Monday, December 7, 2009

Final Reflection

My most valuable experience during this class was the encounter with technology. There are many things we take for granted when referring to computers, internet, and applications, but unless we are faced with the need to use them, we don’t realize our lack of experience or practice. Preparing the portfolio was for me a challenge. Many of the assignments included applications in Microsoft word, excel, and power point that I haven’t used in a long time, and to my surprise, my lack of practice on them was an issue that cost me time, and a lot of frustration. Today, at he end of the semester, I don’t see myself as an expert on office and internet searches, however, the tools I was taught and reminded to use in order to complete the assignments, had certainly educated me even more about what you can do with a computer with access to internet. Many things I have forgotten, I see myself now using to prepare my lessons for my students, and some even for using on another subjects and classes I’m taking. The use of short videos, and colorful handouts represents a higher level of attention and retention on my students. If I were to mention and improvement on my professional life, I would say my students have benefit tremendously with my knowledge on web searching and handouts. They enjoy watching short videos as part of anticipatory sets, and I am able to prepare worksheets for them more efficiently and in a shorter amount of time. My student life is easier since taking the course, not only for the tools and resources I was introduced to, but for the amount of work I had to put on every single assignment. I have noticed that homework that used to take me forever to finish, I’ve been able to complete without even realizing I was done. These are just some of the benefits that I received from taking this class. I am sure I will discover more as time goes b, and as I take other courses, or apply for a different job, or a different organization.

Technology and Instructional Delivery

Technology is around us everywhere we go nowadays. It was just a matter of time until computer surrounded us. ATM machines, online payments, new technologies for the use of law enforcement agencies, just to mention a few of the uses of technology in our daily lives. Internet has had a great impact on our routines, until the point in which many of our regular communication tools would not be working without it. Education is an area in which technology should be applied regardless of the age of the students and the subjects. Teachers have access to countless online resources for lesson planning, teaching material, job placement, and continuing their professional education. Today’s society is one in which we depend on time. Everything should be done the fastest and more efficient way, and internet has facilitated our lives in that matter. We use the internet all the time, to pay for bills, check the status of any kind of application, for a job, bank account statements, etc, for communication purposes such as keep in contact with people in different cities, and countries, and also for fun. Internet is an unlimited source of resources which if used properly, can take us everywhere. Internet is used also for distance education. As said before, in our society time is money, and if there is a way in which we can complete several tasks at the same time, is with the internet. There is no need now to travel long distances, or to move to a different city in order to attend a class or a specific university. Of course internet does not replace the feeling of being in a different place, but it makes it possible to live in Miami, and virtually attend a university in Canada, or Israel, or New York. Internet makes our lives easier, needless to say; and when applied to the area or education, the benefits are endless. Teachers have access to programs to grade assignments in an easier and more efficient way; provide feedback to the students, and even fellow colleagues, there are blogs for teachers to share information about the subjects, projects, and many different ways in which a topic can be approached to be taught. They also have access to virtual conferences, that are not restricted to the educational field, but are a great way in which people communicate without moving from home or workplace, and they still get the information needed. Education and technology go hand on hand. We need the technology to deal with present issues, and education provide us the tools to work with the technology we need, not to stayed with the same knowledge, but to go beyond ourselves.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Personal Educational Philosophy

It is a critical question for me to define myself as a follower of a specific educational philosophy. I have not had the opportunity to work with children older than 4 years old, hence, what I will write right now may change the circumstances do as well. The perennialist philosophy is the farthest one I can relate to. Being so young, my students do not understand the scientific method and it is really hard at this time of their life to try to impose such way of learning. Most of them are at an early stage of developing their vocabulary; thus I have not had the occasion to try this philosophy. Needless to say, the experimentalist and pragmatist are beyond my students abilities at the moment. However, I do see myself so far as a teacher with not only one, but a collection of different philosophies and ideas. I am a little bit progressists because I enjoy involving my students in every lesson. It is important for me that they feel include, and I believe this is a crucial ingredient in the process of knowledge. I value their individuality, and if I see any special interest, even in just one, I try to incorporate it in the lesson. Nevertheless, I consider there are certain concepts that are fundamental for future knowledge and development of forthcoming abilities. I consider they need to recognize the alphabet in order for them to read and write; the numbers so they can develop abilities in mathematics, and vocabulary and phonics, so they can communicate better in writing and speech. This part of my philosophy is essentialist, since I judge these elements as vital part of imminent knowledge, and concept which will help them to success in the future. The part of me which relates to social reconstructivism is linked to manners. I encourage my students the use of words like thank you and please, but behind these words, there is a message of patient and courtesy. When they go home and apply those manners at the table, to talk to their parents, they are also inducing their parents to do so. If my students can go home and be patient and have some manners, I contemplate that as a small change in society, then is up to the parents to continue. As said before, I value each and every one of my students, and I respect their feelings and ideas. The development of self-confidence has a lot to do with existentialism, especially at this age. In summary, I do not have a specific educational philosophy, but I do take a little bit from each so my students can feel respected, and at the same time, they can enjoy the journey of learning.

