Model Redesign: Week 1. Olivia Shouse

 

 

 
This model represents my theory of how we learn.  I believe that we as humans learn best when someone tells us the information and then we can implement what they have taught us through activities. The activities solidify what was being taught because it allows the students to use their new knowledge, and it also allows the teacher to see how well the students took in the information. Learning works best when multiple senses are engaged, so the activities help in that way.

Redesign of Learning Model

Big Idea: Learning means making connections to other experiences or previous knowledge. Students will learn best from a teacher who has gotten to know his/her students backgrounds because the teacher would know what past experiences or knowledge the students are basing everything he/she teaches from. The teacher can better communicate with students when the teacher knows where the student is building from.

Big Idea:  Learning grows when kids have fun. What they have learned will stick in their head better when they associate it with something they have interest in.



Activity: A teacher takes her students outside to teach because she knows her small children like to play outside. They can then associate learning with the fun times they have playing outdoors.






Reflection:
         I chose to keep my diagram and activity the same. I felt like they matched up with the readings. I did, however,  add another big idea that fit in with my diagram. I added that "learning means making connections to other experiences or previous knowledge. Students will learn best from a teacher who has gotten to know his/her students backgrounds because the teacher would know what past experiences or knowledge the students are basing everything he/she teaches from. The teacher can better communicate with students when the teacher knows where the student is building from."
        I feel that my previous diagram and activity, in addition to the one new big idea, went along with the readings because they draw parallels from the "Theories for...Educators" chapter. This chapter explains that learning is a process of active construction, a social and individual experience, and learning differences are resources not obstacles. My diagram and activity go along with the idea that learning is a process of active construction because the children are building off of their knowledge of how to have fun and play outside. It is safe to say that most children like to play games and have fun. Children all come from different backgrounds and so often their interpretations of what you teach vary because of this. However, having fun is a background knowledge all children share in common and a good common ground to teach from. My diagram and activity relate to learning being a social phenomena because fun activities involve social behavior and communication. Also, this means that learning happens when we are part of a community and apply it to real world situations. Children are going to play outside of class, so when you connect the learning to the types of games they enjoy, they can use what they have learned in class in their own lives, making it more useful and easier to understand. Finally, my diagram and activity relate to learning differences as resources because playing games with your kids gives you a better understanding of who they are. I feel that kids are more likely to be themselves when they feel comfortable and you can learn more about their various backgrounds. It is necessary to learn about their different backgrounds so you can better communicate with them and understand what's going on in their heads. It is important to remember that we as teachers have a lot to learn from our students.

Updated Model

My first model demonstrated that children learn best by the three following activities: reading, watching and listening.  Although these three activities contribute greatly to learning, there is so much more that can help students learn better. Certain visual exercises and activities such as repetition and memorization can trigger and activate areas in the brain. Watching videos and activities on various electronics can increase their visual perception and help to activate key areas in the brain. Keeping students focused can also build up their attention span and will allow them to keep their focus for longer amounts of time. Students at first have a hard time focusing but with discipline and interest to keep them focused, their attention span can increase greatly.  Something else that helps students learn better is by being social.  Interacting with other students as well as the teacher helps students become more comfortable and relaxed, creating an ease that will help them learn better.

My original activity was an online learning game. I still agree with my first model, although I want to be a little more clear on what it really would be.  My online learning activity would be a game that would allow students to work together on the computer.  The activity would require students to stay on task and would deliver different directions on what to do.  The activity would include visual questions as well as problems that would require memorization.  Students would repeat these activities often, which would allow them to learn those certain lessons more effectively.

Robin's model altered from reading week 2

I read both readings thinking they were both required for this assignment. Upon reading the "Theories for...Educators" chapter, I began to think that this assignment (although I understand why it is helpful in building our theories and developing our identities as teachers) is impossible to perfect. It clearly said "We need multiple metaphors for learning and throwing one in favor of another is dangerous" Moreover, I was patting myself on the back for including modern ideology in my original model but was very happy to finally have some examples and data knowledge behind my ideas. For example I previously acknowledged  differences among students as "resources" and knew that people learn first through example before participation. However, as the brain research module pointed out, there needs to be repetition and practice in order to go from just information to genuine skill. To clarify, I do believe there has to been a skeletal structure for "what students should learn" since critical thinking and problem solving even in it's natural context, "the real world problems", assumes a genuine understanding and even mastering of basic knowledge. Jerome Bruner's spiral effect still holds a loose truth even in today's more personal and exploratory theories of practice. I still believe teachers should try to know and appeal to her all student's learning styles but at this point I'd like to move beyond that kind of basic task. With all this acknowledged, I'd like to make my model more specific, inclusive, and alter it slightly.

Observation and Introduction The boy watches and listens to his elder fish.

The student observes members of a community before becoming a member of the community.

The boy wonders about fish.
The student uses what he already knows to weed out what isn't known. Creates questions for exploration. It is the teacher's job to make subjects relative to students.
Example: Who here has ever been fishing? Caught a fish?

Exploration and Practice: The boy fishes.
The student takes his learning into his own hands. Children are not always naturally active participants in their own learning. It is the teacher's job to inspire, tap their interests, get them involved and actively participating so they can get past any anxieties and enjoy learning.

 Teacher gives guidance without dictating or hindering possible perception differences. Every child has a uniqueness that is a resource to the classroom community.

