Teacher for Learning-Another Misconception (Opportunity) is Culture

Another misunderstood concept that impacts students' Prior Knowledge (PK) and is directly related to education is culture. Culture is often boiled down to static features; such as, holidays, foods, religions, the arts including languages. However, culture is actually intricate and dynamic. (Nieto, 2008) For example, a teacher that is a 50+ caucasian and from a traditional middle-class to upper-middle class family will have different cultural and subculture norms, values, and symbols than a 16+ Dine' student from a non-traditional middle to upper-middle class family when engaging PK and connecting it to new information. As a result PK may remain inconveniently inaccessible by students because it goes against cultural and subcultural norms.

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Curation for Learning: Find Your Fit Extend Activity

Starting in the Fall of 2021 I will be instructing 10th Grade English focusing on Informational Writing Skills for the first semester. The class composition will be predominantly Navajo. These students have been identified as having a variety of academic, social and emotional needs. The first week has been scheduled for assessing prior knowledge, getting to know one another and laying a foundation for our classroom community with a focus on assessing academic writing skills. Academic writing, specifically informational writing, is typically a challenge for the students. There are three main issues: A lack of or weak understanding of MLA format guidelines; Application of active reading and note-taking skills; and Slightly below or poor grammar skills. My goals are three fold; make the class and course materials personal, positive and profound. I would like to successful shape the semesters to be project-based with a student portfolio submission at the end of each semester. I ...

Teacher for Learning-Community

An introductory activity that I really enjoy is a two-part activity. The first part is that using Flipgrid I ask students to introduce themselves. The directions are that they share their name and if they have a nickname that they would like me or their classmates to use (keeping it respectful). Then, I ask them to share what their name means. The students seem to really enjoy sharing and/or finding out what their name means. Many students expand and share if they feel that their name fits them or if they are still trying to grow into it. The second step of the activity is a writing activity. Students are to compose two letters over the course of a week. The first letter is to their 13 year old self. What do they want the 13 year old version of them to know? What does the 13 year old inside of them need to hear? The second letter is a letter to their future selves. It depends on the grade level I am working with, but typically it is five years in the future. What did they do this...

Teacher for Learning-The Importance & Impact of PK on Learning

The misconception is on the focus of Prior Knowledge as an event rather than a process. Educators like myself often focus on the what a student should already know and how to present the new information. And PK activities are used as straight pathway between the two endpoints; often an after thought. But by shifting our understanding that PK may not have a starting point on the pathway due to trauma gaps or cultural miscommunications we can avoid negatively effect students' acquiring new information. If PK is seen as an 'either/or' situation, both teacher(s) and student(s) may intentionally or unintentionally assume that the student lacks an ability, or skill-set for a particular subject area. When the educator actual missed an opportunity to present questions that not only triggering students' PK, but spark the students on a personal level. The result can be that students do not immediately recognize how that new information can be applied to: the present task and fa...

Extending My Professional Development

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