2012 EDLD 655 Watch 1, Day 3: Sociocultural-Sociohistoric
October 2012: 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. (You may be asked to create an account and login.)
Chopsticks! My observation of sociocultural learning happened at lunch. It was the perfect set up—two Chinese principals, a US superintendent, a State level educational leader, an interpreter and I were eating Chinese food at a restaurant. I saw that no chopsticks had been brought to the table and that the Chinese visitors were uncomfortable using forks. So I asked for chopsticks for everyone. Only the person from the State did not know how to use chopsticks. At first he continued to use his fork but he felt pressure to learn. He will be travelling to China in the spring, so he had peer and social motivation. We all tried to first use language to explain the mechanics of chopsticks. This was not enough. One of the Chinese visitors then modeled the action. The chopstick novice practiced throughout the meal. Finally, we all shared various dining manners that we felt he needed to know about before travelling to China-this added another cultural dynamic to the learning experience.
Brian, I love the chopstick story. It demonstrates the concept of reciprocal determinism as well! This would not likely have happened at a steakhouse; Chinese environment influenced the behavior, and in a way, the behavior (learning to eat with chopsticks) influenced the environment-bringing the conversation about cultural manners. Great example. Don
Brian, Great example. I have traveled overseas quite a bit and you run into this daily in new cultures. By learning from those around you, you quickly begin to adjust and adapt. Sometimes its chopsticks to put the cultural tension at ease over a meal, sometimes it's looking the right way to cross the street so the double decker bus in London doesn't run you over!
I also love this example. I wonder how the situation might be compared to cultures that use other utensils. Or no utensils at all? How does one eat a steak in Syria? In Uzbekistan? Or does one eat steak in these places.
I too like this example. Both groups learned that people are willing to be flexible in their cultural norms. I find it interesting when new students arrive in a school and how quickly they adapt and learn the culture of the new school. I wonder if schools adapt their culture to the arrival of new students who are completely different then the majority.
Don Hood. Sociocultural learning was a much more difficult experience for me to observe. My observation is from a planning session I had today with a coauthor on a paper we are considering writing. My coauthor is situated in a completely different sociocultural context than me. She has a disability from a car accident, is female, half Native American, and is the mother of two half-Mexican children. I depend on her perspective as we attempt to posit a refined definition of positive outcomes for students with disabilities transitioning to the adult world. Through her modeling of strategies for considering definitions of transition outcomes (and she has patiently modeled many times), I am becoming more attuned to the realities that, contrary to the current literature on transition, not all families or students view employment, independent living, or post-secondary education as universally desirable outcomes for all students. For example, not all American subcultures view independent living as desirable, rather, for some there is a social expectation that the family will live together. I know this is a stretch for the assignment, but I think both the cultural aspects of this example combined with the components of social learning theory (I certainly have the motivation to include the modern broad perspective of multiple cultures in American society, allowing me to act on my attention, retention, and hopefully, reproduction of awareness of the cultural lens brought by my colleague.
I think that this is a very good example to share, as it highlights the differences between cultural values that impact education.
I worked in several areas in New Mexico where the public school value system was clearly not concordant with the home culture. There were various reasons for this lack of consistency, some altogether transparent and others not so much.
Education was in some cases a tertiary concern, at best, with extended family/tribe - immediate family as the primary concerns. The family's priorities were not always touchy-feely healthy, either. Sometimes, students were kept at home to assist with criminal activities, etc. They were being indoctrinated into the "family business". Sometimes, they had to travel many days to attend feasts with other tribe members. Whatever the reasons, it kept them out of school for many days at a time and on multiple occasions.
Even though I understood some of these absences from a family perspective, it was immensely frustrating as an educator, as it lead to situations where many students were absent 25-35% of the time to attend extended family/tribal and/or immediate family functions. Some of them may indeed have been learning important skills and knowledge during this time out of school, but they were clearly missing out on school curricula as a result, and oftentimes classroom experiences are invaluable and really impossible to make up. There is no question about the impact it had on academic progress for these students. It was negative in almost every case. Very few students were able to manage both discordant worlds successfully.
I wanted "the best" for my students. I assume that their parents also wanted "the best" for their children. Their "best" did not match my "best".
What are some strategies to deal with situations like this, where the values of the public school system not only are not supported by the family value system, but are often rejected, or, at best, tolerated? How will learning that is based on oftentimes discordant social models occur?
What you wrote reminded me of a past experience. When I was a principal, one of the neighboring schools was a charter school primarily for Native American children. The emphasis at the school was social learning. We has students that transferred back and forth and they struggled with the difference in instructional practices. Within our building we also had the Indian Ed program (funded by Title funds). The program helped to give our Native students a better sense of family that they were used to having at the charter school.
My Sociocultural learning observation took place in the elementary gymnasium. I have been struggling to come up with fun, yet cooperative PE lessons to include in my weekly teaching of a subject which I am not exactly proficient in, and I found a hoop activity that did the trick and also provided me with this observation. I had the students form circles of approximately 14 students each, holding hands. Then I placed a "hula hoop" on the arms of two of the children and told them they needed to pass the hoop around the circle without un-linking hands. First team that got the hoop around the circle wins. This caused some disequilibrium as they initially decried the task's impossibility. I blew the whistle to signal "go" and they began to wiggle and tilt until the hoop slid down the arm and then they figured out that they would need to step through the hoop in order to "pass" it to the next person. It was interesting to watch the progression of skilled passing as the hoop went around the circle. The first students were unsure how to best accomplish the task and then one individual would demonstrate an efficient method that led to the successive players attempting to model those better/faster strategies. We played again, and most of the students at least tried to mimic the movements that were the most successful from the first game, and the hoop did get around in less time.
Over these three days I have realized that all three of these styles happen in my class all during a rehearse. Depending on what lens you are looking through I can find examples all over the place. When we are at a competition we walk from warm-up area to the stage warm-up area and sometimes it’s a long trip. We count to 8 to stay in step when we can’t have snare drum make sound. Since we have Spanish Immersion Program and International High School students that must take three years of language and people from other countries in my band I decided to have some fun. We started switching to Spanish, French, and then Japanese (the languages we have at Sheldon) and then German for our exchange friend last year, Chinese for my one of my students and Korean. Kids modeled the words and people joined in. They watch and listened and imitated. It was quite fun and keep us focus for the long trail to performance site.
I agree Tracy. As I planned for the assignment, I really thought I would be able to stick to the idea of splitting the assignment into three days one each for the theories. However, as I observed on day one, I could not make it through 30 minutes without at least a partial example of each.
It raised a question in my mind though. Are the teachers using these theories to guide their planning for best results? Or, is it simply that these theories explain how we learn and often time as teachers we design lessons based on how we best learn? In short, I wonder if these are being explicitly used?
I wonder if other people saw this in what they observed. I would answer yes to your question because I use all three methods to best teach my class and move through them throughout. I never realized this until we did this assignment.
My sociocultural experience largely mimics the Bozo the Clown research exercise conducted by Bandura. My youngest son was sitting with me at the table eating an afternoon snack and chatting away about his day at preschool.
My older son and daughter frolicked into the dining room and were "play fighting", socking and teasing each other about something or other (which they are not supposed to do in the house, mind you). My youngest son keyed right into their activity. He punched out with both fists at them as they rough-housed their way passed. Then, he punched me just because I was handy.
His attention was grabbed immediately by the ruckus. He observed the behavior of others, then he modeled the behavior that he saw. It was like a switch had been flipped; it seemed almost automatic.
Next, we tried to use some social modeling of a different sort in an effort to protect future visitors to our home, as well as ourselves, from the fisticuffs. My older kids and I tried to explain that they were not really fighting, that they were just playing around, that he should never haul off and punch someone for no reason.
Alas, he is still too young to understand the difference between play fighting/teasing and real fighting. It simply did not make sense to him yet. So, the family rule of not roughhousing is back in effect - especially in front of our impressionable little guy.
Dan, I really enjoyed your example. It made me think about elementary classrooms (and I'm sure it happens in secondary as well). Isn't it always that one student who starts to misbehave triggers about 4 others in your class to mimic his behavior and do the same.
I just posted what Jackie mentioned under her example below. (I was reading the page from the bottom up tonight instead of top down -- I lead an exciting life!!).
