When I wrote my paper on my personal student learning theory, I basically followed the same beliefs as Dr. Patricia Wolfe in her video Brain Research and Learning. She had four main points to make. First, the brain is sculpted through experience, so everything in the classroom impacts the brain. Second, the brain seeks meaningful patterns, by which the brain tries to make sense of new information through concrete experience. Third, emotion is a catalyst for learning which means that when learning is tied in to emotions the lessons will stay with them longer and students who are emotionally happy do better in school. Fourth, there are two types of memory; procedural and declarative. Procedural memory is rote rehearsal or automatic, such as driving. Declarative memory, on the other hand, is elaborate rehearsal. Simulation, hands-on teaching, using visuals and graphics, acting out, and reciprocal teaching are all examples of elaborate rehearsal. Singing songs or using other forms of rhythm, rhyme, and rap also work as elaborate rehearsal for declarative memory. I am a visual learner so I tend to bring in as many visuals as possible. After taking this 8 week course, I stand by what I wrote during week 1. I still believe that following brain research results is the best way to teach. We need students to learn, so the best way to teach them is make sure that their brains will process and retain the information they need to pass our classes in an environment that promotes learning.
However, I did make some adjustments after watching Dr. Wolfe’s video. I talked my grade level out of teaching to procedural memory and instead incorporated more declarative memory instruction. The last few weeks of school were full of songs and rap to teach different skills. That was with my second grade students. I will now be teaching high school sophomores and juniors history and during the first day of class want to incorporate music. I plan to play “We Didn’t Start the Fire” and use that song throughout the year to teach them history. That song is about historical events from the 50s to the 80s. I want my students to create their own lyrics for each decade from the founding fathers through present day as we study each part of our history. I think the best way for them to do this would be through a wiki or Voice Thread so they can collaborate with each other. I would let each class choose the method they would prefer to collaborate with. For their final product, I want them to create a PowerPoint Presentation. I would assign groups to put the class lyrics to pictures for different decades. Creating a project like this would definitely involve them in a constructionist learning project. They would have to agree about which events to include and exclude and argue well enough to have their classmates agree with them. This class project would also serve as a summary of the year so would be a collaborative portfolio for the class.
Moving from an elementary to a high school, my access to technology has become more limited. I will no longer have an ELMO and LCD projector, so will have to show slides via a small TV. One goal I have will be to argue that school funding should be used to purchase technology. I may buy my own LCD projector and use that in conjunction with my personal laptop in order to access the technology I feel would benefit my students. Another goal I have would be to include the use of technology that the students have access to. Looking ahead at the next course, which is research, I believe I may choose to research using cell phones in class. That is a technology the students have and it would capture their attention if I used the technology they are proud of in order to teach. I also plan to use podcasts as a way to engage my students. The best way for me to incorporate student technology into the classroom is by surveying that during the first day of class to find out what they have access to. Incorporating student technology into the classroom environment should help me teach my students.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice
All successful classrooms use cooperative learning. When students have the opportunity to work together, their confidence increases and they become motivated to learn so long as it is within their zone of proximal development. Many teachers do not provide much time for group work because group work takes more time than lectures so those teachers who push to "get through" the material are more concerned with covering the information than in students understanding the material. Other teachers are unsure of their ability to facilitate group work, so may try it once and give it up as a failure idea instead of collaborating with those who successfully run their classrooms primarily through the use of group work. Part of the problem with group work is that we need to effectively manage our classrooms and explicitly teach our students how to behave and what to do when working in a group. Once they understand how to behave and what the expectations are, then the teacher can facilitate discussions rather than constantly deal with behavior problems that arise when students are unclear about what they should be doing.
Social learning theory is essentially constructionism learning theory in group work as opposed to individual work. We know that students learn better when they construct something, so working in a group (social learning) to create something (constructionism)is merging social learning with constructionism. Jigsaw learning is a way to dissect a topic into its components and then have students teach each other the material they have become experts on. This student engagement method allows students to connect to the information and recall it beyond the test date.
Social learning can be facilitated through social networking sites as well as online collaboration tools such as wikis and blogs. Technology allows students to collaborate not just with the peers physically in their classroom but with peers in other class periods that the same teacher teaches. That exponentially increases the amount of learning that can occur. After all, the more people there are to bounce ideas off the more discussion can take place! When it comes to teachers conducting SSTs (Student Study Teams) the saying is that is isn't 3 teachers equal 1+1+1, but 3 to the third power since ideas bounced off each other increase exponentially as something someone says triggers another thought that would most likely have not occurred without the input of the other teachers.
