Final Learning Log

My personal learning theory is a great big mix of all of the learning theories. (At least according to the test that you had us take!)  All three of my scores were within a point of each other, so I really am a well rounded person.  At least that is what I interpret my scores to mean.  I believe that meaningful well organized learning is important, as well as reinforcement.  Students need to understand why what they are learning is important as well as understand what they are learning.  On occasion reinforcement is acceptable and may help students learn, although it should not occur on an everyday basis.  All students have the capability to learn, it is my job to mediate the learning process.  

One theory that I absolutely adore is the social cognitive theory.  I love the idea of shaping, modeling, self-regulation, self-efficacy, and vicarious learning.  They all seem so natural to me.  They make sense and when I teach my future students I will most likely teach them using the social cognitive theory.  (In fact I am not sure that I will remember any of the other theories, although I will try!)  Social Cognitive theory seems to fall in line with my personal beliefs.    I do enjoy some Piaget's theories.  The idea that there are different levels of thinking also seems to make sense to me.  I remember doing the Piagetian tasks and being impressed with the results that I received.  Children are capable of different types of learning at different points in their lives, so I will also keep that in mind in my future classroom.  

I am excited to implement some of my new knowledge with my future students.  I can't wait to encourage self-regulation and management with them. I love the idea that I can help encourage my students to be productive little individuals! I will try to be consciously aware of which learning level they are at and help to shape their knowledge and learning. Before I obtain my own classroom of students I would like to learn a bit more about behaviorism.  I have a feeling that if I understood it a bit better I might find I have more in common with it than I thought.  (If I understand conditioning a bit better than I might develop a healthy respect for it.)  I am grateful for the new knowledge that I have gained while participating in this class.  I look forward to utilizing this knowledge in my future teaching career.  (Sounds a bit cheesy, but it is the truth!)  Understand how and why my students think and learn they way that they do will prove to be a great benefit to me as a teacher. 

"My Beliefs"

I believe that technology is a necessary part of good curriculum and teaching.  I have no doubt that in the near future every classroom will have a smart board and most students will have immediate classroom access to computers.  I am still learning the in's and outs of all the new technology that is available, but I am willing and ready to learn more.  I am excited to be able to teach in a time period when all of this wonderful technology is available.  

I look forward to learning more about the up and coming trends.  I hope that I provide my future students with a positive and uplifting view of technology.  I am excited to not only teach my future students but to learn from them as well.  My students will be the natives in their learning environment and that is an exciting thought. Without a doubt technology will enhance my teaching abilities by opening doors to educational resources that would have previously been unavailable.  

"Lessons Learned"

It was interesting to take the quiz and read the standards, but the thing that I enjoyed the most was watching the video clips and reading the articles.  I found them extremely informative.  All of that wonderful information helped to reinforce my opinions on our changing society and the fact that "shift is happening."  I am excited to be experiencing this modern uprising.  Technology will and does open up so many doors for so many people.  I love the fact that my future students will be able to utilize web quests and virtual field trips, pod casts and Internet research.  

When it comes to concerns, technological advancement does not concern me.  Individual people, schools, and school districts lagging behind the times do concern me.  My future students will be technological natives. If I am going to teach them in a manner they will understand and respect then I must do it while speaking their language.  When I apply for future jobs I will take the schools technology based learning environment into consideration.  It is deeply important to me that as a teacher I have the support of my employers when it comes to technology based teaching.  It is a new technological era and I am excited to be a living part of it.  

"Strengths & Weaknesses"

I have many various strengths and weaknesses in life as well as technology.  One strength which also happens to be a weakness is my experience working with various forms of technology.  I have always used Macintosh computers as well as PCs, so in many ways I feel I am ahead of my peers.  I am not an expert at any form of technology but, I do have experience with most forms of technology.  I have dibbled and dabbled in various forms, and feel comfortable with  most any program.  I am ashamed to say that on the UNI survey there was only one question where I was able to mark Expert, and that was software applications.  I enjoy experimenting with and utilizing various applications, and it seems my varied experience will prove to benefit me in my future classroom.  I am discovering that although it is beneficial to have a general understanding of various technologies, it would be superior to specialize in at least one of these technologies.  

In my future classroom with my future students I would like to choose one type of computer and help my students to become expert navigators.  I want them to feel completely comfortable and superior with at least one form of technology.  If they have a good grasp on one form then understanding others will be much easier.  I would also like to make sure that my students are properly able to analyze their web based research for authority, accuracy, currency, and relevance.   This is something I have struggled with as I have become more and more integrated with the technology around me.  I want my students to feel comfortable utilizing the Internet for school based assignments, while keeping in mind that all information and resources are not necessarily created equal.   

One Website that I have found to be immensely informative when trying to analyze my sources has been the Cornell University library.  Specifically their instructions on critically analyzing information sources.  I like the idea of comparing web based research to research done in a physical library.  It helped me to understand the basics of verifying research.  It is a great site and I will highly encourage my future students to browse through it. A second way that I might be able to improve my weakness's would be to browse through the website kidinfo.  This is a great site that I have stumbled across.  It is full of kid friendly information pertaining to various computer programs.  I would love to be an expert in using either a PC or Mac.  This site can help clarify some of the basic operations for me.  It is also a kid friendly resource that I could direct future students to.