It's fascinating to teach in an elementary setting where students are starting to realize that their behavior(s) may positively or negatively impact their peers' behaviors.
One of my favorite examples is when I had a student who was autistic and always struggled with school. She happened to be one of my favorite students I've ever had the privilege of working with and she was so unbelievably brilliant, I had all of the respect in the world for her. The other students picked up on that very quickly and she soon became the "popular" student among her peers. At times, her behavior was slightly inappropriate, yet, her peers were so quick to model the appropriate behavior - mostly because they were modeling from my respect for her and the appreciation of her differences. It's interesting to see the trickle down effect (both in a positive and negative way)
My observation led me here. This is Sociohistoric/Sociocultural. The blog, the videos, the Twitter, the back chat, YouTube, white board... we are participating in the creation of a social group. Our knowledge adapts to and transforms the environment around us. I like what Kevin said, "The distance classrooms, the use of Blackboard, the blogging, and the electronic assignment submissions are all foreign to most of my teachers. Sure, we have heard of these things, and a few have experienced them, but my immersion in the technology used in the HEDCO building is like a trip to the future."
Jackie, I am smarter because of ALL of you! It's a privilege to be in a cohort of super talented people. I look forward to working and learning with all of you. JB... I know who you are watching. ;-)
I agree. This blog is a great opportunity for socio-cultural learning because it reinforces understanding of the three learning theories, especially the Empiricist/Behaviorist theory. For example, I wasn't very sure about the implications of the first theory on education , but after reading the blog, I was able to better understand how this theory could be used. By reading examples posted by my peers, I learned more and that is why, I think that this blog is a good way to learn from different experiences and perspectives.
Ya, I like to use technology but there are some social media I do not use with intent. But due to this class I have learned to use it and learn from it.
Jackie Brody I observed an example of social learning theory today (and I regularly see this technique being used in schools). I was in a first grade classroom. The teacher had all of the students move to the carpet for calendar time. Most of the students moved and sat quickly, quietly, and appropriately. However, one of the students was wiggling around, sitting on his knees, and talking to the student next to him. The teacher praised 3 different students sitting very close to the active child for sitting quietly on their bottoms. The other student looked at these kids and then followed suit.
Jackie, I love this example. I think that often times when trying to discipline (or correct behavior) we draw more attention to the behavior and give more attention to the student acting out which doesn't always work out. By promoting the positive behavior in others you are rewarding those doing the correct action, and you are correcting the disruptive student without having to give in to their attention seeking behavior. I know that this doesn't always work but I think that this is an incredible start in dealing with a potentially disruptive student.
Ah! One of my saving graces in the classroom...especially when kids are impressionable enough to base their actions off their role model peers. Have you noticed (with this particular student) that his/her classmates are often positive role models? I have seen many situations where classmates are mimicking the students' behavior to get a laugh from peers.
At the conference I attended this week I saw a wonderful example of the social learning theory being demonstrated by Anita Archer. The activity was to observe a video of a teacher giving a lesson and we were to provide feedback using a newly developed observation sheet. During the lesson Anita would stop and make a few comments. After the video was complete she had us write down comments and then work together to determine how we would rate this lesson. After a few moments Anita modeled for us and shared how she would have rated this lesson and we compared her response to our own.
Hi April..nice example of a teacher modeling desired behaviors to achieve desired outcomes from learners. It reminds me of when I was a science teacher in inner-city Dayton, OH, and though I came from a very different culture compared to most of my students, I wanted to them to develop certain skills that would be beneficial to their learning and to their future educational endeavors. I used techniques very similar to those you ascribe to Anita. For example, I would demonstrate effective note-taking strategies to my students, using standards-based content, and then lead a learning activity that required notes to be taken - I would provide feedback on their notes, while providing my own notes, what I felt was important as a guide for students to imitate. In this manner, I was not only modeling behaviors that I wanted them to exhibit, but I was reinforcing the behaviors and outcomes I desired by showing them finished products and how they could improve both their skills and own outcomes.
David Klech Going off somewhat other people have already posted I saw conforming to social norms, however, not conforming to the majority but conforming to the leader. At out practice sessions we always close our practices with a cool down, core exercises, flexibility and movement drills. Many time people want to try and rush through these and just want to get out of practice as quickly as possible. However, our current team captain in the group has really taken on knowing the importance of this stuff and in the last few weeks has made it a priority and led by example very well. His demonstration and attitude has started to rub off on the rest of the group. As a coach now, I don’t have to implement or harp on any of the athletes because this captain has demonstrated the appropriate attitude and other are following suit. It’s interesting to see how if a person in authority practices the behavior they want to see in others how much more impactful it becomes, leading by example.
Interesting concept. Have you encountered a situation where a student given a leadership role has taken advantage of their responsibilities? I would imagine their leadership is under guidance of an adult and the student would take pride in positively impacting the younger students. I just always wonder if an "animal farm" like situation would arise. There have been few times in my teaching experience (elementary level) where a "leader" was doing more bullying than leading (once given the freedom to be that leader)
It is always interesting to me how impactful leading by example is amongst a group. To me this is most effective way to lead because it holds respect level that sometimes talking or telling does not. It often promotes a rich environment for sociocultural learning.
This was the hardest one for me. I first wanted to discuss examples I have noticed about how my coworker buddies and I (Shawn and Dan) tend to discuss college and fantasy football an awful lot when the bosses aren't around. But then I realized we still discuss it when they are around because our bosses are just that cool. My initial thinking, though, was that when we get in meetings etc. we're all business. So our behavior changes based upon the social context. But then I realized that probably has more to do with just needing to get things done than it does any socioculutural learning.
So, that was all a big meaningless ramble of things I've thought about since going over the sociocultural content. My actual example comes from today when, feeling a bit overwhelmed with the amount of work I needed to do, I thought I would just hunker down get after it. But then, Shawn and Dan struck again, luring me to a colloquium presentation. They were going, with or without me (i.e., they had modeled the behavior they wanted out of me) but they were putting pressure on me to attend as well. Despite feeling like if I went I wasn't going to get everything done, I caved and went anyway. Turns out it was well worth it - the presentation was great. But it wasn't until we were actually walking over there that I realized my behavior had changed, despite my best intentions, because of the pressures placed upon me by my peer group. It's just a good thing they weren't trying to tempt me to do drugs or something : )
Haha! In the name of full-disclosure, I too fall prey to peer-pressure, both by Dan (going out to lunch when I've brought my own) and Dan (spending time talking about college football recruiting and everything Duck-related), and by others in our program. For example, after a quiz this week, I felt badly about my performance and intended to go home and sulk, but after a couple of texts from a classmate, I ended up going out for an after-quiz cocktail. I though later about how my behavior had changed, at first feeling like I had caved in to going out when perhaps I didn't deserve the break, but then realizing that my two friends were modeling a key behavior for doctoral student - don't take your perceived successes or failure too seriously.
In both our examples, we caved into social pressure, both to our benefit. Here's to peer pressure!
It is interesting to me how the after- hours socializing is often based around, or augmented by booze.
"Hey, can I buy you a milk or cola?" doesn't quite carry the same weight as "Time for a beer?"
Beer-thirty is a critical moment in many work weeks. It signals the end of one part of the day and heralds in the next. It is a collective recognition of hard work and collaboration.
If modern civilization was truly born when beer was first brewed, does the brew hold it all together today?
This week I entered a classroom and found myself observing what I perceived as a rather dull vocabulary lesson on cell division. The students were writing definitions of mitosis, meiosis, haploid, etc....They seemed at best compliant and at worst asleep during their task.
However, the assignment shifted gears to a quick vignette where a moral imperative was presented. Without going into all the details, the idea was a couple had just lost their only son to an accident that also caused them to both to be sterile. The teacher posed to the group should they harvest a cell from the dying son to clone?
As the students became engaged in a heated debate, the teacher guided them to use each of the prior vocabulary words in their defense of their position.
To me, this lesson became effective when the students began to use the vocabulary. This did not happen until there was a group discussion on the acceptance and consequences of cloning (obviously as a hypothetical)
Hi Brian, What a neat concept and total 360 shift of a lesson! I am curious to know how much the students' beliefs and background experience impacted their opinions and decisions about this scenario. Did you find that students were "impacted" based on their peers' responses. Did the teacher remain "neutral" throughout the lesson?
