Constructivism

Constructivism:The basic premise is that an individual learner must actively "build" knowledge and skills (e.g., Bruner, 1990) and that information exists within these built constructs rather than in the external environment. [See Ullman (1980) versus Gibson (1979) for an overview of this controversy within the cognitive perspective.] However, all advocates of constructivism agree that it is the individual's processing of stimuli from the environment and the resulting cognitive structures, that produce adaptive behavior, rather than the stimuli themselves (Harnard, 1982).
http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/construct.html

After researching on each site the views of constructivism I actually like google.com the best, it gave me the clearest description. I was unaware of the dept of the theories of constructivism. After reading the different information and learning about constructivism I found out that I teach using some of the theories of constructivism without even knowing it.

Picture this, a classroom where instead of sticking to a very strict curriculum we base our lessons off of our students knowledge. We the teachers would take what the students know and add to their knowledge, enriching their learning experience.

Picture this, a student sharing an experience with the whole class and then the teacher using that experience to build knowledge on that experience rather then just listening and moving onto the next step in their lesson because there are certain time frames that we need to complete certain lessons in.

Picture this a classroom filled with students work that showcases their creativity instead of test grades and standards.

Picture this, lessons based of the students experiences and not based on teaching to the test. I think if we teach lessons based on students prior knowledge and experiences then in the end the students will actually do better of those test because they have been learning all the correct things in order to pass the test but it was based on their own knowledge and experiences.

The more and more I write about this subject the more and more I really enjoy the theories of constructivism and I wish that I could implement them into my school district.

Wow I can't believe that this semester is coming to an end......I feel like it was just yesterday when I was googling how to get to South Hampton High School. It has been a few months and know I know sooo much more about my own computer and how to intergrate technology into my classroom.

Christmas is around the corner and I still havent wrapped anything ahhhhhhh!!!

Christmas!!!!

Isn't it sooooooo pretty. I can't believe the year is coming to an end and Christmas is a few weeks away:):):)

Audacity Project Final

Today I am giving a mini presentation about the website brain pop. It is a website that has all different cartoon movies explaining all sorts of subjects. They have movies to help teachers in ab0out every subject. I have used brain pop to help introduce a topic, assess my students and all so I have used it as a filler. It is a website that school districts have to buy but it also offers a free movies. So everyone can use it if those free movies fit what you are teaching.

Mini Saga

So I wrote my mini saga and it was a little tricky. In all my undergrad classes I always had to write these LONG DRAWN out essays or papers. When I went to type up my mini saga I had to revert back to writing about the facts and not all the powder puff nonsense words that I used to use when I used to write my undergrad papers with. It was harder then I expected but I am pleased with the out come.



Sunset
I am sitting on the sandy beach watching the sunset peacefully. Seagulls are flying by squawking as the waves crash on my toes. I see boats passing in the distance as they seem to fade away. The colors are changing in the sky as the day slowly slips into night.

It is official I am a godmother!!!!!! That's my nephew Jordan.....he looks sooo handsome AND he didn't cry at all!!!! I was very proud of him!!!!!

I never thought I could do it but......I put together my table and chairs from ikea ALL BY MYSELF:)

And it wasn't that hard either!!!!!
(I just figured out how to put pictures on my blog )

Jingproject.com


Faye just showed us a FREE download program that lets you record your voice along what ever you are doing on the computer. It is a great program to use as a teaching tool to teach how to quickly do something on the computer. I think it would be a great tool to introduce something to a class or to give directions on how to use something on the computer :)

After hating on Audacity last week I finally got to sit down and really play around on it and it isn't that bad. I created my short project for my grad class and I am pretty impressed with the outcome. I know it needs polishing but for the first thing i produced I think it is great!

audacity vs. garage band

Sean just showed us how to use garage band on mac. It is like the mac version of audacity and I think I like it better, too bad I don't have it! I was extremely frustrated before I got to class because whenever I tried to import a song in to audacity it would only play a second of the song and stop. The in class tonight I found out that other people were having the same problems and we figured out how to fix it. Even after fixing the problem I still wish I could get garage band on my computer because it seems A LOT easier.

Mini P's

In last weeks class Billy showed us a program that his district uses called castle learning, it is amazing! It is a program that allows you to create different class list and then either makes assignments or let you create assignments for each student. I think it is fabulous because it allows the teacher to build on each student’s level or skill instead of giving one blanket assignment or quiz. You can make deadlines for the assignments and then the program will let you see when the student completed the task and their grade. Along with grading the assignments the program will also let the teacher see what the student answered wrong and on what level the question was given.

I also watched Christine give a presentation on how her school is trying to go paperless, which I think is amazing, but unrealistic in my school. All of her students have laptops given to them by the school and most of the assignments are done on the computer and sent threw the computers to a drop box on the teachers computer. While she was showing us her daily routine she stopped and showed us a do now but it was in English and Chinese. Christine then went on to explain that she had a student who just moved here from china and he couldn’t understand anything. He seemed home sick and probably didn’t feel like a member of the class because of the language barrier. Then Christine went to google translator and tested a few translations out. The student took to the translations and was now participating in the class more because he knew what was going on. This story was so heart warming and it put a smile on my face.

It was very interesting to see how other schools do things as compared to the one I work for. The mini presentations really help spread the use of technology from teacher to teacher but then also school district to school district. It only takes one person to plant the seed in a district and many things may bloom from it.

mini presentation

In the beginning of the past few grad classes we had different mini presentations about ways to that they incorporate technology into their classrooms.
One program that I loved was photo story. It is a free download so everyone can use it Teachers and students can both utilize this program. It is simple program that you can incorporate into almost any lesson in any subject. The program allows you to put pictures in any sequence that you wish and add audio to it. Erik used it as a teaching tool to introduce the different steps to the writing process. In each slide he used a picture depicting a step in the writing process along with audio explaining the step. It was a neat way to introduce a topic or to remind the students of the different steps that they must take when writing something.
The next presentation from Mei-Lynn was about photo story but how students can use it to display research instead of writing a paper. It was amazing what the students were able to do given the right guidance.
After seeing both presentations I started to think about different ways that I could incorporate this new use of technology into my classroom and right away I thought about math word problems. I find that students in general don’t like math word problems and tend to just give up before really trying doing it step by step. I thought it would be fun to depict each step of the word problem with a picture to go along with. We can even do thins with regular math problems as well. It will allow the visual learners to connect the math procedures with pictures so that eventually they will be able to create those pictures in there head.
The next two presentations were about this program called Inter Write. It is a program that allows the teacher or student to write onto a “notepad” and it will appear on the white or smart board. It allows students to answer problems and show their work with out having to use chalk and getting dirty. Jennifer said it helps with a lot with time management because she can prep the night before and not have to waste time putting up math problems on the board. She can easily hit the next button and the next problem will appear on the screen. The version that Jon has is mobile so it allows him to walk around the classroom as he is writing notes on the screen to make sure every one is on task.

First Post

I have a Blog!?!?!?!?!?
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