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2010 EDLD 655 Watch 1, Day 3: Sociohistoric/Sociocultural
2010: Hear teachers and educational leaders discuss observations of learning theories at work. To post, just click on "Post a Comment" below and a screen will come up for typing.
In addition to describing your observation, here is a discussion question you can respond to: How do you think learning in the moment you observed for this Watch Day was affected by its context? OR you can respond to another student's post.
ReplyDeleteI was a bit less confident in looking for an example of sociohistoric/sociocultural behavior at first. But, as I began looking around, I noticed lots of instances where the school’s values were imposed on students (generally speaking, too, values traditionally consistent with middle-class family values, if you want to consider that, being as stereotypical as it may be). The first example I ran across occurred as I started out of my office towards my search for behaviors exhibiting sociocultural tendencies. Students were being led down the hall by their teacher in a tidy, straight line towards their classroom. As a school, we require students to walk down the hallway in this manner to maintain order and to keep kids from being smacked by classroom doors (which all swing inward towards the center of a rather narrow hallway). However, most schools generally require this format of moving from one place to another. But, if you consider this kind of behavior in the “real world”, people don’t exactly follow this model. You might find a line in the DMV or at the bank, but the line isn’t required to stay single-file. If you are at the supermarket with your kids, you don’t stand in line with your kids behind you like a little row of ducklings. They are usually near you and in the area you are in behind the customer in front of you, but not in a tidy little line.
ReplyDeleteAnother example of what I observed as sociocultural behavior occurred in a classroom where a substitute was working diligently to get a rambunctious group of kids to settle down and listen to directions. I merely walked into the room and gave them “the look” and the students immediately quieted down and had their eyes on me. Had I been the custodian or a parent, would the kids have responded this way? I’m sure not. They behaved like they did because of who I am – the Principal. If this isn’t a black and white example of sociocultural behavior, I don’t know what is!
In the case of the kids in line, I wouldn’t say learning was particularly affected – they were just getting from Point A to Point B. In the second example, though, I am confident that the environment in which students were learning would have been significantly affected by my continued presence, had I elected to continue to stand in their room. I would imagine that students would have been on better behavior and would have participated more consistently than when I wasn’t there. I visit classrooms at least twice a week and I will say that this affect on the students isn’t as extreme when it is their regular classroom teacher – in today’s case, the response was more definitive because their behavior was so much more escalated than when their own teacher is in the room with them. You know what they say – the mice will play when the cat’s away!
I was in a department meeting today. We were discussing our website, especially the pages related to our work, and the need to overhaul them for design and content.
ReplyDeleteOne of my colleagues immediately pulled up several other ESD websites to gain ideas for ours. The sites selected were those for ESDs that are most like ours in terms of services. I'm not quite sure how our new pages will look, but I have a strong feeling that they'll be similar to those that served as models.
I think this can be described as sociocultural because I believe that our group's decisions will intentionally align our site's design and content with those of our cultural peers.
Do I think that the context played a roll in my observation today? Yes. The fact that we were all together certainly sped up the process of identifying those things that are desirable changes to our website. The sociocultural context was also more pronounced.
ReplyDeleteI observed a sociocultural learning moment in a blended 4/5 PE class today. After the teacher had warmed the class up by reviewing some basic skills (dribbling, passing, catching), kids were divided into teams to create and play relay games, based on the skills they had reviewed. For example, the first game was called "down and back by dribbling". The next game was called "down by dribbling, back by passing", followed by "down in the air, back by a bounce pass", and so forth. The kids were active participants in both the planning and playing of the games, and they also need to collaborate for the group to be successful.
ReplyDeleteI think this learning moment was very much affected by it's context. The fact that there was an element of competition served as motivation for the kids to work together. The teacher provided the parameters for the exercise, but the kids were in charge of their learning, and were motivated to perform the skills correctly so that they could win the relay races. Fun class to watch - the kids were really into it.
My observation of a sociocultural approach to teaching again came in a 7th & 8th grade science class. The teacher uses peer evaluation to grade certain assignments in this class. He begins each peer grading session by giving the students a word in a different language that refers to truth or honesty in some way. The students have to write this word on the top of the paper they are grading. The word today was "shoujiki", which roughly translates to honesty in Japanese. The teacher uses these words to help relate to students the importance of being honest while grading their peers' papers. This approach helps the students identify and understand the importance of being academically honest, while also helping them to remember and be motivated each day to be truthful.
