Cognitive Apprenticeships

I think the idea of SL and CA seems like a very simple one, so Im not sure why it is not more widely practiced.

It seems like in today's society, you are only considered well-educated if you go to a 4-year university and sit and learn from books all day. The one thing I learned from this experience is that I didnt learn how to do anything. I got a degree in reading books and writing papers. Doesnt really translate to too many real-world jobs. Dont get me wrong, Im proud of my degree, but didnt come away feeling like I had a skill that I could apply.

I learned so much more from going to a trade school and learning to cut hair from people who know that skill. When I left I had feeling of accomplishment and I felt like I had learned a skill that I could use.

I like the idea of watching someone work and then applying that skill and practicing it myself. I also think being able to apply your work in many different settings and situations before getting out and actually working builds confidence that you just cant learn from a book or a classroom.

PBL

Maybe because it has been yet another long week and I feel completely brain dead, but when I read these articles, the only thing my brain felt was blah blah blah (just to be blatantly honest). Not to say that I didn't like the articles, but that is about how well I am processing information today.

I like that students are given problems to solve and I always loved working to solve a real-world problem when I was in school. I loved role-playing because it allows you to be in a situation as opposed to reading and writing about it. I think you learn more when you actively participate. I think it is also helpful to watch other students role-play and see how they would handle a situation. That way you can determine things you can improve on and things not to do.

I also like that the teacher is not a "teacher" but a facilitator. I like that they guide the groups, but do not have to stand there and lecture. There are several times that I wish my students were a little older so that I could facilitate more and teach less. I like when people develop their own ideas and you just guide the process instead of having to teach facts and kind-of tell people what to think or how to think.

From what my limited range of thought allowed for the evening...I think I like the basics of PBL. I would like to read about how it is used in settings other than medical training and I would really like to see it actually done in a classroom. I think that would help my understanding of what it is and how it works. I would also like to see how it is used with technology because I am not sure I understand the advantage to using technology as opposed to face-to-face with this method. I was also confused about the part where the students all sat in a room/lab and could use the computers and see each others screens on their screen. Maybe I read that wrong and misunderstood it, but if I am in a room with people, I prefer to talk with them rather than use our computers to communicate...call me old-fashioned! I feel like I really must have read that wrong...but I am not sure.

Cooperative Learning

First thought from the Mills paper, I wish we had done more cooperative learning when I was younger. I don't remember doing much of it back then, which is why I might not be a fan of it now. I certainly don't mind it, but think sometimes I may not have been taught some of the skills needed as a child for cooperative group work.

I completely agree with the idea of intrinsic learning. I pretty much hated one of my majors in undergrad, so I dont feel like I learned much. I just did it because I was good at it, not because I liked it.

Reflection is such an important part of learning to me. I feel like my learning experience is more complete once I reflect on it.

The part about making learning relevant...that is something I agree with and think is very important, but is definitely easier said than done. Later the article mentions that knowing the theories is not enough for a cooperative classroom. I agree 100% with that statement. I can know all the theories in the world, it doesn't make me a good teacher.

In the final pages, the article states, "No matter how carefully teachers plan, some things will invariably go wrong." All I have to say is, hahahaha...very true.

The Johnson article reminds me off undergrad. I just talked to my old college friend about our lack of group work. We were taught to be very individual learners and I dont recall doing much in a group at all. I think I did have 1 or 2 English classes where we worked in groups, but thats 1 out of 10.

This article also addresses Theory vs. Implementation. I like that it says CL is more than putting students in a group or sitting them at a table together. I think staff development in this area is important. Something I should mention to my principal. Our school is focused on differentiation, but our staff development continues to use thinking maps to define what differentiation is...they never tell us how to implement CL!!

Students cannot succeed unless everyone does...love it.

Overall, I have to say...I liked these 3 articles. They made it sounds like CL was something that could be done, not just another theory to learn about and study. Our principal has been making us read articles weekly and turn in assignments. I think I will give her these three articles as a suggestion for staff reading. :)

A Side Note Continued...

