The last seven weeks have been very busy, but I come away from them a much better educator. I have witnessed how technology and newer practices can be used to increase the level of learning and the interest for learning that occurs in a classroom. In developing a content area unit plan using the GAME plan process I was able to seamlessly integrate technology with another content area that was present in my classroom. The greatest learning that took place was that my students quickly realized that the internet is much more useful than they had once thought. So many of my students had only used the internet to play games or watch videos. I am not so sure that this is entirely different from what many adults use the internet for, but I will try to not digress. My students actually found it rewarding to collaborate online with their classmates through the use of a wiki. They thought that sharing their results of the PBL project by creating a group voicethread was a great experience. I learned that when you give students these opportunities you are essentially opening up the door for creativity. Each group was able to produce unique products that were representative of their group's understandings and preferences. In the future I see myself making technology more readily available. Our computer lab is going to be updated with a faster internet connection over the summer, so this should make working on these types of projects more feasible.
To help my students grow as users of technology it is necessary that it become a regular part of our classroom. I have centers that my students go through in the afternoon and every now and then one of those has been a technology center. Next year, I will be making a whole-hearted effort to have that technology center available to my students much more frequently. It will take some work on my part to have meaningful uses of technology, such as blogs, wikis, voicethreads available to my students. If I can have these available as an option at our technology center my students will become much more competent in their technological skills. The amount of enthusiasm the students had for our PBL project was very encouraging. Next year I hope to provide more PBL experiences. I feel that a good starting point would be to aim at having one PBL experience each marking period. The PBL type experiences are providing my students with real life situations that give them opportunities to make real life implications that are meaningful to themselves.
In closing, this course has reminded me how much I enjoy using technology. The greatest thing I am taking away from this course is that the gap between enjoying using technology and knowing how to incorporate it into classroom instruction is being bridged. With a conscious effort on my part, it will not be long before the teaching of technology and the other academic content areas in my classroom will go hand in hand.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
A closer look...
My game plan has been put into action, but I do not know if I have taken it where I want it to go. I also have a feeling that my game plan can produce greater outcomes, or be implemented to a greater degree than I have allowed it. Part of this dilemma is a result of my race against the clock. Instructional days are becoming a scarce commodity. I am having to make the most of all opportunities as time is running short and students' attention spans are running even shorter. More and more students are letting their minds shift into summer mode.
With these thoughts in mind I suppose I am expecting to change my plan a little. I have taken my students need to learn home addresses to new levels. We have incorporated this objective into many different instructional areas. I would still like to bring it back to technology before I get ready to assess my students growth in this skill. I hope to get back to the lab one more time and have the students explore other locations in reference to their own location in this vast world. Googlemaps will still serve as an applicable tool for this exercise, unless I am presented with another alternative.
This process has taught me a lot about giving my students opportunities for SDL. I am too quick to underestimate my students' potential to learn. I think that often I forget how intrigued I was at that age to find out how things work, or to acquire new information. Though it may not be the case for all students, I feel that many students share a similar passion and excitement for learning. They may not come right out and say it, but I have noticed that with so many of my students they can not help but be curious about what is unknown to them. That is why through this GAME Plan I have been inspired to take a closer look at the opportunities that I provide my learners to grow themselves. Am I giving them rich and valuable opportunities that will quench their inquisitive personalities? What can I do to keep them excited about learning, and what can I do to keep them wanting to go deeper?
One part of my GAME Plan was to become more of an expert in regards to the tech tools that I use. My school is getting dumped on with new technologies. I know getting new technology in a school is something to be excited about, but at the same time it is happening at such a rate that our building is having a hard time keeping up. I have been, and will continue to be a go to person when questions arise regarding a new technology. I am wondering if there is a good conference, workshop, training, or resource that may benefit a teacher like myself who is quickly finding out that he is acquiring the "techie" identity at his school?
With these thoughts in mind I suppose I am expecting to change my plan a little. I have taken my students need to learn home addresses to new levels. We have incorporated this objective into many different instructional areas. I would still like to bring it back to technology before I get ready to assess my students growth in this skill. I hope to get back to the lab one more time and have the students explore other locations in reference to their own location in this vast world. Googlemaps will still serve as an applicable tool for this exercise, unless I am presented with another alternative.
