As I am continuing in grad school, I have just recently completed a course designed to provide educators with techniques which allow them to teach their regular course content as well as something called the new literacy skills. This has absolutely been one of the most enjoyable classes I have undergone. The new literacy skills encompassed five major areas: Questioning, Searching, Evaluating, Synthesizing, and Communicating. In each of these categories we learned how to create more student centered inquiry based lessons. These methods give the students freedom to define what they want to learn about. This in and of its self increases student motivation and especially initiative.
During this course I was taken aback by the amount of student autonomy that these lessons and methods ignite. I sometimes struggle with the idea of letting the students direct themselves because I am cautious of how the classroom will be maintained. However, I have come to realize that the students are capable of much more than what I was allowing. Another very intriguing moment that I had during this class, was when I began to realize that we as educators are attempting to teach students skills for a future that is undefined or foreseeable. With the rate that technology is advancing we must make sure that the time we spend with our students is being used to educate them on the most pertinent, objective, and relevant skills.
The content of this course helped me to become more aware of the teachable moments where I can instruct things like: how to navigate a website, how to evaluate the content of a website, and even how to connect what we are learning to the creation of an educational artifact. With the methods described in my current course I will be able to stretch over my standard content area and implement 21st century skill instruction.
This has led me to set the goal of assigning more students driven research projects which allow the integration of the new literacy skills into my curriculum. For me to accomplish this goal I have begun to reshape my standard curricular approach so that their will be more creative and communication projects. I have also begun to rethink my classroom set up so that it accommodates these types of activities more readily. Finally, I have resolved to continue networking and searching for tools which will increase my efficiency and effectiveness as an educator of music and technology.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Oh... It’s Just a Reflection
When I began the Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology course at Walden University I initially posted that my personal learning theory was a mixture of all of them. Honestly, my personal learning theory hasn’t changed much. I still see how, given my content area, everyone of the learning theories has its place. Still, this is not to imply that I haven’t learned anything which would require me to make changes to my teaching strategies.
One immediate change that I am planning to implement in my music class is to use concepts maps as an aid during instruction. This tool will allow for me to display the information in a way that caters to multiple learning preferences. Another is to use voicethreads. This would allow students to create different types of media presentations and then other students would be able to comment on their creations.
With the information I gathered from this course I am also planning some not so immediate and more drastic changes to my classroom setup. One, which centers on the ideas presented in the social constructionism learning theory, is to increase the amount of student interaction. I am going to begin to design many of my lessons to be more project based so that the students will need to work together to complete the assignment. Another goal is to increase the amount of technology that we use. As it stands now I only have one computer in my class, but even with this disadvantage their are still many technology based activities that I could institute into my classroom. One example is the use of virtual field trips. This allows students to observe and learn information from anywhere on the planet. With these new types of activities and technology based tools our students are able to do things in the classroom that others before them could only dream of.
One immediate change that I am planning to implement in my music class is to use concepts maps as an aid during instruction. This tool will allow for me to display the information in a way that caters to multiple learning preferences. Another is to use voicethreads. This would allow students to create different types of media presentations and then other students would be able to comment on their creations.
With the information I gathered from this course I am also planning some not so immediate and more drastic changes to my classroom setup. One, which centers on the ideas presented in the social constructionism learning theory, is to increase the amount of student interaction. I am going to begin to design many of my lessons to be more project based so that the students will need to work together to complete the assignment. Another goal is to increase the amount of technology that we use. As it stands now I only have one computer in my class, but even with this disadvantage their are still many technology based activities that I could institute into my classroom. One example is the use of virtual field trips. This allows students to observe and learn information from anywhere on the planet. With these new types of activities and technology based tools our students are able to do things in the classroom that others before them could only dream of.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Lets work together. (social constructionism)
I have been studying some on the idea of cooperative learning. This is basically activities which are designed so that students learn in group projects. Since, as you may have guessed, my preferred learning theory is the constructionist theory these cooperative lessons would be categorized as social constructionism. I like this idea because it allows the students to understand the content on a deeper level, gives them a perfect example of how they will work in the “real world”, and it also helps them to learn social skills.
One activity for this type of method is presented in the book Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. They describe a middle school teacher that assigns a two week movie project in which the students must present information about the lives of famous mathematicians. One very wise decision that the teacher made was to keep the groups relatively small in size. This will allow for each student to be able to contribute to the project (artifact) without being lost in a mass of other student suggestions.