Social learning theory is essentially constructionism learning theory in group work as opposed to individual work. We know that students learn better when they construct something, so working in a group (social learning) to create something (constructionism)is merging social learning with constructionism. Jigsaw learning is a way to dissect a topic into its components and then have students teach each other the material they have become experts on. This student engagement method allows students to connect to the information and recall it beyond the test date.
Social learning can be facilitated through social networking sites as well as online collaboration tools such as wikis and blogs. Technology allows students to collaborate not just with the peers physically in their classroom but with peers in other class periods that the same teacher teaches. That exponentially increases the amount of learning that can occur. After all, the more people there are to bounce ideas off the more discussion can take place! When it comes to teachers conducting SSTs (Student Study Teams) the saying is that is isn't 3 teachers equal 1+1+1, but 3 to the third power since ideas bounced off each other increase exponentially as something someone says triggers another thought that would most likely have not occurred without the input of the other teachers.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Constructivism in Practice
As Dr. Michael Orey (2009) said, constructionism is first-hand experience where you have the chance to build or create something. When you have the chance to create something, one tends to put a little more thought and effort into it. An example from my classroom is that instead of having my students do a written book report, they create a book report out of a cereal box. They cover it and are to include different things on it, but they have a chance to be creative. They were immensely proud of their work that I will be displaying for Open House tomorrow night. They way in which they finished their projects varied. Some students flattened their cereal boxes while others kept it solid. One student did his report on Leonardo DaVinci and made his cereal box look like a book, complete with being able to open it like a secret compartment book. Being able to create embeds information in the brain as it tends to excite students.
The next step is to take that constructionism approach and apply it with technology. In this week's chapter, Generating and Testing Hypotheses, I found that most of the resources would not work for my classroom. Most of that is due to the content that I teach as much of what was offered for examples is too advanced for second grade students. However, the Darwin Pond website intrigued me. I am planning out how to better incorporate my science and social studies texts with the language arts series. One of our stories is called Around the Pond: Who's Been Here? and I thought it would be appropriate to study the science chapter on animal life cycles during this time. Allowing students to create their own creatures by tweaking characteristics and seeing how the creature does in the environment will do a better job of explaining animal traits such as camouflage better than a textbook ever could.
Reference:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
The next step is to take that constructionism approach and apply it with technology. In this week's chapter, Generating and Testing Hypotheses, I found that most of the resources would not work for my classroom. Most of that is due to the content that I teach as much of what was offered for examples is too advanced for second grade students. However, the Darwin Pond website intrigued me. I am planning out how to better incorporate my science and social studies texts with the language arts series. One of our stories is called Around the Pond: Who's Been Here? and I thought it would be appropriate to study the science chapter on animal life cycles during this time. Allowing students to create their own creatures by tweaking characteristics and seeing how the creature does in the environment will do a better job of explaining animal traits such as camouflage better than a textbook ever could.
Reference:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Behaviorist Learning Reinforcement
This week, Dr. Michael Orey discussed B.F. Skinner's operant conditioning, or Behaviorism in the classroom. Behaviorism has a long history in the classroom. Essentially, Behaviorism is programmed instruction in which desirable behaviors are rewarded, or reinforced while undesirable behavior is punished. Reinforcement is more powerful than punishment, but teachers typically find it easier to punish behavior than reward behavior. We have to actively seek out desirable behavior so that the good students who are well behaved do not feel punished for being successful students. That is what happens when only remedial students are given the opportunity to use technology in the classroom as all students view the use of technology as a reward.
In "Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works," the authors discuss "Reinforcing Effort" in Chapter 8. In this chapter, they say that effort is the only thing a student can control, so we need to push students to put forth more effort by having them see and understand the relationship between effort and success.Teachers need to explicitly teach the relationship between success and effort and then have students record this throughout the year so they can continue to see how their effort affects their work. Continuing to examine this relationship is reinforcing the idea that effort and success are related. In order to show students this relationship, using technology to track their data and then create a graph is a powerful tool. They can then compare themselves to each other and a graph can be made to compare classes to each other and grade levels with each other. A bulletin board idea is "Caught in the Act of Trying Hard." It reinforces the idea of putting forth effort. By viewing the relationship between effort and grades, students are receiving reinforcement on the idea that continued effort will improve their grade.
