Personal Theory of Learning

As I reflect on my learning experiences after completing this course, I am so elated that I now understand the importance of how utilizing various learning theories can help me become a more effective teacher. I will continue to stay abreast of innovative strategies, technology and the latest educational methodology because I know that it will impact the quality of education that my students obtain in my class. I have gain knowledge and skills that will allow me to implement strategies and interventions that will help increase student achievement. For example, when I present lessons I will make sure that I incorporate activities that are going to address the different learning styles of students so that I will accommodate the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learner. At the beginning of each semester, I will have students to complete a learning styles inventory this will help me plan lessons that will be more engaging and meaningful to students. I will create activities that will give students the opportunity to use technology as a method to reinforce key concepts and I will also plan more collaborative group activities so that students will have a chance to share their ideas. My role is going to transform to a teacher who facilitates instructions so that students can become more active participants in their own learning.

When I integrate technology into my instructions, I will make sure that students have the opportunity to use the latest software application and computer devices so that will be prepared to transfer those skills into the workplace. The two technology tools that I will use to help support student’s learning are incorporating blogs and voice thread software to increase students’ content knowledge. One of the main focuses at my school this year is literacy. Blogs would be an excellent learning tool to reinforce key topics and it will also allow students the ability to improve their writing and reading skills. Blogs can also give students the opportunity to share and learn from their teachers as well as their peers. The voice thread software will allow students to construct an artifact exhibiting their comprehension of new concepts and then receive feedback from their peers, teachers, parents, and all other stakeholders. This will create a network of people who are collaborating, communicating and sharing their knowledge. Using technology helps to motivate students and it also increases student’s retention of information which causes them to excel academically.

One of my long-term goals changes that I will make to my instructional practice regarding technology integration is to make sure that I use the interactive whiteboard more frequently as a learning tool and less as an instructional tool. I will create additional activities that will require students to use the interactive whiteboard to demonstrate their proficiency in mastering challenging concepts. Students will have the opportunity to use the whiteboard to create educational games, present multi- media presentations, demonstrate use of new software, and to complete projects to share with the class. This will also require that I spend additional time planning enrich technology lessons that allow students to become more immerse in the learning process. Russell and Sorge (1999) stated how technology can give students “more control over their own learning, “facilitating the analytical and critical thinking and the collaboration championed in the constructivist approach to education (pp. 1-2) (Hubbell, Kuhn, Malenoski, Pitler, 2007) My second long term goal regarding technology integration is to make that I continue to participate in social networking sites such as blogs, facebook, and Yahoo groups so that I can continue to collaborate with educators globally so that I will become more knowledgeable of the latest educational strategies, advance technology, and new teaching practices. I will create a weekly reflection journal to record the skills and knowledge that I have gained from using these social network websites.

In summary, I have gained a wealth of instructional tools that I will use to improve my teaching practices. When I introduce new concepts, I will make sure that students fully understand the objectives and are capable of demonstrating their knowledge and skills by completing challenging yet engaging activities. It is crucial that I implement learning tools that will give students an opportunity to hone their technology skills, individualize instruction, reward and recognize students for their academic performance. My goal is to make sure that students understand that they will only grow personally and professionally by becoming a lifelong learner.

References:

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

The connectivism and social learning theory is very prevalent in our schools today. This concept promotes communication, cooperation, and collaboration which help to enhance student learning. Cooperative learning activities helps students hone their people’s skills, builds self esteem, promote a positive learning environment, and it encourages students to share their ideas. However, there are some rules that teachers need to be aware of before implementing this strategy such as when grouping students try not to use ability level group often, groups should be small in size, and lastly try to use this strategy so that the students will become familiar with how to participate in cooperative learning groups but remember to not overuse this strategy. No matter how effective a strategy may be if a used is too often student will lose interest in lesson which will decrease student knowledge and skills of concepts. When I used cooperative learning groups in my class, I usually used heterogeneous and homogenous grouping. This is ideal because I can use a variety of ways to group students based on interest, ability and sometimes randomly by having students to select numbers or shapes. I want students to learn to work with different people in class because in the workplace their will have to work with people from different background and cultures. I am glad to be teaching in an age where I can use technology to help students’ master concepts. Now students have opportunities to use technology as they work cooperatively to create multimedia presentations, use additional web resources and produce videos that relate to the curriculum. All these activities allow students to work together to demonstrate their knowledge and skills by performing tasks as a group. The social networking websites is a good method to incorporate into instructions to help students stretch their learning so that they will be able to broaden their knowledge when faced with challenging concepts taught in class. This is an extinction of the lesson and it gives students another method to validate information that they have retained about key concepts. Networking is a powerful tool because it allows information to be shared from people across the world.

