Class Reflection: Application 8

Personal Learning Theory

As I am about to complete this class I have learned many things. The first is after reviewing my initial theory of learning, I still have the same theory about physical education being kinesthetic/tactile learning style or in other words hand-on and learning information through physical means (Orey, 2001). After this class, however, I have decided to add to my theory of learning.
I realize how important technology plays a part in teaching students and engaging them actively in learning. The theory of social learning left a great impression on me and since I use it already I want to expand of the use of the theory and incorporate many new ideas and activities into my teaching. Social Learning theory is “students actively engage in constructing artifacts and conversing with others” (Laureate Education Inc., 2009). Once I get back into school after summer vacation, the first technology tools that I am going to incorporate into my teaching is PowerPoint. Even though students are going to be engaged in physical activity for most of the semester they are going to have two projects that they are going to have to do throughout the semester. Students will of course be working in groups and will create a PowerPoint for the specific assignment that will be given to them. Students will be given a rubric as well to know “exactly what is expected of them” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).
Another tool that I am going to implement is going to try to use more graphic organizers to present information to my students. Students will be given a topic such as ancient Olympics, importance of exercise, etc, and are going to present a graphic organizer to the class presenting the information they believe important pertaining to the topic (Pitler, et.al, 2007). This will help my students with organization and note taking, which can be beneficial to them for their other classes such as math, English, social studies, etc.
Two long term goals that I would want to change in my instruction is convincing students as well as other teachers how important technology integration is in physical education and even though they may not be doing physical fitness every day, they will be doing it most days and the days they are not they will be strengthening their thinking skills and learning about how to stay healthy and live health lifestyles now and in the future. The idea of staying fit for now and the future is what I believe is the biggest goal of a physical educator to reach to students, and just like in any other class using a variety of activities is going to do nothing but help the child grow and retain information needed to be physically fit. I believe that the best way for me to go about this is first convincing my students that physical education is about having fun but more importantly staying healthy and how to stay healthy. Students need to research and try many activities to really gain knowledge about staying fit; coming in everyday and playing games is not going to achieve this goal. Once I have convinced the students it will be time to convince the teachers and administration.
The second long-term goal that I want to try is using different technological tools that I have learned about during this class and implement them into my teaching. I want to use PowerPoint, wikis, blogs, graphic organizers, non-linguistic representation, etc to reach the needs of all my students and their abilities (Pitler, et.al, 2007). The way for me to achieve this is to start experimenting different ways to incorporate technology and see what works best for me and my students. I have really enjoyed this class and have gained some great ideas and I cannot wait for the next school year to start so I can start implementing some of the fantastic ideas presenting throughout the course.

References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Program eight. Social Learning Theories [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.
Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved
from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom
Instruction that works. Alexandria, VA. ASCD.
· Chapter 1: Setting Objectives
· Chapter 2: Providing Feedback
· Chapter 5: Non-Linguistic Representation

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice (application 5)

This week we discussed the social learning theories and instructional strategies that correlate with the social learning theories. First I think it is important that we know what the social learning theory is, which was presented by Dr. Orey; he states that social learning theory is “students actively engage in constructing artifacts and conversing with others” (Laureate Education, 2009). One of the strategies discussed this week was the use of cooperative learning. Cooperative learning focuses on “having students interact with each other in groups in ways that enhance their learning” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).

Social learning theory is based on the concept that students work and learn better when they are in groups and able to socialize with peers. When using cooperative learning it is important that you as a teacher group students based on ability levels sparingly, the groups should be small, and cooperative learning should be used consistently but not overused (Pitler, et.al., 2007). One activity that was mentioned for cooperative learning which I found very neat was the use of keypals. Keypals allow “communication with students in other cities, states, and countries” (Pitler, et.al., 2007). I think this is a fantastic activity that can be incorporated in all subject areas. Any activity that allows for the student to learn outside of their zone of proximal development is great, and if that information comes from peers it is ever better because students can relate to them better than say an adult giving them the same information. The zone of proximal development is what the child is able to learn at the time, but to reach above that level students need a more knowledgeable other to learn the information (2009), in this above case this would be the peer they are communicating with to learn their culture and issues that they encounter in their lives.

Social learning theory is a theory that should be used in classrooms today. A classroom should not just be base on social learning theory but needs to be included into the classroom. You can incorporate this by having students work in groups, having students use keypals, webquests, multimedia projects, creating websites, and even playing web-enabled multiplayer simulation games (Pitler, et. al., 2007). Any activity that allows for the students to work together and communicate with their peers is going to benefit the student as well as engage students in learning.

References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Social Learning Theories.
[Motion Picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore:
Author.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kunh, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom
instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Voice Thread: http://voicethread.com/share/525620/