Definitely count me in the constructivist camp. Children even when they are born do not come to us as blank slates. They have personalities and preferences already built into who they are. This will help shape how they approach the world and learn from all those around them. It will be important to remember that students have a base knowledge before they start school and then as they go through school and life they build on it. I believe children learn best when actively engaged with more than their minds- their whole being needs to be piqued to the learning experience so they can understand it, whatever 'it' is, on a more complete level. As such, it is a teacher's job to guide learning and helping the student make sense of the content. It is not enough for students to spit out the same input they heard or read. True learning is incorporating new ideas into old one, forming deeper meaning, being able to share that new perspective and then synthesize that new understanding with other people- and with technology there are now so many new and wonderful ways to interact with other people!
As stated in a previous post, my content area is language arts. I learned to read and write by reading and writing- haha. I have found these to be something I get better at just by doing them and challenging myself to read and write more with more complexity. Also as previously posted, I never did become a good speller. That is one area that has not improved. I like to say if the nuns couldn’t beat an ability to spell in me, nothing would. Somehow I muddle on by. That not withstanding, I did have fantastic teachers all along the way who helped with feedback and pointing me to some very good literature. They pushed me to be more comfortable with public speaking too- handy for standing in front of a classroom. I was given the chance to fail and then fail better next time. Over time my writing and reading skills improved as I found my voice and could critically think about other people’s voices.
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