Chapter 7: Knowledge Construction

  Make a list of the sequence of skills necessary for ultimate mastery of the content of your lesson through a constructivist approach.

As I was thinking about a constructivist type of lesson I could teach, I first wanted to decide on a subject that really challenged students’ minds to open up and reach far, so I settled on Science. Next, I thought what grade do I want to teach? So I settled on the fourth grade since I am drawn to upper elementary classes. One standard for fourth grade Science is to focus on life science and how cells work. This can be a difficult topic to be introduced to. I really want them to gain a conceptual understanding of the material, and I believe this can be done by relating the jobs of each part of the cell to jobs in real life or even to the functions of a city. (e.g.  lysosomes could be the military or police). As a class we would discuss the parts of a cell and how they are very important to help them operate maybe relating it to body parts or car parts and how everything plays a special role. I would allow them to discuss this and in table groups write down ideas for how they might remember each part and its function. Because the Endoplasmic Reticulum is the transporting system one might compare it to a mailman.  My main assignment I would incorporate in this lesson would be a project based lesson where they would have to be creative and on a poster or 3D model construct a cell with its parts and make a chart of how its function related to something they could connect with (some ideas could come from group brainstorming). The final part of the project would be to write a letter to the cell describing the students’ favorite cell structure and why. I think authentic activities are a great for classroom use. I am not completely sure if this would help with a real world experience, but I feel like the assignment in the least teaches them to think in a more sophisticated manner they will encounter in the real world. I think a good sequence would be to ensure students were gaining a conceptualized understanding my focusing on main points as a whole and connecting them former knowledge and personal links. Next, would be group work, followed by the project.

Which of these learning activities/skills lend themselves to student’s individual or group construction?  How might you structure learning activities that lead students to discover these skills/these principles?

The part of the activity that requires students to collaborate with their table groups is a form of group construction by means of classroom dialogue, as students lean on another to for each other’s interpretation.  The second part of the lesson requires an individual constructivism, where students must use what they know and their personal ideas to connect cell jobs to whatever they choose. I would leave this open to gain an understanding myself of hoe they construct their own ideas. One way I think I might use to help discovery of constructivist methods is scaffolding. I would not want to use it all the time, but use it mildly to guide students in the right direction. I merely want to be a helpful tool in their learning process.

Chapter 6: Cognitive Learning

What are the essential skills and/or learning outcomes you want your students to know and be able to do that relate to cognitive learning?

 

The definition that best explained cognitive learning for me personally was “the procedures we have for manipulating information “in our heads.” I think of the ways I process and interpret the information I receive in the form of written words, sounds, and visuals. The items that stick are most likely because I connected them to previous knowledge or they instantly appealed to my interests. Thus far I like the idea of children constructing knowledge rather than absorbing. Because of this, I really like the idea that students receive these streams of educational information and go on to interpret it based on former knowledge and the way in which they view the world. I want to teach my students (no matter the grade) to learn to think for themselves both critically and analytically. I like the idea of open discussion. I know in my experience I remember more based on a flow of ideas within a group rather than reading from a textbook. It also helps me evaluate and choose what I agree with and what I want to challenge. I want my students to be open minded and realize they create knowledge.

Because people are naturally selective of what they choose to mentally process due to the overflow of information, I do not want to bombard them with textbook work. I want to encourage group work, debate, and problem solving. One thing I found in the text that I definitely want to employ within my own classroom is meaningful learning because it “involves recognizing a relationship between new information and something already stored in long-term memory.”  I believe ways that contributes to capturing things in my long term memory were visuals, songs and mnemonic strategies. I want to teach things to my students that will be sure to stick!

 

 

How might your knowledge of the memory processes guide your instructional decisions?

 

My knowledge of memories has enhanced tenfold since I was presented the two teacher projects on cognitive processes and memory. I know the sensory register holds information in basically its original form, but I know that is for a short time and can change over time. I know just like the game telephone, students are not going to save everything just the way they hear it. Any key words or information that they can relate with will likely stick better in one’s minds. This was pointed out in the first teacher project. It was stated that if a visual appealed to your interests, you were more likely to make a connection and store that image. As a teacher I want to do my best to create activities that are relatable since the long term memory “is interconnected.”  What I do not want to do is encourage rote learning which attached no meaning to itself. This was so often my experience in elementary school that I feel like I missed out on some very valuable knowledge.

 I want to use a variety of methods to help information file itself away in the long term memory. I want to utilize mneomnic devices which has always proven helpful for my own remembering. I am also a big fan of remembering through song and rhyme and other creative measures. For example, I remember that the element Gold is Au on the periodic table due to this joke: Silver walks up to Gold in a bar and says, "AU, get outta here!"  My biggest tip to my students will probably be cues through association. I think these things most easily come back to our minds because we can so quickly identify with them. I want to use fun and catchy tios like these that are fun and interactive ways that can be repetitively used in the classroom.

 

 

 

Charter School Debate

 

 

This is a video I found really interesting concerning charter schools, which we spent some time discussing the other day in class. This video shows a debate on whether they are beneficial or actually hurting public education. Diane Ravitch, an educational policy analyst, argues that on average charter schools do not produce better results than public school and that is simply a risky way to deal with education. She goes on to say that charters enroll 3% of the children in NY and no one is advocating for the other 97%. It sounds like inequalities we have heard about in the past couple years about no one advocating for the bulk of society. The top reigns.

James Merriman, the cheif executive of the NY Charter School Center, argues that in New York, studies prove that charter schools are outperforming public schools for sure and that thousands are on waiting lists for this kind of education.

