Final Reflection

I think we can all agree that the goal as a teacher is to prepare students for their future.  If I was asked how I am accomplishing this in my classes, I would reply by applying the standards when teaching students the 21^st Century Skills ("21st CS," n.d.).  Here is the link for the 21^st Century Skills.  http://www.p21.org/  A major key is applying technology tools and applications that will work for the diverse students we teach.

Any time you build something, you need a solid foundation.  I feel in teaching this is the learning theories.  As teachers, we need to know how students learn and their intelligences’ before we can proceed to teach. “Education can be improved by assessment of students' intelligence profiles and designing activities accordingly” (Orey, 2011).

I have implemented two technology learning tools recently in my classes.  The first was a wiki, which I learned in 6710.  Here is the link. http://mrkuztechnologyclasses.wikispaces.com/ The second is an advance organizer which I learned in this class, 6711.  Both have improved student learning.  The wiki has aided the students when they collaborate in groups designing their projects.  This has helped them to focus better as they decide what to construct.  The advance organizer illustrates the overall procedure on how the project will proceed from start to finish.  Both learning tools help students to focus on their learning (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 73).  Dr. Orey states that instructional tools are what the teacher does with the technology and learning tools are what the student does with the technology (Laureate Education, Inc. 2011).  It is important that these tools are prepared and organized prior to implementing in classes as learning tools.  “When these types of activities go astray in the classroom, it is often due to inadequate up-front preparation” (Pitler et al., 2007, p. 141). 

Two of my long-term goals are to implement two new technology learning tools in my classes.  They are a Voice Thread, and a Social Learning technology tool, such as Skype, to collaborate with another school doing a similar project.

The Voice Thread will be used as an instructional strategy where students will identify similarities and differences.  The Voice Thread has two different pictures of past projects and asks students to make predictions based on the similarities and differences in the pictures.  I will implement this when students are collaborating in groups designing their projects.  Hopefully this will improve the projects as they are designing them.  Here is the link for the Voice Thread I plan on using in the near future.  http://voicethread.com/share/2962328/

I am on the board of directors for a large non-profit organization.  A few weeks ago we held an open meeting where over 125 people attended.  One of our members was in England due to her job.  We set up a laptop on a table and used Skype.  I was amazed how well it worked in a large group like this.  This got my wheels turning.  This would be a great technology tool for Social Learning.  My plan is to have students collaborate live with another school construction the same project.

What are your thoughts on my long-term goals?  Has anyone used Voice Thread or Skype in their classes and what tips can you provide me with?

References

 A report and mile guide for 21st century skills. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/images/stories/otherdocs/p21up_Report.pdf

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program thirteen: Technology: Instructional tool vs. learning tool [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Orey, M. (2011). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Denver, Co.: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning.

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

My classes are structured around collaboration and cooperative learning. I feel the toughest challenge for a teacher when using cooperative learning is the assessment.  I refuse to use a group grade for a student.  When using cooperative learning in school, I do not agree with this component suggested by Pitler, “sink or swim together” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 140).  I find that parents do not like group grading either.  

I agree with Ms. Ortiz and also provide a rubric at the beginning of the project (Pitler et al., 2007, p. 141).  In all of my classes, each student in the group is provided with a rubric at the beginning of the project.  The rubric guides the student throughout the project. The projects are assessed in steps on the rubric.  Upon completion of the project, each student in the group hands in an engineering portfolio with the rubric attached.  This enables me to grade students fairly within each group.

I believe the key to cooperative learning and collaboration in groups is the first recommendation that Pitler suggests, “Use a variety of criteria to group students” (Pitler et al., 2007, p. 140).  I receive a new group of students every thirty days.  On the first day of class we have a class meeting and I ask questions directed at learning styles and intelligences.  I think this is the key when grouping students for social learning and collaboration.  

In my two classes at Walden, 6710 and 6711, I was exposed to numerous tools that will increase student learning both individually and in group settings.  It is very important that teachers know these tools 100% prior to implementing them in activities.  The following sentence refers to the tools, “When these types of activities go astray in the classroom, it is often due to inadequate up-front preparation” (Pitler et al., 2007, p. 141).  I learned this student teaching during a CAD lesson.  When you lose the students due to something unexpectedly going wrong, it is hard to get them refocused.  Has anyone experienced this?  Another item to consider when learning these tools is how to adapt the learning tool for the grades we teach.

