Attig- Science Talk in the Classroom

I think one of the biggest reasons I enjoyed these articles is because I found many of the practices to be not only practical but equitable. Often times in the classroom, the practices are not always beneficial for all students involved. I really loved how easy these practices were to implement as well as how differentiated the practices could be.

One of the biggest take aways I got from these articles was the idea of giving kids think time. I grew up being extroverted and so I often do not think about formulating thoughts because they often are already out of my mouth before I ever even really think about what I have said. However, I recognize that many people aren’t like this. I think it is so important to allow think time for kids how really truly need the think time. Some kids need to connect their thoughts before they are ready to present them to others. Not giving those kids time and just jumping ahead is a complete disadvantage to those kids and it leaves kids behind. This means that there are kids who aren’t getting what they need and are unable to make meaning and create new thought.

Another reason I enjoyed learning about these ideas is due to the meta-cognitive practices. According to Howard Gardner there are 8 different types of intelligence: naturalistic, logical-mathematical, linguistic, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, spatial, and musical. Many of these are relatively easy to keep in mind during a lesson. However, one of the hardest ones to incorporate is intrapersonal. Intrapersonal intelligence is the ability of a person to recognize characteristics of them self and to be very in tune with ones emotions. Often times these people are very introspective. Typically we do not provide opportunities for kids to self reflect on what they have done. We do not provide chances for students to develop any sort of metacognition and this is vital for some kids. Other kids just need chances to better themselves and need time to think about it.

The last thing I really enjoyed was the idea that we have to use student’s prior knowledge to frame their learning. Often times in any sort of daily conversation, when you attempt to convince someone that you are correct, you cannot simply tell him or her that they are wrong. You have to fit in your beliefs with theirs and come up with a commonality before you will ever convince them that anything you are saying is correct. The same thing goes for learning. So often we separate students lives and beliefs from school. Students are taught that everything they are taught in school is “fact” even if it conflicts with their personal experience or belief. Then they memorize it for the test and forget about it the next day. Real learning happens when kids can make connection and integrate it into their prior knowledge. However, if we don’t know what kids know and how they’re already thinking we cant guide them in the right direction.