K. Holden- Blog #3: Learning Theory & Technology Intergration

Reflection on Existing Technology Integration Strategies

After reading chapter 2 and learning more about the differences between direct and constructivist instruction I personally find myself incorporating a mix of the two in my classroom based on the content being taught, the time frame I have to teach the content, and the complexity of the content. 

Direct instruction is basically the teacher delivering content and the students receiving it. I find myself using this in mainly my tested subjects (math and reading). For me, it's just a confirmation that students DID receive the content.During direct instruction I mainly just use the tv in my classroom and my document camera. We complete guided notes as a class and I don't require my third graders to copy them because I tend to lose their focus on the content because they are focused on getting the words on their paper. After that days lesson I post our class notes onto Google Classroom for the students to reference as needed. In math, I tend to teach in small groups therefore sometimes a group's small group lesson may be a video of me delivering the content. I usually use screencastify to record these videos and upload them to Google classroom, so even after they have watched them in class they always have them to reference and even show their parents. During my math intervention time I assign videos to students on khan academy in addition to the videos that I have created to help them review concepts that they may have not completely mastered. We also use a game based program called Dreambox that students use to review concepts. I'd like to be able to record more of our math lessons for students to be able to go back and reference. 

Constructivist learning is where the teacher acts more as a facilitator, setting up learning experiences for students. This type of learning is more aligned with the 4 C's (collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity) and what I ultimately envision my classroom as. As of now, I tend to use this approach with my higher learners in my class. During math intervention time this group of students are currently working on an enrichment activity that requires them to plan a trip to Orlando, Florida. Students are having to look up flight rates, rental car rates, hotel rates, activities to do,  and more for them and a friend on a $2500 budget. This is requiring them to do the math (addition, subtraction, and multiplication) and apply real life budgeting skills to plan. Once planned out the students will have to create a presentation (without using a poster or slides) to present their trip. The struggle I have with this type of learning for my entire class is that it takes my third graders a long time to complete assignments like this, therefore I become afraid that all content that they need to know for the End of Grade test isn't covered. Also, I've realized that when I receive new third graders a lot of the times there are lots of gaps in their learning, which also creates time restraints as I am trying to fill those gaps and teach new content. I feel more comfortable with this model in subjects such as science and social studies, which are not testing in third grade. In science students have worked collaboratively via Google slides during our force and motion unit to plan and execute a free standing rollercoaster. This allowed students to work with others to solve problems and to collaborate using online tools. 

Instructional Strategies I Would like to Try

With a new media coordinator in our school this year who has incorporated a MakerSpace and through some others in digital PLC's I have seen, I would love to try this out in my own classroom connecting it to the curriculum. A MakerSpace in the classroom would give students multiple ways to learn and to demonstrate achievement as well as help students work with others to create products. For example, they could use legos to build, create scenes for green screen videos or stop motion videos, incorporate the Makey makey software, etc. I also see MakerSpace aiding in our Geometry unit in math. This tends to be one of the more difficult units for students because there are very few manipulatives to use for discovery, instead it's just lots of memorization for them which isn't easy. 

I would also like to try virtual field trips and simulations with my students. I feel with these type of experiences students will be able to better understand complex and/or abstract concepts. One unit I think of is our science unit on bones, muscles, and skin. A simulation of the inside of a body would be an awesome experience to help build mental models and increase knowledge transfer. 

I'm not sure how my third graders would do with this one, but I would love to incorporate blogging. I enjoy being able to reflect on my learning through blogging for this class. I think it could be a big benefit to my student to reflect on their learning as well I am just not sure the easiest way to do that with third graders would be. They currently use FlipGrid for some reflection, but I'd like to open up the range of how they reflect.