Reflection-My Reflection from Bridging Learning Theory

Reflection

My personal theory of learning now as compared and contrasted to the first week of class has not changed a great deal.  My focus will be to continue to present instruction using various channels of delivery whenever and wherever possible, highlighting on Multiple Intelligences and Howard Gardner. As Howard Gardner, stated in his book, Frames of Mind (Gardner,  2011)

I contend that we have not one general-purpose  computer, but rather a set of discrete computers -the multiple intelligences -that operate somewhat independently of one another...But if  individuals  differ in their intellectual  profiles, it make sense to take this fact into account when devising an educational system for  individuals, groups or even nations. (Gardner, p.8)

I will continue to offer my students hands on activities, offering them choices for how they create and develop their assignments. Whenever we can present students with a menu of assignment offerings, it can only act to highlight their engagement and interest. Personally, had I been offered such a menu when I struggled as a  learner, I believe I would have developed as a student in academic ability as well as in personal interest and engagement, rather than  be beat down by an educational system that neither cared nor knew how to cater to my individual learning preferences or needs. Howard Gardner’s theory did not yet exist when I most  needed it, instead it was the rote and drill of Behaviorism that seemed to define my educational experiences. That is why perhaps, I shy away from those strategies and approaches, even though we all use aspects in the public educational system where we find ourselves as teachers and the expectations that go along with this still old, and slowly changing  public school model.

Additionally, the continued blending of approaches that I use also utilize the constructivists model of creating artifacts. I’ve always believed that when students are able to create and have a say in  that creation, they will walk away not only with a grade but instead will have gained an expertise in whatever they were creating.

Constructivism offers teachers instructional approaches that are congruent with current research on learning. By viewing learning as an active process, taking students prior knowledge into consideration, building on preconceptions, and eliciting cognitive conflict, teachers can design instruction that goes beyond rote learning to meaningful learning that is more likely to lead to deeper, longer lasting understandings. (Jones & Araje-Brader, 2002)

As a teacher, somehow I always knew intuitively what to do to design instruction for my students. I was  never confined by a curriculum I had to achieve, instead I was initially  supplementing the instruction students received  from their mainstreamed classes. Early on, I was providing replacement instruction for students in U.S. History and did create a wall of notes for them to copy. I am ashamed of this time in my teaching , when mimicking the traditional U.S. History teachers’ methods but using texts that were more readable, seemed to  make sense. I did  provide a very varied instructional model for the replacement English classes I taught to my special education students, choosing novels like The Outsiders and  Tex, trying to engage their interest by  providing reading that they might have more of an affinity to connecting with.

Now, still  working with the challenging personalities, learning profiles, and  the varied attentional issues, I know better that the blending of instruction, inciting  interest  whenever I can will  provide my students with  the  supplemental reading/writing instruction that will fill  in those gaps as I try to use technology tools to capture them as learners. Using ipads, laptops, and the Smartboard was  always a no-brainer. I’ve been using ipads and laptops for 2 years now. As  digital tools go, I fully embrace the ipads I got from a NH Struggling Reader’s Grant I wrote and was awarded. The Smartboard, new to me this year, is also awesome! Applications like Popplet, Voicethread, Blogs, Educreations, Showme, are also some wonderful tools that will continue to enhance the instruction of my students. Popplet, the mind  mapping  tool, I’ve been using to assist  students to track their reading  comprehension, identify and indicate main ideas, themes, characters, posing  questions and predictions in their novels, and identify key details/facts from informational reading. It’s a great tool that I  always knew was great but now I have the linguistic/non-linguistic understanding of  how powerful it is to learners from an educational standpoint grounded in evidence. As stated in, Using Technology With Classroom Instruction That Works,
   
    Nonlinguistic representation enhances  students’ ability to use  mental images to represent and elaborate  on knowledge...The more individuals both types of representation, the better they are able  to  reflect on and recall knowledge. Teachers usually present new knowledge in linguistic form; that is they either talk to students about new content or ask them to read about new content.When teachers branch out to help  students use  nonlinguistic representation as well, the effects on achievement are strong. (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn,& Malenoski, p. 86 (2007)

Blending linguistic and nonlinguistic delivery, can help engage learners and help them to better recall and understand the content I am  trying to teach them. Likewise, having them  use both linguistic and  nonlinguistic models will assist them in assimilating the information, as inferred above.

