Writing Feedback / Teaching methods, learning styles essay - due today... [2]

this is my final term paper...and it's due today. i was wondering if someone could look over it and make corrections and give me feedback. it's due at 3:30 so PLEASE help me. thanks so much!

The brain has two distinct parts; each one is responsible for specific tasks. The left side of the brain controls speech, logical, and thinking skills; the right side is the athletic, creative, and visual portion. Although both sides of the brain function properly, one side is dominant, causing each person to be stronger in either a logical way or a creative way. This contributes to the reason why each person learns differently. Everyone has a specific type of learning style that works best for them. Teachers, faced with the challenges of accommodating different types of student learning styles and academic levels, are forced to implement various teaching methods in order to captivate each student's attention.

Some teachers believe that the best way to teach is by taking on the role of the dictator in the classroom. As dictators, they treat their students as sponges, and merely feed the students information and expect it to soak in and be comprehended. These kinds of teachers believe that once the information is presented, it is the students' own responsibility to comprehend the material. "Learning," in the eyes of these teachers, means reading, memorizing, and being able to repeat any information. Freire calls this the "banking concept." This concept states that education "becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiqués and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat" (Freire 58). Through memorizing and repeating, information essentially goes in one ear and out the other. Until the information sinks in, it will not be understood. The banking concept of education doesn't encourage students to engage in critical thinking, instead, it requires the students to be passive and accept facts as they are given-without having the option of questioning or debating. If teachers want their students to grasp the material, they have to realize that the banking concept is not an effective method.

Students, however, will grasp the course material when they are focused, engaged, and interested in the material. It is at this time when students are at their peak point of absorption that they will actually be eager to learn. There are many ways that a teacher can get students engaged and involved. First off, if the students understand the value and importance of the subject, they will be willing to devote their time and energy into learning the subject matter. Secondly, if students are allowed to work together and collaborate their ideas, learning will be enhanced. It is vital that students are able to formulate their own ideas and opinions, and being able to work with peers certainly facilitates that. Thirdly, students need to practice active learning. Students do not learn just by sitting in classes listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments, and spitting out answers. To truly learn the material they must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences and apply it to their daily lives.

Within the past couple years, class sizes have been increasing in both high schools and colleges/universities. The larger the class size, the less individual attention each student receives. In some cases, the students may not even get attention at all from their teachers-such as in some lecture classes at large universities. When students are in classes that are considerably larger than they should be, they feel a sense of anonymity and they "may ultimately be deprived of valuable learning experiences and interactions." (Yazedjian) Active learning must be incorporated to engage the students in such large classes, and one way to do this is to promote small group work. Small group work allows for students to interact with other students while forcing them to pay attention. Discussions occur, work is talked through, and learning is enhanced. After a study was conducted in 1999, it was discovered that "when compared with students who participated in traditional instructional methods, students gained a deeper understanding of course content in the discussion sessions than lecture sessions. In addition, these abilities were further enhanced when students believed their institutions emphasized practical application of information and promoted the use of course material in situations beyond the classroom." (Yazedjian) It is highly effective when small group work is used-especially in large classes. It allows students to feel connected to the class, it promotes active learning, and it allows students to interact with one another.

A common problem students face is not being able to relate course material to the real world. Students feel as if the knowledge they learn in school is useless and that it is a waste of time to learn the information if it won't benefit them later on in life. One college realized this, and decided to stray from the typical teaching styles with the intention of grasping students' full attention and creating a desire for students to want to learn. This college, a small, private school in Maine, focuses on the "learning by doing" philosophy. The school enhances education by first educating students in the classroom and then bringing them out into the real world to put to use the information that was learned. When students are able to put their knowledge to use in the real world, they are able "live [their] education and gain the tools to solve the problems of our time." (Priesnitz) This hands-on method has forced students to naturally become interested in learning and it has proved to be a very effective teaching method.

Besides the mentioned teaching methods, there are other techniques that are beneficial to the classroom. For example, when teachers bring in props, movies, and visual aids, students naturally take an interest since the techniques are new and exciting. Not only are the students engaged, but the techniques captivate students' attention and cause students to take an interest in the material. These methods stimulate students' mental activity and make it more feasible and effective for students to learn. Moreover, each student's learning process is different; some people learn better by listening, some by watching, and others by doing. When all techniques are combined, students have a better chance of understanding the material.

Students need to be challenged, engaged, and eager to learn. However, teachers need to recognize that not every student learns the same way. Some students learn material quicker and easier than others due to the way their brains are wired. If only one type of teaching method is applied, not every student's learning needs will be accounted for. Various teaching methods need to be combined so that students have the opportunity to learn in multiple ways. The more opportunities that are available for a student to learn, the more valuable the education becomes. Therefore, the most successful teaching technique is one that involves a variety of different methods in order to accommodate every student's unique learning style.

