The other day in our technology course, we were discussing the creation of lesson plans. We decided that there are three main aspects that teachers need to think about when planning effective lessons: community, zone of proximal development, and cognitive tools.
In prior education classes, I have heard a lot about developing a community of learners and believe this is crucial to success in any classroom. You have to build community in your classroom and demand that your students show respect toward everyone, their teachers and peers. However this is a two way street, in order for us to demand respect from our students, we have to give them respect in return. I strongly believe that creating a community of learners where students respect themselves and each other, work cooperatively, learn from each other, share, and take responsibility is the foundation of any good classroom. Without establishing this atmosphere, students will not feel comfortable taking risks in the classroom, which will hinder their learning.
I have also heard a lot about the zone of proximal development which was developed by Russian psychologist and social constructivist Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky created three zones for learning: independent, instructional, and frustration. In our lessons, we want to teach toward the instructional zone, or the zone of proximal development. This makes sense because we would be wasting our time teaching concepts students could do independently (independent zone) and would not get good results when teaching concepts that are too difficult for students to grasp (frustration zone).
The third aspect that teachers need to think about when planning lessons are cognitive tools. Although I wasn’t originally familiar with this term, once we discussed what it means I realized that I think about these things naturally. Cognitive tools are tools we use to help us learn, or teach a subject. Overall, when planning lessons it is important to think about establishing a learning community, how you are going to keep students in the zone of proximal development, and what tools you are going to use to reach your goal.
Yes - I think that cognitive tools piece we have to think about critically. Are we actually providing students with the tools they need to learn with in today's classrooms. Of course, that is technology, but it is more. It is engaging them cognitively in the content as well.
ReplyDeleteCommunity building is huge! As teachers we just can't assume that students will feel comfortable in our rooms. It is our job to develop that 'safe' place for them where they feel comfortable in opening their minds and sharing their feelings/opinions. Without this we won't see the growth and learning that we want.
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