why we learn

There were many things that I realized as I worked through my first week in a supervisory position. A large portion of what I had to accomplish was procedural, e.g., the signing of documents and attending meetings. But, it has become obvious that I will have to be tactful in my approach, as I am responsible for two distinct staffs, operating independently, at different times, and with different student populations. Moreover, my unfamiliarity with one of these groups, the adult education programs that I supervise, makes things more difficult.

Balancing Act

One week in and I can already tell that balancing my role as supervisor of high school and adult staffs is going to be a challenge. I am much more comfortable with the high school staff, as I’ve worked with them since I was first employed nine years ago. The adult education component of the school has always been foreign to me. I did teach an adult physics class in the evening, maybe five years ago. This was, up until just recently, my only experience with the adult programs.

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Photographers have a plethora of options when it comes to managing their digital assets. Off the top of my head I can name four rather conspicuous members of the group, Aperture, Lightroom, Photo Mechanic, and Portfolio. Each of these, in their own way, allows the photographer to quickly add metadata, resulting in quicker and more focused queries after storage. There are an entire libraries of books instructing photographers on the nuanced manner in which they should store, back-up, and generally manage their RAW files.

Software programmers are required to manage vast quantities of cryptic text. Additionally, they most often work on projects in groups, sharing code and a common vision for the way in which code is used, reused, and the way in which annotations (comments) are added to the code to ensure readability and consistency. The number of programming environments is also large. Apple’s XCode and the Eclipse platform are two very powerful solutions that are also free.

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What was the research question(s) in the article?

The authors seek to investigate how various uses of graphic organizers can be used within the context of teaching reading strategies. Specifically, Chang et al. seek to understand how varying implementations of graphic organizers effect students’ (a) comprehension (assessed via a pretest/posttest pair), and (b) the ability to summarize the main ideas of the read text. They also point out that graphic organizers have been used extensively in science education, but their usefulness as tools for teaching reading strategies is lacking.

Is the literature review relevant to the research question(s)?

I felt that the literature reviewed throughout the article was appropriate. Literature was cited in reference to (a) types of spatial learning strategies, (b) processing and comprehension benefits derived from the creation of graphic organizers, (c) analysis of cognitive load as it applies to various assignments related to the construction of graphic organizers, and (d) the potential applicability of graphic organizers to summarization skills. Cited articles are used by the authors to illustrate the current status of research as well as to accentuate the void within this area as it relates to the application of spacial learning strategies to reading strategies and the ability of learners to summarize what they have read.

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You’ve got to wear multiple hats if you’re going to be successful in the classroom. There’s the disciplinarian hat, the counselor hat, the mediator hat, the entertainer hat, and the secretarial hat. You get the point. I’ve read a little bit about Instructional System Design this week, and today I reviewed Backward Design. Last week I read about instructional techniques and strategies that are viewed as appropriate for today’s youth. This reading has led me to contemplate how teachers are expected to think in different ways at various points in the instructional process.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is “frequently used in areas of pedagogy, group dynamics, employee training, leadership training, life coaching, executive coaching, marriage counseling, and personal development” (Wikipedia). There are 16 distinct personality types as defined by the Myers-Briggs model (if you’ve never taken a personality test, you can if you’d like here). Even if you aren’t familiar with the 16 types, from experience we should be able to agree that people display a wide range of personalities. There’s a good chance that each of us knows someone at each end of the spectrum in terms of their organizational preferences; someone who cannot live without structure, and another who seems to thrive in chaos.

Instructional System Design and Backward Design are structured, (ISD more so) systematic approaches to designing and revising lessons. The ISD Model has no less that 22 individual steps that must be completed. Backward Design, though less fractured and ordered differently, contains three major steps; each requiring multiple questions to be addressed. Those persons who enjoy structure will feel comfortable working within this environment.

Donald Philip’s article on the Net Generation suggests that these students are much more comfortable when instruction is nonlinear and they are engaged socially with their peers in problem-solving activities (constructing or discovering their own knowledge). In this type of environment the teacher acts as a facilitator rather than the didactic or direct approach. Teachers pose questions and act as a resource as students work in groups of their own choosing to answer questions and assemble solutions.

Are teachers to accept both premises presented here? If so, they are to design/plan their lessons in a structured, systematic way. Yet they are to present these lessons by allowing students to drive, in large part, the direction of the lesson, the pacing, and with whom they work. To be clear, I’ve presented this information with the hopes of making a point; that being that instructing at a high level requires a multi-talented person who is able to perform a variety of tasks, switching from one mindset to another seamlessly.