Brian: Your example reminded me of the lessons I gave this week in all of our freshmen sciences classes on sexual harassment. As you can imagine there was some lively conversation. But what really struck me was how within their own culture (of being teenagers)their perceptions of what is socially acceptable in regards to sexual harassment did not always match the "politically correct" adult culture in the US today. They have learned to accept certain behaviors through observation and imitation of their peers, without paying attention to what is acceptable in a wider section of society.
It is interesting that while we attempt to teach our students what is "politically" correct in our adult culture, students are also learning a great deal from the observation, imitation and modeling of their peers. I find that there are things my high school son does or says that I believe to be not "politically" correct and yet when challenged, his question back to me is always, "why do adults think they always know the right way to do things?" An age old comment for sure, but at the same time young people can be pretty amazing. As I think about the teaching that goes on in our schools, I wonder how open and ready to accept, we are, to the lessons that our young people have to teach us?
I think this is a good example of how cognitivist and sociocultural models overlap. Part of what made the lesson shift so engaging was a lively social debate, but it was also a shift from one-way transmission of knowledge to a process of developing meaning around those concepts.
The activity immediately became more interesting when students had to place the information in a framework and articulate their own process of creating meaning about the concepts under study. At the same time the cultural beliefs and experiences of the students were no doubt rising to the surface of the debate. I think it is interesting to consider how the three frameworks interact in learning.
The school that I am working at is a prime example of sociocultural-sociohistoric learning. I work at a school that is a full immersion educational environment (students are native English speakers but immersed in a second language for their entire day). Our school has full immersion in Chinese, Japanese and Spanish taught my teachers who are native speakers of the immersion language. This helps to create an authentic learning environment where students are learning native accents, speech patterns and expressions. Consequently, students are also experience multiple cultures a day through working and learning together. It is amazing to see students speaking a second language fluently with their peers and native speakers (their teachers) of that language in a true immersion environment.
Your post reminds me of the time that I spent working at NM School for the Deaf. I learned a great deal about language, communication, and cultural norms (much of which was both fascinating and baffling at the same time). It was a true immersion experience for me as an adult and one that I still treasure.
This is a bit off the topic, but the assignment is over so I feel that I can comment with abandon. My daughter is enrolled in an International High School within South Eugene HS. She is studying Japanese and plans to spend a year abroad next year, her Soph year, in order to become fluent in Japanese. She's pretty excited!
One of the examples of this that relates to our basketball team was when we brought in the Navy Seals for a 2 day training exercise and team building. Working with a team over a stretch of a season, you can see how they beging to develop a tendency and complacency in the preseason just competing against the same people everyday. They evaluate themselves based on their surrounding and teammates, they play well again same player X everyday (whether in competition or training) and begin to evaluate themselves on that scale. I really began to see how much they turned this switch when the Navy Seals came in. When our senior leadership on the team presented a drill, it was taken in stride by the team. When the Navy Seals did the drill, with more much efficiency and tactical execution it elevated the teams performance. It removed them from the "Best of our bunch" mentality and showed them how "they weren't anywhere close to the outside teams that exist". It's one thing to be the toughest among your 14 teammates in basketball, but you quickly realize that being among the toughest Navy Seals will bring you right back down. By them being around and going through one drill example, the entire team realized how far behind they were and performance immediately improved from there on out. The Navy Seals showed Oregon Ducks Basketball that they were the clowns being beaten in the experiment!
An upper-level statistics course is the setting for my example of social learning. This is the second course I am taking in HLM, and the teaching technique I describe has been used in every statics course (several at this point) that I have taken at UO.
Without going into the gory details of HLM, our professors model specific behaviors around learning and practicing statistics. One of these behaviors is building multilevel statistical models through a series of ordered steps, in which each modeling decision is based on findings and interpretations from the previous. The professor models this basic model building strategy, founded on both statistical significance and real world meaningfulness, across a variety of model types (e.g., two-level, three-level, growth) and data sets (e.g., cross-sectional, longitudinal). While research questions and study designs vary, the basic statistical modeling techniques remain the same, and are demonstrated by my current, and previous, professors.
I thought of an additional impact of our profs modeling such behavior that's directly applicable to sociocultural learning and engagement - that if we follow their guidelines, these frameworks for statistical modeling and interpretation, into our professional careers, it provides a means for us to dialogue, interact and build on one another's work with transparency and expediency. In other words, as professionals, we'd all be speaking the same, or very similar, language that would allow knowledge and practice to substantively advance.
My observation comes from a cultural activity we had in our school. Students in the 4th and 5th grades were instructed to create a poster about a food that was a family tradition. They listed the recipe, gave some history behind the tradition, and added some details on the poster about what their interpretation of their culture was.
Being a diverse school, we saw an incredible variety of foods and saw how traditions were reinforced with food. It was also interesting to see how students represented their cultures.
One interesting poster from a white student was his sign called "Wetback Tacos." The student had no idea that his sign contained a derogatory term. The sign indeed gave us some background into his culture.
After a quick lesson, he changed the sign to read "Mexican Tacos."
Do you think the student learned the derogatory word at home or from friends? Also, do you think he compromised on the term "Mexican Tacos?" I am wondering if he would have been ok just using the term "Tacos?"
I think it's interesting as well about calling tacos mexican tacos. In Mexico they don't have tacos. It's something that has been created here in the United States. This is a great opportunity for a larger discussion about stereotypes. Also, maybe the student felt as though they did not have a culture. I often hear that from caucasian students. It's sad that many of them don't identify with a culture. I have a lot of fun helping them explore what culture is and identifying things about their culture that they are proud of.
Friday I walked through one of the district Title I middle schools. The middle level is significantly vested in AVID strategies, especially WICOR (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization and Reading). Teachers trained in AVID use the WICOR cycle as a scaffold for student access to content. They explicitly instruct the learning target for the day as well as the knowledge and skills students must demonstrate to be considered proficient with the target. Teachers model repeatedly throughout the lesson, both their metacognitive thinking around the target as well as how they mediate their learning of the necessary skills and knowledge through writing, reading and collaborative discussion. Students received repeated feedback from the teacher throughout the period regarding how their work aligned or did not align to the modeled behavior of the teacher. When I asked students to tell me what they were learning, most were able to identify the learning target and some the specific skills they were to master. When asked what would they do if they hit a barrier in their work, several stated they had a mental picture of their teacher working on the task
As others have mentioned, there is definitely some overlap in these theories. I used PBIS as an example of the behaviorist theory and again I find PBIS offers an example of sociolcultural learning in action. At home, students have learned behaviors and beliefs which are considered acceptable in that setting/culture, however these behaviors may not be consistent with what we believe is acceptable behavior at school. With PBIS the school establishes behavior expectations for all settings within the school and then proceeds to teach and re-teach these expectations. The observation/imitation/modeling aspect of social learning can be seen clearly at the elementary level. When I worked at Welches Elementary School, we would take students to each setting (hallways, bathrooms, classroom, playground, lunch room, etc) and reviewed behavior expectations for each of those settings. Usually the behaviors were modeled. After observation, students would then imitate the behaviors as part of the lessons. We would also re-teach school behavior expectations after holidays because students often slipped into behaviors that were okay at home, but clearly not consistent with our school behavior expectations.
My example of social learning theory is something that our baseball teams does every single day. As coaches/teachers one of our jobs is to correct mistakes. In the strive for excellence the criticism is more often then not on the negative side because they stand out more. In an attempt to combat the negativity that happens on a daily basis our team conducts a players only "positive debrief". This is where players praise each other for actions that reflect the positive things they did that day. It allows players to learn from their peers actions and promotes others to follow via those examples.
On Fridays I meet with three other district Directors and we meet at a different school each week. Our goal is to host the meeting at the school and then spend time visiting classrooms. During a 10 minute observation I was watching a group of 5th grade boys during a reading instruction period. The teacher had a group in the front of the classroom and another group was with an educational assistant, a third group was reading independently at their desk, while the fourth group was sitting in the back of the classroom on beanbag chairs ~ yes, you can guess it already. The boys were squirrely and were resting against cubby type spaces where coats are hung. One young man started to lean back and put his head into the cubby and read while leaning back. Pretty soon he tapped the boy next to him to show what he was doing. Within less than one minute all five boys were leaning back, reading with their head in the cubby. This then turned into situps, and soon reading was out the window. As the boys were sitting up and down they would glance across the room to make sure that no adult was watching. At one point a parent volunteer began to walk towards the boys, and they immediately sat upright, became quiet and were very interested in their books again. As soon as she walked away, the ringleader began, but this time he pointed to the volunteer, motioned for everyone to be quiet while they were performing their physical activity. It wasn't too much longer until the principal, with whom I was standing, walked into the classroom, approached the boys and had each one of them go back to their desks. Quietly, with their heads down, they all walked back to their desks and quietly opened their books....
