1. List 3 of the learning theories discussed by Kruse, and briefly define them.
Level 1 of Blooms Taxonomy (Knowledge).
Three learning theories discussed by Kruse include Behavioral Learning Theory (BLT), Developmental Learning Theory (DLT), and Social Learning Theory (SLT). Behavioral Learning Theory (BLT) focuses on changes in observable behavior. Kruse states that it used to discourage specific behaviors but it does provide a narrow view of learning since they teacher is unable to understand the learner's reasoning and thinking. Developmental Learning Theory (DLT) focuses on cognitive abilities of the student and requires the teacher to consider the maturity level of the student. It also inspires the teacher to create harder challenges for learners as time moves on and students develop more skills. Finally, Social Learning Theory (SLT) emphasizes the Zone of Proximal Development and social interaction. Kruse writes that SLT calls for the guidance of the teacher to have students work cooperatively and facilitate class discussion.
2. Explain positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement and distinguish the two.
Level 2 of Blooms Taxonomy (Comprehension).
Positive reinforcement, as described by Skinner, is an increase in a certain behavior based on some type of reinforcement. For example, good grades reinforce careful studying. Negative reinforcement is the taking away of a stimulus to increase a particular behavior. An example of this is being excused from writing a final because of good team work. These are distinct because something is either presented (positive reinforcement) or taken away (negative reinforcement).
3. Critique Skinner's behavioral learning theory and tell why.
Level 6 of Blooms Taxonomy (Evaluation).
Skinner's behavioral learning theory of operant conditioning is only effective in regards to observable behavior. In "Learning Theories: Pillars of Teacher Decision Making," Kruse writes that learning theories must complement and support one another where Skinner does not focus on cognitive learning. To Skinner, behavior and learning are regulated by a stimulus provided by the teacher. This can be harmful to a student's cognition since they are basically being conditioned to do something and are not truly making connections to their current conceptual framework. Mental activity, to Skinner, rests on a reinforcement schedule from which behaviors are shaped. Behavior should be praised but more focus should be placed on a well-rounded educational experience where individuals can reflect on their actions and learn from these thoughts.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Technology At My Cooperating School
When I asked my cooperating teacher about the available technology at the school I will be student teaching at in the Fall she responded that the school was in a difficult position. The school is "behind the 8-ball" when it comes to technology and does not own many technological advances. She reported that the school has one Smartboard, which is located in the library and, reportedly, is not very accessible. In one special education class Kurzwiel is used. Kurzwiel is a print to speech reading software that assists people who have reading disabilities and blindness. In my cooperating teacher's classroom there are 5 desktop computers that students frequently use. Despite this lack of technology at the school, I believe my cooperating teacher makes the best out of the situation as students are still exposed to computers and software programs. Having a Smartboard in every classroom, after-all, is a luxury that all schools do not have. I am excited to talk to my cooperating teacher more about alternate rootsto using technology. We have already briefly discussed using Bookshare, a resource committed to making printed works accessible to individuals with disabilities
EDCI 5825 Week 2 Reading: Instructional Models of Internet Use
The primary purpose of using Internet resources in the classroom is to prepare students for the future as technological advances rapidly occur. Acquiring skills of accessing, using, and evaluating information found on the Internet is extremely important for students of all ages. As explained by Dr. Donald J. Leu (2001), an international expert on new literacies in Internet technologies, there are four major methods of incorporating the Internet into daily lessons. Internet Project, Internet Workshop, Internet Inquiry, and WebQuest are resources teachers of all grade levels can use to promote safe Internet use and to connect their students with contemporary and growing technologies.
Though Internet Project, Internet Workshop, Internet Inquiry, and WebQuest all work on literacy skills, Internet Workshop provides the most rounded literacy experience. Here students read for knowledge and research specific content related to their current unit. Moreover, they are able to collaborate with peers by sharing their research and, subsequently, they will learn from each other. Similarly, Internet Project and WebQuest also promote this collaboration and teamwork by asking students to interact in groups as they create web based projects, complete lessons in pairs or small groups, and even communicate with a class from anywhere in the world. This is the most exhilarating part of Internet Project and WebQuest, as students can become virtual pen-pals and global learners with students in classrooms around the world with resources like the Flat Stanley Project, Journey North, and Monster Exchange. ThinkQuest, a part of Internet Inquiry, goes the furthest in hosting an online inquiry competition, which excites students participation and gives international exposure to individual schools and communities.
The most individualized of the four methods Leu (2001) talks about is the Internet Inquiry. With Internet Inquiry students pursue questions that spark personal curiosities. Students follow a specific routine of reviewing, evaluating, synthesizing, and communicating researched information. Still, this relates to all three other Internet resources because the teacher is inviting his or her students to question and interrogate a topic with a diverse amount of resources available on the web. Internet Project, Internet Workshop, Internet Inquiry, and WebQuest provide a vast space for students to be creative in. These resources motivate students to explore and directly engage with the questions they seek to answer. As long as the teacher is overseeing and monitoring all work done on the Internet, students will learn new strategies required in the contemporary world to complete effective research.
