Week+3+Reflections+(Nov.+9)

This week I met with each of the teams at the middle school and high school as they developed their Student Needs Assessment Form. Each group had similar comments and perspectives about completing the student needs assessment. Both teams want every student to complete the survey but will make sure that the results can be filtered by teacher, grade level and gender. Last year when the teams worked on the grant RFP they each developed their own needs assessment that was given at that time. After looking at the provided samples, it is evident that we need to revise it.

The constructivist website was very good. [] It had a great basic explanation as well as extensive links and examples of using the concept of constructivism. It seems to me that we as educators began this discussion of constructivisim over ten years ago. Here we are now still trying to change teaching and learning. I believe that many teachers already use this approach with a combination of more passive, traditional types of learning.

This site is also a great resource and could be used for professional development sessions with teachers. Since I do a lot of professional development I would be able to use it to start the constructivism conversations. It also have pop up windows that provide discussion starters and information for extending your thinking. I especially like the expert videos and demonstrations throughout the site.

As a technology coordinator I truly believe that constructivism is the direction we need to continue to go with teaching and learning. We started the process of transforming our classrooms years ago but just did not keep te momentum going. Teachers have more tools that ever now to use throughout the process. Technology is a great tool that lends itself to enhancing the teaching and learning environment but has become even more useful with the introduction of the Web 2.0 tools.