Haters gotta hate. I would have gone back and sat with the boys without saying anything, just picked up a book and read with my head in a cubby, silently inviting others to join me. or at least I'd like to think so. ;-)
The setting I observed sociocultural learning theory was my gym. I work out at mixed martial arts gym. At this gym, there are a wide array of skill levels. The coach teaches boxing and MMA at sequential times on Saturdays. He sets a strong standard for classroom expectation and emphasizes that we learn from each other. The learner, whether 15 or 38 spends time teaching each other and coaching each other in moves they need to improve on. The classes are designed in 25 minute chunks for instruction, guided practice and independent practice 25 minutes(sparring). What is fascinating about the process is how much the learner is involved in teaching the other learners. The coach sets the concept before the students but the real learning happens when another learner guides the other in correct movement or punches they guy in the head. In addition, because martial arts like boxing and mma cannot be learned alone, it becomes a highly social learning experience. The tone of the class and cultural norms are completely different from k-12 settings. The skills and relevance of experience are immediate in the gym. The culture of most k-12 schools takes a lot of work to become relevant for students. Each athlete is respected for his or her personal goals and their motivation for being there. K-12 settings are still mainly artificial and rarely take each child's motivation for being there into account.Kids go to k-12 schools because the law says they have to. Athletes join my gym because they want to and the culture they become apart of accepts them where they are at and helps each athlete grow to their potential if they pursue it.
Yesterday, I observed the Sociohistoric/Sociocultural, in action at my daughter's swimming class. She was very enthusiastic to start her new session yesterday because it was time to move on to the next level. There are three members in my daughter's group , including my daughter, and the sense of competition was high. Yesterday's challenge was to do the back stroke without asking for help. One of the children did it by herself and eventually, everybody was able to do it. I think it is amazing how , without the direct involvement of an adult, the children enhanced their own skill by the encouragement and motivation of being part of a group.
I watched another Tim Bedley video for this one as well (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxuMgorzZKs&feature=plcp). This was a math lesson exploring decimals and remainders. What is particularly interesting about how Bedley teaches is how he uses the students to teach each other through a process of reaching consensus. Students were asked if the number 2.4 was the same as 2r4 (remainder). Students worked in pairs to reach an answer and then the group got together and shared their conclusions. Students from each camp (yes and no) were nominated by their peers to argue their case in front of the class. After that, they returned to different groups with a mixture of folks who though yes and no. The goal of this lesson was to get everyone to the right answer through and iterative consensus process. They didn’t quite reach consensus in this lesson, but the children made some very good arguments. I’ve seen other Bedley lessons where the whole class reaches consensus through peer learning without students simply giving in to peer pressure. Bedley also discusses with the students when consensus can be reached through majority rule (elections) versus when there is only one answer (math). The entire process involved multiple instances of students modeling their own equations and diagrams to explain their conclusions to others. One striking instance was when two children with apposing answers showed their models at the front of class and debated the intent of the question. Despite fairly strong opinions they were able to argue in a civil fashion and make counterpoints without any teacher intervention. It was rather clear that they were adopting behavior they had seen modeled several times.
Alexa Pearson Yesterday we had a school-wide assembly for a program called Breaking Down the Walls. We rarely do whole-school assemblies because it is nearly impossible to fit 2,400 students into the gym.
For the kick-off assembly for this program, we had a motivational speaker talk to the students for 45 minutes. Here's why I was amazed: For 45 minutes, with 2,400 teenagers, not one cell phone went off, nobody had headphones, and students were listening to the speaker.
Three years ago we decided that students at CHS would not use electronic devices of any kind during the entire school day (even during passing time, lunch, etc.) unless the device was being used as an educational tool in the classroom. The first year was really rough because we had seniors who had used their phones for the last three years. Staff members also had to adjust to not using their phones when students were present. It was a huge shift at the time.
Three years later, it does not feel like that big of a deal. Our current seniors, juniors, sophomores have always had this rule, so they model for our incoming freshmen. It's pretty amazing to see 800 kids at lunch talking to each other, working on homework, or reading rather than being plugged in. Again, this is modeled in every classroom, in the hallways, in the cafeteria, in the media center, and in our assemblies.
In that diversity training I referred to in the last blog, many of us were thrust together in tight quarters from different corners of the state. Interestingly, we formed not only a culture together, but distinct subcultures over the four and a half days, with different norms for each group. Some of these norms were proscribed, and some evolved by sociocultural pressure. We learned that certain behaviors were acceptable, and that others were not, and that levels of acceptability varied according to changing settings, group configurations, and group sizes. These changes left most participants ill at ease until the last or next to last, as our social footing and our understanding of our group status shifted or changed. A quasi-miraculous jelling of norms and acceptance happened on the final day of the conference, but even up to the final evening, members kept adjusting their understandings of permissible types of behaviors, and their attendant attitudes in regard to those behaviors. It was an experiment in growth of a culture.
I observed a non structured setting. The setting was kinder kids walking on the right side of the hall. The teacher was practicing keeping their hands and feet to yourself, and walking quietly while in the hall. The exercise had nothing to do with walking on the right side of the hall, but one student lead the group on the right side and others followed. When some kids starting drifting to the left side, other students corrected immediately. After the students finished practicing, the teacher asked some follow up questions about the hallway expectations. The students responded with keeping their hands and feet to self and walk quietly, but many kids also made comments about the importance to walk on the right side of the hall. It is interesting how students pointed out a behavior that was not emphasized, but rather enforced a behavior that was part of the school's culture.
- In my observation I got to see a teacher work with students on reading a play. She first set the scene by talking about what was going on during that historical period. She described how people behaved and what societal expectations there were. The teacher began to read a couple of the lines and then went into character. She was a preacher and talked in a loud voice and told the students that they were going to hell because of their behavior. This was how preachers behaved in that period of time. As she acted the part out students observed and began to also get into character. She called two students up one by one so that they could read. They read exactly like she did. They were loud and direct talking to the students in the same manner she did.
I was sort of at a loss on this one at first. Most of our students work on their core curriculum asynchronously and though we do have interaction online through forums and chat channels, I was not sure if I would be able to observe something related to this. However, in the afternoons we have an “open lab” when students can come in to get help or to just use the computers. It is technically time that students voluntarily come in to work on their schoolwork, but some students are required by parents to attend and we also have several students from the district high school who come in during their “free period” to work on credit recovery classes. One of the credit recovery students is new, he's been with us for about two weeks and has had difficulty adjusting to the lab environment. Yesterday, he was squirming and tapping out a rhythm on his desk, generally engaging in distracting behavior. Another student who has been with us for about a year, turned around and said, “You know, that's really annoying and distracting.” The new student looked surprised and said, “Oh, sorry. It just helps me concentrate.” The veteran student suggested that he bring headphones and listen to music. As this conversation played out, I recalled that the veteran student had been referred to us the year before as a “behavior” student that they didn't want in the regular high school. They had given him the choice of attending our school or enrolling in a completely segregated environment.
Chopsticks! My observation of sociocultural learning happened at lunch. It was the perfect set up—two Chinese principals, a US superintendent, a State level educational leader, an interpreter and I were eating Chinese food at a restaurant. I saw that no chopsticks had been brought to the table and that the Chinese visitors were uncomfortable using forks. So I asked for chopsticks for everyone. Only the person from the State did not know how to use chopsticks. At first he continued to use his fork but he felt pressure to learn. He will be travelling to China in the spring, so he had peer and social motivation. We all tried to first use language to explain the mechanics of chopsticks. This was not enough. One of the Chinese visitors then modeled the action. The chopstick novice practiced throughout the meal. Finally, we all shared various dining manners that we felt he needed to know about before travelling to China-this added another cultural dynamic to the learning experience.
