As I was searching for video lesson in a Kindergarten classroom, I came across a slue of "Whole Brain Teaching" videos. I watched several of them and couldn't believe what I was seeing. I did a little online research and came across the Whole Brian Teaching website.
Labeled as one of the "fastest growing education reform movements in America" Whole Brian Teaching stems from, "the principles that teachers at every level share the same difficulties: students lack discipline, background knowledge and fundamental problem solving skills". Students are taught through following designed steps, levels and what is called, "highly structured, educational tomfoolery".
At the beginning of the lesson, Mrs. Shipley reviews the steps as to how she will teach her student about compound words. She goes over the six steps with her students which include the following: Question, Answer with gesture, Example Popper, Yes/No way, QT and Independent time.
Step One: Mrs. Shipley begins by asking the class "What is a compound word?" The students then repeat the question.
Step Two: She then answers the question by telling them what a compound words is while using gestures with her hands. When she is done telling them what a compound word is, she claps her hand and says "teach". The students clap their hands and say "okay". They then turn their chairs to face one another and take turns asking and answering the question.
Step Three: Mrs. Shipley brings the class together by saying "Class" and the students repeating "Yes" and then "Class, class, class" and students repeating, "Yes, yes, yes". She uses her "example popper" and makes the gesture of pulling something out of her head and proceeds to give the class examples of compound words.
The students "mirror" what she is doing and saying. She then has them work with their partners to come up with compound words and then they share them with the class.
Step Four: The students then say "yes" or "no-way" when Mrs. Shipley reads the words from the board. if they are compound words.
Step Five: Mrs. Shipley then says "seats" and they immediately get into their seats, followed with more "hands, hand, hands and eyes" with the students repeating and doing. She quickly says "QT" and the students immediately put their heads down on their desks, covering their eyes. She instructs them to put a thumbs up if the word she says is a compound word or thumbs down if not.
Step Six: They students are then directed to pull out their pencil and eraser while the teacher counts to ten. She then directs them to pass the worksheet to the next student while counting to ten. She then has them write their names on the worksheet while she counts to ten.
This lesson video is fourteen minutes long. And I am not sure what I just saw. I have mixed thoughts and feelings about this lesson. In one aspect I can see some positives where the students are actively engaged, but I question how much of that information are they going to retain. Maybe they will think back to what they were taught and will be able to pick up on a physical example to link it back to. But it makes me wonder how this style is applied to other lessons, if the students are critically thinking and what happens when the students have a substitue teacher or move on to another grade where this method isn't taught?
As for the Social Learning Theory, this lesson does a good job of having the teacher and students interact, although I question the interactions with the teacher. It appears to me as though the students are not really interacting, but more following along. In class, we discussed a lot about the Zone of Proximal Development and it doesn't appear as though these students are being challenged enough, but rather following a routine they have learned.
What the lesson does do well is utilize the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model. In step one and two the teacher is modeling how the students will learn the lesson, as well as, interacting with her students. Step three has the students working with one another. Step four isn't in the model, but appears to allow the teacher to assess where the students are in their understanding of compound words. Step five allows the students to work independently.
I am rather confused as to where the Developmental Learning Theory fits in to this lesson. From what we discussed in class it doesn't appear that the teacher uses any form of concrete or abstract examples, but rather tells her students and then has them mimic her. Maybe her stating a word and having them reply with a "yes" or "no way" is a concrete example, although it appears too easy and once again not challenging them enough to really understand it and apply it abstractly.
I again have no clue as to where Constructivist Learning Theory fits in to this lesson. Yes the children are mental engaged, but it is more mentally, or just part of a pattern and routine that they have become accustomed to in the general sense of the routine and not what they are learning. Mrs. Shipley does not ask any questions at the beginning of the lesson to assess what her students already know in regards to compound words and is not taking any of their background knowledge into consideration.
Classroom management is seen in various ways in this lesson plan. The first example is simply by having the students engaged throughout the entire fourteen minutes of the lesson. They are constantly "mirroring" the teacher when she gets their attention, interacting with their peers and appear to be "busy" the whole time. I would be curious to see how this works all day, with students who blatantly refuse to follow along or with students who don't "buy in" to this type of teaching. The second example is the scoreboard that Mrs. Shipley uses. We see Mrs. Shipley making a tally mark under a smiley face or frown face and can only guess that there is some type of reward when their is more smiles than frowns. As viewers we also see Mrs. Shipley utilizing the noise chart on her board to indicate to her students where she would like their noise level to be.
