GROUP COLLABORATION AND PROBLEM-SOLVING

I don't really have much to say under this post because I did not enjoy the assignment or learn much from the assignment. I may have learned more about social networking but that's really it. I did not enjoy being in a group. I asked my team members to help me out and only got a respond from one out of the four of them.

I feel like I could have done way better on this assignment on my own. Feeling frustrated with my group I have to admit that I just kind of gave up on the assignment, and I feel really bad for doing that because I usually always try my best at every assignment I can, because I want the best grade possible.

Problem-solving techniques I learned this week have to be that I don’t like group projects but I need to get the work done in a timely manner no matter what any of the other members have done. Is that a problem solving technique?

Difficulties!!!

           This week I have had some bad experiences in my EDU 271 Educational Technology class. I feel like this class is an information overload at the moment. I do not understand the whole wiki thing. On top of having to deal with some information that I have never experienced before, I have to be put in a group to work on it.

            Now that I go that off my chest, I can express what I can learn from this experience. First I am learning how to work with wiki. I also understand my teacher’s instructions a little better. I also am learning how to communicate with my group members a little more. (Well 1 group member anyway)

            I believe what made this week kind of difficult for me was first my lack of interest in wiki. I understand it’s important, but not understand the site made me kind of shy away from it. Something else that contributed to my difficult week was the group assignment. I, like many others, don’t like group assignments. I feel there is always that one (or more) person that doesn’t pull his/her own weight. They solely rely on their team members to pull them through the assignment.

            I hope this was just my one bad week for the semester and that the rest will fly by like so many have before. Thanks for letting me get some of my difficulties off my chest. It’s kind of a stress releaser, to blog about my bad week. Thinking about my problems also helps me figure out how I can go back and try to fix the things I didn’t understand before.

My Teaching Philosophy

           My role as a teacher is to become a role model for my students. I would like to be the teacher that students remembers as being caring, and someone they could come to for help. Being a role model for my students will help me in the classroom, because I feel like students respect teachers that they look up to. Being a role model will also help me to relate information easier to my students. I can help them develop thinking skills, prepare them for future careers, and help students in their personal growth. I believe all teachers should be role models to all students.

I see my classroom as being student-centered. I wouldn’t like for my classroom to be about me and just filling my students heads with information that they may or may not remember a few days later. I want to engage in activities with my students. I want to create lessons that students can enjoy and learn from at the same time. I want to ask them questions and I would like for them to ask me questions as well. Having my student’s feel comfortable coming to me about problems they have makes me feel like I really am a good teacher. I would like to include: puzzles, projects, group activities, Web learning, and inquiry learning in my classroom, integrating technology into the class as much as I can.

My classroom organization would include students working in both small group and whole group activities. I believe students need to work alone and in groups, so depending on the project we may work one-on-one, in small groups, or in opened ended discussions including the entire class. I see the use of technology in my class as an ad to students. Teaching students to use technology in any ways that are incorporated in the classroom is important. Technology is a big part of the world so it’s something that should be included in every classroom. Technology will help me in my goals and visions because my number one goal is to become a great teacher, and teaching my students everything they need to know.

How People Learn

A learner-centered instructor should have some basic knowledge of their student’s backgrounds, they should have an interest in their students and what they are teaching, and they should have social and cultural values for their own culture and the culture of others. A learner-centered activity for young children could be an alphabet show-n-tell for the class. This activity can give the children a chance to speak in front of the class about something that they have interest in and it will also be teaching students many things, for example:

·         The alphabet

·         Speaking to peers

·         Patience’s

·         Listening skills

A knowledge-centered instructor should provide rigorous content to their students and should also help students understand rather than just simply memorizing. An assessment-centered instructor should included two types of assessment:

·         High Standards

·         Frequent opportunities for feedback, reflection, and revision, in order to enhance the quality of learning.

Community- centeredness is important to students because it fosters norms where “learning of the highest order” is encouraged, and people are respected and connected to a variety of resources. A community-centered activity could be a local PTA, which is community-centered because it involves parents and students from the community of their local school to get together with caregivers/teachers from that school to discuss and encourage the students in their school activities.

To evaluate my own instructions I would go through the process of creating activities for students with the help or aid from other caregivers/teacher around me and by just going through the process of using the instructions on students and seeing how they respond to them and correcting whatever steps I may need to change. To determine if students are becoming self-evaluative I believe you must watch them work and get involved with them in what they are doing. By observing your students you can further enhance their learning by seeing what skills they do or don’t posses, which mean you now, have a better understanding of how to teach them.

A helpful link in the process of Learner-Centered Teaching: http://turkey.usembassy.gov/uploads/images/ZbaUSsGax99x5BCBjYkntQ/Learner_Centered_Teaching.pdf
This link helped me better understand what learner-centered teaching is all about. I hope it can help some of you also.

My Goals for EDU 271

My name is Erica Morton I am a military wife going on 6 yrs now. I have a 3 yr old daughter. I'm from AL. & just moved from NC. to GA. This is my last semester at FTCC, I graduate in May with my associates degree in Early Childhood Education. My goals for this class are to learn more about:

• PowerPoint
• Creating Graphics & Web Pages
• Photo Shop Programs
• Music and Video Programs

All of which I hope to incorporate into the classroom one day. I also hope to learn about things that I didn't even know about in technology that I should know. Creating this blog proves that I will  be doing just that. I have never created a blog but I do enjoy it. To measure my success in my goals I will look at my skills throughout the semester. Hopefully by the end of the semester I will know how to create better PowerPoint's, which I love to do for almost any class. I look forward to learning about photo enhancement programs and any new communication programs also.