Social Learning Theory

The instructional strategies described in the resources I explored this week correlate with the principles of social learning theories, because they focused on social networking and using others to gain information and skills. The resources talk about using different software and programs the enable many people to work on the same project at the same time, and where the participants are located does not affect their ability to work on the project. Social learning theorists believe that the primary way that people learn is by interacting with people and their environment. They believe that children should be involved in cooperative learning groups and should connect new knowledge and skills to old knowledge while they work in their groups to complete a common task. These cooperative learning groups are a great place to integrated technology using social networking. Group members can not only work on the same project, but they each other feedback and answer each other’s questions

The Constructivist Perspective

Lever-Duffy and McDonald (2007) stated, for constructivists, knowledge is a constructed element resulting from the learning process. Further, knowledge is unique to the individual who construct it" (pp 16). I believe the key to that statement is that knowledge is unique to the individual. There are so many things that we learn how to do in our life, but if we were asked to explained how we learned them we each would have an unique answer. How one person learns a new skill or a piece of information may not work for another person who is trying to learn that same skill. An example of that is when someone ask another person how to teach them to do a certain task. The person teaching gets frustrated at the person who is trying to learn the task because they are not getting it and the learner is frustrated at the teacher because they do not understand. It is because knowledge is unique to the individual who constructs it.

That is why project based learning and or problem based learning is so essential for our students. It gives them the opportunity to show off what they know in an unique way. A student may not be able to explain how they know something but given a chance to show you, may blow you as the teacher away. I do think that students need guidance during this process to ensure that they stay focused on the skill that you are assessing them on. I think that rubrics are the perfect match for these project based learning assignments. They provided both the structure and the freedom that is required for both parties to get what they require. I know that I loved problem based learning, especially when I can to work on the computer for the entire thing. Our kids are getting burned out of learning at an early age it seems like now a days, one way to get students excited about learning again is to use the resources provided to us and the technology that we have access to, to provide students with these problem/project based learning opportunities.

Social Learning Theory

The instructional strategies described in the resources I explored this week correlate with the principles of social learning theories, because they focused on social networking and using others to gain information and skills. The resources talk about using different software and programs the enable many people to work on the same project at the same time, and where the participants are located does not affect their ability to work on the project. Social learning theorists believe that the primary way that people learn is by interacting with people and their environment. They believe that children should be involved in cooperative learning groups and should connect new knowledge and skills to old knowledge while they work in their groups to complete a common task. These cooperative learning groups are a great place to integrated technology using social networking. Group members can not only work on the same project, but they each other feedback and answer each other’s questions.

How to get students to focus on details

Cognitive Thinking Theory

My thoughts on how the instructional strategies described in the resources I explored this week correlate with the principles of cognitive learning theory are that thinking maps are the perfect partner for cognitive learning theory. According to Levrt-Duffy & McDonald (2008), cognitive theorists focus on learning as a mental operation that takes places when information enters trough the senses, undergoes mental manipulation, is stored, and the finally used (pp 16). Thinking maps provide the brain with a way to organize the information and a way to link old information to new information. Cognitive theorists would love that students would be linking the old information to the new information because it would make retrieval of that information quick and more efficient. The learner would remember more because they would be learning information that was always represented in a mental process, which is what cognitive theorists, live for. Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski had this to say about thinking maps, “to aid the learning process, look for opportunities to activate students’ background knowledge, thereby providing a direction for exploration. The technology, in turn, provides you with editable visual aids and multimedia resources that appeal to a number of learning styles” (pp. 79).

Behaviorist Learning Theory integrated with Technology

The instruction strategies described in the resources this week correlate with the principles of behaviorist learning theory because they discuss ways to increase a desired behavior by reinforcing it and punishing undesired behaviors. According to behaviorists, the learner acquires behaviors, skills, and knowledge in response to the rewards, punishments, or withheld responses associated with them. In the chapter that discussed homework, it talks about using different websites that allow students to practice certain skills and are reward for correct answers and punished for wrong answers by not being allowed to move on to the next level.

In the chapter that discusses reinforcing effort, all of the strategies that are provided to improve student effort are based on the behaviorist learning theory. Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski stated (2007), “Spreadsheet software and data collection tools support the instructional strategy of reinforcing effort by helping students to chart the relationship between effort and achievement one of the classroom recommendations” (pp 156). A powerful way to show students that their hard work is paying off is to not only show them the data but combined data on groups that they associate themselves with. This strategy is built on the principal that the students will continue to work hard because they will be rewarded by seeing their data on the chart improve.

Growing through Reflection

This course has made me feel like I am up to date on my technology skills as a professional teacher. I feel like a computer whiz and I cannot wait to start the new school year, so I can not only use what I have learned in the course in my classroom, but share my knowledge with other teachers that what to use these strategies in their classrooms. I feel like I can walk into a room with others discussing new strategies for the classroom involving technology and I would be able to understand and add to the discussion now.

This course has broadened my view on teaching and the learning process. I am no longer unaware of why are students are having a hard time in today’s typical classrooms and what skills that these students are going to need in order to succeed outside of school. I now realize that I need to change my strategies and how I present information to my students in order to keep them engaged in the lesson but also prepare them for the future. This course has shown me that traditional learning strategies are not longer going to work for today’s students because today’s students are not the traditional learner.

The ways that I have changed my perspective from being teacher centered to learner-centered are that my students are not no longer going to benefit from a teacher centered classroom and in order for them to succeed they need to be taught in a learner centered environment. I now realize that I need to let my students struggle in a healthy way on challenging tasks and not jump right in and help them. My perspective has changed from thinking that my students are to young to do some of these tasks to my students need to start practicing these skills as soon as possible because most of my students do not have access to lot of technology at home. I need to work on my patience to let the students work through problems in their own way, if even if it means changing my agenda and stepping out of my comfort zone.

The ways that I can continue to expand my knowledge of learning, teaching, and leading with technology with the aim of increasing student achievement are to continue with the masters program that I currently enrolled in at Walden and to continue to read and participate in blogs that relate to integrate technology into the classroom. I think that being able to see what other people are doing in their classrooms and then modified it to fit into my classroom will be a great help. I want to attend workshops, training, and or lectures that discuss using technology to increase students learning and stay current and up to date on the ever changing best practices and how to use technology in a new way.

The first long-term goal for transforming my classroom environment is for my students to use a form of technology daily in some way, shape or form. This will be a challenge because I currently have only one computer in my classroom and the computer labs are on the other side of the building and are not set-up in a way for me to work with my deaf students. I plan to accomplish this goal by getting computers that people no longer want and setting them up in my classroom. I will write grants to try and get more technology into my classroom, like digital video camera, video iPods, and web cameras. If I have all of these forms of technology at my fingertips, I will be able to create lesson centered on them and the students will get to use them daily. The second goal that I want to accomplish is to have a classroom blog site that the students contribute to and also provides lesson in ASL, spelling list, a place where parents can connect together and come to learn American Sign Language. I want to be able to post the students themselves signing for the online resource and stories. I want it to be a place where students can go and still be exposed to sign language at home and a place where parents can go and learn the language that their child uses to communicate. The way that I am going to accomplish this goal is by getting my administration and parents on board. I think that is going to be the most challenging part because I know that parents and administrators are going to be worry about having videos of the students online for everyone to see. I am going to have to conceive them that the students are going to be protected and that the blog site will provide huge benefits to the students, parents, and the community.