I suspect the brief foray into information processing might have seemed like a random event but I really wanted to make sure that the idea of “planning” as we talked about it on Tuesday got picked up and attached to the idea of metacognition. In my mind, the only way to do this is to do it within the larger picture of information processing. This particular reading was deliberate and specific in terms of actual teaching moves that enable learners to be more independent within their zpd. Those moves are all good ways to scaffold information (http://www.fno.org/dec99/scaffold.html). It was good information.
Please read the chicks-sent-me-high (Csikszentmihalyi) interview. It will set off bells all over the place. In your spare time, of course.
Charlie
I am really enjoying everyone’s presentations and wish there was more time to discuss each project more thoroughly. Guess I’ll just have to do a little intrapersonal reflection except I don’t have enough interpersonal conversations to bring to it 🙁
I started thinking about the Native American heritage here in Vermont after Gina’s presentation and discussion. I remember when I was teaching kindergarten and wanting to weave some native culture into my teaching. I felt so middle class and white and I was terrified of doing the wrong thing. There are many students with Abenaki heritage in Vermont who don’t even know it because the ancestry was suppressed in families in order to blend in. I have friends who suspect they have Indian blood but do not know for sure because of this.
Charlie can you shed any light on this?
Hey hey!
I wanted to respond to Charlie’s blog regarding the fact that today’s “brief foray” into the information processing may have been perceived as random…
In my opinion, and per my discussions with others in the class, the more information, the better! Educational Psychology is an enormous, muliti-faceted subject. Expanding our knowledge in as many ways possible will only enable us to use more “ed. psych.” threads to weave into our experiences teaching, to help students learn in more effective ways. We have been talking about our heads spinning with information, and barely any free time to start to really process a lot of the information – and that’s what a 2 week accelerated course is supposed to do … so thanks to everyone for keeping us all engaged, enthusiastic, and more knowledgeable!
My ZPD has been expanded exponentially, and I hope that our class has done the same for Charlie’s!
Greetings all!
I really enjoyed the information processing model today, it’s a way to visualize the black box inside our heads (where learning happens, right?). It feels like we’e all at a point of enjoying wrestling with the concepts we’re discussing rather than accepting them as gospel – I liked thinking about how we would revamp the diagram in the book, in the same way I appreciated Christie’s reenvisioning of the hot air balloon metaphor. We’re all such good Vygotskians!
I’ve posted my full notes of all the points I’d love to be able to make about motivation theory on a barebones webpage located at http://www.uvm.edu/~cafletch/motivation.html, if anyone would like to see the remainder of my studies or results please feel free to check it out. I’ve also included a link to my bibliography in case anyone is looking for resources on the subject – I’ve only just brushed the surface in this project.
-Christine