Educational+Reform

Educational Reform Literature Review:

This is the article that was given to us for the literature review. I have attached it here for reference.

Literature Review: Designing Learning and Technology for Educational Reform

This article, though dated, does bring up many important points that are still relevant in today’s educational society. First of which are the four major learning and technology patterns mentioned on page two. As a teacher in the Clayton School District, I believe that we fall into category A. Category A, as described in the article, consists of engaged learning with high technology performance. One may wonder how I determine this. First of all, we have many opportunities for our students to access technology. We have three computer labs on the high school campus alone. We also have 12 computers in every science lab. The students are allowed to access these during their free periods, before, or after school. Our students are also forced to access many websites via our curriculum. Teachers are required to have a website with a minimum of contact info on it. Many of us post assignments on the web. Our students are also given assignments that involve the computer. My students are asked to Blog, podcast and vodcast project and end of unit assessments. We also use SMART technology in our school. We use the SMART boards for many of our lessons and we also have document cameras, projectors, etc. for our use to enhance curricula. I feel that the main focus I try to have in my classroom is a focus on engaged learning, just as the article discusses. I did not know that term, engaged learning, before reading this article, but I find that I do many of these things in my classroom. This article hit on the head what my focus is when I give an assignment, in class or online. I always make sure that my students are responsible for their own learning. I feel that if I have to spoon-feed information to high school students, I feel that they should be insulted. By their age, they should be responsible for preparing for class, reviewing the material, and making the lecture part of the course much more interactive. I make sure that I do not just lecture to them, but I also have them fill in the blanks for homework. I then check it the next day for points and we go over it so everyone has the correct information. When someone walks into my classroom, they see that my students are not only “energized by learning,” like the article says, but also energized for learning. My students love lab days and cannot wait to perform an experiment and see what happens. They do a great job preparing for labs and they work well together in the classroom. I prefer more of a social environment in the classroom as long as they are paying attention to their work and environment around them – safety is always first and foremost on my mind while my students are in my classroom due to the chemicals they work with and the amount of glassware in the room. My students like coming to my class and I like to keep things engaging and entertaining. I also like to mix things u a bit, always trying something new and finding new ways to hook them and keep them interested and energized; technology is a great help here! The article touches on how engage learners are strategic about their problem solving. I’d agree with this to a point. Students need to first learn how to problem solve in a strategic manner. Inquiry based labs help with this. I like to teach students metacognition; thinking about their thinking. I feel that this is a great incite for them to understand what they know and more importantly what they don’t know. By thinking about their own thinking, the students are able to think about their problem solving skills. I teach them step by step ways to problem solve in chemistry. Since we solve logic problems, math problems, and other types of issues in science class, the students are able to transfer their problem solving skills they learn in my class to all aspects of life. We are also a very cooperative learning course. All of our lab activities are done in groups of two or three. Students are encouraged to work in groups during class time. While they need to write the lab report by themselves, they are encouraged to work with each other in the laboratory itself and on the calculations. Students are also given problems to solve in class in small groups, for both points and test review. My students also work collaboratively as a class. We solve problems via whiteboarding. Students are given a problem and they need to show their work to solve it on their whiteboard. They then present their work to the class and the class discusses and politely critiques their problem solving strategies. By doing so, we foster a collaborative and positive learning environment, where students are not afraid to ask questions or to get the wrong answer. Learning is in the forefront. I see my role as a teacher as a facilitator, as the article describes. However, I see myself wearing many other hats in the classroom. Where I see myself as a facilitator most is back in the laboratory. I assist my students with their problem solving skills during experimentation. However, when safety is involved, I have no problem giving more direction. It is more important for me as a science teacher to make sure that my students are doing the right thing in lab and not going to hurt themselves rather than having them have a lab that is a bit higher on the inquiry scale. I am also a facilitator when the students are working on problem sets together. I do not answer their questions right away, instead I point them in the right direction by providing hints. Again, I am not a spoon-feeding teacher so my students are responsible for figuring things out on their own or coming to me for assistance. Finally, the article discusses how important ongoing assessment is. I assess for learning in my classroom and I try not to have assessment of learning. I like to have ongoing assessments in my classroom. Including unit exams, final exams, etc. I also have lab reports, oral presentations, collaborative group presentations, projects, and classroom participation/discussion assessments as well. I also ask the students to assess themselves and their group mates when appropriate. I feel that in order to make sure that my students remain engaged learners, it is important to do many checks along the way. This is where ongoing and varied assessments really come into play. In summation, I feel that my classroom is a place that fosters engaged learners. My students are happy, excited learners who are very involved in my class in all aspects of it. My students don’t skip my class, they are on time and ready to learn and have great attitudes, a lot to say for sophomores in high school. There are not many discipline issues because the students are taking ownership of their own learning. My classroom is a fun, safe, welcoming, and positive learning environment that promotes and fosters engaged learning as described in the article.