Module 2

Hi,

so today I'm going to cover module

two which is about learning environments specifically.

I'm gonna cover learner centered and knowledge centered environments.

So we're gonna begin with the introductory paragraphs.

Um what the introduction really talks about is

we're focusing on the classroom as an environment.

So I like to think of the classroom as like its own little community.

Um and an environment is kind of the same idea.

The instructional approach of the teacher is

really going to shape that environment.

It's a it's a big factor, at least in shaping that environment,

ideally the teachers approach is going to be based on their learners,

it's going to be based on the class and based on where they're starting off.

Um Another thing that the introduction covers

is that the expectations of school students,

teachers has become progressively more complex and I would say that the standards

are much higher than they used to be.

Um A great example of this that I thought was pretty vivid.

Had to do with changes relating to writing.

So before writing was all about just copying information,

taking oral information, being able to write it down,

penmanship a little bit more of just the basics.

Um Now I think as students and also teachers

of course we know that that's not the case anymore.

Now students are expected to express unique thought they're supposed to be

analyzing what they've read and writing is a way of expression,

it's not just

penmanship, so this relates to other subjects as well. I just thought

that example really hit home for me.

So next we're gonna talk about learner centered

environments and these are some of the highlights that I found in the reading.

Um The main main thing is that it focuses

on what the learner brings to the environment.

So you're really starting

from the students base and you're working from there.

Um A great thing about this is that it's really culturally sensitive,

which I'm going to talk about more in advantages.

Another topic they cover is everyday talk versus school talk,

which I found interesting.

Um I think in some

other environments you could assume

that everyday talk in school talk is the same,

but it's not the same for every student.

Typically

the manner of speaking in school best relates to

middle class students and that's what our reading emphasizes.

Um but we need to be more sensitive of that and try

to link the two and understand where our students are coming from.

Um learner centered environments often can connect to

students interests in a really powerful way.

But one disadvantage is that they can lack organization and focus.

So if you're not basing it in content, you might lack organization,

starting just from being guided by your students.

And that is something that will come up again in the um knowledge based approach.

So how does this work?

The term that the book used is diagnostic teaching

and

you can think of that like an actual diagnosis, you're starting with the patient,

your student.

Um what do they bring? What do they know?

And a good term that they have is cognitive conflict.

So you're actually kind of promoting cognitive conflict.

Um I liked this term even though it sounds a little harsh to collect conflict,

but because learning is work

and you're beginning number one with what the students know,

you're asking them to make predictions on

that and then the conflict comes in because

they might have misconceptions and as those misconceptions

arrive as the educator you're addressing them.

So next

I'm going to talk about advantages.

So I like this quote from the text that said, teachers who are learner centered,

recognized the importance of building on the conceptual and

cultural knowledge that students bring them to the classroom.

So I think that

summarizes the approach really well.

Some examples they had about being

culturally sensitive involved Hawaiian students.

They invited them to share their stories and they

used that as part of the english assignment.

Um what I really liked about that example is that it definitely goes beyond

allowing culture or being tolerant of culture

and fully incorporates it into the lesson.

So instead of just letting the students write about their culture,

they really celebrated it.

They invited them to talk about it

um back to everyday talk for school talk which I sort of addressed um

they used a really good example of

african american students and they incorporated the

language that they were using already there

everyday talk and really explained how it's

based in literature and essentially that they're

speaking in prose without even realizing it

and that was another good example of

really celebrating where students come from rather than

like I said,

tolerating it.

And the advantage here is that they use the term

give learners reason when you're connecting to students interests,

they have a reason to learn this material, they feel more connected to it.

So the next approach that we're going to talk about

is knowledge centered.

Um so knowledge centered kind of addresses

one of the

possible downfalls of the learner centered approach in

that they're really focused on the content.

So these approaches can be used in tandem.

They can overlap because you can start at a student's

knowledge base and still take a knowledge centered approach,

you're just emphasizing the content.

Um content is super important in knowledge based approaches.

The concepts and the competencies are based

on science and mathematics to kind of determine

what students need to grasp in order to move on to the next thing.

It addresses downfalls in current curricula mainly

that sometimes there's an isolated approach.

It's just concept to concept to concept here.

They're trying to integrate an understanding of a complete discipline,

give you kind of a cohesive idea of what you're learning.

Um they use really good math examples of this

that rather than simply learning a formula and how to implement it

instead you would be able to use your own

approaches and integrate those with what you've learned.

Um

The disadvantage here is that because the focus of it is on content.

Sometimes some of the skills if they're difficult for students to master,

such as if reading is already hard for a student,

this approach might increase a difficulty level.

You kind of need to have mastery

uncertain skills in order for this approach to go well for students.

Um but there's always ways to work around that as long

as the teacher has a good understanding and is flexible.

So one of the examples here that I thought was really crucial

in highlighting the ideas of both learner centered really and knowledge centered.

Um was the example fishes, fish. So I took this illustration of it.

Um The fish's fish story talks about a fish in the water befriending a tadpole

and that tadpole grows into a frog goes on land,

learns a bunch of new things about people, about birds, about.

Um different animals goes back and tells the fish,

but the fish doesn't have the knowledge base

to imagine all of these creatures.

So the fish imagines every single thing that the

frog tells them as looking like a fish.

So of course in this illustration you have the fish imagining

a bird and it's picturing the bird looking somewhat like itself.

Um I really like this example because it can show how kids might function this way,

or older students might function this way if

their knowledge base we need to start

from because they're going to reflect their environment

in their learning um and we need to be cognizant of that as teachers.

So some of the terms that it addresses here, key terms,

I also used key concepts because it's kind of a blanket to both.

Something they talk about a lot is learning and transfer.

So what do the students know and how can they actually apply it?

So it's not just the knowledge, it's allowing them to use it.

Um Something else to talk about is sense making.

So students should be able to trust that the new information,

the new knowledge coming at them makes sense.

And then when it doesn't they're asking for clarification.

So I think that's almost more of a trust level you have to build with your

students um than what I'm telling you should make sense to you and if it doesn't,

that's when you need to start addressing misconceptions.

Something else to talk about is progressive formalization.

This is when they use a lot of math examples,

because it has to do with computation verse

comprehension and trying to merge those two.

So I do think math is the best time um to talk about this because in Math,

like I said before you can

use a formula, maybe use it over and over and over again,

but do you actually understand why it works that way.

Do you understand when to implement it? Um and that's something that this approach

tries to address as far as isolating concepts and then

making them more cohesive.

So finally the wrap up,

so just some points to note that these approaches do have disadvantages,

I think that both of them sound great,

but we need to be aware of the pitfalls if we're

trying to utilize one so that we can address those issues.

Another thing to highlight once again is

just seeing the classroom as an environment.

Um and taking this even a step further,

the text kind of highlights how maybe when you move to a new place,

you have to learn where things are, you have to learn,

where are you going to grocery shop, where are you going to get gas,

where you're going to,

you need to cover your basics before you can start to

thrive in an area and I think that a classroom and learning

we can think of in the same way.

Um Another thing that kept coming up in

the text was the downfalls to current curricula,

I think that when you're given a lesson plan or when you're given a curriculum,

it's important to look and see where the gaps what's missing.

Um and that's what these approaches try to do.

Um Again, incorporating culture,

I like that these celebrate culture rather than just allow culture,

so trying to really bring that into the lesson when you can and once again

and completing concepts,

but trying to bring them all together so

that was module to learning environments knowledge centered

and learner centered.

Module 2

Chapters

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