I'm surprised by the things that I once "knew" but am now only able to use the correct vocabulary to explain. I can see how many teachers desire for their students to learn and yet fail to use the more concrete ideals of the developmental learning theory to aid their students. This often results in a good grade for the time being but forgetting soon after. For example, I once had an english teacher who would only allow to read the text given, such as Romeo and Juliet. I remember struggling through this book, not clearly understanding all of the language, and trying to find many ways to ease the struggle. After we had finished the book my teacher showed us a few clips from different versions of movies from Romeo and Juliet. Today I could probably give the basic outline of the story but only because someone explained it to me without using the text. Also, more than the text I remember those clips from the different videos. I was almost shocked by the idea of playing the movie before reading the text because this teacher had nearly engrained it in my mind that you must focus on the text.
Though this was not focusing on the concrete and leading to the more abstract, I now better understand some of my teacher's reasoning behind certain activities they had our class do. For example, one of my history teachers once had my class watch a short film on the Boston Tea Party. After watching the movie we had to draw an advertisement for someone who would want to take part in the tea party. The advertisement had to include a picture and a phrase that summarized your drawing of what took place. I can still remember what mine looked like and I believe that because of this I also remember some of the more abstract ideas involved with the tea party.
Overall, I am beginning to better understand how to teach in a way that allows students to grasp abstract ideas by using what they already know in a concrete form. Though it contradicts the way that some of my teachers have taught me it also helps me to clearly understand and appreciate other teacher's reasoning behind the way they teach.
Erin VanderSchel
I totally agree with everything you say here. In highschool I feel as if the teachers just want to teach you the material, not acutally see if you're learning what they're trying to teach you. Us as teachers really need to find ways to help our students learn things and find ways that help them not just understand what they're learning, but also find ways to help them remember these things for more than just the test or quiz that they will be taking.
ReplyDeleteErin, I completely agree with you. I feel in high school the teachers believe you understand already the information they are relaying. With the reading of harder stories, such as Shakespeare's plays, I was under the impression that the teachers want the students to find their own way through it. I also feel that is how most teachers believe their students think, especially high school teachers, that they think abstractly. If teachers knew how to start from the beginning, I think it would be a easier task. But just as we saw in class, learning is hard to define. So finding that concrete level with everything you teach is probably the hardest thing about teaching. This lone fact is why I think teachers have the hardest job.
ReplyDeleteI also was completely confused by the idea of playing a movie before reading the text! Thinking of that reminded me of the second day of class when almost all of us went and sat in the same spots we had been "assigned" to sit the day before-- we felt we had been conditioned to sit in the same spots we sat in on the first day. I feel conditioned to read before viewing a movie simply because that was what I was always exposed to in my classroom. However, now that I have learned about the developmental learning theory I can see that truly just because something has been taught a certain way for years doesn't mean it's the best way to teach it.
ReplyDeleteI must say I also am thrilled to be learning about the DLT. Being someone who plans on working with children with special needs, I often have wondered how will I reach all levels of students in a way that is understandable to all, giving just one set of instructions. I believe the DLT is exactly the teaching method, I have been hoping to encounter. As was mentioned in class, some subjects do have a "better" way of being explained. Although many times people assume they only learn in a certain way (visual, audio) the DLT shows us that the easiest forms of learning are to start with a basic representation which can be understood by all students. I know I will be using this in the future.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised by the idea that showing the film version of a novel before assigning the novel too, but not that I think about it in terms of Developmental Learning Theory, it makes perfect sense. In high school, my classes always watched the film after reading the novel, so I never questioned doing it that way, but now I see the obvious disadvantages to that method.
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