Technology

1. How does this topic fit into what I have learned already in this course?

We learn about the importance of transferring and applying what we learn to different settings, and technology is a way for students to do just that. Technology is a link for communication, and it allows both students and teachers to communicate and give feedback with each other and other professionals. It also helps move students to become better writers. Technology also is a big motivation factor for students to teach themselves new things. They are interested in learning for meaning.  An advantage of using technology when teaching is that is helps make thinking visible. We have learned about using our visuospatial sketchpad and making connections with images, and technology helps us to do just that. Last week we focused on different learning environments, and technology is a great way to connect classrooms to the community. I have a classroom web-page which allows family and friends to stay updated on what we are doing each week in class and how they can help at home. This is a great way to encourage parent involvement with their child. 

2. What am I still not clear on in this week's reading(s)?

The readings provided us with many different examples of how to integrate technology into our classrooms, and I took away many great ideas that I can't wait to try in my room. I am clear on the importance of our students in todays age using technology and I will continue to see opportunities to learn more myself. 

3. Under what conditions would I apply this material to my own teaching/work? 

Technology is a tool that not only enhances students learning, but teachers as well. We learn through technology by "doing." It is a great tool for both teachers and students to receive feedback along with building new knowledge. When teachers learn to use new technology we model the learning process for students to see. I use technology within my classroom often, but I would always like to use more if given the resources. We do a big unit on weather in third grade and we spend three weeks using tech. to track and record the weather. This is a great opportunity for students to collect and analyze real data, instead of looking out the window and saying, "Oh ya...it's cold today." It is VERY important for us as teachers today to stay up to date with technology. Kids are knowing more and more and if we can't keep up how are we teaching them new things. 

Chapter 6 & 7 - How People Learn

1. How does this fit into what I have learned already in this class? I really enjoyed reading these two chapters. It was nice to take a closer look into different learning environments and rethink the goals that I have as a teacher for what I want to see happening in my room. A learner centered environment helps students make connections between previous knowledge and new content being taught. A teacher in this environment takes a closer look at how preconceptions affect new learning. Sometimes this prior knowledge can interfere as students need to relearn new ideas. A knowledge centered environment lets students make decisions and problem solve based on the knowledge they have stored in their memory. This environment helps students learn for understanding. Assessment based environments must base grading on learning goals within the classroom. This reminded me a lot of the chapter in Cognition that referred to types of questions asked, such as nested questions. 

2. What am I still not clear on?  I think that I am clear on the four learning environments, I just still find it very difficult to align all four with the way schools are ran today. Each environment has great qualities, and seem to overlap in some ways, but it is hard to manage all these things at one time. 

3. I took away a lot of great ideas from chapter 7. I enjoyed reading about things the elementary teacher did in her classroom. I have learned to put more depth to each and every lesson. I never realized the smallest task such as taking attendance can have mathematical meaning behind it for my kids each morning. I realize the importance of having a classroom community act as a family. The impact of this connection leads to students focusing on and connecting with the material being learned. I want my students to be able to take what they have learned in class and apply it to their everyday lives, and I think these learning environments are meant to do just that. 

Language Production

1. Chapter 9 focused on language comprehension, reading & listening, and these two chapters focus more on language production. The ability of language as a whole is a complex and amazing process. Our working memory places such a large part in both language production and comprehension. In chapter 4 we learned about Baddeley's model of working memory. The writing process uses many of these same components. As we brainstorm and think to our self what we want to write, this is a procedure of the phonological loop. I make many models to hang in my classroom to help my third graders visualize what their writings will look like. They may not be able to use their visuospatial sketchpad to see the correct layout of a specific type of writing, so these posters help them with this. We have discussed how important the central executive is in so many chapters. Once again in writing the central executive coordinates the planning phase, it helps generate sentences, edits, and revises. What a complex process. 

2. I am pretty clear on the information given in these two chapters. Our workshop presentation was on language development, so we had a chance to take the research even further. Writing was interesting to read about. It is amazing to me how many cognitive processes writing consists of. 

3. We produce language in so many ways, conversations, writing, speaking, e-mail...... As the text states language is probably the most social of all of our cognitive processes which is why it is so important to our everyday life. Speaking is a difficult skill for young children. They may know what they really want to say, but getting it out is the struggle. They have to overcome limits from memory and attention in order to deliver what they want to say. I see this in the classroom daily as students retell what they have read or learned. To help with this, I will listen to what the student is trying to say and then have them repeat after me. Writing is not just important to students in school, but just as important to us in our profession of teaching. Writing and speaking share many cognitive components which is why when I teach writing we spend an equal amount of time sharing what we write each day. The writing process is difficult at the third grade level. I use many different ways of brainstorming and organizing thoughts before putting it on paper. Expectations seem to be getting higher and higher for young children and writing requirements. Free writing time is being taken from them and the fun of writing is hard to find when we worry about so many components at such a young age.