Literature circles are new to me. I created this VoiceThread to share what I have so far and to see if my classmates have any suggestions. Please be warned that I couldn't figure out how to go back and edit my voice. I even forgot to say my name! I know how my students feel when they record their voices. I deleted and rerecorded many times, but I decided I would probably never be happy with it. VoiceThread is a pretty neat site. My school tech specialist is working on unblocking for me so we can use it at school. After playing around with some family photos, I tried to make this one for class. I'd love to see what our students could create!
So be warned, this isn't perfect and I repeated myself....could not figure out how to edit the recording. Maybe I'll YouTube it! I will spend more time on the VoiceThread site and use it in my classroom.
Shelley
https://voicethread.com/share/2673937/
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Social Learning Theories
Social learning theories link with the instructional strategies such as cooperative learning and problem-based learning through the key elements of actively engaging the learner and creating experiences for the learner. As I taught this week, Dr. Michael Orey’s comments on social constructivism stuck with me. He reminded us in the “Social Learning Theories” video that ours students learn through conversations and being actively engaged in constructing artifacts (Laureate, Inc., 2011).
I had to spend valuable class time this week reviewing benchmark questions with my students. As soon as I had out the tests, groans emit from across the room. I completely understand. Dr. Orey’s words were echoing in my head. I had to figure out a way to make this boring activity an experience. Number one, my principal is breathing down my neck begging us to review the questions and number two; I want my students to understand how to use a direct quote. I could have, very mundanely, read through the question, explain why B, C, and D were incorrect and why students should have chosen A. But I thought; make an experience to get this information into their long term memory. I handed out index cards, gave the students five minutes to work together to find the correct answer and be ready to explain why they choose that answer. Next, I had them move to four corners of the room labeled A, B, C, and D. I joked with them and said I’d start with the corner with the most kids. As each group told us why they choose the answer, we talked about the problems with their answer. If students thought another corner had the right answer, they could change corners. It was fun as we discussed each groups reasons and students moved from corner to corner, arguing over who was right and wrong. The class ended up with all the kids in corner A and everyone could explain why this answer was correct. I had them sit down; happy with myself for making an “experience” to help them remember, but what was great is that they asked to do another question! Another question from the boring test? Of course I teased them and said only two a week! We laughed about it today but they remembered how to use the type of direct quote we practiced.
George Siemens explained connectivism to combine socialization, technology, and information (Laureate, Inc., 2011). Students learn through conversation. Technology helps them to find information, connect to information in broad way, and to learn through constructing an artifact. Connectivism brings it all together.
References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011a). Program eight: Social learning theories [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
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011b). Program nine: Connectivism as a 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
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Technology and Constructionism
Technology most definitely has a place among learning theories. This week, I have revisited the learning theory of the constructivist and was convinced now, more than ever that my personal learning theory is that of the constructivist/constructionist. Actively engaging students in a real word problem, hooks students. It can create excitement in learning that students crave. “The basic premise of constructivist theories is that people create their own meaning through experience” (Innovative Learning). For example, I see this happen when I have my students teach a poetry term. The terms are chosen at random, and then each student must decide how to teach it. Because this lesson is directed by the students, an experience is created which helps them store away the poetry terms into their long-term memory.
Using a variety of strategies, that most definitely include Microsoft Excel, as mentioned in the text, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, (Pitler, Hubbel, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007.), help students make hypothesis, and test them. Technology presents ways for students to learn to strategize in an exciting way which includes games, software, and web resources. One interactive web resource is Thinkfinity (Thinkfinity.org.). This site is chalked full of interactive, strategic games for students along with lesson plans for teachers. West Virginia’s Mark Moore from the WVDE has put together a “Hot List” of teacher recommended activities (wvde.state.wv.us). One interactive game that allows students to make a hypothesis and test that hypothesis is called “Power Up” from ScienceNetLinks. (http://sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/powerup.html). I have played this interactive game with adults and students as they test what energy resource is the cleanest, safest and most cost efficient.
Project-based learning is another is another strategy that correlates with constructivist/constructionist learning theories. This strategy engages the learner with a real world problem. As students work together, they brainstorm, plan, build and present a solution to a given problem. Last year my students were having a difficult time choosing a book in our school library in his or her reading level. The real world problem was that our students had to find a book in their Lexile (www.lexile.com) range and it must be an Accelerated Reader Book (Renaissance Learning). I asked the students what would help them. They currently had to wait in line to use one of the two computers in the library to look up the Lexile measure and to look on the Accelerated Reader quiz list to see if a test was available. Students said it would be easier if the books were labeled. After discussing the problem with our media specialist, she allowed the students to label all the fiction books in the library.
Students first brainstormed how to label the books, who would pay for the supplies, and what equipment would be needed. With the help of our media specialist, we set up a workspace that included two lap tops for each group of four to five students. One student would gather the book, one student would look up the book’s Lexile measure and record it on paper, one student would look to see if the book was an AR book, and one student would add it to the spreadsheet. All the spreadsheets would be put together to create a master list so that students would have easy access the Lexile measure and AR availability of all the books. Each book was also labeled by a student with a red dot to show it was an AR book along with a colored label with the Lexile measure. A key was created and placed at various locations around the library to help all the students in the school to understand the color coding of the books. The response was so great that we received a thank you poster from the eighth grade students because we had made their lives easier. This was a great experience for the seventh grade students because they learned that when faced with a problem, they could find solutions.
