Reflection #5- Cooperative/ Collaborative learning

Cooperative/ collaborative learning is a very productive way of learning in a classroom. It is essential that a teacher incorporates at least two assignments through ought the school year that consist of collaborative learning. Working in groups enhances learning in many efficient ways. Usually, a group of two or more students are places together to solve a problem, or discuss a lecture that was brought up by the teacher. The main goal of a collaborative assignment is watching students actually cooperate with one another and work together as a team. Sometimes it is very difficult to place students in a team and expect each one to do their fair share in an assignment. Group work identifies responsibility from the team members. With evaluation sheets and group progress, the teacher can observe the behavior of students as they come together with a project or assignment. She can see who is usually a group leader and who is not such a hard worker. These group assignments identify a student’s strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, placing ones weakness with another one’s strengths creates the actual collaboration. Students help each other and balance out one another to come up with a final project. Students use all of their critical thinking skills together to come up with one final solution or conclusion to whatever assignment it is they are doing. When students work with one another they develop their interpersonal skills and come up with better ways to deal with conflict. Collaborative learning groups must consist of three things. First, the students must feel comfortable in their groups, but also challenged. Second, the students cannot be too big, that way all students can contribute and participate in the assignment equally. Third, the task the students are completing must be clearly identified. Collaborative learning helps students absorb knowledge and skills from one another and put it all together to create their own individual meanings. They learn through experience and  guidance from one another. Group work introduces students to diversity and the art of working and accepting ideas from other people. Collaborative learning will benefit students in the long run because it will be applied in many situations that we are faced with in the future. Working with a team is something that will be reflected when students enter the business world later on. Collaborative work helps students get a better understanding of a subject while also expanding their social skills at the same time. Collaborative work is a good way to enhance motivation in students because it is usually a more entertaining activity than any individual task assigned by a teacher. 

Reflection #4- Inquiry based Learning

In order to fully understand what inquiry based learning is, we must understand what inquiry is. Through ought our whole lives we are constantly forced to use our senses in order to make sense of the world. If we sit and observe a 3 month baby we will discover just exactly what inquiry is. A new born baby uses all of their senses (hearing, seeing, taste, touching, and smelling) to discover the things they do not understand about this new world they’ve come into. When a baby first sees something, their first reaction is to either put it in their mouth or touch it and play with it. When a toddler is going through their “little scientist” stage, they experiment with their senses to figure out exactly what each item does. Inquiry based learning is the process of using our senses and questions in the educational system. If we look back we notice that through our early educational experiences, we were brought up to believe that asking questions was wrong. We grew up with the fear of asking our teachers questions. We were taught to memorize a lot of information and then later we were tested on it. Inquiry based learning is a hands on approach that helps students make use of their senses and their brains. Storing information is not making use of the brain. Inquiry based learning encourages the process of curiosity and intrigue. Students try to find solutions to problems with the use of experiences and real life situations. We make understanding and sense of the world through trying to figure out how things work. Inquiry is not trying to memorize or know the right answer. It is trying to make sense of something, because there is never going to be just one right answer. Sometimes we memorize so much information, yet we have no idea what it is all about. We are scared to ask questions so we let our curiosity wonder off. Inquiry based learning includes a curriculum that encourages students to work together to solve an issue and brainstorm rather than reading a book and absorbing information. It is considered “discovery learning” where the teacher simply assists students to come to their own answers and conclusions. They do not give the answers to the students. Students experiment with their senses and objects to master better analytical and critical thinking skills.

