Thanks for the very interesting thoughts on education and the role of educators. I'm usually a lurker on the list, but would like to add my thoughts to this discussion. When I design programs and/or curriculum, I plan for the variety of possible learning styles in the group. Someone previously mentioned that theoretically sounds good, but what do you do when you have a large group of students with varying styles? I try to design the lesson to appeal to as many learning styles as possible in order to hook as many of the students as I can and grab their interest. Once I have hooked them, I still try to appeal to a variety of learning styles. Just because a student is primarily a visual learner, though, doesn't mean I have to exclusively use a visual method. I want to mix it up in order for them to develop their other "intelligences" (to use a little Howard Gardner jargon). Also, once I have them hooked, they will hopefully be intrinsically motivated to be more responsible for their own learning. I believe intrinsic motivation is the key to everything. When students can get into a flow or the zone or whatever kind of jargon or you want to use, that is a hook in itself. They will hopefully want to get back into the zone and we won't have to implant or activate anything in them...they'll be learning how to learn a little bit more on their own because they want to. Teaching educators how to use museums for that end as well as how to use this "museum model" (sorry for more jargon, but I had to call it something) in the classroom (rather than bringing the old drill and kill classroom model into the museum) is what I think is a large part of the museum educator's job. We have to be the ones out front leading (which I think also includes being up on educational research literature). Do educators have to be social workers in order for this to happen? I don't know if I call it social work, but I do know that the better I know my students, and I mean really know them, the better I can understand their behavior and how I can best work with them and help them if they need it. If a student has a terrible homelife, intrinsic motivation to learn might be a very difficult thing for that student. One size does not fit all, and schools, museums, and educators need to respond to the needs of their many many audiences as best they can in the face of terrible budget cuts and large classrooms. We need to also think about the root causes of all these problems and how to bring about systemic change, but that's a whole other discussion...
************************************************************************
Julie Hutchinson, Research Assistant
BSU Center for School Improvement
208-426-4353 (Ph)
208-426-3564 (Fax)
[log in to unmask]
>>> [log in to unmask] 10/11/02 04:14PM >>>
Previously, a gentleman stated that educators/teachers should be trained in
social work. Could he or someone else tell my why that should be so? I do
feel that teachers deal with so many personal situations regarding their
students, usually coming from the students' homes. Often students will act
out their frusterations they have about their home lives in the classroom,
maybe their parents don't take the time to assist them with their work, which
can impact their learning process.
Sincerely,
Merri
M erri C .Pemberton
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
|
