Journal Link

RSA #7

The last seven weeks we have studied different pedagogies for teaching and transforming student learning from pen-and-paper to technology-driven methods. All pedagogies studied were relevant and important to the learning that takes place in a classroom, however in my classroom there is another type of pedagogy I was interested in studying further. The pedagogies studied in our program have mainly been around cognitive understanding of our students. Because my school services students experiencing social and emotional problems in school, I am also interested to study the emotional understanding of our students in the classroom.

Step 1 of the Dynamic Instructional Design Model states that teachers must “Know the Learner.”  As we know students lives do not begin and pause as they enter and leave our classrooms, there are innumerable other events that are a factor into who our students are.  Psychologists define this as setting events, which in short is a term to describe the events that lead up to the student’s current state when they are in our classroom. Part of knowing the learning includes understanding students emotionally. According to Nate McCaughtry, “The point is that so many of students’ life and school experiences are emotional, and to adequately craft meaningful and relevant content learning, a teacher must be able to emotionally understand students”(p.32).

In my school, teachers are responsible for knowing their students and planning an approach that will be relevant to their learners and also providing interventions that will help our students be successful despite their social and emotional set-backs. Some interventions and supports our school has in place is a school-wide level system which promotes positive behaviors because the highest levels earn a weekly incentive and at times random incentives and field trips. We have also implemented PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) in our school and RTI (Response to Intervention) through different systems depending on the high-risk students in tier 3, to our lesser high-risk in tier 2 and other students in tier 3. These interventions have been studied and approved as an effective means of reaching out and making connections with students from school like to their home life. McCaughtry states, “This study shows that how teachers understand emotion in the classroom is an integral part of their pedagogical content knowledge”(p.44).

                                                                       Image Source

References

McCaughtry, N. (2004). The Emotional Dimensions of a Teacher's Pedagogical Content Knowledge: Influences on Content, Curriculum, and Pedagogy. Journal of teaching in physical education, 23(1), 30-47. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.cucproxy.cuchicago.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=a7ac8caa-a02d-4de7-b855-98d2a0998b25%40sessionmgr115&vid=5&hid=110

The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.RTI Pyramid. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/images/publications/books/searle2010_fig1.2.gif

RSA#5

Journal Link

Resource-based Learning

Analogous to the way teachers plan lessons around an essential question, students must plan their resource-based learning project around an essential question. An essential question helps guide student research and maintain focus on a certain topic. According to a video about students at a public school in America, students work on an independent project, which they are responsible for learning themselves. Guidance Counselor Matt Powell states, “Its called The Independent Project, but I really don’t think it could be more dependent on a number of things, this program is really dependent on people working together…using resources and finding those resources.” In a project such as the one described in the video, social media could play a large role in communicating ideas and accumulating resources from people outside of school.

Working on resource-based learning projects allow students to take responsibility for their education. Students are accountable through daily group meetings to discuss progress. In comparing the independent project to “normal school,” one student states, “…letting eight of your friends down, feels a lot different than getting a D on a test, it feels a lot worse so in that way, there is a lot more pressure to do well than in normal school.” This use of positive peer pressure can be a way to drive students to achievement. 

The freedom to explore unanswered questions and research new knowledge is exciting for students. This is a new way of learning that many have never experienced before in a school-environment.

Many students, however, have not yet acquired effective strategies of resource-based learning….This conception of using concept-mapping technology for managing knowledge and knowledge resources is quite concordant with a conception of individual knowledge management as part of advanced self-regulated resource-based learning Tergan, S., Gräber, W., & Neumann, A. (2006).

With endless options and freedom to explore, a concept-mapping tool is a way for students to guide their learning. As an instructor, it should be introduced as a suggested tool but not requirement, as the idea of resource-based learning is not to set boundaries for students learning. However, concept mapping can be helpful to students struggling to get started and offering the mapping as a springboard and resource to utilize may be beneficial.

 Image Source

References

Tergan, S., Gräber, W., & Neumann, A. (2006). Mapping and managing knowledge and information in resource‐based learning. Innovations In Education & Teaching International, 43(4), 327-336. doi:10.1080/14703290600973737

Tsai. C.  2013. Feb 13. If students designed their own schools. [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLdvMQ5zQgcGmRCPrGCuIcnmGWJT3vAUwb&v=RElUmGI5gLc

Journal Link

RSA #3 Inquiry-Based Learning

Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925, George Bernard Shaw said, ‘What we want to see is the child in pursuit of knowledge, not knowledge in pursuit of the child” (Shaw. G.). Teachers and parents worldwide would agree that we need to engage our students to teach them. In my high school classroom, students participate in a joke of the day and nominate one another for who will contribute the next days joke; If our students are not engaged we end up with students in the mind-set, much like a joke recently posted on our board which stated: “What do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested? –A teacher.”  Rather than lecture students to boredom, teachers can involve students in learning through inquiry-based learning. 