Research Papers / Marx vs. Gandhi [Power, Social Class, and Money] Essay [6]

I really hate english and I need A TON of help. I wrote this essay and I though it was ok but I got a C- on it and I need all the help I can get to rewrite it.

The essay is about Marx's "Communist Manifesto" and Gandhi's "Economic and Moral Progress" speech. I was discussing the role that money, power, and social class play in society. But my teacher said that I got the main points wrong. PLEASE HELP ME!!

Here's the essay:

In Gandhi's "Economic and Moral Progress" and Marx's "The Communist Manifesto" essays, they discuss the topics of materialism and class distinction. Gandhi believes that through peace and nonviolent protests, changes to society can be made. He also focuses strongly on individual morality and how morality can be related to social classes. Marx, on the other hand, urged people to use violence, if necessary, to create social change within the class systems. Marx sought after the way that the societal structure could change and he focuses more on the growth of a nation-rather than the individual. Although Gandhi and Marx have completely opposite approaches, it is made clear through their essays that the economy and social class are both main issues in which society is based upon.

Gandhi made his "Economic and Moral Progress" speech on December 22, 1916 at the Muir Central College Economics Society in India. Gandhi makes clear his opinions about economic societies. In his speech, he says, "By economic progress, I take it, we mean material advancement without limit and by real progress we mean moral progress, which again is the same thing as progress of the permanent element in us." (Gandhi 339) Based on his experiences, he believes that the more progress a person undergoes economically, the less progress they will undergo morally. Continuing on, he states that it is more important to be moral than it is to be financially stable.

He further goes on to say that "In a well-ordered society, the securing of one's livelihood should be and is found to be the easiest thing in the world. Indeed, the rest of orderliness in a country is not the number of millionaires it owns, but the absence of starvation among its masses." (Gandhi 339) This quote describes that individual progress is measured not monetarily but rather by how giving people are of themselves. If people are greedy, selfish, and not willing to help others, then it will be much easier for those people to have more money because they only spend it on themselves. However, if the people that have money are willing to spend their money on those that aren't as fortunate, then the utopian society that Gandhi hopes for is created. Although Gandhi hopes for this type of "well-ordered society" he notes that throughout history, countries have suffered morally when achieving "high material affluence" (Gandhi 339). They become crazed with money and the more materialistic the countries become, the less moral they become as well. Because of this and his various observations, Gandhi considers the poor to be morally superior to the rich.

Karl Marx's "The Communist Manifesto" develops ideas that also revolve around economics. Marx believes that the economy is dominated by a selected few who are very materialistic and who create distinctions within the social class. These selected few, the "bourgeoisie," have power over the towns, major cities, property, and the means of production. Marx says that the bourgeoisie have "pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his 'natural superiors', and has left no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous 'cash payment'...it has resolved personal worth into exchange value." (Marx 319) This ruling class has become so revolved around money that the most "heavenly ecstasies of religious fervor, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism" (Marx 319) have disappeared and been replaced with the importance of materialistic objects. Because of this obsession with money and materialism, Marx thinks that the bourgeoisie corrupt society.

In the second part of Marx's essay, "Proletarians and Communists," the idea of communism and equality is brought up. Marx believes that the segregation between the different social classes should not exist. He discusses private property and the fact that the bourgeoisie have control over the vast majority of it: "private property is already done away with for nine-tenths of the population; its existence for the few is solely due to its non-existence in the hands of those nine-tenths. You reproach us, therefore, with intending to do away with a form of property, the necessary condition for whose existence is the non existence of any property for the immense majority of society." (Marx 329) The bourgeoisie deprive the majority of the nation of what is their personal property. It is unjust that the rich can have such an overruling power over the rest of the nation. In Marx's eyes, the only efficient way to run society is by communism. He says that communism provides equality to all and is the only method that is beneficial to the nation as a whole-rather than to select individuals.

Lastly, while Gandhi prefers to use peace and nonviolent protests to convey his thoughts and opinions, Marx uses a different method. Marx hints at using violence to change the social structure. While talking about the bourgeoisie, he says, "this person must, indeed, be swept out of the way." (Marx 330) He fully disagrees with the bourgeoisie and everything that they believe in. He thinks that the proletariats must rise above the bourgeoisie and "be the leading class of the nation." (Marx 332) The only way for this to occur is through action; by oppressing the bourgeoisie and "by means of a revolution." (Marx 334)

Gandhi and Marx were both highly influential leaders who felt very strongly about the way that society is run. They both think that the rich are inferior to the poor and that change within society and the social classes are needed in order to create a successful and well balanced society. In order to achieve this ideal society, they both take action to convey their ideals: Gandhi through peace, and Marx through violence and action. Even though they both have completely different approaches, they both make clear the fact that the economy and social class are main issues in society.

THANK YOU!!