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Discussion and Technology in my Classroom
Throughout this semester, I have learned how to critique others in a constructive manner through discussion and uses of different technology that I can utilize in my classroom. I have grown up in the computer era and technology has always been a part of my life, but through this class I realized that even technology has its pros and cons. I need to think about the technology I am using and make sure it is doing the job it is intended, or is it only being added because it is required.
First, this class showed me how much we can learn from each other if we would just communicate our ideas to each other. Throughout the entire semester, we have discussed different learning theories from behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, and social constructivism. I always knew I was a teacher that liked allowing her students to construct their own learning with hands on activities and working collaboratively in groups, but I did not realize how important group work was until now. Group work is not just about working together and having one person do all the work. Group work is about working collaboratively, building on each others experience and schema, and reaching conclusions to make sure our own thinking is correct. This is part of the social constructivist approach, and this is the way this class was conducted. Our group worked very well together and I learned so much from my classmates. We were from different grade levels and experience levels, which was nice. At first, it was hard to tell other people my thoughts about their work, but as we learned more about each other from our postings it became easier. I think it is easier to do this face to face because you can form meaningful relationships and have a sense of community with someone instead of over the internet, although it was still a great experience and wonderful learning tool. Discussion is powerful and should be utilized in all classrooms. The only important aspect that I feel would make discussion better is the ability to explicitly teach how to critique others. I know we were all adults in our class, but previous teacher had never really focused on REAL critiquing. I remember looking at a partner’s work and just putting good job at the top. That comment did not help my partner make his work better. Therefore, some strategies I learned to think about while critiquing was if this was my paper, what I could add to make it better. Also, I think another important aspect is building trust and community with your partner(s). If this is not in place, then true critiquing will never occur.
Lastly, I learned about wonderful technology that is available to me as a teacher. I learned how to implement interactive games into my lessons in order to keep my students engaged. I also learned about a wonderful project online called the Monster Exchange Project. I fell in love with this and plan on using it in my classroom next year to teach descriptive writing. I also learned how to conduct an affordance analysis before I add technology to a lesson. This will show me if the technology I am adding is aligned with my desired outcome. I never thought about doing this before this class. I also learned the importance of knowing what resources I have available at my school dealing with technology. I made a huge list of all the wonderful resources we have, but half of them I never used because I did not know how to use them or even know we had them. I plan on using my list of instructional technologies as a guide when I am doing my lesson plans to figure out if I can add technology in a prior lesson. This idea came from when we completed our lesson redesign where I took a lesson and adding technology to enhance it.
Therefore, all in all I have learned a great deal about myself as a teacher and how technology can help my students and myself learn and grow. I have always realized the importance of technology, but know I know how to use it effectively in my class in order to help my students be successful members of society when they grow up.
I have learned a great deal over the past few months in how to use technology effectively in my classroom. I am especially enjoying the process of redesigning a lesson I already use in my classroom and understanding the importance that the role of technology plays on student learning. I am also learning a lot from having to do an affordance analysis on the assignment, so I can determine if I am using the technology to the best of its ability. Sometimes when I used to plan my lessons, I just picked some type of technology because I knew I needed to have it in my plans, but now I can think about why I picked it and if I used it correctly. I also like the fact that I am going to get to look at other classmates lesson plans and maybe pick up some ideas for next year. I have learned so much from my group members and classmates this semester and I feel we had a good connection and felt comfortable to tell our true thoughts about each others work, because we knew it would help up out in the longrun. I also have enjoyed learning about different resources that I have viewed online that I plan on using in my classroom next year. I had never heard of the Monster Exchange Project and I absolutely loved it! I teach 5th grade and we do the direct assessment of writing. This would be a great way to teach descriptive writing and explaining to the students to show and not tell! I cannot wait to implement this wonderful program in my classroom next year. I think it will be very rewarding for my students and myself to learn how to reach all students at their levels, while keeping them engaged! Lastly, I feel I have grown in my technological abilities and think it will be easier to teach my students since I feel comfortable with the imformation as well. Thanks for all the help and suggestions classmates! It has been a very rewarding and educational experience.
Over the past few weeks, we have been learning about different learning theories and how we can use the computer to facilitate some of the ideas expressed in the theories. First of all, I remember studying about most of these theories in undergrad, but I did not remember them all. Secondly, I have always referred to myself since the beginning of this course as a constructivist teacher. Although I believe I possess some of the aspects of that theory, I also feel I am a social constructivist, behaviorist, and cognitivism teacher also. I think there is a place in the classroom for all the different theories depending on your make-up of students and the learning experience you want your students to have. An example would be that sometimes I am constructivist because I want my students to think for themselves and create things rather than working with a group. Some students work better by themselves and I want to give them this opportunity. On the other hand, I am also a big advocate of social constructivism because I think collaborative groups are essential to students constructing knowledge. I think they are essential because students learn so much from each others schema and background knowledge. Different students have different experiences that they can share with their classmates. Next, I also believe in some cases I believe in the ideas of cognitivism because it is also based on experiences you go through in order to process different ideas you are having. Lastly, although I agree with this one the least, I do have some behaviorism concepts taught in my room though the computer and a program called Fast Math that students use to become fluent in their Math facts. Although I am not totally sold if it really works to help them retain the facts, it is worth a try for some students that are not getting it otherwise.
Overall, I have enjoyed having a refresher of all the different learning theories and how important they are in thinking about HOW our students learn! They need to be able to think about their thinking and build on what they know to be true learners!
When I began reading about behaviorism and cognitivism, I had no idea that I practiced some of the parts of those theories in my classroom. Although I do not agree with all aspects of both of the theories, I do agree that all the theories we have learned about have a place in the classroom depending on the time and situation. In dealing with behaviorism, we do this in my class through a school-mandated program called Fast Math. Students use this program to practice their multiplication and division facts, although I do not know how much it actually helps because I have kids that the program says are profiecient that are no where near proficient. It is not connecting over into their long term memory because it is not meaningful. Although they can do it during that specific time because they get positive reinforcement of playing a game if they get a certain number correct. On the other hand, I like to use more cognitivism strategies in learning multiplication. I want my kids to think and know why something works rather than it just does because growing up I knew my multiplication facts but I had no clue how I knew! I had no concept of how multiplication works, how it was opposite division, and that their were strategies to find answers until I began teaching school and learned it during a workshop.
All in all, I do believe that students need positive reinforcement for doing good work, I do not believe that learning only happens from that. Learning happens when we use our background knowledge and schema from previous experiences in order to make connections within our brain and really understand the why instead of just because.
I also remember learning about these theories in college, but I have enjoyed learning how they fit in with technology and the proper uses of them in my classroom next year.
