Reflection on Personal Learning Theory

In the past eight weeks, I have spent much time learning about different learning theories and instructional strategies. Before I started, I still felt that the teacher lecturing was the best way to introduce new material. I now believe that I will use a more interactive method to teach new material and try to make even the introduction of new material more student-centered than teacher-centered. Using multi-media presentation material, I will let the students learn what words mean and have them choose images that will help with them learning new material. Another technology that I will use during teaching some of the cultural material I teach will be word processing to compare and contrast cultural ideas. Also I will add technology to help with summarizing and note-taking so that it can be posted on the web for students to review or see for the first time if they were not in class.

I learned much about having the students construct something of their own as they are learning to demonstrate their ability to apply what has been learned. In the future, I will have my students do more project oriented learning using Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and
VoiceThread. The VoiceThread application will be new for my students and I look forward to teaching them how to use it and seeing how they will use it to learn.

In the future, I would like to have the students in my class to use the internet and VoiceThread to be able to communicate with people whose first language is Spanish. I would like to exchange videos of projects my students have done in Spanish and get feedback from the Spanish-speaking students. To do this, I will first teach the students how to use VoiceThread. Then I will have my foreign language coordinator help me locate a school with a class willing to partner with my class. I would have the students e-mail the partner classmates to get to know them and then I would assign projects that would stretch them as they learn and trade information with the partner class.

Another long term goal I have would be to use technology in a more student-centered classroom approach as a learning tool and not concentrate so much on the teacher-centered classroom using technology as an instructional tool. One way I would achieve this is to make the technology I am already using in class more student-centered. In other words, when I make a PowerPoint presentation for new material, I would add some activites and slides that would have the students participating in the exercise. Also I would start using the digital recorder so that we can make videos and edit videos showing the students using Spanish in practical situations.

Technology is becoming more of a part of my classroom and I hope to make it a standard part of my classroom soon. I have seen how technology raises the enthusiasm level of the students and want to use it to enhance the learning of what is taught.

VoiceThread - Can Everyone behave in School?

Here is a post on a new behavior program to be used in our school.

http://voicethread.com/share/530224/

Social Learning - Cooperation?

Social learning is very helpful in the classroom because of the principle that conversations help with understanding. Social learning occurs when "students are actively engaged in constructing artifacts and conversing with others." (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008) As a language teacher, my students are often engaged in cooperative learning in having conversations, writing and performing skits, and interviewing each other and then graphing responses. In this cooperative learning, I have often observed the More Knowledgeable Other helping students within their group. The students are able to teach each other and learn at the same time. Cooperative learning actively engages students in the learning process and empowers the student making them more eager to learn and apply what they are learning.

One of the technologies that can be used in cooperative learning is multimedia presentations. (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007) One project the students could do would be to make a multimedia presentation tour of the school. Each student could choose an area of the school which they would describe (in Spanish) and they could add pictures. They could help each other with the writing of the script and the grammar needed. They could help each other research vocabulary they were unfamiliar with. They could use Power Point or VoiceThread to put the project together. By working with each other the students would not be overwhelmed by vocabulary and they would have help with what they did not understand.

Another technology that would be very helpful for me as a Spanish teacher would be keypals. (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007) Using this so that students could communicate with students in other countries would help as students could learn to use the language as well as learn about the culture of the person they are communicating with. Social constructivism emphasizes learning through the understanding of culture and context. As they interact with others they create meaning about the cultures they are exploring. (Orey, 2001)

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Social Learning Theories. [Motion picture]. Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology. Baltimore: Author.


Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
Section: Social Constructionism

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.