For+Tuesday+the+3rd

Assignments Due: Zull Part Two.

Discussion:
 * Write a reflection in the discussion section that establishes a connection between "differentiated instruction" and any part of what Zull is putting before us.**

"... it still seems that a teacher's best chance is to begin with concrete examples. The abstract and theorectical have less meaning if no neuronal networks are associated with the concrete experience of the learner." (103) This section of Zull's book focuses on the neuronal networks, and how they should inform our teaching. I found it particularly interesting to think about the idea that a wrong idea cannot be erased, that Zull states that they are a physical fact.

Thinking about DI and the idea of using prior knowledge to expand and create new ideas, Zull's theory seems to fit. I can really see how important it is not just to be aware of our students' prior knowledge, but to do the best we can on incorporating that knowledge into the differentiated lessons such that students continue to grow and form new neuronal networks.

Did anyone else find the ideas about neuronal networks being an actual physical creation interesting? I'd love to hear your thoughts! **-LG**

I think that one of the big connections in this section of Zull, as Laurie said, is the idea of using student's prior knowledge. I think that the three ideas Zull discusses about prior knowledge are helpful if teachers use those ideas. The ideas were 1) "Prior knowledge is fact" 2) "Prior knowledge is persistent" and 3) "Prior knowledge is the beginning of new knowledge". The idea that we all start with some prior knowledge and that those connections are strong reinforced the idea that teacher should use student’s prior knowledge if they want them to learn anything new. I think this also lends itself to the idea of using DI by interest (or previous experiences). If students know something about a specific topic and it interests them why not use that neuron network to make new connects. These new connections will hopefully result in the student learning something new. Zull says this about his friend Thom, "No one can understand anything if it isn't connected in some way to something they already know". HB //Hannah, I completely agree with your points on Prior Knowledge. What did you think about the "wrong facts" related to math and networks? I kept thinking about you and your subject area when I read that section. How can you tell a student that their answer is "not wrong (when it is)" it just needs to be expanded upon. Maybe I am off here, but I was having serious debates with myself about this topic. The example that I found useful was the one related to Martin Luther and MLK.// **Tara**

So I got thinking about "what if we really took into account prior knowledge when we taught?" It seems like we'd spend a whole lot more time in the first weeks of any unit working with what students knew and figuring out the connections between that and what we were going to teach. For me, way too often I teach content instead of people. I do throw it out there and expect them to get it. I know I'm looking for conceptual clarity and maybe I get it on the lower levels of Bloom's taxonomy. But expecting my students to really use the information analytically? Hey, it's even hard to place them in a situation (the first years) where they'd actually encounter what I'm talking to them about. One thing I've learned that humbles me as a teacher is the idea Zull states clearly that Tara and Laurie have mentioned: pk is strong. It is conservative, it is supported with millions of connected networks, and it is located all over the memory centers of the brain. It is damn hard to change/modify/shift whatever. Just think about the kids who walk in the schoolhouse door who "know" they can't learn much there of value. That pk takes a life to change.

With my four years, the impact of where they are is so overwhelming that I have the opposite problem; I can't get into their situation enough to make the connections for me. So its a connundrum. That's why I've always thought teacher education takes place best "on site" - 85-90% of it anyway. The "content" pieces could be mediated and then translated to the site-based situations. The "tangles" we'd be experiencing would be richer and the situated context would provide constant experience to help sort them out, child by child, situation by situation, group by group. All in all, we'd teach a whole lot less a whole lot better and it would probably take us more time. cr

I felt more connected with part II of Zull’s text than part I. I enjoyed reading about the importance of prior knowledge. This is probably because I could connect to what he was saying and agree that building off prior knowledge is an essential starting point in teaching and learning. It surprised me that this idea was so foreign to the physics professor he referred to. However, I do remember those type of professors, that rare looked up from their lecture knows to notice who was in the room. It all comes back to the idea that “we should find out what students believe, and far from disparaging it or trying to ignore it, use it as a tool for teaching. Existing neuronal networks open the door to effective teaching.”(102).

