My personal
learning theory I developed in week 1 of this course has modified slightly as I
have progressed through this class. I now have a better understanding of the
nine instructional strategies and the learning theories. Dr. Marzano states the nine
strategies are: identifying similarities and differences, summarizing and note
taking, reinforcing effort and providing recognition, assigning homework and
practice, creating nonlinguistic representations, using cooperative learning,
setting objectives and providing feedback, generating and testing hypotheses,
and using cues, questions, and advanced organizers (Laureate Education Inc.,
2011a). I have a better understanding of how instructional strategies
support learning theories. I believe that students do learn better through
social learning and I need to give students more opportunities to work
collaboratively. In social learning, students are actively engaged in
constructing artifacts and conversing with others (Laureate Education Inc., 2011b). I still feel that
when students have a personal involvement in their learning, they will more
actively participate in their education. I realize that this also can be
addressed through social learning. When students produce an artifact to share,
they are more motivated to learn. There is a small place for behaviorism in a
classroom in order to teach students what is expected of them in class. No
class should be only focused on student behavior; student learning is the more
important factor in education.
I have learned
several things throughout this course that will cause me to make adjustments to
my teaching. One immediate adjustment I will make in my teaching is to give
students more options when completing a project. In the past, I gave students
only one or two options for their assignment. I know that some students are
going to do better if they have more options to choose from. One size does not
fit all. There is no reason to limit the choices a student has unless there is
only one way the assignment can be completed. Another adjustment that I am
going to make is to utilize concept maps and advanced organizers more often. I
am also going to give the students an opportunity for them to create their own
instead of me giving them the organizer or map. I think if the students create
their own, it will be more meaningful for them and more purposeful.
There are two
technology tools that I would like to use with my students in the new school
year. The first tool I plan to utilize is to create advanced organizers using
Google Drive. I have used Google’s presentation software for a project this
year. I was not aware of its capability to create graphic organizers and
concept maps. I am actually going to a two day training this summer on using
Goggle Apps for Education. I think this training along with what I learned in
this class will be helpful in utilizing Google as a learning tool for the
students. By creating concept maps and graphic organizers, students will be
able to visually see the connections between the material they are learning. Another
technology tool that I want to use with my students is virtual field trips. I
was aware of virtual field trips but did not know much about them. With a lack
of funding, real field trips are very difficult to get approved. Since I cannot
take my students to the zoo or a medical school, I can use virtual field trips
to take my students there. 
There are two long
term goals that I would like to accomplish integrating technology in my
instruction. The first goal I have for myself is to increase the amount of
technology I use in my classroom. I only do two or three assignments over the course
of the year that requires students to utilize technology. I want to increase
this to at least two a quarter over the next couple of years. The lack of technology
has been an issue at my school and has prevented me from being able to use
learning technology tools with my students. One way I am working to help this
situation is by being involved with the leadership team and being a
representative for my school for the district technology committee. Next year
my school is also going to have a technology committee and I will volunteer for
that too. I also will be completing my degree next year and will continue to
learn new strategies I can use to bring technology into my classroom. The
second goal I have for myself is to increase the usage of learning tools in my
classroom. . A learning tool is technology used by students to actively learn
(Laureate Education Inc., 2011c). Most of the technology I have used in my
classroom has been for instruction not learning. I realize technology is an
important factor in education. I cannot just teach differently, I need to have
students learn differently. In order to accomplish this goal, I am going to
attend any training the district offers such as the Google Apps training I am
attending this summer. I am also going to actively search for training I can
attend and have my school pay for. By utilizing learning tools, I am giving my
students better opportunities to learn the curriculum and become successful
science students. I am also trying to prepare them to be successful in the
global community as well. I know I can only do so much but the better prepared
I can make my students, the better they are going to do as they progress
through their education.
References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer).
(2011a). Program eleven: Instructional strategies, Part one [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and
technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer).
(2011b). Program eight: Social learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and
technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1
Laureate
Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011c). Program thirteen: Technology:
Instructional tool vs. learning tool [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved
from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1
No comments:
Post a Comment