Digital Story

A digital story is a new and improved version of storytelling. A couple of decades ago, to get to know a story the only way was either to read about it, or to have contact with somebody who knew the story and could tell us about it. Nowadays, the methods of mass communication have changed. The computer presence not only at the work place, but at a corner at home, has revolutionized the way we study, work, and live. A simple action as taking a book from a bookshelf to read is an almost lost habit. We currently live in an era of rush. Every day that passes by people has less and less time to appreciate nature, to get to know the neighbors, and to get a book from the library, which is going to consume cruelty, at least two weeks of our divine time. Researchers and teachers has alarmingly seen how this has affected students, regardless of their age, and they have started to come up with praises and even bribes, to get the students if not appreciating reading, at least appreciating the history they represent. This is where digital stories benefit us. A brightly and strategically arranged meeting of narrative, images, music, and voice, to get the students interested and involved. Any story can be combined with different media elements, and accessible to the “reader”, at any time, and at any pace. The digital stories are usually short, just a couple of minutes, but the idea behind them is similar to a commercial, to catch the attention of the viewer/listener, keep them interested, and to express an important idea or fact, in a short, precise, and effective way. Being short, a digital story can be seen/heard several times, and the message that the creator wanted to communicate gets attached to the audience. However, the use for digital stories is not only restricted to the educational area. Many companies and business nowadays can get to know better, and analyze more efficiently a job candidate through a digital story. As said before, we live in an era of rush. A message which is sent in a clear, short, and precise way is ten thousand times more effective than reading a five hundred pages book and has no idea what the main idea was; or remembering the interview in which the applicant spent twenty minutes going around the same idea, or the one who with a 3 minutes message communicated his/her experiences, and ambitions.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Telecollaborative Lesson

A telecollaborative lesson is a tool of the 21st century, to help the students aware of the world that surrounds them. The internet has certainly had a great impact on education nowadays. Students have endless access to information that several years ago would take weeks or even months to obtain. Telecollaborative means that the students will work in groups, that every member is going to have a respected and important role on the development of the project, but their experiences will not be limited to their own. Students will have the possibility of getting to know a culture on the other side of the globe. Students have internet access, and work not only with their fellow classmates, but with students living in a different country, state, or city. They will be exposed and they will learn from people their own age, what it means to be a child, a teenager in a different society. They are encouraged to see how it is to live in a different place; to understand the problems, difficulties, advantages, customs, traditions, etc, but not from the teacher, who may have never visit the place in question, but from habitants their own age, who they may feel related to. The students can contrast their own experiences, which is a great tool for learning, since students tend to listen and learn from their peers, in a language and point of view they can easily understand and agree and/or discuss. Telecollaborative learning gives young minds the opportunity to explore a culture, to analyze it and look at their own background and ethnicity in a different way. Students learn to appreciate more their own traditions and way of life. They can get countless knowledge also in history and geography, and better yet, it opens their eyes to see further, it increases their sense of awareness, and it gives them a better idea of why the world moves the way it does.

Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is a branch of the constructivist learning approach. The students are the focus and the base of the lesson, and they work as a team to develop the material and information presented by the teacher. The cooperative learning, as its name states, is a method of teaching that includes constructivist views, and focuses on the development of intrapersonal and interpersonal skills. Cooperative learning, even though its base is constructivist, has specific techniques and goals which should be included in the lesson plan. The most important intention of the collaborative learning method is for the students to have a good base to work with, meaning that they will be clear about what is expected from them, but at the same time, they are going to be exposed to challenges and conflicts, which they will learn to work out as a group, and as individuals. It is important to divide the class into small groups for the reason that students learn from each other, and also learn from themselves. The groups should be small enough to give every member the opportunity and responsibility to contribute substantially to the development of the project. The participation of every individual is crucial in this type of learning method. The skills that progress and improve with this type of learning include, but are not limited to active participation in debates, and problem-solving situations, respect for diversity and opinions of other group members, and value self-expression, and the involvement of the students in their own learning progress. This method is celebrated in many ways, and also gives the opportunity for students to go beyond their own abilities, and for teachers to value much more the students’ participation in the learning process.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Inquiry-based learning

