 Greetings  Sharing  The Constructivist Teacher  Cultural Impacts on Teaching  APA Formatting  Questions

We all want to get to know one another  What would you like to share......

 Who has expectations? Parents Teachers Administrators Students State Ed Dept I want to learn I want proficiency scores to be increased I want students to learn what I teach I want state standards aligned with lesson objectives I want my child to be happy learning

 What is the nature of the learner? Each learner is unique with his own set of past experiences that he brings to the learning environment. He is complex and multi-dimensional.  What is the importance of prior learning, personal background and culture? Every student enters the classroom with his individual background of learning, culture, and experience. His language, logic, and abilities are shaped by nature and nurture. The nature aspect includes those inherited traits while the nurture aspect stresses those experiences the individual has lived which impact on his current level of knowledge in any given area.  This theory also incorporates the social aspect of learning. The theory expounds on the condition that the individual learns from others who have more knowledge and encourages peer interaction.  Young children develop their thinking abilities by interacting with other children, adults and the physical world. From the social constructivist viewpoint, it is thus important to take into account the background and culture of the learner throughout the learning process, as this background also helps to shape the knowledge and truth that the learner creates, discovers and attains in the learning process (Wertsch 1997).

 What is the learner’s role? The learner is an active player in his own learner. He is NOT a passive recipient of knowledge. Learners should construct their own meaning and will order their knowledge to make sense for themselves.  What motivates learning?  According to Von Glasersfeld (1989) sustaining motivation to learn is strongly dependent on the learner’s confidence in his or her potential for learning. These feelings of competence and belief in potential to solve new problems, are derived from first-hand experience of mastery of problems in the past and are much more powerful than any external acknowledgment and motivation (Prawat and Floden 1994). This links up with Vygotsky’s "zone of proximal development" (Vygotsky 1978) where learners are challenged within close proximity to, yet slightly above, their current level of development. By experiencing the successful completion of challenging tasks, learners gain confidence and motivation to embark on more complex challenges.Vygotskyzone of proximal development

 What is the role of the instructor? The role of the instructor changes from the didactic lecturer to the facilitator of knowledge. The teacher does NOT tell, but instead the teacher ASKS questions so that students can construct their own meaning of information. The dialogue is maintained throughout the lesson.  A facilitator should also be able to adapt the learning experience ‘in mid-air’ by using his or her own initiative in order to steer the learning experience to where the learners want to create value. ...While it is advocated to give the learner ownership of the problem and solution process, it is not the case that any activity or any solution is adequate. The critical goal is to support the learner in becoming an effective thinker. This can be achieved by assuming multiple roles, such as consultant and coach.  What does assessment look like? Assessment is dynamic and offers an interactive learning experience. Assessment is NOT a process carried out by an individual, but it is instead a 2-way process involving the interaction of both the instructor and learner. Assessment should be ongoing, measuring the quality of the learner’s outcomes. The feedback then becomes the basis for future learning.  “The role of the assessor becomes one of entering into dialogue with the persons being assessed to find out their current level of performance on any task and sharing with them possible ways in which that performance might be improved on a subsequent occasion. Thus, assessment and learning are seen as inextricably linked and not separate processes (Holt and Willard-Holt 2000).”

 On page 77 in the textbook, review question #2.  In this question, you are asked to reflect on your background. What are your thoughts on:  1. Describe the culture with which you most closely identify.  2. Describe the ethnicity with which you most closely identify.  How might this influence what you see and do not see in the classroom?  How might this affect how what you value in your students?

 One author:  Darling-Hammond, L. (2003). Keeping good teachers: Why it matters, what leaders can do? Educational Leadership, 55 (5), Note: 1. All lines after the first line are indented 5-7 spaces 2. Only use the first name initial 3. Only the first word is capitalized for the title of the article 4. The journal name is italicized and the whole name is capitalized 5. You must have the volume in this case The issue in this case (5) is bracketed 7. The pages in this case There is a space between the vol. and issue, but no comma 55 (5) 9.The entire citation is single spaced.

 Two Authors  Coladarci, T. & Breton, W. A. (1997). Teacher efficacy, supervision, and the special education resource room teacher. The Journal of Educational Research, 90, 230 – 239. Note: 1. After the first author’s name, there is a, a space, and & 2. In this journal there is no issue, so there is a comma after the volume.

 Breaux, A. L., & Wong, H. K. (2003). New teacher induction: How to train, support, and retain new teachers. Mountainview, CA: Harry K. Wong. Note: 1. The author citing is the same as in the journal. 2. The name of the book is italicized, and only the first letter of the title is capitalized. 3. After the title, you write the city, state in which the book was published. In this case, Mountainview, CA 4.Place a : after the state and write the publisher ( in this case, Harry K. Wong)

 Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. (2003). About Las Vegas: Demographics. Retrieved August 10, 2003, from Note: 1. Capitalize the name of the Organization. 2. Italicize the name of the article. This is unusual since Las Vegas is a name and there is a : so the word after the : should be capitalized; otherwise, only the first letter of the article name is capitalized. 3. Write Retrieved then the date, from and then the website. You should undo the link.

 You want to:  cite a paraphrased or summarized reference in the front of your sentence-  Haring and Liberty (1990) stated maintenance and generalization of skills are criteria used to evaluate both learning and instruction, and the utility of that instruction.

 You want to:  cite a paraphrased or summarized reference at the end of your sentence-  Maintenance and generalization of skills are criteria used to evaluate both learning and instruction, and the utility of that instruction (Haring & Liberty, 1990).

 You want to:  quote in the front of your sentence-  Haring and Liberty (1990) stated, “Maintenance and generalization of skills are criteria used to evaluate both learning and instruction, and the utility of that instruction” (p. 34).

 You want to:  quote first and then mention the authors-  “Maintenance and generalization of skills are criteria used to evaluate both learning and instruction, and the utility of that instruction” (Haring & Liberty, 1990, p. 34).

 You want to:  cite paraphrased or summarized information that the author used as a reference in his text:  Many authorities propose stages of student learning that are said to be instrumental in designing and implementing effective classroom instruction (Mercer & Mercer, as cited in Haring & Liberty, 1990). The researchers cited by Haring & Liberty The article you read was by Haring & Liberty published in 1990

 You want to:  cite information that the author used as a paraphrased or summarized reference in his text IN THE BEGINNING of the sentence:  Mercer and Mercer (as cited in Haring & Liberty, 1990) explained many authorities propose stages of student learning that are said to be instrumental in designing and implementing effective classroom instruction.

 You want to:  cite information that the author used as a quoted reference in his text after you mention the authors IN THE BEGINNING of the sentence:  Mercer and Mercer (as cited in Haring & Liberty, 1990) explained, “Many authorities propose stages of student learning that are said to be instrumental in designing and implementing effective classroom instruction” (p. 34).

 You want to:  cite information that the author used as a quoted reference in his text IF you mention the authors LAST-  “Many authorities propose stages of student learning that are said to be instrumental in designing and implementing effective classroom instruction” (Mercer & Mercer, as cited in Haring & Liberty, 1990, p. 34).

 What questions would you like to ask?

 See you in cyberspace..... Dr. Rubel Have a Happy Thanksgiving!