Digital Blog Post #C Chapter 3

Since every student who walks in the doors of my future classroom are going to learn differently, I must know the best way to reach my students. I need to realize that some of my students are going to be constructionism learners and will want to create things using their own knowledge and not just my own. Some of my students will have constructivism learning style where they will want to create and change the things around them. Other students will hold the cognitivism learning method and will want to learn and share their learning with others, where I am there as an encourager, not a dictator telling them what to do and how to do it. Finally some of my students will adapt a behavioristic learning style and they will want to memorize what I post on the board. They will want to do examples of it, and then will want to do it themselves. It is my job as a future teacher to realize every student is different, and understand which child adapts better to a certain learning style. For example, if I see a student who wants to create a toy car out of Legos instead of the Styrofoam I am using to make get my point across, I need to let go and understand that child’s brain is thinking much differently than mine in that moment. I then need to encourage the student to go ahead and create using those Legos. I have no problem with my future students wanting to learn and be able to figure out how to do it on their own, but I still wonder if I will be able to see that in my classroom. I wonder if I will be able to pinpoint a learning style in the students and teach them that way. I guess it would get easier as time goes on in that school year, but its still a challenge to figure out how each one of my students learns differently than the other.

As I continue to observe students inside and outside the classroom, I notice how some of them can sit still for quite some time, and then there are those who just simply can’t. I know that some of my future students will be active learners and will need hands-on teaching lessons such as daily writing, doing experiments and making models, and having the time in the classroom to get up and move around. I want to make my classroom a comfortable place where if a student has the need to move around in my class, they have to ability to do so, as long as I know they are still focused on my lesson. If during one of my science lessons I could find a way to incorporate a walk outside around the school, to show them in 3D what their book shows them in 2D, then I will find a way to do it. If a math lesson has to deal with counting numbers, I want to bring out things that they can touch and use to help them understand the concept. I don’t want my students just sitting in a chair for eight hours a day while I drone on and on about something they may not remember by the end of the day.

The main thing I want to teach my students is creativity. I want them to know that they have an imagination and that everyone’s works different, but yet each one is amazing. I want them to be as creative as can be. I don’t want them to create something all the same for me to post around the room. If during a writing lesson the students are creating a story, I want them to come up with different ideas on how to bring their story that they have created from their imaginations to life. I would want one student to just write a story, while another draws a few pictures for their story. I want a student to put them story in a picture book, while the next student uses the technology around them and puts it into a presentation. I want my students to be as creative as they can be, with the technology and resources they have around them. If I see a student struggling to come up with something, maybe I’ll go help them out, or have another student help get them started. I want my students to know that they can come to me for help, but they can also work together and go to their fellow peers for help. I don’t want them to think that they are limited because they think it is too hard. I want them to find new exciting ways to express themselves throughout the year.

All in all, I want my future students to just be themselves, inside and outside my classroom. I want them to understand that everyone learns a different way, and the way they learn is acceptable. I want them to understand everyone has vast amount of creativity, and sometimes it takes different methods to tap into it. I want my students to feel comfortable in my classroom  where they know if they need certain resources to help reinforce a concept, that they can do that and not be put down for it. I want my students to want to learn when they step inside of my classroom and the minute they walk out my door at the end of the day, because learning doesn't only happen in the classroom; learning stretches far beyond that. 

Resources:

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.