March 11, 2008

"IF YOU WANT TO KNOW SOMETHING YOU MUST EXPERIENCE IT"

I agree that I have always learned better by doing, by making personal connections and by actively being involved in situations which I think will better me as a person and as a professional. In Vi presentation I was actively engaged in math problem solving I saw the use within the classroom, as the activties made me think critcially about how I arrived at answers. Throughout the class she designed experiences which challenge and extended my thinking, such as with the block pattern where we were asked to make 1/3 of a triangle a certain color and 2/3 another. This made me look at the problem differntly there were two part one being how to make a triagle out of all of these shapes the other is to work it as a fraction. I was actively participating in my learning and she aided us through this discovery instead of telling us what we should know and how it will help us, she let us figure this out for ourselves. I found through this class I was given a personal encounter with fractions and I was also able to have a laugh or two. The cooperative environment where we were allowed to move freely from station to station was ideal, I no longer felt like a student I felt like a learner, within a community of learners! As we all shared what we had learned in Vi class we were able to make new applications within the classroom, such as when having groups don't have a timer have the students move freely from station to station. Something intresting I found is that when having stations each stations can be a practical application of the same concept but the learning stragety or style can chnage so that different learner have the opporutinty to advance. I took alot out of Vi one hour and fifty minute class, and with reflection and anaylsis before during and after I could see the how I would use her class in the real world of the teaching profession.

I understand that Jo's IT course was the under the experiential instruction as it was hands on and had practical use in the classroom, but I found little I was able to take away from it as I had done most of the activities or procedures in previous classes, not to say I didn't help my partner work through the cites and the breaking down of a webpage address, the assignment just didn't challenge me, the main benefit I had through this IT module was sharing my knowledge with partners and other at the table. I truly understand that lots of people don't know lots of this computer information or how to work the programs, but its frustrating for me to not learn more knowledge so that I am able to make deeper connection on a new level. I have to say I enjoyed the hotlist as I would set up a "using technology" center in my class which the students could use in center time to advance their knowledge and computer skills on a concept. I understand the importance of technology in our classroom as it seems that everyday we are advancing and we have to equipt learners with the skill to be successful in the world. But I think we have to be smart when we use technology there are so many people out there which abuse technology for a presentations, or applications within the classroom. Teachers have to start looking at the practcal application in the classroom of technology and stop doing stuff the "looks cool" or "that the kids really love". I've seen some amazing/practical uses of the technology where the students come out of the experience with knowledge and new skills through a technological process. Such as one teacher at the elementary school in my home town had his learner read then make up native legends in language transfer by having the learners record their voices on the computer then correspond them with pictures and a background song. The kids learned so much in that week assignment that I saw them apply these new findings to other subject areas, but this time they over took the project downloading songs from the cd and adding video clips, these were grade 5 learners that took what they were doing and applied it to future knowledge and now my cousin who was in this class sends me video messages with music, pictures and a voice over of her hockey tournement. This is practical these students learned by doing and exploring there options they were not limited by their knowledge they able to make something their own due to their own personal experiences, and they saw the connection and further application to the real world, which inspired more learning.