Professional Learning Communities

I am very new to professional learning communities and quite frustrated at times, trying to figure out how this really works. I browsed resources that I found to be effective that will contribute learning while working in the field of instructional design. There are three blogs that really spoke to me. I am a first grade elementary teacher and often look for ways to integrate technology into my classroom. I found Lisa Parisi's blog very helpful. It describes assumptions teachers always contain at the beginning of each school reflecting on what students will or will not be able to do. This blog is insightful because it analyzes how teacher's assumptions are often incorrect. It also focuses on the gender language with students at elementary level. It discusses how students are often intimated to work with students of the opposite gender. The information was supportive because it really relates to why boys rather work with boys and girls rather stick with girls. This site allows reflection on the role as an educator and how technology can build stronger relationships in the classroom. It connects with the theory of constructivism. Using interactive and engaging activities that promote cooperative learning will enable students to learn through interaction and experience (Etmer & Newby, 2003). Students’ misconceptions about working with the opposite gender will become obsolete and learning will take place.  

http://www.thelisaparisi.com/ 

The following site I approached listed a variety of blogs dealing with technology and student motivation. My future goal is to become a college professor. Learning as much as possible in the education field is essential in becoming a successful in the field of instructional design. This blog focuses on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. I found it enlightening to read because the education system is often looking towards rewards to motivate students to learn. It is evident that rewards may not be the best method of promoting better attendance or student engagement. It clarifies that once a reward is taken away, a student will result back to the usual trend in behavior. It resembles the behaviorist theory discussed in this week readings. The behaviorist theory implies that a stimulus is used to elicit the desired response from the learner presented with a target stimulus (Ertmer & Newby, 2003). In this case, students are presented with stickers, homework passes, extra computer time, extra credit, treasure box, and candy to elicit students to be engaged in learning and to make good grades. Observing this in the classroom, students become expected of receiving rewards when completing a task.  I think the best way to motivate students is to provide fun and engaging classrooms that will spark their desire to learn. What better way than technology!  Using the constructivism approach to teaching, will promote a students’ desire to achieve. Although, rewards may be helpful in some instances, intrinsic motivation is what should be promoted and focused on.

http://newadventuresatwilkes.blogspot.com/

Technology is apparently will always be evolving and changing. The world will constantly be adapting and learning in order to be efficient in this world of technology. This site is useful because it contains a blog provides insights on assessments with the use of technology. I did not realize that blogs could be such an effective tool for assessing performance. It was interesting to read how to this educator developed an assessment to effectively grade student performance. I realized that this would be useful information because it may be helpful in developing assessments with other use of other technology, such as evaluating websites or multimedia presentations. It also enables me to use instructional tools to develop knowledge of more complex topics that will assist in applying my experience in the field of instructional design (Ertmer & Newby, 2003).  

http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/ 

These sites will serve as ongoing resources because they reflect different areas of intellect that will be helpful in reflecting on my role as I work in instructional design. They are a mixture of different components that deal with student interaction, research based methods of student behavior, and the use of technology in the use of assessment tools. They contain other resourceful tools that will present the opportunity to interact with others that will contribute to my knowledge. It is evident that the new movement in education is geared towards collaboration among members of teams in schools and structured so that educators can reflect on instruction together (Ferriter, 2009 ) In contrast, blogging is an essential tool to collaborate with other professionals to expand our minds to different ideas, information, and methods of learning.

Resources

Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (1993). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 6(4), 50–71.

Ferriter, B. (2009). Learning with blogs and wikis. Educational Leadership, 66(5), 34–38.