Behavioral Learning vs Intructional Learning

Dr. Orey states that behaviorist theory consists of reinforcement and punishment. These types of operant conditioning correlate with instructional strategies by “reinforcing effort to enhance students’ understanding of the relationships between effort and achievement by addressing their attitudes and beliefs about learning” (Pitler, Hubbell , Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Students need to realize the importance of effort and technology can make it easier for students to track their effort.
“Homework and practice gives students a chance to apply what they have learned” (Pitler, Hubbell , Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Students can use a variety of technological tools such as Microsoft word and spreadsheets to practice such things as research, writing, and calculating in order to gain a better understanding of the material. This is also a type of reinforcement because they must first understand the content before applying it.
Enhancing student effort is all about getting the students to enjoy what they are learning. Technology is a great way to positively reinforce what the students are learning and actually make learning fun so that the students will want to continue in their efforts to learn more in future lessons.

Reflective Essay

This course has helped me develop technology skills in many ways. The blog page that I created will allow me to assign my students reflective essays once a week to not only view their thoughts and opinions on certain topics but also to test and improve their writing skills. The wikispace that we created will allow me to post multiple assignments and announcements for students to be able to view both in the classroom and at home. The podcasts I will probably not use as much in my classroom but knowing how to navigate this will allow me to navigate and implement vodcasting in my classroom. This could allow me to video myself teaching a lesson and require the students to view the lesson before it is taught in the classroom giving the students a chance to see and hear the information and come up with any questions they may have beforehand.
This course has been sort of difficult for me because it is more self taught than not. I believe that being able to investigate and make my own mistakes has made me a better learner because I am not depending on someone to teach it to me but am learning on my own research and experiences.
I am now more learner-centered because I can put myself in my student’s shoes and allow them to experience things on their own as I have done while also guiding them at the same time. I also find it very helpful to have the students teach each other the content to ensure learning is definitely taking place. I have found myself teaching other teachers here at my school about wikispaces and other things related to technology and I end up learning even more about the programs in the process.
Two goals that I have for myself are to finish my entire wikispace and blog page by next school year in order to be able to use them in the classroom.

Podcast Interviews

http://jsteedley.podbean.com/
The first three postings are the ones that uploaded correctly.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills Website Reaction

At first the website seemed kind of boring listing mostly informational material that I did not really understand. However, I continued reading under the tab Life and Career Skills and saw a statement that caught my eye "Setting and meeting high standards and goals for delivering quality work on time"(www.21stcenturyskills.org). This is something that I struggle with as a teacher because many teachers in my school system are not conisistent with this. It is very important to teach students at an early age to be responsible as well as doing good, quality work.
Alot of things on the website surprised me because I agree with a lot of it. Many teachers and school systems around me tend to give multiple opporutnities for students to pass or retake a class. It seems that no one wants to hold these kids responsible for their actions. This website lists many goals that all teachers should have for each students in order to TRULY help them succeed not only in school but in business as well.
There is really nothing on the website that I disagree with. I think it is a great site that can help teachers set goals for not only themselves but for their students as well.
I believe that this website implies that the teachers need to step it up and start helping their students with goals instead of hindering by "babying" them with things like extra credit and extra time to complete an assignment after the due date. In my opinion, the main focus of this website is to help these students set and accomplish reachable goals through a variety of activities.
I specifically liked the Ecutopia video that showed an after school program that not noly focused on school related tasks but real world activities such as visiting the pet shelter. A program such as this allows students to experience all kinds of things helping them to figure out what they are interested in doing in the future.

What purpose would a blog serve in an eduational setting?

I am currently in the process of creating my own wikispace with the help of our system technology specialist. I have already posted a link to my blog page on my wikispace. I would like for my students to not only access notes, homework, and worksheets from my wikispace but also my blog page for the purpose of answering and discussing reflection questions once a week. For example, I have already posted a question about opinions concerning evolution. I would use this to not only assess student learning but as a writing tool as well. There are so many students that do not yet know how to correctly write a complete sentence let alone a paragraph. The SAT now has a writing portion and I give essays on all tests so these students really need to know how to express their ideas on paper in a grammatically correct fashion. For the students, the blog page would be a place where they can express themselves and learn how to write about different topics.
What are your thoughts about my ideas concerning blogging as a writing tool in class? Do you have any suggestions that would add to my ideas?