Technology Article #2

A second type of technology that I am super excited about is the idea of interactive educational games.  I love the idea that students can play computer games (which they love) and benefit from the process!   There are countless websites that provide free educational gaming for students of elementary school age.  One site that I have spent some time on is apples4theteacher.  

Apples4theteacher is such a fun site.  It has a plethora of educational games.  Specifically it has a great selection of math games for elementary school students.  In my future teaching I would like to change my students negative connotations of mathematics.  One of the ways I can successfully do this is make math fun for them.  What better way to make math fun than through computer gaming.  I love the idea that there are free computer games available for teachers and students alike.  

Learning needs to be fun, modern technology fills that need.  The students I will be teaching are natives of the technology world.  If I don't chose to teach them on their level and in their language I will lose them.  I want them to succeed and have wonderful learning experiences.  In my future teaching career I will be utilizing the free educational gaming world. It is the perfect medium to reinforce knowledge and insight that I would like my students to gain.

Technology Article #1

I am so excited about my new discovery.  Earlier this year I was fiddling around on the Internet and I stumbled across a website entitled Plymouth plantation.  The website is awesome!  It has a lot of information about the original plimoth plantation.  From the home page  you can click on educational programs, and from educational programs you can click on online learning center. This allows the user to experience "You are the Historian, Investigating the First Thanksgiving."

"Investigating the First Thanksgiving," is a neat experience.  It takes the general public and allows them to have a first hand experience with something that occurred long ago.  It also allows an individual to visit a place which may not be accessible otherwise.  It is a fun and free technological experience. I love the idea of taking my future students on a virtual field trip.  Taking a class of students on a field trip back East is simply not feasible, but having them take a virtual field trip to the Plymouth plantation from the school computer lab is a wonderful alternative.  

I love the idea of virtual field trips.  There seem to be so many available for those willing to search them out.  I am thrilled that in my future teaching career I will have the opportunity to give my students first hand experience through technology that they may not be able to access otherwise. 

Learning Log Ch. 10

Last chapter blog!  (No seriously, if you are going to give weekly assignments, this is the way to go.)  

This week our class focused on chapter 10, the social cognitive theory.  At the beginning of class we discussed how the social cognitive theory is basically a combination of theories.  We were able to view clips of the bobo doll experiment.  The experiment reinforced some of the information that I had previously read in chapter 10.  Specifically, that individuals learn by watching others, although, learning is an internal process that may or may not lead to a behavioral change. We talked a bit about reciprocal change, and how they cycle of change can go in either direction.  We also discussed the power of expectation along with scaffolding and shaping.  Shaping helps students to acquire and maintain certain behaviors.  The last thing that I would like to mention was our discussion on exploration.  We talked about various topics that are encompassed under exploration: modeling, self regulation, self efficacy, and vicarious learning. 

The social cognitive theory is full of wonderful information.  This seems to be the theory that I understand and relate to the best.  I like the idea of shaping.  I also seem to understand the concepts of modeling, self regulation, self efficacy, and vicarious learning.  I think all of these various concepts and ideas are simple and understandable.  

I look forward to utilizing these theories in my future classroom.  I want to shape my students behavior so that they are able to reach self regulation.  I want my students to have high self efficacy, and I hope that they will be able to learn vicariously when situations arise.  I would like to learn more about this theory, it seems to be the most useable and realistic theory we have encountered. 

Learning Log Ch. 9

So the big "tada" for class was on Behaviorist Views of Learning.  I feel like the majority of focus was spent on positive and negative reinforcement.  We spent a lot of time defining positive and negative reinforcement along with punishment.  We also touched on classical and operant conditioning.

An analogy that was mentioned for positive and negative reinforcement was a hot air balloon.  I liked the comparison to hot air being positive reinforcement; something that is added which increases behavior.  And the comparison to the sand bags being negative reinforcement; something that is taken away which also increases behavior.  It is important for me to remember that the behavior that is increased isn't necessarily negative nor is it necessarily positive, It could be either. I also liked the idea that punishment is the taking away something wanted.  Classical conditioning is an involuntary response that results from the pairing of two stimuli, and operant conditioning is a voluntary response that is usually followed by a stimulus.

All of the things that we talked about are good to be aware of when teaching in my future classroom.  I think the thing that I will most focus on is the reinforcement.  I want my students to understand positive and negative reinforcement.  I want them to reinforce their own behaviors.  Hopefully by understanding what fuels student behaviors I will be better equipped to deal with my future students.

Reflection #15

So web quests are still cool but a little bit tricky to pull off in PowerPoint. I am grateful that some of my group members are PowerPoint savvy, because I am not! I am great at photo shop etc. . . but PowerPoint is not my strong point. (Granted, I am getting better.) So we worked today on our quest and we are finally working out all of the kinks. We have been working separately on all of the various elements required, but today we decided to google doc the whole thing so we can compile all of our work.

It appears to be a pretty neat quest so far. Hopefully it continues to be neat-o. I need to work a bit more on the two aspects that were assigned to me. I have the last two sections on the teacher page that I need to work on. Process and Resources, I am kind of on a standstill till some of the other members post their information. A lot of what I will post depends on what they post. Well, so far so good. Positive thinking, this web quest assignment will turn out great! (Even if it still makes me nervous, new things usually do.)