Week Three

IN CLASS

We looked at another teacher site this week called http://www.thinkfinity.org/. This website listed potential resources for educators in all subjects taking into consideration state standards and effective technology incorporation in the classroom.

Personally, I would most definitely use this site post-graduation. I looked at the various resources that they have posted just for Black History Month and was excited to see all the options that they have open. Also, the content can be greatly geared to the secondary classroom which is the level at which I am planning to teach at.

POST CLASS

Our readings this week focused on the educational philosophy of constructivism. Constructivism was defined as “relating new experienced to prior knowledge”; in this respect, we learn new material via the foundation of our previous understandings (Sherman, 10). This approach revolves around student centered teaching where students are expected to communicate their thoughts through questions, discussions, and overall engagement in a lesson (Sprague & Dede, 7). There were eight principles that characterize the constructivist approach (Sherman, 11):

1) Learner-centered
2) Interesting
3) Real life
4) Social
5) Active
6) Time
7) Feedback
8) Supportive

In all, it was interesting to learn about this approach. I thought that these were all pretty “common sense” practices when it comes to being an effective teacher. A teacher must be enthusiastic and engage their students throughout their lesson, while simultaneously encouraging their students to take responsibility for their own learning through high expectations and supportive facilitation during independent practice.