Social learning theories address the need for students to work collaborative and converse over the concepts being taught to help deepen their understanding. When students are given the chance to work together and build upon each other’s knowledge, they are able to use their peers to help them understand the concept or lesson. In my classroom, I give students multiple opportunities to work together on projects, or simply to solve a problem. When I do this students are able to share their different strategies, and learn different ways to approach the same answer. According to Dr. Orey, the social learning theory is about students working together, either completing a project or teaching each other about new content (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).
The instructional strategy we read about this week is cooperative learning. This instructional strategy and social learning theories directly relate to each other. In cooperative learning groups, students are able to explore their knowledge of content on a deeper level. In their groups students are able to share ideas and thoughts to help others understand it better. When cooperative learning groups are used, students should know the purpose of the group, as well as their job in the group. I teach third grade and this is an important aspect of forming groups. I assign my students different jobs so they know what I expect of them, and when all the jobs are put together, the assignment or task is completed. After learning about voice threads, blogs and other educational technology tools, I can see how I can implement the technology with the social learning theory. Students need to be aware of social media since they are exposed to it outside of the classroom.
Both cooperative learning and the social learning theories are based upon students working together to solve or explore a given topic. When students are engaged in their learning as a group, they are accomplishing this theory and strategy. In today’s classroom, students need to be exposed to working together collaboratively and realizing the impact they can have on each other’s learning.
Here is my voice thread I created for this week about a problem we face at my school:
Happy blogging until next time!
-Sam R.
Reference
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). [Webcast]. Social learning theories. Baltimore: Author.
Samantha,
ReplyDeleteI think it is good that you assign your third graders a job in the group. I teach 8th and 9th grade so I usually keep it up to the groups to assign each other a job. I give students a form to fill out with the students name and their contribution to the group. A few times I asked group members to rate each other’s participation in the group at the end of the project. I found this to be more of a headache than it was worth. Sometimes students would single a group member out on the form just because they did not like them, or students were giving their friends higher ratings than the others in the group. When students come up to me to complain about a group member I tell them to work it out between themselves because I want them to learn that you will not always work well with everyone in the real world. You have to communicate clearly with each other and work out your differences to get the job done. Most of the time I group students randomly and I always change groups for each project. By the end of the year my goal is to have all the students in the class work with each other.
Kayla Shandra
You have chosen a great topic to address for your VoiceThread. My school has some parent involvement but we could absolutely gain success with more involvement.
ReplyDeleteI believe it is a good idea to assign jobs to individual group members. I teach middle school and they still have a problem getting along in groups. I begin each group project with a reminder that we all must work together to accomplish the assignment.
-Joanie
Kayla and Joanie,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your responses.
With my third graders, I have realized how important it is for them to know their job and what I expect of them. Like you Kayla, I change their groups all of the time. I want my students to work well with everyone, not just the same group over and over. I have to say at the beginning of the year it is a struggle, but as the year goes on and the more time I allow them to work together the better it gets.
As for parent involvement which is addressed in my voice thread, we do not have much at my school. It is hard to get parents in the school and it is also hard to contact them any other way. I understand that most of them work two or three jobs to provide for their child, but I also think they need to know what is going on at school as well. With the Parent Academies we are doing each month, I have noticed a huge difference in getting them in the school. However, how do we make parents know that they are welcome at anytime, not just during the Parent Academies?
-Sam R.
Samantha-
ReplyDeleteIts great to see students collaborating at such a young age. It is one of the strategies I believe so strongly in. Unfortunately, at the high school level we still have numerous teachers who insist on constantly being the one talking and "teaching". The problem is it seems that students are being "taught", but I am not sure the students are learning. I am of the hope that if teachers at the elementary and early elementary put some focus on collarboration and cooperative learning that students will be even more efficient at it by the time they reach high school. It still amazes me how many teachers are unwilling to use social learning in their classrooms on a regular basis. Afterall, it is becoming the main method in the workforce today.
Rob Killips
Samantha,
ReplyDeleteGreat post and voice thread. I like when you said at the end of your post about students "realizing the impact they have on each other's learning" (Rivers, 2011). This says so much about social learning theory and some of the positive results that can come from it.
Great idea for the voice thread. My school struggles with parent involvement as well. I think just getting the parents to come through the doors of the school is a huge step for some. Many parents did not have positive school experiences and it is tough to reverse this view 10-20 years later. Striving to keep open lines of communication with the home front and trying to stay on the same page with academic and behavioral expectations can help the student succeed as well.
--Brett
WHY TEAMWORK?
ReplyDeleteWhen students work together in a group, they usually split the task into small, separate pieces; each group member then works on their own small piece and, at the end, the separate pieces are joined together. The main advantage gained is division of labor. The disadvantages include: a group member not completing their task on time, the responsibility for assembling the final product falls on one person, members do not necessarily contribute to each other's work, and members do not usually understand what the others have done.
A group is a collection of people who work together on a common task, where each member works mainly for their own benefit. A group is not a team.
A team is a collection of people who work for each other and for the team. Each member is involved in the decision making process, each contributes to the common goal, each shares their work and skills, each respects the other members' skills and opinions, and each member helps the others to complete their work.
A team monitors itself, repairs itself, manages itself, does the work itself, delivers the job itself. A team is a self-sufficient unit.
Some tasks cannot be accomplished without teamwork. Television news cannot be produced, manufacturers cannot win car races, orchestras cannot play symphonies, commercial programming projects cannot be completed and seriously ill patients cannot be treated without teamwork.