Reflection #3-Constructivist lesson plan

A constructivist lesson plan is one that focuses mainly on the thinking process. It is a thought based lesson. Constructivism is the thought that we create our learning from the base of our own personal experiences. After many changes to the template of a constructivist lesson plan over the past seven years, it has finally come to a six step process. The six steps are Situation, Groupings, Bridge, Questions, Exhibit, and Reflections. Each of these steps are contributers to the thinking process. The first step; situation, is your goal, or what it is you want your students to explain. You want to explain to the students how exactly you want them to solve the problem you are giving them. Students should know what they are expected to do. The second step is groupings. You will decide how you want the students grouped in order to solve the situation. You can have students working independently, in couples, or in groups of three or four. Whichever grouping situation you choose to use should be done with a certain method. You can have students count off a number, pick a color, or a shape. Now, you must decide how you want to group the materials the students will be using. The materials should be easy to access and available to everyone. Materials are used to help students more easily explain their situation through physical representations. The third step is the bridge. A bridge in a constructivist lesson plan is somewhat similar to a “set” in a behaviorist lesson plan. It is basically the introduction and attention grabber of the lesson plan. The difference in a bridge, however, is that it is a connection of the students prior knowledge of the subject to what is going to be taught in the upcoming lesson. This is an activity that is done before the actual lesson and it can be done before or after students are grouped. The teacher can ask questions, hand out a worksheet, put up a picture, or start a discussion. It is a way of getting the students minds active before the lesson. It also helps teachers determine what level of prior knowledge the students have in the particular subject. The fourth step is questions. Questions should be used all through ought the lesson by the teacher. It is good to ask questions before, during, and after the activity. They encourage students to stay actively thinking through ought the lesson. The fifth step is the exhibit. This is when students record their thinking onto something physical and presentable to their classmates. Students can have a verbal presentation or charts and diagrams. Whichever method works for each group individually is fine. The concept is that each group of students is able to share their thinking and ideas with the other groups. The last step is reflections. This is the students opinions about their learning through ought the activity and what they thought about the exhibits and presentations of the other groups. The students will share information about their experience and what they gained from the lesson. 

Reflection #2-Behaviorist vs. Constructivist format

When creating a lesson plan we can either use the behaviorist format or the constructivist format. There are many difference amongst these two approaches in delivering a lesson. A behaviorist lesson plan is created with the theory that with repetition a behavior will become automatic. A behaviorist lesson plan consist of eight steps. The first step is purpose and objective. Here the instructor will state what the student should gain from the lesson and what they will be able to do by the end of the lesson. Also, it should state how well the student will be able to achieve that certain task. The second step is the set. The set is like an “attention grabber”. It is the introduction to a lesson. An example of this would be asking questions before the lesson starts or showing pictures of what the lesson is going to be about. The third step is the input which is the skills the teacher will communicate to the students. The fourth step is modeling. The teacher shows an example of what the finished activity will look like. The fifth step is the guiding of the student through the lesson with the use of the hear/see/do method. The sixth step is one of the most important ones. It is a checking for understanding. It is very necessary that a teacher makes sure the student is understanding what is going on in the lesson. They can ask questions to ensure that everyone is grasping the material. The seventh step is realizing the students to work independently on the assignment. The last step is the closure to review what was learned from the lesson. The constructivist theory is based on the idea that we create our own thought about the world through experiences. The goal of the teacher is to prepare the student to problem solve in difficult situations. A constructivist lesson plan format involves six steps. The first one is the situation. The teacher will create a situation or setting for the student to explain. Then there is step two, grouping. The teacher needs to figure out how she will group the students to work on the lesson and how the materials will be grouped also, whether is be through physical interactions, writing or numerically describing something. The third step is the bridge. This step is designed to connect students knowledge to what they will learn from the lesson. This can be done by asking questions or starting a discussion. It is also somewhat like an “attention grabber”. The fourth step is questions. Whether they be questions to start a lesson or throughout a lesson, questions are important to ask in order to encourage children. The next step is to exhibit. It is a way for students to communicate to others what they are thinking as they are solving the situation. They can do this through a visual or audio representation such as charts, pictures, videos, clips, etc. The last step is a reflection of what the student learned and  felt about the situation and lesson.