This process has taught me a lot about giving my students opportunities for SDL. I am too quick to underestimate my students' potential to learn. I think that often I forget how intrigued I was at that age to find out how things work, or to acquire new information. Though it may not be the case for all students, I feel that many students share a similar passion and excitement for learning. They may not come right out and say it, but I have noticed that with so many of my students they can not help but be curious about what is unknown to them. That is why through this GAME Plan I have been inspired to take a closer look at the opportunities that I provide my learners to grow themselves. Am I giving them rich and valuable opportunities that will quench their inquisitive personalities? What can I do to keep them excited about learning, and what can I do to keep them wanting to go deeper?
One part of my GAME Plan was to become more of an expert in regards to the tech tools that I use. My school is getting dumped on with new technologies. I know getting new technology in a school is something to be excited about, but at the same time it is happening at such a rate that our building is having a hard time keeping up. I have been, and will continue to be a go to person when questions arise regarding a new technology. I am wondering if there is a good conference, workshop, training, or resource that may benefit a teacher like myself who is quickly finding out that he is acquiring the "techie" identity at his school?
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
It's Game Time!
It is now time to take the GAME plan and put it into action. My plan has been put together in a way that will utilize the use of technology to support the instruction I am providing my students in the classroom. One mistake I have seen teachers make is that they feel technology is an area that is separate from the rest of what is taught in their classroom. It has become my clear understanding that the technology I choose to use will serve as an assistive tool in helping address the many learning needs of my diverse body of students. In my plan I have designed a lesson that focuses on learning our home addresses, knowing how to write them, and understanding what different things we can do with our addresses.
To carry out my plan I am going to be using my computer/interactive whiteboard setup in my classroom. This will mainly be used in demonstrating the computer usage and how to interact with the googlemaps website that we will be using. I will also need use of our school's computer lab for about two 30 minute periods. The purpose of the first period will be to go to the lab, practice getting on the site, inputting the information, and getting somewhat familiar with the features of the website. Our second period will be aimed at going to the lab and using the site to acquire certain information. Students will input their address, look for features near their home, and identify routes to various locations.
I am relatively comfortable with the googlemaps program, so I feel that there is not a lot of new information I need to acquire. If anything, I will be going to googlemaps to get a better perspective on how I can effectively teach it so that my students catch on as quickly as possible. Of course, this online research will require some information from my students. I will be assigning them to write down their home address and return that address to school. Obviously, I could get this information from our school office, but this will be a great way to have each student have some interaction with their own address. This will be a vital piece of information that I want them to start becoming comfortable and familiar with.
I have been able to demonstrate some of the features of googlemaps to my students. This was a good way to address the needs of my visual learners, but my tactile and kinesthetic learners needed to get their hands on something. I was able to have some of these students interact with the website and practice putting an address in and searching for that location. Some students were successful in their search, while others ran into various obstacles. Surprisingly, I was glad to have these issues arise when they did. Seeing some of the problems my students faced allowed me to plan my next steps. I have realized that before we go to the lab for a full class visit I am going to have to talk to my young second graders how important it is to accurately input our address information. It should not have been a surprise to me that students were inputting their addresses with spelling mistakes, leaving out critical information, or simply not putting spaces between their words. I thought to myself, "Can I blame them?" At least they are excited about engaging in the educational experience, and in my book that's nothing to get upset about!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
The "GAME" Plan
I was given the opportunity to take a close look at the NETS standards this week. The NETS standards are designed and aimed at getting teachers to integrate technology in the classrooms in order for students to experience meaningful learning with real world implications. I will be presenting two of the standards I have chosen to apply to my own teaching practice and explain how the GAME plan applies to the application of these standards. The GAME plan consists of setting goals, taking action, monitoring, and evaluating / extending. The rest of my post will present my chosen standards and the plan I have to effectively address those with my students.
NETS Standard 1: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity.
A benchmark for this standard goes on to say, "engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources ." This is a huge part of why I want to have my students become more involved with technology. It is so much a part of their every day lives, and that trend will only continue to become more common. I am always looking for new tech tools that can be used to help drive home a point, or add more of an excitement factor to a lesson. Currently we have been learning about addresses. It may seem simplistic, but it is a sad reality that most young students are unable to accurately name, let alone write their home address. By incorporating technology I feel that I could put a positive spin on what may seem like a trivial and boring lesson.
Goals: Provide students an opportunity to learn their home address. Give students opportunities to use web-based tools to develop a deeper understanding of addresses and their uses in regards to reading maps and having knowledge of locating specific locations.
Action: Initially I will have to assign students the task of recording their own home address. This will be a simple homework assignment that a parent can help them out with. Secondly, I will need to design meaningful lessons the include the use of the address they have brought back.
