Link to Voice Thread

http://voicethread.com/share/571069/

Can You Socialize Too Much?

Hey everyone,

Week 5 huh? Where is the summer going? Well I hope everyone is having a good one.

I also hope that my students never read this blog because if they see me say that socializing leads to learning, I will never get them to shut up! Ha!

All jokes aside though, lets get down to brass tacks on this week's prompt. How do the learning resources this week match up with the idea of social learning? Pretty well I feel.

Social learning boils down to the idea of all students being an apprentice. I always think about how in my summer job, I learned how to pour concrete while working construction. I never read a book about it or took a test, I just followed around the guys who knew (or who looked like they knew) what they were doing and they helped me by answering questions and yelling at me when I screwed up. They were the "more knowledgeable others" and I learned.

I feel that the Voice threads definitely have the potential to follow this concept. I love the idea of posting difficult math problems and having student get on and leave comments about how to start the problem, difficulties with the problem, or potentially becoming a source of help for others. They can take turns being the experts that help each other move through the zones of proximal development.

Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski (2007) have a lot of ideas that seem to really jive with social learning because they allow students to work with each other as they create. If I had a science classroom and we were growing plants, I would definitely find (online) a classroom in another climate and try to compare data about how certain plants grow. I love the idea of collaborating on ePALS!

These authors also bring up awesome ideas about collaborative calendars and collaborative website creation that are all about learning socially. When Dr. Orey discussed the idea of a Jigsaw method in the DVD this week, I thought about how much fun it would be to take the information discovered by the students in Jigsaw groups and have them build a wiki or website together to share with others.

These resources this week are right on. I am starting to write down ideas for the school year already and I still have 5 weeks till the year starts!

Tyler

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Week 4 wrap up

I would like to again thank everyone who commented on the blog this week. I am glad that you all enjoyed it.

I have been taking time to play with my newborn son and I can't wait to watch him learn as he grows. I wish I could fast forward with him and start using some of these ideas!

I am sure he will grow up fast enough!

Tyler

Caution...Constructionist Ahead

Week 4 and we are rolling ahead.

I love the ideas in constructionism. We learn when we try to construct things. The reason is that building is an active process. You have to think, hypothesize, try, rebuild, and invest mental energy when you are constructing something. It is a great theory.

I guess I have to talk about the prompt for this week though. How do the ideas presented in 11th chapter of the text by Pittler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski (2007) correlate with the ideas of constructionism. Well it all comes down to how information is learned. Instead of the teacher giving all of the details about a subject and then testing on it, students get involved in projects and learn about the ins and outs, main ideas, and small details while playing around.

The interactive spreadsheets in the text allow students to put in data, build graphs, and analyze data. Instead of the teacher lecturing about interest, the students experience interest. They build their own realities and assimilate that into their own understandings. It is pure constructivism. It is the same way the students experience part of WWII in the gaming example in the book. They build their own understanding about the causes of the war by playing the the factors that caused it.

I know that this program was under my grade level, but I also love the program tha NASA put out about designing a planet "Astroventure." I had to play around with it until I got a planet to hold human life. I just played around with different factors until it happened and I learned about some astronomy terms. It was fun, and I build knowledge.

Anything that we give to students that has a potential to let them be creative, let them learn, and let them explore is great. I think that exploration is something that lacks in today's education. Everything is layed out, and the students feel that they have no wiggle room to learn. If we give them a little freedom in some constructivist lessons, I think that they will engage.

It will be fun.

Let me know what you guys think,

Tyler

Week 3 Wrap up

I'd like to thank all of those who commented on my blog this week.

To answer some questions, I do have a smart board and the interactive nature of it will make my concept mapping all the more interactive.

I think that the main point of this week was about making connections. Whether it is connecting info to past experience through a virtual tour or connecting ideas in a concept map, connections mean learning to a cognitivist teacher. We have to make connections with our kids so they can make their own connections.

It was a good week. Let's keep it up!

Tyler

The Cognitive Theory...think about it!

This week, the cognitive theory is in the forefront. I personally love the cognitive theory because it is the one after which I model my own learning. When I learn about a topic, I always try to fit it into my own network of thoughts. I ask myself how does this new information agree or disagree with what I already know. I try use the dual coding method mentioned in the DVD to help remember new or hard to remember item. I am a cognitivist.

