Community Contributions

These are comments I have made on my peers blogs. I have also linked their blogs here.

Hi Deanna,

The experiential approach is a great way to learn. Like you I learn best when I can experience the learning firsthand through more authentic ways. You mention that learning through experience, more links are created and I agree with this. I find things to be more concrete after using manipulatives or doing an action when learning. Your story is a great example for this type of learning, it reminds me when I took a very beginner course about rocks, but I can still make those connections of defining them due to having labs where we spend hours looking at the rocks. Your example of tasting food is an example I have not thought of because when I think learning it’s more school based but your food example is one, I can use to teach others about this learning theory that everyone can relate/ make that connection to.

Hi Emily!

Shelley Moore is a great resource for inclusive education. She is not only insightful but very entertaining to listen too. She is definitely one of my go to resources when I want to learn more or just want to be reminding on some topics. I like how after watching the video you have the learners discuss about what they just watched through a conversation café. Allowing for collaboration not only lets them reinforce but also share what they took away. I also liked how you have prompts ready so if this was taken to use with other teachers, we could use it right away! I also like how you would provide immediate feedback so our ideas throughout the workshop would be enforced and not just left there after watching the video.

Interactive Assignment Feedback

The group interactive assignment I peer review is group 7. Group 7 created a website introducing statistics. I have learned a lot (since I didn’t know much) in a simple and easy way. The group was able to provide a website that was easy and appealing to look at and navigate. I liked how there were modules, so the outcomes were simplified and put into categories. Outcomes were clear and for each module you knew exactly what you were going to learn. In addition, this group has cohesively organized each module where they are the same and the sub-categories are simple to read and to fallow. They also use multi modalities for the interaction portion and the learning making it more fun.  I liked how we could click the module and turn it into the full page. My only suggestion is maybe put the link to the next module at the bottom for easier flow instead of having to navigate back to the top. I also enjoyed how there was a teacher portion where questions could be asked easily to form the student and how there was a sub-category to further explore the information to use. Overall, it was a great format to learn from especially as someone who did not know anything really about statistics. Great work so far!

https://www.notion.so/Intro-to-Descriptive-Statistics-575e41bb1bb046888775e11dbea2c8a1

Bite-Sized Mindfulness. A video for our interactive group assignment.

Tedx Talks. (2018, January 10). Bite-Sized Mindfulness: An Easy Way for Kids to be Happy and Healthy | KIRA WILLEY | TEDxLehighRiver. [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOlIdmMK_zM

This video is a ted talk from Kira Willey, she talks about how small bite size mindfulness practices like breathing can benefit students to help calm their bodies, become self aware and can help with self regulation. She addresses how it is not an intimidating thing to teach children where you need an abundant amount of sources. This is something we can teach students by starting small with a few deep breaths a day for a minute by using strategies like pretending to blow up a balloon or blowing your hot chocolate so it cools down.

The video requires the student to listen for 15 minutes about teaching mindfulness showing how this type of learning is student-material interaction. In the ted talk, she does do a few breathing strategies that the learner might automatically do when she mentions them. While watching this video, I found myself more aware of my breathing and how it helps me, so some students might do the same as me, or if some do not believe in mindfulness, they might be more reluctant to listen or have shorter breathes to contradict what Willey is mentioning. Some might follow along with the little activities that she mentions or take notes for what they think is important to them.

After the video, an activity I would get them to do is to reflect. This can be a student – teacher or student interaction through the activity that is planned. My Interactive group project is for preservice and service teacher, so I would have them think of a time in their class or future class where they think they would benefit with 1 minute of mindfulness with the students and the reason why they would insert the activity at the time they chose. If it was in person I could get the people to reflect out loud or on a piece of paper. For online, I would use an online on Padlet that everyone can access and insert their ideas so they not only have their own idea but can see others as well for collaboration. For feedback, I can respond to the people on their ideas or like the comment. With more people contributing, I think reading all would be more work for myself to keep feedback more frequently but I believe this can also allow students to get peer feedback and not just teacher feedback.

After watching the video feel free to contribute to the Padlet board!

Inclusive Design

As a new educator we are constantly being taught and prompted to always be considering inclusive learning design. So this topic is not new, but still something I am constantly learning and shifting my ideas and the ways I can teach to help my students.

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is something we should be considering throughout planning for lessons and designing new ones where we work towards minimizing and eliminating the barriers. Some strategies and ways I’ve learned that doesn’t only help the individual child but can help all students are: flexible seating, visuals about steps of instructions, scaffolding when teaching a lesson, using technology. Some of these modification might be there for an individual student but can help benefit all. Educators need to teach to the diversity and understand how it is not more work but it is different work (Moore, 2019). Shelley Moore in her 5 Moore Minutes, provides a great explanation about inclusion and shows how we can teach to the diverse learners and how we can shift our thinking in learning design.

Considering this video and what I have learned, for my interactive resource to ensure that all students have success is to plan for the potential learners first and then think about my activities. For example, to explain about mindfulness, I can find a video that provides subtitles for those who are hard of hearing or provide audio description for those people with blindness. When it is time for learners to share their knowledge, I can provide multiple mediums they can access for me to see what they learned like a voice message, written option or let them draw a picture to show what they know, for English Language Learners, I can also provide a text that they can translate or have them write in the language they are most comfortable and I can translate it myself. To remove barriers, I can provide multiple was learners can access the material and share their knowledge. Using multi modalities allow for learners to have agency over how they learn the material and how they want to share it.

