User:Hector lara/notes

IVAN´S NOTES

 Types of writing:

1. Descriptive writing:

a) paintng a picture with words. b) observing and taking notes. c) focusing on details. d) oredering descriptive details. e) describing a place.

2. Personal writing:

a) to express personal ideas and feelings. b) to write own's poems. c) making personal connections. d) write with confidence.

3. Narrative writing:

a) developing a real-life story. b) keeping a story organized. c) to write dialogues and biographies. d) writing about an event. e) chronological order.

4. Expository writing:

a) writing to help others to understand. b) comparing and contrasting two things. c) Explaining how to do something. d) writing a report.

5. Persuasive writing:

a) Appealing to your audience. b) Stating your position. c) using facts and opinions. d) taking a stand. e) strong reasons.

Retrieved from: Zack,R;(2005),Writer's choice, ed. ,Mc grawhill;U.S.A

Example:

narrative writing: http://www.thewritesource.com/studentmodels/wi-theclimb.htm

descriptive writing: http://grammar.about.com/od/developingparagraphs/a/samdescpars.htm

personal writing: http://teachers.sduhsd.k12.ca.us/kburke/personal%20writing%20examples.htm

Expository writing: http://www.thewritingsite.org/resources/prompts/expository.asp

Persuasive writing: http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/media/hh/pdfs/samplepapers/persuasive_sample.pdf

Types of writing



== ivan´s essay == 30th September 2010

A new way of teaching

For many years education has been a just one way interaction, teacher talks-students receive information, According to Barr,R and Tagg,J, There is a type of method called " Instruction paradigm" which consists in giving the information to students and they just receive it, they do not have to make research to get their own information, they are just viewers of their own learning however, in recent times a new type of method has appeared into context, According to Barr,R and Tagg,J, it is called "learning paradigm". This so called method is opposite to the instruction paradigm because it allows students to search for their own learning. Which of these two methods could be the most appropriate? The traditional type or the new method?

The Instruction method base is the fact that teacher is the most important character in scene, He is in charge of providing information (knowledge) to the students and they just receive such information. Teacher is the boss and it is up to him to choose the activities and tasks for the class, he does the research and brings it to class just to give it. Students are merely spectators inside the classroom, doing as they are told to; they do not argue or try to ask for a second opinion.

The Learning paradigm is based in research, students are in charge of their own learning, they are asked to go and find their own knowledge. The teacher is an advisor and just interferes in the learning process when it is complicated for students to succeed in a task or activity but, in general he allows students to be independent. Students are autodidact, and this helps not only in their academic life, but also in every aspect of that person’s life.

To sum up, there are many differences between these two paradigms; one is about the classical way of teaching in which the instructor is in charge of the learning that the students produce, and the second one is that the students are in charge of their own learning, having the instructor only as support, not as a giver of information.

Retrieved from: http://s3.amazonaws.com/engrade-myfiles/4069410948634564/Article.pdf

UNIT 3

Thesis statement:

Tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion. is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper. Directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be World War II or Moby Dick; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the war or the novel. Makes a claim that others might dispute Is usually a single sentence somewhere in your first paragraph that presents your argument to the reader. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation.

Characteristics: A clear thesis statement has several characteristics. It • Is not a fact, but is an assertion about facts • Takes some sort of stand • Justifies discussion • Expresses one main idea • Is specific

Example: Social constructivism in LEI: LEI teachers using social constructivism in the practical subjects: Does teachers really use it?. u are not taking a stand with this thesis statement for what? to expand to narrow? to increase? affect? practice? que naco que!!!!!

Research question: A Research Question is a statement that identifies the phenomenon to be studied. For example, “What resources are helpful to new and minority drug abuse researchers?”

Characteristics: A good research question is a question that’s worth asking. It poses a problem worth Solving. “Dichotomous questions” – questions with simple yes or no answers – may have important practical significance but they don’t make good research questions. A good research question requires more than looking something up. It reflects an underlying tension that does not simply turn on one or two missing facts. It should force you to weigh evidence and compare divergent opinions on your topic. It should allow you to develop an answer that your readers find both interesting and significant.

Example: Does teachers really use social constructivism in the classroom?, do students know what social constructivism is? and how can it help them to improve their knowledge?

Variables:

A variable is an object, event, idea, feeling, time period, or any other type of category you are trying to measure. There are two types of variables-independent and dependent.

Independent Variables are changes that occur in an experiment that are directly caused by the experimenter (you.) Dependent Variables are changes that occur due to independent variables. A Controlled Variable is anything else that could influence the dependent variables.