Monitor: While using the web-based tools I can monitor individuals or groups as they work on the online exploration. I will also meet with small groups to discuss their findings and understandings about reaching the outcomes of the lesson.
Evaluate: Before beginning I pre-screened my students for their ability to write down their home address. In the end I will be able to offer a post assessment. Comparing the two assessments will give me a clear picture of which students have benefited from the activities associated with our lessons.
NETS Standard 3: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning.
Under this standard are a collection of benchmarks that refer to being fluent in technological uses as well as collaborating with others on such uses. The collaboration is explained to be not only between students, but peers, as well as parents. In the grand scheme of things, I feel this standard is in place to help develop a teacher so that they are truly comfortable with using technology, to the point that they are willing and able to use it, share it, and offer assistance with it when needed. This is a great standard for myself, because I am in a situation where our school is seeing a lot of new technology being introduced and I am noticing that a lot of individuals are either scared of it, or upset about the changes. I hope to find a way to help my peers feel less threatened by new technologies and more empowered for the new things they will be able to do with it.
Goals: Through this standard, my first goal is to become fluent and confident in my own uses of such technologies. I desire to not only become comfortable with the technologies, but also use technologies in a way that causes myself to be a more effective teacher. My second goal is to establish myself as an approachable expert in the building. I want fellow staff members to see me as an individual who can help bridge the gap between having technology and not know how to implement it.
Action: To be sure I am meeting this standard I will need to take time to learn the tools. It would be worthwhile to attend trainings or conferences on some of the technologies that I am less familiar with, or feel would be strong tools for many of the teachers in the building. I would also want to have opportunities to be available to those who need my assistance. I could present on a new technology at a staff meeting, or I could set up times to meet with teachers on an individual basis upon their request.
Monitor: This standard may seem a little bit harder to evaluate. For my own sake I could keep a journal of my uses of specific technologies, as well as their effectiveness, or ineffectiveness in meeting my expectations. In regards to collaborating with my colleagues, I could offer occasional surveys / questionnaires to get a better measure of their feelings and understandings.
Evaluate: For the sake of evaluation I am going to be taking a look at the impact my work with technology has had on student outcomes. I am also going to find ways to help other teachers find out how influential their tech practices have been with their own students.
Resource:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx
NETS Standard 1: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity.
A benchmark for this standard goes on to say, "engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources ." This is a huge part of why I want to have my students become more involved with technology. It is so much a part of their every day lives, and that trend will only continue to become more common. I am always looking for new tech tools that can be used to help drive home a point, or add more of an excitement factor to a lesson. Currently we have been learning about addresses. It may seem simplistic, but it is a sad reality that most young students are unable to accurately name, let alone write their home address. By incorporating technology I feel that I could put a positive spin on what may seem like a trivial and boring lesson.
Goals: Provide students an opportunity to learn their home address. Give students opportunities to use web-based tools to develop a deeper understanding of addresses and their uses in regards to reading maps and having knowledge of locating specific locations.
Action: Initially I will have to assign students the task of recording their own home address. This will be a simple homework assignment that a parent can help them out with. Secondly, I will need to design meaningful lessons the include the use of the address they have brought back.
Monitor: While using the web-based tools I can monitor individuals or groups as they work on the online exploration. I will also meet with small groups to discuss their findings and understandings about reaching the outcomes of the lesson.
Evaluate: Before beginning I pre-screened my students for their ability to write down their home address. In the end I will be able to offer a post assessment. Comparing the two assessments will give me a clear picture of which students have benefited from the activities associated with our lessons.
NETS Standard 3: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning.
Under this standard are a collection of benchmarks that refer to being fluent in technological uses as well as collaborating with others on such uses. The collaboration is explained to be not only between students, but peers, as well as parents. In the grand scheme of things, I feel this standard is in place to help develop a teacher so that they are truly comfortable with using technology, to the point that they are willing and able to use it, share it, and offer assistance with it when needed. This is a great standard for myself, because I am in a situation where our school is seeing a lot of new technology being introduced and I am noticing that a lot of individuals are either scared of it, or upset about the changes. I hope to find a way to help my peers feel less threatened by new technologies and more empowered for the new things they will be able to do with it.
Goals: Through this standard, my first goal is to become fluent and confident in my own uses of such technologies. I desire to not only become comfortable with the technologies, but also use technologies in a way that causes myself to be a more effective teacher. My second goal is to establish myself as an approachable expert in the building. I want fellow staff members to see me as an individual who can help bridge the gap between having technology and not know how to implement it.
