Bridging Learning Theories Reflection

As this course comes to a close, I am reflecting back upon my original personal theory of learning styles. At the beginning of the course, I had an idea of what I wanted my teaching style to be like so that my students could learn in the best way possible. Through the information I have learned in this course, I have been able to keep my personal theory, but have refined it. I have always wanted students to learn in a cooperative manner, and through the knowledge I have gained, I have been able to apply more techniques to help my students learn in this way. Cooperative learning is a way of working together to achieve an end product or artifact. Cooperative learning falls under the constructionist learning theory. I have found that this learning theory best fits my thoughts and views towards teaching.

Two technology tools I would like to begin using with my students are Kidspiration and Excel. Throughout this course, I was able to learn how to use Webspiration, which is similar to a program we have available at school called Kidspriation. I think it will be a great way for students to make concept maps to help them learn. Also, I have always thought Excel was more on the difficult side to use, but as I become more used to working with technology, I have found that it can be kid friendly, especially when making different types of graphs.

Two long term goals I have for my teaching are to continue integrating technology in a meaningful manner and to continue with professional development to learn new ways of integrating technology. In order to achieve these goals, I plan to attend an upcoming conference related to technology. I also plan to continue taking courses through Walden and continue my eMINTS training. Both of these are providing me with great ways to integrate technology into my classroom.

Social Learning

This week, we have been focusing on social learning and how to looks in the classroom. I think that social learning, such as collaboration activities within the classroom, are important to incorporate. Students need to see the importance of working together and communicating in a meaningful way. Within my own classroom, I have created many different activities that have allowed my students to interact in different ways in social ways. Some of these activities have been creating presentations and projects, while other activities have been blogging and creating VoiceThreads. In all of these situations, students are given the opportunity to socially interact, whether it is in person or online. Both ways teach students ways to effectively communicate ideas and thoughts with one another.

My VoiceThread discusses an issue my grade level is having with math computation. Here is the link: http://gis.ed.voicethread.com/#u561497.b889030.i4738224