Week 8

“In the world that we live in today technology has taken over, even in education. "Adults want to go back to school, but because of the burdens of life it has become hard for an adult to further their educations.

This course learning theories education has opened my eyes into a different side of education that I never could understand.  My distance learning experience has been a real eye opener from learning about how the brain functions; reflect on how I learn, to constructivist learning theories. I was able to understand that tin order for the brain to retain information there are certain steps that the brain needs to go through. This was very important to me, as a special education teacher, because it helps me to plan differently when designing a lesson plan for my students.

Next, I can finally say that I understand how I learn. I was forced to seek this out, but I am grateful that I had to. If one is not aware of how he or she learns, then studying will be in vain. I was able to analyze why it was always so hard for me as a child to retain information and why I did not like school; now I know that I just never learned the way the teacher expected me to learn material. That is why engagement is so key in an online course. No matter what the material is that a teacher is going to go over, the information should “blow students minds.” This course gave me reasons to think and want to ask others questions. The connection between learning theories, learning styles, educational technology, and motivation level all follow one another. In order to teach others you must get to know the learning theories then the styles of learning  to make sure you are teaching to all learning styles. Next, you must use technology to add on to the educational experience since technology is taking over . Last, you have to be motivated to learn the material eager to accomplish the goals you set for yourself retaining information gone over in a class or during a course all has to deal with that persons motivation to want to learn that information. This course has left me with better understanding of education and how we take in the information that we store in our minds to create an interactive learning environment.

week 7

When you get older you also get a little wiser.  An unknown author states that “We all understand learning styles to be an individual's natural or habitual pattern of acquiring and processing information in learning situations. A core concept is that individuals differ in how they learn. The idea of individualized learning styles originated in the 1970s, and has greatly influenced education. “

The process of trying to figure out how it is that I learn kept me puzzled for a little while. Now my view on it has definitely changed. I no longer think that I learn by looking at notes that I wrote and going home to review the information. I have learned that I miss key examples while trying to keep up with lectures. The ways that I have noticed that I learn is through: repetition, notes, technology and doing something hands on to help me understand fully what is being taught. I had to continuously work at different ways to help me retain information/material without studying the information. Well in the long run I learned that I am not only one learning style, but also all three.  Everyone has their own way of learning new material and I happen to be one of those people that require all three learning styles being addressed during a lesson.

The role of technology in my learning is the promotion of applying my skills or what I’ve learned interactively. Having technology as a component in my learning gives me an opportunity to show mastery on the new skills that I have acquired, and It also helps to see the material visually. Visual stimulation works for me because it helps me to see how things come together. Some people don’t need to see what is being lectured or explained, but sometimes bringing in some form of technology adds a special component, interactive learning.

References:

http://www.learningforward.org/docs/default-source/commoncore/the-role-of-technology-for-teacher-and-student-learning.pdf

    
Now that you have had the chance to view my think map let's talk about how the social networks that I am involved with help me to learn. I have three specific social learning networks that I subscribe to just because I want to expand my knowledge on specific things.

I will begin with teachertube. I love this sight because it helps with activating or even some review lessons. Every time I begin to plan a new lesson I log on to this site and begin browsing so that my students can feel a little less intimidated when the material is being taught. The nest social network would be Pinterest. I know you are thinking to yourself, but that is not a social network. For me though, it is different. I seek out the people who posted certain things that I want to know about for my classroom. I log on to check out hands on activities for my student’s to get them showing me mastery on a specific topic. There are times when teachers have even posted the way that they assess their students when you click on their link. They talk to you about their lesson from beginning to end. Teachers even tell you sometimes what they found the most difficult to do with the lesson.

Lastly, I love edmodo. This social network is a great learning tool for me. I get to see how other curriculums are getting lessons together and talking about ways to engage your students in order to aide in the process of students understanding the material. This social network helps me because not only am I able to view lesson teachers have used, but they also post video’s and handouts that were used during the lesson. Using the internet to learn shows how connectivism is definitely working for those of us who learn by research.

Connectivism

 

Connectivism- Thinking Map

https://bubbl.us/?h=1a82ed/34e59b/17M6nIEs/9Dow

Please click on the link above to see my think map of the social networks. This think map shows how the theory works for me.

