Reading response of the reading identities and social locations Essay

Reading response of the reading identities and social locations - Essay Example The part of my identity that I underplay is physical characteristics. If my idea is tied with the way, I look. Basing my self-worth and identity is a monumental bad idea. This is because if I gain weight, there is no way I will be happy. If I have something that I believe is ugly, it will lower my self-esteem. My people are the people I identify with. People that have characteristics similar to mine, we have common interests and we are all equal, no one feels stronger than the other in any aspect does. I refer Chinese in America as my people. Home according to me is a physical place or an emotion that gives me a sense of belonging, here I identify with each other, and we can share affiliations ((Okazawa-Rey & Gwyn, 110). A social location is a point where all characteristics of my identity meet. It determines the privileges I can have and situations, which are beyond my control. My social location is Chinese, educated class, female, heterosexual, and studying in America. From the dimensions in the social location, the social dimensions that provide privilege and power is class and education. While the dimension that provides less power and disadvantage is race, and sexual orientation. Most white privilege bearers try to do their best in looking out and avoiding ways of helping them get ahead of life. It is not a simple task, this is because education has helped them in recognizing the privileges, and therefore, their understanding has not been with them for their entire life. According to my understanding, for one to be equity activist, they have to dismantle the system that favors some people for no go reason than the social group members (Okazawa-Rey & Gwyn,

Student Learning Methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Student Learning Methods - Essay Example Learner-centered learning environments are founded on the principal that learning is an active process. Learning is an interaction between the student and text, involving the activation of prior knowledge and relating new ideas to preexisting schemata. Based on this paradigm learner-centered environments engage the student both personally and intellectually and provide the best method for meeting the needs of all learners. In teacher-centered learning environments, the more traditional and widespread approach, the teacher is viewed as the focal point and leader of learning. The teacher is the authority, leaving the students in the passive role as receivers of knowledge, rather than active constructors of that knowledge. That knowledge is finite and discrete. In teacher-centered learning the lessons are instructionally driven, leaving the students unengaged intellectually and emotionally. These traditional methods include memorization, completing worksheets, reading a text and answering predetermined questions - demonstrating knowledge of the "right" answer. In this form of learning there is limited activation of prior knowledge, and therefore students struggle to create personally significant meaning. This is because in teacher-centered learning the background, values and interests of the learner are nonexistent. The student is passively filled in with information, rather than engaged in his own learning process. Learning environments are controlled, organized and with an emphasis on independent seatwork. Lessons, classwork and homework are results-driven. This unresponsive and static approach also fails to meet the needs of special needs populations, because lesson goals and objectives are standardized, meaning students must adapt to t he methods oftentimes with some students unable to engage the teacher's attention to meet their needs. Assessment One of the most significant challenges in teacher-centered learning is in assessment. Using traditional methods such as standardized tests rather than qualitative measures, teacher-centered learning places the emphasis on performance and repetition of facts. It leaves little room for students to construct their own meaning based on their own experiences, cultural background, values and interests. This causes a mismatch between goals and assessment. For this reason, many times students can appear to understand material in one format, yet in another appear unsuccessful during assessments because of the focus on success rather than on learning. Characteristics of Learner-Centered Environments Theoretical Basis In learner-centered environments the student becomes the actor in his own learning, and therefore the teacher becomes the facilitator to that learning by designing learning activities which actively engage the learner. This is based on the theory that all know- ledge is organized in schemata - the underlying connections that allow new experiences and information to be aligned with previous knowledge (Landry, 2002). Activities: Engaging and Adaptive As the designer of lessons rather than an authority, and with the understanding that Students exhibit various strengths and weaknesses in learning styles and modalities, the teacher's role is to create activities which are varied and engage these differences, rather than repress