Reading all that I have for this course, I have truly been able to self-reflect on my personal teaching theories and how they impact my students. I now realize that having my students take an active role in their learning is of the utmost importance. I would be doing my students a disservice by simply standing in front of them and teaching with lecture, pencil, and paper. Times have changed and so must my strategies.
Having said this, I have not fully embraced the constructionist learning theory within my teaching. I am happy to say that the classes I have taken at Walden have opened my mind to things that I never thought possible for my first graders. I am excited about teaching again!
This year has brought the idea of implementing the use of the internet and my new flip camera to our science unit on Weather. My students will be able to access the computers in our classroom to find a city of interest for them. (Prior to this, I assigned cities randomly.) Once they find one, they will begin to track the weather for that city. (Excitingly enough, it could even be a city in another country!) I can then show my students how to make a line graph in Word that they can personalize to their liking. Imagine the possibilities of my students finding interesting pictures that they could cut and paste to their project. As a culminating activity, students could dress up and give weather reports to be captured by my flip camera and posted on our class website. Although we have just begun this unit of study this week, I am more than excited to start this project! I am hopeful that my students will find this more engaging than just reading about weather as well as also opening other avenues of interest for them. If I am excited just thinking about it, I believe that my students will be even more excited about actually doing it!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Cognitive Learning
I vividly remember sitting in my second grade class and listening to my teacher read to us about the Statue of Liberty. There was one picture in our textbook, but that was about all. I just couldn't picture in my mind the boats that came through Ellis Island and what all of the people on board looked like. I found myself wandering away from my teacher's words and thinking about something else. As I have been reading about cognitive learning, I have come to realize even more how important it is to make those links or connections through as many avenues as possible. Last year, as I was teaching my own class about the Statue of Liberty, I remembered my experience and how I struggled to remember anything that my teacher had taught me. I could see that I was loosing my students also. To keep that from happening, I logged onto scholastic.com and found a wonderful virtual tour showing the actual boats pulling in and people getting off and stepping into their new life. It's amazing to see the women's dresses and scarves, along with the men in their best suits and hats. Showing this has made an immediate connection with my students and led us into a discussion comparing and contrasting people of today and yesteryear. It was far from the lesson I was taught!
I think as teachers we all recognize the importance of such tools as concept mapping and virtual tours and field trips (just to name a few), and making those connections to make learning more meaningful. I have found that bringing learning to "life" leads even my young learners into deeper discussions and gives them a greater understanding of that which we are studying.
Amy
I think as teachers we all recognize the importance of such tools as concept mapping and virtual tours and field trips (just to name a few), and making those connections to make learning more meaningful. I have found that bringing learning to "life" leads even my young learners into deeper discussions and gives them a greater understanding of that which we are studying.
Amy
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Behaviorism and Technology
In my thirteen years of teaching I have learned and tried different theories. It sometimes seems as though these theories are "here today, gone tomorrow". The one theory that I have always kept in my classroom, if even just a bit, is Behaviorism. Although I strive to show how important effort is to my first graders, they just don't understand it. Unless there is a reward for positive behaviors or a consequence for inappropriate behaviors, they see little reason to put forth their best efforts on a continual basis. Now, of course, this is not true for all students. I am speaking generally. It is my hope that as my students mature and see how rewarding putting forth their best will be, they will realize the true importance of effort.
I use Behaviorism in various ways within my classroom. We have a clip chart whereby students can move their clip up for desired behaviors or down for undesired behaviors. If they reach a certain point on the chart, they are rewarded with a Super Hawk note. After receiving ten Super Hawks, they are able to brag with the principal about their achievements. This has worked tremendously since all students love to see the principal for something positive. We also have Super Hawk forms that one child can fill out for another telling about a good deed that another student has done. After a while, students seem to forget about receiving a Super Hawk for everything, and just do it for the intrinsic reward.
In the area of academics, our school uses a Reading Counts program where students read a book each night and take a comprehension test on that specific book the next day. The students earn points and prizes each month for reaching a certain level. It is amazing to watch the faces of the children light up when they receive their prizes and are recognized by the administrator. If a student didn't reach the level needed one month, they are sure to reach it the next. The test that is taken is on the computer. Not only have my students' comprehension skills gone up, but so have their keyboarding skills. This has been possible through repetition and the students love it.
Another area where I use the Behaviorist approach is in memorizing math facts. It is part of our curriculum to have first graders memorize their math facts through twenty. Instead of the old flashcard way, we now use websites such as aaamath.com. I looked through the aplusmath.com site and it looked similar to the one I usually use. I do like the way that aaamath.com offers timed tests, which is what we do in first grade. I also like the way the level can be changed to match the competency level of the child. Another website that I use is spellingcity.com. Again, this site utilizes a more behavioral approach in that students earn points through their correct answers. However, it also allows students to do more than just spelling, such as word sorts and word finds.
In looking at some of the other websites, I have found that many of them are too difficult for my young students. As I pointed out earlier, my students are not able to track their own behavior with a computer program, but they are able to do something similar with the clip chart. The technology that is available for them is mostly game type, however, it has been very beneficial for me to use technology to show parents where their child stands academically. Somehow seeing a graph showing growth (or no growth) is very eye-opening!
Amy
I use Behaviorism in various ways within my classroom. We have a clip chart whereby students can move their clip up for desired behaviors or down for undesired behaviors. If they reach a certain point on the chart, they are rewarded with a Super Hawk note. After receiving ten Super Hawks, they are able to brag with the principal about their achievements. This has worked tremendously since all students love to see the principal for something positive. We also have Super Hawk forms that one child can fill out for another telling about a good deed that another student has done. After a while, students seem to forget about receiving a Super Hawk for everything, and just do it for the intrinsic reward.
In the area of academics, our school uses a Reading Counts program where students read a book each night and take a comprehension test on that specific book the next day. The students earn points and prizes each month for reaching a certain level. It is amazing to watch the faces of the children light up when they receive their prizes and are recognized by the administrator. If a student didn't reach the level needed one month, they are sure to reach it the next. The test that is taken is on the computer. Not only have my students' comprehension skills gone up, but so have their keyboarding skills. This has been possible through repetition and the students love it.
Another area where I use the Behaviorist approach is in memorizing math facts. It is part of our curriculum to have first graders memorize their math facts through twenty. Instead of the old flashcard way, we now use websites such as aaamath.com. I looked through the aplusmath.com site and it looked similar to the one I usually use. I do like the way that aaamath.com offers timed tests, which is what we do in first grade. I also like the way the level can be changed to match the competency level of the child. Another website that I use is spellingcity.com. Again, this site utilizes a more behavioral approach in that students earn points through their correct answers. However, it also allows students to do more than just spelling, such as word sorts and word finds.
In looking at some of the other websites, I have found that many of them are too difficult for my young students. As I pointed out earlier, my students are not able to track their own behavior with a computer program, but they are able to do something similar with the clip chart. The technology that is available for them is mostly game type, however, it has been very beneficial for me to use technology to show parents where their child stands academically. Somehow seeing a graph showing growth (or no growth) is very eye-opening!
Amy
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