Learning Principles and Effective Teaching

     The idea of looking back at ones teaching and analyzing it, to be honest became redundant in my college/student teaching years.  The term reflect was one that I thought I would never want to hear again after I got my diploma.  But to be honest, I do it now without thinking about it and I feel that this is happening almost without thinking.  While looking over the article on Learning Principles I found that I relating each item to my own teaching and classroom.  It was very interesting and made me think in one simple comment under activating prior knowledge.  The article talked about accessing and activating prior knowledge only at the appropriate time.  To often I fall into the trap of accessing that knowledge early and the students miss what I am really trying to teach as they focus on what they already know.  Timing really is key!
I also found it great that the article talked about students are only able to go as far as they are mentally, physically, and emotionally able.  That is really a key point.  We must teach to all of these facets as teaching to one without the other can lead to failure.
    In the meta analysis article the idea that technology isolates students was very interesting to me.  The article stated, "instruction in classroom settings where technology was not often used tended to be whole-class approaches, in which students generally listened or watched the teacher. Instruction in classroom settings where technology was moderately used had much less whole-class instruction and much more independent work." (waxman)
I guess this really took me by surprise as when I am teaching with technology and the students are using it the time that is spent with whole class and individual work is normally about 50/50.  That is of course with my 2nd grade class.  The higher up the education ladder I am sure will change, but I feel as though I am often doing my students a disservice I do not instruct.  This could be a method of explore and discuss, or teach and try, or trial and error.  There are so many methods that go into this teaching with technology that it is hard to let the younger students just try, succeed or fail, and ultimately create an opinion about using technology based on the teachers instructional method.  There really is a lot that is established in the younger grades so teachers must take cautions in those methods.
    Again with the reflection of my own teaching, but I guess that is what makes us grow.  These articles are meant to open our eyes to what we are doing in our classroom and what we could be doing.  I too often get caught up on the details of it all and focus in on small things that I feel could be going wrong in my classroom.  This would be great if I knew how to fix them all.  But I fear that I may miss the bigger picture of the whole article.  But, if I can take away at least one thing with the readings it was worth it!

520 Wrap Up

   This week really dealt a lot with what we need to make sure we are doing at school for our students protection from inappropriate content and ourselves as teachers from copyright laws.  There really is a lot strict guidelines and laws when it comes to protecting students from content.  There is NO gray area when it comes to what our students view.  There are plenty of tools out there that can help with this and schools should have these in place well before students are ever allowed to use the computers or Internet in school.
   When it comes to copyrights there really is a lot of gray area.  The idea that one can use things and later get in trouble for is very unsettling.  The ease to get copyrighted materials is so simple that even kids can get to it.  The gray area seems to be largest when it comes to schools.  The use rules when it comes to content are amazingly "open."  Only use 10% or even just cite it.  There is not really a clear cut and defined line.  It is tough for one to really know if they are in the right or in the wrong.
    Overall knowing more details of what is required when it comes to copyrights and Child safety a bit of review would never hurt.  I do find that we are doing a lot of review of many of the same pages and concepts, but it will keep me out of trouble in the long run, and that is ok with me!