Class on June 12, 2012

Joelle Fernandez
Charles McMillan

We began discussing concerns about teacher affection. The class agreed boundaries must be established and maintained. Teachers are cognizant of rapports they maintain with individual students.

When discussing Educating Esme most were annoyed; however, most found merit in much of Esme’s work. Many were unable to relate to Esme’s classroom environment and thought she glossed over the needs to collaborate with other professionals onsite.  Positive themes of the book include persistence, and making a difference as a teacher. Theories of learning from the book include engagement, modeling, and the joy of reading.

We discussed intelligence assessment and were reminded that intelligence tests are imperfect, that there is variability between texts as well as potential bias, among other issues. Sternberg said intelligence is always developing and is situationally dependent.  It can be socially constructed and changes over generations.  

We watched the brown-eyed blue-eyed experiment.  The video highlighted prejudice (expectations) and its effects.  The class discussed the potential pitfalls of positive praise while acknowledging the continued need for it. Legal research requirements have changed for good reason.  

Vygotsky’s Theory of Learning was also discussed in class. Piaget believed in mostly internal developments. Vygotsky focused on social interaction. Students are often mixed heterogeneously on purpose to supplement skills or bring peers to higher levels of understanding. Adults help through formal and informal demonstrations; every culture shares knowledge through demonstration and talk. Learning begins with the social and moves to the internal. Students learn through guided participation and peer interaction.