Ch. 7 Learning Log

WHAT

Today I really enjoyed the lesson taught. We learned about Authentic Activities which are; hands on activities that have to do with real life situations. In these activities students get to analyze and find solutions for different things. We went over the definition for Discovery Learning (Students explore concepts and come up with definitions and characteristics on their own, without direct instruction from the teacher with scaffolding.) and Community of Learners (Teachers and students collaborate together to help one another learn (actively.)
I learned that the more senses we have involved in our memory making, the better we're going to learn things. Expository learning is giving facts/lectures. Constructivism learning is a hands on way/ active way of learning things. The steps for this are: Discover students misconceptions-pre-assessment, convince students that their existing beliefs are inadequate, motivate students to learn correct explanations, maintain self-esteem, and monitor what students say and write for persistent misconceptions. "Knowing is a process not a product." -Jerome Bruner (I liked that part of the quote we read... I'm kinda random.) The 5 E's of actively learning are: Engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate.

SO WHAT

Authentic lesson plans are so beneficial for students because it is hands on and they are going to remember what they learn better because they are using more than one sense. Discovery Learning and Community learners are excellent ways of learning because Discovery learning gives students a chance to explore things on their own with a teacher's assistance if needed and Community learners give students and teachers a chance to collaborate with one another and see what works and what doesn't with learning. This gives students an input and helps us as teachers understand where students are coming from and what their opinions are on things. Expository Learning is not as beneficial for students in my opinion but it is sometimes how we have to teach certain categories and topics. Knowing the different steps of Constructivism Learning is very important because in order to teach with it appropriately and effectively we must know the different steps and how to use them.

NOW WHAT

When I start teaching I am going to make sure I incorporate Constructivism Learning as much as I can in my lessons. This will help the students remember what I teach them and store it into their long term memory. This means I can use Authentic lesson plans, discovery learning, and community learning. I'm so glad we had this lesson because I have always learned the best with hands on activities and a big percentage of my students will be the same way. Now I know the reason why it is so beneficial for students is because of all the different senses they are using. I enjoyed Jerome Bruners quote, "Knowing is a process not a product." because this made me step back and think about how I can benefit my students. For my students to understand/know something I need to make sure I am actively directing them along the way. I can't just say something and expect them to know what I am saying right off the bat. It takes time and practice to master a concept and really understand what the concept is. Therefore, I need to make sure I remember the 5 E's for active learning and use them daily in my classroom.