ReplyDeleteBrian, I love the chopstick story. It demonstrates the concept of reciprocal determinism as well! This would not likely have happened at a steakhouse; Chinese environment influenced the behavior, and in a way, the behavior (learning to eat with chopsticks) influenced the environment-bringing the conversation about cultural manners. Great example.
DeleteDon
Hi Brian,
DeleteGreat example! I love how it benefited both cultures and was taught in an "authentic" environment.
Brian,
DeleteGreat example. I have traveled overseas quite a bit and you run into this daily in new cultures. By learning from those around you, you quickly begin to adjust and adapt. Sometimes its chopsticks to put the cultural tension at ease over a meal, sometimes it's looking the right way to cross the street so the double decker bus in London doesn't run you over!
I also love this example. I wonder how the situation might be compared to cultures that use other utensils. Or no utensils at all? How does one eat a steak in Syria? In Uzbekistan? Or does one eat steak in these places.
DeleteBrian,
DeleteI too like this example. Both groups learned that people are willing to be flexible in their cultural norms. I find it interesting when new students arrive in a school and how quickly they adapt and learn the culture of the new school. I wonder if schools adapt their culture to the arrival of new students who are completely different then the majority.
Don Hood.
ReplyDeleteSociocultural learning was a much more difficult experience for me to observe. My observation is from a planning session I had today with a coauthor on a paper we are considering writing. My coauthor is situated in a completely different sociocultural context than me. She has a disability from a car accident, is female, half Native American, and is the mother of two half-Mexican children. I depend on her perspective as we attempt to posit a refined definition of positive outcomes for students with disabilities transitioning to the adult world. Through her modeling of strategies for considering definitions of transition outcomes (and she has patiently modeled many times), I am becoming more attuned to the realities that, contrary to the current literature on transition, not all families or students view employment, independent living, or post-secondary education as universally desirable outcomes for all students. For example, not all American subcultures view independent living as desirable, rather, for some there is a social expectation that the family will live together. I know this is a stretch for the assignment, but I think both the cultural aspects of this example combined with the components of social learning theory (I certainly have the motivation to include the modern broad perspective of multiple cultures in American society, allowing me to act on my attention, retention, and hopefully, reproduction of awareness of the cultural lens brought by my colleague.
Don,
DeleteI think that this is a very good example to share, as it highlights the differences between cultural values that impact education.
I worked in several areas in New Mexico where the public school value system was clearly not concordant with the home culture. There were various reasons for this lack of consistency, some altogether transparent and others not so much.
Education was in some cases a tertiary concern, at best, with extended family/tribe - immediate family as the primary concerns. The family's priorities were not always touchy-feely healthy, either. Sometimes, students were kept at home to assist with criminal activities, etc. They were being indoctrinated into the "family business". Sometimes, they had to travel many days to attend feasts with other tribe members. Whatever the reasons, it kept them out of school for many days at a time and on multiple occasions.
Even though I understood some of these absences from a family perspective, it was immensely frustrating as an educator, as it lead to situations where many students were absent 25-35% of the time to attend extended family/tribal and/or immediate family functions. Some of them may indeed have been learning important skills and knowledge during this time out of school, but they were clearly missing out on school curricula as a result, and oftentimes classroom experiences are invaluable and really impossible to make up. There is no question about the impact it had on academic progress for these students. It was negative in almost every case. Very few students were able to manage both discordant worlds successfully.
I wanted "the best" for my students. I assume that their parents also wanted "the best" for their children. Their "best" did not match my "best".
What are some strategies to deal with situations like this, where the values of the public school system not only are not supported by the family value system, but are often rejected, or, at best, tolerated? How will learning that is based on oftentimes discordant social models occur?
What you wrote reminded me of a past experience. When I was a principal, one of the neighboring schools was a charter school primarily for Native American children. The emphasis at the school was social learning. We has students that transferred back and forth and they struggled with the difference in instructional practices. Within our building we also had the Indian Ed program (funded by Title funds). The program helped to give our Native students a better sense of family that they were used to having at the charter school.
ReplyDeleteMy Sociocultural learning observation took place in the elementary gymnasium. I have been struggling to come up with fun, yet cooperative PE lessons to include in my weekly teaching of a subject which I am not exactly proficient in, and I found a hoop activity that did the trick and also provided me with this observation. I had the students form circles of approximately 14 students each, holding hands. Then I placed a "hula hoop" on the arms of two of the children and told them they needed to pass the hoop around the circle without un-linking hands. First team that got the hoop around the circle wins. This caused some disequilibrium as they initially decried the task's impossibility. I blew the whistle to signal "go" and they began to wiggle and tilt until the hoop slid down the arm and then they figured out that they would need to step through the hoop in order to "pass" it to the next person. It was interesting to watch the progression of skilled passing as the hoop went around the circle. The first students were unsure how to best accomplish the task and then one individual would demonstrate an efficient method that led to the successive players attempting to model those better/faster strategies. We played again, and most of the students at least tried to mimic the movements that were the most successful from the first game, and the hoop did get around in less time.
ReplyDeleteOver these three days I have realized that all three of these styles happen in my class all during a rehearse. Depending on what lens you are looking through I can find examples all over the place. When we are at a competition we walk from warm-up area to the stage warm-up area and sometimes it’s a long trip. We count to 8 to stay in step when we can’t have snare drum make sound. Since we have Spanish Immersion Program and International High School students that must take three years of language and people from other countries in my band I decided to have some fun. We started switching to Spanish, French, and then Japanese (the languages we have at Sheldon) and then German for our exchange friend last year, Chinese for my one of my students and Korean. Kids modeled the words and people joined in. They watch and listened and imitated. It was quite fun and keep us focus for the long trail to performance site.
ReplyDeleteBrian Sica
DeleteI agree Tracy. As I planned for the assignment, I really thought I would be able to stick to the idea of splitting the assignment into three days one each for the theories. However, as I observed on day one, I could not make it through 30 minutes without at least a partial example of each.
It raised a question in my mind though. Are the teachers using these theories to guide their planning for best results? Or, is it simply that these theories explain how we learn and often time as teachers we design lessons based on how we best learn? In short, I wonder if these are being explicitly used?
Thanks
Brian
I wonder if other people saw this in what they observed. I would answer yes to your question because I use all three methods to best teach my class and move through them throughout. I never realized this until we did this assignment.
DeleteMy sociocultural experience largely mimics the Bozo the Clown research exercise conducted by Bandura. My youngest son was sitting with me at the table eating an afternoon snack and chatting away about his day at preschool.
ReplyDeleteMy older son and daughter frolicked into the dining room and were "play fighting", socking and teasing each other about something or other (which they are not supposed to do in the house, mind you). My youngest son keyed right into their activity. He punched out with both fists at them as they rough-housed their way passed. Then, he punched me just because I was handy.
His attention was grabbed immediately by the ruckus. He observed the behavior of others, then he modeled the behavior that he saw. It was like a switch had been flipped; it seemed almost automatic.
Next, we tried to use some social modeling of a different sort in an effort to protect future visitors to our home, as well as ourselves, from the fisticuffs. My older kids and I tried to explain that they were not really fighting, that they were just playing around, that he should never haul off and punch someone for no reason.
Alas, he is still too young to understand the difference between play fighting/teasing and real fighting. It simply did not make sense to him yet. So, the family rule of not roughhousing is back in effect - especially in front of our impressionable little guy.
Dan,
DeleteI really enjoyed your example. It made me think about elementary classrooms (and I'm sure it happens in secondary as well). Isn't it always that one student who starts to misbehave triggers about 4 others in your class to mimic his behavior and do the same.
Hi Dan,
DeleteI just posted what Jackie mentioned under her example below. (I was reading the page from the bottom up tonight instead of top down -- I lead an exciting life!!).
It's fascinating to teach in an elementary setting where students are starting to realize that their behavior(s) may positively or negatively impact their peers' behaviors.
One of my favorite examples is when I had a student who was autistic and always struggled with school. She happened to be one of my favorite students I've ever had the privilege of working with and she was so unbelievably brilliant, I had all of the respect in the world for her. The other students picked up on that very quickly and she soon became the "popular" student among her peers. At times, her behavior was slightly inappropriate, yet, her peers were so quick to model the appropriate behavior - mostly because they were modeling from my respect for her and the appreciation of her differences. It's interesting to see the trickle down effect (both in a positive and negative way)
My observation led me here. This is Sociohistoric/Sociocultural. The blog, the videos, the Twitter, the back chat, YouTube, white board... we are participating in the creation of a social group. Our knowledge adapts to and transforms the environment around us.