In this week’s module reading, I discovered three levels of inquiries for this pedagogy: structured, guided, and open. Structured and guided are more intermediate in this pedagogy because the instructor provides the question, while guided inquiry allows more student-responsibility in the lesson. Open inquiry requires high order of thinking and students take the lead in this method.  Lastly, there is coupled inquiry where the instructor blends two of the three levels to better fit the needs of students (2014).

“The Role of General Inquiry knowledge in Enhancing Students’ transformative Inquiry processes in a Web-Based Learning Environment” is a study that argues inquiry-based learning, also named student-lead or “science learning is regarded internationally as an effective learning approach…however, it is not actively used in many schools” ((Maeots,M. & Pedaste,M. p1. 2014). The study conducted was to prove how students who engage in inquiry-based learning are more likely to retain information than those who do not engage. “The results of this study supports…there are significant positive correlations between post-level transformative inquiry processes and general inquiry knowledge”(Maeots,M. & Pedaste,M, p29. 2014.). Some ways to apply IBL in classrooms is through guest speakers, interactive media lessons from Prezi or Powerpoint, demonstrations, class discussions and questioning are just a few listed from 21st century HSIE (Marsh, C., & Hart, C. 2011). 

References

 George Bernard Shaw Quotes. (n.d.). Quotes.net. Retrieved September 15, 2014, from http://www.quotes.net/quote/427.

Marsh, C., & Hart, C. (2011). Teaching the Social Sciences and Humanities in an Australian Curriculum (6th ed). Malaysia: Pearson Education.Retrieved from http://21stcenturyhsie.weebly.com/inquiry-pedagogy.html

Maeots,M. & Pedaste,M. (2014.).The Role of General Inquiry knowledge in Enhancing Students’ transformative Inquiry processes in a Web-Based Learning Environment Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.cucproxy.cuchicago.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=0fee2d80-62b0-4109-a086-250fd875ce09%40sessionmgr113&vid=4&hid=128

Crombie, S. [Scott Crombie]. (2014, March 26). What is Inquiry-Based Learning? [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u84ZsS6niPc

RSA#2

Journal Link

RSA2: A Blended Learning Experience

This week’s module readings provided great information on blended learning, I especially liked the Keeping Pace report that provided the national snapshot for online learning and all the states that participate in fully online and supplemental online learning.  Admittedly, I was initially inquisitive and unsure of the standards set for online learning and students' abilities to achieve in a blended learning environment, however after reading this week's module readings and the online journal that I found in the Concordia online library, I am much more optimistic about what e-learning is capable of achieving.

In my online resource, I read a journal titled “A Blended Learning Experience” by Aynure Gecer and Funda Dag, who conducted a blending learning experiment on 67 freshman students enrolled in Mathematics Teaching at Kocaeli University in Kocaeli, Turkey. The students took the same course, which focused on “electronic communication and interaction technologies in the learning environment and emphasized the use of online tools and social communication online… the course combined face to face with online learning”(Dag & Gecer, 2012). In the end of the experiment, Dag and Gecer took an evaluation survey from the participants asking what aspects were different in the blended learning course versus other (face to face) courses they have taken. The top responses from students about the blended learning course were “…the course made us participate actively” and “assignments and projects increased our learning responsibility”(Dag & Gecer, 2012).

My initial research on blended learning began with a charter school in Arizona. A video gave the ominous robotic-like feel of students entering their learning environment and walking directly to 1 of 300 cubicles in a room. After reading about other blended learning schools and articles about how blended learning can be a positive experience, I am much more supportive of it. If implemented well, while also being fun and interactive for students, blended learning can and should be a way of education now and in the future.

References

Watson, J., Murin, A., Vashaw, L., Gemin, B., & Rapp, C. (2013). Keeping Pace with K- 

     12 Online & Blended Learning: An Annual Review on Policy and Practice.

     Retrieved from

     http://kpk12.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/EEG_KP2013-lr.pdf

     

Gecer, A., & Dag, F. (2012). A Blended Learning Experience.

Retrieved from

http://web.a.ebscohost.com.cucproxy.cuchicago.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=11ba6450-1362-4114-a2cd-347196b7f08a%40sessionmgr4004&hid=4109

First Day of Class

Created blog, RSS feed on blog, twitter account and twitter list. Link to Tia's twitter