In chapter 10 of the same book, the authors discuss “Homework and Practice.” In order for students to successfully master a concept (80% competency), they need repetition of about 24 practice sessions. The only real problem with homework is that is needs immediate feedback in order to catch errors. If a student continually practices something incorrectly, that incorrect way of doing something is what gets learned instead of the desirable behavior. Reinforcement shows that you're learning, so we need to reinforce desirables rather than undesirables. Online games is one way to have students practice a concept in which they receive immediate feedback. They also allow students to focus on a particular skill. Something we use at my school is Renaissance Learning. That's the parent program over Accelerated Reading and Accelerated Math. We do not have the Math program, but we do have a math facts practice through Renaissance. The students get to use the computer to practice their math facts and it times their performance on 40 questions. At the end it tells them what facts they missed and whether they had mastered it or not according to both accuracy and speed. Sometimes a student has to repeat the level because s/he was too slow. That is an example of using technology in the classroom for practice. Technology allows for differentiated practice. A similar online tool is freerice.com because students can practice vocabulary and as they get questions correct they advance a level, but if they advance and then get that level's questions wrong, it drops you down a level until you are successful and then tries to advance your level later on. It's immediate feedback and if you get it wrong, it will show you the correct answer so you can learn from your mistakes. As you answer questions correctly, your bowl fills up with rice grains so it is a reinforcement tool.
In "Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works," the authors discuss "Reinforcing Effort" in Chapter 8. In this chapter, they say that effort is the only thing a student can control, so we need to push students to put forth more effort by having them see and understand the relationship between effort and success.Teachers need to explicitly teach the relationship between success and effort and then have students record this throughout the year so they can continue to see how their effort affects their work. Continuing to examine this relationship is reinforcing the idea that effort and success are related. In order to show students this relationship, using technology to track their data and then create a graph is a powerful tool. They can then compare themselves to each other and a graph can be made to compare classes to each other and grade levels with each other. A bulletin board idea is "Caught in the Act of Trying Hard." It reinforces the idea of putting forth effort. By viewing the relationship between effort and grades, students are receiving reinforcement on the idea that continued effort will improve their grade.
In chapter 10 of the same book, the authors discuss “Homework and Practice.” In order for students to successfully master a concept (80% competency), they need repetition of about 24 practice sessions. The only real problem with homework is that is needs immediate feedback in order to catch errors. If a student continually practices something incorrectly, that incorrect way of doing something is what gets learned instead of the desirable behavior. Reinforcement shows that you're learning, so we need to reinforce desirables rather than undesirables. Online games is one way to have students practice a concept in which they receive immediate feedback. They also allow students to focus on a particular skill. Something we use at my school is Renaissance Learning. That's the parent program over Accelerated Reading and Accelerated Math. We do not have the Math program, but we do have a math facts practice through Renaissance. The students get to use the computer to practice their math facts and it times their performance on 40 questions. At the end it tells them what facts they missed and whether they had mastered it or not according to both accuracy and speed. Sometimes a student has to repeat the level because s/he was too slow. That is an example of using technology in the classroom for practice. Technology allows for differentiated practice. A similar online tool is freerice.com because students can practice vocabulary and as they get questions correct they advance a level, but if they advance and then get that level's questions wrong, it drops you down a level until you are successful and then tries to advance your level later on. It's immediate feedback and if you get it wrong, it will show you the correct answer so you can learn from your mistakes. As you answer questions correctly, your bowl fills up with rice grains so it is a reinforcement tool.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Course Reflection
I have learned how to create and manage a blog, contribute to a wiki, and create a podcast. During this course I have reflected on how to use these technology tools in my classroom. I currently would not use much of this technology with my students seeing as they are so young, but I would use it with my peers. I have also considered how I would use it with older students as it is highly likely that I will change grade levels next year. I am qualified to teach secondary English and Social Sciences, so I have planned out possibilities of how to use these tools with the much older students.
This course has helped me to learn the use and application of these tools. Before this course, podcasts were something I listened to, but did not create. I now have the knowledge to create a podcast. Like many others, I have utilized Wikipedia without fully understanding it. I now have a clear grasp of how it is put together due to creating a wiki for this course. Blogs have been a valuable source of information. Teachers always talk about not recreating the wheel, but we find that so often we are doubling our efforts because we don’t share what we’ve created. Blogs allow us to share those ideas with each other. By continuing to keep up with different blogs and continuing to search for information online, I can continue to expand my knowledge of technology integration in order to increase student achievement.
My class writes research poems about ocean animals. The next time I have my class do this project, I would like to create a podcast where my students share their research poems on our class website. I would also like to have my students utilize more technology in my classroom. At this point, I’m the one using the technology to bring our studies alive. One of the assignments they often have to do is word sorts. I would like to bring in Smartboard like technology using a Wii remote to allow students to manipulate the words on the whiteboard. I have started having my students use the computer more and more in order to learn and test the content skills they need. This should increase student achievement as they are excited to use technology in any capacity. Once I get everyone trained on the computer, I can have groups work on projects together while I work with small groups to increase their understanding of a difficult concept. After I have properly trained my students, they should be able to use technology seamlessly along with the required curriculum.