Constructionist learning theory will have a place in my classroom for years to come (Innovative Learning). We can integrate technology with learning experiences that will create memories for our students. These memories are what good teaching is all about.
These are a few great sites I go to for ideas and activities.
http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learningt http://wvde.state.wv.us/technology/resources/thinkfinity/hot.php
Resources
AAAS. ScienceNetLinks. http://sciencenetlinks.com/
Innovative Learning: Constructivist theories of learning retrieved from http://www.innovativelearning.com/educational_psychology/constructivism/
index.htm.
index.htm.
Pitler H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Lexile. The lexile framework for reading. www.lexile.com.
Renaissance Learning. www.renlearn.com/ar.
West Virginia Department of Education. http://wvde.state.wv.us/index.html.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Instructional Strategies for Understanding
Cognitive learning theories aides our teaching to help our students get involved in the lesson. In the text Using Technology with Classroom Instruction the Works (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007.), the two instructional strategies I use are advanced organizers and note taking. These two strategies allow the learner to take information, and see it visually, and then connect it to prior knowledge which helps them remember it. My goal is to use strategies that involve my students, strategies that are student-centered, not just copying information because I told them they had to remember it.
An advanced organizer allows the student to focus on an essential question then make connections as information is gathered. As I learned to use concept mapping in the unit I am teaching, I was excited to finally find a way to help students link together events and ideas to support the essential question. For example, my students have a difficult time understanding why the Jews did not fight back during the Holocaust. By using a virtual field trip, students gain a deeper understanding as the see photographs, watch videos, and read true stories of survivors. Once students take a virtual field trip, an advanced organizer, like a concept map, can be used to connect all the information they have gathered.
PowerPoint can be a tool used in note taking instead of just copying notes from a text and writing them in a notebook. With keeping my Holocaust unit in mind, students could create a slide or slides with an image that supports the notes students gather focused on concentration camps or a ghetto. For seventh graders, the image of the camp with a bulleted list that describes life in a concentration camp could be a powerful way to organize and comprehend the life for the Jewish people.
Creating experiences for our students will help them remember the information. (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011.) Using concept maps and PowerPoint to help organize the overwhelming amount of material covered during a Holocaust study would be of great benefit. Cognitive learning theories are the core of good teaching. Creating experiences, connecting information, and analyzing material is essential to good instruction.
References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program five. Cognitive learning theory [Webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Behaviorism in the 21st-Century Classroo
Teachers have observed a student and made judgments of the likelihood of the student’s success based on the environment from which the student comes. John B. Watson believed that “the environment shapes one’s behavior; what one learns is determined by the elements in the environment, not by the individual learner” (Smith, K., 1999). As an educator, one must understand that technology plays a critical role shaping the student’s environment. From spreadsheets, data collections tool, and word processing, a student can track effort, practice, and learning to shape his or her environment. The use of technology demands the student’s emersion in the learning process.
As a teacher who believes in project-based learning, I was surprised by the level of behaviorism-based instruction I use every week in my classroom. As a way to put some of the responsibility for learning on our students, my school issued every student a binder to keep track of benchmark tests, grades, progress reports, absences and among other progress monitoring techniques. The purpose was to demonstrate to the students that the effort they put into their own learning, would show growth. From the text Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works (Pitler, H., Hubbell, .E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. 2007), many examples of using technology to show effort are given. The use of spreadsheet software could be set up to give the students immediate feedback. My school could replace the binders with spreadsheets. By giving the students the tools to track their effort, we are changing their behavior. A group of students, who may feel they could never improve, could watch their grades improve as a result of benchmark tests and instructional resource practice.
Technology and behaviorism are linked in many of the resources students use weekly. “Reinforcement is the cardinal motivator” (Smith, K., 1999). Students in West Virginia are using software to improve writing that gives the students immediate feedback. A prompt is given, students write the essay, and submit for scoring. The score is sent back with a rubric that details each item. Strengths are noted and weaknesses are given with tips to improve in each specific area. Students may edit the essay and resubmit. The rubric scores students from one to six. This software has improved writing for our students with the immediate feedback being a key component.
One final example of “drill and practice” in behaviorism-based technology is the use of instructional resources. Students in my classes have the opportunity to work in class or from home on instructional computer games and skill-based practices linked to my class web page. These resources help to reinforce classroom instruction. (See the links below.)
Now that I have taken a closer look behaviorism, I see that there is definitely a place for this theory in the 21st-Century classroom. As a classroom teacher, my job is to use the technology tools to enhance learning. I first learned of behaviorism in the 20th-Century but I linked it to training students to memorize facts and behaving in class. As an educator, I always hope I remember to encourage creativity in my students. Behaviorism has its place, but I hope to never kill the creativity. B. F. Skinner once said, “The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do” (Skinner, B.) I wonder what he would think of our 21st-Century technology.
Links
Resources
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
B.F. SKINNER, works and life. (n.d.).WEBRINGS--the directory to over 1000 articles by California Skeptics. Retrieved January 11, 2012, from http://www.skeptically.org/skinner/index
Smith, K. (1999). The behaviourist orientation to learning. In The encyclopedia of informal education. Retrieved from http://www.infed.org/biblio/learning-behavourist.htm
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