ReplyDeleteI think learning in the moment was affected by the context as students are gaining some insight as to the importance that truth and honesty have in many cultures, as so many cultures have so many words for the concepts of truth and honesty. By showing the students how many different languages have numerous words for these concepts, it helps student to realize how important these concepts are in everyday life throughout the world. This context helps students to remain truthful in their grading, as well as in other aspects of their lives.
I was completely surprised to encounter a great example of sociocultural behavior when I heard the chorus of extended "OHHHHHH!" coming from the gym during a PE class. There were a couple of spirited volleyball games in progress, and the students were emulating the droning chorus they've heard from the student section at Mac Court during Pac-10 basketball games.
ReplyDeleteIt's a behavior we've tried to extinguish in game supervision by exhorting our students to cheer for their own team rather than trying to rattle the opponents. We have had some impact on the behavior (during games), but clearly to behavior modeled by the college students our kids see on tv is not going away any time soon, and it's a behavior that our students will readily employ as a default tactic.
Malcom
I was in a Dashboard training today at our ESD. The trainer set the tone for exploration and casual guidance. At first we were all pretty attentive to him as he shared how to use the program. As time went on and we each became engaged with what we could do and how it applied to our jobs, we were up and down and all around the room looking at each other's screens, forming side conversations, and learning more from each other than the trainer. this freed up the trainer and his assistants to come around and guide our spontaneous and changing groups to where we wanted to go in the program. The trainer would pull us together every now and then to guide us to a new aspect of the program. It was a very effective way to herd cats in a computer lab!
ReplyDeleteI learned more in this context than I would have in my school's computer lab.
1. I was "free" from the disruptions that occur when I am in the building.
2. We were all there for the same purpose.
3. The supports and technology were adequate for us as learners to stay engaged and not get too frustrated.
4. I had enough experience in my position as principal to appreciate the data that I could access with this program.
5. The trainer was very comfortable with group thinking!
Day three Observation
ReplyDeleteThis is less a direct observation and more a reflection on two trainings that I have participated in as an observer, one in December and one just last week. The reason I include it as an example of Sociohistoric/Sociocultural learning theory is because it is the theory that best highlights the way that I am learning the information that I will need in order to eventually co-lead the next set of staff development around PLCs, a.k.a. Learning/Data teams.
My method for ‘learning’ the content has been through observation by watching a video series, through articles and book chapters I have read and by observing two colleagues responsible for delivering the initial workshops: I will attend 3-days of certification training in late February which I assume will be behaviorist in its delivery, constructivist in the assimilation of the content and sociocultural in that we each have to demonstrate some of the teaching strategies in front of the group.
On the other hand, what I have noticed since thinking through things for this assignment is that I have been picking up delivery strategies through observational learning and modeling of the material by my colleagues and the interaction of the participants with them and with the content.
In early February we will offer another set of trainings. As a result of the work for this assignment, I will be paying closer attention in order that I may begin to retain more of a practical understanding of the content so that I will eventually be able to assume the role of co-leader and reproduce within the context of my style and skill as a staff developer the subsequent set of workshops.
Dennis Schultz
I was apprehensive about this observation and am still not completely sure I understand the socio cultural/socio historic framework. I had planned on observing a fifth grade social studies class. However, I happened on this same class cracking and cleaning crab earlier in the day in the cafeteria. This was in preparation for a cooking project they were doing with my administrative colleague. I was immediately struck by the observing, modeling and imitating that was happening. Most of these students had never cracked a crab. There was a high level of interest, some trepidation and much curiosity. The teacher was doing an amazing job showing them what to do, 'walking and talking' them through the process. Students cracked their crab in small groups, then worked together to pick out the meat. I, too, think this learning moment was very much influenced by its context. Kids were highly motivated by this activity. They worked collaboratively, they had an end goal in mind (bowl of crab meat)and they each took on roles to make sure they reached their goal.
ReplyDeleteHow do you think learning in the moment you observed for this Watch Day was affected by its context?
