Why We Do This!

I am at the Wisconsin Council for Social Studies annual conference and just returned from a short expedition in the rain soaked streets of Middleton, Wisconsin. On my way to a greasy diner, called the Cheeseburger Paradise, I conversed with a couple also in search of food. They were not educators, but they were staying at the same hotel as I--taking a class for what, I presume, was their job. The conversation began casually about the weather and progressed to our purpose in the area. The one individual among us stated that she had always admired educators, but thought we were under paid and could never quite understand why anyone would want be a part of that profession. I told her not to feel too bad for us, we knew what we were getting into when we began our adventure and the job had its perks. We parted and went to our respected restaurants.

As I sat by myself in a "cheesy" (no pun intended) food establishment, I thought about that conversation and a man I had heard speak earlier in the day, and until last week, knew nothing about. The man's name is Greg Mortenson, co-author of the book Three Cups of Tea and, as far as I am concerned, a bona fide hero--worthy of rubbing shoulders with the likes of Mother Theresa and Gandhi. Mortenson, a sort of rambler after high school, was compelled, in 1992, to climb K2, after his sister died of an epileptic seizure, and dedicate the accomplishment to her memory. He failed to reach the summit and almost lost his life in the attempt. Luckily, a Pakistani man found him. Disoriented at the time and in need of assistance, Greg was very thankful when the Pakistani brought him to his village. In return for the kindness of the people in the man's village, Mortenson asked what he could do to return their brotherly love. The village leader said they could use a school. And so began a vocational calling that would lead Greg Mortenson, and associates, to build hundreds of schools and provide education to hundreds of thousands of students--sometimes in life threatening scenarios.

And so there I sat, pondering this lady who felt sorry for teachers being under paid and this man who, with no pay at all, has changed, and is changing, one of the most impoverished nations in the world. The inadequacies of people fully on my mind, it was quite clear to me why we do this.

Week 3 & 4--March 17-19 & 25-28

I combined these two weeks in March. They were both abbreviated weeks due to spring break and it seemed to make more sense to lump them together. The theme for this post is access. Observations of my action research seems to suggest that ease to access is a big factor in the success of differentiating content. I currently offer versions of textbook reading in audio and visual on a class wiki. I record readings of the textbook as a podcast, upload it, and also distribute it in the class through I-pods during work time. The visuals are also posted on the class wiki in the forms of comics, using Comiqs.com and slide shows, using either google docs , slide share, or existing youtube type videos. However, the visuals require the students to take initiative and go get them during their own time. According to the last survey, no students did this. In the future, I guess I need to bring these materials in to the class and not rely on students to use the options available during their own time.

Week 2 --March 10th to March 14th

My research is now in full swing. I informed my students about learning styles and multiple intelligences (many students already had knowledge of these theories). I then gave students options for "taking in" information from the textbook and "making it stick." The "taking in" options always involve reading the textbook. However, students may supplement readings with an audio recording of the readings, visuals (either you tube, comics, or something of that nature), or tactile options such as creating presentations of the reading or taking notes while reading. Once students has read the text they have to use a "make it stick" strategy, all options fit in one of the multiple intelligences.

The surveys show that a majority of my students have a strength in tactile learning.


I have yet to compile the multiple intelligence inventory.

Interestingly, in just the first few days of research, during work time, students have opted to use the ipods and listen to the audio files while reading. Some students have brought their own ipods in (I check to make certain they are listening to the audio files of the textbook readings). Perhaps a third of the class is listening to the reading while reading the text. I have yet to see if it is the audio learners of the class. However, the numbers seem higher than the inventory indicated.

Week 1--March 3 to March 7th

This is my first official reflective post. I taught a lesson on multiple intelligences and learning styles to the class I am experimenting with on Friday the 7th. Not much has happened yet. I had the students complete the surveys for both M.I. and Learning Styles. I still need to compile the data and post it. Earlier, I had given my students a pre-survey of their knowledge of the theories and their confidence in their learning abilities. Surprisingly, students had heard of the theories, but not many were very confident about what it meant. I'll post the data for that survey soon too. Nonetheless, the lesson seemed to go well. Some students did not agree with their results and it will be interesting to see how it affects their decisions in the future. That's it for this post. More to come in the near future.



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3/4/08--Demographics of the Class

Blue on the bar graphs represent students who have access to a specific technology and red do not.







These first three graphs show the level of technology available to my students and could serve as an indicator of socioeconomic status too.

This graph clearly shows the diversity in my class when it comes to reading ability. These numbers are based on lexile score which shows a high and low range. I took student numbers and compared it to the standard textbook. You can see that the students' reading levels are all over the board. This is the foundation of the question, how does student awareness of their differences affect attitude and academics? The actual research, however, focuses on learning style and multiple intelligences. Students will receive instruction about these concepts this Friday, as well as complete inventories to discover their learning style and multiple intelligence strengths. Those numbers will be posted shortly.