Action: To be sure I am meeting this standard I will need to take time to learn the tools. It would be worthwhile to attend trainings or conferences on some of the technologies that I am less familiar with, or feel would be strong tools for many of the teachers in the building. I would also want to have opportunities to be available to those who need my assistance. I could present on a new technology at a staff meeting, or I could set up times to meet with teachers on an individual basis upon their request.
Monitor: This standard may seem a little bit harder to evaluate. For my own sake I could keep a journal of my uses of specific technologies, as well as their effectiveness, or ineffectiveness in meeting my expectations. In regards to collaborating with my colleagues, I could offer occasional surveys / questionnaires to get a better measure of their feelings and understandings.
Evaluate: For the sake of evaluation I am going to be taking a look at the impact my work with technology has had on student outcomes. I am also going to find ways to help other teachers find out how influential their tech practices have been with their own students.
Resource:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Effective Bridging of Technology and Instruction - Reflection
Through the last eight weeks I can assuredly say I have come a long way in my ability and confidence to implement technology in my instruction. I have found that I am now able to include these uses of technology in such a way that enhances the learning that takes place. The technologies that are being utilized bring a fresh perspective to my students and raises their interest in the work and learning that they are involved in.
When reflecting on my personal learning theory I was encouraged to find that I already had a strong understanding of learning communities. One of the greatest ideas I take from this course is that collaborative learning is such an asset to a learning community. I have retooled my instruction to be more available to these collaborative opportunities. One thing I would add to my personal learning theory is that a learner not only depends on their own understandings and the knowledge of their peers, but they also may make use of available resources. Throughout this course we were presented many different examples of resources that could be used to enhance learning. I feel this is an important aspect of an effective learning theory.
The resources we used were great aids in the learning process. Many of these technologies provided new information to the learner, while other technologies were geared at providing ways to share individual understandings and thoughts, as well as give and receive feedback from other members of the learning community. Since I teach second grade it would be easy for me to say that my students are too young to fully benefit from such uses of technology. It is my goal to get past that train of thought and find meaningful ways to implement these technologies. Two of the technologies that I hope to implement more in the near future are voicethreads and concept maps. These two tools could be used effectively in the right application. As with all things, there will be a learning curve, but I am sure that my students would enjoy adding a new dimension to their learning.
Long-term Goals Regarding Instructional Practice and Technology Integration:
First, I would like to see myself get to a point where technology usage is as much a part of my day as the science or social studies curriculum. This might mean that we make frequent trips to the computer lab to work on a technology based project. For this to become possible I have to develop appropriate ideas for such projects and plan out my year in advance to be sure the time is there for this to take place.
Secondly, I would like technology to become more interactive and less teacher based. It is easy for me to find a technology that I can effectively use in a presentation type method. The great challenge lies in finding technologies that are to be used by the learner. This becomes a challenge because of the time involved in teaching the technology and allowing the students that appropriate time to interact with that technology. To make this happen effectively I would have to find ways to bridge the curriculum. As teachers, we are always looking for ways to connect concepts from one area of instruction to another. It solidifies student understanding and provides teachers more opportunities to reinforce the taught concepts. The same can be done with technology. Instead of strictly teaching technology, I will be looking for as many ways as possible that I can use technological resources to correspond with other areas of instruction.
When reflecting on my personal learning theory I was encouraged to find that I already had a strong understanding of learning communities. One of the greatest ideas I take from this course is that collaborative learning is such an asset to a learning community. I have retooled my instruction to be more available to these collaborative opportunities. One thing I would add to my personal learning theory is that a learner not only depends on their own understandings and the knowledge of their peers, but they also may make use of available resources. Throughout this course we were presented many different examples of resources that could be used to enhance learning. I feel this is an important aspect of an effective learning theory.
The resources we used were great aids in the learning process. Many of these technologies provided new information to the learner, while other technologies were geared at providing ways to share individual understandings and thoughts, as well as give and receive feedback from other members of the learning community. Since I teach second grade it would be easy for me to say that my students are too young to fully benefit from such uses of technology. It is my goal to get past that train of thought and find meaningful ways to implement these technologies. Two of the technologies that I hope to implement more in the near future are voicethreads and concept maps. These two tools could be used effectively in the right application. As with all things, there will be a learning curve, but I am sure that my students would enjoy adding a new dimension to their learning.
