Chapter 11 Reflections

2. The good part about the Direct Instructional Model is that students come to their own understandings about the lesson because the teacher continually asks them questions to keep their attention focused on the lesson. Teachers can monitor the success of students discussion and activities. When the teacher shows students how to use the technology they gradually form a basic skillset. It lets the whole class be taught at once. The bad part about the Direct Instructional Model is that the students' own process and personal experinces are not explored. The students have to mold their learning to the way the teacher thinks. Students cannot be as creative.

I like the Inquiry-Based Indirect Instruction Model the best because it exercises students own thoughts and problem solving skills. I think this teaching method really lends itself well to art. I do not want my students to create artwork the exact same way as me. I want them to have their own ideas. Everybody has their own style and method in creating a meaningful depiction. Some people like to use a lot of linework while drawing and others like to use shading. In my opinion there is no right and wrong way.

Are the learning models only suposed to be applied to TPCK?

Ch. 6 Response

4. Spreadsheets can communicate through graphs or charts. Some people are visual learners, therefore, representing data as a picture instead of numbers can make information easier to understand. Spreadsheets can be used as a productivity tool because students can use formulas to find the answers to problem quickly. If the students needs to use a different formula they can just apply a new formula to their existing information instead of typing in their numbers all over again. This allows students more time to think critically about the data.

I agree with the point the book makes about using spreadsheet. It says that "they must learn about the tool as they learn with the tool". As a teaching method i find learning by doing is the most effective way to learn. I have never learned as much about a subject as when i actually went through a process to learn. Reading books and listening to lectures were never as personal of a learning experience.

My question is mainly how does this apply to an art curriculum? The book used examples in history, mathematics, language arts, and science to use spreadsheet. Spreadsheet seems to be based mainly on the analysis of information. Art involves a lot of critical thinking and analysis of a subject. However, it is still hard for me to perceive a link between the two.