Learning Log

What?

This past week we learned about constructivism which is a very interesting theory to me. I guess I don't exactly see how it is different from Vygotskys theory. I think as we discuss it more in class I will unerstand it better. This week we also talked a lot about preparing for our field experience which was really helpful. I am excited to see the different theories put into practice in an actual classroom and see how the students respond to them.

So What?

I think that I need to understand what constructivism is a little better so that I can apply it in the classroom. I think the main thing though with all of these theories is to incorporate students prior knowledge when we are teaching something new, and that is the way that they will learn best.

Now What?

I am SO excited for field and ready to apply the things that I have been learning this past semester. I am really excited to find a student who is not currently working in their zone of proximal development and help them get there.

Integrating Technology in the Classroom

As we are getting ready to go into the classroom and do our field experience next week we have been looking for opportunities to use technology in the classroom. For me, it is very difficult to put into practice the things we have been learning in class and apply them in the classroom. One thing that I would like to learn more about that I think would be really helpful in the lower level elementary grades would be a webquest. I have heard them being talked about in a few of our classes but I have never seen one, or really been explained to what it is. From what I understand about webquests though, they would be great in allowing students to explore and research for an upcoming project or paper that they would be doing in class. I am excited to see how our field teacher uses technology in his classroom. I think it will be extremely helpful to see a teacher in an actual classroom using technology in the classroom, and will probably help me get my ideas flowing on how I can incorporate it. I am also really excited in my field experience to see what kinds of technology is available to students in elementary schools today.

New Study Strategy

This past week as I read and chapter 7 I made a commitment so stop after I read each section and summarize what I just read, and also ask myself some questions to make sure I was understanding the material I was reading. I thought this was really helpful to me. As I was reading I knew I would need to be summarizing after I was done reading so I was constantly evaluating the information that was being read and deciding what was essential and non-essential to understand the concepts. I felt as I sorted out information I could remember more because I was not trying to remember a lot of useless things. I did have a hard time remembering to summarize after each section, but I think that with practice it would become natural. I really felt that I grasped the concepts better and understood the big ideas more fully as I summarized and quizzed myself on the material that was being read.

Learning Log

What?

This past week in Ed Psych we learned about cognitive psychology. The thing that was most interesting to me was learning about the Model of Memory and the process our brain goes through to get something to stay in our long term memory. It was interesting to learn about those different parts of the memory model and what we can do as we learn in order to remember things better. The main thing is to encode the information by meaningful learning, organization, elaboration, and visual imagery.

So What?

As a teacher I need to learn and create ways that can better assist my students in acquiring the skills they need to work the content they will be learning into their long-term memory. So many times in a classroom we use those route learning skills that do not really help students to retain the knowledge we want them to retain. This will especially be helpful to me so that I can train myself to study in ways that will allow me to actually retain the information I am trying to learn.

Now What?

I need to implement those effective study strategies into my own learning so that I will be able to teach it to students. I will also need to remember as I am teaching to not try and put too much information on students. If a student has enough time to process the information and isn't worried about learning a million other things they are more likely to retain that knowledge and transfer it to their working memory.

Technology in the Classroom

We have been making websites for our "classrooms" this week and it was so fun to see how I could create my own website and really utilize it in my classroom. I think that if students can be trained from the beginning to check for updates, announcements, assignments, reminders, etc. on the class website everyday it would be an amazing tool! It is definitely a way to get the information out there where it is easily accessible, and they can refer back to it whenever they need to. I think the parents would really appreciate it as well and take comfort in the fact that the teacher is organized and knows what they are doing ahead of time. Using the classroom website is also a fun way for students to get to know a little more about their teacher. A teacher can post pictures from a recent trip she went on, or talk about a play she has seen. Some things that might not normally be shared in the classroom can be shared on the classroom website and the students can really connect to their teacher.

I also have been thinking about the use of digital cameras in the classroom and think that they can be a great tool when used in the right way. As a teacher I would just have to be sure that students only have access to them when they are being supervised and doing structured activities. They would be great especially in Science to record observations they made.

Technology in the Classroom

I can't say there has been a lot this past week I have seen that I can do to incorporate technology into my classroom. One thing that I did discover was a small portable digital recorder that my mother in law has that you can record things onto and then upload them onto your computer. I didn't know that a tool like that was available and I think it will be great to use in the classroom. There are so many things that you could do with it. Each week as we learn new things in each of our classes I feel like I get a better idea about how I can incorporate technology into my classroom and almost into every single lesson plan. There is always some way that technology can be utilized in the classroom to help students learn.

Judy Willis

Judy Willis is a educational researcher and classroom teacher. Her studies deal mainly with the RAD theory. To put it in Judy Willis' words, "when the fun stops, the learning stops." We need to be able to engage our students making learning exciting and fun for them in order to maximize their learning potential. I think at times it can be easy just to fall into direct instruction learning and bore our students to death. It does take extra effort to make our classrooms fun, exciting places of learning but the payout is definitley worth it.