Chapter 8 Prompt: Reflecting on your experience with the following subjects, (language arts, mathematics, history, science, music), which ones do you think would be adaptable for distance education and which ones would not? Why? Would there be a difference in adaptability depending on grade level? While I think that all subjects independent of grade level can be adapted for distance education, the larger question is SHOULD all subjects and grade levels be adapted for mass distance education. When I say, “mass distance education”, I am referring to distance education for the majority of school age children. Additionally, I should quantify normal distance education to a non-pandemic era. Socialization is a key component of school, especially for younger school-age children, and education should take place in-person as much as possible. All subjects and grade levels need to have a distance education component on an as-need basis for individual students, such for students with health issues, so that these students can keep up with their education and connect with others as much as possible. The COVID-19 Pandemic is not a normal time nor place, and educators are trying to construct a new version of distance learning that is unprecedented and in constant flux. There is no right or easy answer to address the challenges that educators have faced since March. In terms of subjects and adaptability, there are subjects that are easier and more inclined for distance learning than others. The social sciences are more easily adaptable than math and the arts (Visual art and music), in my opinion. I have taken many online classes in higher education (both undergraduate and graduate), and the most difficult online class I have ever taken was Statistics. I have to preface my difficulty with the fact that I am not mathematically inclined in the first place. It was an asynchronous class with no direct interaction with my classmates nor teacher. We taught ourselves through an online-statistics, interactive platform and a textbook. I just did not digest the same amount of information in this online class as I have in non-distance education math classes. The only reason that I took it in this format was because it was the only means offered. Distance education may be more reliant on the students rather than how adaptable the subject is, which harkens back to the issue of multiple intelligence and methods of learning individual to students, in my opinion.
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Chapter 2 Prompt: Using Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, describe three intelligences in which you excel and give an example of each. How could these intelligences be useful when you become a teacher? According to the multiple intelligence quiz, my top three intelligences are spatial, nature, and self/intrapersonal. Spatial intelligence means that I am good at visual learning and mentally manipulating objects, which makes a lot of sense considering my aptitude for drawing and painting. This also explains why I do best at spelling when I can write the word down rather than spell it out loud. I hated spelling bees as a kid in elementary school. As a teacher, this intelligence serves me well because I create a lot of drawings and models for my students to better visualize science concepts. Naturalistic intelligence means that I am very interested in nature and animals. I have my parents to thank for feeding this intelligence growing up. I have many childhood memories of my mom catching garter snakes for me and my brother, watching Shark Week (since 1990), and going fishing and camping on Horn Island. Having a high aptitude for naturalistic intelligence also explains why I thrived during my summer in Belize working in the jungle (no joke, we hiked 3 miles in and 3 miles out via macheted-trails everyday) doing archaeology. We dealt with monkeys, insects, scorpions, scorpion spiders, toucans, turkeys, and snakes every day during the rainy season. I have the perfect job right now because I get to teach high school zoology! I found it very amusing that while preparing my lecture last spring on amphibians and reptiles that I had tons of personal pictures of frogs, toads, iguanas, and snakes that I have taken. My students think I’m a bit crazy, but I have tons of personal stories about my encounters with animals from huge insects to sharks to greyhounds that really enriches the content I teach. Self or intrapersonal intelligence means that I am well in tuned with understanding myself and have more introverted tendencies. This intelligence has both been good and bad. During the recent quarantine, I have found this to serve me well; however, in school, this has been a hindrance at times. People with intrapersonal intelligence tend to mull over a question before answering. When I was in graduate classes that were all discussion based, I found that the conversation would move on before I could formulate my contribution to the discussion, which is hard when your grade depends on your involvement. So, as a teacher, I try to involve all my students by giving them a couple of minutes to formulate their answer to a question before we enter a discussion phase. |
AuthorHi! My name is Nicole, and I am a high school science teacher. Blog Roll
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