Reflection Paper

Throughout this class and our group and class discussions I have been able to share ideas with my peers, critique and give suggestions to my peers, and receive and learn from critiques and comments of my peers. It has been very helpful to have extra sets of eyes to read over my work and see things that need to be fixed, added, or taken out of my assignments. It has also been useful to have the opinions of other teachers in developing my learning theory and lessons that could be used in my classroom.

On our first assignment of writing about our theory of learning I discovered that several of my classmates shared the same ideas about learning as I do. It seemed to be a general view of all the members of our class that students learn best through hands-on, meaningful activities. It was very helpful to be able to read the learning theories of my peers when thinking about my own. It allowed me to think of ideas that I may have originally left out of my own.

For our second assignment we did a list of technologies that we have available at our school. Then as a group we compiled all the technologies into a list and then categorized them. This assignment was very eye opening because it introduced me to so many new technologies; even ones at my own school, that I was not even aware existed. This first group assignment was a little difficult to do because we were all a little unsure on what types of postings we were supposed to be doing, but after an email clarifying what out postings should look like we seemed to understand what we needed to do from there on.

Next we created an affordance analysis for several different learning technologies. I was pretty confused about what an affordance analysis was when I started, but after reading the course materials and having the discussion with my peers I have a much better understanding. I found myself having to think very hard at first about my list, but after listening to the suggestions and ideas of my classmates I was easily able to expand and redo my list. This assignment was the first assignment in which I had a response from a peer that I had to carefully read over and over again before I responded. I had to make sure my response was tactful and not defensive. I had to remember that my classmate was only trying to help me with my assignment. This was one thing that was difficult about working with peers online. It isn’t always easy to determine someone’s tone over an email/online discussion. This was something that I felt I got a little better at as the course went on.

For the next two assignments we looked at the learning theories of behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, and social constructivism. These assignments allowed me t think back about a lot of the information that I have learned throughout my entire graduate school time. I read the course materials to review the characteristics of each theory. Then I was able to look at some websites, both familiar and new to me, and see which learning theory they fit under. I also was able to come up with lessons to fit under each learning theory. It was interesting for me to see the ideas of my peers and I look forward to trying to use some of the lessons in my room this year. This assignment worked very well with my group. We were easily able to discuss things and our group leaders did an impressive job in putting together all of our contributions. These assignments really helped me to rethink my theory of learning and what type of teacher I am. After looking at all of this information I feel that I am a pretty eclectic teacher that uses most of all these learning theories in my classroom throughout each day.

For our last assignment we were able to look at a lesson plan and improve it by adding in a technology. We also categorized the lesson under a learning theory. I liked being able to look at my peers lessons and would like to modify them to work with my kindergarten students.

Overall I really enjoyed this course. It was a very eye–opening experience to learn how to work so cooperatively with so many other students (teachers). I think this course is a great example of social constructivism. I was able to construct my own knowledge with the assistance of my peers.

Throughout this course I have learned so much about the use of technology as a teacher and a student.

I have been able to evaluate my own personal learning theory by forcing myself to think about it by writing (I mean typing) it out. Which is something I feel like I have not done in a long time.

I have been able to look at several different technologies and evaluate them on their pros and cons. I have also been able to take the opinions and views of my peers on these technologies and reevaluate my original lists. I have also been able to think about, share, and learn about several lessons that I could use these various technologies with.

I have read about several different learning theories like behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, and social constructivism. I have been able to review characteristics of each of these theories, think about how computers relate to each theory, and share lessons that relate to each theory.

I have been able to look at a regular lesson and determine how I can improve it by using all of these things I have learned so far in this class.

Lastly, I think one of the most important things I have learned in this class relating to technology is how to use it to work with my classmates. It has definitely been an eye opening experience on working and getting along with other while participating in class discussions online. I have learned that I need to remember to value the opinions of my peers and take what they respond to me as suggestions and support rather than be defensive if it something that I may not want to hear. It has been a little difficult to work together with several people at the same time. Everyone has different schedules and different ways of completing assignments. I know I am quite a procrastinator so I have probably not been the best group member to my peers. I also have found it difficult to try to make my comments and suggestions without sounding rude or negative. I think it is often very difficult to get your point across through typing. Talking in person allows for your tone to be able to be sensed. Throughout the postings I have attempted to be as helpful and support of my classmates ideas and respond positively with any suggestions or critiques.