My variables: Independent, practical subjects, questionnaires Dependent, students’answers, teachers’ answers i think u should add as a variable constructivism because its ur main aspect

Annotated Bibliography: An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited. How to do it: First, locate and record citations to books, periodicals, and documents that may contain useful information and ideas on your topic. Briefly examine and review the actual items. Then choose those works that provide a variety of perspectives on your topic. Cite the book, article, or document using the appropriate style. Write a concise annotation that summarizes the central theme and scope of the book or article. Include one or more sentences that (a) evaluate the authority or background of the author, (b) comment on the intended audience, (c) compare or contrast this work with another you have cited, or (d) explain how this work illuminates your bibliography topic.

Examples: Waite, L. J., Goldschneider, F. K., & Witsberger, C. (1986). Nonfamily living and the erosion of traditional family orientations among young adults. American Sociological Review, 51 (4), 541-554. The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living.

Voeltz, L.M. (1980). Children's attitudes toward handicapped peers. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 84, 455-464. As services for severely handicapped children become increasingly available within neighborhood public schools, children's attitudes toward handicapped peers in integrated settings warrant attention. Factor analysis of attitude survey responses of 2,392 children revealed four factors underlying attitudes toward handicapped peers: social-contact willingness, deviance consequation, and two actual contact dimensions. Upper elementary-age children, girls, and children in schools with most contact with severely handicapped peers expressed the most accepting attitudes. Results of this study suggest the modifiability of children's attitudes and the need to develop interventions to facilitate social acceptance of individual differences in integrated school settings. Howard, T, & Rifkin, J (1977). Who should play God? New York: Dell.This book "lifts the cloak of secrecy from genetic experiments" and explores, among other things, "who is performing the research and who profits from it" (12). It's clearly anti-genetic engineering; its chapter titles give a good idea of the direction and flavor of the book, for example,"Eugenics," "Eliminating 'Bad' Genes," "Bio-Futures," "Scientists and Corporation." This book looks as if it is an appropriate source for the social arguments from the political left wing.

Schechter, H. (1971). Death and resurrection of the king: Elements of primitive mythology and ritual in "Roger Malvin's Burial." English Language Notes, 8,201-05. Working with Frazer's paradigm of the death and resurrection of the King motif in myth and ritual, Schechter sees Malvin as the dying king in Hawthorne's short story and Reuben as his successor. Reuben sacrifices Cyrus so that the curse of death-in-life can be removed. Thus, the tale becomes the imaginary fulfillment of the blessing of fertility (204).

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

1) Stevenson, M., (2009) Vygotsky’s social Development theory. Ed. Mcgrey edson. The social constructivism is a theory developed by Vygotsky .The interesting point of such theory is that students learn according to their culture and social interaction with other students. A constructivist teacher creates a context for learning in which students can become engaged in interesting activities that encourages and facilitates learning. The teacher does not simply stand by, however, and watch children explore and discover. Instead, the teacher may often guide students as they approach problems, may encourage them to work in groups to think about issues and questions, and support them with encouragement and advice as they tackle problems, adventures, and challenges that are rooted in real life situations that are both interesting to the students and satisfying in terms of the result of their work. Teachers thus facilitate cognitive growth and learning as do peers and other members of the child's community. The activities and the format can vary considerably. However, four principles are applied in any Vygotskian classroom. 1. Learning and development is a social, collaborative activity. 2. The Zone of Proximal Development can serve as a guide for curricular and lesson planning. 3. School learning should occur in a meaningful context and not be separated from learning and                          knowledge children develop in the "real world.". 4. Out-of-school experiences should be related to the child's school experience.

2) Ruggie, J. G. (1998). Constructing the World,retrieved from:http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199285433/jackson_chap06.pdf .London: Routledge.In social theory, constructivists emphasize the social construction of reality. Human relations, including international relations, consist of thought and ideas and not essentially of material conditions or forces. This is the philosophically idealist element of constructivism which contrasts with the materialist philosophy of much social science positivism (see Chapter 11). According to constructivist philosophy, the social world is not a given: it is not something ‘out there’ that exists independent of the thoughts and ideas of the people involved in it.

3) MacKinnon, A., & Scarff-Seatter, C. (1997). Constructivism: Contradictions and confusion in teacher education. In V. Richardson (Ed.),retrieved from: http://www.ericdigests.org/1999-3/theory.htm Constructivism is an epistemology, a learning or meaning-making theory, that offers an explanation of the nature of knowledge and how human beings learn. It maintains that individuals create or construct their own new understandings or knowledge through the interaction of what they already know and believe and the ideas, events, and activities with which they come in contact (Cannella & Reiff, 1994; Richardson, 1997). Knowledge is acquired through involvement with content instead of imitation or repetition (Kroll & LaBoskey, 1996). Learning activities in constructivist settings are characterized by active engagement, inquiry, problem solving, and collaboration with others. Rather than a dispenser of knowledge, the teacher is a guide, facilitator, and co-explorer who encourages learners to question, challenge, and formulate their own ideas, opinions, and conclusions. "Correct" answers and single interpretations are de-emphasized.