So, I found myself asking Zull questions in the margins, only to find his answer on the following page. One such time was when Zull was discussing why teachers continue on with their own lesson plans, rather than planning for the student. I examined my own experience with this and came up with the following conclusions. Teachers sometimes ignore their students neuronal networks because they want to teach the subject they have planned for (even though the student may not want to, be interested, be ready, etc), they find the subject interesting, they have everything all set (all the photocopies, assignments, activities), and have no backup plan. Zull summarizes by saying, “We (the teachers) truly and deeply, but totally erroneously, believe that her (the students) existing networks are of little value.”(117). A tough blow, but a somewhat true one. Nevertheless, every teacher has found himself or herself there at least once. //(Yikes...I find myself there every day! cr)// The important thing is to learn from this experience and better use what we know about our students’ biology to avoid this error for the future.

Finally, I appreciated the end of chapter review points that Zull includes. They were a nice summarization of all the facts and key components. See you bright and early! Tara

The second installment of Zull was by far one of the most interesting reads I have digested in a great while. The use of Nature and Nurture, and physiology and experience to examine the brain really looks as if Zull is heavily rooted in sociobiology to me—almost a textbook example. In regards to differentiated learning Zull addresses the need to seek out connections using different methods to recollect past information. Within the section “Searching for connections: What can a teacher do?” Zull states:

//“Rather than seeing our job as giving students new information, facts, or concepts, maybe we should put more effort into find the old…As a result we should use a broad brush in our search for relevant past experiences. This would include the possibility of using different sensory avenues, including images, music, and different forms of language such as poetry or dialogue.”[119]//

//(I've had eye-popping experiences in the hallways of schools with ted. students who actually think differently about an issue because they are there rather than in Waterman. Being situated in that context brings back so much (recalls so much pk)// //that accessing the kinds of learning you need to access in ted. is so much faster. Of course then, you have to work with that. It too has its issues. cr)//

The connection of synapses in relation to experiences and perception makes sense. What really blew my mind was the graph and discussion on 120-122 on “Learning by Losing”. What an idea that when we were children we may have had the most complete collection of networked synapses we will ever have in our lifetime, but no experiences and perceptions to employ them right away. I never thought about that. Makes sense though. Absolutely fascinating! DI

In reading PartII, Zull repeatedly states how useful prior knowledge/prior connections are and then building new ideas and connections from there. Zull says on page 93: 1. Prior knowledge is a fact 2. Prior knowledge is persistent 3. Prior knowledge is the beginning of new knowledge. It's where all learners start. This idea is similar to Differentiated Instruction because we want to get to know students and their interests which will reveal prior knowledge and connections they already have. The idea is for teacher's to continue to build on these existing neuronal networks and creat new ones.

Not so sure how I feel about the section on "Wrong Connections" and Incomplete Networks. Anxious to hear other views on this matter. HH

Agreed on the "Wrong connections" piece. I'm not sure that I can see "errorless learning" playing out flawlessly. It sounds like a pretty behavioral approach to learning, reminicient of "if they hit others, just ignore it and it will go away". What about the individuals who just don't know the right answer? what if their answer is not necessarily "wrong", just different? What if the student's thinking is on the right track, and could just use a few prompts to guide them to get the more correct answer? Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of the word "wrong" to begin with, and this just sounds like too much of a black-and-white approach to teaching for my taste! I liked the list on page 129, Helping people learn. Although there are statements that I agree with and prefer more, it's nice that Zull breaks down what he feels to be the specifics of helping people learn. JB

