Cognitivism in Practice

There are many cognitive learning practices that are extremely beneficial in the primary grades. I teach second grade and have had great success with teaching students skills such as "note taking" which is more commonly seen in upper grades. I find that teaching students to take notes and then referring back to to notes is very beneficial for writing and science and social studies. There are also many advanced organizers that have been created and simplified for elementary students. I think finding what works for your style is the key to success in any teaching experience.

Virtual Field Trips and Mapping

Wow!!!!!! Virtual Field Trips for me did not turn out the way I expected it to. When I was first exposed to Virtual Field Trips I thought they were the coolest, most unique technology I have ever seen. Naturally I was searching for a Virtual Field Trip that was similar to what I had experienced earlier. I spent every night searching and researching something that would be appropriate for second graders because that is what I teach. Working all day with an extremely intense agenda which included publishing a book, preparing for open house and practicing for a dinosaur program, the week has been over the top busy..I spent every night and all day Saturday working on this assignment. My first web attempt was a failure. After completing this Virtual Field trip and Concept Web experience I discovered a very important insight. I will probably never use this technology in my classroom mainly because it requires to much time to plan and also because I don't have enough computers to facilitate it... Something work out and something don't... this one doesn't work for me but I bet it works great for middle school and high school..

Behavorism

It appears that the philosophy behind behaviorism is being redefined. Behaviorism is now most beneficial only when used as a tutorial but the old operant conditioning of reinforcement of desirable behaviors and punishment for undesirable behaviors is no longer considered a valuable practice. I personally think that Behaviorism still has a valid place in the field of education and not just as a tutorial mechanism. I think many children of today do not have a clear understanding of what behaviors are acceptable and what behaviors are not acceptable in a classroom. I think it is important to teach and reinforce positive behaviors so that the children have a clear understanding of what is expected. I think that the word punishment should be changed to discipline. Discipline is really teaching not punishment. Behaviorism is still used in many classrooms but it appears that the trend seems to be away from this theory. Once again the pendulum in education is shifting. Why is that? Why must we always throw out the old theories and practices? Why must we always be seeking for the new and improved formula. Sometimes the old tried and true practices are the best.

Reinforcing Effort is a concept that is near and dear to my heart. I believe Effort is the most important factor in achievement (H.Pitler 2007). The amount of success achieved on any given task is directly related to the about of effort you have put forth. This is very evident in the classroom. Those students that put forth the effort to be successful students usually are successful students. Self efficacy is directly related to students achievements. Self efficacy is a person's level of belief in their ability to achieve. This idea plays a major role in a person's motivation. I never thought I'd meet a student I could not motivate but I have meet one this year. Life is tough when you have no self efficacy.

Week 5 Interviews

Wiki experience

Developing a wiki... what an interesting experience... I can see the wisdom in working together as a team... each person contributes and participates on a huge project...Kind of like eating a huge elephant. the task is much to large for one person so by breaking the tasks into smaller parts with each person contributing the job gets done. Even with a task this large there still needed to be 1 or 2 that carried the bulk of the responsibility of set up. I think we as a team were grateful we has a few among us that were a little more computer literate than the rest of us. We are grateful they stepped up to the plate and ran with it. I think our Wiki turned out pretty good especially being it was a first experience for most of us.

21 Century Student

New technologies are coming to us at record breaking speed. To be successful in a technology rich environment, the student of the 21st century must be well informed and diverse in a multiplicity of skills. Educators all over the world are looking for resources to meet the growing need to help the students of tomorrow gain these skills. There is a website called 21st Century Skills that has emerged as the leading advocate to infuse these 21st Century skills into the education system. They profess to bring together business, community, educational leaders and policy makers. They have defined a powerful vision for every child's success as citizens and workers of the 21st Century. They also profess to provide tools and resources to help facilitate and drive this change.

My first reaction to this web site was... NO "stickiness" in other words... I did not find it to be a site I would want to return to often... I found it very bureaucratic not teacher friendly. There was a side bar with several articles concerning the need for 21st Century issues... I spent a lot of time searching but didn't really find any nuts and bolts on how to teach the skills for the 21st Century.

As I went back to reread the goal statement I discovered some very interesting insights. First this organization says they are bringing together businesses, community people and policy makers.... any maybe a few educators..to define a powerful vision... Why are policy makers and business people determining what should be taught...to the students of tomorrow? Next they "ensure" that every child will be a successful citizen.....Oh really? How do you ensure that every student succeed? What about the students that don't want to be educated... or the students that are hooked on drugs... or the students that drop out? I believe that when you work hard for something...you appreciate the results so much more... you have gratitude and you appreciate the journey. I believe when students are given a free ride.. when they don't have to put in the effort... they don't value anything....they become selfish and they expect a hand out. To ensure that all students succeed is unrealistic. Finally this Partnership encourages schools and districts and states to infuse and drive these changes into our education system... Well, right there I have huge red flags going up... Let's just shove this stuff through...

At first I kind of liked the States pages but now that I have looked at the goal statement in greater detail... I am not so impressed with anything on this site.

I believe it is our responsibility at educators to educate the leaders of tomorrow. We need to give them the skills needed to be successful in the 21 Century. Jobs and global markets are changing and the leaders of tomorrow need to be equipt not only with the basic academic skills but also life skills and technology skills... So how do we do that? I believe it will be one step at a time... I think teachers are eager to teach these skills but give the teacher's credit... Most have a least a 5 year education background. They know how to implement these skills if given the opportunity to collaborate.



http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/