"Learning a second language involves the whole person. When a word or phrase comes out exactly right, accurate and appropriate for the situation, the whole person benefits. Educators who devote their attention to the whole learner reap the reward of rich person-to-person interaction. Such education draws on philosophy, psychology, sociology, and anthropology" (Diaz-Rico, 35). I start this blog with this quote because my response to it would be, "HOW"? How can we as educators hit on each area and build the L2, while addressing the needs of the rest of the class, their individualized IEP goals, behavioral issues, and all the duties we take on just because of our job description. As I continued reading, I relaxed some as the theories were discussed.
I love the IDEA of behavorism, however it would not be a good fit in a special education classroom. ALthough I think we all could use some of the concepts in our day to day teaching practices; however we would not take the entire theory as the main strategy to our teaching practices. Behaviorism focuses on the external rewards and incentives. Obviously we need to reward the positive and punish the negative, however, how would this address the individualized need for each student?
This is where costructivism comes in to play. We may continue to work on the students behaviors, however using this teaching strategy focuses more ont he students takling responsibility for their own learning. The students themselves will drive the content of lessons and the instructional strategies used. All students deal with complex situations and the teacher offers their support. The students and teacher share the responsibility of what it taught/learned in the classroom and setting goals together. The teacher uses manipulatives that are tailored to the students’ needs and levels to gain understanding. The students focus more on critical thinking through class discussions, asking questions, pair sharing, and presenting ideas to one another to solve different types of problems. This view helps elementary students keep their curiosity and love for learning. The EL students develop their language skills through authentic discussion, and as they read, talk, write, and listen to the other students and the teacher.
I found a website that focuses on creating constructivist lesson plans. Take a look at the lesson plans and see how you can have a more constructivist approach in your class room! http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/lp_elem1.html
Lindsy Hughes stated, "Schools are struggling to meet the needs of all learners while trying to keep up with the government’s idea of what learning really is". I agree with this statement. I think that schools are now teaching to the 'test' rather than teaching to the individual student, including special education. I find that the government has developed such unrealistic idealizations for students, that it has the teachers running around with their heads cut off! We teach so the students will perform on the test, we don't teach what the student needs to know to be a responsible tax paying adult. Awright states, "A constructivist teacher collaborates goals, rules and instruction with the students. When teaching the class everyone is allowed to contribute to the discussion and learn from one another including the teacher". I enjoyed this section of the chapter as well. I would definitely want to be a part of a constructivist classroom!
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