Inquiry-based learning is a branch from the constructivist philosophy of education. It states that the learning process should and must be directed by the students. Their questions and interest should dictate what there must be taught in the classroom. The reason why they support such theory is that the students are the ones who will benefit from education and knowledge. Students should be encouraged to investigate according to their own instincts and interest. They assure is more effective if a student is learning about something for which the student feel passion and curiosity, rather that to impose concepts that may not be valued by the students, and that at the end, will just serve the purpose of passing a test, without further impact on a student’s life. The fact that students are encouraged to investigate and to propose topics for discussion helps them also to increase their self-esteem and their growth as human beings. Their opinions and feelings are valued and taken into consideration with this philosophy of learning, making education around and for the student, and stimulating the student to really learn. As constructivists did, the inquiry-based learning grounds are the fulfillment of the students’ curiosity through active learning, and the development of skills which help the students to have a practical experience when approaching learning, and real-life problems. Inquiry-based learning philosophers believe that rather than evaluate on how much knowledge a student possess, it is more important to develop individual skills that will help them work better in a group, and when working in singles. The figure of the teacher is not a dictator of concepts and formulas, but a guide, a counselor, and a motivator who will help the students develop themselves as human beings, as individuals, and members of a group. Another way to describe inquiry-based learning would be “open learning”, because the teacher is open to students’ suggestions, and willing to work with them to finally accomplish a goal set by the students.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Constructivist Lesson Plan

A constructivist lesson plan is a guide or written statement in which a teacher explains how a material will be presented to the students, based on a constructivist philosophy. Constructivists believe is important to have hands-on experiences when teaching. They state that students learn by being presented with a situation that needs to be corrected or analyzed. It is also encouraged the participation and involvement of all different students’ views and possible approaches and solutions. Constructivist based their method of teaching, and therefore learning, on the collaboration of different members of a group to reach a common goal. They believe in the importance of solidarity and teamwork to produce a successful learning experience. There are variations inside this current. This method of learning prepares the students to real life situations. Socialization is a must for every human being, and this method spotlight the importance of every member of a group working according to their individual abilities, in order to achieve a satisfactory outcome for the whole group. Students are then encouraged to participate, which reinforces their self-esteem and the importance of cooperation. The constructivists believe this way of learning is more applicable and effective because is not based in memorization. They call attention to the fact that human beings learn better when exposed to a new and challenging experience, rather than just by declaiming facts word by word. They do not take for granted the role of the teacher as an educator, or the significance of stated information. They just believe education should be focused on the development of skills by practicing, and training of individuals to cooperate in a group and sharing of opinions and ideas. In conclusion, constructivists do not denigrate individualization, they encourage the individual to learn in a group setting, so he/she can increase his/her own talent.

Constructivist vs Behaviorist

There are many different philosophical currents that dictate methods of teaching. Some of the most common are the behaviorist and the constructivist view. To truly understand what makes them so different to one another, is necessary to recognize their main characteristics. The behaviorist learning method is composed by eight steps. The first three are no more than the establishment of objectives and main purpose of a lesson to be taught. During the third and fourth step, the teacher will present the material to the students and show them in summary what is expected to be learned, and how. The teacher then will guide the students according to the parameters of the lesson, and on the seventh step they are ready to independently practice what the teacher explained before. The last step is a summary by the teacher, and the mention of possible links to future lessons or assignments. This method is more related to what we call “old school”, meaning that the teacher gives and explore the material, and the students’ participation is directly guided by the teacher, and only seen after the teacher’s input. On the other hand, the constructivist method is divided into five procedures. During the first one, a situation will be presented to the students, and the teacher has already organized his/her materials and approaches. The students are then asked to analyze such situation either individually or in groups. The students have some freedom to explore the material and its possible applications and relations to different fields and lessons. A time for questions is also given, and then the students are encouraged to exhibit for the class what they found more interesting, applicable, or relevant about the situation presented in the first place. The lesson is ended by sharing the different aspects the students had explored, any teacher’s input if needed, and reflections about each student’s point of view and contribution to the development of the lesson. As you can see, the methods are completely different from one another, and yet both have proven to be effective when given the right circumstances and directed to students who will benefit from them. The main difference is that in the constructivist method, the teacher is merely a counselor; the situation is presented and is the responsibility of the students to explore it, look for possible solutions, and share their information. There is much more collaboration between students taught by this method. The behaviorist method is more teacher-centered, and the responsibility to develop the material relies on the teacher.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Lesson Plan

