Constructivism/ Reconstructivism

From the first section of this chapter I have learned that I am definitely big on student-centered education. The biggest theory that appealed to me was constructivism. In practicum Beth told me that she could totally see me as being a group activity, hands- on teacher. I like doing things with my hands and I think that is the best way I learned, so I’m sure that’s why I would like to teach this way. It seems a lot of the time students learn very well from looking at things through an activity based lesson. If students are learning about the related rate problems they may remember it better if they see it “in action” compared to just being on the paper.
After class I learned that I like the idea of reconstructivism. I want my students to look into what’s going on with their world around them besides school. Reconstuctivism seems to me like the “ism” that wants the students to build bridges and move mountains. I believe strongly in my students doing extra-curricular activities especially ones that deal with community service or dealing with the community in some way.
One thing that the book discusses is the physical setting of the classroom. I’ve always wanted to have one of those comfy relaxing classrooms but if you’ve ever been in a public high school most of the time they aren’t exactly what I would call “homey”. I plan on having posters of not just math stuff but of bands, and beaches and maybe books or movies. The kids don’t need to repeatedly see math quotes, or formulas all over their classroom walls. Another thing is I’d like to have my teachers help me set the rules for the class and of course if I believe that there are some that they missed that are important then I’m going to write them down and ask their ideas on them. Maybe together we can have the same rules but the students can have them written in their own way.
Two of the types of “discipline” that I liked were the Discipline with Dignity approach and the Conflict Resolution approach. I like the idea of having the students look into what they did and see what they should have done differently. I also like the idea of talking to the students about it and not just throwing a detention their way.