Im Just A Teacher So What Do I Know

As I reflect back on my personal theory of learning from week one of this course, I do not see that I need to make an major modifications. I discussed in my paper from week one that I feel that it is important to teach to the different learning styles that are present in my classroom and I still believe that is very important. I did learn through this course different technology tools and learning theories that will help me to continue in my quest to teach to the different learning styles in my classroom.

There are two technology tools that I am very excited to begin implementing into my lesson plans. One of those is the voice thread technology tool. I have actually already complete one of these with my students and I went over very well. Another technology tool that I have began to implement into my curriculum is concept mapping. In our school we have a software program call Kidspiration that allows us to create different types of concept maps with our students using both text and pictures. Both of these technology tools allow my students to construct learning while working and also working with partners. This makes learning more exciting and meaningful for the learner.

One goal I have for myself and my students is to move more toward a paper free classroom. I would like to move away from worksheets and paper activities and depend more on technology tools and virtual projects. Another goal I have is to incorporate Skype into my lessons and network more with other schools. I think that having students work with students from other regions and cultures will greatly benefit them better prepare them to be successful in the work force. I already started working on both of these goals and I fully anticipate on reaching both of them.

Here is the link to my voice thread http://voicethread.com/share/784202/

Chapter 7, Cooperative Learning, is an excellent resource for involving more social learning theory into your classroom while also integrating technology. The resources listed in the chapter were probably some of my favorite thus far. My favorite portion of the chapter was the "Keypals" section on page 145. Under this heading were several ways to connect students from around the globe together to work collaboratively on projects and assignments. I think this is an excellent idea, as I have always been a big fan of "pen pals". I think allowing students to work with students from other cities, states, and countries is an excellent way to prepare students to be global communicators. It also exposes students to other cultures and points of view that they wouldn't have otherwise experienced. I think Skype is another excellent tool that allows students to connect socially with other students and work face-to-face with students that they may or may not know.

All of this week's resources directly correlate with the social learning theory because they focus on students working together, constructing knowledge, and conversating about what they are learning.

This week's assigned reading was Chapter 11 in our course text which was focused on generating and testing hypotheses. The book states that "When students generate and test hypotheses, they are engaging in complex mental processes, applying content knowledge, and enhancing their overall understanding of the content" (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008). This is very important for students as it requires them to use higher order thinking skills while allowing them to "construct" learning through testing different hypotheses. This is what the constructionist theory is all about.

Chapter 11 shows how to use interactive spreadsheets with students so that they can organize data while testing different hypotheses. This is a technology application that allows students to create a plan and compare their predictions. It saves students time and also reduces the amount of error in the hypotheses. Through using these interactive probes students are constructing their own learning and not relying on a teacher to give them all of the information. The chapter goes on to discuss data collection tools and digital probes which I was not familiar with. I have not used probeware with my third grade students so I was a little unsure of how those work. I was able to gather that digital probes are another way of students collecting data and creating a digital representation of the data, again aligning with the constructionist theory of learning.

Students are typically more engaged when participating in project-based learning and chapter 11 gives some excellent ideas on how to implement more project-based learning into your curriculum through the use of generating and testing hypotheses.


References
Lever-Duffy, J. & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical Foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

I completed my very first podcast! Check it out and tell me what you think......

Also, here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92Dik9sc3M8

I chose this picture because this depicts how I think children feel when teachers stand in front of the class and lecture....all they here is....wahh wa wa wa wahhh....

Standard 5- Emphasizing dialogue over lecture

The final standard is challenging us to get out of the habit of “telling the students stuff, testing them, and then tell them more stuff”(course DVD). Instead of lecturing our students we need to be having dialogue with our students and begin to listen more than we talk. When we talk with students instead of talking to our students we are able to see more clearly what their needs are and better ways to assist them. Dr. Tharp suggests this is best done through implementation of small groups where the teacher is having an instructional conversation with approximately 5 students.

