sociocultural theory

I really like sociocultural theory personally. As a learner; we participate in a broad range of activities and internalize the effects of working together. As a learner myself, every day when I’m at school, I gain new knowledge. I think group discussion is a great example. I’m a shy person and I have hard time talking in front of people. I do better with small group of people. Through interacting with my peers in class, I get to learn new information from my peers and gain more knowledge. This leads to collaborative learning. When a peer group cooperates to learn and achieve specific goals. I believe that a person can learn more when you interact with others. Scaffolding is also a great strategy for ZPD. This requires instructor to show children how to solve problem step by step. This helps the children to expand their base of knowledge

Internalization

I found what we talked about in class today very interesting, that people internalize different songs from different memories they had when hearing a certain song. I am very musically inclined and constantly listening to music so I can really relate. I have certain songs which bring me back to the first time I met a boyfriend, songs that bring me back to getting ready to go out with my friends in highschool, and songs I used to listen to before basketball games. It is so interesting to me how every time I hear songs connected to significant memories, even years later when I hear the song it takes me right back to that time in my life, or that experience with that person. I think music is a real key aspect of internalization, and a place where you can see it most obviously and frequently.

Entry 4- Sociocultural Theory

I believe that people are always adapting and learning from all of the people around them.  Especially in classroom situations, at all ages, we are constantly learning from one another through communication, discussions and class participation.  Through discussion and communication we are able to enlighten and learn about other people's ideas and look at them in a new way.  By looking at problems differently, it may help us to understand them more clearly or in different ways, which brings them into our ZPD, if they hadn't been before.

I took a physics class in high school that I struggled with greatly.  I was never able to completely grasp the concepts and relate them to one another and apply them to different types of problems. I understood the concepts individually, however could not apply them to real life situations.  Certain lessons and concepts in my physics class, I struggled with more.  We were placed in groups to do a project on one of the concepts I didn't understand, and through working with that group I was able to look at the problem differently.   Physics was outside of my ZPD until I was offered assistance form a peer.  I was told to apply the concepts I was learning in my calculus class to help me with my physics, we were simply doing math problems but applying them to real life examples.  After the assistance from my classmates, and some practice, I was able to complete problems on my own and physics was brought into my ZPD.

Cognitive Theory

I believe that the importance of transfer is most clearly seen in a foreign language classroom. In high school, I took Spanish for four years, but it was not until the last year that students were asked to use the language in an active way. For example, to be able to participate in a debate or write a speech and then share with the class. I remember that earlier on in my learning, I was assigned an occasional small project, such as writing a script with a conversation partner, however most of the learning was transmission and memorization. I also recently had an exchange student from Japan live with my family for a week, and while I noticed that he was able to write and read English very well, he was hardly able to converse in English. His abilities were a reflection of a culture and class environment that values mastery of grammatical skills and rules over conversational skills and active learning.

Behaviorism

In 7th grade, I was placed in a math class that relied entirely on an electronic bubble-answer system, very similar to the learning system in Benny's classroom. There was very little teacher instruction as each student worked at their own level. Some excelled with the method while I did not as I was already a poor math student and failed miserably in this system based on results and answers. I needed a foundation and to be taught concepts and strategies, which was not achievable during quick one to one conferences with the teacher. Unfortunately, this experience negatively affected my views on my ability to do math and I believed that I was simply not smart enough. When I entered high school, my math class was more traditional, in that the structure consisted of an instructor at the front of the classroom with an overhead projector. What stood out to me was that instruction was not rushed, but many problems were done on the board in careful detail. The instructor was also very patient and approachable and encouraged students to come before and after class. Opportunities that I took advantage of and in the end, received an A - in the class. I later found out that my 7th grade math teacher, the Skinner enthusiast, eventually gave up teaching and became an accountant.

Constructivism

I believe that it is very difficult for a teacher with between 30-40 students to give each student the individualized attention that allows the teacher to truly know a student's strengths and weaknesses. Usually a class's ability level is a generalization of the abilities of most of the student's, while those on the periphery slip through the cracks. While I tutored in a ninth-grade classroom at Garfield, there were five volunteers that were able to float around the room and engage students in conversation about the assignment given. This particular teacher also had an assistant teacher. There were many resources immediately available to the students and I believe that many classes should mimic this format. However, most do not and the responsibility of the education of so many students lies on only one teacher.

