Monday, June 22, 2009

Chapter 10- Constructivism

Am I taking advantage of situations that allow students to construct their own learning? What steps have I taken recently to incorporate constructivist approaches? What steps can I take in future lessons?
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9 comments:

  1. ELIZABETH LONGJune 22, 2009 at 12:57 PM

    I think that in certain areas of the curriculum I do a fairly good job at creating an atmosphere and the proper amount of support so that my learners can construct learning. In content areas I believe students of different learning styles and a variety of intelligences have opportunities to be a part of planning, carrying out, and assessing the skills and concepts in the curriculum. I believe that a major strength of mine is in forming relationships with my students and their families. This is a priority of mine and seems to usually grow into a very productive relationship. This seems to tie in nicely with another constructivist approach - exposure to multiple perspectives. I try to involve families and other students in discussions and projects that pull in perspectives and inititate conversation. The third condition mentioned in the text, use of realistic learning tasks, is where I need to focus. There are all the excuses, time constraints, lack of materials, behavioral issues...I need to get over all of those and create lessons with my students that allow for them to see life in their learning, and the connections that will help them to remember and use what they have learned.

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  2. Kristen SalerJune 23, 2009 at 10:21 PM

    Constructivist theory seems heavily invested in the idea that discussion helps generate meaning for students learning something new. Taking background knowledge of a topic and melding it with personal experience, students create meaning. As a teacher, helping to guide student discussion in both small group and whole class settings can help facilitate learning in the constructivist model. As a teacher, I hope to continue to help students access background knowledge to help them place new information into existing schemes. In the future, I would like to assist students with engaging in more meaningful discussions centered around ill-structured problems or issues rather than well-structured problems that do not require as much work in identifying the initial problem or learning about it in-depth.

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  3. Kristin SmithJune 24, 2009 at 10:18 AM

    I think that I could incorporate more of the constructivist theory into my classroom. My students and I read Time for Kids weekly, and do some discussion of the current event topics. I think that this cements the understanding of current events in students minds and also gives them the opportunity to hear other's opinions. I would like to do more small group and whole class debate in my classroom, because as we learned through this chapter and others, students learn more from each other than from the teacher alone, during direct instruction. I would also like to complete more problem solving activities where students work together to find the answer. I think that this will help students internalize that there are many ways to solve most problems. They will also find that certain strategies work in different problems.

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  4. csipesJune 24, 2009 at 1:11 PM

    Although I know that I need to create more types of opportunities for my children to construct their own knowledge, I feel like I am on the right track to getting there. I often try to show them why it should be important to them to learn the things we study. For instance:
    • Reading—to be able to read and enjoy any book any time and you can learn about things that interest you
    • Legible Writing—so friends can read what you write (Santa too)
    • Fractions—to share fairly with others
    • Money—so you know what toy, book, etc. you can buy
    This will help create that all-important meaningful, realistic learning. I also like to use K-W-L charts because they allow us to start off connecting to any background knowledge the kids have and then put them in charge of what they might learn. I’ve always been big on asking students to look at things from many points of view. This became even more important after taking Dr. Chan’s Multiculturalism class. One area I would like to take more time with is discussion. I often find myself cutting off discussions because we need to move on to the next subject. In 5th grade I used Think, Pair, and Share a lot because it gave everyone time to voice their thoughts. I’ve done far less of this with my 1st graders. I guess I just need to give them more opportunities to use it. Sometimes I do underestimate what they can do, but other times I overestimate their capabilities. I am still working on figuring out how much or how little support first graders need for the different things we do. I’m waiting to achieve the “just right” status.

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  5. DomineeJune 24, 2009 at 3:21 PM

    When I start a new chapter in Science I have each table group look through the chapter and discuss things they find interesting and come up with 3 questions they want answers to after reading the chapter. Then I go from group to group and tell them to give me their top 2 questions. We end up with 10 questions. (I have them chose 3 in case one of their questions is not really "acceptable" or another group asks basically the same thing.) I print these questions on chart paper and hang it in the room. (I teach Science to 2 classes so I do 2 posters in diff. colors and label them with the homeroom teacher's name) As we go along, we answer the questions. We also may evaluate the questions and discuss how they could be changed to be more effective questions. I like how both classes can benefit by seeing the other's questions. Also, during almost all of my lesson's, no matter what subject, I activate prior knowledge by asking what they already know, or if they have ever had experiences with such and such... If I have to cut students off due to time, I ask them to try and tell me another time, or write it down because I am really interested in hearing what they have to say. In the furture, I would like to take more advantage of think, pair, share. This will allow students to share, but also free up some of the time it takes for them to share as one to the whole calss.

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  6. KarenrawleyJune 24, 2009 at 5:06 PM

    I think I do a fairly good job of connecting to prior knowledge. I am always mindful of the fact that my students are young and because of this they have limited real-life experiences to bring to the classroom. So, before we begin a new reading selection, we spend a lot of time setting the stage. We’ll do concept maps, KWL charts, lists, etc., hoping to provide some background for all students. When I choose read-alouds for enjoyment, I vary my selections so that everyone connects to a story at some point. We spend a lot of time having group discussions before, during and after reading. When I introduce new math concepts, I also try to make a connection to real life. For example, when introducing fractions, I talk about food. How can a pizza be shared equally between four people? Whatever the learning task, I try to think “like a first grader”. I think I have been on the right track for the most part, but after reading this chapter, I will put even more thought into my approach to teaching. I need to be sure to give my students the opportunity to learn to be problem solvers and to learn to transfer new knowledge to a new situation.

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  7. KymWyseJune 25, 2009 at 6:20 AM

    I try to implement a constructivist theory in my classroom by making students work in cooperative groups and discuss topics amongst themselves. I also try to activate prior knowledge for students at the beginning of a lesson, so that they can cosntruct their own meaning from it. I also believe in the mentor/student relationship. Knowing your students is the key to being successful at mentoring them.

    In the future, I would like to use more technology to further students' capabilities constructively.

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  8. aharmonJune 25, 2009 at 11:58 AM

    I feel a give my students plenty of time to build their own understanding. Most of my science lessons are taught with an inquiry approach. Students are given time to work in a group to discover what they need to learn about the topic. I provide them with the necessary background information to be successful during their science investigations. During math they are allowed to work with a partner most of the time and discuss how they solved a problem. Problem solving is a daily part of our lesson. Last year I received a grant to purchase all sorts of puzzles and games to help build their problem solving skills. The students really improved their skills by the end of the year. Next year I will be moving to the middle school to teach 6th grade reading. I hope to use literature groups to prompt student learning.

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  9. BrieJune 25, 2009 at 9:46 PM

    For me, I see using a constructivist approach in Science probably as my strength. I find it beneficial to foster problem-solving activities in Science. I have not taught Math for the past several years because my partner and I switched, but if I did, I would have taught my students how to use strategies such as draw a picture, make a chart, use an equation, etc. I would have also posted them in the room to revisit at necessary times. Across all content areas, I do use graphic organizers and use cooperative learning groups when I can. In the future, I hope to take a step back and give the students more of a role in the learning process rather than worry about "the standards." I want to promote a learning community in which different perspectives are allowed. Also, as we talked about in class, I would like to use more technology to assist student learning.

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