VoiceThread

Here is the link to my voice thread concerning homework...

voicethread.com/share/872362/

Constructivism in Practice

When I relate generating and testing hypothesis to constructivist learning theory I relate more and more to constructivism. I think back to all the experiences I had that helped me understand the world around me it was experiences that were self driven. I thrived on teachers who gave us an assignment and had us problem solve to get the resolution to get to the final product and had hands on assignments that allowed us to bring in our own elements. Teachers who stood and lectured and lectured made me fall asleep. I related to hands on learning more then anything. This is how I strive to have my classroom today. Students are totally hands on and have the freedom in my classroom. I have a futon couch, many bead bags, fun chairs and rugs all over my classroom. We learn as a group and I am the leader to guide them through the learning process not direct them.


Generating and Testing Hypothesis...

When I see generating and testing hypothesis it reminds me of all the science classes I had in my undergrad. It is stated "when students generate and test hypotheses, they are engaging in complex mental processes, applying content knowledge like facts and vocabulary and enhancing their overall understanding of the content." Technology provides numerous resources to help us in generating and testing hypothesis to see quick results. Students can enter in data and have it neatly organized for them. I have only experienced one form of data entry and that is through Microsoft Excel. My students need many experiences with all aspects of technology because they have a difficult time experiencing technology outside of school. When I assign a quick PowerPoint assignment they struggle because they have not experienced it before. They ask so many questions that they can answer by experimenting. They want to achieve perfection and struggle to trust themselves when it comes to technology.


Constructivism...

There are several guiding principles of constructivism:

1. Learning is a search for meaning. Therefore, learning must start with the issues around which students are actively trying to construct meaning.

2. Meaning requires understanding wholes as well as parts. And parts must be understood in the context of wholes. Therefore, the learning process focuses on primary concepts, not isolated facts.

3. In order to teach well, we must understand the mental models that students use to perceive the world and the assumptions they make to support those models.

4. The purpose of learning is for an individual to construct his or her own meaning, not just memorize the “right” answers and regurgitate someone else’s meaning. Since education is inherently interdisciplinary, the only valuable way to measure learning is to make the assessment part of the learning process, ensuring it provides students with information on the quality of their learning.

How Constructivism Impacts Learning

Curriculum–Constructivism calls for the elimination of a standardized curriculum. Instead, it promotes using curricula customized to the students’ prior knowledge. Also, it emphasizes hands-on problem solving.

Instruction–Under the theory of constructivism, educators focus on making connections between facts and fostering new understanding in students. Instructors tailor their teaching strategies to student responses and encourage students to analyze, interpret, and predict information. Teachers also rely heavily on open-ended questions and promote extensive dialogue among students.

Assessment–Constructivism calls for the elimination of grades and standardized testing. Instead, assessment becomes part of the learning process so that students play a larger role in judging their own progress.


Retrieved from: http://www.funderstanding.com/content/constructivism

CONCEPT MAP

HERE IS THE LINK TO THE VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP I USED...
http://www.field-trips.org/ss/america/

VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS

Google (www.google.com) Search for Virtual Field Trips...

HOTLIST: http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/listvirtualgr.html

TEACHER TAP: http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic35.htm

INTERNET4CLASSROOMS: http://www.internet4classrooms.com/links_grades_kindergarten_12/virtual_field_trips_introduction.htm

VIRTUAL ACTIVITIES:

http://its.leesummit.k12.mo.us/Virtual%20Activities.htm

Cognitivism in Practice

CUES, QUESTIONS AND ADVANCE ORGANIZERS...HOW THIS RELATES TO COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORY??

When it come to cues, questions and advanced organizers the focus is on getting information and organizing it about a certain topic. Organizing information and presenting it to a student prior to an assignment can make them understand the topic and focus the learning. Organizing the information helps makes sense of what is important. Technology plays a huge role in helping to organize information in many different ways for students. One concept that I use often in my class is Brain pop. (www.brainpop.com) This tool has become very popular in my classroom. It introduces new lessons in quick video clips with vocabulary activities that correspond. Another tool that is used on a regular basis in my class is United Streaming. (www.unitedstreaming.com)
I use this tool very often. It has great video's to help reinforce lessons. I do not have a Social Studies book so I find a lot of resources on United Streaming. This relates to cognitive learning because we live in a world where television viewing has become the norm. When my students see short video clips they can take a small break, relax and view something that is educational.

