Personal Learning Theory...

What? In the quiz about our Emerging Theory of Teaching and Learning, I scored the highest in cognitivism but humanism and behaviorism came a close second and third. This tells me that even though cognitivism might be my strongest I believe in all three when it comes to teaching and learning. I do agree that prior knowledge and beliefs play a major role in the meaning that students construct and that people take separate pieces of information and use it to create an understanding. I believe children learn best when they are in a comfortable and safe environment that fosters learning by giving opportunities for experimentation and offers open communication. Students also learn best when they can relate new knowledge to old information and when the information is relevant to their world which is part of the meaningful learning process. I believe that children also learn better when there are classroom agreements that require reinforcement and that stays aways from any punishments. It is also important that students have a chance to work together in groups and to observe each other as part of social cognitive learning.

So What? There are many ways that the cognitive theory will impact my classroom. As a teacher and as a learner I will encourage students to find a way that they can remember the material that is being taught to them. For example, using a mnemonic to help the students in memory retrieval of a certain subject or lesson. Also, I strongly believe in kinesthetic activities where the students have to use movement to express themselves. I think these activities can help the storage and encoding process. For example, in class Dr. Cox had the students act out the water cycle using our bodies. Now, if she would have just told me about the water cycle I would have forgotten it in about five minutes but using a different strategy helped to encode it into my long-term memory. In addition, in my classroom I will be finding ways of relating new material to prior knowledge (assimilation) because I believe it also helps students to remember more. This can easily be accomplished with just a little extra time before starting a new lesson by reminding the students of their prior knowledge and how the new knowledge connects with it. Also, by having students question what they are learning or reading is a simple way for students to make sense of the topics they are studying.

Now What? There are many steps I need to take to improve my understanding of how students learn and efficient ways of teaching the knowledge to them. I feel like I need more experience in teaching fun, engaging activities to students that gets the knowledge into their long-term memory where they can use some of the Bloom's higher taxonomy levels to show their understanding of that subject. I would like to learn more about constructivism specifically how to include this learning theory into my teaching more often. A great step in reaching that goal would be to find out if there is additional reading material on teaching with constructivism. Also, it would be great if there was additional training or course on educational psychology because there is new information to learn all the time. Before this class I didn't realize how much went into educational psychology, how important it is when teaching and learning, and how it can help me become a better teacher.

12/10 Learning Log Ch. 10 Social Cognitive...

What? This week in class we talked about social cognitivism and how people can learn by observing others. We talked in depth about important aspects including modeling, self-efficacy, self-regulation, and vicarious learning. We split into groups to learn about these different parts and presented a slide show to the class.

So What? Modeling is an important part because children can learn valuable lessons from studying other people and their behaviors. Along with modeling the observer must pay attention and remember what the model does. Self-efficacy is an important part of how a person feels about themselves and the judgements they make about their behaviors. Self-regulation allows the individual to monitor and evaluate their own progress and becomes an increasingly important part of life as a student grows up.

Now What? When As a teacher it is important to foster a high self-efficacy in your students by giving motivation to challenging skills and notice not only success but improvement. Also, in the classroom set challenging but realistic goals for students to achieve and encourage them to evaluate their performance to help with self-regulation.

Homework blog (extra credit)...

I found this article to be very interesting. I love how Orson Card engages you from the very beginning by describing the daily life of a student in a different perspective than I have ever thought of before. Personally, I have never been a big advocate of a lot of homework and I want to be an effective teacher that does not have to give homework. I believe as Orson does, that a child's "childhood" and playtime are very important parts of their lives. It is also interesting that it is almost impossible to create a fair study regarding homework and he points out some very valid reasons. I agree with his opinion of standardized testing because as the opposite of Mr. Card I have horrible anxiety about tests and usually don't do well on them even if I know the material.

"When the most-quoted "proof" that homework is "good" states that it can't be shown to have any benefit for elementary school kids, why do we still have teachers sending kids home with work to do from those grades?" This is a great quote from the article because it directly questions why we are continuing to do this when it does not benefit our students?

Even though I think Orson Card points out some very valid and interesting points when it comes to homework, I do think some of his opinions are quite strong. For example when he says, "Homework wrecks families". Even though I understand some of his points I think this is a little to harsh. I am sure homework at times can be a burden to parents and family members but I am not sure if that one thing alone could wreck a strong family?

On one final note, there is a part in the article where he talks about when homework should be given and this is exactly how I feel about this subject, "So that when there is homework, it's special. It's important. It's something so major that it really can't be completed on school time." I think if I can strive as a teacher to have great time management and have effective teaching strategies then hopefully homework will fall into the special category.

12/2 Learning Log Ch. 9 Behaviorism...

What? This week in class we talked about behaviorism, specifically about negative and positive reinforcement versus punishment. Along with that comes ways of dealing with behaviors like a token economy, cueing and shaping.

So What? I found this chapter and class discussion to be the most interesting and applicable one so far. This is a a great chapter and subject to discuss after our field experience because it makes a lot more sense because we have seen it first hand. Also, the entire cohort had their own personal views and stories about behaviorism and the different approaches used in their field experience classrooms. It was extremely beneficial to hear different ideas and experiences from the other students. Also, during the classroom discussion we were about to learn the slight but important difference between negative reinforcement and punishment which is so important.

Now What? The biggest idea I took away from this chapter and discussion there is not one exact reinforcement that works for every single student. I saw a very clear example of this in my field experience. The school had a "think time" when the student had inappropriate behavior the student would be sent to another classroom with a sheet of paper to fill out. For some children this terrified them and for others it was an often occurrence. Dealing with students behaviors is individual which makes teaching even more difficult. I am hoping that I can create a synergetic classroom where each student has ownership in their responsibilities but also use negative reinforcement rather than punishment.

Extra credit: Investigations math...

What is investigations math? This is a "standard-based" program introduced in 2000. It has a nontraditional approach to math instruction which includes more group work with less textbook instruction.

Arguments for and against? Some people say that it develops a deeper understanding and love for math. People against say that students are unable to quickly recall standard algorithms and math facts.

Results? In 2005 the Utah State Office of Education removed it from the list and are now trying to have a "balanced math" instruction which still involves some of the math investigations techniques but uses textbooks

10/29 Learning Log Ch. 7 Constructivism...

What? This week in class we discussed constructivism which involves learners constructing their own meaning based on experiences. Also, the roots of constructivism can be individual or social. We also discussed the importance in creating a community of learners where students work to help one another learn and participate.

So What? As teachers we need to provide our students with opportunities for experimentation so that they can discover hands on. This knowledge is important so that we can identify existing misconceptions before instruction even begins

Now What? When teachers are aware of misconceptions about subjects we can more directly address them or show them some error in their beliefs. It is also important to incorporate teaching concepts such as giving a clear definition, a best example, and positive instances that help students stay away from misconceptions.

Study Strategy Log...

My study strategy was to use some of the information we learned on memory in studying for my test. Specifically, I was going to connect the information for the test with something meaningful so that I could encode it better into my long-term memory. Most tests I find myself cramming things into my brain and not connecting or putting meaning with any of it then I draw a blank at the test.

For example, with this test when I was studying the vocabulary words I would create a visual in my head. For example, to remember imaginary audience I thought of a girl in the middle of the party that thought all the eyes were on her. Making a visual in my head and also connecting the words somehow to my own life made the information more concrete in my mind. Plus, I also scored better on this test then my last.