Digital Blog Post #C

Active learning is when students are most apt to learn.  "Active learning is also known as discovery learning, learning by doing, inquiry-based learning, or hands-on learning" (Maloy, 2013).  Active learning sounds like the dream mindset for a student from a teacher.  When the student is directly involved in the learning process the material being taught will be better learned and kept with the student.  Always reading and learning from text books, taking standardized tests and attending a teacher-centered classroom will become boring and lose active listening from students.  Active listening is something all future and current teachers should be looking for everyday in the classroom.  I know I enjoy it most when doing something hands-on, as I am enjoying what I am learning whether it be through an online quiz about the bones in the human body or creating a powerpoint about a president.  Here is an article that I found very helpful with 40 useful strategies that help students to stay actively learning.

Teachers will be using technology to teach students successfully.  It is only fair to us as teachers, to guide students into building the own appropriate digital citizenship.  This is a personality they will be when online.  To teach students to use technology productively, honestly, and safely is the goal.  We never think of having an actual identity when we are using the web but we do.  When we create documents, blogs, pictures and videos that will be posted online for the world to see, we must make sure we are putting the best of us for successful websites.  Credit must be given to ourselves when creating these post, as well as to others when using information from other sites.  A positive digital citizenship is an important characteristic to possess as we do live in a digital world and will continue to live in a digital world.

Photo credit to MeacherTeacher on Flickr

                                                      

The third concept is to be able to actively engage students in learning whether it be by one-on-one tutoring, learning groups, inquiry learning, metacognitive thinking or finding new ways to successfully teach students.  I can say that learning groups is definitely my favorite method so far being used in a classroom.  When students are put together to work towards completing a goal, they share ideas and use each own unique abilities to help in completing the project.  One-on-one tutoring is best when a student is struggling because he or she will feel that the teacher cares about their success in the classroom.  Usually an extra hour of personal attention is all the student needs to feel like they are cared for or to fully wrap his or her brain around the material not being understood.

Resources

Gomez, M. (2017, January 27). Bones In The Human Body. Created with FlipQuiz www.FlipQuiz.com

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.