A lesson plan is nothing else but the written transference of knowledge from the teacher to the students. A constant interaction between teachers and students is necessary in the process of education, and it must be a vital ingredient in lesson planning. It is very difficult to decide which theory embraces the highest effective rate, but what we can conclude is, that even though they may differ on the methods, the final product is the same: students should obtain the most knowledge possible from the teacher. If a certain lesson was not efficient, is the teacher’s responsibility to evaluate the lesson plan for probable flaws in the way the information was presented to the students. This is another valuable use for a lesson plan; the teacher can go over it, as many times as desired, before, and after the lesson are taught, and appraise it. A young and not so experienced teacher can go through as many theorists as she/he wishes, but in the end, is that direct contact with the students what will give the needed feedback for the way the lessons are being planned. What a teacher needs to know, or take into consideration when planning a lesson, is first his/her own teaching philosophy, and the type of students to which the lesson is targeted. It is crucial to determine the importance of such a lesson; this would cover the “why” the lesson is relevant to the class. The standards for lesson planning vary from teacher to teacher. It depends not only of the teacher’s own point of view, but also on the environment, school setting, class arrangement, and values of the teacher, school, and students. The involvement of the students in every lesson relies on the lesson plan, meaning, on the teacher’s criteria. The beliefs of a teacher may defer between constructivist, behaviorist, or transpersonal; that said, the viewpoint of a teacher is reflected on the way the lessons are planned. That means is going to be a difference between two teachers with distinct philosophies planning the same lesson. The students’ participation and use of information and materials may fluctuate, but at the conclusion of such lesson, both teachers will ensure the comprehension of a lesson through means of evaluation. The teacher, regardless of the theory chosen to plan a lesson, must include a time for inquiry. As said before, a lesson can be plan with the greatest information and material. However, if it does not reach the students, if the approach of the teacher was developmentally, or culturally inappropriate, then the lesson was not effective. When a teacher is faced with this type of problem, the lesson plan can be used to describe the presentation. When reviewing his/her job, the teacher may combine several theories to create a successful lesson. Many teachers don not restrain himself or herself from inquiring from different theories when planning a lesson. Nowadays, most teachers believe in the incorporation of elements from diverse philosophies in order to reach more students. The way a lesson should be plan is uncertain. We face ourselves with many theories and elements that have proven to work. We need to consider the students, their needs, and their expectations. A good lesson plan is an accomplishment for a teacher. It means the understanding by the students, and a high-quality presentation of information. Any lesson plan shows that a teacher is prepared to teach; the more the students can learn from the way the lesson is plan, the more accurate the lesson plan is.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

BIO

My name is Maria Contreras; I'm 26 years old, originally from Colombia. I have been living in Miami for over 6 years now. About 2 and half years ago, I started working with children in a day care center. To be honest, I thought it would be just a temporary thing, I never saw myself surrounded by children, not even think about becoming a teacher. After being there for a while, the children grew up on me. I was also a full time student at MDC. I graduated in AA Business Administration last August. My plan was to go the University for a bachelor's degree; however, financial difficulties had put a temporary stop on that plan. I realized that I really like my job, and the opportunity came at me to become an Early Childhood Teacher, and I took it. If everything goes right, by this time next year, I will get my AS in Early Childhood Education.
The director in the center saw my interest, and this week was my first as a lead teacher for the 3 years-old class. This has been a very exciting journey, and it's just the beginning. I plan in taking more courses on the education field. I really would like to go into the Exceptional Education program later on, but right now, I'm just taking one step at a time. My other classes are Early Childhood curriculum, survey of world literature, and human growth and development.
I have my hands full this semester, but it doesn't matter because I believe in working hard to get where you want to go in life, and that's my major goal.
About my business degree, I have to say it really help me to be where I am. Many of the classes I took for it shorten the time for my education degree, and some classes I don't have to take because the requirements were met with a higher degree (my AA). Maybe later in life I can go get a bachelor in business. I do believe is good to have more than one option on your plate, but right now, I'm focused on the education field.