Proactive Pathways for Engagement
11 hours ago
Monday, March 16, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
About Me
- Dr. Schmidt
- I am an Assistant Professor at D'Youville College in Buffalo, NY and I am interested in blogging as a pedagogical approach to preparing graduate students to use similar technology in their future classrooms.
I think one of the most vital things we as teachers can do is have an open mind to the different classes society contains. In Finn's book he discuesses and observes the different social classes and how each student's focus is highly based from beliefs of their class. It is important to remember that not all students are coming into a school because they want to, such as the Freeway Boys. Our task is to help motivate students from these different classes and construct the curriculum so it incorporates their likes and dislikes. If we can demonstrate this motivation to do so, we will be one step closer of succeeding in educating these individuals. Working with the parents will help subside the parent-teacher conflicts the middle-class parents had in Finn's book as well. As soon as we have the parents' support we will have two positive reinforcements for the students at school.
ReplyDeleteA Commentary on Finn’s Book and How to Motivate Students
ReplyDeleteIf you were asked to write a speech to address a scientific community at a convention, how would you write your paper? What if you were asked to write a speech to a business or English literature community instead, how would you write your paper then? Would Finn’s book help? I believe it does. How? I believe the main message in Finn’s book is to know your audience. But there is no mention of any speech writers in Finn’s book. Where’s the connection? In my opinion, the speech writers I used in my opening sentences are analogous to the teachers. The teachers are communicating to the students, which in a way is similar to the audience I mentioned before. Finn’s book is educating us on the different social classes, languages, cultures, and control mechanisms that help us understand our “audience” better. As potential teachers we can use the tools at our disposal learned from D’Youville College to craft our lesson plans more effectively. By knowing our students better, we can use that information to bridge the students’ experience and knowledge with the lesson being taught.
How would I start this process of teaching through motivation? I would first like to get to know my “audience” by simply talking to them first to get to know them. I may then forward a prewritten profile of myself as a handout to each student and ask each student to write a short paragraph of their biography and interests in return. If my students were predominately working, industrial class where each student was familiar with tools, then my approach to enhance learning through motivation would be to incorporate their language and experience into the lesson plan. I might bring to class a DVD movie showing a short clip of an industrial work shop showing how common worker tools such as wrenches, gears, hammers, shovels, or how nuts and bolts are manufactured. I would purposely choose a movie that would show how the tools are tested for quality control during the manufacturing process. Since my content area is mathematics, I would bridge their high level of engagement with the testing procedures that would, say, show how a bolt is tested in a tensile machine for quality control purposes. The tensile machine could be compared to a powerful and specialized clamp that simply stretches the bolt and records the amount of force required to elongate it to the point where it breaks or snaps. After the movie, I would start to connect the idea of math and its relevance to make sure that the manufactured components are safe for workers to use. I would use the blackboard and hypothetically draw a chart with two columns showing ‘Force’ and ‘Distance Bolt is Stretched’. I would then draw a graph relating the two variables and introduce the concept of slope and linear equations if my class was ninth grade and carry on from there.
Hopefully, through this example, I would be successful to satisfy a number of criteria: 1) know my ‘audience’ to help me as a potential teacher to plan or design a lesson plan to help them, my students, 2) incorporate motivation using an anticipatory set that would raise level of engagement and, consequently, motivate them, 3) ease any potential classroom management efforts provided the lesson was well planned and engaging, 4) make it an enjoyable lesson for both student and teacher, 5) deliver on the main objective which is to enhance learning.
Motivation is the biggest need I observed in my in class observations. I got to know a student in passing who is what we Canadians call a "Ward of the Crown" (or state). He told me about group home leaders who snort coke in bathrooms and smoke pot with the foster kids on the front porch. Naturally a student like this is bound to ask "What are we all here for?
ReplyDeleteI can't say that I have all the answers. I have been asking that question for a few years now myself. However, I think students enjoy being around people who understand them and have at least a passing interest in whether or not they succeed or fail in class and in life.
I think JT is bang on. Motivating students starts when teachers are truly available for their students and are quiet long enough to listen to what they have to say. I've also noticed that some students can be tremendous liars, so it is important to be careful what we listen to.
I watched the video that was posted and I have finished reading Finn and I see some clear connections. The students in the video are highly emotional due to the economic crisis and the effects it is having on their families and personal lives. Some of them talk directly about needing to stay in school, or about how their parents tell them they need to stay in school. There is an important opportunity here, an opportunity for Freirean intervention that could potentially change students anguish and distress to motivation. In the fourteenth chapter, Finn discusses the importance of bringing the world into the classroom, so that students have a chance to reflect on their own lives (p. 174). The teacher in the video did just that, and obviously he brought some serious issues to the surface that were permeating in the minds of his students. The teacher also had them doing writing assigments and other activities about the issues that were affecting their lives. I think this is a Freirean approach because it involves student-centered learning and a democratic approach to teaching. The students are questioning fundamental beliefs in our society, in relation to capitalism. By addressing an issue so in touch with the students, the teacher has motivated them to really reflect on their own lives, and the results of which were their own motivation to speak out, which in turn motivated countless others through their words. The power of connecting with the students lives, of bringing the world into the classroom, is vivid in this video. It went straight to the top, their words were heard by President Obama. The people, who democracy is really designed to work for, actually had a chance to be heard because a teacher gave them the opportunity to speak.
