I have not seen any use of constructivism in any of the classes that I have observed but I did get to experience one teacher that taught the way of the modern constructivist. My 6th grad teacher was the best teacher that I can remember. She would always use authentic activities in our classroom hoping to keep us engaged and learning. Next to Chinese and Spanish lessons she would have us work on a letter to the government in problem-based learning activity or use a project-based activity about saving the whales to teach us math concepts. I know that it took her a lot of work to come up with the activities that we did and it was certainly impressive because 6th grade was Elementary for me.
The students that I have been working with are in stages 3 and 4 of Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development. They are worried about being the good/bad kid and worried about getting in trouble with the school rules. This is what motivates them to stay moral right now. They obey rules and listen to the teacher so that they are seen as the good kid. They will help each other out but only to the point that it will not come back and make them look like the bad kid. Mrs. D just saying their name is enough to quiet them down because they do not want to be seen as the bad kid. This is the stage that I think most of the kids that I will be working with will have reached and stay at for most of the time that I teach them. Setting rules and procedures is important for kids at this stage because without them they do not know how to morally reason.
Comments
Post a Comment