Challenges students face while at School
Most schools lack the means to ensure students don’t show boredom during class hours. However, From my observation of 7th grade and 9th grade at Hudson High School and 5th grade in the Middleton district school, I noticed that they adhered to developmentally appropriate activities that correlate to their development in cognitive, social-emotional and physicality with diverse learning styles in comparison to the multiple intelligence attributes while utilizing different motivational methods.
During my observations, I noticed the Piaget’s theory of developmental appropriate activity utilized. In this case, their physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development were adhered to, for example, through the provision of fitness programs, playing brain teaser games, and a game of charade. In the 5th grade, during the Physical education lesson, the children engaged in several fitness routine programs like sit-ups and a game of tag. Later on, when they returned to class, I noted that they became more active and responsive. Moreover, in the 7th grade, after learning mathematics for half an hour, the teacher realized many students started becoming uninterested and thus decided to set up a brain teaser game of a difficult Sudoku game with 4 teams each comprising of 9 members. This ensured that social-emotional and cognitive growth was met by encouraging teamwork and problem-tackling aspect for solving difficult tasks.
In another case, in response to multiple subjects taught, I observed the VAR K model of learning that advised on the use of different learning styles. Per Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence, I witnessed the usage of visual-spatial, auditory, reading, and writing and even kinesthetic learning being accustomed to. During a history lesson in the ninth grade, the teacher set up a projector that showed the documentary on the topic of world war 2. This proved to be an even greater attention-grabber as observed later on when the teacher asked the students a series of questions in response to the topic. As a result, the majority of the students had a grasp on the topic due to the visual learning method that assisted them to visualize information in their minds. In the long run, this helped the students to visualize information especially those who hold visual-spatial intelligence. Likewise, during an English period, the reading was done by the use of textbooks and thus this proved to have an impact on those who possessed linguistic intelligence. Among the 7th graders during one of the chemistry practical lessons, they engaged in an experiment to investigate the materials that contained traces of lead. This proved advantageous to kinesthetic learners who acquire knowledge through the use of practical works.
In correlation to motivation strategies, the theory that plays a huge role is the Weiners three dimensional theories and the Hertz-berg two factor theory. In one of the occurrences, the teacher of a fifth grade while passing the results from a quiz, noticed one of the students appearing more devastated from the results. Later on, he talked to the student and discovered that he had low self-esteem even believing that it was impossible to ever pass the test. The teacher stepped up and encouraged the boy by convincing him that the tests weren’t that hard and opted to assist him to get the results he deserved. With time, the boy gained confidence as it helped him passed the next test. In light of this, this method of motivation is linked to stability in the three-dimensional theory of attribution. In another instance, the motivator factor in Hertzberg two factor theory of motivation was observed when a biology teacher at the 9th grade arrives every morning appearing positive by greeting them with a smile. Also, he always appears expressive when teaching by encouraging feedback and as a result, the students always feel appreciated and rarely give him a hard time.
In brief, 5th, 7th, and 9th grade, as the grades I observed, used diverse methods that ensured developmentally appropriate practice adhered to physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development. On another note, the learning styles utilized ensured students grasped the topics according to their intelligence as well as instilling in them a motivating factor to drive them.