Reflection 8: What is your educational philosophy?

Progressive Learning

We all know that in today’s school system we all have to find different ways to teach the youths. Children learn in so many different ways and as future educators and as current educators we have to probe and teach to each individual child’s strengths and help them at the same time find ways to strengthened their weaknesses and build their self worth. Today we are faced with a problem in our education system, the problem is that a lot of educators are still teaching in their old teaching styles and refusing to rethink their styles, the only ones that are suffering are the students. American students score lowest in comparison to other countries, because of this failure to educate our students properly the government had to step in and reconfigure the school’s curricula, now the schools removed the majority of other learning disciplines; such as geography, history, economics and many other subjects that were used to expand the minds of students, now students are only learning the basics of education because they have to pass these state test in order to move forward to the next higher grade, these are the three subjects they are restricted to learning reading, writing and mathematics, even with these three subjects they are not required to learn more than just the basics in each.

Progressivism was started by john Dewey in 1920, Dewey discovered not every student learn the same, to further prove this point, dewy invented a school, which he called the University Of Chicago Laboratory Schools in 1897. This experiment was where he discovered the three different ways to teach and learn these three methods are auditory, visual and kinesthetic methods. Once teacher has discovered their students learning style they can then use that knowledge to better assist the child in their educational needs. You may notice a student in your class that takes instructions well and are only able to accomplish their tasks when they hear them out loud, you may nice a child that read or look at instructions, this student would be considered to be a visual learner, the last type of kinesthetic this is the learning by doing style, these students are mainly hands on and are able to work well with their hands and most times would not be able learn in the previous two styles. This discovery was very important because for years every since the conventional school were created. Students that were unable to learn using the conventional ways of learning were dismissed and no efforts were made to try to find a way to reach these students. In a progressive approach classroom you will see thought provoking games, such as scrabble, checkers or chess and also books, manipulate objects, there are also social interaction between students in the classrooms, this was to show students that they are all equal and to keep students from feeling inferior or superior to one another, activities such as fieldtrips outside of the classroom for educational purposes, this was a way to expand the minds of these students to a whole new experience.

Reflection 7

Reflection 7 “What is a Digital Story?”

A digital story is a story that is presented through the use of technology. It uses music, voice, and pictures to tell a personal story, experience, or thought. In most cases, a digital story benefits both the author and listener, while making it, the author of the story which benefits by introspecting and learning about him or herself. For example, in a digital story they also get to express themselves more because music, voice, and pictures are hand-picked to their preference. These listeners are also enjoys stories because they get to learn about their classmates in a different way and see them in a different way as well. In order for a digital story to fulfill its purpose, it must be clearly structured. The story that the author wants to convey should be organized before the technology comes into play. The story must be powerful than the images, sounds, and voices in the digital story. A digital story is also useful for educators. Teachers can use some of them to challenge their students by turning their written ideas into visual ones. digital stories are being used in every school because we currently living in a digital society where everything most go through the computer system. Most digital stories are about 5 to 10 minutes long. They are not meant to be long because as authors of the digital stories, we do not want to have the viewers/listeners become bored. They made them like that in order for the students to get a quick and clear summary so that it will stay in their minds for a longer period of time. It should have a beginning presenting a problem, an overcome to that problem, and a closure, also the digital story must include certain parts in order to be good because we do not want it to contain different details that are all over the place that does not tell a good story. The reason for this is because it will make the students feel as if they are making their story into a movie, while making a digital story; students will learn about technology and the different ways of using certain applications. When they gain knowledge about this, they can also use it in the real world to convey their ideas in corporate jobs because in today’s society everything are operate with computer; therefore, it is a good Idea if the students start to learn about computer at an early age in order to be successful in today’s society.

Micheline Serphy Eme2040

Reflection 6 "What is a Telecollaborative Lesson Plan?"

In a telecollaborative lesson, students share information with other groups of students over the internet. This type of lesson is very effective because it direct students from two separate places and connects them together. They are able to share their experiences and learn from each other. The internet is the main tool in this type of lesson teachers can use this type of lesson to teach any subject. This lesson can begin by establishing personal relationships and then students can begin sharing their information about the collaborative project they are participating in. During these lessons, students can communicate through email, chats, or message boards. The internet is great for enriching the learning process. While students are using the internet in a telecollaborative lesson, they are also learning about technology. A telecollaborative lesson is beneficial to teachers as well because it helps them see how the students think and it also increases student engagement in different lessons, and it is a great educational tool for teaching students about the realities of life because the students can connect with others over the internet to share real life, and educational experiences. While students are connect on the internet, they are learn to socially interact, which is also an element of collaborative learning. During the telecollaborative process, students can gain life-long relationships with the students they collaborate with over the internet. In my lesson plan, the curricular goals would include learning about each other’s different cultures. Telecollaborative learning definitely engages student and motivates their thinking. This type of lesson does not have any boundaries; it can be used for any grade level the teacher must always be checking on the students’ progress. The teacher is to make sure that students are doing their part by asking questions and keeping a journal so they can record their thoughts. Also, they must be making connections and comparing and contrasting and the overall goal of this lesson is for students to learn about others and to respect and accept their ideas.

Reflection 5

Reflection 5 "What is Cooperative/Collaborative Learning?"

Cooperative and Collaborative learning, to me Cooperative and Collaborative learning are working in group. I did not understand what they were till now because I am studying to become a teacher, to me it seems like that way of learning is extremely difficult and it needs to be very efficient. Cooperative and Collaborative Learning place students together so that their minds and ideas team up to explore a specific subject. Cooperative Learning is part of Collaborative Learning. Cooperative Learning emphasizes student responsibility for their part in the group. Students learn many skills when they are placed in groups. They learn to communicate socially and deal with conflict. This means that because a group has different students in it, they will be different opinions. In that type of setting, students need to understand and learn that it is important to listen to others’ ideas and apply them or put them together with their own ideas. Cooperative and Collaborative Learning is also a great tool to use when teachers want student to get ready for the real world because in the real world. By learning how to work together the students will have the knowledgeable requires in order to work as a team. Teamwork plays a big role in the work place not only in the work place but as well in school because by team up together; the student will learn the difference between working together in order to succeed or failure will take place once they think it’s ok to work alone. Working together is a great way for students to learn; however, some of the teachers may say that cooperative and collaborative learning can sets back the more advance students because they are being paired with less advance students. I don’t think it all true because collaborative learning is not the only students learn, there is also independent learning which help the students learn by themselves. Once teacher assign group work, they must make sure to follow what’s going on with each student individually so each one can work effectively. It is best for teachers to use Collaborative learning just once in awhile because it wasn’t met to be use all the times. In a classroom setting there are many different ways students can learn. There are different ways a teacher can group students together and this is another great thing about collaborative learning, there are no limits to how a teacher can arrange students in a way that they can learn efficiently.