Second Life. My initial reaction was not one of excitement. My knowledge of these avatar type settings was one where people would go to do things they shouldn't because using a screen name and image would allow for all kinds of indiscretions without them being caught. I was very wrong. When I first set up my account I was concerned with what I would find and it took me a while to learn to navigate the "world" but once I started to get the hang of it it became apparent what all of the wonderful and good things that could come from this type of learning. I love the idea of being able to chat with someone live that could be thousands of miles away without a horrendous phone bill. I like the chance to have a class made up of people from all over the world in one place at one time all learning and contributing, what amazing barriers this could overcome. My favorite part, though, is the chance to go places and see things with professionals that will never be possible in person in my life time. I would love to go see the Cistene chapel and have someone who understands what all of the artwork represents next to me, looking at the same thing I am looking at, and be able to teach me. So from my office I can go places and learn things that would never be possible otherwise. I know that there are many glitches that need to be worked out and a lot of details but I would love to start using this in my own line of work as soon as I can. I teach about the Old World of Jerusaleum and Rome, what a benefit it would be to have a section of those ancient cities loaded onto my computer and be able to walk through them with my students while I was talking about what happened in those very places. All I would need is my computer and account and a projector and we could all be in that place, seeing the actual prision or church or landmark while discussing it -- no one need wonder what a benefit that would be to my teaching. I' m going to be using this soon, I'm acutally excited about something computer oriented, wow.

M

My ideas of learning have changed over the course of the semester. I now realize that a lot of what I thought was learning was close to correct but very underdeveloped. I now see that a lot of my ideas were close but needed help. I like how all of the theories seem to tie into one another. Each of them is fairly case specific but held together they all show how learning can be done. Each of the theories seems to focus more on the teacher because he or she is the one implementing the idea. I wonder, though, if we need to be careful not to state a learning theory as the way to learn but as another piece of the puzzle that, put all together, will make up learning. The other thing I'm working more on this year is how to mix up the theories so that I use more than one per class and different styles of each per student. The homogeneous classroom is a myth and I need to find ways to implement multiple styles with multiple students. I think I need to utilize my student leaders better.

M

This newest theory, social constructivism, brings with it a bunch of sub theories. One of them that stood out to me was the idea that "past success served to distract from the ultimate goal." One of my major goals is to get my students to successfully identify principles in the scriptures. I define a principle as a statement of action that can be place in an If/Then format. My students are getting quite good at this but now I need to push them beyond that into an application idea. I need them to be able to identify the principle quickly and then spend the time on the application part of the lesson. If the application doesn't happen then I have largely failed. But I'm seeing that their past success in identifying principles is making it harder for them to go beyond the principle into an application type setting. So that is what my next lesson plan will focus on. As to what real learning is, this would suggest that a student and a teacher can never be satisfied with an initial success. Knowing what 2+2 equals is great but knowing how to perform addition is paramount. I need to go beyond simply identifying the principles already found in the verses, to creating an application that can influence my life. I love this.

M

Ah Bruner. There's a reverend in my town with this last name so I often see his face when I think of this theory. I'm struggling with this one. Perhaps I'm not understanding it all too well but, well let me compare it to a carburetor. The first couple of theories seemed much like a carburetor, they described what learning was and how to do it and offered useful advice/counsel on how to become a much more effective teacher. These latest theories seem to just change one minor part and claim to have a totally different machine. If someone were to show me a carburetor and then change the location of one screw, it would still be a carburetor and I would not feel the need to dissect and re-learn about carburetors all over again. I wonder how many of these theories are just minor modifications, almost not worth calling a theory. I love the idea of hands on experiential learning, but haven't we discussed this multiple times already? Surely I'm missing something, please help me clear this up.

M

Research paper papers

I'm finally whittling down my research paper topic to how cell phone usage in the classroom can be beneficial. Here are the articles I'm planning on using:

http://www.ncsu.edu/meridian/sum2008/roberson/
this first one is an article from Meridian, a publication from NC state

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.108.4410&rep=rep1&type=pdf
this one is a report of "Proceedings of the International Conference on Computers in Education (ICCE’02)"
0-7695-1509-6/02 $17.00 © 2002 IEEE

http://centre4.interact.ac.nz/viewfile.php/users/38/1965011121/ICT_PD_Online/ListentotheNatives.pdf
This one comes from the educational leadership journal

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_CWxEPMmwlMC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1271&dq=cell+phones+in+education&ots=nH8rEv_CNg&sig=_35GpFCcuGncpXqgCULC_AjuDtk#v=onepage&q=cell%20phones%20in%20education&f=false
this is a google book review of a Marc Prensky article entitled "what can you learn from a cell phone, almost anything."

