Constructivist ism in our group lessons

I am not 100% sure if I understand the question but hopefully this is in the ball park. Our group project was vocabulary words and we chose science and weather words. We wanted to start by activating prior knowledge and asking what the students know about weather. Then we give them a list of words and let them go look at the local weather or newspaper to see if they can construct meaning for those words. Skills they need are activating prior knowledge and looking at context clues. They need to use problem solving and critical thinking. They need to take and apply what they know to a new situation. They might think they know a word but they can test that idea out with the group. It is our job as a teacher to help the students learn how to learn and work cooperatively and collaboratively.

Once a teacher becomes the guide to the class instead of center stage the class has more freedom to learn creatively. I think the teacher can do activities that let then students have freedom for example our group added as an activity for the students to then make a weather broadcast using their words. The students are in charge of everything. This allows for creativity, independence, and group work.

I used a website from a data base to help me understand constructivism a little better. Here is the URL.
http://otec.uoregon.edu/learning_theory.htm#Constructivism

Cognitive Learning & Memory

What are the essential skills and/or learning outcomes you want your students to know and be able to do that relate to cognitive learning? 

I want my futures students to know how to take information and apply it to decision making and problem solving. In class, students won't know all the information given but if they have the skills to break it down and process pieces of a time it will help them in all subjects. I want my students to take new information and make connections to their life. Once students can do that it will help them retain the information. Memorization is key to cognitive learning. I would like to do activites to show the difference between long and short term memory. If they can recall memories, I will know more about their cognitive learning. Another major part to cognitive learning is concerntration. I would love to teach the students how to focus their attention on a task. The most important skill for me would be application of their cognitive learning. I want them to process, memorize, recall and concentrate but if they can't apply their learning, it is for nothing.

I knew about cognitive learning from other classes but I refered to a website for help. I got to dig in to what I think are essential skills that relate to cognitive learning.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/151537-cognitive-learning-in-children/

I learned several tips from the memory teaching projects. I have heard that studying before bed will help you remember the material for the test but you learn for a short time.I have done this plenty of times but I didn't realize there was research behind it. I also thought it was interesting to learn ways to improve memorization.I will definitely have my future students make connections with what they are learning and use imagery like Jordan did with his grocery list. That was creative but helpful. I also liked the idea for acronyms.

Assessment

Math and reading are most emphasized in classroom so I am going to think about a math lesson plan. Fractions seemed to be the most stressful from the time spent in observing and from my own experience.

I have watched the teacher at Spring Hill Elementary teach two fraction lesson plans now. She assesses them the whole time so most of my assessments are inspired by her classroom. Most of the assessing she does is informal. The teacher should pose questions at the beginning of the lesson to see if the student has any prior knowledge or to recap from what was taught yesterday. This gets their brains thinking and sees what they can remember. After some review is done, the teacher can teach the lesson such as adding or subtracting fractions. After the lesson or instruction is completed, a student could come to the board for practice and to "teach" the class. I have found that students can learn from each other easier than the teacher on some occasions. The student writing on the board and explaining their steps shows the teacher what they have learned. Another assessment can be a worksheet. The 4th grade teacher lets the students start on the worksheet individually then get with a partner or work as a group. As groups they can help each other and the teacher can walk around and see if there are any problems and she needs to reteach anything. A last assessment can be a formal one in the shape of a test. A test or a quiz can give feedback to the teacher one what the kids understood in the lesson.

There are many ways to assess students and math is an easy subject to assess. I have watched the teacher figure out what the students know without them feeling pressured to be perfect. She gives them hints so they don't get down on themselves. I have learned tons just from observing her classroom. I also found a website with 7 pages of assessment tools that I will use at a later date. The website says it is for a math classroom but they could be altered for multiple subjects. A to Z assessment list