-Everybody learns in a different way, so when talking about diverse learners participating in their learning community, we are talking about how every person needs to do this. One of the ideas that stuck out in my mind was the idea of “Making Meaning Explicit.” The thought behind this concept is that “the more that speakers are doing together and engaging in dialogue, the more they can take for granted” (Gibbons, 3). As discussed earlier by Gibbons, there are three contextual factors in language and these are, field, tenor, and mode. If teachers can make meaning explicit, then there three factors are more easily achieved, and less supports are needed.
-The idea of transmission models is used to try and figure out a concept of how to teach ELL students (Gibbons 6,7). The first idea is to think of a student as a bank, getting deposits of skills or knowledge from the teacher. The second idea is referred to as “progressive” (Gibbons 6). In this method the learner is put at the center of the learning process. These are the ideas that we use to try and teach our ELL students, but they can also be used for students when they are trying to learn how to do anything. It is important to think of a student as a bank, getting deposits of information, or to put them at the center of their own education. Students come to us as teachers needing to gain knowledge and whether we are getting them as an ELL student or a non-ELL student, if a student needs to learn the information it is important to view them at the same level.
-I am going to be teaching special education in the future and with this I feel that it is important to get to know each one of my students at an individual level. It is important to teach to every student and not the class as a whole. I understand that great amount of prep time that goes into this method, but it is crucial for every child to be taught in a meaningful and appropriate way. It is a teacher’s job to do everything possible to help their students succeed and if this means having to teach something in more then one way then it is important to do that.
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It's funny, we're both named Mike, we're both in special education, and we're both placed in a kindergarten class for field time. Looking at our posts on these readings it is clear that we both feel it is vitally important as teachers to get to know each of our students individually and how they learn best. This is applies to all students, whether they are ELL or learning disabled or at the top of the class. I was just thinking about being in a kindergarten classroom and thought that it might be the best placement for both of us. In kindergarten the teacher is forced to get to know every student because the students are just starting formal schooling for the first time. It is unknown how individual students at this level learn and it is the kindergarten teacher's responsibility to find out. Our CT's have no choice but to work with all of the students and prepare material for a wide range of student ability. This has to benefit us as we strive to be educators that can effectively teach all students in a classroom full of diverse learners.
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