats, etc...The whole thing was to build relationships with the kids and get them ready for a fun, fruitful year...again as Principal the discipline issues were minimal that year...So I believe that building relationships is most important in teaching and then we must incorporate relevant curriculum that kids are actively involved in...I think Julie was relating a farm exercise where the kids did a neat exercise before they went to the farm...I was fascinated by that ...heres another take on it..Susan Kovalik from Integrated Thematic Teaching says to take the kids to the zoo(or farm) first and then do the activity...puts all kids on an equal level for the follow up...something to think about...Somtimes many students do not have the experiences more affluent kids do ...As far as helping kids build relationships with each other I think Alice hit it on the head when she suggested Tribes...It is a proven commodity...Pat had the suggestion for cooperative learning and getting kids moving around and cooperative learning had also been proven to be the number 1 effective teaching strategy that enhances learning...but its cooperative learning not group work...too many teachers put kids into a group and give an assignment and when one student does all the work they get angry...cooperative groups mean that each individual in the group has an essential task that will help the larger group learn...when I do Multiple Intelligence workshops I give teachers an assignment and they have to report out in intelligences other than verbal linguistic and mathamatical logical...they really get up tight and if the music guy/gal"s group gets to build a rap they immediatly turn to the music person to do it...so why would kids who have an assignment thats about reading and writing not turn to the best reader or writer...I have two assignments that I want you to do on your own and you don't have to put it on the blog...Number 1...on a 3x5 card write down a hobby you are really good at..then how did you learn this ...did anyone help you...could you teach it to another...Now ask yourself whether these 6 ingredients are present...choice, relevancy, interest, emotion,physical activity, and reflection...I will bet that they are and according to Eric Jensen the brain based learning guru, these are the basis for learning...For true learning to occur these ingredients need to be present...think about it..do your units encompass this formula?...The 2nd assignment is one that I do for kids and adults all the time...infact I did this tto 200 adults at a banquet last spring(shortened version)...I thought of this when people were particpating at my brothers funeral last week...For kids i have them imagine they are 30 years old married and have 2 kids...You walk into this building and its a funeral home...Your parents, siblings, children, friends and people you work with are all there...you realize that its your funeral and you see a program and a representive from each of these groups are going to say something about you...write down on an 8x11 paper what you want each group to say about you...when you finish i would like you to make some observations about what you put down...then turn the page over and draw a line down the middle and on the left what am I doing now that would deter them from saying what I want and on the right what am I doing that will insure them saying the things I want...It's a great inventory of your life and where you want to go...I need to do it often especially when it comes to dealing with my kids(especially the one who's still home and is 17 going on 30)...I have to quit for now...I'll try to get to more tomorrow on chapter 8...thanks
Hi Gary..just to reemphasize your point about writing...I went to a conference where Doug Reaves a statistics guru was presenting and I remember one thing...he stated that there were some successful schools in the Milwaukee racine Kenosha area that he called 90-90-90 schools...90 percent of the kids were minority; 90 percent were on free lunch; and 90 peercent of them scored proficient or better on state tests...he said they studied the school and what they were doing and found only one strand that could account for the success...every teacher including music, PE, math, etc had kids write at least 20 minutes a week...I never forgot that and it certainly goes with your comments regarding writing...Thanks Barney
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