Chapter 3

Through my observations and personal experience I can conclude that students do in fact need time to put their skills into practice. Yes, people are more talented than others however, even these students needed to have learned and practice their talents in order to be advanced in the first place. The quote in the reading states, “significant learning takes major investments of time. Although many people believe that “talent” plays a role in who becomes an expert in a particular area, even seemingly talented individuals require a great deal of practice in order to develop their expertise (pg 58).” In my Physical education class we just finished reading a book that talks about this very topic. The book argued that talent can grow and is not born. The myth that people are naturally born with talent is not true because anyone can practice enough and put enough effort in order to learn. With my kindergarteners they need constant repetition and practice of letters and corresponding sounds in order to learn them. This ties into giving students enough time to practice as well other than just practice. As we can see in the reading, “learning cannot be rushed; the complex cognitive activity of information integration requires time (pg 58).” As their teacher I cannot expect them to learn all of the letters and sounds in a few weeks. It takes time and practice for them to fully conceptually understand and learn the letters.

Chapter three talked about learning through background and prior knowledge. I believe that designing lessons in which teachers make the curriculum connect with the student’s prior knowledge is very important. Students have been exposed to so much information before even setting foot on a school grounds. We can use this prior knowledge so that the students make connections and hook them to the learning. The reading mentions, “Prior knowledge is not simply the individual learning that students bring to the classroom, based on their personal and idiosyncratic experiences (pg 71).” Students have traveled, have been taught by educated parents, and have been exposed to many facts based on their upraising. These all relate to prior knowledge and the amount of knowledge our students come in with. Not only do students come in with a range of facts and misconceptions they also come in with different cultural upbringings and teachings. Like the reading states, “Prior knowledge also includes the kind of knowledge that learners acquire because of their social roles, such as those connected with race, class, gender, and their culture and ethnic affiliations (pg 72).” My students are predominantly Latin American native Spanish speakers. There are so many background facts that effect the way they learn and what they already know. My students are daily making transfer from one language to another.