Response to Book II Reading the last chapter, I am reminded of a pithy sidenote from my teacher prep courses, which I will render in less pithy form: The teaching practices we employ for special education students are usually just good teaching. I think this chapter suggests that the same is true for differentiated instruction. In other words, DI is not a compromise concession we are making to accomodate slower learners or less verbal or analytical learners at the expense of the advanced learners. It is, in fact, just good teaching for everyone. Zull writes “We cannot understand anything unless we create neuronal networks that reflect some set of physical relationships that accurately map the relationships in the concept. At a minimum, we must be sure that our students have connections of this sort. We must push them to tell us their metaphors or stories.” (128) In other words, our efforts to present material through multiple pathways, such as visual, or kinesthetic or auditory, are really helping us and our students find the concrete foundations for their learning. Not only are we meeting the students where they are in the process of building from concrete to abstract, we are strengthening the connections among ideas. And, in fact, what a great way to teach metaphor in English: This poem is tapping your existing neuronal networks through concrete imagery and methaphor to get you to think about something more abstract. I’m sure we’ve all had experiences reading some work of high theory and just utterly failing to find a foothold. This helps me understand why that is and why, after a couple years of grad school, it got easier. On the other hand, I think a lot of academics have lost the neuronal links to the concrete and would actually do their ideas and their readers a service by rediscovering those pathways. One of my favorite critical theorists, Slavoj Zizek, is very satisfying to read because he is constantly moving back and forth from the abstract language of theory to illustrative examples from Hitchcock films and pop culture. He manages to tie his theory to a reader’s concrete experience, without watering down it’s complexity and sophistication. He is a master of metaphor and analogy or tapping existing neuronal networks. TA

Schedule for the Tuesday the 3rd.
 * Gathering / CyberCafe
 * Report In and Discussion of Readings / 426.
 * Charlie Time / 426
 * free write: What do you notice about people who have influence in your class and people who don't?
 * Cooperative/Collaborative Learning Groups
 * Status in the Classroom: The Classroom Structures Assignment
 * What does a status problem look like? An.
 * films: One from CA and one from VT
 * Elizabeth Cohen's Complex Instruction
 * Work Time / Various Places.
 * Share Time : Meet with Charlie. 1030-1130.
 * Next Steps / 426
 * Any two chapters of part three.
 * Tell us what you read, why, and what you found out.
 * Tell us what you read, why, and what you found out.

Reactions to Today's Class. //Approximately 100 word entries//. //Please don't add separate pages here. Just add your entry to the one that comes before as a new paragraph. Leave your initials after your last sentence. CR//

Today's class reminded me of just how powerful and rich activities can be when we "think outside of the box". I really enjoyed taking the time to redesign/recreate our hooks for the plant lesson. Sometimes it is hard to remember that a conceptual idea is just as important (and even sometimes more useful than) the individual facts that students need to know.

I also really liked taking some time to discuss status within classes. When we were asked to write about status and our feelings about it, I chose to write from a student's perspective, and I reflected mostly on my experiences in my Master's program in San Francisco. Here are my thoughts: People with influence are those who speak with confidence and concrete examples. Over the course of many years of school, I have found that being a younger student often means that I have initially had a lower status in my class. However, with perseverance, confidence, and real-life examples, my classmates soon learned that I had something to offer.

Often, when people have found out that I am in technology, their reaction is one of two things: If they are a woman, they tend to hold me at a higher respect. If they are a man, the result is the opposite. I also had this experience in my classes at SFSU until I spoke up and contributed new ideas.

Status to me, should be about what specific learning opportunities people can offer to each other.

I am still nervous about my project, but I am looking forward to presenting on Thursday, and I REALLY look forward to hearing and seeing more of what the rest of the class has been up to. HAVE A HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!!!! **-LG

