Final Blog- reflection on the course

Final Blog

During this semester in Premise of School, I really enjoyed learning about the concept of blogging. I never knew how to use this tool until this class and I think it was something great to learn that I can use other than just within this class. It was a great way to communicate with my classmates and learn from the subjects they researched on. Even though we had set assignments for these blogs we still had a variety of different things to write about so I feel as though all of the topics I wrote about were very interesting, I enjoyed doing the research. It was good to be able to research a topic and not only learn about that but read other students assignments and learn about a completely different subject as well. I think that is where I learned a lot, being able to read other peoples blogs on different topics other than just mine. If everyone had the same topics to study then we wouldnt get a varity of information to learn. I felt I got a lot out of this class and have a great understanding of the Premise of School. I was a little bit nervous because it was all online but it ended up working out really well and I got a lot out of it.

Howard Gardner

Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences:

I decided to research Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences. I think that this theorist is inspiring and all of the different intelligences really interest me. Gardner viewed intelligence as "the capacity to solve problems" or to "fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural setting". He viewed this through seven different areas of intelligence. These eight intelligences are, Linguistic Intelligence, Logical-mathematical Intelligence, Musical Intelligence, Bodily- Kinesthetic Intelligence, Spatial Intelligence, Interpersonal Intelligence and Intrapersonal Intelligence. Gardner really believed that people learned in different ways and the most common ways were through these ways in particular. In order to be a good teacher, you have got to know how to teach to all of these different intelligences. Not every student will have the same intelligence or learning style than you do. Therefore, in order to meet the students needs the teacher needs to teach not only to just her area of expertise but all of the other areas also. After doing some research on Howard Gardner, I found out that his theory of multiple intelligences has not been most popular for academic psychology, but a great deal of educator are in favor of him. (http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm)
I really like the theory because I agree that not all students can learn the same way. There are many different ways to approach a way of learning and as a teacher I will teach to all of these different intelligences whenever possible to the best of my ability because I think it is very important for all students to be successful. In order for the students to be successful, they need to be able to learn the way they are most comfortable.

Educational Metaphor

When I think of a pyramid it reminds me of the education process. There are many different levels to a pyramid as there are different levels in education in all different ways. Education has many different levels of learners. Students do not all learn in the same ways. Some students learn really well by visually seeing the information they need to learn. Other students like to hear the lectured words come out of the teachers mouth and they learn better that way by hearing the information rather than viewing pictures or diagrams. Also, there are different levels of school. A student in 1st grade clearly doesn't know as much as the students in 5th grade. Just the in the pyramid, it takes time for the pyramid to make its way from the first level to the very top. Once you do make it to the top level, it is a great feeling because they have came all that way and accomplished so much. I see that being relevant to accomplishing each grade in schooling, from when you start elementary school in first grade to when you are graduating in 5th, by the end it makes you feel so good when you look back at the earlier years. I think the purpose of education is learning as much as you can learn and working towards that certain goal that you know you can get to. Weather it be achieving that goal within one grade range or achieving that goal from the beginning of your education career to the end of it. It is important for students to learn about social problems as well. Students should be taught about things that are going on around them, they should have intelligence on civic education. If this is taught in schools, in the future there will be more people getting involved in different issues that are taking place such as voting. In this course I have learned that there are many different approaches to teaching. Not all students learn well with all the approaches that are out there. Also, there might be multiple different learning's in the classroom but the teacher needs to find a way to fit everybody's needs. I also learned that teachers really need to make a connection with their students. They cant treat them in different ways because they can really affect other students in the classroom. Students today need a lot of discipline to focus on what they need to get accomplished. In my experience, I think that it really helps the students and also the teacher if the students have a set of objectives that they are expected to accomplish. All students are bright in their own educational way, and they will achieve their own goals in their on way, at their own speed. In education I also this that there should be a lot of enforcement.