ReplyDelete--------
If I'm interpreting my understanding of the Sociohistoric/Sociocultural learning theory correctly the context at this point is less important than the content.
The reason I say this is because the content and my current understanding of it is pushing me far from my comfort zone, but yet I will be expected to know and understand it well enough to co-present the material. That's why I think reflecting on how I'm going about learning the content within the context of the larger group and their reaction to the content is helping me to visualize my eventual role as presenter to other groups in the near future.
This isn't a one time observation but more a general example of sociocultural learning theory that I have seen in the classroom. Being a math teacher this is something that happens daily and that is when teaching a new topic I always show an example problem that I go through step by step and the students follow along in their notes. They are then when working the problems in their homework looking back in their notes and imitating the way that I had shown them how to do the problem. So they are observing the teacher and then imitating them.
ReplyDeleteThis moment of watching this happen in the classroom I don't think was affected by the context because this happens on a daily basis in the classroom.
This was a more difficult one for me to find and observe in this timeframe. However, I have a few examples from my past. The first was when as a graduate student our sessions with clients were videotaped. When reviewing the videotapes, I could see exactly why a client was doing something- they were imitating me. That was kind of shocking.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally,we see this in small children all the time. I remember a time I was painting the ceiling in my bathroom. I walked out of the bathroom with my had on my back and said, "Oh, my back is killing me." Not too much later, my 2 year old nephew was walking around with his hand on his back saying, 'Oh, my back is killing me." It took me a minute, but then I realize he was imitating me!
To a present day example, as leaders in our districts, we attend meetings frequently. In each meeting there is a protocol, an expectation for behavior and we tend to keep to it- following the agenda, having a note keeper, and staying on topic. However, if someone veers off the topic, others tend to follow. Hopefully, someone else will bring it back to the agenda, the others will follow, and continue with the meeting. This is an adult example of socialcultural learning/behavior.
I felt looking for examples of socio-historic/sociocultural behavior was going to be the easiest to recognize of all the learning theories. I once again observed a football group through meeting, practice, training, and meal time. It was easy for me to identify the adopted behavior of the athletes imitating the people they admired and wanted to be like. For most of the football players they look up to the NFL stars and successful athletes that have come through the University of Oregon. The football players wears low fitted caps, the newest brightest nike shoes, baggy urban clothes that are 2 sizes too big and usually athletic shorts that barely stay up. They all drink the same protein shakes and spend enormous amounts of time in the gym working on their arms and abs. The football athletes in general try to have flashy cars, watches, earrings, and attractive girlfriends. It is interesting to watch the new players come in adopt behaviors of the other players that have been successful and are in the lime light. Bad behavior and wild partying seem to accompany the imitated models of the NFL lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteI observed a fourth grade classroom where students were in their "Book Study" groups. In one of the groups, there were heated exchanges around the issues brought out in their reading. Strong debates were occurring. In another group it was quiet sharing of what was found in the book with lots of writing and little discussion. A third group took turns sharing their viewpoints and then asked around if people agreed or disagreed and then each individually wrote what they had concluded after the discussion.
ReplyDeleteEach group had different experiences and different outcomes based on the influence of the individuals within the group. It appeared that the content was affected by the dynamics of the social make-up of the group and the techniques used by each group to share and expand knowledge. The depth and breadth of individual and group knowledge and meaning was affected by the context because the dynamics in the group was either limiting the development of knowledge/meaning or it was expanding the knowledge/meaning that occurred in the group. Therefore, I absolutely believe that context strongly influenced content.
After reviewing the material for this observation (sociocultural), I began to rethink my first day observation (behaviorist). As you may remember it was a college algebra class being taught at our high school. At the time the class seemed to mimic what they had seen earlier in the week. Because I had my behaviorist lens on, I saw the event as students responding to some sort of stimulus (stimulus-response mode). After reviewing the sociocultural YouTube video, I now see this event in the “observe, imitate and model” sequence. Once again this reflection made me think about my own teaching (15+ years ago) and most advanced mathematics instruction that I have observed. It seems that most students are imitating what they have seen in class without any real understanding. They model the behavior they have seen but have a very hard time applying the concepts in new situations. I think this is especially true in teaching most mathematical concepts.