As I continue to  grow as an educator, I am always researching and finding  new tools  and apps to use with the ipads and the Nexus tablets in my classroom. Searching for tools that work over the long term is an essential  piece of the puzzle. I personally find that with the new apps that come  out everyday, it is important to read up and keep on top of these apps, finding the ones that are easiest and will be the most appropriate tools  to use to gain  the instructional ends that I have in mind. Voicethread is a tool that I  know some of my students will love and embrace,while others will shy away  from creating an audio of  their voice. Understanding this, again offering choice in student projects will help to engage these struggling  learners as the find comfort in choosing what will work best for them.


As an educator, I will continue to learn and follow the digital technology trends. I will continue to follow the educational blogs which serve to highlight the latest and greatest apps and instructional tools that evolve and rise to the top each week. Following these digital blogs that focus on the digital changes and trends, will help me to serve my learners with the best technology that is out there, rather than grabbing this or that and meeting with failure or success, leaving them uncertain of  themselves or of me as a teacher they can trust.  I will also continue to extend my understanding of digital educational technology by taking more classes, attending workshops and presenting my classroom as a digital technology model at our annual New Hampshire Christa Macauliff Technology Conference as I have for the past two years. Linking to this conference and  being a small part of it not only serves to help other professionals and thereby their students, but stretches me professionally http://nhcmtc.org/. In this way, I can help others to learn how to integrate technology into their reading/writing classrooms, as I provide myself with the challenge to fine tune my presentation skills. To do this I will keep on top of  the latest and greatest tools that work for my unique populations, and help to give other educational professional ideas, resources and connections to others who have been using digital  technology successfully for several years.

References:

Gardner, H. (2011). Frames of mind-the theory of multiple intelligences. New York, NY: Persues Books.

Jones, G. M., & Araje-Brader, L. (2002). The impact of constructivism on education: Language, discourse, and meaning. American Communication Journal , 5(3), 4. Retrieved from http://ac-journal.org/journal/vol5/iss3/special/jones.pdf

Pitler H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007).Retrieved, February 23, 2013, Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Week One-Learning Theories-What is My Personal Theory of Learing?

Application Assignment 1: Defining  My Personal Learning  Theory

Stephanie Karabaic

Walden University

Kathryn Arnold

Bridging  Learning Theory Instruction and Technology: 6711

January 7, 2013

Learning theories have existed as long as educators and those in the behavioral sciences have contemplated the best ways in which students learn and teachers should teach.There has been a disconnect from the theorist to the actual classroom in how  those theories functioned  in the real world of the classroom. As our society has become so much more  technologically advanced, we now have the insights provided by  brain imaging to add to the theoretical mix and support or debunk some of the prior findings. We also have the addition of educational  technology to provide a means to the end of educating students.

My  own theory on  learning  has evolved by my getting my hands dirty in the trenches of classroom experience as a teacher these last 27 years. The theorists, Piaget, Vygotsky, Skinner were the main players when I was in my college education courses. Bloom’s Taxonomy resonated with me as Bloom forced teachers to look beyond the typical question/answer reciprocal responses we were requiring of students in the1980s and prior,  to moving us to a deeper level of instructional design and expectation of student learning output. Bloom’s theory formed foundations of how learners learn and how I should craft my lessons toward those learning characteristics. Bloom led me to design instruction with a focus on the deep learning students should be assimilating, and consequently demonstrating. As a result of Bloom’s Taxonomy teachers  moved to an expectation that students would not merely read and respond by stating back from memorization, but instead they would interact with information,assimilate it, and demonstrate their learning by thinking deeply and producing evidence of that thinking. As in Orey’s book,  Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching and Technology (p. 3,2001)states:

As history has shown, this well known, widely applied scheme filled a void and provided educators with one of the first systematic classifications of the processes of thinking and learning. The cumulative hierarchical framework consisting of six categories each requiring achievement of the prior skill or ability before the next, more complex, one, remains easy to understand. Out of necessity, teachers must measure their students' ability. Accurately doing so requires a classification of levels of intellectual behavior important in learning. Bloom's Taxonomy provided the measurement tool for thinking. (Orey, 2001,p3)

Prior to really understanding and integrating Bloom’s Taxonomy, teachers were doing  what  the other  teachers were doing in the 1980s and that was teaching, offering board notes for students  to copy, and require students complete assignments. The task was to merely memorize, and demonstrate that memorization on a multiple choice worksheet or test . Once in awhile there would be an essay, but even that essay would  illicit not mastery of a topic but a ‘retelling’ of the material.

