Reflection for week 5

To teach in a constructivist way make sense to me. However, I can also see where some teachers would find it difficult to incorporate into their classrooms. (This weeks reading really forced me to acknowledge positive and negative sides of implementing a constructivist approach in the classroom.) When I reflect on my undergraduate career, none of my professors/TAs taught in a constructivist way. I feel to try and learn I had to “hunt and peck” for information/facts that they wanted and feel I really didn’t digest and reflect on information because I had four to five other courses for which I was doing the same. At that time I just tried to remember what I thought would be on midterm and final exams. Then as soon as a semester was over, that information was purged from my head. Professors/TAs didn’t ask me to reflect on the information in their courses because they seemed to be preoccupied with focusing on information they felt was important.

Now in my M.Ed. program, I feel that almost all of the courses I have thus far incorporated and embraced constructivist theory, on some level, and have asked me to reflect on current and past experiences—professional and educational. I feel that I am really understanding and learning information for the first time in my college career. However, I also wonder if because I am taking courses geared specifically to my personal interests, art education, if that is the reason why I am retaining and learning better. Could it be because I am focusing on specific information I find intriguing that makes me feel that I am learning better?