SUMMARIZING AND NOTE TAKING....HOW THIS RELATES TO COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORY?

When I think of summarizing or note taking I think of the struggles I had beginning to understand what was important about taking notes that are summarized. Once I began to see the benefit I used to color code all my notes in college with fine point markers and was hyper about making sure they were perfect because it made studying struggle free. Like it is stated that summarizing and note taking are ways to synthesize information and put it into a new format. My students have a hard time at 4th grade understanding how to summarize and note take. They are concerned with missing something if they have to take notes. I try to help them as best as I can but get frustrated because at this age everything is so important. I have used writing graphic organizers in Inspiration. This helps students to organize all of there information. The students loved using technology in a new way and did not even realize it was helping them to keep the information short and sweet. I just had an experience with wiki's for a previous class in my masters and really hope to incorporate this as my students become more tech savvy. I have just started to incorporate blogs and my students continue to struggle and ask lots of questions. Summarizing and Note Taking relates to cognitive learning practice because it is short simple steps to make learning easier and less frustrating for students. They need to make the small steps in learning to understand what the big picture will contain.

BEHAVIORISM IN PRACTICE, REINFORCING EFFORT & HOMEWORK & PRACTICE

BEHAVIORISM IN PRACTICE...

Behaviorism reminds me of make good choices and follow the rules. When students come into my classroom I have high expectations and those are communicated from day 1. I feel that students will adapt to the environment they are in and will begin to see the benefits they can have from having appropriate behavior. Behaviorism is such a huge part of my classroom practice because you either receive positive reinforcement for following directions and behaving the expected way or else there are punishments, which is the last thing a student wants and doesn't often happen in my classroom (this year).

REINFORCING EFFORT...

Reinforcing Effort was a good reminder that students need to always have some sort of reinforcement when it comes to any area of there life. When you apply effort to behaviorism is implies that students need to take information in small bits to fully understand it. Students may not relate effort to achievement and when you show them positive reinforcement for there effort they will begin to see that the hard efforts pay off. Students want to know that they are doing good and giving a good effort. As a 4th grade teacher I feel that my students are young enough to want to always give good effort. As a teacher I am always giving them positive rewards for great efforts. In an ideal situation students would strive to give 110% effort to understand the benefits that come with an achievement. Grades are a good basis for effort. I try to use technology as much as I can in my class. For rubrics I use www.rubistar.com for grading projects and writing. I have never used survey monkey (www.surveymonkey.com) but I think this could definitely be something that I incorporate into my classroom technology after each semester to see what my students enjoyed and did not enjoy.

HOMEWORK AND PRACTICE...

Homework has become such a complicated issue. So many times I assign homework and worry what kind of nasty emails I will have the following morning. Most of the time students who struggle have not been following directions, not paying attention, and yet it is the teachers fault. I would love to give technology homework however I have a handful of students in my class who have high speed Internet and only half of the class has working computers at home. I think homework is a great way to reinforce a lesson however it has to be simple enough so the student does not become frustrated easily. I have used google docs http://docs.google.com/ to help set up a 10 year class reunion but I really enjoyed using this tool. It is so difficult and impossible to assign any technology homework. For my social studies lesson we do State PowerPoint projects and we have to spend weeks of class time working on them because students do not have the technology resources at home that they need. I think that behaviorism relates to homework because it is a positive way to reinforce a lesson. Students then can do there homework and feel accomplished when they complete it.

One class closer...

Well I seem to be using a blog again for my new class!! This blog will be used for my class Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction and Technology!! Hope you enjoy. I want to get more information on this blog and gear it towards my class! Hopes are high. Happy New Year!!