One tool that has been implemented recently is a class wiki.  It is working fantastic when students work collaboratively.  When I listen to the groups working together and see the end results, there is no comparison to the groups at the beginning of the school year.

Another tool I am finding very interesting is Voice Thread.  My classes are structured around problem-based learning.  I attempt to facilitate as opposed to teach.  My initial thoughts are to use this tool when I notice something that needs to be addressed in the project.  I could post the problem on a Voice Thread and ask the students to comment.  What are your thoughts, do you think this will work?  I feel this is a good example of using a social media tool that will prepare students for their future. 

            Here are two links for Voice Threads I created recently.  This one I could use for my classes.  http://voicethread.com/share/2908303/  This one is just for fun.   http://voicethread.com/share/2907193/

This class and our previous class have both exposed us to many social media tools that can be implemented in the classroom.  I have bookmarked them and plan on reviewing and learning them over the summer.  Which ones do you find most interesting?

References

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Denver, Co.: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning.

Constructivism in Practice

I am somewhat discouraged as I begin this blog post.  Last year I taught eighth grade in a sixty day rotation, with five teaching classes and one seminar class per day. During seminar students went to teachers as needed.  Today I teach grades six-eight in a thirty day rotation with no seminars, which means if students need help in my class they either come before or after school.  This change caused some of the cognitive and constructionist learning activities that are involved in this week’s resources to be eliminated.  Two important activities that need to be reinstated in my classes are WebQuests and an Excel activity.

I feel that good essential questions can lend to students creating and testing hypotheses.  I am very fortunate that I am able to involve all six tasks that help students generate and test hypotheses in my seventh and eighth grade classes.  They are, system analysis, problem solving, historical investigation, invention, experimental inquiry and decision making (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 203).  Of those of you that are familiar with my classes you might be questioning historical investigation.  As students research other student’s projects they find that design changes involve trade-offs in design that affect the outcome.  There are different designs that produce the same solution, thus there is no agreed-upon resolution (Pitler et al., 2007, p. 203).

My classes are designed around problem-based learning, which involves cognitive and constructionist learning activities.  They involve some of the common characteristics in problem-based inquiry instructional models which are:

·         The activity is grounded in a general question about a problem that has multiple possible answers and methods of addressing the question

·         Learning is student-centered; the teacher acts as facilitator

·         Students work collaboratively toward addressing the general question

·         Learning is driven by the context of the problem and is not bound by an established curriculum  (Orey, 2011)

The students have the opportunity to work both individually and in groups when constructing their projects.  The basic steps are research, collaborate, design, construct, test and collect data, review data and decide if criteria were met. 

One of the first activities that were used in the past when transitioning from teacher to facilitator was a WebQuest.  The WebQuests involved open-ended questions that had multiple viewpoints or solutions as mentioned by Dr. Orey (Orey, 2011).  I basically addressed the essential questions and supplied multiple links on the internet where various answers could be located.  This is where the students took over the project.  Presently, students start researching at a class wiki where links and other information is provided.

Another activity used in the past was an Excel sheet.  We created one Excel sheet for the class.  Students entered data collected upon the completion of their project.  I pushed the buttons to create the graph.  We did not write hypotheses, however, the graph did show if the decisions they made were correct.  In the future I will ask them to write a hypothesis.  I realize our text states an Excel activity could be too much for classes (Pitler et al., 2007, p. 204); however, if a teacher is able to incorporate data into one Excel sheet it might be workable. 

 

I am presently reviewing my lessons for next year, looking for ways to modify and incorporate these two important activities that involve cognitive and constructionist learning.  Currently we are striving the last few days of each rotation to complete the project.

References

Orey, M. (2011). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Denver, Co.: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning.

Cognitivism in Practice

The first thing that jumped out at me from this week’s resources is “5. Waiting briefly before accepting responses from students has the effect of increasing the depth of students’ answers” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 74).  I am constantly asking students to pause and think for a moment; however, most times they do not.  I am finding that they either answer right away or don’t want to think.  I think this has much to do with video games.  Their brains are trained to make split second decisions.  When I ask them to stop and think, sometimes it is like pulling teeth for the answer. 

 

I constantly use clues and modeling throughout the lesson seeking student’s previous knowledge in order for them to formulate answers.  I list objectives and essential questions on the whiteboard that include Bloom’s higher-order thinking verbs.  

