EP573 Summer 2014 Meeting the Needs of Nontraditional and Underachieving Learners

1. EP573 Summer 2014Meeting the Needs of Nontraditional and Underachieving Learners Course Facilitator Kathy Greenberg

2. Course Goals • To mess about developing action plans as part of communities of practice • To develop knowledge and skills necessary to use a mediated learning comprehensive approach with nontraditional &/or underachieving learners • To increase awareness of causes of underachievement • To develop awareness of your own positioning as a teacher/mediator.

3. My intent as course facilitator To work with you to establish a community of learners through which we will: • Suspend our assumptions • Inquire more than advocate • Determine our desired outcomes • Select helpful learning activities • Establish a nurturing environment • Listen to be influenced.

4. Communities Of Practice … spaces in which the activity is inseparably intertwined with the discourse, and one informs and gives meaning to the other Orr, 1996; Seely Brown & Duguid, 2000)” as quoted by Marone, 2012.

5. Kathy Greenberg Texas Tech University 34 years! Feuerstein & grandson Cognitive Enrichment Advantage Fulbright 1 of 12 USDE national education models Scholar

6. Messing About • Child-like essence of creativity • Self-regulated exploration • Moving between ignorance and insight that leads to understanding- becoming aware of what we already know • Constructing and experimenting without superimposed questions or instructions.

7. Zone of Proximal Development • Active internalization of problem solving processes as a result of mutual interaction with others • Cognitive development through apprenticeship • Psychlotron.org.uk • Begins where need assistance • Ends where can’t go further with it

8. Lev Vygotsky Socio-historical theory 1896—1933

9. In memoriam Reuven Feuerstein Theory of Mediated Learning Experience 1921—2014

11. Course Format

12. Major Themes

13. Major Projects • Your experience with BBs & Ts • (3-5 due weekly) • Your approach to being a Mediator • (due June 24) • Your SG’s Ecological Action Plan • (due July 1) Essay

14. Ongoing Activities

15. Our Small Groups

16. Building Blocks of Thinking & Tools of Learning

17. Exploration To search systematically for information needed in the learning experience

18. ExplorationinStrawberry fields forever

19. Approachingthe learning experience(through thoughts & actions) Exploration To search systematically for information needed in the learning experience Planning To plan and use an organized approach Expression To communicate thoughts and actions carefully

20. Attributes of Exploration • Thinking about what I need to know before I start. • Thinking carefully about the information I gather. • Gathering all the information or supplies I need. • Searching in an organized manner.

21. Connections Bridging • Home—I can remove a stain more effectively if I find out what stain remover works best in that situation • School—I learn more effectively from a project if I ask questions to make sure I fully understand • Work—I have a better chance at getting a promotion if I know how to systematically search for information independently • Social—I can get along better with my partner if Ilisten carefully before responding

22. Questions • What are some examples of how you systematically search for information? • How does the is manner in which you effectively use Exploration change—based on the type of information you need? • What are other attributes of Exploration that you think important?

23. Learning occurs: • through sharing competencies & negotiating meanings (Resnick, 1987) • “in the context of our lived experience of participation in the world” and “is, in its essence, a fundamentally social phenomenon, reflecting our own deeply social nature as human beings capable of knowing” (Wenger, 1998, p. 3). • as a natural result of involvement and participation that develop “by the sustained pursuit of a shared enterprise” (Wenger, 1998, p. 45) in “an interplay of experience and competence” (Wenger, 1998, p. 50).

24. Community of practice A different way to learn: • CEA Laboratory of Learning (Greenberg) • Social Constructivism (Feuerstein, Vygotsky) • Situated Learning/Cognition (Lave) • Legitimate Peripheral Participation (Wenger & Lave) • Learner-Centered Approach (APA task force)

25. Prerequisites in a Learner-Centered Course Be prepared to contribute • Read • Reflect • Question • Share thoughts alternative views • Dialogue • Question • Support Others • Meet all due dates/times

26. Case Studies/Small Groups Community College Unskilled Adults Mary Swiatek Angela Rakestraw (Perry) Cindy Perry Carla Lester Matthew Hiller Mark Gibbons Amy Smith Preschool –Elementary LevelSecondary Level Jessica Nelson Jennifer Morgan Matthew McDonnell Anne Skutnik Ashley Keene Eileen Henry Payton Lyon

27. Evaluation You will earn an “A” if • You participate actively • You post complete assignments on time • You demonstrate deep reflection in self-evaluations No “grades” on assignments Earn dots as part of tracking system

28. CEA Uses • k-12 school settings -- schools serving low income families -- special education/art/music/physical education/elementary/middle/secondary/gifted • vocational training settings • college/university settings • private agency use with special needs learners • private school use • home school/tutorial use • family use

30. Kathy Greenberg Texas Tech University 30 years! Feuerstein Cognitive Enrichment Advantage 1 of 12 USDE national education models

31. Observer Reports

32. Reflections onthe Purpose of Schooling http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

33. Establishing our Small Groups • Tonight: If experienced in leading groups, volunteer to be a small group facilitator (email khgreen@utk.edu) • Thursday, noon: Check Bb/Groups/Discussion Board for your group assignment • By 8:00 pm tomorrow: post days/times you are NOT available Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays, or Tuesdays • By noon Friday, determine day/time for regular meetings. Small group facilitators email Kathy to share time or problems • Small group facilitators set up meetings with AliveOnline (instructions TBA)

34. Questions??