Reflection on my theory and more...

As I looked back at the theory I produced several weeks ago involving my views on learning and teaching, I realized that I haven't really changed it. I still follow more of a behaviorist view. I still base my teaching on what is best for my students to learn. I try to teach them using methods most rewarding to them. If that means that I involve more "hands on" activities, then so be it. However, after taking this class and learning about different ways to use technology in my classroom, I have perhaps learned a few things that will enhance my teaching and support my theory. I think that if I were to make any immediate changes to my teaching it would be to simply use more of it. I think one thing that would be helpful is to do a virtual field trip, even if that means doing it together using a projector. Since my school does not currently allow field trips due to the cost, this would be the best way for them to experience things. Another tool I might use is to make slide shows on Power point and maybe allow my students to take part in making one themselves. My students are very visual learners so I think that this would be helpful for them.

If I had to make two long-term goals for incorporating technology, it would be first to learn and master the technology pieces in my building such as a smart board and a Mimeo board. I think that these tools would be useful for me as a teacher and for my students to learn, but until I learn how to use them myself, they are useless to me. To accomplish this, I will seek help from one of my building's technologically savvy teachers and set aside a small amount of time once a month to learn from them. I will also make myself "play" with these tools at least once every two weeks to become more familiar with them. Another goal is to teach at least one lesson a month that involves my students (not me) using technology whether it be making a power point, blogging, concept mapping, etc. To do this, I will choose a certain week of each semester (for example, week 6) and plan a lesson that aligns with the pacing guide for that week. At the beginning of the semester I will either develop a new lesson plan or modify an existing one. I think that the more I have my students use technology, the more proficient they will be at it, thus preparing them for our technology-filled world.

Voice Thread

Here is the link to my voice thread: voicethread.com/share/785991

Cooperative Learning.

I think that cooperative learning is a great thing. I think that by working with one another, our students learn a lot more than the curriculum. One way our students can do this is by constructing a website with one another. They can be given a topic and need to work together create an informative website that can be viewed by others in the class. I think that this is a great way to collaborate and also showcase work.

Constructionism in the classroom

This week, we learned about constructionism and what that means for the classroom. From what I understand, constructionism involves learning through creating a project of some type. I think that one way to support this is by making rubrics. I like the idea of rubrics because it clearly outlines what is expected. This way, if there is ever a question of the grades, the teacher can simply refer to the rubric and that's that. I think that if you expect your students to learn by creating something, it might be best to give them a clear list of what you expect. Has anyone used rubrics in your classroom? Has it had a positive or negative impact on your teaching?

Tools used to support the cognitive learning approach

The cognitive approach is all about how information enters the brain, is stored, and is used. In order to support this, their are several different tools that can be used. I think that it is a great idea to create advance organizers. This can easily be created on a word document. One type of advance organizers is a graphic organizer which can be represented as a table, chart, or artistic work. I think that this supports the cognitive approach by giving a clear way for information to enter the brain. I am a visual learner and so are many of my students so seeing some sort or chart or graph is very helpful.

Strategies to Incorporate the Behaviorist Learning Theory in the Classroom

For this week, I am going to talk about a strategy that I learned about. According to Dr. Michael Orey in a video I watched, the behaviorist theory involves either reinforcing a desired behavior or punishing a negative behavior. One way that this could be incorporated in a classroom is to use an online tutorial. A tutorial is a program on a computer that gives a small piece of information and asks you a question (usually multiple choice). If you get the answer correct, you get rewarded with a screen that says either "Correct!" or "You're right!" or some other positively reinforcing statement. If you are wrong, you get a screen that pretty much states the opposite. My district requires staff to do training for things like fire safety and communicable diseases by using tutorials. I would love to find some tutorials to reinforce learning topics for my students. I think that they would get a lot out of them.

References:
Orey, M. (2009) "Behaviorist Learning Theory." (video resource)

Hello again!

If anyone has been following my blog, I apologize for not submitting a posting for a couple months. I have to admit, I created this blog to fulfill a requirement for a class I am taking and now that I have to post to a blog for another course, I'm back. I hope to get into the swing of using this even when I do not have to.

