Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Multiple Intelligences Project

One of the examples that was given said to find existing songs that exhibit attributes of a theory. That made me think how I could adapt that to my content. Since my content is theatre I thought I could research a play or musical that has attributes of a theory in it. I was thinking for the product of this I could do a monologue from the play or sing a song from the musical that shows that theory.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Cool Brain Research

What?

I chose to Google John J Ratey. He is a Doctor who is an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He researches drug treatments for those with behavioral disorders. He also has research that says exercise can affect our neurotransmitters and helps to change our moods and anxiety levels. His research also says that exercise helps people and students become better learners and helps those who have behavioral disorders.

So What?

As I said in the “what” paragraph Dr. Ratey has done research that says that those who exercise are better learners. He has said in an article I read, “Physically Active Play and Cognition” that we need to make sure our schools have good physical education programs. In the same article he says that, “Physical activity and physical fitness have been directly correlated with improved academic performance.” This is important to educators to understand. If our students are not exercising this could result in them doing poorly in school. We need to make sure our schools have sufficient PE classes and that our students are taking them.

Now What?

As a theatre teacher I can implement this in my classes. Now I am not going to make them do a full on marathon in my class but we can play drama games that can get their bodies working so they will be having some sort of physical activity during the class. Since Dr. Ratey says that this will help them learn I think that is something I should have my students do. Doing theatre up on a stage is physical too. Therefore just having the students up and performing will give them a chance to be physically active during my class.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Step 3: Final reflection

What?

The three types of research studies we have learned about are Descriptive, Correlational, Experimental and Action. Descriptive Study involves different situations and their outcomes. It helps us understand the way things are. It does not change things in the study it shows what is going on and doesn't prove why thing happen it just tell us what is going on. Correlational Studies show us relationships or association between different things and how we can draw conclusions about them. It shows how one variable can affect another. We don't change things we just look at them. When we want to see if something is a reason why something else is happening we can do this kind of study. Experimental Studies is when we change a variable and see how it affects the other variable. Experimental Study shows cause and effects of your changes. Action Research t is the type of research that teachers can do that involves things going on in their own classroom or at the school. This helps the teachers and other people who work at the school to figure out the best way to assist their own students to better learning

So What?

This assignment has taught us about these different methods of research which show us how we can take a deeper look into what is going on in our classes and the educational system. This helps us understand the INTASC standard 9.24 that says, the teacher is committed to seeking out, developing, and continually refining practices that address the individual needs of students. We need to be aware of the different types of research and that is exactly what we have studied. We are responsible for learning about these and understand how it can help us as a teacher. This applies to the INTASC 9.13 which tells us, the teacher is aware of major areas of research on teaching and of resources available for professional learning (e.g. professional literature, colleagues, professional associations, professional development activities). Just as we have learned about action research and how it can be done in the classroom we can be more competent at the Intastc 9.31 which tells us The teacher uses classroom observation, information about students, and research as sources for evaluating the outcomes of teaching and learning and as a basis for experimenting with, reflecting on, and revising practice.

Now What?

I have never conducted an educational study before in my own classroom setting as a teacher. I need to become more familiar with how they work in a drama classroom and what sort of things I need to observe and study with my students. It’s time now to apply these methods to my education and career. I will look up research being done toward theatre students and the arts to help me as teacher. I need to talk with other Theatre teachers who are working now and ask them what they have done in the past to help their students in regards to research. With that information I can follow their examples and conduct my own research in my own classroom. I can also look up research being done on a national level and apply what they have done to my own teaching methods. I want to become the best teacher I can and help the students thrive and learn and that requires me to do my research.