Another Idea suggested by the book Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works is the idea of creating a website. I love this idea because the students are able to work outside of school. They are also able to show off their site. One issue that I am still trying to work the kinks out on is, how to let students show off their musical compositions. The music that we create in computer programs I can export as an mp3 but if I post a picture of their written compositions, the looker doesn’t get much out of it unless they can read music. This is not to mention the limited amount of space that I have on my site for storing. However, if the students had their own sites they would be able to post their school work and share their creations with the world, including their parents.
The one idea that I am the most excited about is called a voicethread. With it students can comment on pictures that are submitted to the thread. This would be really interesting for creating projects about composers, instruments, or large musical works. In a way these act a lot like blogs or wiki, which are also good cooperative learning activity facilitators, because the students are contributing to a main thought. I could see these types of activities working very well with large group assignments.
In each of these examples the students are creating something (yeah constructionism) and working together (social). I would love to see more and more activities like these instituted into the classroom.
References:
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
One activity for this type of method is presented in the book Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. They describe a middle school teacher that assigns a two week movie project in which the students must present information about the lives of famous mathematicians. One very wise decision that the teacher made was to keep the groups relatively small in size. This will allow for each student to be able to contribute to the project (artifact) without being lost in a mass of other student suggestions.
Another Idea suggested by the book Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works is the idea of creating a website. I love this idea because the students are able to work outside of school. They are also able to show off their site. One issue that I am still trying to work the kinks out on is, how to let students show off their musical compositions. The music that we create in computer programs I can export as an mp3 but if I post a picture of their written compositions, the looker doesn’t get much out of it unless they can read music. This is not to mention the limited amount of space that I have on my site for storing. However, if the students had their own sites they would be able to post their school work and share their creations with the world, including their parents.
The one idea that I am the most excited about is called a voicethread. With it students can comment on pictures that are submitted to the thread. This would be really interesting for creating projects about composers, instruments, or large musical works. In a way these act a lot like blogs or wiki, which are also good cooperative learning activity facilitators, because the students are contributing to a main thought. I could see these types of activities working very well with large group assignments.
In each of these examples the students are creating something (yeah constructionism) and working together (social). I would love to see more and more activities like these instituted into the classroom.
References:
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Home Sweet Home With Constructivism
Of all the learning theories circling the educational career, the constructivist/constructionist theory is where I hang my hat. Simply put this theory proposes that learning occurs as students construct knowledge/understanding from what they experience within the world. The coolest part of this theory is that it is a very hands on. This theory explains that learning is maximized as students actually create “artifacts” of what they are discovering, and that I why I love this theory. We create. Of all the learning theories that I have discussed this one is the most exciting because of its level of engagement. Music is without a doubt a creative content area and this also goes for my class. We spend a massive amount of time creating songs or rhythms which utilize what we have been discussing. As I have learned more about the constructivist/constructionist theory I have encountered many ideas for activities that correlate with it.
One idea that was suggested by Dr. Orey is to have the students create power point presentations of what they are learning in the class. We could go so far as to be very specific and require certain things in the power point to make it even more of a challenge. Perhaps the students must search the internet for images or even videos. In this case the power point is the artifact that the students create to gain a deeper understanding of what they are learning.
Another idea from Dr. Orey (Orey, 2001) is where the students are faced with a problem or project that requires them to gather information and construct an artifact which furthers their understanding. An example of this is a high school english teacher presenting the students with a project where they must perform a puppet show version of a single act from a Shakespeare play where the dialogue has been updated. To do this the students must search out the meaning of the words from their act, and then find synonyms to them. For this example the assignment is the problem, the searching for synonyms is the solution, and the puppet show is the artifact.
Still another example comes from the book Using technology and classroom instruction that works. In the 11th chapter the authors describe the idea of using spreadsheet software to compile, observe, analyze, and finally present their findings. In this example the spreadsheet is the artifact. Using a program like this allows our students to gain deeper levels of knowledge through the manipulation of factors.
For me this is the theory that, at least for now, I will be spending a large portion of my methods with. I love the idea of presenting a problem or project and then working with the students to find the solution. Honestly I may actually start asking questions that I want to know the answers to. Then with our new found information we can apply it, and create better music (the artifact) and deepen our level of understanding.
References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer).(2009). Constructionist and constructivist learning theories. [Motion Picture]. Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology. Baltimore: Author.
Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology and classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
One idea that was suggested by Dr. Orey is to have the students create power point presentations of what they are learning in the class. We could go so far as to be very specific and require certain things in the power point to make it even more of a challenge. Perhaps the students must search the internet for images or even videos. In this case the power point is the artifact that the students create to gain a deeper understanding of what they are learning.
