Rounding Rap

Rounding Rap link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lib5AeZjtHE

Internet Safety Sharing

For this part of the internet safety assignment, I talked to my 32-year-old sister. She is the mother of 3 young children ages 7, 4, and 1. From our discussion I pleasantly surprised by what an informed parent she is. She told me that she’s spent a lot of time reading articles and listening to programs about internet safety. I was able to share a few new ideas with her about internet safety—mainly that you sometimes have to shut down an entire system when you accidentally access something you shouldn’t view and that parents need to set the example as good viewers of media when it comes to time. I also shared with her what I learned from the article, “Tangled in the Web” and a more gospel-oriented perspective on how media is useful if we use it correctly. This was a positive experience because I was able to congratulate my sister on all that she knew as well as give her a little more information. This was also an easy assignment to complete because she already knew so much information and yet I was still able to help her learn something new about a topic she is very interested in. Overall, I think this was a valuable experience and I’m glad that my sister is a well-informed, caring parent who understands the importance of internet safety.

Personal Learning Theory

I discovered a lot about how I learn by trying to teach myself how to knit a scarf on a loom. As I reflected back on the process of learning how to loom, I was intrigued by the fact that many of the things I learned come together to constitute my personal learning theory or the ways that I learn the best.

In order to really learn, you have to want to learn or have motivation. This motivation can be extrinsicintrinsic. When a person is intrinsically motivated, the process of learning in and of itself provides personal fulfillment. I was intrinsically motivated to learn how to loom. I wanted to be able to master looming because I felt like it was a valuable skill to have that would be applicable for the rest of my life. This same idea applies to me learning any new skill or concept—I have high intrinsic motivation when I know that what I am learning will help me in the future and that it will be applicable in situations I will encounter for the rest of my life. or

When I first obtained the loom, I was hoping I would be able to figure out how to do it all by myself. I quickly realized that I needed some help. So, I asked for written directions from my former third grade teacher—a more knowledgeable other. I then tried to teach myself with only the aid of written directions. I realized again that I needed more help, this time in the form of having a more knowledgeable other model the steps for me. At this point, my mom came to my assistance and fulfilled that role. I watched her go through each step (modeling). She was careful to explain things in ways that I could understand—in effect, she was teaching to my specific zone of proximal development. She then proceeded to help me complete the process. As she helped me, she was gradually removing her degree of assistance. My mom recognized that I as I moved further along in the process, I didn’t need as much scaffolding as I required at the onset of learning the loom. My mother teaching me how to learn the loom is a great example of cognitive apprenticeship. I think that this is a good way for students to learn because a more knowledgeable other serves as the example as he or she models the process the students themselves will then complete. In addition, this also serves as a way to increase student self-efficacy. When I saw that my mother mastered the loom by practicing, I believed that I too could master the loom, increasing my personal self-efficacy. This method of learning also caters to individual student needs by adapting instruction to fit into every student’s zone of proximal development. I believe that cognitive apprenticeship compliments guided discovery learning.

When I finally started to loom on my own, I experienced disequilibrium. I found that I started to make mistakes with the loom and it was difficult for me to learn how to correct the mistakes I made, especially when I had to take off so many rows to catch a simple error. I realized that I was still in the process of trying to transfer the knowledge I had about the looming process from my working memory to my long term memory. I had a hard time with this because I was not consistently practicing everyday. Because I wasn’t consistently looming, it would have helped me transfer my knowledge to my long term memory if I would have practiced maintenance rehearsal. When I began to loom for longer periods of time and looming multiple times the same day, I then began to develop automaticity. I found that looming became a mindless, automatic task that no longer took mental effort. I feel that I learn concepts and ideas in a similar fashion. If I am not constantly learning about the concept or idea, I have to practice maintenance rehearsal in order to transfer my newfound knowledge to my long term memory.

Overall, I think that my personal learning theory falls under the social constructivism theory. I know that I learn the best when I am able to watch someone (observational learning) model before I perform the task This increases my personal self-efficacy and my motivation for learning and completing the task correctly. I found that learning how to loom was often a hard process, but in the end I did master it! I find it fascinating that I am able to apply the lessons I’ve learned from looming to come up with the ways I learn best in a variety of situations. I hope to be able to use this learning style more in the future as well as continue to develop other learning styles.

Personal Learning Project

Learnin’ the Loom

For my personal learning project, I decided to learn how to knit a scarf on a loom. Back in the third grade, my teacher taught me and my fellow classmates how to do this. So, when I was eight, I knitted a rather rough scarf. I was very proud of myself and presented it to my sister as a Christmas present. Now that I reflect back on this, I can’t recall ever seeing her wear it and I know there was a reason! When I was eight, I did not truly learn the process of knitting the scarf, nor did I create a very successful or good-looking product. When I decided to learn how to do this, completely from scratch because I had absolutely no memory of how I did it in the third grade, I was excited! I wasn’t successful at age eight and while I have a slight memory of what the scarf looked like, I was hopeful that at age 21 I would have better luck. I started this project with high hopes and unfortunately, they were quickly dashed.