Overall, I feel like I have gained a lot of information from this class. It has taught me a lot about the use of technology for me as a teacher, for my students, and for me as a student.

This week we had an assignment very similar to the one we had last week except instead of looking at Behaviorism and Cognitivism we were looking at Constructivism and Social Constructivism. The two learning theories this week were a little harder to distinguish between because I felt that they had a lot in common. After reading all of the materials and having a discussion with my group I now know that they are very different from each other, but they also have several things in common.

Sadly to admit, I was well aware of Constructivism, but somewhat unfamiliar with Social Constructivism. However, once Vygotsky's name was mentioned in the readings it all came back to me. Reading the words "Zone of Proximal Development" I could picture diagrams I had taken as notes in undergrad classes on Vygotsky and his theory.

As far as Constructivism goes this was an area that I felt I knew a good bit about. After all, I have always considered myself a Constructivist teacher. However, after spending several years in a classroom and after my graduate coursework I have come to find that I am not a teacher that simply follows one specific learning theory. I have come to discover that I am quite an eclectic teacher that uses several different learning theories throughout her day in the classroom and I have come to the realization that I think that is okay.

I think Bianca did an excellent job of being our group leader this week. I think she did very well putting together all the information from each member of our group, organizing it into a format that was easy to follow, and making sure that she included some of each person's contributions. When reading over our rough draft I was very impressed. I suggested that for each item under the role of the computers that we should add specific examples. So I spent a considerable amount of time researching these examples. And although it did take up a lot of time and energy it was very interesting to get to view some of these sites. I was completely unaware of the large volume of virtual reality or simulation sites that there are on the Internet. VERY INTERESTING!!!

Again, just like all the other assignments I have enjoyed learning so much new information. I have also learned a lot of new ideas that I hope to use in my classroom.

Another week down and the learning continues. This past week we had an assignment to compare and contrast Behaviorism and Cognitivism, how the computer could be used with each theory, and specific learning situations where each theory could be used. When I started this assignment I I thought it would be pretty easy because I thought that I knew all about both of these theories from previous classes I have taken, however, once I started reading the course materials I realized how much I had forgotten about them. I found it best to list the characteristics of each theory by bullets because that is how I can remember things best (in lists). I found it a little difficult to put all of the information about these theories into words. I had a hard time getting my thoughts down on paper (or I guess I mean keyboard).

For the use of computers with each theory I spent a lot of time going through the websites provided on Blackboard (which was really fun). I enjoyed the Sesame Street games. I teach kindergarten in an inclusion classroom and I think several of the games on this site would be good to use at the beginning of the year. I also like the Monster website. I think it may be difficult to use with many of my non-reading kindergarten students, but I think it would be a great whole group activity to use to work on following directions and descriptive words. Most of the sites were pretty easy to categorize as Behaviorism or Cognitivism. There seemed to be a very defined line between the two theories when looking at the websites.

When I did the learning situations part of the assignment I tried to use examples of things that I use in my classroom on a regular basis. I was very excited to share the program minisebran and sebran with my peers and I hope that they will take advantage of this wonderful program.

After posting my contributions and then receiving our group draft of the assignment I was very pleased with Mindy's great work of combining all of our contributions into one document. I have not had the chance to be a group leader yet, but it seems like a lot of work, or at least that it requires a lot of extra work for the person which is the leader that week. I am thinking that maybe next assignment I will volunteer for my turn to lead my group.

After reading over the postings for all of the other groups I found a lot of good computer resources that I hope to try out in my own classroom. I think all the groups did a good job on their drafts. I enjoyed this assignment. I allowed me to learn more about something that I already thought I knew all about. I also gave me some new things to try in my class this year.

One more week into this course and I am still continuing to learn so many new things. When I first read our assignment for this week I was pretty confused on what "affordance" even meant, but after reading the course materials and looking at the postings of my other group members I was able to have a much better understanding of the word. Although each person in my group had a slightly different definition/meaning of the word affordance I decided that to me the word meant a practical and intended use of the item, or in this case the technology. I felt that this affordance analysis allowed us to look at when and where we are using these particular technologies and if we are using them appropriately. It also gave us a chance to get some ideas from our peers on how to use each technology.