Reflection Analysis and Furthering learning
The student reflects on what he learned during exploration and practice; making connections and seeing the broader picture. The teacher should collaborate each unique experience to make the most out of the common experience. Teacher uses a questioning method to both facilitate discussion and open up doors for future learning. Student should have something to show for his learning be a new skill, a poster, presentation, paper, project. This gives them something visual to sum up their specific learning experience and also something tangible to be proud of their achievement. Self pride is the best positive reinforcement and motivates them to learn more.

Toni Self: Redesign for blog

I would keep my idea of people learn because many different factors affect how people learn including: genes, experiences and the critical and sensitive development periods.  In module 6, the constructivist theory is explained.  It supports my learning theory because it says “that each individual builds knowledge through interaction and experience” (EdPhysch, Module 6, Page 108).  Not one person has the exact same interactions and experiences of another; therefore the knowledge is built on different foundations.  Students will build different connections through different ways of teaching.  Each student will actively learn through different opportunities and by presenting different opportunities gives them better chances of making connections to the lesson.  The only part that I would change would be the activity at the end would be completed with the help of other students.  Activities completed with other students can help the student make better sense of the information or even trigger something to really understand the activity (Theory of Educators, Page 4).  Page 4 talks about how more recent findings have suggested group work to help students actively learn.  So looking at my example after the teacher wrote and discussed the process of baking cookies, then students would be given time to get into groups and together bake the cookies.  This gives students the opportunity to make it themselves, so they would have the experience which would help reinforce the concept.  Also, if students had questions their groups would be able to either answer it for them or work together to figure out the answer together.  This is a very active way of learning with others. 

Big Idea: Humans learn through repeated visual, kinesthetic and auditory lessons.

Activity: The teacher presents the lesson on the chalk board (visual and auditory) then students do hands on project.  For example, teacher writes out how to make a batch of cookies and leads the students through each step.  Then students are time to work with other students to make cookies.

 

 

Week 2 Model-Sarah Isaacson

For this week’s model, I stayed kept a few of the ideas I posted about on Sunday, but I modified and added that would correspond more to the ideas discussed in the book Theories and of Learning and Teaching-What Do They Mean for Educators?  This article discussed a few different theories, and it was not entirely clear to me, which theory was being discussed, but I am aware that they discussed the social theories of learning, which include social constructionism, sociocultural theory, and activity theory.  I seem to understand that they are all, essentially, the same theory, just under different names.   For my model, I chose to focus on this reading, not Module 6, which is about the brain and development. 

            My first image is a picture of a teacher working with students.  This is when the teacher would be teaching the students the lesson and using the students’ past experiences and “cultural differences…enabling [the teacher] to make more explicit and meaningful connections to students’ communities” (7).  This will help students feel more comfortable learning something new and finding comfort that what they are learning is actually pertinent to their lives.  I believe this is especially important in elementary school, because then it will help students feel more intrinsically motivated as opposed to feeling extrinsically motivated.  Because the teacher is discussing with students, the students are learning through participation, which means “roles are flexible…and the purpose of the activity is clear and meaningful to all participants” (5).  Students should then feel more of a pull to learn by working on a closer level with their teacher.  Then, the teacher allows the students to work in groups, reading together, which creates a community within the classroom.  Vygotsky says that sociocultural theory is where “learning is fundamentally a social phenomenon that takes place within the communities” (5).  The students will be participating more and will realize that reading is something that they will be doing in the real world.  They will make the connection that “knowledge is inseparable from practice” (4).  The teacher will be walking around the room, making sure that no one is really struggling, but the teacher is there as a guide and a facilitator, instead of having a “fixed role” (5).  My last image is of a student reading aloud.  This would be an assessment that ties in well with sociocultural theory.  Because sociocultural theory is based on collaborating and participation, it would seem prevalent that an assessment should also be social and the “norms for testing the quality of a performance [should be] determined by groups, not individuals, and one’s performance is assessed through genuine participation” (5).  In my model, this would be a student reading aloud during the designated time where the teacher would have a read-aloud time.  The student would get to pick a book that is at their reading level and read aloud, showing their knowledge of phonics and reading with accurate inflection.  This way, students could support each other in their community and also help assess their reading ability.  The teacher would have to make sure, though, that the students are supportive of each other, so that the students who are not as advanced will not feel behind or stupid.  That is why the sense of community is so important in the classroom.  

Updated Model Reflection

After reading “Theories for Educators”, I still stand by my original model of learning that I posted on Sunday, August 26^th  therefore I have not created a new model to post. The chapter explains how children learn an abundant amount of information when they interact with their environments.

Suzanne M. Wilson and Penelope L. Peterson are very clear when they talk about the conclusions that different research studies have reached. The authors proclaim that, in the past, there was common misconception that the best way students would learn was through only listening. This would mean that the best form of teaching would be to lecture and for students to just sit quietly and listen to the instructor speak. People thought that as long as teachers were clear when speaking and explaining information, students would understand just as clearly as the teacher explained it. If students were unsure, it was assumed that the instructor just did not do a good enough job of informing their class.

However, with today’s information, we know that this is not the case. Students actually remember more when they can relate what they are learning to actual experiences they have had in their own personal lives. Therefore, if a teacher conducts their lessons with a series of activities that illustrate the concepts they are teaching, their students are more likely to gain a deeper understanding of the ideas they are conveying to their class. Having said this, there are definitely still some benefits of having a classroom of students put everything down, have their eyes up at the front of the room, and listen to their teacher educate them about a particular concept. This method of teaching just may not be the most beneficial for the students and should definitely not be the only form of educating used in a classroom.