Overall, I am very satisfied with my website, and I am exciting to think that I haven't even scratched the surface of the possibilities for it. It was frustrating getting used to the website construction software, and my biggest complaint is that if I wanted to change something, there was no easy to do it. For example I realized that I had set up all of my links so that they would open in the same browser window. I decided that I instead wanted them to open in a new window, but the only way (that I found) to do this was to reset all the links manually, by redoing everything I had already done. I was also frustrated with the inflexibility of the software, I wasn't as free to organize the text and images a I wanted to be, but this is something I have to accept with any free software. With all this said I was actually pleased with the software, I feel that my site is professionally looking and it really was not hard to create once I got used to the software.
Im not sure if I will use this site in my class. I think that theres a good chance I will tell my students about it, because I can easily share interesting and helpful links with my them, and it also provides a way to get in touch with me, but I'm not sure how big a part of my curriculum it will be. I think only time will tell and it depends largely on how creative I am willing to be.
I checked my website for 508 compliance using Truwex Online 2.0 and I failed with six issues and twenty warnings. I received two issues that were very similar, " I read the description for two of the issues and essentially they tell me that the color of some of my text is too similar to the color to my background, and because of this it may be hard to read for some. Some of the text on my website is grey and the background in white so I believe that this is the issue. I like having two different colors for text on my website, but I realize that I one of those colors should not be gray if my background is white. I will experiment with different colors until i found something that both pleases me and passes 508 compliance.
Please check out my AP Biology Resource website: In Science We Trust
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Critical Web Evaluation Internet Workshop Reflection
The feedback i received from my group was all positive. I walked them through my handout/worksheet and explained my reasoning behind each step that I chose for student to take in their evaluation of the webpage. My group mates commented on the fact that I was able to make my web evaluation so relevant to my subject, biology. I think both of them struggled with this aspect (they are math teacher) so they were happy to see that I was able to do it. We also looked over my grading rubric, which I was a bit concerned about. I felt that the criteria was vague and perhaps not written in a language that my students could easily understand and interpret as they self asses. But my group mates assured me that these aspects of my rubrics were clear enough to them and that I was being too hard on myself.
After this experience, I am surprised to say that I think I will try to use this workshop in my future classroom. I am proud of my work, and I believe that through this workshop my students will learn a valuable lesson in information literacy as well as getting a great introduction to the controversy surrounding genetic engineering.
In our discussion of the quote, "Students will become victims of the expansive dark side of the Internet unless we teach the critical thinking necessary to make meaning out of the overwhelming and potentially manipulative amount of information that is now available and growing every day" (November, 2010, p.27) we definitely agreed with the sentiments and we cited many of our conversation that we have been having in class. We talked about the importance of fact checking information found on the internet, and we discussed the importance of giving our students the proper tools and skills to carry out effective fact checking. We decided that if we give our students these skills then it acts like a mental checklist that they can complete and then be confident about the webpage and its information. In essence it takes the guessing out of their fact checking.
After this experience, I am surprised to say that I think I will try to use this workshop in my future classroom. I am proud of my work, and I believe that through this workshop my students will learn a valuable lesson in information literacy as well as getting a great introduction to the controversy surrounding genetic engineering.
In our discussion of the quote, "Students will become victims of the expansive dark side of the Internet unless we teach the critical thinking necessary to make meaning out of the overwhelming and potentially manipulative amount of information that is now available and growing every day" (November, 2010, p.27) we definitely agreed with the sentiments and we cited many of our conversation that we have been having in class. We talked about the importance of fact checking information found on the internet, and we discussed the importance of giving our students the proper tools and skills to carry out effective fact checking. We decided that if we give our students these skills then it acts like a mental checklist that they can complete and then be confident about the webpage and its information. In essence it takes the guessing out of their fact checking.
Education Technology Weekly Reading Responses
What is the right balance between giving students freedom to explore the Web for research and providing them with structure and guidance?
This is a tricky question. The web is a big place with lots of great resources full of wonderful information, so what right do we have as teachers limit our students exploration of this medium? On the other hand, much of our Education Technology class’s discussions and projects have revolved around the idea that the web is also full of lots of disinformation. Teachers need to understand the absolute necessity of teaching proper information literacy skills to our students so that they can successfully navigate and interpret the web.
One way that teachers can balance open exploration and structure is by providing students with a reliable place to start their research on the web. In his book, Empowering Students with Technology (2010), November discusses such a place in the chapter about primary sources. November encourages teachers to incorporate as visit to the National Archives and Record Administration’s online database into their curriculum. November feels that a source like this allows students to explore a vast array of information but also allows for structure because the teacher knows that the information a student is looking at is for most part accurate (but always informative), and more importantly the teacher knows it is “safe” for the school environment. A starting place doesn’t have to be a primary sources database though, there are plenty of websites that contain a multitude of information that is relevant to school curriculum, and the great part about these types of websites is that every student can pull away unique information and insight, based on their different interest that lead them to use different search criteria. So in this sense students are still free to explore.
What is the role of the teacher in helping students to make meaning of primary source material?
