A Constructive Approach to Learning

 I love the constructivist model, student-centered instruction, and cooperative learning. I am an advocate for the student-centered approach. When instruction is student-centered, the students are more engaged in the lesson. For example, since I know that most of my class likes to play Roblox, all I have to do is mention Roblox in a math word problem or take a topic we are learning about and connect that topic to the game, and the students become more engaged. The same is when I tell the students that they can work with a partner or in groups. The students always become more involved. I know that direct instruction can be preserved because there are many things that the students need to be explicitly taught. 

The constructivist model encourages social learning in which the students learn from each other, and the best way to be successful is to incorporate heterogeneous grouping (Slavin, 2019, p.95). According to Slavin (2019), the top-down approach will promote critical thinking and problem-solving skills (p.196). I love the idea of students as Masterminds. It made me visualize the idea of students understanding that their mind is capable of some amazing things. When the students engage in discovery learning, they learn concepts and other principles through active involvement and experiences. If students become independent learners and take on the responsibility of ensuring they understand the learning target, they can be self-regulated learners. Slavin provides various strategies that are relevant and applicable to classrooms today. I am excited to learn more strategies for questioning, reasoning, problem-solving and critical thinking. In particular, reciprocal teaching drew on my interest because this is a strategy that I use at times, but Slavin(2019) provides a step-by-step guide and example on how to incorporate it with fidelity in the classroom(p.203). 

After reading the book, the students in my guided reading group write a response to the story, then we play trivia in which the students all have a buzzer, and I will ask questions based on the text. The students compete to press their button first. The students are also allowed to be the “teacher” and ask their peers questions. The questions range from within the text to about the author and the text. 

Also, when reading the thinking skills section made me think of the new math standards we will be teaching soon. Teachers who attended the training shared that the new standard will be thinking math, where we will be teaching the students critical thinking about math.

I learned several concepts that will help me be a better teacher. One is the use of accountable cooperative learning. I want to create groups where each student is accountable and participates in the group activity. I want to help the groups to set goals for their learning experiences. There is no way for me to watch every group to be sure they are doing the right thing, but if I teach them the group rules and how to help keep everyone accountable. I will also use a balance of student-centered approaches and direct instruction to help me to be an effective teacher and increase student learning.

Although some concepts are already implemented in my class, I want to implement them with more fidelity. The question is, how can I gradually implement the methods in my classroom without becoming overwhelmed with too many changes in instructional styles? Also keeping in mind that students become stressed when trying multiple new concepts and when a routine is away from the norm.