The article titled, "Teaching to the Fourth Power" demonstrated the importance of incorporating a variety of ideas into a lesson, as well as the vitality of differentiating instruction. The four T's: Transmission, transaction, transmediation and transformation are able to provide new teachers, like myself with some ideas on how to better instruct a diverse group of learners. I think this article can be a powerful piece of information when dealing with education, because it points out the many roles teachers must play in the classroom in order to be effective. It seems as though sometimes, it is easy for people to get caught up in the monotony of attending school everyday to "teach"; but some people lose track of why they are there and forget to instruct students to the best of their abilities.
In my opinion, it is vital that teachers carry out each role they are to play both inside and outside the classroom. I feel that the knowledge and understanding of multiple intelligence plays a key role in any lesson planning, and I try to take that into consideration when planning a class-project. One example of a recent project assigned to my non-RampUp English I class was a magazine project. Currently, we are reading Harper Lee's, To Kill A Mockingbird. As a result, I wanted to give students a chance to be creative with their big project (which is due next week). Students are to write a number of articles, analyze an art or musical selection of their choice (from the 1930s), draw a certain amount of pictures, etc. The assignment was created to help students who do not always test well, but have strong talents in other areas. (Some of my students' drawing abilities are absolutely amazing and I do try to incorporate that into projects when given the chance.)
This article helped further my knowledge on the importance of differentiating instruction. I already see, on a daily basis, how important it is to showcase a variety of both student and teacher strengths. This article just made me think more about the last blog entry I submitted, which centered on the curriculum I teach; and how I feel it fails to include as many forms of evaluations and skills testing as possible. Perhaps this article should be distributed to more than just teachers sometimes...
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2 comments:
I also found the "Teaching to the fourth power" article insightful. The author really gave concrete examples of ways to bring in the learners experience and culture, mostly through creative activities. I think the projects you've developed for your students sound excellent. It's interesting that you mention the diversity of role you must play as a teacher as well as teaching to the multiple intelligences. I've found that I, and other teachers generally teach to their own personal intelligence strengths. I guess it's important to be self-aware and strike out of your own safety zone.
Thanks for sharing your classroom experience!
Erin
The project you are doing with your students sounds terrific...multi-modal and intertextual. I'd love to hear how it goes.
Your idea of sharing articles like Teaching to the 4th power with a wider audience is important. I think that is one of the things we haven't been good at as educators .... that is getting some of this information out there.
thanks
vivian
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