For those of you who are subscribers of my blog for our current course, welcome. I hope to be getting comments from you soon!

Reflection

When reflecting upon the class that I am currently taking involving technology, there are several things that come to mind. First, I think that I have learned a lot more about using technology in the classroom than I thought that I would. Before I took this class, I barely knew what a wiki, blog, or podcast was, let alone how to use them. Now I have successfully been able to do each of these things. That is not saying that I am an expert by any means, but I definitely know more than I did before. Second, I have learned that with these tools, instruction can be more student-centered than teacher-centered. I think that I will try to use things like blogs and wikis so that my students can facilitate their own learning.

I think that in order for me to continue to learn more about using these technologies, I need to use them more frequently. I think that practice will make it a lot easier for me to use these tools effectively. I also think that it is important to set goals for myself in order to make sure that I continue to use blogs, wikis, or podcasts. One goal I want to set is to successfully create and maintain a blog that my students can effectively use. Another goal is to use blogs to communicate with staff rather than emails or meetings. I think that looking back on how I was with technology before, I have improved. I now have new ways of involving my students in conversations and other forms of interactions.

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

Review of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills

I recently checked out the website for the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (www.21stcenturyskills.org) and I was slightly surprised by what I found. I guess that I assumed that 21st century skills referred mostly to technology because of the significant advances at the present time. I was surprised to find that 21st century skills referred not only to technology, but also to critical thinking, problem solving, and communication. It makes total sense to me now that students today need to master these skills in order to not only survive in the workplace, but also in life in general. I suppose I needed that fact pointed out to me by a website. This website also gave a lot of other information as well as resources for teachers.

What does this mean for my students? I think this means that I need to find other things to teach them other than basic math and reading skills. This is not saying that these are not important, but I also need to concentrate on enhancing their communication skills. They need to be able to effectively communicate their wants as needs as well as be able to receive information from others. They need to not only be able to tell me an answer to a question, but they need to tell me how they figured it out. Does this make sense? As many of you already know, these skills are already difficult for students with special needs. The question is... how do we fix it? Anyone have any concerns or suggestions?

Using Blogs in the Classroom

I have been learning recently about how to use blogs in the classroom to enhance student learning. I think that they could be beneficial in the sense that you can use them to create classroom discussions in which all students are on an even playing field. However, I struggle with how to include my students in blogs as they are unable to write (either on paper or on the computer). My students have multiple disabilities (both physical and mental) and range from grades K-3, so including them in some activities is challenging. One idea I have is to collaborate with a teacher in the general curriculum to create a blog in which students can answer specific questions about classroom content (e.g. a story read, or science experiment) and pair the students up so that an advanced learner is with a student who might be struggling (including all students, not just students with disabilities). Depending on the student, I might make up a corresponding sheet using pictures so that a student can understand what is being asked even if they cannot read. I also might include multiple choices to the question using pictures so that the student can easily dictate their answers (especially if they are non-verbal). If the student is unable to type or put their responses to the blog into words, then their partner can help by typing their responses for them. Of course this is not fool-proof. Like most ideas, it has flaws. For example, students would have to be monitored carefully to ensure that one person is not just simply doing ALL of the work.

What do you think? Would this work? Do you have any other ideas that might help? I welcome your feedback!

Welcome to My Blog!

Welcome educators and parents alike! I teach students with special needs and I am always looking for ideas to use with them. Please feel free to add your comments or ask questions. I will gladly help if I can but I am also interested to learn from other educators. When sharing, please remember to be discrete about personal information, especially names of your students. We must respect confidentiality.

For today, I would like to discuss using technology in the classroom. My students have multiple and often severe disabilities so a majority of the the technology used in my classroom is communication devices of some type. I am currently taking a course that discusses using blogs, wiki's and other technological services in the classroom, but I am struggling with how to use these things in my classroom. Any suggestions? Has anyone used these things in your classrooms? If so, any success?