Chapter 6 of UbD discussed responsive teaching in academically diverse classrooms. A list of core beliefs about curriculum and diverse student populations stresses that students need opportunity to learn and apply the "basics" of a subject, they should consistently experience curricula that causes them to think at high levels and make meaning of information, students need to know and understand the learning goals of a unit or lesson, and students should be given a balance between student construction and teacher guidance. One of the final things this chapter stresses is to not repeat what we may have seen in past classrooms, just because your teacher from fifth grade did something, does not mean it was necessarily the "right" way to do it. We are more likely to repeat the making of less-flexible learning environments if we were taught in one. I'm lucky in that I've always been in pretty flexible learning environments, which I plan to mirror in my own classroom.
Some of the most important points from UbD chapter 7 included a reminder that the "ladder" model is flawed. Just because you have a student who hasn't mastered the beginning parts of a concept doesn't mean that you shouldn't at least introduce them to, or even just let them know that of the existence of larger concepts. If a student is forever stuck in the remedial, easy, skimming surface projects and worksheets so they can master the opening information, they will never see just how interesting and complex a subject can be.
Another idea this chapter discussed was bringing up lots of questions to keep conversations about subjects going and interesting. It keeps kids thinking. This idea is at the roots of Socratic Seminars, which is a kind of instruction I would like to use with my students.
The 5th chapter of MI discussed multiple ways to bring MI into the classroom and cater to all intelligences. One of the things it talked about was that a good MI teacher will help students use all of their intelligences, not strictly the ones they're "best" at— the teacher accomplishes this by switching between intelligence-based instructions throughout the lesson by simply moving differently, writing on the board, playing a video, and having the students move or manipulate something with their own hands. It's all part of the same lesson, just different facets. I think MI can sound daunting, but if I look at it as just differentiating and not doing the same thing over and over again, then I think it will be easier for me to teach in this style in the future.
Chapter 6 of MI suggests that linguistic intelligence is the easiest intelligence to bring into the classroom, as it's always been such a staple in schools. Despite it being easiest, the chapter gives it the same four examples of use in the classroom as the other eight intelligences. The book points out when a program or project hits multiple intelligences as well. Though I think it may take a bit more time set aside for planning, I want to try to hit multiple intelligences with single activities whenever possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment