Voicethread

I thought that voicethread was an interesting tool. I could use this in my classroom in several different ways. I could visually show students how to solve problems. The students can see me work through the problems. This would save time in class and help students be more productive while doing their homework. I could also use it to show students how to work through a lab.

Instructional Supplements

This semester I have learned many different supplemental tools to use in my classroom. I do not have access to all of the tools I would like but I have used google to create a website for my class. I look forward to adding things to my website, like video clips and helpful websites. As of now, my website has an overview schedule of the week so that students can stay caught up even when they are absent. Students can also look at pages created for each topic to help them review when they need to. I think this will help the students to take charge of their own learning. They can navigate around my website to experience more than just what goes on in the classroom.

Deeper Learning

I agree that standardized testing does not promote deeper thinking. It promotes memorization for the most part. A lesson that I feel promotes deeper learning is as follows.
The students are shown a video clip of a child sledding down a steep hill. The students are told only a few known things about the child; his mass, what his sled is made of and the angle of the slope. From this the students must come up with a step by step solution on how to find the force of friction between the snow and the sled. This is an example of constructivist learning because the students must combine different concepts in order to solve this one particular problem. A student that has only memorized facts without understanding will have a difficult time trying to solve for the force due to friction.
The importance of this lesson is that it gets the students to think through the ideas rather than just answer a simple question that they have memorized. Students learn how to take from thier prior knowledge and apply it to new concepts.