Strategy 15-Partner Work, is a great way to include more dialogue into your lessons. Through using partner work in your lessons you are able to have more conversations in the classroom. Teachers are able to visit these partnerships and asked leveled questions, which engages the students in even more dialogue.
I have tried to do away with the “lectures” in my classroom and have more whole class discussions. I have noticed through experience that students enjoy getting to talk with their teacher instead of sitting and listening for long periods of time. Another strategy that I utilize that encourages dialogue is choosing a couple of students to eat lunch with me and have what I like to call “lunch and learn”. I try to do this with my struggling students who need just a little extra one on one time. I have noticed that this is really effective with my ELL students as well. The students feel so special to have lunch with the teacher and they barely even notice they are learning in the process. It makes for great conversation with kids and I always learn so much about the kids as they feel more comfortable opening up to me in this type of setting.

The fourth standard is focused on engaging students with challenging lessons. In my opinion we often hold back on challenging our ESL students because we assume they won’t be able to perform like the “other” students or that they need easier, more watered down work. It is important for all students to experience challenging lesson. Students are often excited about the opportunity for challenge and this is when they truly experience growth in the classroom. If we keep students at the level they are comfortable at we would be cheating them out of the education they deserve. Creating challenging lessons can be difficult for a teacher to design. There is a fine line between stretching students and completely overwhelming them. Getting to know your students early on will help to establish exactly what they are capable of and how much challenge they can handle with out shutting down.
I could not pick just one strategy out of the 50 for this standard simply because I feel you can take any of the 50 and make it challenging in some way. When I think of challenging lessons I think of lessons that are hands on and project/experiment based. I also think of having students use critical thinking skills that push them to think outside the box. The Internet is a great tool to use in creating challenging lessons. I often times have my students research topics or find new content that I haven’t taught that is relevant to what we are studying. I love to tell my 3rd grade students “you are going to be doing middle school work today!” They get so excited and proud that they are learning beyond their grade. We can no longer expect our students to “sit and spit” content that is presented to them. If we want to adequately prepare them for the future we must challenge them to make learning their own and challenge them to learn outside of their comfort zone

The 3rd CREDE standard is Connecting School to Students Lives. This to me is perhaps the most important standard. I feel that this important to any child, language learner or not. I know that most children do not store curriculum into their long term memory if they don't realize how it connects to THEIR own life. This is also a technique that will help ELL students master concepts more quickly if they are able to see concrete examples of the content they are learning.

I searched on Teacher Tube to find a lesson that is an example of what standard three is all about. Here is what I found....


Strategy number three on page 24 also goes along with standard three. The "Realia" strategies bring concrete objects into the classroom to build background knowledge and vocabulary. This also allows students to learn through the use of their senses. This helps support ELL learners in the classroom as well as lower level students with less real life experiences.

Dr. Tharp reminds us the four elements of language are reading, writing, speaking, and listening. He states that these are the most crucial developmental tasks of child development. The second CREDE standard instructs teachers to develop students' competence in the language and literacy of instruction throughout all instructional activities. Dr. Tharp presents the fact that teachers talk 92% of the time and students usually talk 8%. This is something that must be changed if we want to see our students excelling in the four areas of language. If language is going to be developed in the classroom then students must be given more opportunities to read, write, speak, and listen in all subject areas.

A strategy that can help master this standard is strategy 15, Practicing Verbal Interaction. The conversation role-play technique is clever way of having students work on the four elements of language while also incorporating group work into the curriculum. This conversation activity can be implemented into any subject area. This would also be an excellent way of getting students to engage in more talking while giving the teacher more time to be the listener.

The CREDE standards are designed to help teachers focus on improving the education of students whose ability to reach their potential is challenged by language or cultural barriers, race, geographic location, or poverty. There are five standards that have been developed to
teach effectively-
#1)Teachers & students working together
#2)Developing literacy & language skills across the curriculum
#3)Connecting school to students lives
#4)Engaging students with challenging lessons
#5)Emphasizing dialogue over lecture

Today I am going to discuss more about standard number one and what it means to me as a teacher of the students mentioned above, as well as identifying a strategy from course materials that goes hand in hand with the given standard.

