Hitting a Homerun!

A CONSTRUCTIVIST CLASSROOM IS…….

 … “knowing how to navigate the rules; …inferring why it makes sense to hit the ball lightly; …figuring out why the rules allow you to run past first base but not second.”

I love this baseball analogy of a constructivist classroom. I am going to stick with the baseball theme to explain how I think a classroom should operate.

Classroom Improvements	Constructivist Classroom	Backwards Design	Learning Strategies
Pitcher	The Teacher – The teacher pitches the concept or the ideas.	The essential question is the pitcher. This is how the game gets started. The pull is put into action from this position.	The Learning Strategy is the Pitcher. These strategies must be thought out and engaging. They must include evidence of learning.
Batter	The students put the idea into play! They call the shots. They discover how they would like to learn these new concepts.	All students are the batters. They hit the information into the field. They all swing differently and get to different bases. Teachers provide lessons that are engaging to all students and their interests.	The presentation – The way that we swing and hit the strategy to our students. We must be prepared to successfully hit the strategy into the field.
Fielders	Teacher and Support Staff – We help each other find ways to get to each student. We use different strategies and ways of thinking to improve overall thinking. Students – Throwing ideas to each other to push the conversations farther. Getting the “out,” the “understanding” of each topic.	Lessons and activities. We provide many lessons and activities that help answer the essential question. We give the students many opportunities to dig deeper and to explain what they know and more importantly HOW to apply their knowledge.	The students are the fielders. They are the ones who are learning from these strategies. They throw thoughts and insights to each other through each strategy. We are using strategies to work together as a team. We are building on our knowledge through each strategy.
Umpire	Teacher- Setting up a classroom climate that works together. Making sure kids feel comfortable with their environment. Giving them opportunities to participate and take a stand in their learning.	The BD layout/plan. The BD plan must be organized at the beginning, so that each player gets fair treatment and is engaged. The plan works towards developing the essential question.	The assessments formal and informal. We will be able to evaluate learning through these assessments.