These "Teaching with the Internet" tools seem extremely effective and conducive to educational methodology. I will most certainly keep the four methods of Internet instruction as a resource in my future teaching, as they supply a rich, well-rounded, and modern form of instruction. I particularly like Internet Inquiry and Internet Project for students with special needs as they provide individualized opportunities for students to pursue their own interests. Internet Project is also an exciting way to get students to feel connected with the world as they become virtual pen-pals. I think this is a good way to get students to learn the safe habits of an internet user and their technological skills will most likely remain with them for all their lives.
Leu, Donald J. (2001). Introduction to Models of Internet Use. Retrieved June 7, 2011, from http://ctell.uconn.edu/canter/canter_video.cfm?movie=234_introduction.mov.
These "Teaching with the Internet" tools seem extremely effective and conducive to educational methodology. I will most certainly keep the four methods of Internet instruction as a resource in my future teaching, as they supply a rich, well-rounded, and modern form of instruction. I particularly like Internet Inquiry and Internet Project for students with special needs as they provide individualized opportunities for students to pursue their own interests. Internet Project is also an exciting way to get students to feel connected with the world as they become virtual pen-pals. I think this is a good way to get students to learn the safe habits of an internet user and their technological skills will most likely remain with them for all their lives.
Leu, Donald J. (2001). Introduction to Models of Internet Use. Retrieved June 7, 2011, from http://ctell.uconn.edu/canter/canter_video.cfm?movie=234_introduction.mov.
Monday, June 6, 2011
EDCI 5065 Week 2
If students are allowed to and feel comfortable developing their own ideas through participating in the classroom and asking questions, then successful learning and personal motivation can occur because the students will be interacting directly with the subject matter, learning how to challenge a topic by questioning it, and grasping how to communicate with their teacher and peers.
In his essay, “Teaching and the Moral Life of Classrooms,” David Hansen writes, “Character and personal disposition materialize over time. They take form through potentially any contacts an individual has with other people.” Personal disposition provides an outlook that others perceive unconditionally. Oftentimes, disposition can distinguish an effective teacher from an ineffective one. Not only should the teacher provide lessons on their content area, but also it is crucial for them to be role models and mentors for their class. Classroom life is ever evolving and it is the teacher’s responsibility to provide moral meaning, virtue, and, most importantly in my opinion, a belief in their students to excel.
Working with “teaching” as a metaphor is a way to push towards one’s individual values concerning teaching. Every teacher demonstrates their own beliefs through their teaching strategy. How well and effective these values come across is dependent on the individual. Judy Yoro tells teachers to be as critical and self-reflective as possible. Externalizing the internal is a significant practice in the life of a teacher because it causes one to acknowledge and adjust their methodology.
Video clips from Dead Poets Society, Whole Brain Teaching, and “Science is Messy” exemplify the diversity of teaching and testify to the fact that every teacher develops competency in their content areas through various means. Some teachers need full control over the classroom while others encourage the free development of ideas and deconstructionism. Whatever your teaching strategy is, it is so valuable to remember your own disposition and how it influences the classroom. As we learned in class today from the ‘Human Development and Learning’ discussion, it is absolutely necessary for teachers to provide a safe environment for the self-exploratory stages of adolescence. If the teacher reveals a sound system of values then the students will emanate this as they look to the leader of the classroom.
In his essay, “Teaching and the Moral Life of Classrooms,” David Hansen writes, “Character and personal disposition materialize over time. They take form through potentially any contacts an individual has with other people.” Personal disposition provides an outlook that others perceive unconditionally. Oftentimes, disposition can distinguish an effective teacher from an ineffective one. Not only should the teacher provide lessons on their content area, but also it is crucial for them to be role models and mentors for their class. Classroom life is ever evolving and it is the teacher’s responsibility to provide moral meaning, virtue, and, most importantly in my opinion, a belief in their students to excel.
Working with “teaching” as a metaphor is a way to push towards one’s individual values concerning teaching. Every teacher demonstrates their own beliefs through their teaching strategy. How well and effective these values come across is dependent on the individual. Judy Yoro tells teachers to be as critical and self-reflective as possible. Externalizing the internal is a significant practice in the life of a teacher because it causes one to acknowledge and adjust their methodology.
Video clips from Dead Poets Society, Whole Brain Teaching, and “Science is Messy” exemplify the diversity of teaching and testify to the fact that every teacher develops competency in their content areas through various means. Some teachers need full control over the classroom while others encourage the free development of ideas and deconstructionism. Whatever your teaching strategy is, it is so valuable to remember your own disposition and how it influences the classroom. As we learned in class today from the ‘Human Development and Learning’ discussion, it is absolutely necessary for teachers to provide a safe environment for the self-exploratory stages of adolescence. If the teacher reveals a sound system of values then the students will emanate this as they look to the leader of the classroom.
