tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29781278945967391932024-02-20T02:57:11.609-08:00Mrs. K's BlogThis is where I will be documenting very important things! Stand by.....Mara K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11777591999424842717noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978127894596739193.post-73275461367003105982010-11-17T20:07:00.000-08:002010-11-17T20:07:28.354-08:00Instructional Strategies and Practice<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Based on this week’s learning resources I gained a deeper understanding about information processing and how students take information in and store it in their brains for retrieval.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ore says that “images [are] more memorable than text”. (Ore, 2010) </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Power points and virtual fieldtrips are instructional strategies that can help students to have a deeper understanding and can enhance their learning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These ideas will help me to teach for understanding and not memorization.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program five. Cognitive learning theory [Webcast]. <i>Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology.</i> Baltimore, MD: Author</span></div>Mara K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11777591999424842717noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978127894596739193.post-11690510285334881832010-11-14T19:23:00.000-08:002010-11-14T19:23:08.792-08:00Behaviorist Learning Theory<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The focus for this week is “Behaviorist Learning Theory”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This particular topic is always very interesting to me, especially reinforcement and punishment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reading Hartley’s principle, “Reinforcement” I agree and believe that “</span><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Reinforcement is the cardinal motivator</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. Positive reinforcers like</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <a href="http://www.infed.org/biblio/learning-behavourist.htm"><span style="color: windowtext;">rewards</span></a><span style="color: black;"> and successes are preferable to negative events like punishments and failures”. ( </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Hartley, 1998)</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I naturally use positive reinforcement daily with my class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am constantly reminding myself how important it is to catch my students being good and letting them know immediately when I see the behavior that I want!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even just simply letting them know that I appreciate when they are working quiet and then it seems to be even more silent…it’s amazing how reinforcement especially the “positive kind” works!</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">With the idea of homework and practice I do have some trouble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My children come home with so much it seems a bit ridiculous, I only say this because it’s the kind of homework that is more for memorization and NOT for practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe that practice can be done throughout the day in the classroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore I do practice throughout the day with my students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Daily I will throw up a couple of problems that relate directly to what we are practicing in class on the board during a transition for the students to complete and share with table groups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just a couple minutes, practice and I am right there with their peers to help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My practice fits perfectly with one of James Hartley’s principles, “</span><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Repetition, generalization and discrimination are important notions</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. Frequent practice - and practice in varied contexts - is necessary for learning to take place. Skills are not acquired without frequent practice”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>( </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Hartley, 1998) </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We do practice with repetition daily. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">I find homework of this kind hard because some parents cannot help if a child is stuck and how is that productive?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Resources:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Smith, K. (1999). The behaviourist orientation to learning. In <em>The encyclopedia of informal education</em>. Retrieved from <a href="http://www.infed.org/biblio/learning-behavourist.htm%20%20" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext;">http://www.infed.org/biblio/learning-behavourist.htm </span></a></span></div>Mara K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11777591999424842717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978127894596739193.post-34299645783735070422010-10-24T18:20:00.000-07:002010-10-24T18:20:23.698-07:00Refecting on the “Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society”<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The course, “</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society” has helped me to develop my own technology skills as a professional by helping me to have a better understanding about blogs, wiki’s and podcasts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prior to the class I hadn’t had any exposure to these ideas/tools for the classroom setting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have also learned how to integrate each into the classroom environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s nice to have new innovative ideas to impact student learning.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My knowledge of teaching and the learning process has grown in directions I did not know where possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Granted I knew that technology and changes with technology were important to our children but listening to David Thornburg and other technology based informative individuals I have gained a deeper understanding of the learning process and how to get students into the self directed learning role.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s very important to me to allow my students to explore the world and to have the skill to reach out and be a part of our world and have the confidence in doing so.