I am still in contact with my third grade teacher, Kathy. I had Kathy send me a loom and she included some yarn to go with it. She’s been knitting scarves on looms for many years, so I assumed that this amount of yarn would be enough for the scarf I would create. That was my first mistake. My second mistake came when I tried to teach myself how to start the scarf. I had Kathy email me instructions and I attempted to follow them. The first step is to tie a slip knot. I didn’t know how to tie a slip knot, so I called my dad and asked him to walk me through it. This proved to be a frustrating process and I finally just researched step-by-step directions to tying a slip knot online. I successfully tied my slip knot and then attempted to follow the written directions. Learning to knit by reading written directions was very confusing and I was completely lost! I called my mom and asked her to schedule a knitting session with Kathy before she came down to see me one weekend. She and Kathy spent some time knitting on the loom together and my mom brought her fresh experience down to help me. My mom finally helped teach me how to start the scarf. Once I got started, I was on fire! I was able to get the hang of making the yarn zigzags, pulling the loops over the zig-zags, pushing that row down and repeating. I enjoyed knitting and had a lot of fun until one day I realized that I had missed a loop and there was a small, but noticeable hole in my scarf. I ended up taking off a lot of knitted rows in order to go back to fix it. I then continued on without any other major setbacks. I was back to the point of having fun and then the thought crossed my mind that I might not have enough yarn for a whole scarf. I didn’t think my concern was valid because Kathy, the expert, had given me the amount of yarn and I trusted that it would be enough. But, it turns out I was right and I ran out of red yarn. Not knowing what to do, but wanting to keep my knitting that I had worked so hard on, I carefully pried it off the loom and started again with blue yarn. The second start was a bit rocky at first, but once I got started, I was really going—faster than a speeding bullet! I actually finished more knitting on the blue scarf in about four hours than I did on the red one in six hours. Because of the many set-backs I encountered along the way, I was not able to finish a complete scarf. However, I’ve made considerable progress on the blue scarf and hope to finish it soon.

Overall, I enjoyed learning how to knit a scarf on the loom. At times the process was completely frustrating. I found that it was very difficult to learn such a complicated task by following written directions. I appreciated the first-hand experience my mom brought with her to actually teach me how to knit on the loom. It was a lot easier to have someone teach me and help me through the process on my first round because I had no idea what I was doing. As I was knitting, the process was, at times, very mindless, but I still had to concentrate because I didn’t want to mess up again. By the end of my ten hours, I was disappointed that I didn’t finish a complete scarf, but I’m excited to keep going. So, at age 21, I really was able to learn how to knit a scarf on a loom and it looks pretty good so far. Learning how do to this was a frustrating, yet fun project and I’m glad that I was able to accomplish the feat of actually learning how to knit a scarf on a loom!

Personal Learning Log—Loom Hours

Date Duration Description

2/16................ 20 minutes................... Loom Directions

3/1.................. 30 minutes................... Loom Directions

3/2.................. 1 hour......................... Slip knot; Starting on loom

3/7.................. 30 minutes................... Looming; making mistakes—starting over

3/28................ 1 hour......................... Looming

4/4.................. 2 hours........................ Looming

4/5.................. 1 hour 40 minutes........ Taking red off loom; slip knot; starting blue

4/5.................. 2 hours........................ Looming

4/9.................. 1 hour......................... Looming

Total: 10 hours

Integration Ideas

I enjoyed listening and watching my in class group presentations as well. I learned that the best way to use technology involves student interaction--having the students physically use the technology. Two of the best ideas I found for using technology was to use a permetheum board to review the parts of speech and to use an LCD projector to play a vowel jeopardy game. There are so many different ways technology can be integrated into a lesson. After seeing such a wide variety of technology integration ideas, I am looking forward to my next practicum where I will be able to use these wonderful ideas!

What I Learned

I enjoyed watching other group member's presentations. From watching the different slideshares I learned that there are a lot of ways to integrate different technologies into similar lessons. I also learned that technology really enhances student learning. I was surprised at the wide range of programs my group members used--I saw iclickers to Stellarium. Using technology in a lesson not only helps a teacher achieve the lesson learning objectives, but it also exposes students to technology as the teacher models appropriate technology use. I think that technology is important in the classroom and when it is used correctly, it will contribute to student learning and add an element of fun and excitement to the lesson.

Technology Enhanced Lesson

Technology Integration Project

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