Reflection #6

(1) Describe the Resource / Experience:
This week, I have been completing my editorial duties for our first WikiText chapter section. Our section focused on the controversies associated with constructivism. As the editor of this chapter, it was my responsibility to properly format all of our sources in APA format and to edit our chapter for originality. I quickly found that these tasks or responsibilities were a lot more difficult than they sound. During the process of completing these duties, I quickly became frustrated because I didn’t exactly know what I was doing. I felt like I was kind of “playing it by ear”. My first frustrations came from trying to decipher and format some of my group members’ sources/citations. It’s hard to format someone else’s sources. Then, I became frustrated while trying to use TurnItIn.com. I had to read the tutorial to figure out what to do because I couldn’t figure it out by the old tried and true “trial-and-error” method. I also had to chat with some of my classmates to figure some stuff out. However, at the end of the experience I felt like I had had an authentic “constructivist-oriented” learning experience.
(2) Lessons Learned / Applications for the Classroom / Recommendations for Yourself or Others:
Through these experiences, I learned that my students may become frustrated while participating in “constructivist-oriented” activities and that it is my job as the teacher to encourage them to persevere. Overall, I would recommend that all teachers, myself included, remember our own constructivist learning experiences and the frustrations, or “growing pains” as I like to call them, that often accompany this method of instruction and be mindful that our students may encounter some of these same frustrations in their learning. I would also recommend that all teachers continue to encourage their students when they reach this “frustration” point in their learning because I think the students will appreciate their learning more if they have to persevere and work hard in order to attain it. I think it gives them a type of “ownership” over their learning.
(3) Links to Readings, Resources, or Discussions:
These ideas directly relate to some of the “frustration” experiences that have been discussed in our class blogs. A lot of my classmates blogged about similar frustrations with completing and posting their WikiText chapters and about using the “Sandbox” feature to record notes.