Constructivism is simply a philosophy or theory about how people learn new information. The thought behind this theory centers on “how people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences” (Matsuoka, 2010).
Some instructional practices a teacher can implement within the classroom setting that fall under constructivism are analogies, blogs, collages, graffiti walls, and jigsaws. Analogies use cognitive processes in which a student has to determine the relationship between two ordered pairs. Word pairs could have the following relationships: antonyms, synonyms, descriptive, part to whole, and item to category. The following sentence is an example of an analogy: Large is to big as triumph is to ______________.
Look at this website to test your ability on analogies: http://www.sadlier-oxford.com/phonics/analogies/analogiesx.htm
Blogs are a type of website that allows the creator a chance to design and leave different commentaries, art, and images. Visitors can leave comments on the creator’s blog. Blogging within the classroom setting allows the students and teachers an opportunity to communicate on different issues. It is a format so that students and their parents can be better informed about standards, indicators, classroom management, non-curricular activities, etc. This communication piece can strengthen student/teacher and student/student relationships. All parties involved can share knowledge. The teacher, as well as other students, can provide feedback on questions, comments, and/or suggestions to strengthen understanding of a specific idea. The teacher can use this as a means to monitor student’s learning.
Collages involve using assemblage of different forms and gluing these things to a canvas or paper to create a whole new artwork. Here are some examples: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Collage and http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=collages&qpvt=collages&view=large&FORM=VBCIRL
Graffiti walls is a means for a group of students can work together to demonstrate their knowledge on a given topic. Here is an example of a way to incorporate graffiti walls in literature:
http://www.readwritethink.org/resources/resource-print.html?id=208 and other areas http://troup612resources.troup.k12.ga.us/Instructional%20Strategies%20&%20Resources/Strategies.htm
The last strategy is the jigsaw. The jigsaw uses the cooperative learning approach that enables each student of a “home” group to specialize in one aspect of a learning unit. Students meet with members from other groups who are assigned the same aspect, and after mastering the material, return to the “home” group and teach the material to their group members” (Saskatoon Public Schools, 2009). Here are some websites concerning how to use the jigsaw strategy: http://www.jigsaw.org/ and http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr324.shtml
Matsuoka, B. (2010). Constructivism as a paradigm for teaching and learning. Retrieved January 25, 2011, from http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/index.html
Saskatoon Public Schools. (2009). Instructional Strategies Online. Retrieved on January 26, 2011, from http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/PD/instr/credits.html.
Hi Jeremie,
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy your postings--always so informative, interesting.
I wanted to share that I find blogs and related activities to be extremely valuable. A blog can transform a writing activity into an interactive experience that students are immediately engaged by. For one--the audience for a blog is authentic--when students write for their teacher, they often take a different approach--they know their teacher is the only person reading their work and they often assume that he/she will automatically understand what they meant.
When they write to a blog, they tend to be more conscious of their audience--of perspective taking--of how their words will appear to a reader.
Additionally, the opportunity to dialog about a topic with others can infuse new ideas--help correct misconceptions--and move the discussion in ways it might not have gone otherwise.
I love the possibilities for strengthening home/school relationships that blogging provides.
Thank you for posting.
Susan
Jeremie,
ReplyDeleteBlogging has turned out to be a great way for students to discuss literature. The students get excited about posting to the blog. This also helps to maintain a conversation outside of class that was started in class, without the limitation of the bell ringing. The blog also allows for others to be a part of the conversation about literature. This could be students from across the country, an author, parents, and students from within the school. Blogs allow for a truly authentic conversation.
Amy
Hi Jeremie,
ReplyDeleteThank you for all the great resources. Almost all of them, except analogies and blogs, were new to me. I really appreciate you sharing these tools with us! Sometimes, tools that work for a certain subject do not transfer well to other subjects, but I was able to think of applications for all of them for teaching Spanish.
I have yet to start blogging with my students because having them write in foreign language to describe their thoughts has proven difficult. However, I agree with you and Amy, that blogging can be an exciting and very productive tool.
Great post!
Hi Jeremie,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post. I explored some of the websites you provided and found the one on graffiti very interesting. An example provided on one of the websites used variable expressions in the graffiti activity. I bet my 8th graders would love doing a graffiti activity. You also mentioned blogging. I have not utilized this strategy yet this year but one of our ELA teachers has and she says it is working beautifully.
Judith