ReplyDeleteI like what Kevin said, "The distance classrooms, the use of Blackboard, the blogging, and the electronic assignment submissions are all foreign to most of my teachers. Sure, we have heard of these things, and a few have experienced them, but my immersion in the technology used in the HEDCO building is like a trip to the future."
Brock,
DeleteI am constantly learning by watching you. :)
Jackie,
DeleteI am smarter because of ALL of you! It's a privilege to be in a cohort of super talented people. I look forward to working and learning with all of you.
JB... I know who you are watching. ;-)
That was my first thought as well. This class has been an interesting experience on learning through social interaction.
DeleteCreepy
DeleteI agree. This blog is a great opportunity for socio-cultural learning because it reinforces understanding of the three learning theories, especially the Empiricist/Behaviorist theory. For example, I wasn't very sure about the implications of the first theory on education , but after reading the blog, I was able to better understand how this theory could be used. By reading examples posted by my peers, I learned more and that is why, I think that this blog is a good way to learn from different experiences and perspectives.
DeleteYa,
DeleteI like to use technology but there are some social media I do not use with intent. But due to this class I have learned to use it and learn from it.
Jackie Brody
ReplyDeleteI observed an example of social learning theory today (and I regularly see this technique being used in schools). I was in a first grade classroom. The teacher had all of the students move to the carpet for calendar time. Most of the students moved and sat quickly, quietly, and appropriately. However, one of the students was wiggling around, sitting on his knees, and talking to the student next to him. The teacher praised 3 different students sitting very close to the active child for sitting quietly on their bottoms. The other student looked at these kids and then followed suit.
Jackie,
DeleteI love this example. I think that often times when trying to discipline (or correct behavior) we draw more attention to the behavior and give more attention to the student acting out which doesn't always work out. By promoting the positive behavior in others you are rewarding those doing the correct action, and you are correcting the disruptive student without having to give in to their attention seeking behavior. I know that this doesn't always work but I think that this is an incredible start in dealing with a potentially disruptive student.
Ah! One of my saving graces in the classroom...especially when kids are impressionable enough to base their actions off their role model peers. Have you noticed (with this particular student) that his/her classmates are often positive role models? I have seen many situations where classmates are mimicking the students' behavior to get a laugh from peers.
DeleteAt the conference I attended this week I saw a wonderful example of the social learning theory being demonstrated by Anita Archer. The activity was to observe a video of a teacher giving a lesson and we were to provide feedback using a newly developed observation sheet. During the lesson Anita would stop and make a few comments. After the video was complete she had us write down comments and then work together to determine how we would rate this lesson. After a few moments Anita modeled for us and shared how she would have rated this lesson and we compared her response to our own.
ReplyDeleteHi April..nice example of a teacher modeling desired behaviors to achieve desired outcomes from learners. It reminds me of when I was a science teacher in inner-city Dayton, OH, and though I came from a very different culture compared to most of my students, I wanted to them to develop certain skills that would be beneficial to their learning and to their future educational endeavors. I used techniques very similar to those you ascribe to Anita. For example, I would demonstrate effective note-taking strategies to my students, using standards-based content, and then lead a learning activity that required notes to be taken - I would provide feedback on their notes, while providing my own notes, what I felt was important as a guide for students to imitate. In this manner, I was not only modeling behaviors that I wanted them to exhibit, but I was reinforcing the behaviors and outcomes I desired by showing them finished products and how they could improve both their skills and own outcomes.
DeleteDavid Klech
ReplyDeleteGoing off somewhat other people have already posted I saw conforming to social norms, however, not conforming to the majority but conforming to the leader. At out practice sessions we always close our practices with a cool down, core exercises, flexibility and movement drills. Many time people want to try and rush through these and just want to get out of practice as quickly as possible. However, our current team captain in the group has really taken on knowing the importance of this stuff and in the last few weeks has made it a priority and led by example very well. His demonstration and attitude has started to rub off on the rest of the group. As a coach now, I don’t have to implement or harp on any of the athletes because this captain has demonstrated the appropriate attitude and other are following suit. It’s interesting to see how if a person in authority practices the behavior they want to see in others how much more impactful it becomes, leading by example.
Hi David,
DeleteInteresting concept. Have you encountered a situation where a student given a leadership role has taken advantage of their responsibilities? I would imagine their leadership is under guidance of an adult and the student would take pride in positively impacting the younger students. I just always wonder if an "animal farm" like situation would arise. There have been few times in my teaching experience (elementary level) where a "leader" was doing more bullying than leading (once given the freedom to be that leader)
It is always interesting to me how impactful leading by example is amongst a group. To me this is most effective way to lead because it holds respect level that sometimes talking or telling does not. It often promotes a rich environment for sociocultural learning.
DeleteThis was the hardest one for me. I first wanted to discuss examples I have noticed about how my coworker buddies and I (Shawn and Dan) tend to discuss college and fantasy football an awful lot when the bosses aren't around. But then I realized we still discuss it when they are around because our bosses are just that cool. My initial thinking, though, was that when we get in meetings etc. we're all business. So our behavior changes based upon the social context. But then I realized that probably has more to do with just needing to get things done than it does any socioculutural learning.
ReplyDeleteSo, that was all a big meaningless ramble of things I've thought about since going over the sociocultural content. My actual example comes from today when, feeling a bit overwhelmed with the amount of work I needed to do, I thought I would just hunker down get after it. But then, Shawn and Dan struck again, luring me to a colloquium presentation. They were going, with or without me (i.e., they had modeled the behavior they wanted out of me) but they were putting pressure on me to attend as well. Despite feeling like if I went I wasn't going to get everything done, I caved and went anyway. Turns out it was well worth it - the presentation was great. But it wasn't until we were actually walking over there that I realized my behavior had changed, despite my best intentions, because of the pressures placed upon me by my peer group. It's just a good thing they weren't trying to tempt me to do drugs or something : )
Haha! In the name of full-disclosure, I too fall prey to peer-pressure, both by Dan (going out to lunch when I've brought my own) and Dan (spending time talking about college football recruiting and everything Duck-related), and by others in our program. For example, after a quiz this week, I felt badly about my performance and intended to go home and sulk, but after a couple of texts from a classmate, I ended up going out for an after-quiz cocktail. I though later about how my behavior had changed, at first feeling like I had caved in to going out when perhaps I didn't deserve the break, but then realizing that my two friends were modeling a key behavior for doctoral student - don't take your perceived successes or failure too seriously.
DeleteIn both our examples, we caved into social pressure, both to our benefit. Here's to peer pressure!
It is interesting to me how the after- hours socializing is often based around, or augmented by booze.
Delete"Hey, can I buy you a milk or cola?" doesn't quite carry the same weight as "Time for a beer?"
Beer-thirty is a critical moment in many work weeks. It signals the end of one part of the day and heralds in the next. It is a collective recognition of hard work and collaboration.
If modern civilization was truly born when beer was first brewed, does the brew hold it all together today?
Yes
DeleteBrian Sica
ReplyDeleteThis week I entered a classroom and found myself observing what I perceived as a rather dull vocabulary lesson on cell division. The students were writing definitions of mitosis, meiosis, haploid, etc....They seemed at best compliant and at worst asleep during their task.
However, the assignment shifted gears to a quick vignette where a moral imperative was presented. Without going into all the details, the idea was a couple had just lost their only son to an accident that also caused them to both to be sterile. The teacher posed to the group should they harvest a cell from the dying son to clone?
As the students became engaged in a heated debate, the teacher guided them to use each of the prior vocabulary words in their defense of their position.
To me, this lesson became effective when the students began to use the vocabulary. This did not happen until there was a group discussion on the acceptance and consequences of cloning (obviously as a hypothetical)
Brian
Hi Brian,
DeleteWhat a neat concept and total 360 shift of a lesson! I am curious to know how much the students' beliefs and background experience impacted their opinions and decisions about this scenario. Did you find that students were "impacted" based on their peers' responses. Did the teacher remain "neutral" throughout the lesson?