For my affordance analysis I chose to do MS Word vs. Paper and Pencil (context of uses-writing class). I started by doing the list of affordances for MS Word. It seemed much easier for me to come up with this list. I also went to MS Word on my computer and searched around to see if there was anything that I had left off. When it came to the list of affordances for Paper and Pencil I had a much harder time thinking of a lot of things to put on this list. This was a time when I was really glad that my group was going to be giving me suggestions. I was really hoping that they would be able to help me come up with some more affordances to add for Paper and Pencil. And they did! Mindy reminded me that paper and pencil can not only by used anywhere (which I already had), but that it could also be accessed anywhere. She also suggested that I could add to my list of affordances that it is cheap. Which is something that I didn't think of.

I enjoyed being able to make an initial draft of our affordance analysis and then being able to have our peers read over and help us come up with suggestions. I know it always helps me to have someone else read my work and help me think of all the things that I have left out. It helps to have three other minds helping you think.

I posted my revised version of my affordance analysis just earlier this evening and I have already gotten a post back from someone in another group. It was interesting to see her viewpoint of my lesson and on kindergarten. She felt that the lesson I had come up with seemed like it would be a little too difficult for kindergarten students and that maybe I needed to rethink my intended audience. I responded back to her with a more in depth explanation of the lesson and even gave her an example of what the end product might look like. I hope after reading my response she will understand my rationale behind my lesson better and hopefully have a better understanding of how smart kindergarten students can be. I know as a kindergarten teacher I often feel like our students are not given enough credit. Although are sweet little babies come to us as blank slates a lot of the time they grow so much throughout the year. I hope that I was able to give her a better understanding of what great potential kindergarten students can reach!

After another week in this course I feel like I am continuing to learn more and more. I have been able to go back and read the postings, responses, and questions of my peers. After doing this I feel like I am learning a lot about my classmates and myself. After the learning theory assignment I saw how much we have in common as students and as teachers.

When reading the discussion section of questions for the professor it seems that I have a lot of the same questions the my classmates do and I am glad that they are asking them (before I get a chance to). And now that we are done with the first group assignment and class discussion I think I have a little better idea of what to do next time. (At least I hope!)

As for the technology categorization assignment this week I found that there are a whole lot of technologies out there that I was not aware of (even at my school). It was interesting to see all the technologies that my group members contributed. It was also interesting to look at the list of the other groups. It turns out that across the board we all have several technologies in common at out schools. I thought that it was neat that there are elementary teachers and high school teachers using the same technologies (I am sure a lot more in depth for the older students). It was nice to discuss and explain some of the technologies that I had listed to members of other groups. After this assignment I have learned that next time we have to choose postings to be graded that I need to make sure to discuss things more with my group members. The two postings that I submitted were not as much of a discussion as I would have wanted them to be. Next time I need to make sure that I have more dialouge with my group members. Overall the assignment seemed to be a success. Alice was our group leader and she did an excellent job getting all of our lists compiled together and our assignemnt turned in on time.

After only two assignments in this course I feel like I have already learned a lot. The assignments so far have allowed me to reflect on myself as a teacher and as a learner. It has been valuable for me to read other posting of comments, questions, and assignments of my classmates. I have found that I have a lot of the same feelings about learning as they do and I definitely think that I have had some of the same questions as them.
After the first assignment of writing about our theory of learning I found that I have a lot in common with the majority of students in this course. It seems that like me most of my classmates learn best through hands-on meaningful activities. After having this discussion I found it very ironic that we as teachers are such strong learners ourselves. It seems that all of us a continuously learning whether it be at school or through any other area in our life.
Our second assignment was to create a list of all technologies we have at our school. I emailed our technology leader for our school to ask her for a complete list. I am very embarrassed to say that I was not aware of several of the materials (both hardware and software) that we have available in our building. I hope to be able to take advantage of some of them this upcoming school year. As for my group on Blackboard I feel like we have a very good list so far. We are still determining how we are going to categorize everything. I think it may end up being a little harder than I had first thought because there are going to be so many ways that they could be divided up.
So far I am really enjoying this course. I have already learned several new things (creating a blog) and I am looking forward to everything else that is to come.