Thursday, May 28, 2009
Journal Articles from EDUC - 6610D - 1 Teacher as a Professional
I am a Secondary English teacher working on my masters degree. A couple of the articles that I read recently for my graduate class at Walden University, Brain-compatible learning: Fad or foundation? by Dr. Pat Wolfe (2003) and Addressing literacy through neuroscience by Steve Miller and Paula Tallal (2006) talked in depth about how science is making concrete connections between the "brain's functionality" and development to students' abilities to learn, but did little to explain how to apply that science to curriculum development and best practices in the classroom; although, both touted a "computer-based intervention program, Fast ForWord" meant to improve reading skils. Further research uncovered mixed reviews about the product and I wondered what other education professionals were doing to link brain-based research with instruction within their own classrooms, especially in high school with struggling learners. I would love to hear what you think.
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What a great blog start, Rebecca! You are awesome!
ReplyDeleteDid you notice author Steve Miller's connection to the Fast Forward program? I was intrigued too, until I realized that I was reading the equivalent of an advertisement. You're too cool to have done further research. I just got irritated and went on to my next assigned article! Ha!
Trina
I did feel like I was reading an advertisment and when the second article by Dr. Pat Wolfe also mentioned Fast ForWord, I felt compelled. The product website is interesting, but there is no pricing information. I also went to other sites that reviewed the computer program and they were positive where recognition skills involved phonemes and morphemes, but negative in regards to overall reading improvement. Fast ForWords response: the program wasn't being followed properly. Students need to spend 90-100 minutes per day, 5 days a week in order to see significant improvement. How do you build that into a curriculum when your class periods are only 38 minutes long?
ReplyDeleteI reckon that "not properly following the program" can save just about any program from accountability. If we had 90-100 minutes a day, 5 days a week to work with students as individuals, I can't help but imagine that just about ANYTHING shy of napping would produce positive results. Come to think of it, napping would probably be a boon to learning for some of my sleep-deprived students!
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ReplyDeleteReading through the articles really left me confused about the intention or the application to classroom instruction. On reading the articles several times and another article "a fresh look at brain-based education" by Eric P. Jensen left me with the impression that the research is simply a confirmation of what has been known long ago that brain holds the key to learning. Mechanism of the relationship is a thrust of the research which is still ongoing. Meanwhile, i think educators need to be cautious of accepting or rejecting the idea. History of science has it that what we think is impossible today may become possible tomorrow. The deal is to keep in constant touch with research efforst so we don't miss out.
ReplyDeleteRebecca, this is a great effort! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteFast Forward was ended this year in my district. To the best of my knowledge they are adding those students to the Read 180 program. In order to get the extra reading time for the program they take the students from social studies class. Being a social studies teachers this is frustrating knowing that in high school they have a 3.5 credit social studies requirement.
Jim, that is one of my main concerns with this or any reading program. If a student has to be removed from a core curriculum course in order to have reading remediation, that really only puts a student further behind and can potentially cause the student to be even more discouraged. My question then is this: how is it that the student made it to high school in the first place? I understand if there is an IEP, but I am talking about regular, matriculated students...
ReplyDeleteRebecca,
ReplyDeleteI worked in a school district in California that had a limit as to how many students they would retain for remediation. We know they can't read, we know they can't write, we know they can't do math, but they will be "placed" not "promoted" to the next grade and hopefully get it there. That is how they end up in high school functionally illiterate. It is really sad. Also, all of this jumping around from one intervention program to the next is creating larger gaps and making it worse for the students.
Michele
I agree!
ReplyDeleteCertainly, moving from one intervention program to another makes it hard on students, but it is also hard on teachers. No Child Left Behind screams for "qualified teaching professionals" and touts a number of different programs, but does not provide the funding to give teacher quality training in order to implement such programs. It is a vicious cycle in which teachers and students end up losers, constantly criticized for lack of effort and achievement.