Everyone is a teacher and a learner!!

Today, I had my students go on a virtual field trip of the human body and then outline their thinking at bubbl.us, just like we did last week in this class. The result was amazing!! The student on an IEP learned that everyone had lungs, while the student that attends gifted classes learned that the esophagus is part of the digestive system.

Today was a great example between constructionist. As Dr. Orey stated in this weeks video constructionist is based on letting your students BUILD something. I was letting my students explore and build their own web, therefore letting them learn what they wanted to learn about the human body and what their minds were ready to learn. The key to constructionist is TRUST. You must trust your students to learn what you would like them to learn. You must TRUST yourself that you can guide them to learn what they need to learn. You must TRUST yourself that you will let go of the control and let the students go where they want to go.

This type of learning lenses itself very easily to technology because technology lets students build on their own and discover their own thinking and learning. Students can explore web sites and use the online tools to construct their own thinking. I am excited to be a teacher in this day and age because students are growing more and more everyday. I am learning so much from them everyday. Everyone in our class is a teacher and a learner!!

Concept Mapping

I have been introduced to the term concept mapping which reminds me of webbing. This concept puts many of the different parts of the cognitive learning theory into practice. Information processing consists of several different ways we learn. There can be visual information, auditory information, dual coding, picture label, smell, and epic memory. Concept mapping can include many of these learning styles therefore helping the student be very productive. I will be interested in seeing the concept mapping when I use it in my classroom.

Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that works

This past week I have been very interested in the sites that I have explored from the book Using Technology with classroom instruction that works. I have used many of the different sites suggested in chapter 10 Homework and Practice. My class and I have explored brainpop.com and Iknowthat.com and stellarium.org these websites have given us the opportunity to reinforce what we have learned in our unit on space. My classroom is so excited about space but when we were looking at the stellarium.com and using brainpop.com to answer questions with our “clickers” students are developing and reinforcing everything that they are learning.
I am looking forward to introducing my students to the new tools that were also discussed in chapter 10. I have taken several classes on Word and have discovered so many opportunities within word to help students develop their writing. The AutoSummarize tool is so great. I can’t wait to show my students. We are studying about summarizing right now so that will not only help with writing but reading also.
Behaviorism fits into all of these practices. Behaviorist lives on reinforcements. All of the resources give students immediate reinforcement. Today society is orientated to instant gratification and we as teachers use that and feed into that gratification to get the results that we desire from our students.