Motivation Factors

Obviously the ideal situation in a classroom would be for students to be self-motivated.  However, this rarely happens in schools these days.  So, I have to find a way to get my students motivated to learn what I'm teaching because whether they want to be there or not they have to so why not make the most of it?  One of the biggest thing I want to make sure happens is that the time spent in the class is not wasted.  I hate it when teachers waste my time in class and so I don't want to waste theirs.  I think this will help to motivate them to do the work because they know I would never give them a task to waste their time.  This fits in with CLT because their schemas will be built so they know there is a point to the assignment.  I also want as much participation as possible because my content area is heavily based on discussion.  In order to motivate them to talk I want to make sure they feel as if whatever they say has a value, even if it is not exactly the answer I am looking for.  Not shooting down their answers is connected to CLT because their schemas will tell them that their opinions are valid.  There are other motivations but I think these two are the most important at this point.

Classroom Management

When considering classroom management there are a lot of things to think of.  I want to be respected and have the kids listen to me but I also want the kids to be able to talk to me.  The balance between these things is going to help with my classroom management.  I want to make sure I walk around the class so the kids don't have to focus on one spot all the time.  I also think that having them talk in groups will help them to keep each other on task.  Using the more knowledgeable peer will help them to listen to each other and if one person gets off task I think it will help to have their fellow student keep them focused.  Keeping a routine, such as a bell ringer, starting class on time/going all the way to the bell, and not springing things on them, will help keep them on task.  They have a set thing to do and expectations so they can keep themselves on task better.  Hopefully I can establish a sense of respect amongst my students so they are motivated to stay on task by themselves.  I don't want my students to have to "task switch" all the time because then they won't be able to put enough effort into the tasks to do them well.  All of these can be connected to learning theories.  Most of them are based in SLT, especially with the more knowledgeable peer.  Establishing a routine would fit in with CLT because I am establishing a schema for them.  I am also scaffolding them and adding on what they are already used to and making sure I add to that so they know how my classroom is run.  Walking around is BLT because I am causing a stimulus that they can respond to and won't be bored all the time.

Reflections on Lesson

(I thought this was posted earlier but turns out it was just a draft!)

When we did the lesson there were a few difficulties we ran into.  The first one was that when we told them to discuss the questions we gave them.  They seemed to focus more on answering the question than thinking how to give a speech on it.  We probably should have been more clear about what we wanted them to do with the questions.  Also, there wasn't as much participation as we would have liked.  I think this was because we weren't clear in what we wanted from them.  We had to restructure our lesson as we were going along to cater to what the "students" were giving us.  Next time we need to be more clear in our intentions as be more confident in what we are saying.

Thoughts So Far

I have to say that I thoroughly enjoy this class every day we have it.  I am learning a lot from the content we discuss and from what Professor Kruse teaches us.  The concepts are very interesting and are something that I would never think about.  I mean, I'm sure I have thought about this kind of stuff before when I thought about teaching but I was never aware of it before I started this class.  I am realizing that I am starting to integrate the learning theories into my real life now as well.  I had a little fight with one of my friends and I had two options of dealing with it.  I could talk to her or I could write her a letter explaining how I felt.  Unfortunately, I chose to use the more abstract way of communicating and wrote her something.  I should have made it more concrete and talked to her instead of creating an abstract way to make her understand what was going on.  I like the way Professor Kruse makes us think about what we are learning and doesn't just stand there and lecture us.  I think the fact that he has us come to our own conclusions makes it more concrete for us and we believe it more because we have to think about it ourselves.  I always look forward to this class and I always learn walk out of the room having learned something.

Questions

I guess some of the questions I would ask about SLT, CLT, and DLT and if it is being used are interacting and learning from each other?  Are they breaking down the terms they don't understand and connecting them to something they do understand?  Am I using concrete examples and relating it to their lives so they understand it better?  Am I fitting what I'm teaching into their stigmas by connecting things they say to the concept I want them to learn?

English and DLT/SLT

I have been thinking about many different ways I can teach a lesson that is informed by both DLT and SLT.  I think it would be easier to use SLT because English is a good subject to use this theory.  First, it is a language and SLT deals with language and how it is used to learn.  With the vocabulary and grammar aspect of that subject I will have word things in a way that they can understand.  I guess that is where DLT comes in.  I will have to relate the subject to them in a concrete way.  The best way to do this would be to relate it to them.  Using metaphors and similes that make sense to them will help me do this.  I will use the more knowledgeable peer to help the students learn from one another.  It will be more beneficial for them when I break them into groups.

Each student's ZPD is different and I have to determine where to start on the "concrete scale" that will be beneficial for the entire class.  The way I can make things concrete will not be by having them do things, but making things relate to their lives.  The more I can connect the content we are covering to their lives, the better they will understand the material.  I know English will give me a run for my money when it comes to making things concrete but I think they will learn better from each other.  The more knowledgeable peer will be my tool in their education.

Developmental Learning Theory

The lesson about Developmental Learning Theory (DLT) was at least one of the most interesting lessons I have learned in the school of Education.  After going back to my room I started thinking about the different ways to apply DLT to my lessons in the future.  It makes sense to create a way of learning that is as concrete as possible.  Kids do not learn from extreme abstraction; it only confuses them and they are not developed enough to sort out the complicated thoughts and put those thoughts into cohesive ideas.  However, it is easier to use abstraction with older students.  This will help me immensely when I attempt to teach my students at the high school level because my content area is one that requires a bit of abstraction in order to teach it.

Since my endorsements are in Reading and English, I have a bit of a challenge making things concrete.  Reading would be a bit easier because I can use "skits" and other visualization techniques to make the students understand what they are reading.  I think if they can put a picture with the words and the story then they will be able to read better.  Also, if I can incorporate the words into the pictures or skits then they will comprehend better.  Also, being able to write out the sentences so they learn sentence structures will make things more concrete for them.  In regards to English, I might have a little more difficult time.  With this subject they have to understand concepts and these are naturally more abstract.  I liked the idea of showing the kids a "modern" representation of the piece of literature so they can relate to the story.  Then I can refer back to that when we get into the convoluted reading.  I think connecting it to their personal and real lives will help me with these more abstract concepts.

Connecting to the students will help them to understand what I am teaching and what I want them to get out of the readings.  I had a hard time conceptualizing a few of the novels I read in high school because I could not relate what was happening to my own life.  I had no personal experience that was similar to the characters so I could not empathize with them and I do not think I got everything I should have gotten out of the story.  When there is something to fall back on, there is a greater understanding and I hope I can incorporate the DLT into my classroom to better my students and their analytical skills.