Present day theories of  Gardner's Multiple Intelligences also seem to connect with my own style of  teaching more in 2013. I do believe that each of us as lifelong learners have propensities towards doing things that work for us. It may be that since I love to write, I write and it comes to me with a fluidity and ease that others do not experience. While others demonstrate their strengths in their dominant intelligences through hands on activities, musical performances, or socially connecting with others tapping into their interpersonal strength. Why is it we enter the careers that  we enter? Is it because we have a  strength and consequently a predisposition towards that strength?

It does make me dominance in intelligences as I teach my students to improve their basic writing skills by writing  a paragraph only to find them complain and balk. Gardener might tell me to let them use other ways to express themselves, however, students need to be able to write basic sentences, paragraphs, and even essays for school and work. It is an expectation that they have a certain skill set completed, otherwise the educational systems are attacked for not providing students with the most basic of skills. So, then how do we provide students with those skills while considering and catering to their multiple intelligences? The question might be, how do we teach them in ways that they will not only be able to complete the assignment today, but in days, months and years to come will still maintain that skill and memory at a level where they will retain it and be able to gain access to it in the future.Willis gives us information regarding this issue including important brain data and multiple intelligences (2008):

These neuroplasticity findings allow us to consider which strategies and classroom environments promote increased stimulation of memory or strengthening of cognitive neural networks. For example, appealing to a variety of learning styles when we review important
instructional information could provide repeated stimulation to multiple neural networks containing this information. Each type of sensory memory is stored in the lobe that receives the input from that sensory system. Visual memory is stored in the occipital lobes, auditory memory is stored in the temporal lobes, and memories of tactile experiences are stored in the parietal lobes. There could be greater potential for activation, restimulation, and strengthening of these networks with
practice or review of the information through multisensory learning, resulting in increased network efficiency for memory storage and retrieval.(Willis, 2008, 426)

The more teachers can present information using differing channels of delivery, accessing those different lobes in the brain, it appears, the more the receivers of the information will have the greater likelihood of being able to understand, assimilate,recall and retrieve that information at a later timer. As a teacher, this information is vital as I design activities and lessons. Educators need to  present lessons in ways that  students can gain access more channels to reach students. How I will achieve that goal will involve a great deal of planning and thinking outside of the  box.

Technology has the potential to bridge those learning channels remarkably well. Students in my reading classes read on an ipad using Kindle ebooks. They can alter the size of the print, alter the color of the background of  the screen, change the font, and modify the brightness. Students make notes right inside the text, using kinesthetic and visual channels at  the same time. We use ipad apps like Popplet, a mind mapping tool to create visual representations of the plot events of the story. Students can create visuals and pictures of an event or an idea. They can change the color of the text and text box, demonstrating differing characters, themes, and variations of thought. Students have created their own blogs. They have personalized them to reflect  who they are as individuals.  Each week they add one or two responses to a literary prompt relating to their novels. Deep thinking, making connections, and  manipulating information to create blog  posts allows them to work beyond the surface. Channels  of Visual, Kinesthetic are being tapped into. If they desire, they can use  the application Dragon and dictate their blog post. In this way they are using auditory, oral, and visual channels to deepen the level  of response and thinking. They  use the Smartboard  and actively highlight key words or concepts in a Google Document projected on the  Smartboard. My students take pre-tests I design using Google  Forms and scan QR codes to do a very quick assessment of their pre-teaching understanding of concepts. All in all, I find technology as a gift that I utilize everyday but have had to fight and advocate for its use. A tool is only a useless tool, unless we make it a valuable and useful tool. In my classroom, technology is a priceless gift that opens some very heavy doors to the access to the learning that  my students were never able to open before.

    Learning theories and instructional theories have the effect to continue to guide our instruction in the physical and virtual classroom to benefit all learners today. We can now use those learning theories and instructional theories to widen our scope and apply them in an educational world that did not exist a mere 30, 40, or 50 years ago. Skinner, Piaget, Gardner,and Bloom could not have possibly anticipated how education would change with all of the digital tools our students have access to using. As much as I might have thought these ‘experts’ were old and dated, their theories can once again breathe life when we consider them in this new era of education where technology tools allow us to access and utilize many of those theorists’ theories in new and exciting ways.