And so my ramblings continue.! Here are the questions I will be addressing today:
What are my assumptions about why some people are affluent and others are poor? Do I think it is fair? Inevitable? I have always been baffled about wealth and how some people have more than others. I do know that I do not look at money as what defines us as "rich" or "poor". I am a middle class citizen but feel that I live a lot better off than some wealthy people. Life is what you make of it and I do feel we hold a lot of power in our own hands. As far as "fair" is concerned I have never really experienced "fair" in any aspect of my life. Fair is a word that doesn't exist and could absolutely drive a person crazy if you dwell on it to long.
Whom or what do I blame for disparities in wealth and opportunity? Poor people? Wealthy people? The system? What do I think needs to be changed? Do I want to be a part of that change? If so, in what ways? I honestly think that the disparities in wealth in opportunity come from a fear of change. People often break free from what holds them back because they are afraid of the unknown. I am able to look at many of my students and predict what their future will be just based on their home life. I know that they will adopt many of their parents behaviors or bad habits and not try to change their life for the better. Since the first day I began teaching I have always taught my students that you have to strive to live better than your parents. You have want a better life for your self and your children. It is hard for me to get them to understand that but that is how I want to be apart of the change. I want the cycle to stop with the students that I have.

Today I am going to continue reflecting on culture...here are some of the questions I will be journaling about:
When do I notice culture? How often do I think about it?
How would I characterize encounters that I have had with people of different cultures? Have they been positive experiences? Negative? Neutral? I would say I notice culture when someone speaks. Our words are often a clue into what culture we come from. Like I had mentioned in a previous post, I don't really think much about culture. I am constantly surrounded by it, at work, home, church, etc. I never really give it much thought. All of my experiences have been positive when dealing with culture. I have at times gotten frustrated at language barriers but completely understand that is a two way street! I am someone who embraces change and differences and try to do the best that I can to instill that into the students that I teach.
How do I feel when I interact with a person who speaks a native language other than English? Do I treat the person differently than when I am speaking to a person whose first language is English? What assumptions do I have about linguistically diverse people?
I gave a speech once in college about how to effectively communicate with international students at my college. I started out my speech by playing this movie clip.

I did this because this how many of us try to speak to others with cultural differences. I think I got the attention of my classmates and hopefully prevented them from ever doing this.
How does my value system relate to my culture? What values do I hold dear? Have I had experiences where my values were in conflict with another person’s values? How did I resolve these differences? I gave this speech because I was dating an international student who I personally witnessed being judged by his accent and limited English abilities. I promised myself I would never be one those people, and to my knowledge I haven't been. I am very patient when speaking to people who have another native language and I try to communicate effectively. I do admit there are times when I get frustrated by I know that it must be equally frustrating for the other person too!.

As far as my value system relating to my culture......Well that is a hard one to reflect on. I think every person develops a set of values based on the way they were brought up by their parents. I was brought up in a christian home and today my faith is very near and dear to me! I have had plenty of experiences where my values and another person's values did not agree. I am a very passive person and often find myself not standing up for what I believe in. I am a person who avoids conflict at all costs so when those situation arise I usually am one who gives in or apologizes even when I don't mean it. That is something that I have tried to change, but no matter how hard I try....I just can't seem to fix. Oh-well that is what makes me who I am!

For my master's class my assignment was to reflect on a few question in relation to culture. I could either write a paper or create a blog. Being the blog lover I am, and the fact that APA literally makes me sick to my stomach, I have created this blog. Here are a few of the questions that I will be addressing:
How do I feel about my racial group? Am I proud? Ambivalent? Do I sometimes wish (or have wished) that I belonged to another group?
How do I feel about people from other racial groups? Do I have close friends and neighbors in other racial groups, or is my social network racially homogeneous? Would I like to have close friends of racial groups other than my own? Why or why not?
When do I notice culture? How often do I think about it?
How would I characterize encounters that I have had with people of different cultures? Have they been positive experiences? Negative? Neutral?
How does my value system relate to my culture? What values do I hold dear? Have I had experiences where my values were in conflict with another person’s values? How did I resolve these differences?
What are my assumptions about why some people are affluent and others are poor? Do I think it is fair? Inevitable?
Whom or what do I blame for disparities in wealth and opportunity? Poor people? Wealthy people? The system? What do I think needs to be changed? Do I want to be a part of that change? If so, in what ways?
How do I feel when I interact with a person who speaks a native language other than English? Do I treat the person differently than when I am speaking to a person whose first language is English? What assumptions do I have about linguistically diverse people?
How has being a man or a woman influenced my life? How has it limited me? Sustained me? Opened up possibilities?
If I had been a man instead of a woman or vice versa, how would my life have been different?

Stay tuned for my ramblings on these questions!