Once again I had a hard time getting any hits throughout the week from Google Alerts. I keep editing my alert to try and make sure that I can get a few more. Many of the alerts I received this week were ads. The one alert that I received that I found of interests is called "Learning Methods-Thinking Styles-Teaching Methods" http://www.basicknowledge101.com/subjects/learningstyles.html
This site discusses the optimal learning state for anyone to learn. Many times we, as educators, have been told about different learning styles, to try and reach out to as many different learning styles that we can, and to differentiate instruction. By using a personal learning environment reaching the different learning styles and levels of each child becomes more manageable.
Positive education: The one discussion on this page was about positive education. This was a term I did not hear before. This approach to schooling help to emphasize strengths of a child. Teachers create individual learning goals rather than trying to push children through in order to pass a standardized test. In my opinion, education is headed down a path that is making it harder to teach authentic skills that children need because of the strong push on standardized tests and funding that is attached to them.
This site gives hundreds of definitions and examples of educational terms that may be helpful for educators at any level. It is a site that I have bookmarked to use as a reference for my graduate work and my professional career.
I am always trying to find ways to teach in different ways so that I can reach students with different learning styles. Also, I often teach a huge range of students so it is very important that I differentiate instruction. I like the idea of creating personalized learning goals and not pushing students through. However, I think you are right...there is such a push to teach to the test and so much that depends on test scores that that is what is happening. I don't like it but it is just the reality right now. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteBobbi Jean,
ReplyDeleteI have never heard the term positive education before either. I like that I learned something new from your blog post, and that it is important to create goals that can be reached through the strengths of the children. I think this site will be helpful for educators to help them create new activities and lessons.