I wonder how much religious beliefs factored in this discussion.
DeleteBrian: Your example reminded me of the lessons I gave this week in all of our freshmen sciences classes on sexual harassment. As you can imagine there was some lively conversation. But what really struck me was how within their own culture (of being teenagers)their perceptions of what is socially acceptable in regards to sexual harassment did not always match the "politically correct" adult culture in the US today. They have learned to accept certain behaviors through observation and imitation of their peers, without paying attention to what is acceptable in a wider section of society.
DeleteIt is interesting that while we attempt to teach our students what is "politically" correct in our adult culture, students are also learning a great deal from the observation, imitation and modeling of their peers. I find that there are things my high school son does or says that I believe to be not "politically" correct and yet when challenged, his question back to me is always, "why do adults think they always know the right way to do things?" An age old comment for sure, but at the same time young people can be pretty amazing. As I think about the teaching that goes on in our schools, I wonder how open and ready to accept, we are, to the lessons that our young people have to teach us?
DeleteI think this is a good example of how cognitivist and sociocultural models overlap. Part of what made the lesson shift so engaging was a lively social debate, but it was also a shift from one-way transmission of knowledge to a process of developing meaning around those concepts.
DeleteThe activity immediately became more interesting when students had to place the information in a framework and articulate their own process of creating meaning about the concepts under study. At the same time the cultural beliefs and experiences of the students were no doubt rising to the surface of the debate. I think it is interesting to consider how the three frameworks interact in learning.
The school that I am working at is a prime example of sociocultural-sociohistoric learning. I work at a school that is a full immersion educational environment (students are native English speakers but immersed in a second language for their entire day). Our school has full immersion in Chinese, Japanese and Spanish taught my teachers who are native speakers of the immersion language. This helps to create an authentic learning environment where students are learning native accents, speech patterns and expressions. Consequently, students are also experience multiple cultures a day through working and learning together. It is amazing to see students speaking a second language fluently with their peers and native speakers (their teachers) of that language in a true immersion environment.
ReplyDeleteMeg,
DeleteYour post reminds me of the time that I spent working at NM School for the Deaf. I learned a great deal about language, communication, and cultural norms (much of which was both fascinating and baffling at the same time). It was a true immersion experience for me as an adult and one that I still treasure.
This is a bit off the topic, but the assignment is over so I feel that I can comment with abandon. My daughter is enrolled in an International High School within South Eugene HS. She is studying Japanese and plans to spend a year abroad next year, her Soph year, in order to become fluent in Japanese. She's pretty excited!
Dan
One of the examples of this that relates to our basketball team was when we brought in the Navy Seals for a 2 day training exercise and team building. Working with a team over a stretch of a season, you can see how they beging to develop a tendency and complacency in the preseason just competing against the same people everyday. They evaluate themselves based on their surrounding and teammates, they play well again same player X everyday (whether in competition or training) and begin to evaluate themselves on that scale.
ReplyDeleteI really began to see how much they turned this switch when the Navy Seals came in. When our senior leadership on the team presented a drill, it was taken in stride by the team. When the Navy Seals did the drill, with more much efficiency and tactical execution it elevated the teams performance. It removed them from the "Best of our bunch" mentality and showed them how "they weren't anywhere close to the outside teams that exist". It's one thing to be the toughest among your 14 teammates in basketball, but you quickly realize that being among the toughest Navy Seals will bring you right back down. By them being around and going through one drill example, the entire team realized how far behind they were and performance immediately improved from there on out.
The Navy Seals showed Oregon Ducks Basketball that they were the clowns being beaten in the experiment!
I am sure there is a culture of invincibility among division 1 student athletes. It's good to relieve them of this belief from time to time.
DeleteDid coach Radcliff participate?
An upper-level statistics course is the setting for my example of social learning. This is the second course I am taking in HLM, and the teaching technique I describe has been used in every statics course (several at this point) that I have taken at UO.
ReplyDeleteWithout going into the gory details of HLM, our professors model specific behaviors around learning and practicing statistics. One of these behaviors is building multilevel statistical models through a series of ordered steps, in which each modeling decision is based on findings and interpretations from the previous. The professor models this basic model building strategy, founded on both statistical significance and real world meaningfulness, across a variety of model types (e.g., two-level, three-level, growth) and data sets (e.g., cross-sectional, longitudinal). While research questions and study designs vary, the basic statistical modeling techniques remain the same, and are demonstrated by my current, and previous, professors.
I thought of an additional impact of our profs modeling such behavior that's directly applicable to sociocultural learning and engagement - that if we follow their guidelines, these frameworks for statistical modeling and interpretation, into our professional careers, it provides a means for us to dialogue, interact and build on one another's work with transparency and expediency. In other words, as professionals, we'd all be speaking the same, or very similar, language that would allow knowledge and practice to substantively advance.
DeleteMy observation comes from a cultural activity we had in our school. Students in the 4th and 5th grades were instructed to create a poster about a food that was a family tradition. They listed the recipe, gave some history behind the tradition, and added some details on the poster about what their interpretation of their culture was.
ReplyDeleteBeing a diverse school, we saw an incredible variety of foods and saw how traditions were reinforced with food. It was also interesting to see how students represented their cultures.
One interesting poster from a white student was his sign called "Wetback Tacos." The student had no idea that his sign contained a derogatory term. The sign indeed gave us some background into his culture.
After a quick lesson, he changed the sign to read "Mexican Tacos."
Steve,
DeleteDo you think the student learned the derogatory word at home or from friends? Also, do you think he compromised on the term "Mexican Tacos?" I am wondering if he would have been ok just using the term "Tacos?"
I think it's interesting as well about calling tacos mexican tacos. In Mexico they don't have tacos. It's something that has been created here in the United States. This is a great opportunity for a larger discussion about stereotypes. Also, maybe the student felt as though they did not have a culture. I often hear that from caucasian students. It's sad that many of them don't identify with a culture. I have a lot of fun helping them explore what culture is and identifying things about their culture that they are proud of.
DeleteFriday I walked through one of the district Title I middle schools. The middle level is significantly vested in AVID strategies, especially WICOR (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization and Reading). Teachers trained in AVID use the WICOR cycle as a scaffold for student access to content. They explicitly instruct the learning target for the day as well as the knowledge and skills students must demonstrate to be considered proficient with the target. Teachers model repeatedly throughout the lesson, both their metacognitive thinking around the target as well as how they mediate their learning of the necessary skills and knowledge through writing, reading and collaborative discussion. Students received repeated feedback from the teacher throughout the period regarding how their work aligned or did not align to the modeled behavior of the teacher.
ReplyDeleteWhen I asked students to tell me what they were learning, most were able to identify the learning target and some the specific skills they were to master. When asked what would they do if they hit a barrier in their work, several stated they had a mental picture of their teacher working on the task
As others have mentioned, there is definitely some overlap in these theories. I used PBIS as an example of the behaviorist theory and again I find PBIS offers an example of sociolcultural learning in action. At home, students have learned behaviors and beliefs which are considered acceptable in that setting/culture, however these behaviors may not be consistent with what we believe is acceptable behavior at school. With PBIS the school establishes behavior expectations for all settings within the school and then proceeds to teach and re-teach these expectations. The observation/imitation/modeling aspect of social learning can be seen clearly at the elementary level. When I worked at Welches Elementary School, we would take students to each setting (hallways, bathrooms, classroom, playground, lunch room, etc) and reviewed behavior expectations for each of those settings. Usually the behaviors were modeled. After observation, students would then imitate the behaviors as part of the lessons. We would also re-teach school behavior expectations after holidays because students often slipped into behaviors that were okay at home, but clearly not consistent with our school behavior expectations.
ReplyDeleteMy example of social learning theory is something that our baseball teams does every single day. As coaches/teachers one of our jobs is to correct mistakes. In the strive for excellence the criticism is more often then not on the negative side because they stand out more. In an attempt to combat the negativity that happens on a daily basis our team conducts a players only "positive debrief". This is where players praise each other for actions that reflect the positive things they did that day. It allows players to learn from their peers actions and promotes others to follow via those examples.
