Constructivist Lesson

My group chose to plan a second grade science lesson about weather. We thought it would be a good idea to start the lesson by leading a discussion with the students where we pre-assessed what they already knew about weather vocabulary. Because the constructivist approach focuses on how each individual learner creates their own meaning, we thought this would be a good way for students to start organizing their background knowledge and thinking about what concepts they are still confused about. This pre-assessment will also help me because I will be able to adjust my lesson if necessary. I can take out any vocabulary words the students already understand and make sure to focus on the less familiar ones during my lesson. 

 

Although my group talked about presenting the vocabulary words to the class and discussing them in a whole-group setting, I think I would like to break my students into small groups and give them the vocabulary words without definitions. I would then tell students to discuss in their small-groups what they think each word means, research the definitions of the words in a dictionary, watch news reports on the internet to see how each of the terms is used in real life, and create their own definitions for each word. This fits nicely with the constructivist approach because students would be able to construct their own meanings by coming up with their own definitions, as opposed to simply memorizing the ones in the textbook.

 

Next, our group thought it would be a great idea to have the students use what they had learned during the research phase to create their own weather reports using the vocabulary words. Students could write a script and record their weather forecast using a video camera. We thought this project would fit with the constructivist approach because the students would be able to deepen their understanding of the vocabulary terms by connecting them to a real-world situation. Instead of memorizing definitions and having a superficial understanding of these vocabulary words, students would be able to make a personal connection to them, which will help them remember what they mean.

 

I think that each of these activities helps foster student's individual and group construction. The pre-assessment is done in a whole-group settings, so students are able to bounce ideas off of each other and start constructing meanings for each term as a class. Likewise, the research and project are done in a small-group, so students are able to collaborate with each other and create definitions based on their group's interpretations of each term. Even though the definitions are created in a group setting, there is still an opportunity for students to individually construct meaning. Because the research, and project are all done in student-directed small-groups, they allow each student an opportunity to participate. Students can construct a personal definition of what each term means to him/her based on how they interpret the research and discussion that went on in their group. The constructivist approach states that every learner's construction of meaning is unique, so even if two students work in the same group, their personal interpretation of the meanings of the vocabulary words will still differ.  

 

I really liked my group's idea of using a weather forecast to teach vocabulary, so I wanted to include a few links this week that show how this project can be done in our future classrooms. Notice the vocabulary that these kids talk about. They cover things like blizzards, precipitation, temperature, flooding, hurricanes, and so much more! The kids look like they are having fun and you can tell they have learned a lot about weather.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SUYqJcVemE 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=7OYGsmFfZFI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zeSnvo20rU 

Chapter 6 Question 2

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

I have learned many adaptations I can make to my instructional style since learning about the memory processes. I have learned that in order for a memory to form, the individual must pay attention to the stimuli in the environment. For this reason, I will try to present the material in multiple ways so more of my students will have a better chance of encoding the information. For example, during a math lesson I will instruct students to read all the information in the chapter before I lead the class in a discussion as I solve the problem. Presenting the material verbally, visually, and textually will accommodate the different learning styles of my students and will help more of them take in the information.

During our lessons on the memory processes, I also learned that students must rehearse and encode working memory for it to become long-term memory. We learned many methods during Amy and Jordan's teaching project that I can use in my future classroom to help my students more easily encode the information into long-term memory. One of the methods they discussed was elaboration, which is a strategy that involves assigning meaningful information to something you wish to remember. To help  my students elaborate and store the information in long-term memory, I will try to use as many authentic connections as I can during my instruction. Linking the material to the real-world will help students make a personal connection and relate to the material. Amy and Jordan also discussed the importance of organization, which is when students make connections among various pieces of information they need to learn. To help my students organize information and store it to long-term memory, I will try to incorporate graphic organizers into my instruction. This will help students visualize how different concepts fit together and will help them organize the material that we are learning. The final method Amy and Jordan discussed was visual imagery. To incorporate more visual imagery into my instructional style, I will try to model my thinking for students and describe exactly what I visually imagine as we work through concepts and how it helps me remember information. I will also encourage students to use visual imagery and will have them draw what they see in their heads so they recognize what visual imagery is and how it can be helpful for them to encode things into long-term memory. Hopefully, by adopting the strategies that Amy and Jordan discussed during their teaching project, I will be able to adapt my instructional style to help improve my students' memory processes.

