A Child 's Brain By Deborah Ball, Elizabeth Jensen And Annie Keith

How Babies Talk is a book written by Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek. The book discusses how babies acquire language throughout various stages (The first three years of life) of their infant life. The chapter I chose to elaborate on was chapter 7, which outlines language and grammar between the ages of twenty-four to thirty-six months.

Hannah Arendt presents in her novel, The Life of the Mind, a theory she refers to as the “two-in-one.” She builds her theory off of a Socratic proposition. Socrates stated that it would be better for a group of men to be out of tune with each other than for him to be out of tune with himself. Here, however, lies a paradox. How can one be out of tune with itself? Arendt states that “you always need at least two tones to produce a harmonious sound” (183). Yet when you appear to others, you are one, otherwise you would be unrecognizable. But Arendt points out that you do not only appear to others, you also exist and appear for yourself. In doing so, you become more than one. As Arendt paradoxically states, “A difference is inserted into my Oneness” (183).

Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence’s (MI theory) is a valuable resource for teachers, if they understood how they could apply this in the classroom (Snowman & McCown, 2012). In this class, there are multiple intelligences observed amongst the students; however, there is minimal differentiated instruction to allow the students the best opportunities for success. It is critical that teachers understand that their teaching methods may not be wrong, but they

Julie Lythcott-Haims explains to us all what a perfect child is; straight A student, fabulous test scores, gets homework done without parents asking them to do it… She has the right idea, the right mindset of a parent, every parent wants their child to succeed in life. The way that parents are parenting their children is messing them up. They don’t have a chance to become themselves, they are too focused on whether they did good on that test that they were stressing about for a week, they are too worried about getting the best grade to be able to get accepted into the biggest name colleges around. The parents become too consumed with hovering over their children making sure that they are doing flawlessly in school, the parents are directing their every single move they make. The children then began to think that their parents love comes from the good grades. Then they start making this checklist; Good grades, what they want to be when they grow up, get accepted into good colleges, great SAT scores, the right GPA, the jock of the sports team.

The definition of abuse is when someone uses cruel and violent treatment to negatively affect a person repeatedly. Abuse can come in a variety of ways, such as psychological abuse, mental abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and one of the most common yet overlooked is sexual abuse. In the book A Child Called IT, David Pelzer writes the story of his childhood. A child whose whole life was surrounded by abuse, his mother would beat him and hurt him in such a way that she left him almost dead in several occasions. Sharon olds wrote a series of poems that all seemed to link up together after reading them consecutively. I go back to May 1937 is dealing with changing her existence, Little things is about focusing on enjoying small things,

In the “Invisible Child” written by Andrea Elliot, a lifestyle of a homeless girl named Dasani and her family is shown. Elliot displays Dasani’s culture, and some of the struggles that she and her family face daily because they are homeless. Dasani is very dedicated to her school work. She wants to be better than anyone in her family ever was so she doesn’t have to worry about being homeless for the rest of her life. In some ways I can relate to Dasani, I am very passionate about my school work as well. I want to excel so I can be my very best in the future. However, our reasoning’s for wanting to be the best we can be are a little different. She wants to excel so she no longer has to worry about being homeless whereas I’ve never been homeless so I cannot say the exact same. I grew up being a very privileged kid. Both of my parents worked full time good paying jobs. I’ve never had to want for much of anything. My parents have always spoiled me with nice things, they have always made sure my siblings and I had nice clothes and a decent meal to eat. They are even paying for me to attain a college education. Dasani and her family however are a lot different from mine. In the “Invisible Child” Elliot tells us how Dasani’s parents do not have legit jobs, instead they have side “hustles” that only bring in a few dollars. Elliot states (2013) that a lot of mornings Dasani was starving at school because she had no breakfast. Dasani and her siblings also had to wear clothes that were

In an educational world full of standardized testing, rigid curriculums, and, apathetic educators, Gerald Graff and Steven Johnson attempt to redefine what it means to be a true intellectual. Both writers are intent on shining a light on the gray area between the black and white grades of the classroom. Although Graff and Johnson focus on two different aspects of intelligence, both of them are determined to expand the definition of brilliance and ensure its cultivation in modern youth.