What I have not used is graphic organizers or concept maps as a learning tool.  I will be receiving a new group of students this Thursday and could implement a graphic organizer or concept map for the project in about two weeks.  I receive a new group of students every thirty days.  Advanced organizers help students focus their learning (Pitler et al., 2007, p. 73).  The students follow a diagram of the design process when designing and constructing their project.  I plan on designing a concept map with the diagram in the center and placing steps of the project around the diagram.  I will connect everything where appropriate for students to make visual relationships.  This will allow students to organize their information and allow students to see their thinking.  Graphic organizers and concept maps are visual/spatial, logical/mathematical tools that appeal to many learners for managing and organizing information (Gregory & Chapman, 2002, p. 87).

This cognitive tool will manage and limit the information and help convert from short term memory to long term memory as described by Dr. Orey (Laureate Education, Inc. 2011).  As the students utilize the concept map they will be addressing declarative and procedural information which is used in their long term memory (Laureate Education, Inc. 2011).  

Here is another source I came across when researching graphic organizers and concept maps that I found interesting, http://popplet.com/ .

I do not assign a great deal of homework because I find it a difficult teaching tool to implement properly.  This is for the simple reason that many students do not do it.  Out text states, “Parental involvement in doing homework should be kept to a minimum” (Pitler et al., 2007, p. 187).  Call me old fashion, but, I feel a parent or guardian should be involved with the students school work for better, if not another view, of understanding.  I find if I need to involve a parent when homework is not done two things usually happen, either it is done poorly or the parents do it.  If student’s grades are brought down because of incomplete homework, administrators question if our final grades truly reflect student's knowledge of the subject.  My reply is, “If they were on a job they would get fired if they did not do their required work.  One of our goals as teachers is to prepare them for the future”.  Do you agree or disagree with this?  What are your thoughts and what works for you?

References

Gregory, G. H., & Chapman, C. (2002). Differentiated Instructional Strategies. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, Inc.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program five: Cognitive learning theory [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Denver, Co.: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning.

Behaviorism in Practice

I think that behaviorism will always be practiced in the school system.  I have noticed a difference in how it is applied from past years.  As I recall, during the 1960s and early 1970s while I attended grade school, the negative consequences were stressed more than the positive reinforcements.  We weren’t rewarded for good grades and behavior, it was understood that you could not attend school functions or participate in activities unless you obeyed the rules and earned the minimum grade requirements.

Vestiges of the behaviorist theory thought that students could learn in the same manor, teaching and testing from the text.  For example, many math applications can be manipulated using algorithms to obtain the correct answers.  A teacher did not know if the student who gave the correct answer actually understood the concept.  It was found that a number of high school students still could not add and subtract fractions and this demonstrated that the behaviorist strategy was flawed (Gagnon Jr. & Collay, 2001, p. 24).

I find when using a diverse number of teaching strategies along with behaviorism learning theories work well in my classes.  I agree with Dr. Orey, that behaviorism is practiced in today’s classroom using operant conditioning.  The two main components of operant conditioning are, reinforcement of desirable behaviors, and punishment of undesirable behaviors (Laureate Education, Inc. 2011).

 

I have two basic punishments in my classroom and they work well.  The first relates to school work and grades.  If a student’s work is incomplete or grades are bad, I first discuss with the student and set up a solution between us, and if that fails I e-mail or call home.  If there is a behavior problem I give the students three options, they can behave and remain in the class, sit in a time out desk and cool off, usually without a consequence unless it continues, or immediately leave the room and receive a consequence. The student is allowed to make the choice, thus if there is a consequence they have nobody to blame but themselves. 

I try to use, whenever possible, positive reinforcement of desirable behaviors with all instructional strategies. I find using the behaviorism theory in a positive fashion works great in the grade levels I teach, 6-8.  Students enjoy positive reinforcements such as stamping their papers or placing stickers on them.  Many students keep modifying their work until they get that sticker or stamp on their paper and I love it.  When students complete their work correctly and time permits, they are allowed to play educational games, which I have previously approved, on the laptops.  Positive reinforcement creates an atmosphere where we all want to work harder, even me.  Who doesn’t want to be rewarded for their hard effort?  

I feel that the old concept of the behavior theory, the teaching strategy used years ago, does not give the teacher the opportunity to find out if a student understands the concept at hand.  I believe when using behaviorist learning theories as a stimulus, along with teaching strategies that address the student’s learning styles and multiple intelligences, works well. 

References

Gagnon Jr., G. W., & Collay, M. (2001). Designing for Learning. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, Inc.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program four: Behaviorist learning theory [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1