Lesson 2 Blog Response (Dougherty)

After watching the videos on Vision and Hearing, describe how this information impacts you as a teacher.

I need to consider how my classroom environment either enhances or obstructs my students' ability to learn.  This is a challenge for me in that I am not a naturally good at decorating, but I can see how taking the time to learn how to set up a pleasant classroom experience can, at the very least, enhance my students’ ability and desire to learn by making it a place they want to be.  At best, it can actually encourage their learning by charging the air with more oxygen and promoting mental and emotional states that make learning more possible.  I need to think about how to manipulate light in my classroom to make the room calm and welcoming, add plants, use mild, natural scents and include music in my curriculum – all with the goal of creating an environment that is warm, welcoming and conducive to learning.  Since students have a dominant ear (not related to their dominant hand), it’s important that I move about the classroom.  Assigned seats are not a good idea as each student needs the freedom to find a place to sit that works best for them in terms of hearing and vision.

The second part of this lesson is understanding what a critical role hearing and vision play to learning – that seems obvious at first but the relationship between vision/hearing and learning is more complicated than just whether a student sees or hears well.  It is possible for students to pass hearing and vision screenings just fine and yet have problems in these areas, either at more subtle ear/eye levels or with the part of the brain that process visual/auditory information into electrical impulses the brain can use. I’ve had firsthand experience with this issue and my kindergarten-aged son.  He passed an initial hearing exam 100% in both ears, but subsequent testing showed that while he was hearing sounds, he was not hearing tones, making it difficult for him to distinguish the difference between sounds like “P” and “B.”   No matter how old my students may be, I need to consider whether a hearing or vision problem could be contributing to their learning or behavior issues.

June 7, 2013
EDU 270 - Lesson 1 Response

After watching the videos on brain architecture, plasticity, and understanding the impact of the environment on a child, how does this information impact you as a teacher?

I understand better now that as a teacher, I am creating an environment and choosing experiences that will either help or hinder my students ability to learn.  It is not enough that I know a lot about my subject field.  It's not enough to show up every day prepared and ready to teach.  Learning is not an outside-in process.  It's a process where my students are exposed to all sorts of experiences throughout their day - home, school, sports, friends, jobs, etc.  As my young students move through their days and weeks, their brains have to decide if the information they've gained from these experiences is important enough to retain or if it should be pruned.  I need to learn what I can do to ensure that the information I am responsible for is delivered in a way that makes the adolescent brain want to retain it.  This makes the job of a teacher considerably more complex than I think most people understand.