"If you build it, they will come!"

I love that quote from Field of Dreams with Kevin Costner. I think it is true of anything. Living outside of Detroit is not such a bad thing. Our sports teams are legendary, just not all in the right direction. So, the owners of the Lions (NFL for you non-football folks) thought they should build a new stadium, Ford Field. If we build it, they will come (to learn how to play?). That didn’t work, but the Field is beautiful, see for yourself here.

The same is true about teaching in a constructionist classroom! If THEY build it, “it” will come (to them.) It is a great theory because the kids are immersed in the artifact they are building; but we have to get them to build it! I teach science, so building things is an easy way for me to teach, if you can call it that. I give instructions, over and over and over, and hand out the instructions, with plenty of additional copies for those lost, and then I coach and cheer for my team to build. More times then not, I get a decent turnout of the project artifacts being created. The other great thing about science is the hypothesis! I do not teach my kids the scientific method; I completely submerse them in it. I teach around inquiry (Pitler & Hubbell, 2001) which is a founding component of the hypothesis.

Now that January is on it’s way out (yeah, can you believe it!!), my students have finally figured out I will not be solving their problems or giving direct answers to every question. They must search and test their own theory and get back to me with the result. It is a nice feeling to round that base! Using technology to gain insight, gather information, and work towards the creation of artifacts and knowledge are a dream. Some days, that is a pipe dream because of the lack of computers and internet for my students, both at school and home, but I keep trying to round the bases. Some days we hit singles, but others we get the homer! And so, they build those artifacts and keep learning and connecting the dendrites into permanent long-term memory. Guess I believe in constructionism, for “If they build it, they will come (to know it.)”

Creative Cognitive Tools

Cognitive learning incorporates the short-term and long-term memory. Dr. Michael Orey (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009) discussed the “7 +/- 2” theory for short-term memory storage. This means at any given time, the short-term memory can hold only minimal bits of information; this is why further connections must be made and transfers of the information from short- to long-term memory. The best way to create long-term memory is to allow the brain to create more connections of neurons at the dendrite tips, as we learned from Dr. Pat Wolfe in week 1 of our course studies (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). Creating images of words and pictures related to one another is a strong way to create memory. When the visual aide ties the information together, the brain will create more connections and begin to make trigger marks, or tags, to recall the information.

Using cues, questions, and advanced organizers is a wonderful way to create the links and tags of memory; this is essential to the cognitive learning theory (Pitler & Hubbell, 2007) (Marzano, 2001). Cues and questions can be crossed referenced and used of advanced graphic organizers will give visual tags to the written or oral information. Students using technology programs, such as Inspiration (or Webspiration online) are able to manipulate and create an image rich concept maps for linking the new information. I have used the program for many classroom assignments and always have great success with the student output and outcomes. Kids love visuals, especially those they can create with instant feedback.

Summarizing and note taking is a whole other ballpark for me. I have spent countless class periods creating, leading, teaching, and handing out notes. I show various techniques and hand out my own set for the students to use as models. I walk systematically through the process of note taking and still, I cannot seem to get the concept across to my 8th graders. Sometimes I think the whole idea is too far above their heads for it to sink in, and other days I see lights shining from in front of me, and it is not the overhead! I instruct using Microsoft Word. I show the students how to easily fix the “squiggly lines” into correct grammar and spelling, but I still receive hard copies and final submissions with errors everywhere. I purposely spell incorrectly so they can see the problems and how to correct them, but still…what to do? Well, Pitler & Hubbell (p. 125) would suggest using non-linguistic notes, with written cues on the left margin and pictures on the right. I highly encourage doodles and drawings to help stimulate the information to long-term memory storage, but too often the drawings do not connect to the information and no memory of any kind are created. I am hoping for suggestions and assistance in this area. My district Assistant Superintendant of Curriculum is a Marzano Superfan, so this would be a great help for me!!

Reinforcing Effort towards Homework & Practice

The idea of Reinforcing Effort is an easy one for me to follow. I have conformed my teaching praise style the intrinsic style proposed by Carol Dweck (2007). Pitler & Hubbell (2007) reinforce this exact theory when stating the effort will reflect the attitudes and beliefs a student carries about his or her learning. I found the use of technology to introduce and use spreadsheets to collect, monitor, and graph student progress towards goals of effort to be enlightening; I will look into this further and try one myself. As for tying this idea of intrinsic praise of effort to a behaviorist theory, I can see some links. The entire idea of both is to praise and reinforce positive behavior; effort reinforcement does not give way to punishment or consequences, unless the individual chooses to change for their own personal satisfaction. I will have no problem adapting the technology ideas for reinforcing effort into my own classroom.

As for the Homework and Practice section of the Pitler & Hubbell text, I will most use some of the new websites I found listed in their publication. I will not mind subscribing to a site when I know it is kid/user friendly and allows for the instant feedback from quizzes. I already use computer-based homework, including online textbook assignments and computer generated projects, so this is the logical next step for me. I believe most homework is reinforcing the behaviorist theory, although only in the routine of the work. Teaching science leaves a multitude of various interpretations to completing an assignment to the rubric details; I prefer this to “robot” methods, as students tend not to retain the information.

Welcome, and welcome back!

To those of you new to my blog, welcome! To those of you already following, welcome back. That means we started the school year together with Judy Trask, who taught us all so much! I love posting our assignment information in this style because of the instant feedback, so I look forward to your comments. Read the side post "About me" for any additional info!

Happy blogging!