Monday, December 11, 2017

Module 4

I’m sure we all strive to be awesome teachers in the subject we looking to be endorsed in.  We have a great understanding of the subject(s) and feel very confident in our ability to teach it to others.  Unfortunately, we will never have 23 kids that all think the same.  In Chapter 9 it explains the complex cognitive process, and how important metacognition is.  Before taking this course, I had no idea of the concept, I never even heard of the term, but it makes so much sense that we think about thinking.  Understand the way students process information is important for us to know so that we can deliver the information properly.  One strategy that I liked and used is the K.W.L frame.  K – What do I already KNOW about this subject?  W – What do I WANT to know?  L – At the end of the lesson, what have I LEARNED?  The KWL frame encourages students to look within and identify what they bring to each learning situation (pg. 330).  In the future, I plan on inviting students at the W phase to go ahead and mention that they WANT to know what another student already KNOW.  Meaning in the beginning when a student acknowledges that they KNOW something about the subject if another student does not know we can explore to make sure we all learn something new.


In chapter 11, I thought the text did an awesome job bringing it all together in the end.  The four main learning theories Constructivist, Cognitive, Behavioral, Social Cognitive all relying on each other like you can’t have one without the other.  Students must first understand and make sense of the material (constructivist); then, they must remember what they have understood (cognitive—information processing); then, they must practice and apply (behavioral) their new skills and understand to make them more fluid and automatic—a permanent part of their repertoire. Finally, they must take charge of their own learning (social cognitive). Failure to attend to any part of the process results in lower-quality learning (pg. 437).  One of the hardest things to do is to try to convince an uninterested student why the information being taught is useful.  When you overcome that feat getting them to make sense of the material will follow.

3 comments:

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  2. The constructivist, cognitive, behavioral, and social cognitive theories are a great framework to follow for effective teaching. I think most teachers succeed in delivering the material and making sure the students remember. I think the most important part however is applying those skills into actions through cognitive activities. Then the final step is self-reliant learners.

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  3. I too enjoyed the KWL strategy in Chapter 9 and could definitely see myself using this is my future classroom. No two students will be alike and it is important to understand that some may know more about certain topics already than others. By focusing on what each student wants to know and what they have learned at the end of each lesson, we can ensure that students are taking away something meaningful from the material we are teaching.

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