Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is a skill that is taught as soon as you teach a young child to share their toys or work with their siblings to clean their bedroom. It is imperative that people know how to work together in order to get anything accomplished these days. There are very few careers that call for individual work and people should know that in order to get ahead in their careers, they must learn to work cooperatively. In my classroom, I implement problem based learning on a regular basis. I believe that by having students work together to solve a real life problem, they are building skills that will last a lifetime. They divide tasks and put their heads together to come up with possible solutions.
One aspect of technology that I plan to implement this school year is blogging. I hope that my students will learn to share their thoughts and also to accept responses from their classmates. It is a wonderful alternative to journal writing with paper and pen. It will also give them an insight into how useful technology is to them.

Social Constructivism

Social Constructivism plays a vital role in the classroom of today. Working cooperatively is a crucial skill to be taught. When students learn to work together in groups, they are being set up for a lifetime of social skills that they will need to survive. In this week's learning resources, I enjoyed reading about the Problem Based Learning strategy. By giving students a problem to solve together, they are able to each use their strengths to bring to the table endless possibilities. Students who can work with others who are not neccessarily like them are better able to succeed. It is important for the teacher to always choose the cooperative groups to make sure that students are working with a variety of people. By doing so they are not only learning acceptance of others but also that it is important to be able work with others to achieve a common goal. Peer collaboration is something that they will not be able to avoid once they are in post secondary schools and also in the midst of their careers. The sooner this skill is taught, they better off our students will be.

Behaviorism in the Classroom

Behaviorism is a powerful instructional theory that has been used for ages and still has a place in today's classroom. Personally, I have found Behaviorism useful in my classroom when disciplining my students. I use behavior contracts and reward them for their positive behaviors. I have also used the technique of cueing in the past with some of my more troubled students by "providing either verbal or non verbal clues as to the appropriateness of a behavior" (Orey, 2001). Also, I am a firm believer that "behaviors can be unlearned and replaced with new behaviors" (Orey, 2001). High school students are not exempt from this rule. Many of my peers believe that by the time they are teenagers, their behaviors cannot be changed. I disagree with them because I have witnessed it on many occasions. The majority of our students have never had a positive role model to follow. I try to be that for my students. I act in a manner that they should follow.
Instructionally, I use drill and practice when teaching new skills such as grammar and vocabulary terms. Technology offers many resources for behaviorist instruction. There are many software programs that offer tutorials for any subject that allows students to practice what is being taught in the classroom. These tutorials offer students a way to be instructed that is far more interesting to them than me lecturing them in the classroom.

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/