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=HAsfTumtYVoC&oi=fnd&pg=PT6&dq=cell+phones+in+education&ots=faqt3Qmpwd&sig=Yxdj0mz4Vh_UhlE8VhJliMTJ93Q#v=onepage&q=cell%20phones%20in%20education&f=false
this final one is also a google book review that addresses cell phones in developing countries but lends some additional statistics about prevalence of cell phones and individual peoples perception of how important this technology is.

I'll keep you posted as the paper takes shape.

I'm in the process of trying to separate this theory from so many of the others we have already seen. Sometimes it seems like a person wants to get their name out there so they tweak an already viable theory ever so slightly and then claim to have come up with a new theory. This idea of couching things in a story is so similar to teaching using stories and knowing that students learn based on the "story" of their life and showing an abstract thought/principle using a concrete example, such as a story that I wonder if we really need to distinguish between all the similar theories and call them different things. In fact, I almost posted my lesson from a week ago just to see if my idea was accurate, and if the professor was watching, but I didn't. Having said that, I do love stories and will always use them in some way to teach a lesson, I just wonder if I need to have 13 different names for the word story to make it more effective or can I just call it a story?

M

Case based learning. I love the idea! I find that I'm pretty good at telling stories and I'm very comfortable in front of a crowd, even when making a fool of myself, and so story telling works for me. I've seen the stories really captivate my students and bring home an idea or principle in a way that would not have been possible without the story. I do wonder though about the idea that every teaching needs to be couched in a story. I find that if I use any technique too much, even good ones or my favorite ones, it looses its ability to instruct. I think if I were to use a story everyday I would lose some of my students because they would become bored and the predictability would turn them away. I also worry that some of my students would not connect with the theme of my story and that would shut them out as well. So I love stories but I think that every day is too much and the variety needed could really be a drawback.

M

I know the conference happened last week but I'm just finishing one of the presentations and I really enjoyed it. I'm still working on how to get this idea to apply to my classes but it's coming. The presenter's presentation was titled: "Beyond drill and practice, developing automatic recall of math facts for all children." His main idea was to show how automatic recall is the basis for good math skills. I loved it. The way he presented was interesting and useful and convincing. As a parent I see the application immediately but since I don't teach math I'm trying to figure out how to use this in class. I do ask my students to memorize lots of scripture verses and so I think the basis is the same, being able to automatically recall the verses so they can free up their working memory for learning more concepts, I just don't know how to pull it off yet. Perhaps I need to have them memorize just a small part of the verse, such as key words and ideas, and then use those as the triggers to bring the whole verse out of stored memory. I'll work on this and let you know.

M

Motivation. Let's twist this a bit. I love competition, it drives me and I thrive on it. But I realize that that's not always the best thing for my students so I think I've devised a way to make it all work out. I create a game or challenge or task and then assign a group to the task. Within each group I will have a leader and the leader is responsible to teach/train the entire group and then the results are done on a group level. That way there is the aspect of competition but the ones who don't like it can melt into the team and the ones who do like it are able to stand out. This also gives me the chance to wander the classroom and observe and chat at will. I'm still trying to hammer out the goal ideas. I don't think I should change something that works, but at the same time I need to find ways to involve everyone every time without becoming monotonous. Hmmm.

Piaget. I'm liking this one. The wrap up video was very helpful. I like the idea that no one is going to want to learn and assimilate new things until they see that their current modus operandi is insufficient. As a teacher this means that I need to be mindful of where my students come from and I must always find ways to show the new lesson as meaningful to them in their current situation. As a learner I must be looking for ways that I can improve my current library of learning and I must actively be looking for how this new theory can help me. I must start with the assumption that the lesson presented is useful and isn't just a "shot in the dark." I guess my attitude really makes a difference.

M

I'm torn. As a teacher, my initial reaction to the debate between banning or not cell phones was a resounding BAN BAN BAN. But then I did some research, that pesky research. Some parents claim that they need to get a hold of their children during school, that's bunk, there's enough other ways to do that. On the other side of things, many parents argue that because they did without cell phones than their kids should do so as well. That's ridiculous logic. According to that line of reasoning we should outlaw microwaves, cars, heart surgery, etc. just because a former generation didn't have them. But I'm still torn. I do believe that cell phones are a nuisance and distraction and I don't personally have or carry one. And yet, I'm beginning to think that there is a place for them, somewhere, in the classroom, I just don't know where it is yet. I also realize that this generation that I teach is a cell phone and ipod generation and for me to be fluent in their language and communicate well with them, I must understand cell phones. I think the best thing for me to do is let my students know why I stand against cell phones without preaching or railing on the technology. I am willing to make concessions if parents contact me but I will still ask that cell phones be turned off and out of sight during class. I wonder if there's a lesson I could teach that would allow me to allow them to use cell phones? Perhaps I need to think along those lines.