Long-term Goals Regarding Instructional Practice and Technology Integration:
First, I would like to see myself get to a point where technology usage is as much a part of my day as the science or social studies curriculum. This might mean that we make frequent trips to the computer lab to work on a technology based project. For this to become possible I have to develop appropriate ideas for such projects and plan out my year in advance to be sure the time is there for this to take place.
Secondly, I would like technology to become more interactive and less teacher based. It is easy for me to find a technology that I can effectively use in a presentation type method. The great challenge lies in finding technologies that are to be used by the learner. This becomes a challenge because of the time involved in teaching the technology and allowing the students that appropriate time to interact with that technology. To make this happen effectively I would have to find ways to bridge the curriculum. As teachers, we are always looking for ways to connect concepts from one area of instruction to another. It solidifies student understanding and provides teachers more opportunities to reinforce the taught concepts. The same can be done with technology. Instead of strictly teaching technology, I will be looking for as many ways as possible that I can use technological resources to correspond with other areas of instruction.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Connectivism and Social Learning
One area of teaching that becomes the most rewarding for me is noticing instances when my students become teachers in my own classroom. I love catching my students taking the opportunities to share with each other and learn from each other. It is a fresh reminder that teaching is more than just lecturing 27 second graders for an entire school day. For me, teaching also includes providing opportunities in which my students can interact and be a part of a quality learning environment. In the web 2.0 era technology has transformed in ways that it is much easier to utilize in today's classrooms. With a little careful planning and instruction my students can engage in collaborative learning projects such as, producing multimedia, web research, webquests, and wikis (Hubbell, Kuhn, Malenoski, Pitler, 2007).
I think back on my first year of teaching and almost gawk at the realization that I had so much to learn about how students best acquire new information. I feel kind of bad for that first class I had. They probably sat through more boring lectures than I would want them to have to remember. I had a very limited idea understanding of how my students could best learn and what could be done to engage them deeply into the learning process. I was afraid of classroom chaos, and thought by setting my students loose and giving them freedom to learn together was a recipe for disaster.
It did not take long before I realized that my students were a resource to be tapped in to. I now regularly engage my students in collaborative work. My students are encouraged to cooperate and complete learning objectives together. Many times my students are asked to be a teacher of specific information. They are going to have to know something well enough that they will be able to teach another student what they know. Today, I had my students working in groups of three to create landforms posters. They were instructed on the procedures of the project, and then set loose to creatively construct their product. I was impressed when I saw the way students worked together, delegated tasks, and took learned information and applied it to their poster. I look forward to getting the posters out tomorrow. My students will get a chance to present their poster to their classmates and teach them all about their landforms. My students enjoy showing their work off and I am excited because my students have a chance to prove themselves as experts of specific information (Laureate Edu. Inc., 2009).
This week we were asked to identify a need for our school. Over the last few years I have witnessed my district's attempts to keep up with the speed of changing technology. To hear my thoughts and share your comments please visit my voicethread at the following address.
http://voicethread.com/share/1377459/
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). “Social learning theories” [Educational video].
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
I think back on my first year of teaching and almost gawk at the realization that I had so much to learn about how students best acquire new information. I feel kind of bad for that first class I had. They probably sat through more boring lectures than I would want them to have to remember. I had a very limited idea understanding of how my students could best learn and what could be done to engage them deeply into the learning process. I was afraid of classroom chaos, and thought by setting my students loose and giving them freedom to learn together was a recipe for disaster.
It did not take long before I realized that my students were a resource to be tapped in to. I now regularly engage my students in collaborative work. My students are encouraged to cooperate and complete learning objectives together. Many times my students are asked to be a teacher of specific information. They are going to have to know something well enough that they will be able to teach another student what they know. Today, I had my students working in groups of three to create landforms posters. They were instructed on the procedures of the project, and then set loose to creatively construct their product. I was impressed when I saw the way students worked together, delegated tasks, and took learned information and applied it to their poster. I look forward to getting the posters out tomorrow. My students will get a chance to present their poster to their classmates and teach them all about their landforms. My students enjoy showing their work off and I am excited because my students have a chance to prove themselves as experts of specific information (Laureate Edu. Inc., 2009).
This week we were asked to identify a need for our school. Over the last few years I have witnessed my district's attempts to keep up with the speed of changing technology. To hear my thoughts and share your comments please visit my voicethread at the following address.
http://voicethread.com/share/1377459/
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). “Social learning theories” [Educational video].