References:

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved January 5, 2013, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page
http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Bloom%27s_Taxonomy#What_is_Bloom.27s_Taxonomy.3F

Willis, J. (2008, February). Building a bridge from neuroscience to the classroom. Phi Delta Kappan, 89(6), 424–427. Retrieved Jan. 5, 2013,using the Academic Search Complete database.

Here Are Some Great Digital Tools...

Realtimeboard:

This has the features of Popplet and  Prezi but oh so much more. You can import and insert documents from GoogleDrive! I  just found it and it looks awesome.  It is still in beta form. You can do real time collaboration and keep it public or private, inviting contributors that you wish to collaborate with. There is also a chat feature!

http://realtimeboard.com/

Create your own free page-Your students can do this too...free

www.strikingly.com/

Cooperative Learning and Constructivists Theories

Cooperative learning has many solid applications for use in the classroom, however the teacher who uses this approach must be a very good manager of discipline and designing instruction to optimize student learning outcomes and actions. As a teacher who was taught Jigsaw and the other Cooperative Learning strategies over 20 years ago, and used the techniques and strategies with my disabled high school students at that time, I know for sure that Cooperative learning has great applications but also has to be highly structured so as  to produce an end product that reflects the learning for each student. The old model of putting students into groups for group work only to have one or two students doing all the work while the others just sit there looking like they are working, should not happen when Cooperative Learning is deployed correctly. As Dr. Orey (2003) tells us, Cooperative Learning  is more than just putting students in groups to socialize or to break up the task of learning into component parts:

The main purpose of cooperative learning is to actively involve students in the learning process; a level of student empowerment which is not possible in a lecture format. The underlying premise is founded in constructivist epistemology. It is a process which requires knowledge to be discovered by students and transformed into concepts to which the students can relate. The knowledge is then reconstructed and expanded through new learning experiences. Learning takes place through dialog among students in a social setting.

The dialogue and the structured interaction towards a common goal is what defines the cooperative learning model. Cooperative learning is indeed built on Constructivists theory as evidenced as students work towards a common goal to produce an artifact of some sort, as a group unit. The grouping dynamics cannot be under appreciated as you plan for students to work in cooperative groups. These dynamics can make or break the group and could happen as students attempt to learn collaboratively and cooperatively. This can be a huge challenge for many students as they lack social communication skills.  

Students will have to be taught to work effectively in a group setting. Resolving group conflict can be a major challenge for instructors. Groups will need to make sure that every member listens to and appreciates each group member's contribution. Identifying responsibilities within the group and encouraging each to do their best work needs to be addressed before group work begins.Deciding how groups should be formed is an important part of the cooperative learning planning process. There has been some debate as to how groups should be formed in order for students to effectively work together and reach their maximum potential.(Orey, 2003)

Using the Jigsaw structure can help to minimize differences, however the structure needs to assist the less capable students or students who cannot work without a great deal of support. As each student is assigned a responsibility, the less capable or less fluent learners can be given framed structures which lead them to the end desired result. Using differentiated instructional models of varying the types for content produced, or the volume of content, can assist the less able students to gain the level of competency needed for the group’s success.  As Dr Orey (2011)  tells us, the Jigsaw strategy is a great way to structure groups:

Jigsaw strategy each member of the collaborative team is responsible for learning information and teaching to the teammates.

In the constructivists theory,

“Social learning Theory: Teaching  Others helps the learner develop a deeper understanding of  the content.” (Orey, 2011)

When students work collaboratively and cooperatively, they can gain from the experience of learning with others as opposed to the traditional model of lecture, with students as isolated learners, responsible for producing their own individual products. This is the Constructivist philosophy in a nutshell. Cooperative learning capitalizes on the Constructivist Theory by joining students together for a common purpose of learning, development of social educational skills, responsibility, interdependence, and production of a shared and collaborative artifact demonstrating student learning.




References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program eight: Social learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved on February 3, 2013, 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

Palmer, G., Peters, R., & Streetman, R. (2003). Cooperative learning. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved February 4, 2013, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Image: http://www.pitt.edu/~etbell/CanPhone.gif

My Voicethread Posting....

Well, this was fun to create. I  had visited Voicethread in the past but never really ended up using it for anything. Here is the link to my Voicethread where I pose a question and ask for suggestions.  Sometimes, we are our own greatest resource and I am hoping that some of my fellow classmates may be able to offer some viable suggestions to my problem!

https://voicethread.com/share/4087033/