As per Gardner’s multiple intelligences, the naturalistic and intrapersonal aspects of intelligence were those that were addressed the least in the class I observed. The class is almost entirely indoors-only having outside time at the playground-so there no time to develop the ability to recognize patterns in nature. I think the teacher tries to compensate by covering activities that invoice nature themes, such as the lightning worksheet, but there is only so much of nature that can be studied in the air conditioning, under fluorescent lights. Also, there was very little development of intrapersonal intelligence. The teacher mostly relied on consequences as a means to control behavior rarely trying to develop the personal strengths and goals of the students. I also believed that the teacher could have used constructivism; to better enhance instruction and learning. Constructivism is “that learning is meaning, it is reflecting on experienced” (Educational Theories, November 2012). Mrs. Turner could have enhanced lesson to incorporate real life connections to the students to make it meaningful for them. Also, she could have had students predict what was going to happen next in the story. The teacher could have asked

curriculum. Additionally, this enables for a higher than usual level of explicit teaching in all subject areas. However, it does not make integrated curriculum delivery very viable. Fortunately, Mrs. Bea has an innovative teaching style and adjusts her teaching to cater to Gardner’s multiple intelligences (1983) and diverse learning styles.

E.D. Hirsch in chapter five of his book The Schools We Need & Why We Don't Have Them (1996) asserts that the goal of educators is to give their students a high level of general competence, and develop individual's who can think critically about a diverse subjects, who can communicate well, can solve a diversity of problems, and are ready to tackle unfamiliar challenges (p. 143). The author maintains that although modern day educators are in agreement that these are worthy aspirations, many of today's schools lack the capacity to attain these outcomes and are hindered in their quest for finding and developing best practices by research that is invoked selectively by the educational community in order to preserve the status quo. The author alleges that a lot of research in education is merely material for ideological warfare and some research based practices, such as an emphasis on metacognition may actually be harmful to certain elements of the student population.

Our education system today is in a state of flagrant disrepair. Educators rely on outdated modes of instruction to teach children. Instead of examining these methods administrators spend time and effort developing more intensive assessments in hopes of fueling more intense learning. In order to successfully impact learning teachers must begin teaching in ways that guarantee to impart new knowledge. Brain-based learning is a newer concept in education that addresses the specific needs of a learner’s brain in order to maximize learning. Brain-based learning as defined by author and educator Eric Jensen is “the engagement of strategies based on principles derived from an understanding of the brain,” (2010, p.4). Because educators do not

Today’s education system has become focused on standardized intelligence testing and what works best for the majority. This system, although created to help the masses, is impersonal and only benefits a specific group of students who learn the best through testing. Those students who think creatively and use imagination are left behind. This is why intelligence tests are not accurate measurement of a child’s knowledge as it does not account for creativity and the child’s individual strengths. Changes need to be made within the school system. Instead of focusing on what is “correct” schools should be encouraging problem-solving through the process of making mistakes and failing. This challenges a student to learn about themselves and the world around them. When everything is already laid out for them it is easy to follow. There is no single way of thinking. By making a student have to think on their own it stimulates creativity and allows them to better connect concepts to real world situations.

There are a variety of teaching methods that can be used for the purpose of developing cognitive abilities (Bastable & Doody, 2007). In order to attain the goal that I

If a teacher is having difficulty reaching a student in the more traditional linguistic or logical ways of instruction, the theory of multiple intelligences suggests several other ways in which the material might be presented to facilitate effective learning.

When it comes to how students should learn, different people will have a different approach. Some might want to approach learning in a more hands-on way, while others may want to students to learn more independently. In addition, each student is an individual, and they each have their own ways of learning as well. One student may be more visual, while another student may approach learning in a more physical way. Each student and their unique abilities must be taken into account. While educators will have their own views on how the curriculum should be, there is bound to be some overlap as well. This is where the theories from educational theorists and authors John Dewey and Ralph Tyler become part of the conversation. John Dewey was known as one of the fathers of functional psychology, and was also an advocate for progressive education. Ralph Tyler, on the other hand was an educator who worked in assessment. Each of these men, contributed a large of themselves to the educational system, in their own ways that are noteworthy. While they may share some similarities in their approach to education, there are some notable differences as well. This paper will be used to briefly explore the similarities and also the differences that are found in the ideas from these two educational figures.