I found the association of recess and ADHD to be very interesting. I just assumed that recess always made my classes more active and energetic, but I’m starting to reassess this misconception from this chapter. There was also mention of a study that found response cost to be more effective than the drug Ritalin with ADHD students, which I found even more interesting. We are either over diagnosing ADHD, or teacher’s just need to use a firmer hand to overcome distraction, but that’s a whole other debate.
I think music can contradict the inductive theory because it is only after we have had a multitude of experiences creating music, that we go back and study it from the ground up. I’m hoping to be a high school choir director, so I’ll use this as a scenario. Most kids will sing for the first time in a choir, joining with the rest of the group to make a finished product. But it is only after this experience that that singer will go back and study voice to improve his sound, study theory to understand the structure of the piece, and study music history to understand the context of the music. I think keeping a wide perspective on any subject is important to a student’s development in that subject. In a history class, a student can’t be expected to study each unit in isolation, and then write a research paper at the end of the year connecting thousands of years of world history. Similarly, a physics student isn’t going to care what a vector is until the teacher introduces the concept of force and velocity. Throughout the year, the teacher has to be constantly reminding them to think from a broad perspective so that they can connect everything they learn with the past and the future. In every subject, I believe students will be more motivated and learn more if they are constantly kept in the loop on the big picture and broader concepts that the teacher wants them to learn.
As far as the "more activity is the cure to adhd" debate, I found that so interesting too, though I've always suspected it to be true! when I read about the recess part, I immediately thought of my sister. She is a freshman in high school now, but I remember that when she was in elementary and middle school, they would have "indoor recess" all the time, even when the weather was nice! I remember her mentioning a few times that the change occurred as a punishment for the class (when, in acutality, there were only a few kids misbehaving). There is no way that is healthy.
ReplyDeleteI am right there with you. I guess it's just that things that make other kids hyper throws the ADHD kids over the edge into normalness. For instance, my "nephew" has ADHD. The doctor told my brother that if they ever forget the medicine, just have Thunder chug a mountain dew or two and he'll be fine. This makes me wonder about the other kids, but then again, we are only productive for 40 minutes out of every hour.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that for many teachers, they'd rather students take a pill than reassess their instructional strategies and individualize their strategy towards particular students.... Teaching is difficult and takes a lot of energy, so being about to think about these strategies as tools and adapt them when necessary is very very important.
ReplyDeleteYour explanation of the benefits of complexity is great! It's a wonderful example of how, sometimes, it's useful to see the big picture or dive into complexity before learning each paired association involved.