This course has helped me to learn the use and application of these tools. Before this course, podcasts were something I listened to, but did not create. I now have the knowledge to create a podcast. Like many others, I have utilized Wikipedia without fully understanding it. I now have a clear grasp of how it is put together due to creating a wiki for this course. Blogs have been a valuable source of information. Teachers always talk about not recreating the wheel, but we find that so often we are doubling our efforts because we don’t share what we’ve created. Blogs allow us to share those ideas with each other. By continuing to keep up with different blogs and continuing to search for information online, I can continue to expand my knowledge of technology integration in order to increase student achievement.
My class writes research poems about ocean animals. The next time I have my class do this project, I would like to create a podcast where my students share their research poems on our class website. I would also like to have my students utilize more technology in my classroom. At this point, I’m the one using the technology to bring our studies alive. One of the assignments they often have to do is word sorts. I would like to bring in Smartboard like technology using a Wii remote to allow students to manipulate the words on the whiteboard. I have started having my students use the computer more and more in order to learn and test the content skills they need. This should increase student achievement as they are excited to use technology in any capacity. Once I get everyone trained on the computer, I can have groups work on projects together while I work with small groups to increase their understanding of a difficult concept. After I have properly trained my students, they should be able to use technology seamlessly along with the required curriculum.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Reaction to Website Partnership for 21st Century Skills
While exploring this site, it was interesting to find that they are advocates for making sure our students are ready for the 21st Century. The belief is that for United States students to be able to compete in our global economy, they need the three Rs (reading, writing, and arithmetic) and four Cs (critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation).
Partnership for 21st Century (P21) Students incorporate systems with outcomes that students should master in order to succeed in work and life in the 21st century. The critical systems for students to master are 21st century standards, assessments, and curriculum. Their instruction, learning environments, and teacher professional development must be aligned to produce a support system that produces 21st century outcomes for today’s students.
Honestly, I didn't exactly think any of it was earth shattering. Basically it says that our education system has fallen behind and needs to use technology in order to bridge the gap between what students do in school and what they are expected to do in the work force. Their mission is simply to create a partnership between education and businesses in order to accomplish this goal that is important to both factions. Schools want to produce desirable workers while businesses desire workers with real world skills. It makes sense for the two to come together and partner up in order to achieve these goals.
Nothing on the site really surprised me. I was disappointed at the small amount of resources. I didn't see anything to disagree with. It's pretty much common sense. The problem I see is in how teachers are being educated. When I was getting my credential I knew that some of what we were being taught was obsolete, but I could not make my professors understand. There was a disconnect between what we were being taught and reality. Until the Universities get on board with the new way of teaching, new teachers will not be part of the catalyst for change that they could be. Some individuals will be advocates for technology, but that means 1 or 2 teachers per site. Many teachers are resistant to change, so it will be an uphill battle for technology to receive the place it deserves in our classrooms. A big part of that struggle comes down to money. If you can either have technology with 40 students or less technology with 20 students, teachers will take the lower number of students over the technology.
As far as implications for my students goes, I believe that their lives will be heavily influenced by technology but that they will receive more exposure the older they get. If their middle and high school teachers utilize the technology, then they will be prepared for their careers. However, I have heard that the elementary teachers in my district use more technology than the middle and high school teachers do. We are only this year working on having grades available online and creating a standardized report card. As a teacher I will have to make adjustments to my teaching style as I receive new bits of technology to incorporate into my lessons. I really believe that the publishers will be the ones held to bringing technology into the classroom since I have to teach whatever program we adopt. That means whatever the publisher does, I can also do in the classroom.
Partnership for 21st Century (P21) Students incorporate systems with outcomes that students should master in order to succeed in work and life in the 21st century. The critical systems for students to master are 21st century standards, assessments, and curriculum. Their instruction, learning environments, and teacher professional development must be aligned to produce a support system that produces 21st century outcomes for today’s students.
Honestly, I didn't exactly think any of it was earth shattering. Basically it says that our education system has fallen behind and needs to use technology in order to bridge the gap between what students do in school and what they are expected to do in the work force. Their mission is simply to create a partnership between education and businesses in order to accomplish this goal that is important to both factions. Schools want to produce desirable workers while businesses desire workers with real world skills. It makes sense for the two to come together and partner up in order to achieve these goals.
