Week 1

Week 1 involved creating a blog, joining a group wiki and adding myself to the class blog list. I have never used a blog before and have never responded to one but have always thought that they could be an invaluable tool. I wasn’t sure whether or not that could be translated into an effective learning tool. As with all material on the internet blogs must be checked thoroughly in order to determine the accuracy of said content. I can understand the benefits of using blogs sharing ideas and tracking progress in the classroom can be invaluable. Keeping up with the leaps in technology can also be made easier with blogs as ideas and innovations can be shared. This week has certainly made me a lot more aware of the responsibilities of teachers to harness new technology.

Activity 1.1

 

The first engagement activity reflected our individual learning styles. My results were as follows:

 

 

ACT                  X                                REF

           11  9   7   5   3   1   1   3   5   7   9   11

                              <-- -->

 

      SEN                              X                    INT

           11  9   7   5   3   1   1   3   5   7   9   11

                              <-- -->

 

      VIS                  X                                VRB

           11  9   7   5   3   1   1   3   5   7   9   11

                              <-- -->

 

      SEQ                              X                    GLO

           11  9   7   5   3   1   1   3   5   7   9   11

                              <-- -->

 

 

 

I think that standardised testing is an excellent way of finding out information on an individual level. The test says that a score between one and three as being balanced. As I scored one to three on all of the learning styles I think that it is safe to say that I am an extremely balanced learner.

 

Access to ICT is invaluable when dealing with different learning styles in the classroom. It gives the learning manager access to a variety of different learning tools that can be incorporated into the different learning styles in the classroom. Without the help of ICT it would be nearly impossible, both financially and physically, to incorporate these tools into the classroom.

 

Activity 1.2

 

The multiple intelligences test that can be found at http://www.gptraining.net/training/educational_theory/multint/multint.htm

Yielded some much unexpected results. Although I knew that I was very intrapersonally and interpersonally intelligent I never realised that music played such a large role in my learning. Though now that I truly think about it I was easily able to learn the drums without any formal lessons and find myself “thinking” to a beat. Listening to music whilst studying has always helped me concentrate a lot more effectively.

It’s very important to be able to recognise that different students have different learning styles. Being aware of and teaching individually to those styles is a very important part of a student’s education journey. Also knowing my own strengths is knowledge that I can use to become a more effective learning manager. The diverse range of students in a class can be represented by nearly as many different learning styles, being aware and teaching to those styles can provide more effective education.