| What is CyberEnglish9? |
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CyberEnglish9 is web technology fully integrated into 9th grade English at Sheboygan Falls High School. We expect high levels of scholarship from all of our
students. The difference between a cyber approach and a more traditional
approach is the high level of technology integration and the various
learning opportunities it offers.
The primary teaching philosophy is constructivist (see below). In addition, CyberEnglish9 gives students a more authentic learning environment when they communicate with a broader community via the Internet and when they publish their work for literally anyone, anywhere to see. Check back often to see what's new with this program and to see what changes have evolved. CyberEnglish9 is not a distance learning course or an online course. Our students come to school each day, but they use the web extensively in their learning. About CE9: A detailed outline with links Thanks for your interest. Click here for information about linking to and using this site.
© Dawn Hogue, 2001-2005 |
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Cyber
English
® Ted built this rocket--I decided I wanted to fly it. from EDTC
618 On-Line Reader The foundational premise of constructivism is that learners actively construct their own knowledge by anchoring new information to preexisting knowledge (Strommen & Lincoln, 1992. Learning does not occur in isolation, either. Learners interact with the knowledge, the learning environment, and with other learners (Dershem, 1996). These interactions alter the knowledge and change the learners perceptions of that knowledge; so what is learned is not based just on an individual's past experiences, but on the collective experiences of the learning community. Constructivist learners are active. Within the environment of constructivism knowledge is viewed "as something created, discovered, and experienced" (Snyder, Bolin, & Zumwalt, 1992). Students have the opportunity "to take personal responsibility, exercise initiative, and be in control in the instructional setting through a variety of learning experiences" (p. 415). According to Applebee and Purves, constructivists view "knowledge as an active construction built up by the individual acting within a social context that shapes and constrains that knowledge but does not determine it in an absolute sense" (p. 738). The idea of learner control is essential to constructivism because constructivist learning relies on the learner doing the work of learning (Dershem, 1996). Constructivist teaching empowers the learner to construct and interpret his/her understanding of knowledge and reality.
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"What we see in nature is not really a matter of what exists; what we find is determined by our ability to understand." Peter Høeg What is reality? Our perception determines our reality. Each of us possesses a unique point of view that comes from a variety of influences including our age, our sex, our ethic heritage, our economic status, our job, our social role, even our health. It seems reasonable that how we make meaning of all we encounter is based on those same factors. Learning is what happens when we come in contact with new information or experiences and make meaningful connections with what we already know. To think that there is only one way of making meaning from any one new learning experience is to ignore the individual. Too often school is a place where students are given a learning experience and are expected to make a particular meaning from it. The meaning is predetermined and on the outside. Instead, school should be a place where students are given the opportunity, when encountering new information and experiences, to create their own meaning. CyberEnglish9 is a class where students are actively involved in a learning process that expects them to create their own meaning. In this process, I hope that they will grow in unlimited ways as readers, as writers, and especially as thinkers, and that their new learning, their individual meanings, will transcend the Cyber English9 classroom. Dawn Hogue~
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