This past Friday, one of the 4th grade teachers decided to have mercy on me and only sent 5 students to my class. He kept the other 20 students in his classroom.

It was great to sit down with these 5 students and to really be able to discuss their ideas. The topic of conversation was supposed to be "Changes in Technology". We ended up talking about everything from candlestick telephones, to Back to the Future, to flying cars, college majors, time travel, and online learning. The students brought up the idea that they would like to have "online elementary school". So I pulled up StudyIsland.com and began to read a lesson to them. I explained the words that they did not know and explained the sentences...word by word by word by word. (I have done this in my classes of 25 and it takes an entire 40 minute session to explain 5 sentences. It is real slow going.) Then I read the rest of the passage aloud without explaining the information. After that, I pulled up the questions and tried to have the students answer on their own. In general, they were unsuccessful. They then decided that it was in their best interest to continue going to school where they can have teachers explain everything to them.

They then decided that online high school might be good for some, but they wanted to attend traditional high school so that they wouldn't miss out on football games and prom.

They voted and 4 out of 5 decided that they wanted to go to college online because they would need to work and take care of families while they got their education. The student that did not vote for online college has aspirations of going to Harvard. :)

More to come...

Guided Design

So I read the articles for this week and was more or less not impressed with the content. It seemed like a lot of numbers and data (which I can't handle reading and get lost in) just to say that working together teachers us teamwork. Reading other people's posts on the topic helped me understand more what the articles were about...which as I commented on several people's pages...is the point of guided design.

Each article listed the 5 steps, 12 steps, or 5 basic principles of thinking operations. I understand that there has to be some steps involved in the thought process, but to lay them out is strange. The more I look back at the article, the more I understand the term "guided process". The teachers are supposed to be guiding our thinking...which is also strange to me. I suppose I stand in front of students and guide their thinking daily; it just doesn't occur to me to do it in a 5 step process.

When I was in undergrad, I can only recall working in groups in my productions classes and that is because it is very hard to make a production with only one person. Also, the point of our group work was not necessarily to solve a problem, but just to complete a task. Our professors seemed to operate on a different page...come up with your own ideas and support those ideas. They were not concerned with what we could do as a group; it was almost a very selfish way of learning. Perhaps that is why I sometimes really hated my classes; I didn't understand that content and it would have been helpful to have another person's perspective on the subject. Maybe this is why I don't work well in groups at work. I prefer to work alone and do everything myself. :)

While by nature I am a very independent person and like to work alone, I can see the benefits of working with other people and the guided design process. It helps us learn about the topic, it helps us learn about other people, it helps us learn how to work with other people and maybe even helps us learn a little about ourselves. I've really enjoyed being able to work in a group in this class because at first I was completely unsure of the requirements and how the projects were supposed to work. Because my group members have more experience than I do with graduate classes and expectations, they were able to guide me through the process and help me understand what was expected out of assignments. (Thanks guys!)

I have also seen the benefits in my classroom. I recall an activity last year with my first grade students. We were creating Venn Diagrams, which for some students was very easy and for others, very hard. I put them into groups and each group was given two animals. Because they were working together, they were able to learn more about the animals than they would have if they were on their own. Some of the students were very knowledgeable, while others did not know anything about the topics. They were also told to use their science books to find information. Being that they were 1st graders, some students did not have a clue how to look in a book to find information, while others did. It was great to see them working together and learning from each other and not just learning what I had to say about the topic.

Elizabeth

A Side Note

Last week, one of my more motivated 5th graders found a section of Study Island (studyisland.com) dedicated to Computer Technology. The information and questions in this section will help students with their 8th grade technology test (I assume they still take this...either way, I tell my students that they will in order to motivate them to pay attention :)).

On this site, you can read the lesson and then take a quiz based on what you have read. Very individualized; however, not differentiated based on ability. In the next couple weeks, I am going to experiment with having the students read and quiz on their own as well as read the info as a group and then quiz individually. I think we will also mix it up and read individually and then quiz as a group.

I really want to see if my students are up for the challenge of "distance learning." I'll let you all know how it goes!

Elizabeth