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Constructivism and Constructionism
Dr. Orey (2008) explains that even though in many circles constructivism and constructionism get thought of as one of the same, they are in fact two different concepts. Constructivism is the theory that individuals construct meaning based on their experiences. Constructionism is more of a learning theory, or process for which learning can happen effectively. Constructionism is the idea that an individual will learn from experience and it is the experience of creating an artifact that provides them with the opportunities to gain new knowledge. An individuals schema is challenged by new experiences. That schema may undergo changes in order to accommodate for new understandings that were previously unknown about a specific area of knowledge.
In reflecting on this week's resources I see a great need for instructionism in schools. I would even suggest that such learning would be beneficial to all ages and grades. All students have capabilities unique to their ages and a teacher can make the most of learning opportunities by providing their students with chances to engage in an actual project. The student can take the prior knowledge and apply it to such a project. Students can apply the understandings they have about what they already know and compare it to the new concepts they are self discovering (Pitler, 2007). Along the way, it is very likely that the child will develop new understandings as a result of situations they ran into during the project. They are essentially taking ownership of their own learning (Fiore, 2010).
My brother is also a teacher in a neighboring school district. He teaches eighth grade science. Recently, he has been sharing with me how two of his instructional hours will be devoted to classes that will be involved in project based learning. The project he selected for his students was CO2 car design and construction. His students will be involved in planning, designing, constructing, racing, and collecting data on the results. They are using the skills they have been equipped with to engage in a cumulative project. I know if I was in one of those classes I would be ecstatic about the entire project, so I can only imagine how is actual students are feeling about it. I am now trying to think ways that I can provide my second graders with project based learning opportunities. We do go through a pioneer unit in our first marking period. Though the pioneers did not have much technology, I feel this is a period in time that would be good for historical reports. I am hoping to give my students an opportunity to become experts on a specific area of pioneer life. The students could work in partnership on the project and produce a slide that promotes them as an expert on their pioneer topic. The slides could be put together and we would then have a unique slide show that covers many of the important concepts we had learned. In Dr. Orey's (2008) video it was stated that our students' future is technology and they have to know how to use it. Their success depends on an ability to use technology effectively. As teachers, we need to be sure that we are providing them opportunity to engage in the technology that is becoming an ever present part of their lives.
References:
Fiore, Corrine. (2009). What does Constructivism Mean? eHow. Retrieved September 29, 2010 from http://www.ehow.co.uk/facts_5498967_constructivism-mean.html
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Constructivist and Constructionist Learning Theories. [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology.
[DVD]Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
In reflecting on this week's resources I see a great need for instructionism in schools. I would even suggest that such learning would be beneficial to all ages and grades. All students have capabilities unique to their ages and a teacher can make the most of learning opportunities by providing their students with chances to engage in an actual project. The student can take the prior knowledge and apply it to such a project. Students can apply the understandings they have about what they already know and compare it to the new concepts they are self discovering (Pitler, 2007). Along the way, it is very likely that the child will develop new understandings as a result of situations they ran into during the project. They are essentially taking ownership of their own learning (Fiore, 2010).
My brother is also a teacher in a neighboring school district. He teaches eighth grade science. Recently, he has been sharing with me how two of his instructional hours will be devoted to classes that will be involved in project based learning. The project he selected for his students was CO2 car design and construction. His students will be involved in planning, designing, constructing, racing, and collecting data on the results. They are using the skills they have been equipped with to engage in a cumulative project. I know if I was in one of those classes I would be ecstatic about the entire project, so I can only imagine how is actual students are feeling about it. I am now trying to think ways that I can provide my second graders with project based learning opportunities. We do go through a pioneer unit in our first marking period. Though the pioneers did not have much technology, I feel this is a period in time that would be good for historical reports. I am hoping to give my students an opportunity to become experts on a specific area of pioneer life. The students could work in partnership on the project and produce a slide that promotes them as an expert on their pioneer topic. The slides could be put together and we would then have a unique slide show that covers many of the important concepts we had learned. In Dr. Orey's (2008) video it was stated that our students' future is technology and they have to know how to use it. Their success depends on an ability to use technology effectively. As teachers, we need to be sure that we are providing them opportunity to engage in the technology that is becoming an ever present part of their lives.
References:
Fiore, Corrine. (2009). What does Constructivism Mean? eHow. Retrieved September 29, 2010 from http://www.ehow.co.uk/facts_5498967_constructivism-mean.html
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Constructivist and Constructionist Learning Theories. [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology.
[DVD]Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
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