So this week is much more enjoyable compared to the behaviorist ideas.

The instructional methods this week were great in my opinion. I have already thought of about 4 different lessons that I am going to change this upcoming year. The first tool is the concept mapping. I teach high school math so I am always trying to teach students about abstract concepts. This is hard to do with just words and notes. It is no wonder that students get lost in math do to the jargon, syntax, symbols and theory. Any method that would help students get a concrete image would be a great help in teaching math. This is why I am going to bring my students down to the computer lab for heavy note days and we are going to take them on concept mapping software so that they will have a better chance of staying active and actually understanding notes instead of just copying notes.

The virtual field trips also sound like a great idea. When I was playing around with the ones provided I saw a lot of valuable trips on many topics. The math applications were a little scarce, but I can see how a social studies teachers could use these on an endless amount of topics. These trips seem like they would be great for creating those "episodic memories" that our resources were so big on. I feel like some great long-lasting educational memories would be created using these field trips. Plus, when funds are low, it is a great way to get kids to the sources without breaking the bank.

The note taking strategies, summarizing strategies, and many other concepts in this weeks resources help teachers put the learning back into the students' hands. They make the students take an active part in the education. Students can't simply write down and hear information once. Instead, students have to analyze and summarize information as they learn it. This should help with retention and make long-lasting memories that students can always use.

Tyler

Summary of Week 2

I would like to thank everyone who commented on my blog for week 2. I think that it was a good week for analyzing why we give homework and why students may or may not do certain assignments. Hopefully by using this weeks tools among others, we may be able to get more work out of our students.

See you all next week!

Tyler

The Love Affair between Technology and Behaviorists

Hey everyone,

Let's take a look at this week's resources! Our task is to give our thoughts on how the two chapters in the class text correlate to the ideas in behaviorism.

Here are my thoughts. These two chapter to me give teachers advice on how to get homework and true effort out of our students. I will be the first to say that I have a pretty poor track record when it comes to getting real work out of my students. I think that this is a real issue in high school math because student who get the material easily don't feel the need to do homework at all, and students who struggle often give up before they even start to try. In my two year of teaching, I have failed to make much of a dent in either group.

However, this weeks readings ask me to approach homework a little bit differently and I like the idea. Instead of just giving homework and asking/hoping/praying for students to do it, perhaps I can use the principles of behaviorism to get some work out of my pupils.

Case in point, let us look at Chapter 8: Reinforcing Effort. The authors make the statement that students don't always recognize the value of effort. I could not agree more! I had a quote up in my room this year that said "Effort is worth more than perceived ability." But students just don't get the idea that if they give a true effort, they can succeed. This chapter recommends that teachers can have students keep and plot data in spreadsheets about their effort vs. their success on assessments. In this method, the idea is that students will see that effort leads to success, not luck or mercy from the teacher. This method links effort and grades. It makes the grades a reinforcement of effort, and thus, behaviorist would say that conditioning occurs. I like this idea and think that it could possibly work. I might try this, but the time needed might take up too much instructional time.

Chapter 10: Homework and Practice gives some great recommendations on getting students to see the value in homework. It too focuses on showing students the value in homework. To many times homework has little immediate affect on the student, so they do not put in the effort. This chapter advises teachers to have clear policies, always comment on assigned homework, and tell the students what the homework is meant to do. In clarifying homework this way, teachers show students that homework is import and meaningful and that not doing it will have negative consequences. The chapter also give some great technology ideas that will make homework more meaningful, fun, clear, and interactive.

So, if your students don't always do theirs homework, maybe some good old-fashion conditioning is what they need. I guess some students will never see the intrinsic value in practicing skills in homework. Teachers will have to dangle carrots and slap wrists with rulers no matter how advanced we get!

Don't give up hopes though folks. If Pavlov can make dogs' mouths water with a bell, we should be able to get middle schoolers to do their homework somehow! Maybe technology can help.

Tyler

Here He Is!

Here is the new baby! Leo Michael Winner

Opener For New Class

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to say welcome to all of those and test out the new blog. Hope to be talking to you soon!

Tyler