One of the biggest concerns I have in this lesson and style of teaching is that it doesn't appear as though the teacher has any individual connection to her students. They are all just her students following along in the lesson. To me this is a terrible way to interact with students as it doesn't make them unique, but just another student in the room.
I may be mistaken but the principles that Whole Brain Teaching claim to work from do not match up. At no point in this lesson doe the students utilize their background knowledge or problem solving skills to help them learn the lesson.
Step Two: She then answers the question by telling them what a compound words is while using gestures with her hands. When she is done telling them what a compound word is, she claps her hand and says "teach". The students clap their hands and say "okay". They then turn their chairs to face one another and take turns asking and answering the question.
Step Three: Mrs. Shipley brings the class together by saying "Class" and the students repeating "Yes" and then "Class, class, class" and students repeating, "Yes, yes, yes". She uses her "example popper" and makes the gesture of pulling something out of her head and proceeds to give the class examples of compound words.
The students "mirror" what she is doing and saying. She then has them work with their partners to come up with compound words and then they share them with the class.
Step Four: The students then say "yes" or "no-way" when Mrs. Shipley reads the words from the board. if they are compound words.
Step Five: Mrs. Shipley then says "seats" and they immediately get into their seats, followed with more "hands, hand, hands and eyes" with the students repeating and doing. She quickly says "QT" and the students immediately put their heads down on their desks, covering their eyes. She instructs them to put a thumbs up if the word she says is a compound word or thumbs down if not.
Step Six: They students are then directed to pull out their pencil and eraser while the teacher counts to ten. She then directs them to pass the worksheet to the next student while counting to ten. She then has them write their names on the worksheet while she counts to ten.
This lesson video is fourteen minutes long. And I am not sure what I just saw. I have mixed thoughts and feelings about this lesson. In one aspect I can see some positives where the students are actively engaged, but I question how much of that information are they going to retain. Maybe they will think back to what they were taught and will be able to pick up on a physical example to link it back to. But it makes me wonder how this style is applied to other lessons, if the students are critically thinking and what happens when the students have a substitue teacher or move on to another grade where this method isn't taught?
As for the Social Learning Theory, this lesson does a good job of having the teacher and students interact, although I question the interactions with the teacher. It appears to me as though the students are not really interacting, but more following along. In class, we discussed a lot about the Zone of Proximal Development and it doesn't appear as though these students are being challenged enough, but rather following a routine they have learned.
What the lesson does do well is utilize the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model. In step one and two the teacher is modeling how the students will learn the lesson, as well as, interacting with her students. Step three has the students working with one another. Step four isn't in the model, but appears to allow the teacher to assess where the students are in their understanding of compound words. Step five allows the students to work independently.
I am rather confused as to where the Developmental Learning Theory fits in to this lesson. From what we discussed in class it doesn't appear that the teacher uses any form of concrete or abstract examples, but rather tells her students and then has them mimic her. Maybe her stating a word and having them reply with a "yes" or "no way" is a concrete example, although it appears too easy and once again not challenging them enough to really understand it and apply it abstractly.
I again have no clue as to where Constructivist Learning Theory fits in to this lesson. Yes the children are mental engaged, but it is more mentally, or just part of a pattern and routine that they have become accustomed to in the general sense of the routine and not what they are learning. Mrs. Shipley does not ask any questions at the beginning of the lesson to assess what her students already know in regards to compound words and is not taking any of their background knowledge into consideration.
Classroom management is seen in various ways in this lesson plan. The first example is simply by having the students engaged throughout the entire fourteen minutes of the lesson. They are constantly "mirroring" the teacher when she gets their attention, interacting with their peers and appear to be "busy" the whole time. I would be curious to see how this works all day, with students who blatantly refuse to follow along or with students who don't "buy in" to this type of teaching. The second example is the scoreboard that Mrs. Shipley uses. We see Mrs. Shipley making a tally mark under a smiley face or frown face and can only guess that there is some type of reward when their is more smiles than frowns. As viewers we also see Mrs. Shipley utilizing the noise chart on her board to indicate to her students where she would like their noise level to be.
One of the biggest concerns I have in this lesson and style of teaching is that it doesn't appear as though the teacher has any individual connection to her students. They are all just her students following along in the lesson. To me this is a terrible way to interact with students as it doesn't make them unique, but just another student in the room.
I may be mistaken but the principles that Whole Brain Teaching claim to work from do not match up. At no point in this lesson doe the students utilize their background knowledge or problem solving skills to help them learn the lesson.
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