Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Proposition 3
: Teachers are Responsible for Managing and Monitoring student Learning
Artifact(s): Synopsis from a TenWeek Child Study/Observation for Ed Psychology Course and the
Introductory Lesson Plan for a unit on weather during my one of my science class solo weeks.
Rationale:
I have included an abbreviated version of the child study paper I wrote during my graduate
course work at The Teaching Institute. The child study paper was far more than a final paper for my
Ed Psych course. I had the opportunity to observe this student for over a two month period in
academic settings, team meetings, sports, plays, musical events and social settings so that I could learn
as much about growth and development of this particular 6th grader. It is a course that touched me
deeply as I realized how important it is as a teacher to gain an understanding about all of my students
on this deep level. Throughout my internship I began to use Dr. Gardner’s multiple intelligence
theories in my classroom. I respect his philosophy and viewpoints on education reform. Dr. Gardner
has become involved with educational reform in both a scholarly and practical form suggesting that
the curriculum content is changing so rapidly. He states, that efforts to cover too much material doom
the achievement of understanding. In looking at his theories, I applied these theories as teaching
strategies to differentiate my lessons.
The instructional strategy that is most often used in a traditional classroom is lecture. The
teacher provides the source of information and decides when and how the information will be
delivered. The student’s role is to take note’s, answer questions when asked, hand in completed
homework assignments and memorize, memorize, memorize! Is this learning? Gardner suggests to
gain an understanding of your student’s learning styles finding out what interest’s your students,
how do they like to learn, what is their learning preference?
Differentiated instruction is a blend of whole class, small group, partner’sand individual
instruction. Students may be grouped by interest but may also have activities set at different levels of
complexity resulting in a variety of end results that embrace students’ preferred learning (auditory,
visual or kinesthetic). The teacher instruction is being differentiated by student interest, the level of
critical thinking skills required is differentiating the process and the projectis being differentiated by
student learning preferences. In a differentiated classroom the teacher uses many instructional
strategies. All differentiation of learning begins with student assessment (see survey tool attached) to
Heidi Taylor
determine their learning style (as Gardner suggest) and obtain a base line about the knowledge
students already have about a topic.
Embracing the different learning styles and needs of each student is critical in establishing a
rapport with students. The goal is for the students to have a deeper understanding of the material
they’re interested in by exploring the curricula at a deeper level. The variety of work produced by
students is far more interesting and meaningful for the students and for the teacher than everyone
doing the assignment in the same manner.
There are many strategies that teacher’s are able to use to differentiate a lesson as noted
below. However the link to New Horizons has a wealth of information on differentiation in
the classroom. I have also provided one lesson plan from my solo week on weather as an
example of how one can differentiate.
Example: http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/front_strategies.html
Reflection Paper for Proposition 1 :
I read a book last semester called “Last Child in the Woods” saving our children from nature
deficit disorder, written by Richard Louv. The book reflects the growing international concerns about
nature deficit in children and the corresponding social movement that has emerged in the United States,
Canada, and other countries. He talks about the people of the baby boomer and older age group that
enjoyed a kind of free natural play in the outdoors that seems, in this era of kid pagers, instant
messaging, and Wii, like a quaint artifact.
Recently, Louv added an eighth intelligence: naturalist intelligence, “nature smart”. Charles
Darwin, John Muir, and Rachel Carson are examples of this. The core of the naturalist intelligence is
the human ability to recognize plants, animals, and other parts of the natural environment, like
clouds or rocks. Naturalist intelligence deals with sensing patterns in and making connections to
elements in nature. Using this same intelligence, people possessing enhanced levels of this
intelligence may also be very interested in other species, or in the environment and the earth.
Throughout my master’s degree program and teaching internship I referred to Gardner’s Multiple
Heidi Taylor
Intelligences as a guide to ensure I was using the tools available to assess student’s learning style and
needs. Gardner’s multiple intelligences are:
VerbalLinguistic Intelligence: understanding words and speech
MathematicalLogical Intelligence: think conceptually and abstractly
Musical Intelligence: produce and appreciate rhythm and sounds
VisualSpatial Intelligence: to visualize accurately and abstractly
BodilyKinesthetic Intelligence: moving and handling one’s body and objects skillfully
Interpersonal Intelligence: understand the moods, motivations and desires of others
Intrapersonal Intelligence: selfaware, in tune with inner feelings and values
Naturalist Intelligence: recognizes plants, animals and other objects in nature
Existential Intelligence: tackle deep questions about human existence
As a new teacher I believe that it is important to build a classroom that can foster, develop
and use the abilities, gifts and strengths of all students. As a teacher, I will model for my students
how to embrace different learning styles to ensure all experiences a safe classroom environment. I
have included a lesson plan that was an introduction to my solo week for a unit on weather to share
how one may differentiate a lesson to meet different learning styles.