Constructivism TIPR

One of the best examples of constructivism that I saw in the classroom was when Mr. D had students participate in discovery learning by splitting into groups and having students look up different key figures of the reformation giving them a few key guidelines of what to look for.  He then had the students present what they had found and had the other students take notes based on their discovery to learn about all of the different key figures of the reformation.  Students knew what they were doing and seemed to enjoy creating the presentations that they were creating.

However, there seems to be very few constructivist lessons in the classroom.  There are a few projects but the requirements seem so rigid that I would not consider them to constructivist.  For my mini-lesson I would like to incorporate group work and some inquiry.

Contexts of Development TIPR

I never saw the student's physical development be considered in the classroom.  One of the aspects that I felt like could have been improved upon, although I'm not sure how, is that the students did not have enough space.  The classroom was quite small and the desks were too close to each other for growing students.  However, this was definitely a facilities issue and probably could not be solved by the teacher.  In regards to Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological model, the teachers incorporated microsystems by having students reflect and write journals based on their own interactions with material.  They incorporated mesosystems by having the students work in groups and with the whole class from time to time thus bringing in more interactions.  I never saw an example of exosystems as that is much more difficult to identify, except for both teachers leaving for the Shakespeare festival meaning the students were left with a sub, an event that effected them indirectly.  Lastly the environment of Maeser Academy and the feelings that the students have towards their charter school acted as a Macrosystem as it effected each student and how they learned.

I saw neither teacher do anything to learn more about the students' personal, cultural, and community assets, but I suspect that this was something that was done before I entered the classroom.  I witnessed a couple of examples where the teachers used the assets that the students brought to the classroom to help build relationships.  I watched Mr. D playfully imitate a student and he seemed to do quite an accurate portrayal based on the reaction of the other students he was sitting around.  In addition, when students were giving presentations, Mrs. S was asking about both younger and older siblings giving indication that she was aware of the students home lives.

The teachers incorporated student's lives into instruction by having the students personally reflect on certain questions that were asked bringing in personal experiences.  The questions that I witnessed dealt with sexism, paradise, and suffering.  Students were also asked to write and turn in personal journals.  One that I saw is Mr. D asked the students if they would want to live in the Garden of Eden as it is described in Paradise Lost, why or why not.  Students had a few minutes to work on it and then Mr. D asked the students to share some of their thoughts.

Responding to student's individual needs based on their personal backgrounds was not something that I witnessed very often.  Both of the classes that I observed seemed pretty homogeneous to me with very few needs being displayed outside of the norm.  One that I did observe is that students were giving presentations, where they performed a scene from Hamlet either in front of the class or filmed it, and one student had not completed his.  I believe this student was nervous about performing in front of the class and possibly did not have the resources to complete the project at home although it is impossible for me to know either of these things.  The student requested an audience with Mrs. S in private so he could talk to her about it.  Instead of meeting with the student and learning what had happened that he did not complete such a large project, she gave him a 0.  This is an instance where his needs could have been better met by making talking to him a priority.

When I teach my mini-lesson I will strive to meet the student's individual needs as well as work with each group individually in regards to their project.  I will try to see what problems they are coming across and work with them to give them the tools to solve these problems.

Vygotsky TIPR

On my last observation day, I asked Mr. D if he had any last pieces of advice to give me.  Mr. D informed me that it's important to stay well-informed and make sure that students are able to use the knowledge that I have.  Mr. D was telling me to act as an effective More Knowledgeable Other to my future students.  He then pointed at his bookshelf and told me that the books there were all books that he had read to become more knowledgeable, or a more effective More Knowledgeable Other, which is also something that I observed in his classes as everything that I saw him teach he was very effective at providing scaffolding from his knowledge base.  I did not see the teachers evaluate the student's Zones of Proximal Development.  I'm not sure if I just missed the lessons where they did this, but it seemed that the teachers would frequently just assume where the students were.  I also did not see much scaffolding, but I did see the students working independently and being very effective with what they were doing which must have been the result of some scaffolding.  Mr. D was really good at using technological tools by having the students use the internet most of the classes that I was there and Mrs. S was good at using cultural tools by having class discussions and pulling in personal experiences that the students had.

Many of the lessons that I've observed don't actually use More Knowledgeable Other(s), besides the teacher, or determine the students' Zone of Proximal Development.  The teacher should use more group work and group according to the student's needs every once in a while.  I would also like to see the teachers pay attention to which students are responding and which students seem a little bit more lost in their responses, as this is not something that I observed.  In my mini-lesson, I would like to incorporate more group work and have students be the More Knowledgeable Other to each other.  I also did not see a lot of scaffolding done, as I either saw the teachers helping the students or the students working independently and not much in between.  One of the days that I came, Mr. D was talking to the class about the Socratic Seminar that they had the day before and how it hadn't gone very well.  He went over what he expected in a Socratic Seminar and some of the problems that had happened.  Many of the problems might not have happened if there had been more scaffolding.

Piaget TIPR

One of the biggest examples of creating disequilibrium that I saw is when Mr. D was teaching from Paradise Lost.  Many of the students were of LDS background and had learned that Eve could not have children and remain in the garden.  Mr. D caused some disequilibrium when he told them that in Paradise Lost that is not the case.  Adam and Eve could have children and that moral dilemma that exists in the LDS faith doesn't exist in Paradise Lost.  This was something necessary for them to learn in order to understand Paradise Lost and required them to accommodate by understanding that Milton's understanding of the Garden of Eden was not their own.  Mr. D helped them accommodate by giving them some time to process what he had just told them, by telling the implications that were related to Paradise Lost, and allowing them to answer questions regarding things they still didn't understand.  I also saw an example of assimilation when Mrs. S was going over a different part of Paradise Lost where Satan is written as a sympathetic character.  Mrs. S helped the students explore the concepts of Satan's character and had a discussion with them which helped them assimilate the new ideas of Satan's character with the ideas that they already had.  Most of the lessons seem to be in the Formal Operational stage as the goal of the course is to get the students to think critically about their world.

The students in the class that I'm observing have many chances to think critically and analyze situations, but it seems like to me that only a few students are actually doing the critical thinking and there doesn't seem like there is much opportunity for the other students.  Having the students think abstractly and hypothetically is something that the students need in their current stage of development.  In my mini-lesson something that I might do is have the students create a write-up that focuses on more abstract and hypothetical ideas.