ReplyDeleteIf my frame of mind or perception is included in the “context” for learning then it had a profound affect on what I saw. As stated above, I used the same situation for two different views. The sociocultural YouTube video stated that this theory was a bridge between the other two theories. That visual seemed to be more accurate than the nested model that was introduced in class. Regardless of the theory, without the student constructing the knowledge in the process, authentic learning has not taken place.
My observation was in the context of a school board retreat with the board members, central office, directors, and resource principals. The facilitator divided the participants into groups of four with representatives from each group. The groups were asked to define the following: centralized and de-centralized decision-making in the district. Each member of the group gave his/her definition or input in the context of the group and the mediated activity. Mediated in that - the activity was purposeful, contextualized and a shared perspective on what is the practice in the district. The definitions were used as a basis for a larger group discussion which helped to shape the nature of this cognitive activity for both the individuals engaged in the process and group activity. In the end, it was not so much the consensus definition, but the participation and engagement in the “practice” of the community that reflected learning for the individuals and group.
ReplyDeleteI observed this example of behavior/learning at a basketball game. We are a small rural school with very little mobility in regards to the student body. The student body all must learn the Alsea fight song to be issued a Blue Crew T-shirt. The song is taught to them beggining in midle school and they will sing it at the end of the game. Not only do the mid-high school students sing the song but so did many parents who had attended school at Alsea. Many of the elementary students also know the song, because either they have older siblings or parents who have taught them.
ReplyDeleteI beleive the context was very influential in this observation. There are many traditions and learned behaviors that occur at sporting events.
I observed the students from the High School Basic Skills class working with (nondisabled) peer tutors in a regular education PE class. The peer tutors were modeling appropriate high school behaviors and teaching the students with disabilities the routines and rules for circuit training activity. In speaking with the (female) teacher and assistants, they mentioned that having male peer tutors has dramatically improved the social behaviors of the boys in the Basic Skills program.
ReplyDeleteI think the moment I observed was affected by the context. Indeed, the situation was designed and structured to specifically use social learning theory to improve the social skills of students severe disabilities.
Finding an example of this observation for Watch 3 was sort of difficult for me because after watching the youtube video I agree that what we have described in the two previous behaviors is what we will see in this 3rd behavior. Except it is a combination of both the Behaviorist and Constructivist behaviors.
ReplyDeleteIn my classroom I see students daily responding to stimuli, like p810smom said, you give the students "the look" and they respond. Students also use background knowledge, imitate and model. Which leaves us with the attention, memory and motivation part. Students who are motivated to learn will be attentive and also remember more easily than those who are distracted or have low motivation for school. In my opinion all 3 behaviors exists daily in our classroom, used at different times and in different ways. Some behaviors are also used less than others.
My last observation took place when trying to get to the bottom of a situation with some students. When I investigate a situation, I often interview kids separately because I know the story I get when students are separated is much different compared to when I interview them together. This is a perfect example of how the a social group adapts and conforms to it's surrounding.
ReplyDeleteIn the interest of saving time, I went against my own practice and interviewed kids together. As the first student spoke, the other kids chimed in to elaborate on the story. The story got bigger and bigger as each student spoke. They all agreed on the same story.
When I started to ask more pointed questions such as "Did you actually hear him say those words with your own ears?" each person started to have a different answer.
As the first student started to tell a different story, a couple of the other students started to change their recollection of the events.
At that point, I just decided to separate them and talk to the kids individually. Afterwards, I was able to put together a more precise, consistent series of events.
I believe the learning was affected by it's context. Kids followed the popular belief because it was safe. As long as they stuck with the same story, they would rise or fall together.
Like p810smom and others, I wasn't sure about the sociocultural/sociohistoric learning framework. And I'm not sure about my example. But I do know that context was the key element in this teacher's class. In this Major American Literature class, the teacher did an activity which connected her somewhat challenging students to her goal, that of reassuring them that the final would not be as stressful as shown in a you tube video. After answering questions about the final, the teacher showed a video of Mr. Bean taking a math final and all the things he tries in order to copy off another student’s work.
ReplyDeleteInitially, the lit students didn’t really respond to quirky Mr. Bean’s antics until he actually started the test. Then they really got into the video, laughing as Mr. Bean realizes that he’s prepared for the wrong subject matter and then tries a variety of ways to look at and even take his neighbor’s paper.
