Cognitivists focus on learning as a mental operation that takes place when information enters through the senses, undergoes mental manipulation, is stored and is finally used (Lever-Duffy, McDonald, 2008). As a teacher, it is my responsibility to enter that information through the senses so that it reaches the long term memory and can be recalled at a later time. Although, I understand that some information will be memorized for the test and put into short term memory. My goal is to help students store the information in their long term memory, so it isn’t forgotten later in life.
One way that I can do this is by using cues, questions and advance organizers. According to Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski (2007), these instructional strategies focus on enhancing students’ ability to retrieve, use, and organize information on one topic. I often use cues and questions during my reading recovery lessons to help my students retrieve information. “ get your mouth ready”, “ what could you try”, “ does that make sense” are all cues/questions that are used in my lessons. Advance Organizers can be used with some of my upper grade level groups. Advance Organizers are structures that teachers provide to students before a learning activity (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Our first grade classrooms were learning about penguins this winter. An Advance Organizer, such as Inspiration, before learning about them would have helped the students make sense of the content.
Another way to achieve my goal is by summarizing and note taking. This instructional strategy focuses on enhancing students’ abilities to synthesize information and distill it into a concise new form. Note taking is not necessary and seems difficult for first grade students. However, I have asked my students to take “first grade” notes in the past. However, their notes consist of three words – or sentences towards the end of the year. Using Inspiration would encourage the students to take more or better notes. My students always enjoy any chance they have at using technology.
The instructional strategies, using technology, which I learned about this week, will definitely correlate with the principles of cognitive learning theory. As Ore (2009) states, “Images are very powerful tools to use in the classroom”.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author.
Lever-Duffy, J. & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical Foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom
instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Post & Presentation for Emerging Tech Class
14 years ago
I agree, images are a very powerful tool to use with children. Using kidspiration or inspiration to help young students take notes or to remain engaged during a lesson is a great way to integrate technology with young students. I taught first grade for 4 years and I definitely tried to incorporate technology as much as I could to help advance them both academically and socially in order to keep current in today's fast moving society.
ReplyDeleteMegan-
ReplyDeleteGood posting discussing these strategies that you are using in your classroom. I sometimes worry the most about spelling with my first graders. I worry the students are just putting the list words into their short term memory for the week and regurgitating the words onto the test for Friday, but are not really remembering the spelling strategies we talk about.
Over the past two weeks I have tried the Dual Coding Process that was discussed in our Text Book. I have shown the children the spelling words for the week next to an image that correlates to the word. I'm hoping this may build networks in the child's brain so they can log these words into their long term memory.