4) Vygotsky,L.(1999).Constructivism and school,retrieved from:http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~foreman/itec800/finalprojects/eitankaplan/pages/social.htmSchools are the sociocultural settings where teaching and learning take place and where "cultural tools," such as reading, writing, mathematics, and certain modes of discourse are utilized. This approach assumes that theory and practice do not develop in a vacuum; they are shaped by dominant cultural assumptions. Both formal knowledge, the subject of instruction, and the manner of its presentation are influenced by the historical and cultural environment that generated them. To accomplish the goals of social transformation and reconstruction, the context of education must be deconstructed, and the cultural assumptions, power relationships, and historical influences that undergird it must be exposed, critiqued, and, when necessary, altered.

5) Steffe, L. and Gale, J. (1995). The American Educational Research Journal Social, 34(2),19-21. Constructivism in education is the main tool for any teacher willing to apply a different method of teaching focusing on the students personal performance and skills.Constructivism applies the use of previous knowledge to achieve new knowledge but, using research as main tool to get main goals and in such process students will acquire new skills and reinforce previous ones.

6) Daniels, H. (1996). Introduction to Vygotsky. United states: Routledge. Retrieved november 4, 2010, from: http://site.ebrary.com.dibpxy.uaa.mx/lib/univeraguascalientes/docDetail.action?docID=10057539&p00=vygotsky. Lev Vygotsky provided the twentieth century with an enticing fusion of intellectual traditions within an attempt to provide an account of the social formation of the mind. An Introduction to Vygotsky gives students an accessible overview of his work combining reprints of key journal and text articles with editorial commentary and suggested further reading. Harry Daniels considers the development of Vygotsky’s work against a backdrop of political turmoil in the developing USSR. Major elements explored include use of the “culture” concept in social development theory, the development of means of describing social life, the concept of mediation and implications for teaching, learning and assessment. Academics and students at all levels will find this an essential key source of information.

7) Wells, G. (1999). Dialogic Inquiry : Towards a Sociocultural Practice & Theory of Education.England: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from: http://site.ebrary.com.dibpxy.uaa.mx/lib/univeraguascalientes/docDetail.action?docID=10015018&p00=lev%20vygotsky. Dialogic Inquiry provides an extended analysis of the crucial Vygotskian concept of the zone of proximal development, and it documents how the author collaborated with teachers in mutually supportive ways. In addition, Dr. Wells provides a unique comparative analysis of the theories of Vygotsky and those of the linguist M. A. K. Halliday. The former’s influence has been widely documented, but the latter’s influence on the educational discourse literature has not been given its due. The author’s analysis will bring new (and deserved) attention to Halliday’s insights and their relevance to sociocultural theories of education. Using illustrative examples from classroom studies, Dialogic Inquiry will be of tremendous benefit to educators, as well as to researchers in sociolinguistics and psychology.

8) Kotzee, B. (2010). Seven Posers in the Constructivist Classroom. London Review of Education, v8 (2), 11, retrieved from: http://www.eric.ed.gov.dibpxy.uaa.mx. Education is the main of any society! The importance of searching for a appropriate method of teaching is a constant struggle among researchers to find the one who best fits in the current times. In education, "constructivism" constitutes the "grand unified theory" of the moment. In this article, I maintain that constructivism as a theory of knowledge and constructivism as pedagogy are distinct and that the question of what constructivism about knowledge implies for teaching is under-theorized. Seven classroom scenarios are sketched that illustrate the problems that a constructivist view of knowledge can create in the classroom. It is concluded that constructivist epistemology undermines effective teaching; as such, realistic teaching practice cannot proceed from constructivist assumptions regarding the nature of knowledge. The conclusion, however, is neutral regarding teaching practice: constructivist epistemology is neither sufficient nor necessary for what is called "constructivist" teaching practice.

Justification

I going to base my research on social constructivism because during my career I used it to work in many of my classes and as a result I was able to improve my skills and it was not the classical way  of learning where student receive the knowledge and teacher is the only one bringing the information. On the other hand, along my career I noticed that some teachers use it to improve students´ skills and learning performance and the intention of this thesis is to prove or deny the use of social constructivism in the practical subjects included in the curricula in Licenciatura en enseñanza Del Inglés

epistemologic: constructivism should improve students´skills in order to reinforce knowledge and the way how students get to it.

pedagogic: As english teachers, constructivism could help us to change the learning poitn of viwe by allowing students to search for information by using their own skills and particular way to face the world.

social: Teachers and students using such method could apply it in real contexts and not just for learning but for many activieties which require team work as well as personal ideas according to the context.