It seemed that, at first, the lit students had a hard time connecting their learning situation to this character who is so different from them and from a different era. But through Mr. Bean’s actions that take cheating to a whole new level, students could relate to Mr. Bean and his predicament.
The teacher then reassured the class that the final would not be as hard as Mr. Bean’s and students got to work on the preparatory assignment.
I observe some Latino students in high school acting like mainstream students in the hall. One was talking against their own cultural group, he said Latinos were lazy and he was wearing cosmetic color contact lenses, he modifies his name to sound Americanized. He has very bad grades and he wants to join to the marines to obtain his immigration papers. He seems that he has lost his identity.
ReplyDeleteI also observed a social science class where the students were interacting each other. They were discussing very exited about the new modern slavery in the world and in relation with the USA history. It was very interesting.
Being in the middle school setting for over two decades the students are influenced by the sociocultural learning theory. Wherever you look in the school you witness a form of this learning theory; the way students dress, address peers and authority, values about work and school and listening skills can in some way be linked to observation, imitation or modeling. My specific example is a dance class where students are learning forms of Swing and Line Dancing. When left to dance on their own students choose to dance like the kids who star on ‘So You Think You Can Dance’. During a school dance I did not witness any students trying to utilize the learning that took place in their PE class they choose the hip-hop-groove to the music dance.
ReplyDeleteThis observation occurred in a 5th grade classroom. A new student was just enrolled and assigned this class. The student came into the class, was seated and he worked through several assignments by observing what the other students were doing. He used visual cues to inform himself what was expected to do. The teacher several times cued the student to some class procedures, but the student used those around him to adapt to his new environment.
ReplyDeleteIn an English classroom, I observed the teacher introducing Cornell Notes as a note-taking strategy for the lesson. Cornell Notes have been adopted as a schoolwide note-taking strategy and every teacher is expected to use this strategy with their students. So, this teacher wanted to model how to create the format and how to use the format for the next note-taking exercise.
ReplyDeleteUsing a doc cam, the teacher magnified her notes on the screen and asked her students to model after her. Throughout the lesson, she would take her own notes, write down a guiding question, and would ask students to do the same. At the end, each student has completed the note-taking activity, mastered the format and use of Cornell Notes, and was able to explain what they had noted to their partner during a "pair/share" activity.
In response to the discussion question, I think English and the note-taking activity lent itself to the teacher modeling, the students observing and imitating the note-taking format and notes. This could be easily replicated in other content areas.
Jon,
ReplyDeleteI loved the example of the students performing the fight song for a t-shirt. What a great community building, pride building event. And a great example of how students model their older siblings, parents, family who went to the school. I guess this is how traditions are passed on as well.
I observed socio-historic/sociocultural behavior today by watching the after school drama club. First of all, the drama students all try to distinguish themselves from the rest of the school by wearing very creative and artsy clothes and by being outgoing. During practice the drama teacher was working with a set of students in learning how to do a dance to one of the songs in the musical. He would perform the dance first as the students watched him and then the students would imitate it. This process was repeated several times. Once the students had learned the steps, the teacher started to talk about the performance aspect of it, like how to look at the audience, when to smile, and when to interact with each other on the stage to show they were having fun with the number. All of this was first demonstrated by the teacher and then imitated by the students. I could tell the students were trying to figure out how to look like they knew what they were doing, but trying not to look too corny while they were doing it. I think that this is the perennial dilemma of the middle school drama student, “How do I look cool but not nerdy or weird?” There was definite observing, imitating, and modeling happening as they students spent a good hour perfecting this one dance.
ReplyDeleteJennifer mentioned an example of a teacher modeling how to crack a crab. I think that this was very similar to my example. The teacher models the task, the student watches, and then does the task, trying to perfect so they can do it as well as the adult. Also tolhurst talked about how football players wore certain clothing and had certain behaviors that were imitated by new football players. Certainly new drama students very quickly start modifying their clothing and take on new personal, once they start hanging out with the drama club every day after school.
I observed an art class today and the students were creating a still life scene for their next project. Students had seen examples from famous artists and the teacher had shown them some of her own work. Students then were making their own scene to draw, they had to bring items from home to use that were meaningful to them. It was interesting to watch as they each created their own interpretation and helped each other to understand and interpret what was artistic.