I think this video allows us to see a specific location where there is much debate, and two high status people's differing views about why they do or do not believe charter schools are effective. I would encourage you guys to check the video out and think whether or not it is an institution you would want to wort at.

Chapter 15: Test Assessment

Chapter 15

Turn to p. 559 in Ormrod’s text.  Now, imagine that you are meeting with Ingrid’s grandmother today to explain her scores on the recent standardized achievement test pictured at the bottom of p. 559.  What will you tell her about Ingrid’s performance? her strengths? her weaknesses?

If grandmother asks you what she could be doing at home to help strengthen Ingrid’s skills, what will you suggest?

If Ingrid’s grandmother was needing to meet with me concerning her granddaughter’s scores from the standardized achievement tests, I would first have to break down and explain a few definitions. I would first explain that a stanine score was simply a way test scores could be placed on a scale of nine points. The first stanine would be in the lowest of scoring groups while the ninth would be found in the ninth scoring group. Depending what group her granddaughter fell in would be an indicator of her performance on that test. For example, Ingrid’s stanine score of an 8 in reading comprehension shows she excelled in that content area, and thus is performing “well above the average.” This would be easy to explain with the excel chart of scores. I would next explain a bit about percentiles. Percentiles are based on a value system.  It is a value on a scale of one hundred that indicates the percent of a distribution that is equal to or below it. For example, a score equal to or greater than 97 percent of those attained on an examination is said to be in the 97th percentile.  From there I would show her Ingrid’s scores and emphasize that she did really well in Science and Reading Comprehension, where her percentile and stanine scores are high. Her strengths as shown by the chart are Science, Social Studies and Reading Comprehension, while she struggles slightly with Spelling and Math Computation. She fares well at Math Concepts, achieving just about average.

I would suggest working on weekly site words with Ingrid and checking her writing assignments to evaluate how her spelling is doing, and is she needs any additional help. I can also send home additional worksheets with a key for you (the grandmother) to check.  As for math computation, I would  create links on my teacher website for interactive games and additional problems to practice since doing homework outside of class is key to improvement much of the time. I would give the grandmother multiple worksheets of the same exact problems so that she can measure progress herself over time, and feel directly involved.

Extra Resource Investigation

          Chapter 13 greatly interested me because it is so important to understand how to manage and control our classroom the right way.  I was looking at additional resources and found great insight on how to approach different types of students. Specifically, I really engaged in th article by Larry Ferlazzo, Eight Things Skilled Teachers Think, Say, and Do.  He reiterates on how teachers can be successful through intrinsically motivating their students. I like how they distinguish between authoritarian and authoritative control. Our goal is not to be a dictator and rule with an iron fist, but to listen and interact with our students in an understanding and rationale way. It is the same way children hope their parents will interact with them. The level of comfort in my classroom is going to be a huge deal. I think I can eliminate future problems by establishing that from day one.
         Another fantastic point that is covered in the article is student growth.  He says failure is simply new opportunity. It is hard to think when we have 20-25 students in our classroom that we could at some point fail. My personal mindset is to never accecpt failure, yet I know in my first years a lot of failures and setbacks are going to be my own growth and learning experience.
        My third take away was to learn to be flexible, which might mean differentiating lesson plans and specific instructions to accommodate a particular student. If teachers pre-think of a variety of approaches for their many different learners, they will not be so pressured to find alternatives on the spot. There were really great tips to follow from a moderately experienced teacher. I think I will certainly be able to apply these next year in my internship when I am in a school on a daily basis.

Chapter 14: Assessment

(14.1) Think of a lesson plan from your licensure area (feel free to use the same topic you used for Chapter 6, 9 & 10). Knowing that assessment is an integral part of teaching, explain at least four informal and formal assessments that you will use in your lesson plan to provide you with feedback and involve the students in assessing their own learning.

I believe that both informal and formal assessments can be very telling of students’ progress. I believe I would use 3 or 4 different informal assessments for my own knowledge of how we are doing as a class, and perhaps what I can be teaching more clearly and effectively. I thought my example could be of a lesson plan in the fifth grade (since that is a grade I am interested in teaching) with the subject social studies (since it is my favorite). If I were using a topic such as the founding fathers, I would create a portfolio project as the final, formal assessment. Since there are a limited amount of founding fathers, more than one student would be assigned the same man.

Informal: Students must write a 25 word abstract on the founding father they have researched and then place in their portfolio

Informal: Students with the same topic must pair up and verbally share the most important facts (I check for accurate information)

Informal: Students will create questions for peers to answer about their founding father

Informal: After discussing the making of America and how these men the creation of a republic, we will have Q &A time

Formal: I will give students an essay question for a grade and it will go in there completed portfolio

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 (14.2) Consider norm referenced assessment and criterion referenced assessment. Are there advantages to both? Are their disadvantages?

I think there can be positives and negatives to both criterion-referenced assessments as well as norm-reference assessments. Criterion reference allows teachers to see what their students and what they do not. This can be extremely helpful and understanding which concepts they may be completely grasping, somewhat grasping, or not understanding in the least. In this way, teachers can recreate and redraw lesson plans to more accurately get their point across.                                                                                                                  

As for the norm-referenced assessments, students are compared to other students. This may be across the county, state, or nation. If these tests are administered state-wide, it is likely that there is information that is not in the state curriculum, and that the state probably did not feel it was that important for their students to learn. I see this as a negative when time could be better spent learning valuable skills. A positive for norm-referenced assessments is that it could create healthy competition for schools to compete against each other like “battle of the nerds.” They also use a lot of percentile ranking so schools can see specifically where they are and how much they need to approve.