Post 2: Overcoming a Learning Challenge: Assessment

Picture of co created criteria taken by: Tori Chen

As a teacher, assessment and feedback is a big part of the job. I’ve taken specific courses to prepare me for assessment before I went into a classroom. I was provided many ideas and examples however, once I got into a classroom it was a struggle to constantly think about how I wanted to assess and the learning goal I wanted my students to achieve. This was and still is a learning challenge I am working on because as a teacher you are constantly assessing and learning new concepts on how to assess. Luckily, while teaching I had a mentor that could help guide me through the process. At first, I was the sole leader of how I was assessing the students and grading by my own opinion and feedback from my mentor. From this I realized that not many students were understanding the concepts due to my goal was unclear to them. I know understand that just because feedback was given, does not mean that it was received (Hattie, 2011). I then has to reframe my thinking process and reflected on my next unit and what I wanted to achieve with my students. I co created with the students a criteria list about what our writing should look like. Being able to create a criteria list together allowed for myself and the students allowed for both parties to be on the same page when it came to assessment, the students understood what was expected of them and it made it easier for me understand what I needed to look for when assessing my students.

Assessment is a collaborative process between teachers and students

Conrad and Openo, 2018

I found collaborating on assessment with students resulted in better outcomes and more participation because students knew what was expected of them and had a say in their learning process. When this is the goal for assessment is collaborative with the students, it focusses the learning process back on the students where they can have autonomy of their learning and how they want to learn.

References:

Conrad, D and Openo,J. (2018). Assessment Strategies for Online Learning: Engagement Authenticity. Athabasca University Press. https://doi.org/10.15215/aupress/9781771992329.01

Hattie, J. (2011). Feedback in schools. In R. Sutton, M. J. Hornsey, & K. M. Douglas (Eds.), Feedback: The communication of praise, criticism, and advice. Peter Lang Publishing. http://visiblelearningplus.com/sites/default/files/Feedback%20article.pdf

Post 1: Behaviorism, Cognitivism and Constructivism

How would the instruction be designed differently by a behaviorist, a cognitivist, and a constructivist? Scenario: A high school social study teacher is planning a class on the Vietnam War.

A science teacher would teach the behaviorist method by first quizzing the students about what they now of the Vietnam war, once the teacher has understood where the student are at, they would teach according to the answers they want the students to know (questions and answers). The teacher would then plan lessons and lectures that will guide them to the specific answer and information to be learned like when the Vietnam war happened and significant information related to the war.

As for the cognitivist method, the teacher would attempt to make the knowledge meaningful. This can be done with going deeper into the Vietnam war and looking at why it happened/ the underlying meaning. The teacher would plan to teach using a variety of methods like lecturing, reading from a textbook and then have the students show their knowledge in a more elaborate way like writing an essay and then presenting a power point or test to show their knowledge in a different context. If the teacher was writing a test for the answer, question would ask for a written response where the student would have to elaborate on the question.

As for constructivists a teacher would take a more indirect approach like introducing what the Vietnam war was and then have students do hands-on activities where they learn on their own and produce an assigned project like a video or a Powerpoint about the Vietnam war. The students would have more hands on assignments and are provided multimodalities to help them learn.

Describe an example from your life of when you were taught using each method described in this article: behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism.

Throughout my time through school I’ve been taught all three ways. During my math classes, I was taught the behaviorist way when we learned about math concepts. We learned how to look for specific words in the questions to know what formulas we needed to use to get our answer. I was taught with the cognitivism method through physics where we were given a group assignment to make a bridge that would hold a certain amount of weight. Throughout this, we had to access our prior knowledge of what we knew and use our planning and problem solving skills. We built on our old knowledge to create a new product. I think constructivism is what I’ve been taught using the most where in my past degree we were doing a research project where there were expert groups where they would learn about the topic and then teach their peers. This was a hands on experience where they took the information that was learned and applied in a different way.

Based on your reading, would you consider your current instruction style more behaviorist, cognitivist, or constructivist? Elaborate with your specific mindset and examples.

I believe my current style of instruction would be more cognitivist. I personally learn the best when it is hands on and I get first hand experience. Therefore I teach more towards what I prefer more. I believe the information sticks better when you are able to apply the knowledge in multiple more authentic ways. Being able to apply these skills gives the learner more self efficacy in what they are learning and how they are applying it. For example when I taught science and biodiversity. I used a more hand on approach using science centers. In these centers I was able to learn using a variety of methods like reading, looking at a video. Using physical touch with a sensory box with outside material in it etc. students were provided multiple ways to learn and through this had a variety of ways they can learn the content. In addition each station had a different way for them to share what they have learned. Some parts were writing, others were drawing or oral explanation. When providing multiple outlets for learning students are able to learn in the way that best fits them and guide their learning.

Introduction

Hello! My name is Tori and I just recently graduated with my bachelors of elementary education from UVIC. I am currently a Teacher on call for a district in the lower mainland. I took this course because technology is all around us and it is important to know how to utilize it in effective ways. I’m not much of a technology persons so I am excited to learn from this course in how I can use technology and other modes of communication to help my learning and use in my future teaching!