Another theory, another set of questions from me. This one was nearly impossible to wrap my mind around but after chatting with previous graduates of the program and googling the theory name, I think I finally figured it out, and the solution was a let-down. Of course each individual sees things through their own set of lenses. We all understand the theory, in fact this theory should be bumped up to the "fact" stage instead. What I want to know is how to teach a classroom full of students, all with different backgrounds, the same principles and do it effectively and in a limited amount of time. Identifying the fact that each student sees the principle based on who they are and what they know and have experienced is a huge "duh." Now to figure out how to do the teaching. When someone solves the next step, the important step of how, let me know.

M

CIP lesson, Sept 21

This teaching tool seems so obvious, I wonder why it took 25 pages to explain. Of course students learn better when they can apply the new thing they are learning to something they already know. If I have a student that enjoys wrenching on cars and I can show how life is related to carbureators, then the learning process will be so much more effective, duh. Perhaps it's my simple mindedness but I'm glad I'm a teacher and not a writer of learning theory. The one thing that was useful was the idea that we need to know our students much better in order to help them learn. We all believe that what we teach is important and so we should be willing to do what it takes to get it into the lives of our students.

M

Week 3, FBA

This weeks reading was enlightening. I enjoy finding the how for all of the why's. We all have students with issues that need to be corrected but finding the appropriate how is often then issue. I see easy and immediate application to my special needs students and to my more troublesome gems, but only after some thinking and pondering was I able to see how it would apply to the other 90%. I have a group of wonderful students that want to be in class and want to learn but are often railroaded by the more vocal and less helpful 10%. In applying FBA I'm going to try to help the quieter, more helpful students emerge and contribute. My plan will take the whole semester, which is fine, and will pay great dividends in years to come. I plan on helping the quieter students see their usefulness and potential by talking to parents and other teachers to find out what they do well and how they enjoy being treated. Then I will cater individual lessons to the particular talents and capacities of each student so that he or she will have a chance to shine. By then praising them, a lot, they will be more willing, in the future, to stand up and lead out. This will all depend on my ability to apply FBA to my more troublesome students so they don't destroy the confidence of the quieter ones. It will take some time but a true teacher is focused on creating viable and useful humans, not just ones that can regurgitate what I drill into their heads.

M

Week 2, behaviorism

What is learning and how does a teacher do it? I'm enjoying the build up of the idea of learning and how to accomplish it. These latest readings bring together an interesting combination of what kids grew up with, were trained to do by their parents and surroundings, and then what they had reinforced by positive or negative outside sources. In my lesson plan the reinforcement was as simple as a candy bar for bringing a book on time. In religious education the most powerful negative reinforcement we have is a look or conversation with parents. Usually this is sufficient. So as far as behaviorism goes, our strategy is to teach in such a way that each individual student receives positive reinforcement in two ways. First, we want them to learn new things because learning feels good. Second, we want them to feel new things. This is impossible to measure because even the effects can be faked, but the idea is to feel a spiritual something that makes them want to come back for more and try harder to achieve that "more." Therefore an effective teacher would know the material he or she is to teach and then believe in it to the extent that the students can begin their belief process by watching the teacher and imitating him or her. The reinforcement comes first when they see in the teacher something that they desire, a happiness or situation, and then they make the connection between what is being taught and what they can achieve. If I am happy, the student will want to be happy. The student then looks for the reasons I am happy and tries to imitate them. If what I am teaching is real, the student should be able to follow those teachings and become happy themselves. The process takes more time than receiving and eating a candy bar both come from the same idea. In essence, I must "practice what I preach."

How can learning be best effectuated by a teacher/trainer

For a teacher/trainer to be most effective, he/she must know what things are necessary for a person to be a positive contributor to the society in which they live. The teacher needs to know what will be important for the student to understand and then modify the curriculum to meet those needs. A text book must be looked at as a general rule, not a specific set of instructions for each individual. The teacher must be willing to ignore some previously learned ideas and adopt new ones. Each teacher needs to know where they live and teach and must be willing to adapt the learning for the specific needs of each student and location.

M

What is learning

What is learning? From the readings, combined with my experience, I would say that learning is a way to teach skills that will allow a person to contribute positively to whatever society they live in. For example, to contribute positively to the society of Montpelier, ID, one must be able to obey laws and understand why, work effectively enough to be able to support themselves and their families, and then not be a menace to those around them. To contribute positively to a different society one may need to know how to farm or hunt or gather or etc. So learning is based on what would make one a positive contributing member of the society of which they are, or will someday be, a part of.

M

New nerded

I'm brand new at the blog thing and I feel like I've just released my inner nerd -- refreshing!