Tuesday Reflection:** It has become clear to me that returning back to the same lesson, such as the plant one we have been working with, can only make it better. I agree with Laurie. I loved reexamining the hook of the plant lesson to address the important component of prior knowledge in a lesson. Our outlandish ideas made me think even more about what could happen outside of the classroom (and what could not). But even the idea of breaking apart the pyramid made me think about ways to get the same message across. For instance, using the game jenga to demonstrate how we rely on many different blocks to form one solid piece.//Hey, I had the same thought about Jenga. Go Figure.TA// Remove one of those pieces and the rest will eventually fall. Here is the same basic idea of the pyramid hook, minus the air miles to Egypt. I do admit that this activity was difficult for me. My mind is always racing with ideas, but I have found myself limited by what I have access to at MUHS and what the administration will allow. Nevertheless, the process was rewarding and served its purpose. //One thing I look forward to about being a more senior teacher (not there yet) is having a better sense of what I can get away with vis-a-vis administrations//. //Not that I'm constantly thinking of ways to undermine them. But I do think teachers sometimes need to exercise some benign rebellion in order to make unthinkable good things more thinkable TA//

I found our conversation about group work to be fascinating and I look forward to continuing it on Thursday. I have always been a fan of group work in my classroom, but struggles similar to Ms. Todd make me nervous. I know that there is not “one defined way” of establishing groups and tasks, but I look for more guidance on this issue. The topic of status led to a flurry of writing on my part. I used this time to reflect on particular instances in my classroom where the “influential” and “not so influential” have helped and hurt the overall objective of the task. It is a very interesting topic of status and one that I hope to feel comfortable enough discussing in some length with my freshman and juniors this fall. Overall. I found today to be great! Off to Troy! **Tara**

I thought that the video displaying the group work example was a pretty powerful one. Although I understand the benefits of ideal group work in a classroom, I have personally always made grunts and groans when it comes to participating in group work. I look forward to discussing group work, and gaining a new perspective on why it is still heavily believed in and practiced. I don't know a whole lot about the behind-the-scenes of group work, and how it looks from a teaching prospective. Agreed, it was also nice to take an activity we had already done (plant stuff) and turn it around to make a new activity that we hadn't necessarily done before (aka. make an "outrageous" activity). It gave me some insight into standards and so on that I haven't necessarily had in my experiences (such as if there were a specific standard on understanding structure and function). I look forward in my endeavors for the next year on being exposed to these more and more, and activities like this have helped me to understand lesson planning and more of the behind-the-scenes thinking of it all. **JB**

One of the most interesting parts of class, I thought, was trying to get everyone to think outside of the box. What a challenge! Not only is the introductory activity or the ‘hook’ an integral part of getting students interested in the lesson, it’s an effective way to possibly make connections in students’ minds with past events or perhaps to create new events to connect to and build on. So naturally we really want to be effective when presenting new material. I really thought that using the plant model throughout the two weeks was an effective means to make these connections. Secondly, I have read countless works on status in societies and cultures, and not once have I heard it directed towards youths. It never really crossed my mind. It makes perfect sense, but I never really thought about it. I consider the video and discussion on classroom status to be absolutely invaluable. I really enjoyed it. DI

I found Tuesday's class to be really interesting. I thought that our conversation about making every student's prior knowledge the same through a class activity was good to talk about. I think this played into creating our "out of the box" hooks really well. It was a struggle for me to think of ideas for the hook that were out there, but it gave me something to think about. Are students going to remember that basic hook or are they going to remember that crazy class activity we did? I also liked the idea of getting outside - there's so much I can do outside that has to do with math. I've made it a goal to do more things outside this year. HB

The video and discussion about status in the classroom was pretty powerful. It is a tough subject to deal with everyday in teaching and unfortunately no way to avoid it. I look forward to more class discussions about the Groupwork article you gave us, as it was very insightful and as I said before wished I had some of that knowledge to maybe make the student I worked with this year a little more successful in working with groups.

As far as the"hook" activity goes, I have to admit that I struggled with that a bit and vow to make myself work on some "crazy" ideas that are engaging and that it is ok to have "crazy" activities.- Don't be so safe all the time is what I'm getting at. So, it was a great activity for me to go through.

In the end, I have to thank Laurie for her kindness and patience in helping me learn and simplify steps to including technology into my project. It is a HUGE challenge for me-LAURIE YOU ROCK!!!!!! Looking forward to the podcasting presentation and individual projects for Thursday!!- HH