Extra Credit- 3 poem comments

Gilded seahorses escape the carousel
This poem is showing the comparison of a seahorse to the human brain. It is showing how we all long for freedom and happiness. Our lives are like a carousel that keep going round and round like circles, yet we still want freedom along the way. I really liked this poem. In the picture I do see two sea horses facing one another.


rorschach plaat # 10
This poem is definitely very metaphoric. It is trying to describe a certain animal or species, but I can't quite put my finger on what animal it is. The picture looks like a crab or spider.. but the description doesn't really match that.


The Jawbone
This poem is describing the biblical story of Mary and the birth of jesus. An angel comes to announce to her that she is expecting a child. The husband of Mary prays that this son would change the way his people lived and their beliefs. Jesus came to earth and saved many people, yet killed many foes. I do see the picture of a jawbone. I guess the jawbone describes jesus mouth and how powerful his words were in changing the world.

Reflection 1- What is a lesson plan?

A lesson plan is is the basic molding of the overall curriculum in a classroom. A lesson plan is a guide that indicates what teacher will be teaching each individual day. A lesson plan incorporates a lot of thinking and brainstorming. A teacher is responsible for gathering materials and ideas together to deliver a certain instruction or lesson to students in a creative way. Lesson plans should be interesting and fun. In order to create one it is necessary to do some “planning”. A teacher must observe the age group they are going to be working with and built a lesson that will fit them adequately. A lesson plan should contain elements such as materials, objective, time, and evaluation. There is a purpose to every lesson, a certain subject you are planning to cover and educate students about. That would be the objective. For example, if the lesson is having children classify items under “paper” “plastic” or “glass”, the teacher is trying to increase awareness and inform students about recycling. That would be her objective. There are different approaches and methods to deliver a lesson. There are three different approaches to guide students in a lesson; behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. Behaviorism is just basically repeating a behavior until it is obtained. Cognitivism is observing the behavior and making changes to receive the feedback you want. Constructivism is making students experience things on their own in order to prepare them to face different situations. These three methods or “approaches” are very efficient and useful when coming up with a lesson plan. They help thing of an objective and a purpose to every lesson. They may also help spark creativity in the lesson you want to create. It is very important that a lesson plan covers the needs of the students in terms of what they should be learning at a certain time in the school year. However, it is also important that the lesson sparks the interest of the student in order to increase motivation. If a child is not interested in the lesson they are being taught, they are more than likely to not gain much from it. Lack of interest is one of the major reasons students do not grasp a lot of information they should be learning in school. Themes are a good way to make a lesson plan interesting. For example, learning math through helping “Timmy the Turtle” get to his mom. The  child will be so caught up in getting the turtle there they will not even notice how much they’re learning along the way. Overall, a lesson plan is one of the most important things in a teaching career. 

Reflection #20

Public high schools in the nineteenth century added democracy to America. It gave Americans the power to choose whether they wanted to attend a public or private academy.. These public high schools gave everyone a chance to gain an education, despite os social or economic class. The classes focused on some basic curriculum with an emphasize of college preparatory. The Kalamazoo case was filed which indicated that public funds were to be collected in order to maintain public high schools. Without the support of the townspeople, the only method of education would be private high schools, which would then disqualify many students into an education. A law was passed ensuring that towns of more than five hundred people were to fund public high schools. Soon, schools were beginning to open placing and giving opportunities to children with disabilities. The “New England Asylum For The Blind” opened giving students with visual impairments and disabilities a chance at education. These movements had never been done before and gave democratic rights to everyone. Horace Mann also went on to create a great movement to ensure that education was free and public to everyone and was very influential in benefiting the school system. This also led to the establishment of the first college for women, “Mount Holyoke Female Seminary,”. Public schools helped set up attendance laws that mandated that students must attend school a certain amount of dates out of the year. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois were the founders of african american education. They were often criticized for working too closely with white americans. However they contributed to many changed in the lives of african americans and the education system.  European high schools consist of yet less democracy. Classes are more difficult and the curriculums are strict. They’re high school lasts five years instead of the regular four years for Americans. They also do not have many electives to choose from. They never really had much of the democratic movements we Americans had in the nineteenth century.