 We are now going to begin talking about the the issues with information processing this week. I want to understand a little more about how the brain processes information which causes us to learn. I bumped into http://good-college-admission-essay-examples.blogspot.com/2013/09/information-processing-theory.html this site give me an overview of how information is processed in the brain. "The Information Processing supposition has quintuplet working(a) characters that include sensation, perception, sensory render, working memory, and bulky-term memory. by the piece of these regions provides something different." When I begin to read this information I feel overwhelmed, because I am not sure what this really means. I begin to read a little further and I begin to understand that the brain can only take in so much. Even though the brain controls a lot of organs in our body it continues to be a work in progress. Now you are probably thinking to yourself “what does she mean by that?”

Well I am talking about how information in the brain is processed. The brain is not taught much, but it processes information just like a computer and it bring it whenever you need it. In my exploring to find out how information is processed I ran into an article about the brain, after all you can’t talk about processing without knowing anything about the brain. I stumbled on a blog that did just that http://blog.bufferapp.com/10-surprising-facts-about-how-our-brain-works here we learn ten surprising facts about the brain. One in particular that I found interesting is that it is impossible for our brains to multi-task. “Multi-tasking is something we’ve long been encouraged to practice, but it turns out it’s actually impossible. When we think we’re multi-tasking, we’re actually context-switching. That is, we’re quickly switching back-and-forth between different tasks, rather than doing them at the same time.” This quickly made me think about inside of my classroom and how frustrated my students are when I give them notes to take while teaching a lesson. I did not seem to understand why they would get so upset or shut down sometimes until I bumped into this. It all makes sense now; one thing at a time can be processed if we give it enough time to enter our brains.

I hope this was informational for you.

Langevin http://www.langevin.com/blog/ has recently caught my eye because of all the wonderful things I see going on, let's take a peak and see what is going on. This blog gives a wealth of information educators. It is an online support for those educators who feel like they need extra something something to take them where they need to be in order to be the best. This blog helped me to find icebreakers, activating strategies, and accommodations for students who need accommodation. I believe that this blog would be a great resource for a new teacher. In it the teacher would be able to be directed in a way that would take some time for an individual to explain. I would also use this blog for tips on lesson planning.

I think that it is very important to know who are teaching. When you are able to identify the audience then you can equip yourself with what’s necessary to teach. Teaching material does not come as something you can do the same way every time, because of the way we are learning that learning takes place in each individual we are beginning to understand more that not every person learns the same way. This blog site is a great place to begin a journey, because it help you to find may ways to support all types of learners without making it seem  as if the work will become a gruesome task.

I enjoyed reading the blogs. The information given was very straight and to the point for all that read, especially when it came to the pointers that were being given. It helped me to see how important a very well and thought out lesson can help students who are struggling to learn. Many times our students do not like to ask questions so it helps to have a lesson that might hit on any questions students may have later.  

The area of instructional design is a very interesting area to become familiar with because as educators we must begin to find ways to come up with lessons that will engage all learners and give them accommodations. There are three sites that I chose to follow blogs on in order to better understand the process of learning and comprehend the different ways that learning takes place. The first site that was chosen was http://www.learnlets.com this blog explores the brain and its role in learning. This blog seemed very interesting. Upon first glance the blog site seemed to talk about the history of learning, but with further investigation this site showed the function of the brain in learning and what is affected when learning happens. Usually curiosity would stop here for most, but in order to begin to understand the dynamics of learning one must begin to explore learning types.

Constructivism is form of learning through the use of one taking ones learning into ones hand. The learner makes himself/ or herself responsible for their own learning. This blog explores the different theories that have been researched about learning. The different scholars who came up with different ways into looking at the brains processes of learning and working on ways to identify this type of learner. In this blog http://constructivist-education.blogspot.com/ not only does its readers learn more about the process this learning type, but readers also get to see what areas of the brain are working if this type  of learning is determined. Which would lead one to wonder how technology fits into learning in this day and age where it seems as if everything you want to know is just a click away.

Lastly, a blog that would deal with the way people are leaning today, using technology. According to the blog it is very helpful for educators whereas it gives many resources on how to incorporate technology into the classroom. It explains a new way of teaching in school using a technique called Common Core. This way of teaching on http://edutopia.com has to deal with tricking students to think critically. Students are forced to give more evidence based answers which goes against the ways that learning was explained in the past. This blog gives a wealth of information especially to those who are looking to understand how they can reach all learning styles within one lesson.

These blogs will begin to put the majority of educators who are looking for better ways to understanding learners in the classroom closer to our goal. We will be able to plan a lesson that keeps all of our students engaged.