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My perspective on being teacher-centered to learner-centered has also refined and I have come up with a professional goal for myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would like to increase motivation of my students because that is the name of the game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can do so by allowing children time to explore technology tools that I have learned to access which I hope will help them to be more eager to learn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I can continue to expand my knowledge of learning, teaching, and leading with technology by being proactive with it, seeking out and bringing to my district ideas and tools to help support growth and increase student learning.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Although I did address one of my personal goals I would like to add that I plan on seeking out technology classes, courses, and ideas in my community to bring into the room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My first course of action is to learn more about interactive whiteboard…which is brand new to me.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I want to close by telling how truly excited I am about this adventure and how I look forward to finding a way to use wiki’s in the classroom with my students.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></span></div>Mara K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11777591999424842717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978127894596739193.post-85268934539922092222010-10-03T11:23:00.001-07:002010-10-03T11:31:55.784-07:00P21 & Partners<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<a href="http://www.p21.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Partnership for 21st Century Skills</span></a>” is a wonderful site full of support to encourage 21<sup>st</sup> Century readiness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the site is a very useful and user friendly resource. I love the fact that there is an informative section laid out for “life Skills”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The life skills part is very appealing to me because it’s something that I feel we have been lacking in the recent years here in my town because of the focus on state tests.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Basically the way I see it, is this site is a way for states, communities and teachers to get children to be technology savvy so that they can access these things that we sometimes do not have time to cover in the classroom.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The only issue that I see so far on this site is that the classes offered are very far from my state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps if they offered something closer to the states that have not joined they would have more success.</span><br />
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Please look and explore: <a closure_uid_izsqna="439" href="http://www.p21.org/" target="_blank">http://www.p21.org/</a> <br />
</div>Mara K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11777591999424842717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978127894596739193.post-400035678621903902010-09-19T19:47:00.000-07:002010-09-19T19:47:16.425-07:00Blog's in the ClassroomI work as a substitute primarily in the Selah School District. I work across the grade levels and content areas but did secure two long term positions in both first and fourth grade. <br />
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My intension for this blog is to inform parents of my practices, encourage parental feedback and to show off student work. <br />
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The purpose for this blog is to share with my community who I am and what I represent in the classroom and in this district.<br />
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This is not a place for students to interact about content however it is a showcase for their work!Mara K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11777591999424842717noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978127894596739193.post-56074428928786837642010-09-19T15:18:00.001-07:002010-09-19T20:25:47.295-07:00Making flashlights last year with a fantastic group of fourth graders at JC.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir4yCHTax3LrChLR25s6yxgYaHVqAZvdXZUfpOKsQRj5LXxnwU7tQitEGJVVrwToOrZv6JFaKIRapB2Y_UfXKeFF9lvPCsHLVQkd6RwmQIjSXtZC5eaz-xcPs9B-Qn3giPDfyFjLHTPgY/s1600/Science+049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir4yCHTax3LrChLR25s6yxgYaHVqAZvdXZUfpOKsQRj5LXxnwU7tQitEGJVVrwToOrZv6JFaKIRapB2Y_UfXKeFF9lvPCsHLVQkd6RwmQIjSXtZC5eaz-xcPs9B-Qn3giPDfyFjLHTPgY/s320/Science+049.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7OzqkLna84Bw_b78px69QKEBMU7NCfeQ90NC5tpZp5SiF7JKzG8wIIaJr6oeiaIlnBwiLwq2dYr2x7l40RuTB2qsVqbFawOZQO72QPwc6X-C6lQStjgbKstj0NjSJZbpNnCjEjR1HMdg/s1600/Science+052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7OzqkLna84Bw_b78px69QKEBMU7NCfeQ90NC5tpZp5SiF7JKzG8wIIaJr6oeiaIlnBwiLwq2dYr2x7l40RuTB2qsVqbFawOZQO72QPwc6X-C6lQStjgbKstj0NjSJZbpNnCjEjR1HMdg/s320/Science+052.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidkHXj1ftxtR3anWUWETREVD2Ji7VIfZKgXuj1iZ6D4uvSggzS8rjJ6PcQZuYbfZDfEZ7Frp_4UE3hLkyMnRF13wjSK42aU-83WNKCnvX0sSc_MkOgaQIlXeo704iLSRZyyqMGVNdKoQI/s1600/Science+upload.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidkHXj1ftxtR3anWUWETREVD2Ji7VIfZKgXuj1iZ6D4uvSggzS8rjJ6PcQZuYbfZDfEZ7Frp_4UE3hLkyMnRF13wjSK42aU-83WNKCnvX0sSc_MkOgaQIlXeo704iLSRZyyqMGVNdKoQI/s320/Science+upload.jpg" /></a></div>Mara K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11777591999424842717noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978127894596739193.post-7508558599243245292010-09-19T15:11:00.000-07:002010-09-19T18:17:05.247-07:00Creation and Reasoning Behind this Blog<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This blog will be used for marketing me in a sense. I would also like to show student work that has been created in classrooms where I have taught.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a place where I would like parents to visit so that they may SEE and therefore enhance the way that they feel about student learning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I would love and encourage any parental feedback. </span>I currently work with grades K-8 and across all content areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love my job and feel this blog will be a tool to reach out to my community.</span></div>Mara K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11777591999424842717noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2978127894596739193.post-20680400707655206652010-09-12T11:42:00.001-07:002010-09-12T11:42:53.729-07:00Mara K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11777591999424842717noreply@blogger.com3