Psychologic: The constructivism approach may improve how people think as they will be able to think by their own and not just waiting for the information or to receive something but look for it ang go beyond.

Outline

Outline

1. Introduction When people talk about education many things come to their minds: teachers, students, homework, grades, books, classroom, classmates, success, and failure. Most of the people believe that education is a need and, they are right however, not all of them realize how education is constructed or how is it decided, what topics or what curricula is the appropriate to teach. But, education is not just a word, it is part of a group of theories that form the real meaning for education and one of those theories is called social constructivism. According to Méndez (2002) constructivism is “a theory that intends to explain which the nature of human knowledge is” constructivism assumes that previous knowledge gives birth to new knowledge. “Constructivism holds that learning is essentially active, a person who learns something take it into his/her past experiences and into his/her mental structures “Retrieved from: (Abbott, 1999). According to Grennon and Brooks (1999), constructivism pretends to help students to internalize, rearrange and/or transform the new information. Such information happens through the creation of all new learning styles and all this is possible thanks to the raising of new cognitive structures.

Constructivism is the label given to a set of theories about learning which fall somewhere between cognitive and humanistic views. If behaviorism treats the organism as A mind in blank, cognitive theory recognizes the importance of the mind in making sense of the material with which it is presented. Nevertheless, it still presupposes that the role of the learner is primarily to assimilate whatever the teacher presents. According to Vygotsky,(1978): “Constructivism — particularly in its "social" forms — suggests that the learner is much more actively involved in a joint enterprise with the teacher of creating ("constructing") new meanings”. There are two types of constructivism: 1) cognitive constructivism which is about how the individual learner understands things, in terms of developmental stages and learning styles, and 2) "social constructivism", which emphasizes how meanings and understandings grow out of social encounters. A constructivist teacher creates a context for learning in which students can become engaged in interesting activities that encourages and facilitates learning. The teacher does not simply stand by, however, and watch children explore and discover. Instead, the teacher may often guide students as they approach problems, may encourage them to work in groups to think about issues and questions, and support them with encouragement and advice as they tackle problems, adventures, and challenges that are rooted in real life situations that are both interesting to the students and satisfying in terms of the result of their work. Teachers thus facilitate cognitive growth and learning as do peers and other members of the child's community. Retrieved from: Coll,E. M; T Mauri (2002) “El constructivismo en el aula”. (pages 7 to 22) Barcelona,Esp. ED. Graó

Problem

Currently, constructivism has been used in a lot of schools trying to improve students’ learning and their own capabilities to search for information as well as interacting with other students. in the case of the U.A.A and focusing on LEI, some teachers argument they actually use constructivism when teaching however, many students do not even know what constructivism is. Thesis statement: Social constructivism in LEI: LEI teachers applying constructivism in the practical subjects and impact in students ‘skills

Research question: Do teachers use social constructivism in the classroom? Does constructivism has help students to improve their learning skills?

Type of research: Descriptive. Information gathered will be used to explain and confirm or remove the hypothesis.

Focus: Qualitative. Information will give some characteristics about constructivism and its use in the classroom.

Hypothesis: the use of the constructivism in the classroom improves students’ skills and learning.

Variable: variables	Definition	Operational definition

constructivism	Method used to improve students’ interaction with the learning questionnaire

Annotated Bibliography: Vygotsky,L.(1999).Constructivism and school, retrieved from: http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~foreman/itec800/finalprojects/eitankaplan/pages/social.htmSchools are the sociocultural settings where teaching and learning take place and where "cultural tools," such as reading, writing, mathematics, and certain modes of discourse are utilized. This approach assumes that theory and practice do not develop in a vacuum; they are shaped by dominant cultural assumptions. Formal knowledge, the subject of instruction, and the manner of its presentation are influenced by the historical and cultural environment that generated them. To accomplish the goals of social transformation and reconstruction, the context of education must be deconstructed, and the cultural assumptions, power relationships, and historical influences that undergird it must be exposed, critiqued, and, when necessary, altered.

1.	Conclusion.

2.	References. 1) C,,coll, E. Martin, T, mauri, Other “El constructivismo en el aula” 2002, ed Gráo  Barcelona Esp. 2) Schunk, D. “teorías del aprendizaje” 1997; Méx, D.f. 3) L.S, Vigotsky. “ Mind in society ”. 1982; Harvard university