ReplyDeleteThe context was an art class where the students are allowed to be more free and creative and there is no one single best answer. It would be interesting to see the students try this in a context where they felt there were more constraints and one real answer.
Today I went into a science class to look for examples of social learning theory. I figured I would surely see examples since it was a group of 13-14 year olds! However, my attention soon turned to another person in the room: the student teacher. It became very apparent to me that the student teacher was very focused on the actions of the teacher (as he should have been) and when it was his chance to get up and teach, he mirrored the personality of the teacher. This is often the case when the student teacher is not confident enough to assert his/her own personality quite yet.. or when he/she is trying to impress the mentor teacher. Luckily, he had a great mentor teacher, so his immitation was recieved well by the students and he did a great job.
ReplyDeleteHow do you think learning in the moment you observed for this Watch Day was affected by its context?
ReplyDeleteIn this example, the student teacher had a great group of kids, which allowed him to focus on his mentor teacher without having to worry too much about classroom management.
I would use my own behavior in the EMPL program as an example of sociohistoric/sociocultural learning.
ReplyDeleteAt key points in the D.Ed program we are expected to make public presentations. We made one of these -- a poster presentation -- in our Educational Research course during the Winter term. When I present, I tend to be a little too casual and colloquial in my speech. Part of this is personal style, but honestly some of this is not being as prepared as I should be and relying on my ability to get a chuckle out of my audience with some offhand remark. This was an appropriate presentation style when I worked in the Theater as a teacher and Designer. However, as we make our way through the program, each presentation gets a little less casual and a little more professional -- to the standards of this new audience.
Clearly, this is a result of my observation and learning of the cultural norms for the Educational Learning field and a sociocultural learning adaptation on my part. In my example, the context is everything.
A 7th grade math lesson was the perfect venue to see this theory in action. Our school engages in a Connected Math approach and uses IMP, CMP and concepts from the Middle Years Program in its curriculum. Students were presented a geometric problem and asked to work collaboratively to solve it using graph paper, scissors and tape as tools. They worked really hard to construct the figure and it was interesting to see the differences that groups produced as products! Students were then given time to write about how they approached the problem and how they might approach it differently in the future.
ReplyDeleteIn response to my colleague who mentioned healthy, good-spirited, skill-building competition while observing basketball drills.
ReplyDeleteAs a former coach and hoopster on many teams, the 'process' that is the season from start to finish, is an amazing effort and a perfect example of how individual members contribute (and sacrifice) to a larger body, reliant on each other...and in the, the final product...how far did we come? DId we make district, state, or even the champs.
As anyone who has coached more than one year knows that each team is different from the former(s). A new result, even from the same game plans, will occur as in these socio-historic and socio-cultural moments (or teams), new unique variables play into...not the least each single individual.
~lxw~
my third observation occurred in my social studies inquiry and methods class
ReplyDeletethe uo teach program it appears had taken great effort to recognize diversity in its application and selection process for this year's cohort. the program is emphasizing a social justice mentality and moving from direct teaching to more peer and group teaching.
one of our table, then group share-outs were in discussion of Oregon state landmark that did not accurately or evenly provide educational and/or cultural information. Since many of us were Oregonians, we recognized the locations and had even visited, however, with also several Oregon Native Americans, we were able to enhance the teacher's objective of the activity by adding my own personal knowledge, thus enhances the content. For example, Cascade Lock's Bridge of the Gods, under which I subsistence fish for my tribal community.
other students knew information about Astoria, Eugene, etc...each and all contributing to the lesson and learning moment.
~lxw~
Again, I am observing the Oregon men's basketball team...
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of this week we had a player transfer here from the University of Minnesota. He is coming from a very different basketball environment and a different part of the country. The new player has been able to find his way without asking too many questions. He has been observing his new teammates in practice and following their example off the court as well.
This is a good example of sociocultural learning because he was able to learn from his environment and adapt to it successfully.
In response to the question...
I think that the context had an enormous affect on the learning. In my situation there is a very open learning environment, in which the players communicate and learn from each other all the time. It is very conducive to development and allows people to fit in and contribute easily.