Bog Assignment 2

Now I better understand why Japanese residents of Okinawa are so against the presence of a U.S. military Air Force base on their island. They complain bitterly about the  near-ear shattering noise that invade their neighborhoods. If I was a teacher on the DOD school of that base and had to deal with that noise, what would I do? It occurred to me to put up sound-muffling curtains, but then natural light is important for the students' well-being, so that's not the answer, even if it were economically feasible. I would need to make sure to change seating arrangements often, so that it isn't the same students sitting by the window with the most noise. More importantly, I would make my teaching not so dependent on my verbal input. I would make sure to use plenty of visuals, and those visuals would be more reliant on pictures, than words. This would also help ELL learners, and those who may have vision problems.  Even more important, however, is my role in helping identify hearing and vision problems. I previously thought these problems would interfered learning the content, but now I understand that they affect brain development. With such high stakes, as a teacher it is my responsibility to observe my students carefully for signs of these problems. 

 Does anyone remember the case of a little girl who was locked in isolation from a very young age in an attic? When she was rescued as a 9 year-old, she had little verbal capabilities.  Now after viewing these brain videos, her case really makes sense--growing up in isolation, she had no experiences to build her brain architecture. And it really points to the fact that we humans are social animals, and need interaction in order to learn. As a language teacher I've always tried to use pair work and group work activities,  but I think I need to take it a step further, and ask myself, "how does what I do in the classroom strengthen the connections between the students in my class?"