ReplyDeleteOn Fridays I meet with three other district Directors and we meet at a different school each week. Our goal is to host the meeting at the school and then spend time visiting classrooms. During a 10 minute observation I was watching a group of 5th grade boys during a reading instruction period. The teacher had a group in the front of the classroom and another group was with an educational assistant, a third group was reading independently at their desk, while the fourth group was sitting in the back of the classroom on beanbag chairs ~ yes, you can guess it already. The boys were squirrely and were resting against cubby type spaces where coats are hung. One young man started to lean back and put his head into the cubby and read while leaning back. Pretty soon he tapped the boy next to him to show what he was doing. Within less than one minute all five boys were leaning back, reading with their head in the cubby. This then turned into situps, and soon reading was out the window. As the boys were sitting up and down they would glance across the room to make sure that no adult was watching. At one point a parent volunteer began to walk towards the boys, and they immediately sat upright, became quiet and were very interested in their books again. As soon as she walked away, the ringleader began, but this time he pointed to the volunteer, motioned for everyone to be quiet while they were performing their physical activity. It wasn't too much longer until the principal, with whom I was standing, walked into the classroom, approached the boys and had each one of them go back to their desks. Quietly, with their heads down, they all walked back to their desks and quietly opened their books....
ReplyDeleteHaters gotta hate. I would have gone back and sat with the boys without saying anything, just picked up a book and read with my head in a cubby, silently inviting others to join me. or at least I'd like to think so. ;-)
DeleteThe setting I observed sociocultural learning theory was my gym. I work out at mixed martial arts gym. At this gym, there are a wide array of skill levels. The coach teaches boxing and MMA at sequential times on Saturdays. He sets a strong standard for classroom expectation and emphasizes that we learn from each other. The learner, whether 15 or 38 spends time teaching each other and coaching each other in moves they need to improve on. The classes are designed in 25 minute chunks for instruction, guided practice and independent practice 25 minutes(sparring). What is fascinating about the process is how much the learner is involved in teaching the other learners. The coach sets the concept before the students but the real learning happens when another learner guides the other in correct movement or punches they guy in the head. In addition, because martial arts like boxing and mma cannot be learned alone, it becomes a highly social learning experience. The tone of the class and cultural norms are completely different from k-12 settings. The skills and relevance of experience are immediate in the gym. The culture of most k-12 schools takes a lot of work to become relevant for students. Each athlete is respected for his or her personal goals and their motivation for being there. K-12 settings are still mainly artificial and rarely take each child's motivation for being there into account.Kids go to k-12 schools because the law says they have to. Athletes join my gym because they want to and the culture they become apart of accepts them where they are at and helps each athlete grow to their potential if they pursue it.
ReplyDeleteJoel,
DeleteI like your MMA example.
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ReplyDeleteYesterday, I observed the Sociohistoric/Sociocultural, in action at my daughter's swimming class. She was very enthusiastic to start her new session yesterday because it was time to move on to the next level. There are three members in my daughter's group , including my daughter, and the sense of competition was high. Yesterday's challenge was to do the back stroke without asking for help. One of the children did it by herself and eventually, everybody was able to do it. I think it is amazing how , without the direct involvement of an adult, the children enhanced their own skill by the encouragement and motivation of being part of a group.
ReplyDeleteI watched another Tim Bedley video for this one as well (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxuMgorzZKs&feature=plcp). This was a math lesson exploring decimals and remainders. What is particularly interesting about how Bedley teaches is how he uses the students to teach each other through a process of reaching consensus. Students were asked if the number 2.4 was the same as 2r4 (remainder). Students worked in pairs to reach an answer and then the group got together and shared their conclusions. Students from each camp (yes and no) were nominated by their peers to argue their case in front of the class. After that, they returned to different groups with a mixture of folks who though yes and no. The goal of this lesson was to get everyone to the right answer through and iterative consensus process. They didn’t quite reach consensus in this lesson, but the children made some very good arguments. I’ve seen other Bedley lessons where the whole class reaches consensus through peer learning without students simply giving in to peer pressure.
ReplyDeleteBedley also discusses with the students when consensus can be reached through majority rule (elections) versus when there is only one answer (math). The entire process involved multiple instances of students modeling their own equations and diagrams to explain their conclusions to others. One striking instance was when two children with apposing answers showed their models at the front of class and debated the intent of the question. Despite fairly strong opinions they were able to argue in a civil fashion and make counterpoints without any teacher intervention. It was rather clear that they were adopting behavior they had seen modeled several times.
Alexa Pearson
ReplyDeleteYesterday we had a school-wide assembly for a program called Breaking Down the Walls. We rarely do whole-school assemblies because it is nearly impossible to fit 2,400 students into the gym.
For the kick-off assembly for this program, we had a motivational speaker talk to the students for 45 minutes. Here's why I was amazed: For 45 minutes, with 2,400 teenagers, not one cell phone went off, nobody had headphones, and students were listening to the speaker.
Three years ago we decided that students at CHS would not use electronic devices of any kind during the entire school day (even during passing time, lunch, etc.) unless the device was being used as an educational tool in the classroom. The first year was really rough because we had seniors who had used their phones for the last three years. Staff members also had to adjust to not using their phones when students were present. It was a huge shift at the time.
Three years later, it does not feel like that big of a deal. Our current seniors, juniors, sophomores have always had this rule, so they model for our incoming freshmen. It's pretty amazing to see 800 kids at lunch talking to each other, working on homework, or reading rather than being plugged in. Again, this is modeled in every classroom, in the hallways, in the cafeteria, in the media center, and in our assemblies.
In that diversity training I referred to in the last blog, many of us were thrust together in tight quarters from different corners of the state. Interestingly, we formed not only a culture together, but distinct subcultures over the four and a half days, with different norms for each group. Some of these norms were proscribed, and some evolved by sociocultural pressure. We learned that certain behaviors were acceptable, and that others were not, and that levels of acceptability varied according to changing settings, group configurations, and group sizes. These changes left most participants ill at ease until the last or next to last, as our social footing and our understanding of our group status shifted or changed. A quasi-miraculous jelling of norms and acceptance happened on the final day of the conference, but even up to the final evening, members kept adjusting their understandings of permissible types of behaviors, and their attendant attitudes in regard to those behaviors. It was an experiment in growth of a culture.
ReplyDeleteI observed a non structured setting. The setting was kinder kids walking on the right side of the hall. The teacher was practicing keeping their hands and feet to yourself, and walking quietly while in the hall. The exercise had nothing to do with walking on the right side of the hall, but one student lead the group on the right side and others followed. When some kids starting drifting to the left side, other students corrected immediately. After the students finished practicing, the teacher asked some follow up questions about the hallway expectations. The students responded with keeping their hands and feet to self and walk quietly, but many kids also made comments about the importance to walk on the right side of the hall. It is interesting how students pointed out a behavior that was not emphasized, but rather enforced a behavior that was part of the school's culture.
ReplyDelete- In my observation I got to see a teacher work with students on reading a play. She first set the scene by talking about what was going on during that historical period. She described how people behaved and what societal expectations there were. The teacher began to read a couple of the lines and then went into character. She was a preacher and talked in a loud voice and told the students that they were going to hell because of their behavior. This was how preachers behaved in that period of time. As she acted the part out students observed and began to also get into character. She called two students up one by one so that they could read. They read exactly like she did. They were loud and direct talking to the students in the same manner she did.
ReplyDeleteI was sort of at a loss on this one at first. Most of our students work on their core curriculum asynchronously and though we do have interaction online through forums and chat channels, I was not sure if I would be able to observe something related to this. However, in the afternoons we have an “open lab” when students can come in to get help or to just use the computers. It is technically time that students voluntarily come in to work on their schoolwork, but some students are required by parents to attend and we also have several students from the district high school who come in during their “free period” to work on credit recovery classes. One of the credit recovery students is new, he's been with us for about two weeks and has had difficulty adjusting to the lab environment. Yesterday, he was squirming and tapping out a rhythm on his desk, generally engaging in distracting behavior. Another student who has been with us for about a year, turned around and said, “You know, that's really annoying and distracting.” The new student looked surprised and said, “Oh, sorry. It just helps me concentrate.” The veteran student suggested that he bring headphones and listen to music. As this conversation played out, I recalled that the veteran student had been referred to us the year before as a “behavior” student that they didn't want in the regular high school. They had given him the choice of attending our school or enrolling in a completely segregated environment.
ReplyDelete