After reading the Knewton info-graphic, I found the information very similar to the commercials for the K-12 online home-school;California Connections. It is was similar in that students do the majority of the reading, exploring, accessing information on their own, then meet with the teacher to discuss big ideas, or ask for clarification. But, personally, I have two big problems with online only learning- technology, specifically social media exists, and maintaining motivation. As Dan Pink pointed out, the old ideas of if/then scenarios no longer (if they ever did) work in the classroom, so how do you motivate students? So how do you capture students attention, both in the actual classroom and inside their homes? As the video from Australia pointed out, you need to make the PBL/CBL/PrBL/STEM relevant and important to the students. It worked well for the Australian students, because it was a project that was close to them, as in, they felt it was an important topic that had endless solutions that they could tackle.
In my own teaching, I agree that students should feel connected to their learning, as well as a sense of belonging to a bigger picture. It is what guides the PrBL's I create with my colleagues. I do also agree that students can and should bear some of the responsibility of learning and researching further on their own. However, we are in a current state of education where parents are complaining about the amount of homework that students have already. So how much is too much? When is the appropriate time or age to say that students are ready to learn on their own at home? How do we, as educators make that shift? How do we as a society, make education a priority, as the shift has been a constant blame game for the past 50 plus years? In the coming semesters, I am hoping to answer some of my own questions regarding how to make learning a priority for all students. How can I make the learning environment more accessible and relevant for all the students I am entrusted with daily? I know that when I began this journey, I did not feel comfortable with many aspects of technology, and the road has been bumpy. I hope to continue working on gaining more insight into technological tools that are useful in the classroom. I also appreciate learning from my peers and hearing about the tools that they find useful in their teaching.
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Dan Pink: The Puzzle
Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity?
Howard Gardner : Five Minds for the Future
John Seely Brown: A New Culture of Learning
My key insights from each video, is that as an educator, I need to honor the natural talents that each student possesses. All students are capable of learning, they might have different avenues in which they obtain their knowledge, however, and that should not be diminished. Creativity, is something that can be learned, and does not need to be intrinsic. We cannot simply learn to be creative, we must practice being creative through trial and error. We must become comfortable with being uncomfortable in our learning if we wish to make headway into solving problems with creative solutions. In terms or my own teaching, I often tell my students to be brave, demonstrate the math problem on the board even if they are wrong or confused, because the only way we can learn is by doing and receiving constructive feedback. I found this article to be very thoughtful and am thinking of ways that I can share it with my students. Listening to the lecture by Dr. Gee, several key ideas became evident. The first implied idea is that students are learning, just not necessarily in the school setting. In his speech he discussed the knowledge kids should have in order to be successful in card and video games. He identifies the card game, Yu-gi-oh and reflects on the complex language skills children would need to be masterful at the game. He calls this the "capitalist" being better at teaching than the schools are. His second big idea is that schools and learning need to be motivational, more applicable and more meaningful to students. I agree with him on both ideas. It is not that we need to necessarily make school more "fun", it's that as educators we need to reform how we approach teaching. Darling-Hammond also broaches this subject in her final chapter. She addresses the need to modernize teaching to make "thoughtful... content and skills needed for success in the 21st century..."
So where to begin? Both lecturers note that the current state of assessment clearly is not working. Dr. Gee muses that simply changing the test will not help, as it is human nature to teach directly to the exam. Rather, he would like to see a marriage of learning and assessment. In that the teaching and learning are so rich, and accessible that the assessment naturally presents itself. Darling-Hammond notes in her section on Meaningful Learning Goals, that assessment needs to actually assess real-world abilities. In my own classroom, I see the need to adjust my instruction. For math, I find that the students are better able to understand complex ideas if they have an example of its application. For example, when recently discussing percents in my math blocks, they could not understand how an 18% tip at a restaurant would change the final total. While many of them understand taxes, etc. it wasn't until they actually had to budget for it in a sample scenario did it finally make sense. It is clear that my job is make more of math applicable and accessible to my students, rather than here is your formula, now solve situations. While this may not be a 21st century skill, it is certainly a skill that needs to be developed. Using the Teaching channel I was able to find ideas on math practices in the classroom. (Note: the prezi link does not link to video I discussed in my presentation, as it does not appear on youtube. ) I watched two videos from the same instructor, as well as one video on the implementation of technology in the classroom. It is clear from the teaching practices in the video, that the teacher uses well-crafted, targeted instruction to approach the vast learning needs of her classroom.
The setting is a middle school (6th) math classroom, where the students are already familiar with the set-up and practices. The video shows students actively engaged in their chosen tasks, as well as a sample of student work. I appreciated that it was also shared how the students would be graded using a rubric. While the students are working collaboratively or independently, the teacher is working on math skills with a small group. Small group instruction is a difficult task to accomplish in any classroom, especially a middle school one. I think that differentiation is key in the classroom. I do wonder how often this teacher implements this procedure? Is it daily? Weekly? Does she use this strategy as RTI? What tools is she using to assess and monitor her student needs and her own practices? Can technology be integrated thoughtfully, using TPACK criteria? While watching the brief video of A Vision of Students Today, I was able to reflect on my own learning experiences.
Some of what the college students identified as a need/ want in their learning were some of my own unmet needs, such as too much busy work, but not enough time. Or being enrolled in large industrial size classes where inquiry is not expected or wanted. It is tough to feel enthusiastic about a particular subject when even the professor is not interested in the subject matter. (As in, they would rather be teaching their own favorite class or one at an advanced level with smaller students.) Next, I watched A Vision of K-12 Students Today (https://youtu.be/_A-ZVCjfWf8). What I found was that I do need to be actively engaging my students more. I do need to ask them to create things using a computer as a tool, rather than me having them following a link I created or used. I need to be actively engaging these students in applying their critical thinking skills while using the internet. I was able to watch a short video on Best Practices ( http://www.teachertube.com/video/best-practices-workshop-classroom-activities-22056). In this vignette, the speaker is able to give several tips on how to engage students in aspects of their learning. One teacher spoke about how she uses information gathering, similar to what many of us do at the beginning of the school year. Another good idea shared might be to use current events, to get students interested in their learning. Finally, I watched Projects that have been Put to the Test. (https://www.edutopia.org/article/projects-have-been-put-test-anne-lise-halvorsen-nell-duke) I found this to be the most interesting, as I considering this as my driving question. The teachers discuss that students test scores have improved since adding PBL to the curriculum, compared to students who have not experienced PBL. The video focused on students solving the problems at their local park. The enthusiasm is evident with the students peer collaboration, final outcome, and overall engagement. In terms of my own teaching, it is evident that I need to allow more time for students to create their own examples of learning. |
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November 2017
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