References:

Orey. M(unknown). “ Social Learning Theories”. Laureate Education, Inc.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Siemens. G(unknown). “Connectivism as a Learning Theory”. Laureate Education, Inc.

Constructivism in Practice

The theory of constructivist and constructionist revolves around the concept that teachers recognize the need to allow students to demonstrate their own individual learning. Students are more engaged and more motivated to learn when they are given the flexibility to grasp concepts by using a variety of instructional strategies. Teachers can assess if students are learning by planning lessons that will provoke problem solving and critical thinking skills. This type of assessment allows the teacher to evaluate whether students clearly understand concepts and it also help teacher define areas that students are finding to be more challenging. The teacher can then begin to implement interventions to help students with mastery of concepts. The constructivism practice is similar to Generating and Hypothesis concepts because it focuses on the individual learning style of the student. Often the generating and hypothesis concept is used when students have to perform task related to science however from my reading, I now have more insight on how I can use this method to help students apply their knowledge in my curriculum. When students have to explain their hypothesis and conclusions it gives them the role of being a decision maker. The decision maker requires the student to analyze a situation and to predict the outcome by using a selective method. Students will also have to use their higher order thinking skills which promotes a more stimulating learning environment. Spreadsheet software, data collection tools and web sources are technology tools that allow teachers to create lessons where the concept of generating and testing hypotheses can be used as an interactive device to help students gather and interpret data. In my class, when I give students a problem based project, I incorporate activities where students will have to use their prior knowledge and also assigned new concepts that will require students to do research or additional readings. I always present the curriculum using a real life connection so that student can understand the significance of learning new concepts. When students can see the relevance of the assignment, they are going to be more interested in completing the assignment. I often observe students working to their full potential when teachers assign tasks that allow the student to demonstrate their own learning of concepts.

References:

Orey. M (unknown). ““Constructionist and Constructivist Learning Theories””. Laureate Education, Inc.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Cognitivism in Practice

The cognitive learning theory is a three stage model that consists of the sensory input, short-term and long term memory that allows students to retain concepts that they have learned and apply that knowledge and skills in the future. When the teacher, use elaboration students are able to make a connection with the information that they have learned. One of the strategies that I found interesting that will help students process information is using the Inspiration software focusing on cueing and questioning which helps to promote students’ critical thinking skills. When I start a new objective, I always provide students with an essential question(s) about the objective so that they will understand what I expect for them to learn at the end of the lesson. The essential question is the tool that I used to make sure that the assignments that I give to students relate specifically to the objective. This gives student the opportunity to explore their background knowledge of concepts. The use of technology allows me to meet the need of the visual, auditory, and if videos are used the motion can reach the kinesthetic learner as well. I also use the brainstorming strategy by providing students with a digitally graphic organizer which allow them to add and organize information as it is being introduced. This helps students to understand what content is more important and what information they need to study so that they will be able to master the objectives in each unit.

Behaviorist Learning Theory-Week 2

According to the behaviorist learning theory students tend to acquire behavior, skills, and knowledge in response to rewards, punishments, or withheld responses associated with them. Teachers can use reinforcement as an instructional strategy to help students understand the relationship between effort and achievement. Students can compare their attitudes with their belief about learning using spreadsheet software to help keep track of their data so that they will understand that staying focus and becoming more engaged in class will improve their academic success. This is an excellent method to incorporate technology to help enhance learning. When students clearly understand the relationship of attitude to effort they are able to demonstrate proficient in any subject area. This forces student to be held more accountable for their own learning because they have to become an active participant. In my class, I have students create a spreadsheet that will keep track of all daily assignments. Students record assignment, date that assignment was given, file name for saving work , grade, and date that assignment was submitted to teacher. This is excellent method for students to keep track of their academic progress so that they will be more responsible in completing assignments. I have found the because students have to keep track of this date they tend to be more focus on assignments and better quality of work is submitted. If students do not finish assignments or receive a failing grade for any assignment, they are more likely to put more effort into the next assignment because there was a negative consequence for their action. Homework is another instructional strategy that can be used to reinforce key concepts taught in class. Students can benefit from doing homework if assignments are meaningful and if students are given immediate feedback so that misconceptions of content can be cleared. This type of practice allows the teacher to evaluate whether students understand concepts or whether students are having difficulty with mastering concepts. Students can use various software such as word processing, spreadsheet, multi-media, and communication software to assist them with learning course content. Technology allows the teacher to differentiate instructions to meet the needs of all students. Teachers should know the learner style of all of their students and provide them with a variety of strategies that will help student excel academically. There are numerous resources such as websites that students can use to reinforce knowledge and skills they have learned in class. Teachers should incorporate activities into the curriculum that are going stretch student’s learning so that they will perform to their full potential.