BEHAVIOR

I find it really interesting how your behavior towards something or someone else can be highly influence by one which you are close with. For example, I was hanging out with some of my friends this last weekend and one of them was telling me how a mutual aquantence did her wrong and hurt her. In tern, I now have a problem with that person as well and will not hang out with them either. Because this is my best friend and I have her back so when someones behavior is rude towards her, or any of my family members I take it personally as well.

Cognitive constructivism

When people are talking to me, I feel as though I think and picture things sort of similarly to Fish.  For example, if someone is talking about their hometown or their house, I tend to associate their descriptions with my hometown or house, the things I know.  Although there are slight variations, when people are talking to me, I generally start off with an image of something I know and adjust it to their description.  I'm sure what I am picturing is not exactly what the speaker is intending, however, it is what I know and is a basis used for what they are talking about.  I feel that, in general, we have the same concept or idea in our minds, just variations of the same overall idea.  For the most part, I don't think what I am picturing or thinking in my head when talking to other people is so different or incorrect that it conflicts with the overall message or idea. It is just simply a variation or adaptation based on my knowledge and what I know. 

I think this is a great example of Cobb's idea of knowledge construction.  People build off of what they know and apply new concepts to these ideas concrete ideas to help them learn and apply new ideas and meanings.

Ashley-
"I knew the boys intentions and the fact that the two had come to an understanding. However, the teacher only observed the behavior and assumed the worst". I agree with this. This happens all the time at my preschool. Especially when I work with toddlers. Working with toddlers, it's always hard to ask them what's on their mind. Moreover, because they can't speak that well at that age. As a teacher, I always have to talk to the child what happen and see what the problem is.

Behavior

In replying to Ashley's post on behavior I agree that we can't just see a behavior and automatically make an assumption. We need to talk to the child about their actions, and what is in their head instead of just seeing the tale end of a problem and automatically seeing the negative without really talking the action out and then being able to identify what the root cause was of the behavior.

Behavior

In the preschool classroom I volunteer in, a little boy was asked to share his toy, and although he was initially irritated with the situation and did not want to share, he realized that he and his friend could trade toys and was willing to do it.  I observed this interaction and understood that they were both willing to share, however, one of the boys tossed his toy to his friend to catch but it hit him in the head instead and caused him to cry.  The teacher only witnessed the boy getting hit by the toy and assumed he was bullying and being aggressive, when that was not his intention at all.  I knew the boys intentions and the fact that the two had come to an understanding.  However, the teacher only observed the behavior and assumed the worst. 

I believe that external, observable behavior is only a starting point.  Although a person's behavior and their actions are the only things we can see, it is not everything.  It is true we cannot always know what is going on in someone's mind, in my opinion, it is still very important because that is what their true intentions are.  Intentions and understandings are what motivate behavior and cause us to act in a certain way.  Although they may be misperceived by someone else or not acted out in the most effective way, I still believe that what is guiding our actions is the most important thing. 

behavior

Yes, I think behavior plays important role in our everyday life. This is because how can we know what’s going on in someone else’s mind? For instance, if you want to know if a student knows what “dog” means. She can just tell you that she knows what “dog” means, but she can be lying. How can you find out that she’s not lying? You can have her explain what “dog” means. (And I think this come from people’s behavior). I don’t think behavior is enough because behavior is temporary thing that is determined by circumstances. However, it’s hard to measure something without a behavior. I believe that you should also consider “intentions” or “understanding.” This matter as well.

my own personal experience

For this weeks blog I would like to talk about my own personal experience with learning. When I was a freshman in high school I was having a horrible time in math class. I did not understand any of the material and was failing every test. Then one day someone suggested that I see a math teacher that tutors during lunch. I started to see him everyday at lunch for a few weeks and had him go over concepts from my homework that I did not understand. He did a great job of explaining concepts to me by drawing pictures, graphs, and relating them to real life. The next test I got the second highest grade in the class, and my first A on a math test that year. It felt great, and reassured me that I was not bad at math I was just being taught the wrong way.