constructivisminlearning

It is common knowledge that there is a wide variety of theories surrounding education and a learners perception to new ideas and thoughts. Mr. John Abbott in his short video discusses how a true learner will build on past material. Mr. Abbott stated that students "never learn anything from scratch, knowledge is learned through building of past frameworks." Looking back into my past as a student and it is still true today that each thing I learn today influences the way I perceive the world around me. We must build upon our past knowledge. Something interesting came to mind when Mr. Abbott introduced this to me. I began to think of something my 4 year old said the other day, she stated that stove was really hot, I asked her how she knew that because she had never touched it when it was hot and she said that when the food come off the stove it has hot when put onto her plate. I then looked at my 1 year old and noticed she did not have the same fear of the stove being she was standing right under my feet. This lead me to think that my 1 year old has not experienced enough dangerously hot food because my wife and I always putting it into the refrigerator so she would not bun herself.

In the same way as my own children, students need to understand that knowledge is built upon knowledge and a vast background is key to the success as a learner.

In this weeks reading I learned that there is a wide variety of thoughts on technology and the use of it in the classroom. I really began to understand the uses of online student surveys to help the educator find the needs of the students as well as what drives their curiosity. I was lucky enough this year to be asked to develop curriculum for a Social Behavior class that would need to encompass many different topics. I decided to do learning styles as one of the very first topics in my scope and sequence but now that I have read and understood the importance and the value of online surveys, I am afraid that I did the students an injustice with not having some type of technology within that particular lesson. I feel that I am also bound by the administrators unwillingness to support the use of technology in the classroom to the full potential. In the mean time I plan to continue to develop highly engaging curriculum that is heavy with technology.

Week 3

This week brought many new or reevaluated ideas to light such as the use of online lesson planning which is a great way to share new information and methods of teaching. I have not been previously introduced to online lesson planning before and it seems like a good way to organize your ideas and thoughts in a way that would be standard to all teachers. In the district that I am currently in, it is common for teachers to share their ideas and activities with others but using an online lesson bank such as CAST would broaden the community or teachers therefor not having to re-event lessons that have been tried and proven successful. This would prove beneficial for many reasons a: it would cut down of prep time, b: it would allow teachers to use lessons that have been successful, c: it would allow teachers to focus on gathering materials that would alow for successful teaching. CAST brought up a very valid and important part of the lesson planning process and this is individual students learn differently and do this difference students must be taught in different ways. Currently at Cypress Fairbanks ISD we are exploring the use of differentiated instruction and the effects of this type of teaching styles with our students. Using differentiated learning styles in the classrooms has show a great result in student achievement and a decline in discipline referrals.

Week 4 Week 5
 * Week 4 This week we looked at and researched the ideas and uses of technology within the classroom and how best to tailor the educational environment to where one size does not fit all. As an educator today and as a student of yesterday, I see a major paradigm shift between all students learning one way and now student tailored lessons where teachers can teach and then evaluate student’s comprehension in a way that is unique to the student. I definitely see the advantages of this type of tailored student environment but at the other end, I can see that this may be a little overwhelming to some educators. Technology has provided teachers with the “step up” that they need to provide this type of differentiated instruction beginning with surveys to determine students learning styles all the way to evaluation. This week has been a revelation to how some teachers may struggle to provide different instruction to students while insuring the integrity but with technological tools teacher are going to find it becomes second nature. ||

Week 5 focused on the usefulness of rubrics and how is the grading going to be done. Grading of students work that has been so widely differenciated may be a difficult task, that is if a rubric is not set forth before the project was been given. As a special education teacher, effort is a key feature in my grading process but helping the students see what will be graded and how to achieve the best grade possible, I turn to creating rubrics. At the beginning of the school year I review a sample rubric with my students to help them understand how important it is to adhere to the standards I have set forth for projects they do in my classroom. In these rubrics I outline the desired outcome but I often struggle with the amount of guidelines I place in the rubrics because I do not want to stifle any creative thinking and outcomes. All in all, I do think rubrics are a must for any classroom.

One of the quotes I found quite interesting in this weeks reading was “Technology makes it easier for students and teachers to track the effects and facilitates more immediate feedback”. I felt this statement was important because a: technology makes many things easier and more differentiated, b: the results of the students hard work is quickly observed and therefore the teacher has immediate feedback on the students work. When reading theses chapters I did realize that many of the things we have been trying to change in the technology classroom all comes down to how do we evaluate the work a student has done based of such differentiated projects. I came up with a conclusion that we as evaluators are going to have to create well rounded rubrics that outline the desired outcome but not limit how it should look. I feel this is going to have to be something I will have to practice and like anything else will eventually gain a better understanding.

Week 5 brought many new ideas to light including student grading and not putting so many parameters around student work a to affect students work outcomes.

Week 5 part II Teaching with technology is an integral part of educating our students of today weather it is introducing them to new technology such as software or building on past knowledge. I see technology is the way of the future and how business is conducted today.Using Google, https://sites.google.com/site/5364edld our group has gathered many different lessons that would apply to science classrooms high use of technology and the benifits of using this model.