EDCI 5065 Week 1
Today’s topic, “What Do I Bring to the Mix” was positive and a reinforcing way to begin the class. Thinking about our individual assets in relation to teaching created an ideal environment from which we were able to go on to complete group and class discussions regarding our own perspectives on education. Everyone in the class is open-minded (a common thread taken from one of our first whole class discussions). Respect therefore seems to encompass the class dynamic. The activity I gained the most from was the content chart on “Learning” we did as a group. The collaboration proved to be beneficial as each group member took a turn to speak and we embellished upon one another’s ideas. Group work is therefore a practice that aids knowledge as every contribution casts new understanding regarding the given topic. At this time, it was also beneficial to have the teacher walk around the room as she inquired and challenged some of our conversations. This added a professional perspective that my group then took and adapted.
The last discussion of the day on our reading taken from Goodman’s text, Challenging the Dominant Discourse, was informative as hearing ideas on such controversial topics as standardized testing and inclusion always causes new ways of perceiving and/or understanding to emerge. After a long week everyone kept the momentum going, as energy was high. The if…then… hypothesis was a little difficult to complete for my group but I believe this was a result of it being an initial activity. We had to understand each other’s writing and oration processes in order to synchronize our thoughts as a group. To me, feedback is one of the most advantageous ways to learn and navigate my progress. Therefore, group reflection (when the teacher went around the room and had each group report on what they learned, etc.), worked because it allowed me to comprehend and synthesize what/how/why we learned. I think being succinct is important in teaching since you want to be as clear as possible in what you teach. Completing the if…then… hypothesis challenged us to do this and succeed in being as precise as possible. Coming into this class with a beginner’s knowledge of education can be intimidating but I feel very comfortable with my peers and feel that we will build upon each other’s knowledge to further our relationships.
If a teacher employs a wide variety of learning activities throughout the daily lesson, then various types of learning styles will be accommodated because the teacher is having students explore and develop different learning preferences they use individually to learn in the most effective way.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Content-Area Specific Resources
http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/best-practices.html
The ‘Best Practices’ section of the Department of Education’s website uses research based instructional practices to provide the latest teaching strategies in a milieu of topics, including early childhood education, English Language Learners (ELL), the psychology of learning, and many other subjects. Good teachers teach by exploring well researched, data driven instructional techniques and then applying these techniques to the diverse learning needs of their students. Subsequently, students develop competency by experimenting with different learning strategies they can then use everyday; they are learning about themselves, too. This website uses a collection of practices to increase teacher effectiveness with emphasis on data driven practices combined with up-to-date modes and methods of teaching.
http://blog.vcu.edu/ttac/AT_Continuum_Generic10_06.pdf
As a teacher it is both necessary and imperative to encompass technology into lessons and this resource presents a spectrum of technological methods – from low to high tech tools. Since all people have a unique way of learning and every school has a different budget in regards to technology this resource is useful in exploring ways to use simple, everyday objects like a Koosh ball and pencil grips to computers with programs like Touch Window to enhance lesson plans. Students will develop skills in writing mechanics, reading, and math while practicing motor skills through using these alternative technological tools.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pQAzoVJxdY
Us and Our Education is a documentary that presents a practical, hands-on approach to turning educational experiences into professional employment – the transition that schooling should train everyone in. Combining current technology and the arts, this documentary shows a group of students with learning disabilities succeed in creating a play and recording it to DVD. Us and Our Education is testimony to how teaching people to be as individual as possible should be an ultimate goal of the classroom. Students will develop competency by becoming aware that they can have an important job that matters through witnessing the affects teamwork, responsibility, respect, and making and maintaining friendships have on their own confidence.
The ‘Best Practices’ section of the Department of Education’s website uses research based instructional practices to provide the latest teaching strategies in a milieu of topics, including early childhood education, English Language Learners (ELL), the psychology of learning, and many other subjects. Good teachers teach by exploring well researched, data driven instructional techniques and then applying these techniques to the diverse learning needs of their students. Subsequently, students develop competency by experimenting with different learning strategies they can then use everyday; they are learning about themselves, too. This website uses a collection of practices to increase teacher effectiveness with emphasis on data driven practices combined with up-to-date modes and methods of teaching.
http://blog.vcu.edu/ttac/AT_Continuum_Generic10_06.pdf
As a teacher it is both necessary and imperative to encompass technology into lessons and this resource presents a spectrum of technological methods – from low to high tech tools. Since all people have a unique way of learning and every school has a different budget in regards to technology this resource is useful in exploring ways to use simple, everyday objects like a Koosh ball and pencil grips to computers with programs like Touch Window to enhance lesson plans. Students will develop skills in writing mechanics, reading, and math while practicing motor skills through using these alternative technological tools.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pQAzoVJxdY
Us and Our Education is a documentary that presents a practical, hands-on approach to turning educational experiences into professional employment – the transition that schooling should train everyone in. Combining current technology and the arts, this documentary shows a group of students with learning disabilities succeed in creating a play and recording it to DVD. Us and Our Education is testimony to how teaching people to be as individual as possible should be an ultimate goal of the classroom. Students will develop competency by becoming aware that they can have an important job that matters through witnessing the affects teamwork, responsibility, respect, and making and maintaining friendships have on their own confidence.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
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