Cultural Whiplash

There is another possible cause for the learning gap, which is that class time for younger students significantly exceeds their patience and attention span. Optimizing class time so that it feels more like play than work is critical to keeping students involved in learning activities. It is very easy for teachers to lose students' attention, which has been more than adequately demonstrated by various studies. In classes that are geared for 'average' students, above and below average students are often stuck twiddling their thumbs while waiting for the next assignment or teacher assistance. It may even be argued that these above and below average students become experts in twiddling their thumbs, so that at some point 'below average' students are constantly demanding and receiving teacher time and attention while 'above average' students get a pat on the back and bother their peers (until they get in trouble). It is important to pair above...

The Learning Gap: Understanding It Dear Parents, Educators, Curricular Writers, and Educational Policy Makers, In the United States, there is something known as The Learning Gap. It occurs in elementary school, when learning is supposed to proceed without interruption, and is terribly distressing in educational circles (as well as to children experiencing the gap from beneath it). There are two important things to note about this gap. The first thing to note is that it has been documented and exists. The second thing to note is that it is misunderstood. The learning gap that does exist may vary somewhat from state to state. However, it is helpful to think of this gap as existing due to a fundamental flaw in curriculum and application of curricular theory. Curricular theory must always take cognitive development into account when curriculum is developed. Curriculum that ignores cognitive development can be counter-productive. The current problem with the learning gap (as I ...

https://www.createspace.com/3765903 This fantastic collection of papers explores the idea of a new paradigm for EFL/ESL using technology as the vehicle. Highly recommended for EFL/ESL teachers, chairpeople of English departments, educators, English curriculum writers, English learning theorists and linguists, and anyone else interested in education using technology.

I am not very familiar with the Multiple Intelligences, but I have encountered them in various ways over the years. The main way was through tests designed to indicate a career path. These kind of tests are great for indicating jobs that you might like. Willingham has truly opened my eyes in a number of regards. The biggest eye-opener for me, which makes perfect sense, is that there is no evidence that applying modalities when teaching individuals based on their professed preference has any benefits. I think the most important problem with modality approaches is the assumption that modality can be applied successfully based on the individual without regard to what is being taught. Teaching someone with a visual preference using a visual modality will not bear more fruit than the usual teaching techniques. Another problem is that modality approaches assume that children learn best in only one way, and that we have to specialize instruction for each individual student. Willingham...

I have always been convinced that there is a learning style for each of the senses. One can learn by touch, smell, taste, sound, and vision. If we want to take the 5 basic senses and expand them to include the additional senses that have been added by research over the years, this statement still holds. Academically, people learn primarily by sound and vision. The typical elementary school system is set up so that the bulk of learning is done by seeing, hearing, and doing. In high school, we lose a lot of the doing, and teaching leans more heavily on seeing and hearing. In trade schools, the emphasis is on doing. In culinary schools I think all five senses are used. Some people learn better using a particular sense than others. Some people learn better from auditory lessons, some learn better by visual demonstration, and some learn better by other senses. I think this way because in helping others to learn and in my own learning, I've had to apply the use of the senses, and f...