Final learning log

What? I think that children learn best a number of ways so this is kind of hard. I think probably the best way would be by discovery learning and authentic activities. I have always learned best by examples, visuals, and doing hands on activities. I think that, that is a good way to learn and also if the students were able to have the hands on experience they will be able to retain the information and be able to remember it better.

So What? Therefore, I think i would focus on the Constructivism theory the most. I really like using discovery learning where they derive their own knowledge about a topic through firsthand interaction. I also like community of learners where the teacher and student work together to retain information. I really like having the students working in groups to learn more and be able to succeed. I also like authentic activity and how they can learn more information about what they might encounter in the real world, and be able to apply it to the real world.

Now What? I am really excited to be able to apply these theories and applications the next time we do field experience and in the future when I teach. I would like to learn a little of every thing in more depth and especially focus on how to apply it in the classroom and what are the best ways to teach the material. I am always feeling like I need to improve in a lot of areas. I think during the field experience the thing I noticed the most was focusing on classroom management. To focus on the positive and negative reinforcement and be able to learn how to manage the class so that they all could have a positive experience.

12/8/08

What? We learned about social cognitivism. We learned more about the power of expectations. We had an activity where we broke up social cognitivism into modeling, vicarious reinforcement, self regulation, and self efficacy, and each group did a PowerPoint presentation on it.
So What? I think the individual groups learn a lot about what they are teaching. I also think doing this activity helped us learn more about these individual areas, than if we were to just read the book.
Now What? I really liked learning about these different areas and know that it will help in the future. It will help us understand the kids and be able to teach them in different ways and be able to have classroom management in many different ways.

12/1/08 Learning log

What? We learned about the definition of learning in Behaviorism. We learned about classical conditioning and operant conditioning and how to determine what situations are what. In classical conditioning we learned the unconditioned stimulus and response, and the conditioned stimulus. We also learned about reinforcing the group, and good behaviors. We learned how to eliminate bad behaviors and effective forms of punishment.
So What? Now we know what they are and how to apply it in the classroom. We can define the problem or situation and find a resolution for it.
Now What? I really liked the discussion on classroom management, the practical reinforcers, reinforcing the group, and eliminating behaviors. I found it really helpful and thought of ways that I could use in the classroom.