ReplyDeleteI think the first thing that I would want to do at the beginning of the year is profile my students. I would have them write down for me what they hope to get out of school. I know many of them might say that they are forced to be here, however I would encourage them to think of what they could gain by attending. I would also ask them what values they hold about their education, society and their future. I think these are important starting points.
ReplyDeleteAs a social studies teacher I would want to emphasize the power of the individual. I would tell my students that as an individual you make so many decisions for yourself everyday, but you also have the power to impact society. I would encourage my students to think of themselves as just one piece of a huge puzzle and how their actions will not only influence their lives, but the lives of those around them. Ultimately I would encourage my students through the analogy of the democratic citizen. I would ask my students what was important to them and what do they believe in. Some of the students may value the need to get a skilled working class job like the majority of the freeway boys in Finn. I would then use these beliefs and values as an undercurrent for a unit on industrialization in America. Students would learn how workers became more and more skilled and how the need for greater knowledge and technology continues to be an issue today. In doing so I hope to achieve two goals. Firstly I want the students to be interested in the actual curriculum and material of the industrial revolution. I hope to achieve this by relating issues of skilled labor in history to the problem of the mills closing and the threat of unemployment. When students recognize that something in history directly relates to their lives today it will seem more important to them and will connect them to the curriculum. Secondly I hope to motivate my student to aim higher in their academic endeavors. The students will learn about how the demands of the labor force are continuously changing and how there was a greater need for the skilled worker, which doesn’t necessarily mean physically skilled, but also mentally. This will be directly linked to the labor force today, where there is a greater demand for workers with technological skills.
As a future history teacher I am thinking that there is a great deal of opportunity to motivate students such as those discussed in Finn.
ReplyDeleteI am picturing a classroom full of students such as 'the lads' or students who fall under the category of 'involuntary minorities', the 'Freeway or Roadville' students.
In order to connect with these students and motivate them, a strategy that may perhaps be successful is present information in a way that they can relate to, and in a way information has never been presented before.
For example, the subject matter I am thinking of is North American history. In presenting facts about genocide of Indigenous populations, white encroachment, white supremacy and oppression students may find the topics more interesting because many "at-risk" students can probably tell their own stories of being oppressed.
If the textbook does not reflect accurately the events of the past, why not engage in a read aloud with discussion about the likelihood of the events as described in the textbook as incorrect. With a little guidance students may be able to make connections to oppression and how society works, even today.
The reason I chose this example is that if a student is given the opportunity to 'go against' what their textbook says, it could really motivate them as it is an interesting way to engage the material.
While learning the student can maintain a sense of 'going against authority'.
Feeling like you are learning the truth, when it is the truth that you are not supposed to know, may be a key way to motivate students to want to learn.
Connections from North America's past can be made to present day oppressive situations. Students can develop a better understanding of their environment.
As a new math teacher, I know that I am going to face a variety of students who display an apparent dislike for math. The key is to engage the student. I picture my classroom full of "lads" and the "freeway kids". I believe the best way to connect to these students and their different styles are through relevance and real life connection.
ReplyDeleteI feel it is important to engage the student in the learning process, giving them ownership in their knowledge. Not only is it important for the teacher to allow the students a sense of pride, but I aids the students' in their sense of achievement and self-gratification.
Lads and the freeway kids come from a very different style of living. As we have learned in my multiculturalism class, it is important to engage all students and the key to success is motivation.
Motivation is an aspect of schooling that can be difficult for all teachers. The type of student and the information presented should have a connection to real life applications and situations. Students' thrive and success is greater when the relevance of the topic is presented (Vacca & Vacca, 2008).
In a math classroom, topics will need to be addressed and shown how these topics will aid them in the future and where they can be applied in everyday life. This will aid in the students' development of their critical thinking, reasoning, and problem solving skills.
Motivation is the key to a successful classroom however motivating students can sometimes be a challenge in itself. Being a student who has a love and passion for history, I sometimes find it hard that all people don't have that same love. However, reality is, is that a lot of people, when they think of history, quiver and shy away. It is my job, as a future educator, to change their minds and make them fascinated and want to learn more. History is an avenue of education that opens the door to a world of opportunities. If my class has students who do not want to learn and are not adimate about the school system, similar to the Freeway boys and lads, I would want to do everything in my power to help show them that school is not an enemy. I would try and gague their interests and see what they enjoy. I would bring in videos, music, media...anything that could relate to their lives today yet also has a historical context. This idea also relates to Finn's idea in the 14th chapter about bringing the outside world into the classroom. Finn describes this through a Freirian model that encompasses the approach of connecting the topic to the students lives and the broader world around. Overall, the main idea is that for students to have an appreciation for history the have to want to learn it. I will try and make real life connections with all topics of study from Hitler and governments today, the Holocaust and genocides in the 21st century, the internemtn of Japanese Americans after the boming of Pearl Harbour related to the terrorist attacks in 2001 when dealing with racial profiling....the list can go on. Hopefully in the future i will be able to educate and motivate my students to learn and be exciting abut hsitory.
ReplyDelete