Connections Blog 3
With my final connections blog for this course, I am choosing to reflect on topics that I found of particular interest. There have been many subjects within the past seven weeks that I have found both fascinating and challenging! Cognitive sciences is a vast field, but one that is important for those in a position of educating (whether as a teacher in a school or as a trainer for a company). With that being said, my top three concepts that I will continue to seek understanding in within my context as a teacher are social contexts, Artificial Intelligence, and learning motivations (intrinsic/extrinsic).
One of the ingredients that make people so fascinating is the fact that we all start out as lumps of clay, with regards to our personalities and who we eventually grow up to be. Science has always tried to find that balance between nature and nurture. Nature contends that we are born with traits that help to determine the twists and turns we take in our lives, while nurture argues that it is our surroundings that decide who we will become. I, however, do not lean towards one side more than the other, as I am of the school of thought that both are needed. If we are clay, then to me, both ingredients are needed to bake us until we are ready to be pulled out from the kiln.
As someone with the responsibility of helping to educate children, one could see how important the realm of social context is for me. After all, for the amount of time kids are in school, it could be argued that they spend more time with their teachers than their parents at home! For this reason, I want to create a space that is conducive to learning and one that fosters the pursuit of knowledge, “Teachers can build on the ways children learn from each other by creating a learning environment where there are ample opportunities for student-to-student discussion, collaboration, and feedback.” (Darling-Hammond, n.d.). As I have mentioned in previous bogs and correspondences throughout this course, I am a high school and middle school ESL teacher. I have students with varying degrees of their knowledge of the English language. I can recall at the start of this new school year in August, that one of my students told me during class that he does not speak as much in his other classes (he is a very talkative student). When I asked him why, he simple stated that he felt comfortable in my class. My classes are very small; three students is my “largest”. ELLs (English Language Learners) are generally self conscious of speaking in front of others, as one would be if new to a language. Therefore, by having small classes where every student is facing the same shyness, my room becomes a kind of sanctuary for them where they do not have to worry about how they speak. The students support and help each other. It is through these positive interactions with their classmates and myself, that they begin to build their confidence with comfortably using what they have learned this far, “ In a variety of ways, these social interactions form the basis of the understandings that eventually become internalized in the individual.” (Darling-Hammond, n.d.).
I think the same ideas of creating a student-centered learning environment can be applied across content area classrooms. Negative experiences and interactions with learning ( and their environments) could hinder a student’s ability to learn and being receptive to knowledge retention. There are kids who are brought up in less than nurturing environments(especially ones that fall short of parent involvement in education) , and because of this, many of those students turn away from education, not being able to comprehend its benefits.
Take, for example, children brought up in a low socioeconomic environment. A child either has to be driven or have been surrounded by positive Micro and Meso system interactions, in order to not fall prey to, or become victimized by many of the negative elements that may surround them, “Individual, family and school factors contribute to school victimization. Our research on simultaneous influences on school victimization draws on ecological systems theory. The ecological systems model indentifies individual characteristics, Microsystems, and exosystems as influential on bullying victimization” (Foster, Brooks-Gunn, 2013).
In my experiences teaching, I have known many students who have fallen prey to the bad elements in their environment. Many of them ended up dropping out of school, getting pregnant, or getting involved in gangs. My hope for them is that one day, they will see that they do not have to become the environment in which they were raised, but that they will find a new environment surrounded by positive influences and get on a path that will lead to a brighter outcome.
The idea of Artificial Intelligence(AI) is just something that I find very interesting. I was working on my lesson plans for the week yesterday, and I had switched letters in a word, and instantly(literally in a blink of an eye), my computer had corrected the error! It was amazing! At that moment I knew that for this final blog, I would briefly mention AI and how it pertains to my learning context.
Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is, “The science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs” (Donnelly, 2008), was first brought to light in 1956 at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. The term was thought up by scientists who wanted to research ways in which, Computer technology could change the world for the better” (Donnelly, 2008).
In our everyday lives, we do not even think about how much we are surrounded by machines (computer systems), or how much we are dependent upon them in order to function. My fiancé recently bought a small coffee maker for his apartment. He is not an avid coffee drinker, but likes the occasional warm cup of Joe in those hard-to-get-out-of-bed cold winter mornings. The fact that he can set the timer on the machine to make his coffee when he gets up amazes him.
In teaching, I am coming to a place where I accept technology( and embrace it). I am young and have developed during the boom of the internet. I remember when the idea of emailing was in its infancy during my freshman year of college, and my friends and I were completing papers on one of my pals’ word processor. You can imagine my elation when Microsoft Office was developed and a computer was now correcting my errors. AI is proving to be useful in the classroom with handwriting and voice recognition programs. Voice recognition programs can be of tremendous help to those students with learning challenges, ” Voice recognition software has become important, too for special education students which prohibit them from using standard computing methods” (Donnelly, 2008).
As beneficial as AI is, my only hope is that it does not get so advanced, where students will not be encouraged to think for themselves. In that sense, AI can prove to be a true detriment to our society and the structure of learning.
What is your motivation for learning? Do you want to be outwardly recognized, or is it conquering personal victories that drives you? Unfortunately, it appears that for many of our students, it is the former that gets them out of bed and into school each morning. I think extrinsic learning has become the culture of modern-day students. We all know those parents who motivate their kids by promising to shower them with all types of gifts for doing well in school. What these parents are failing to realize is that by constantly giving awards for doing something that kids should want to be doing for their own betterment, they are helping to usher in an attitude of entitlement.
Unfortunately, I see this kind of behavior daily with students in school. There are kids who will not do something unless they know that they will be rewarded and recognized for it in some way or another.
For my language learning students, however, the motivation is different. They are fully aware of the benefits of learning English. They want to do it because they want to be able to communicate in their new environment. Many of my kids want to help their parents learn English, as well; a motivation that is far removed from one that creates the afore mentioned air of entitlement.
I think it may be a little easier for me to seek and foster intrinsic motivation for my students. With teaching a language, students are encouraged to set small goals for themselves. Every goal they set becomes a stepping stone form which they build their foundation of understanding as they continue on their journey towards fluency.
Much of how I have responded to discussion posts during this course has been answered as a teacher in the trenches! My focus, however, is to work behind the scenes on a college level, hopefully advising students towards success as a student and in their future endeavors. In some ways, I struggle with marrying what I have learned in my courses thus far into the career I see myself transitioning into. I can see that understanding cognitive sciences and social contexts will be very beneficial to me, especially in an advising role.
I remain excited and enthusiastic about this step towards my own learning victories and I cannot wait to see how what I have learned will come into play with my interactions within the academic world in the future.
I part leaving gifts of growth and knowledge! Check out this resource on student motivation in the classroom:
http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/motivating-students/
References:
Darling-Hammond, L., Austin, K., Orcutt, S., Martin, D. (n.d.) Learning From Others: Learning
in a Social Context. Stanford University School of Education. Retrieved from
http://www.learner.org.
Donnelly, M. (2008) Artificial Intelligence in Schools. Research Starters: Academic Topic
Overviews.
Foster, H., Brooks-Gunn, J. (2013) Neighborhood, Family and Individual Influences on School
Victimization. Journal of Youth and Adolescence.
Apple Pie ELLs 