Personal Theory of Learning
As I reviewed my personal theory of learning from week 1, I found that my views have not changed that drastically. However, in my first application, I made it seem as though modifying a student’s behavior and their learning were one in the same. Now, I see things a little differently. I don’t think a student’s behavior actually affects their ability to learn math. However, their behavior does effect the environment. If the environment is not conducive to learning, then the student may not learn math as well as they could in an otherwise favorable environment.
Immediate Goals & Adjustments
One immediate goal and adjustment I will make is to utilize a classroom webpage and our online grading program. I will keep a webpage updated with activities, lessons, goals, and news. Our online grading program also allows us to link all our assignments so students can access them and print them off. Since our school has such a high absent count, I spend too much of my time putting “missing work” packets together for students. This way, students will have access to everything they need. I will also set up a blog/discussion board so students can ask questions and get responses from all their classmates, not just me.
Another immediate adjustment I’m going to make is to complete more cooperative learning projects and assignments. At first, I was weary of doing things in pairs or groups because I thought they would be a big production and I need to do a lot of planning and preparation. However, cooperative learning can be very elaborate or very simple. It can range from a week long project to a simple pairing and comparing homework answers. The main idea, in my opinion, is to get students to problem solve together and learn from one another.
Long-term Goals and Adjustments
One long-term goal I would like to implement is to have students track their own effort. Since effort is a very important part of mathematics, it is important students realize that their effort will determine how well they learn the subject. I haven’t worked out all the details yet, however, I would like to set up a template in excel and post it to the class webpage. From there, students can download it and save it on their personal drive. Since we do not have access to computers on a daily basis, I will have students track their behavior on paper every day during the week. Then, weekly or bi-weekly we will enter the recorded data into their saved excel spreadsheet. From this data, students can track how much effort they are putting forth. As a class, we can also create tables and charts using their information. I will ask students to make honest judgments about the correlation between their effort and the comprehension of the material. When we come to the unit that discusses tables, charts and data, we can use their own graphs to answer questions and learn how to read them.
Another long term goal I have is to apply constructivism in my classroom. I want to get away from the routine of lecturing and having student’s complete 25 problems on paper. I would like to get more into constructing items students will have an attachment to. Or, taking real world items and applying what we’ve learning. For example, when discussing slopes, I could have students bring in a small house (bird house, doll house, etc.) and they could measure the slope (or pitch) of the roof of that house. This could also be done in groups to satisfy my goal of cooperative learning. By doing this, students will hopefully remember what a slope is by creating that connection with measure the slop of the roof.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Week 5: Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice
The instructional strategies described in this weeks resources all deal with cooperative learning. Cooperative learning is one of the main components in the social learning theory. The social learning theory goes a step beyond constructionism, in my opinion. They both include creating an artifact, however with the social learning theory you must be able to converse with someone about that artifact and the knowledge you’ve gained.
The multimedia project described in this week’s resources is a great representation of cooperative learning and the social learning theory. Each small group of students worked together to learn a particular topic. They relied on each other to gather the information needed. This is the first demonstration of social learning. Next, they presented their videos to the class, which taught the class about their topic. This is the second display of social learning. By allowing students to teach each other so many things can happen. Students learn from their mistakes, get a break from the daily routine, work on their researching abilities, learn to work with others, learn how to teach others and gather an overall better understanding of the topic.
The multimedia project described in this week’s resources is a great representation of cooperative learning and the social learning theory. Each small group of students worked together to learn a particular topic. They relied on each other to gather the information needed. This is the first demonstration of social learning. Next, they presented their videos to the class, which taught the class about their topic. This is the second display of social learning. By allowing students to teach each other so many things can happen. Students learn from their mistakes, get a break from the daily routine, work on their researching abilities, learn to work with others, learn how to teach others and gather an overall better understanding of the topic.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
APP4: Constructivism in Practice
Almost all of the instructional strategies discussed in this week’s resources can be directly correlated with the principles of constructionism. The main idea of constructionism is to have students create an artifact of some kind. The hope is that students will make a connection with that artifact and have a better time recalling what they learned at a later time. Most of the strategies discussed in Chapter 11 “Generating and Testing Hypotheses” have students creating some type of artifact.
By collecting data, using the Internet and applying your findings to an excel spreadsheet you have almost unlimited opportunities for the types of objects you can produce. Not only can you enter your data to make a basic spreadsheet, but from there you can create a variety of charts, do various calculations and compare/contrast your findings. Using a program like excel when you are generating and testing hypotheses can help keep students focused, interested and on task. As the text states, using technology”…allows students to spend more time interpreting the data rather than gathering the data.” This is so true. With one click of a button, you can an amazingly accurate bar graph. However, without technology, you may have to create that graph on your own, which would take a great deal of time and allow for human error.
Using technology not only allows students to create these artifacts, but it allows them to manipulate them as well. If students are looking at the data they collected, they could change some numbers around to immediately see the effects it would have on the outcome. This will also help students to make a connection to what they are learning and hopefully retain the information longer.
Resources
•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.
By collecting data, using the Internet and applying your findings to an excel spreadsheet you have almost unlimited opportunities for the types of objects you can produce. Not only can you enter your data to make a basic spreadsheet, but from there you can create a variety of charts, do various calculations and compare/contrast your findings. Using a program like excel when you are generating and testing hypotheses can help keep students focused, interested and on task. As the text states, using technology”…allows students to spend more time interpreting the data rather than gathering the data.” This is so true. With one click of a button, you can an amazingly accurate bar graph. However, without technology, you may have to create that graph on your own, which would take a great deal of time and allow for human error.
