The focus of this week was Piaget's and Vygotsky's theory on cognitive development. These theories have played a huge role in my teaching style. I am currently teaching 3rd grade which places my students within the concrete operational stage of Piaget's theory. It is important that I remember that the concepts I teach my students are related to ideas and situations they are familiar with already. Students at this age are also just beginning to develop problem solving skills. I teach at an IB PYP school which focuses on global learning and perspectives. Children in my classroom are just beginning to shift from egocentric to decentered thinking. This means that the students in my classroom will begin to see and recognize that people around the world will not always have their same perspective.
Vygotsky's theories are incorporated into my classroom on a daily basis. Vygotsky believed that children can learn from one another. I use cooperative learning groups constantly through out the day. The students discuss new concepts with each other. I also have students work together in groups to analyze problems and discuss ways to solve the problem.
Reading about these theories again reminded me the importance of making connections to my students' life. This is of course something that I know, but sometimes these connections don't always happen because of time constraints. I have been reminded that the connections help my students understand the content on a deeper level, they are not just to engage the students.
These readings confirmed my belief that social interaction is vital for student learning. I have always encouraged students to help one another and to offer suggestions and corrections. The theories read about this week confirmed that this is a way to help students be successful in the classroom.
You have precisely encompassed what these blogs are about. Amazing job. You should label the parts of your post Description, Analysis and Reflection for easier reference when you look back upon your posts for your final project.
ReplyDeleteTo everybody: Remember the purpose of the blogs are to use for the "guts" for your auto ethnography at the end of the semester. Look at the examples of past Auto-Ethnography papers and see how those students likely used the information from their blogs in their final papers. These examples can be found in the Content section of our class site at the end of the list.