Because visual imagery is such an abstract concept, it may be difficult to explain to younger students. I found a great website that explains exactly what visual imagery is, why we should use it in our classrooms, how to use it, examples for incorporating it in our classrooms, children's books to use with the strategy, and research that supports the use of visual imagery.
http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/visual_imagery/ 

Chapter 6 Question 1

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?

Cognitive learning theory discusses how learners acquire knowledge and store it in memory. I actually took a cognitive psychology class last year where we discussed cognitive learning in detail, and I really enjoyed learning about this unique theory. For my future students, one particular essential skill that relates to cognitive learning that I would like them to know would be how to commit things to long-term memory. As a teacher, it is my job to present the material in an interesting way so students will pay enough attention to take in the stimuli from the environment. Next, it is up to the students to store the information in sensory information long enough for it to move into working memory where they will need to rehearse and encode the information enough for it to become a long-term memory. Another learning outcome that I would want my students to be able to do that is related to cognitive learning is to reflect metacognitively on their learning. I want my future students to be aware of their learning and know exactly what they do and do not understand. I think this is a really important skills for students to have because they will know when they do not understand something and when they need to ask for clarifications.

I think we may all still be a little confused on how this theory would actually look in a classroom, so I found a web page this week that gives an introduction to cognitive learning theory, an example of how it would look in a lesson plan format, and resources you can use to incorporate the theory in your classroom.
http://erincunia.com/portfolio/MSportfolio/ide621/ide621f03production/cognitive.htm 

Assessment

I am currently working with a fourth grade class and the math lesson they are working on is fractions and decimals. If I were teaching this lesson, I would try to assess my students both informally and formally throughout the week. 

The first informal assessment that I would use in my classroom would be in a "Problem of the Day" format. Before each lesson, I would put a review problem on the board for students to complete. Ideally, I would like for each student to complete the problem on a small sheet of paper and for about five or six of them to turn it in so I could quickly assess if they understood the problem or if they were still confused. This assignment would be very informal and would not impact the students' grades in any way. It would mostly help me keep track of which students are struggling, and how successful my teaching approach is.

The second informal assessment I would use for this lesson would be observation. As students worked on their fraction and decimal problems, I would discreetly circle the room and work with students individually at their desk if they were doing the problems incorrectly. I really like this form of informal assessment because it would let me constantly check on my students' progress instead of finding out at the end of a unit that they have not understood anything since the first lesson.

The third informal assessment I would use in my classroom would be questioning. I would ask the whole class questions as we worked through problems together in order to make sure they are comprehending the lesson. If I notice some of my students answering incorrectly or looking completely confused, then I would know that I either need to reteach the lesson for the whole class or pull certain students aside in a small group for more individualized help.

The fourth informal assessment I would use after a math lesson is a Ticket Out the Door. I really like when we use these in our class because they allow me to reflect on my own learning and decide for myself what exactly I did and did not understand. I think this is a great idea to use for elementary mathematics because it would improve students' meta cognitive skills, allowing them to self-assess their own learning, and would give me a lot of individualized information about what I am and am not teaching well.   

To formally assess this lesson I would assign a few homework problems for the students to take home and complete each night. Because I plan on informally assessing my students everyday and making sure they are doing the problems correctly during class, I would expect them to understand how to complete the problems at home and would assign a grade for each night's homework. I think having the homework count for a grade would hold students accountable for their learning because they would understand that in order to do well on the homework, they would have to pay attention to the lesson and ask questions when they do not understand something. Formally assessing homework will also help the students prepare for their second formal assessment, the unit test.

The final formal assessment I would use for mathematics would be a test at the end of the unit. This test would be graded, as I would expect it to reflect what the students have learned over the past few weeks. It would combine problems from every lesson that I had informally assessed each day and all the homework problems that students had worked on each night. While tests can be overwhelming for students, I think the combination of informal and formal assessments that I have discussed would help students feel more confident in their abilities. Instead of letting a few students fall behind and continue to struggle with each progressing lesson, my plan for this type of assessment would be to keep students on track so they have a better chance of doing well on their final test.

When discussing assessment in my other education classes this year, our professors always tell us to think outside of the box for final assessments. Because I focused on math for this PLE post, I felt like a unit test would be the best and most probable way to assess my future students' math skills. For other content areas, there are numerous creative ways to formally assess your students other than multiple choice tests. The article that I found for this week is from EssentialSchools.org. My favorite part of this web page is the list of final assessments ideas that substitute for tests, including projects, performances, and process skills. I think it could be a great resource to use in our future classrooms to make assessments fun and informative.
http://www.essentialschools.org/resources/115