Of all the learning theories we've covered, I think I'm leaning toward making constructivism my favorite. Reading the chapter I was basically just checking off each section because they were all ideas about learning and teaching strategies that I already feel strongly about. This made it really difficult to find any strategy suggested in the book that I don't believe I will implement when teaching. However, I did notice some drawbacks or issues that might arise when using some of the contructivist strategies.
First, though, let's start with the good! The strategy mentioned in the book that I most see myself using is assigning authentic activities. For me personally, I find that I am more interested in learning and put forth more effort when I can make a connection between my academic work and my life outside of school. If the activity is something that I know I will definitely use later in life or has a purpose other than just receiving a grade, I enjoy doing it so much more than "typical" school work. I know many students feel the same way I do, so I think using authentic activities in the classroom can be a great motivating factor. While from a teacher's perspective authentic activities can be more difficult to plan and time consuming, I think they are one of the easiest ways to make learning fun, relatable, and memorable for students.
I thought it was interesting that the book provided an example of an authentic activity in which students created a map of the area from their home to their school, because I remember my 3rd grade teacher doing a similar activity with my class. She took it a bit further, though, and had us create the map as a set of directions so she could find our house from the school. With parental permission, she scheduled a few "appointments" each evening for a week in which she visited with each of her students at their house for 30 minutes. She used only the maps we created (and a parent's phone number just in case) to find her way to our homes. By doing this, the activity was also an authentic assessment because her ability to find our house was a reflection of our ability to create a map. I remember putting in so much effort into making sure my directions were perfect because I didn't want my teacher to get lost, and once she got there it was so much fun to show her around and play games. Not only was it fun, but the activity really helped me understand that maps actually have purpose and are more than just pieces of paper. It's been about 13 years since I did that activity, yet, I still remember it and have kept in the back of my head as one that I'd love to do as a teacher! Creating a map to a familiar place such as your home is authentic, but I think having someone actually use the map (if possible) makes the activity even more real-life and memorable.
Now, let's get to some of the drawbacks. While I still think I'll use all of the strategies listed in the book, I did notice that they can come with some problems. Like I mentioned earlier, creating authentic activities can be a daunting task depending on how in depth they go. I know I will incorporate them in my classroom, but I have a feeling there will be a limit to just how many and how often I can. Another strategy mentioned, was creating a community of learners. I love the idea of encouraging students to rely and learn from one another! I think it helps students take charge of their learning, have confidence in their knowledge, learn social skills, and gain independence by not feeling the need to ask the teacher every time they have a question. I do think this has the potential to create or further solidify misconceptions that students may have, though. For example, two students may discuss and agree on an idea, but that idea may not necessarily be accurate. This possibility doesn't make me want to use it any less in my future classroom, but I think it will make me more cautious of student interactions and monitor their discussions more.
Since I'm really interested in using authentic activities, I did a little bit of internet searching to find more ideas for incorporating them in the classroom. Here's the link to a list of more activity suggestions you can check out!
I definitely agree about your emphasis of authentic activities. I liked that you mentioned using authentic activities as a way for students to form connections with their life experiences to school..which is not only motivating, but makes learning meaningful as well! I thought it was so neat that your teacher actually took the time to visit each student using your maps. She really showed that she cared! Like you said, authentic activities require more time, but we should be thoughtfully planning our instruction from the theories we're learning and what research proves to be effective practices!
ReplyDeleteCreating a community of learners is definitely difficult to set up. You want your students to effectively communicate ideas, but a few occurrences I have observed in the classroom include one student dominating the conversation or another student simply agreeing with one student's opinion, without thinking for themselves. Perhaps here we can utilize the think-pair-share strategy, allowing all students time to think independently first. Regarding misconceptions, teachers should always be facilitating the conversation. So I think if you're around to hear the discourse happening between your students, it can help you to understand their thought processes and give you the opportunity to correct any misconceptions. But I liked reading your thoughts and enjoyed your extra resource!