Teachers are charged with one of the most important jobs that exist in society, educating our children. I have my own personal approach when it comes to teaching and learning theories, and that is, when I am bored, then my students have to be bored as well. So, when it comes to creating lessons, this is the theory that I keep in mind, leaving me with the challenge that will engage, not only my students, but me as well. Upon completing this course, my own personal approach has not changed, but what has changed, are the new possibilities in regards to incorporating technology into those lessons. One thing I discovered during this course is that without realizing it, much of my instruction is centered around Paivio's dual coding hypothesis which states that whenever possible, images should be utilized within instruction in lieu of text. (Laureate Education, Inc, 2010a). I have learned that in order for my students to truly understand something, then they either have to work with it using their hands, when possible, or to see images of it so that they can develop some sort of episodic memories to help them remember the content.
Naturally, the one major change that I would like my instruction to undergo, is the incorporation of more technology. The greatest challenge facing this change, however, is the lack of technology within my building. Even though I may want to incorporate more technology, the technology that is needed is not always available, thus limiting just how much I am able to incorporate within my lessons. This course has introduced me to various different technology tools that are available. Since students learn best when they are building on something that can share with others, specifically an external artifact, I plan on incorporating VoiceThread into one of my upcoming lessons (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010b). For this project, I plan on having my students use VoiceThread to share information regarding the thirteen colonies with their classmates. A second technological tool that I plan on implementing within one of my upcoming lessons is a concept map. By focusing on the mental activity that goes on while a student is learning, specifically, the way that information enters the mind, gets stored, and then finally used again, teachers will be able to better understand the learning process (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008). A concept map breaks information down into a very basic form, thus making it easier for students to understand the desired content. My plans, are to have my students create a concept map to break down the three branches of government. I figure the utilization of this type of technology will provide my students with a simple visual breakdown that will help them remember the information.
The most obvious long-term goal that I would have for my classroom is to incorporate more technology into my lessons. To meet this goal, I hope to incorporate at least one lesson every other week that incorporates technology. I already do include some technological tools within my lessons, so the challenge will be to utilize even more of them for the students to work with. A second goal would be to start to incorporate some student-centered projects within my lessons. This goal will be harder for me to attain for different reasons. At the fifth grade level, we have a large amount of content that we are expected to cover before our achievement tests in May. Luckily, we are in the process of adopting new standards that will require students to master certain content areas at specific grade levels instead of constantly reviewing the same thing over and over and adding new threads of knowledge to it each year. This new requirement will alleviate the amount of content and allow teachers to slow down and bring in more projects when covering their required content areas. I think this new approach will give me time to both incorporate more student-centered lessons along with the usage of more technology within those lessons.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010a). Program thirteen. Technology: Instructional tool vs. learning tool [Webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010b). Program seven. Constructionist and constructivist learning theories [Webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Lever-Duffy, J., & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