Another idea from Dr. Orey (Orey, 2001) is where the students are faced with a problem or project that requires them to gather information and construct an artifact which furthers their understanding. An example of this is a high school english teacher presenting the students with a project where they must perform a puppet show version of a single act from a Shakespeare play where the dialogue has been updated. To do this the students must search out the meaning of the words from their act, and then find synonyms to them. For this example the assignment is the problem, the searching for synonyms is the solution, and the puppet show is the artifact.
Still another example comes from the book Using technology and classroom instruction that works. In the 11th chapter the authors describe the idea of using spreadsheet software to compile, observe, analyze, and finally present their findings. In this example the spreadsheet is the artifact. Using a program like this allows our students to gain deeper levels of knowledge through the manipulation of factors.
For me this is the theory that, at least for now, I will be spending a large portion of my methods with. I love the idea of presenting a problem or project and then working with the students to find the solution. Honestly I may actually start asking questions that I want to know the answers to. Then with our new found information we can apply it, and create better music (the artifact) and deepen our level of understanding.
References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer).(2009). Constructionist and constructivist learning theories. [Motion Picture]. Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology. Baltimore: Author.
Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology and classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Supprised by the Cognitivist Theory
As I have continued my search through the learning theories I have begun to look at the cognitivist theory. The theory proposes that all learning is built upon from prior knowledge in the mind. The brain creates links from old to new knowledge and based on the level of need or depth of the experience for this information, is stored in long-term or short-term memory.
This week I looked at the idea of concept maps for use in my classroom. A concept map is a graphical depiction which is used to help organize, arrange, or manipulate information. We already have these at our school but they go by the name thinking maps. I really like these maps because I am a very visual learner and these help me to understand the information tremendously. Concept maps can be designed in any number of ways but I prefer to look at them in a brainstorm type cloud. Seeing this helps me to understand the connections between the central theme and the sub-categories that relate. This is a perfect example of the cognitivist theory in work because I am building specific content from an initial piece of information.
If we were to use a computer program like webspiration to create our own concept maps for assignments we would actually be able to exceed just using text and would also be able to add pictures. This is another great tool for a cognitivist because it would create more than one mental stimuli which cause the depth of the information to increase and thus be stored into the memory.
Another idea that I will be implementing into my class is the idea a virtual field trip. I have been desiring to do something like this for quite some time. I have already set up a skype account and webcam and was simply waiting to find the class that I would collaborate with. My original intention however, was more like an online collaboration between two classes than a real virtual field trip. A virtual field is basically a place that you can go to on the internet where you are able to explore information. What I have come to understand is that right now their are hundreds of virtual field trips that our students can go and enjoy. I recently looked at the museum of art in Boston and was overwhelmed with all the information that was made available to me. Using this in my classroom follows the idea of the cognitivist theory because the experience is so rich. The mind encounters so much mental stimuli through multiple senses that it’s experience is stored more like an event than a random group of facts. I will be using this in my class probably by tomorrow.
This week I looked at the idea of concept maps for use in my classroom. A concept map is a graphical depiction which is used to help organize, arrange, or manipulate information. We already have these at our school but they go by the name thinking maps. I really like these maps because I am a very visual learner and these help me to understand the information tremendously. Concept maps can be designed in any number of ways but I prefer to look at them in a brainstorm type cloud. Seeing this helps me to understand the connections between the central theme and the sub-categories that relate. This is a perfect example of the cognitivist theory in work because I am building specific content from an initial piece of information.
If we were to use a computer program like webspiration to create our own concept maps for assignments we would actually be able to exceed just using text and would also be able to add pictures. This is another great tool for a cognitivist because it would create more than one mental stimuli which cause the depth of the information to increase and thus be stored into the memory.
Another idea that I will be implementing into my class is the idea a virtual field trip. I have been desiring to do something like this for quite some time. I have already set up a skype account and webcam and was simply waiting to find the class that I would collaborate with. My original intention however, was more like an online collaboration between two classes than a real virtual field trip. A virtual field is basically a place that you can go to on the internet where you are able to explore information. What I have come to understand is that right now their are hundreds of virtual field trips that our students can go and enjoy. I recently looked at the museum of art in Boston and was overwhelmed with all the information that was made available to me. Using this in my classroom follows the idea of the cognitivist theory because the experience is so rich. The mind encounters so much mental stimuli through multiple senses that it’s experience is stored more like an event than a random group of facts. I will be using this in my class probably by tomorrow.
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