ARCS "Motivates" and Constructivism "Relates"

Amy O. never seizes to amaze me with her excitement, intelligence, and interesting thoughts and ideas.... I always get introduced to something new when Amy O. shares. Her ARCS lesson showed me how motivation can be a key factor in implementing the lesson rather than a reward at the end of the lesson, which is more often the way I use motivation in my special education classroom. What a strong suggestion that could keep my students intrigued throughout rather than just extrinsically motivated!
Thank you to all for being so prepared and participatory for my Constructivism lesson. You made it a lot of fun for me to teach. I was so glad to hear you all found the subject interesting! Even though Constructivism seemed foreign to me when I signed up to present it, I realized that by putting together some of my strategies that I already apply, I can have a constructivist approach to teaching in a snap! I also realized that I can find ways to "set the scene" more often by pulling ideas from their reading selection ahead a time and create the opportunities to visually make connections. Overall, it was a lot of fun presenting and has inspired me to incorporate strategies from this theory more often based on the responses and feedback from all of you!! Thank you, again!!

Busy Bee.....BUZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With a week off of class, I found myself budgeting my time to work on my assignments that are up and coming. My personal learning theory is coming together as I type away.... Also, I have been working hard and getting excited about my lesson on Constructivism. In retrospect, although we didn't have class this week, it was one of my busiest weeks yet! The class is coming to an end and it is neat to see how everything has come together for me. I definitely feel like I am learning a great deal and it has been a rewarding experience. I definitely have felt challenged, but also feel like I have risen to the occasion. The Personal Learning Theory paper is the first one I have written in quite a while, but it felt like just yesterday when my ideas so easily came to me. When you are writing about something you are passionate about, which for me is to provide learning opportunities for my students, then it is easy to write. I am looking forward to class, presenting and watching Amy O. present as well!

Theories are NOT Scary..... AH HA!

I am simply amazed after each presentation how each theory from the reading comes to life, and I have a moment and say to myself, "I do that!". Everyone has done such an impressive job along the way in demonstrating how the theories are present in their lessons. As many times as I have heard of the different theories throughout all of my education classes, I haven't had the foundations to each theory embedded in my brain until this semester. I am very visual. I learn through experience and seeing something in front of my eyes. Now, I think I will forever remember what each person demonstrated in our class, as well as the lesson in which the theory was demonstrated. It is a pretty cool feeling. Everyone is to thank for the productive learning taking place..... Amy Ack. for putting the task in place and being there to guide the lessons and all of you for your hard work in presenting a theory through a lesson that makes the theory really come to life. I only hope my lesson does the same for all of you...... pressure is on!! Here is a glimpse.......

Last class was fun for me because it was the first time I could be at home with the computer actually working..... Wimba was a success. I must say it was nice to enjoy a glass of wine or two....... while being at home on the computer. Once in a while, it is cool to experience class from a different perspective. Being on the computer also allowed me to multi- task. I worked on some ideas for my "lesson plan" coming up on the 24th. I not only found an idea but also formulated the lesson plan in writing. Now it is time to get the ball rolling even more with my ideas. My lesson plans involves a constructivist approach to teaching about the Iditarod race. See you all on Tuesday! Good luck Jill and Ann!