Nothing on the site really surprised me. I was disappointed at the small amount of resources. I didn't see anything to disagree with. It's pretty much common sense. The problem I see is in how teachers are being educated. When I was getting my credential I knew that some of what we were being taught was obsolete, but I could not make my professors understand. There was a disconnect between what we were being taught and reality. Until the Universities get on board with the new way of teaching, new teachers will not be part of the catalyst for change that they could be. Some individuals will be advocates for technology, but that means 1 or 2 teachers per site. Many teachers are resistant to change, so it will be an uphill battle for technology to receive the place it deserves in our classrooms. A big part of that struggle comes down to money. If you can either have technology with 40 students or less technology with 20 students, teachers will take the lower number of students over the technology.
As far as implications for my students goes, I believe that their lives will be heavily influenced by technology but that they will receive more exposure the older they get. If their middle and high school teachers utilize the technology, then they will be prepared for their careers. However, I have heard that the elementary teachers in my district use more technology than the middle and high school teachers do. We are only this year working on having grades available online and creating a standardized report card. As a teacher I will have to make adjustments to my teaching style as I receive new bits of technology to incorporate into my lessons. I really believe that the publishers will be the ones held to bringing technology into the classroom since I have to teach whatever program we adopt. That means whatever the publisher does, I can also do in the classroom.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Using blogs in my classroom
First of all, I am a second grade teacher, so I teach reading, writing, math, social studies, science, art, and P.E. to 7 year olds. The socioeconomic status of my classroom is poor. I only have 2 out of 22 students that have computers at home with internet access. We do have a school website, so I post things to it that are intended more for their parents. This is because many of the parents are able to access the website from their work.
Therefore I do not believe that blogs would be effective for my students. I would use it more to interact with their parents. It would be a place where parents can interact about classroom learning and homework. As parents have questions I am often able to respond to them in writing, but a blog would allow me to reach more people at one time.
I could see utilizing a blog and having many different topics where primarily parents, but also students could get online and share thoughts or ask questions. I could showcase student work if I were able to proceed with the comic strip idea. I also like the idea of maybe using a blog to post children's writing samples with grades and explanations so parents know what their child should be capable of. To me, my students are too young to safely navigate the internet without adult supervision and the lack of technology in their homes would not make it feasible for them to communicate online. They are also in need of typing lessons. If my students were older I would most likely use blogs for instant communication between different periods and as a showcase for student work. As my students are, blogs would be more effective for the parents than for the students.
Therefore I do not believe that blogs would be effective for my students. I would use it more to interact with their parents. It would be a place where parents can interact about classroom learning and homework. As parents have questions I am often able to respond to them in writing, but a blog would allow me to reach more people at one time.
I could see utilizing a blog and having many different topics where primarily parents, but also students could get online and share thoughts or ask questions. I could showcase student work if I were able to proceed with the comic strip idea. I also like the idea of maybe using a blog to post children's writing samples with grades and explanations so parents know what their child should be capable of. To me, my students are too young to safely navigate the internet without adult supervision and the lack of technology in their homes would not make it feasible for them to communicate online. They are also in need of typing lessons. If my students were older I would most likely use blogs for instant communication between different periods and as a showcase for student work. As my students are, blogs would be more effective for the parents than for the students.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Computer Fits + Pixton
Okay, so Technology sometimes give me fits. I think I'm doing everything right and then suddenly, something doesn't happen that I think should happen. Case in point was I tried to comment on another blog. I thought it was great, but the spam blocker made you do a math problem. It was basic math, so I didn't add incorrectly. When I posted my response it sent me to a page that said I couldn't do math. I tried word form as well as standard form for the number and I just couldn't make it work for me. However, I did copy my response, so you can read what I wanted to post and then visit the site I tried to post to.
Here's what I tried to post:
Wow! I too am an elementary school teacher. I could definitely see creating a comic strip as a class in order to teach the kids how to do it. After we created a few as a class I could see putting students in groups to create some. By the end of second grade, we could have quite a few posted to our classroom website. It would be an interactive way of testing expository knowledge. Since I can see primary students creating one as a class and then as a small group I could definitely see the potential this has for older students. It could be an excellent homework assignment when students study history or science. I don't see math or English being quite as successful though those teachers might find a way to make it work. http://teachertechblog.com/student-made-comics-with-pixton/378/
Here's what I tried to post:
Wow! I too am an elementary school teacher. I could definitely see creating a comic strip as a class in order to teach the kids how to do it. After we created a few as a class I could see putting students in groups to create some. By the end of second grade, we could have quite a few posted to our classroom website. It would be an interactive way of testing expository knowledge. Since I can see primary students creating one as a class and then as a small group I could definitely see the potential this has for older students. It could be an excellent homework assignment when students study history or science. I don't see math or English being quite as successful though those teachers might find a way to make it work. http://teachertechblog.com/student-made-comics-with-pixton/378/
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