Using technology not only allows students to create these artifacts, but it allows them to manipulate them as well. If students are looking at the data they collected, they could change some numbers around to immediately see the effects it would have on the outcome. This will also help students to make a connection to what they are learning and hopefully retain the information longer.
Resources
•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.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
APP3: Cognitivism in Practice
Cues, Questions, and Advanced Organizers
Using the right cues, questions and organizers can help get students interested and retain information. It seems that most of these concepts all stem from the basic KWL theory. If we begin by talking about what students already know and then merge into learning new information.
In this weeks video Dr. Orey talked about how integrating multiple senses will improve learning. By using advanced organizers you are essentially incorporating students multiple senses. If students create something like a brochure they can use text, pictures, tables, charts, etc. to help inform people.
In addition, it is important as a teacher to know how to cue students and how to ask questions. There are ambiguous questions and there are specific and essential questions. For example, if we are studying slopes it might be more effective to ask students “How are slopes used in the real world?” instead of “What did you learn about slopes?” Hopefully, students learned so much about slope that it would be difficult to know where to begin. In addition, connecting how people use slopes in the real world will help with elaboration and making connections.
Summarizing and Note Taking
One of the key ideas in cognitive learning is being able to make a connection and retain information. By taking an excerpt and making a summarization or taking notes, is something that the students are making their own. I will be different, but hopefully similar, to their classmates. They are looking at the information and considering what is important to them. In addition, they are taking the information presented to them and turning it into their own words. This makes it their own and hopefully will help them to make a connection later on down the road.
Resources:
• 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.
Using the right cues, questions and organizers can help get students interested and retain information. It seems that most of these concepts all stem from the basic KWL theory. If we begin by talking about what students already know and then merge into learning new information.
In this weeks video Dr. Orey talked about how integrating multiple senses will improve learning. By using advanced organizers you are essentially incorporating students multiple senses. If students create something like a brochure they can use text, pictures, tables, charts, etc. to help inform people.
In addition, it is important as a teacher to know how to cue students and how to ask questions. There are ambiguous questions and there are specific and essential questions. For example, if we are studying slopes it might be more effective to ask students “How are slopes used in the real world?” instead of “What did you learn about slopes?” Hopefully, students learned so much about slope that it would be difficult to know where to begin. In addition, connecting how people use slopes in the real world will help with elaboration and making connections.
Summarizing and Note Taking
One of the key ideas in cognitive learning is being able to make a connection and retain information. By taking an excerpt and making a summarization or taking notes, is something that the students are making their own. I will be different, but hopefully similar, to their classmates. They are looking at the information and considering what is important to them. In addition, they are taking the information presented to them and turning it into their own words. This makes it their own and hopefully will help them to make a connection later on down the road.
Resources:
• 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.
Monday, May 10, 2010
APP2: Behaviorism in Practice
The instructional strategies described this week, effort and homework and practice, are types of student behaviors. In my opinion, effort is the most important strategy a student can learn. That is why I really enjoyed reading about having students track their own effort an achievement using the effort rubric. By doing so, this is helping to form a belief that their effort can pay off in the end. Not only will effort positively affect their grades, but it will also improve the way teachers view them and may help that student become involved in positive reinforcement days or activities put on by the school.
Even though I do not have anything as organized as the rubric and template described in this weeks resources, I also try to enforce and promote the importance of effort. Since I teach freshman algebra, not only is the subject difficult for most, the new environment is difficult as well. Therefore, to get more student involvement in the effort of homework, I will usually grade the first few assignments strictly on their effort and completion. Once we have practiced the particular topic a few times, then we will have some sort of assessment to see what they know. I have found that students generally respect this method of instruction. They think its fair to be able to correct their own homework but be assessed on their actual knowledge later on.
Most of the strategies in this weeks resources are operating on the assumption or would work best if students had access to a computer on a regular or weekly basis. Unfortunately, that is not the case in my situation. However, if it was, I would definitely be using the effort rubric and template. The ideas described in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works are really geared towards getting students to buy into the importance of effort. Each category on the effort rubric is a type of student behavior. In addition, the five categories on the rubric would fit perfectly in my classroom. I really feel that if students could see on a weekly basis that their behavior is directly affecting their grade then their behavior would begin to improve. By showing students evidence of their actions through tables, charts and graphs we are actually trying to modify their behavior. Therefore, technology, behavior and these instructional strategies are all directly related.
Resources:
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Even though I do not have anything as organized as the rubric and template described in this weeks resources, I also try to enforce and promote the importance of effort. Since I teach freshman algebra, not only is the subject difficult for most, the new environment is difficult as well. Therefore, to get more student involvement in the effort of homework, I will usually grade the first few assignments strictly on their effort and completion. Once we have practiced the particular topic a few times, then we will have some sort of assessment to see what they know. I have found that students generally respect this method of instruction. They think its fair to be able to correct their own homework but be assessed on their actual knowledge later on.
Most of the strategies in this weeks resources are operating on the assumption or would work best if students had access to a computer on a regular or weekly basis. Unfortunately, that is not the case in my situation. However, if it was, I would definitely be using the effort rubric and template. The ideas described in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works are really geared towards getting students to buy into the importance of effort. Each category on the effort rubric is a type of student behavior. In addition, the five categories on the rubric would fit perfectly in my classroom. I really feel that if students could see on a weekly basis that their behavior is directly affecting their grade then their behavior would begin to improve. By showing students evidence of their actions through tables, charts and graphs we are actually trying to modify their behavior. Therefore, technology, behavior and these instructional strategies are all directly related.
Resources:
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Almost Done and yet... just beginning...
Well, school is almost out... however I am starting back up with my masters classes. Oh what a busy month May will be!
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