The main thing I became slightly confused about/wanted a whole lot more in-depth details about, was including disability students into cooperative learning (heterogeneity or homogeneity). The book makes it seem like there’s only one kind of disability almost, and doesn’t specify which one, or even mentions the wide spectrum of disabilities that impend the abilities of students. I do agree with the pointers the book gives, but I just wouldn’t be able to actually apply it to use because of how vague and short the section about disability students was.
Vygotsky believed that external factors such as help from parents, teachers and even peers to learn new tasks is what causes development in a child’s mind. Piaget believed that the learning of a child was completely restricted by how physically developed the brain was in that particular period of Piaget-development. Vygotsky would most likely recommend, when teaching students, to find out their zone of proximal development, and push them to achieve at higher levels, which speeds up the pace of their development. Vygotsky believed that students of any age could achieve results at any smartness-level as long as their zone of proximal development was pushed by the teacher. Age only matters if, for example, you’re trying to teach algebra to a toddler, when it’s probably impossible to do so (Piaget isn’t totally crazy!). Grouping matters as long as it is grouping of students of heterogeneity ability levels, because in order to push the zone of proximal development, the student will need to be pushed by someone who already knows the concept well enough.
A scenario for how a child internalizes concepts/culture: play school. This must be a wide spread game/activity for children (at least in our American culture), because me and my friends all did it (together and with our own separate friends). The kids internalize the role between teacher and student rather than just peer-on-peer, because they are getting hands on experience with the way schools are run in our culture by playing both roles.
The book was very vague about this to I agree. But obviously when a chid with disabilities is being included is a heteith erogeneity inclusion process. Most schools either have their own seperate special education classroom or they have an inclusion program with an aid. My senior year I worked at an elementary school, specifically a third grade classroom. I assisted a child that had autism. He was included in the classroom, but he had an aid that helped him because he would fall behind the class a lot.His case of his special disorder was a very mild case. For the other students with more severe special needs they were part of a separate classroom, but then once a week they would be brough into a normal classroom, for like play time. But I think that it doesn't really describe how to include them because each school has their own way of dealing with students with special needs.
ReplyDeleteI feel like we need to come up with more solutions on how to include children with disabilities into cooperative learning. If we don't include them with others then the students might start to feel afraid to talk to them. I remember in my fifth grade class we had a student who was deaf. At first I never talked to him because I wasn't sure how to communicate with him. In the middle of the semester his speech teacher (who is also his interpreter) taught us some sign language. We told the deaf student our names and I think that helped him not feel so alone anymore. I think most schools are more worried about the learning aspect for children with disabilities but we need to take in more consideration of the social aspect.
ReplyDeleteI remember watching a video in my psychology class last year about how a school (specifically one classroom), opened up their door to a child with down syndrome. Now, it was ( I can't remember exactly) an elementary school classroom back in the 70s or 80s. Anyhow, they interviewed the teacher on the onset of the 'experiment' of integrating this child into the classroom. The teacher was extremely nervous about having to work with the boy, and was also concerned about how she would be able to teach both the boy and the rest of her class. By the end of the school year, she was able to alter her teaching methods just a bit so as to not only include the boy, but also was still able to ensure that her students learned what they needed to throughout the semester. While it may be difficult to know how to deal with a disabled student in the classroom, I still think that teachers should be willing to try. Students with disabilities have a wide variety of learning styles and abilities. Teachers should already work to present class materials in a way that is beneficial to all the students in the classroom (because even students without disabilities have a variety of learning styles). To be an effective educator, a teacher should be able to use many techniques to educate their students without necessarily lowering standards. Perhaps an aid would help to assist a disabled child, as some people have mentioned above (how a disabled student had an aid). I think the inclusion program is really a good idea and would allow for disabled students to be integrated into the classroom. Isolating students with disabilities not only separates them from society, but it also doesn't allow the opportunity for other students to interact with and better understand people with disabilities.
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