Reflection #4

(1) Describe the Resource / Experience:
During my resource search this week, I also discovered a Discovery Education video clip entitled “Using a Constructivist Approach to Teaching” on another students’ Resource Log Blog. This clip features a high school teacher who explains how she uses a constructivist approach in her own personal classroom and how it helps her students succeed in her room.
(2) Lessons Learned / Applications for the Classroom /Recommendations for Yourself or Others:
As for recommendations for myself and other classroom teachers interested in constructivism, I would suggest that we find other resources that provide true testimonies of constructivist teachers. I am making this recommendation because hearing another living, breathing teacher discuss how she uses a constructivist approach in her classroom and the benefits of its application made me feel less afraid of trying new things and more constructivist-oriented approaches in my own personal classroom. This video clip gave me the notion that “if she can do it, then so can I.” It made the whole process of using a constructivist approach seem less arduous and overwhelming.
(3) Links to Readings, Resources, or Discussions:
These ideas directly link to the following resource from my Resource Log:

Using a constructivist approach to teaching. ASCD (2001). Retrieved January 31, 2009, from Discovery Education: http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/

The ideas expressed in this video clip are also very closely aligned with the research I conducted for my Wiki chapter about the controversies associated with constructivism (see Sandbox 1.4). During my research I came across a website entitled “Constructivism as a Paradigm for Teaching and Learning” (see citation below) and this website argued that contrary to popular belief, constructivism does not mean that teachers have to reinvent the wheel and re-write all of their lessons in order to use a more constructivist-oriented approach to instruction. The information from this website gave me a feeling similar to the one I got from the video clip and it made me feel that using more constructivist-oriented approaches is a “do-able” task.

Educational Broadcasting Corporation. (2004). Constructivism as a paradigm for teaching and learning. Retrieved January 19, 2009, from http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/index.html