The use of primary sources can be fun and exciting for student, November says the “fun and adventure of learning is in the
hunt,” (2010, p. 68) but at the same time they can be frustrating for students. Primary sources do not sort and organize information like textbooks do, and furthermore they may be written in a form of the English language that is foreign to our students. So although giving our students access to primary resources is a great way to immerse them in the perspective of the time period, we must make sure to structure and scaffold our student’s use of primary resources to ensure our students are getting the most out of the experience by creating relevant meanings (November, 2010).
The most effective way to help students construct meaning from a primary source is by helping them get into the shoes of the author. November suggest that the teacher can help a student analyze the primary source for context by guiding them through a series of critical questions. In one example November discusses four letters that Jackie Robinson wrote to four different U.S. presidents, and he suggest that we provoke are students answer questions like “What prompted Robinson to write the letters and telegrams, What were his expectations, Why was Robison so upset with Kennedy and pleased with Nixon, Which president did Robinson believe was the most progressive” (2010, p. 75). November goes onto suggest that eventually students will be able to create their own critical question that help them put the text in context and hence help them make meaning.
Another great resource for teachers are the National Archives and Record Administration’s worksheets. The worksheets structure a format for analyzing primary source document by forcing the student to answer some basic, but also very important questions. There are many types of worksheet, one for each type of document a student might find (picture, poster, sound recording, personal letter, map) and each one asks the student to analyze the document in unique ways that will help them create meaning and context.
To conclude I believe the following quote will help teachers better understand the role of primary sources in the curriculum: “In some cases we will have to teach the students to let go of the notion that the answers are more important than the questions and the process” (November, 2010, p. 69). I like this quote because it implies that student will need to think outside of the box, in new and exciting ways in order to make sense of primary sources. As students “hunt” through primary source literature they may be confused and frustrated because they cant find the answers they want, but they need to realize that through their search they are discovering new questions that may be more relevant and more useful for their research. This process can only help students develop the information and critical literacy skills that all good teachers desire to teach.
How can teachers use Podcasting and/or multimedia tools to promote collaborative learning?
Podcasting was designed so people could create and easily share information and ideas, and this is what the new online classroom is about. Students from elementary school to high school to college are using podcast to disseminate information about their school, about their classes, and about what their learning in those classes (Richardson, 2010). There is great potential in this for students to collaborate in order to enhance their education. I can imagine using podcasting in my classroom as a forum to have debates about the most controversial topics in science today. I would have my students research both sides of the genetic engineering controversies and then collaboratively compose their arguments in the form of a podcast. By using the online community of teachers I could get in touch with an agricultural education high school, and share my students’ podcast with them. My vision is that students at this Ag. Ed. School will have very interesting insights about the controversy since many of the latest genetic technologies are geared toward increased crop production or pest reduction. I could see the collaboration even going as far as having the two groups of students get together to synthesize their ideas into one very powerful podcast that they could then share with their legislatures whom may one day be faced with a bill that deals with this controversial issue.
By using podcast in this way students will learn a valuable lesson in the importance of obtaining different perspectives when they are composing their own personal opinions. I also believe that the use of collaboration and authentic audiences in this way will increase student motivation as well as understanding.
This is a tricky question. The web is a big place with lots of great resources full of wonderful information, so what right do we have as teachers limit our students exploration of this medium? On the other hand, much of our Education Technology class’s discussions and projects have revolved around the idea that the web is also full of lots of disinformation. Teachers need to understand the absolute necessity of teaching proper information literacy skills to our students so that they can successfully navigate and interpret the web.
One way that teachers can balance open exploration and structure is by providing students with a reliable place to start their research on the web. In his book, Empowering Students with Technology (2010), November discusses such a place in the chapter about primary sources. November encourages teachers to incorporate as visit to the National Archives and Record Administration’s online database into their curriculum. November feels that a source like this allows students to explore a vast array of information but also allows for structure because the teacher knows that the information a student is looking at is for most part accurate (but always informative), and more importantly the teacher knows it is “safe” for the school environment. A starting place doesn’t have to be a primary sources database though, there are plenty of websites that contain a multitude of information that is relevant to school curriculum, and the great part about these types of websites is that every student can pull away unique information and insight, based on their different interest that lead them to use different search criteria. So in this sense students are still free to explore.
What is the role of the teacher in helping students to make meaning of primary source material?
The use of primary sources can be fun and exciting for student, November says the “fun and adventure of learning is in the
hunt,” (2010, p. 68) but at the same time they can be frustrating for students. Primary sources do not sort and organize information like textbooks do, and furthermore they may be written in a form of the English language that is foreign to our students. So although giving our students access to primary resources is a great way to immerse them in the perspective of the time period, we must make sure to structure and scaffold our student’s use of primary resources to ensure our students are getting the most out of the experience by creating relevant meanings (November, 2010).
The most effective way to help students construct meaning from a primary source is by helping them get into the shoes of the author. November suggest that the teacher can help a student analyze the primary source for context by guiding them through a series of critical questions. In one example November discusses four letters that Jackie Robinson wrote to four different U.S. presidents, and he suggest that we provoke are students answer questions like “What prompted Robinson to write the letters and telegrams, What were his expectations, Why was Robison so upset with Kennedy and pleased with Nixon, Which president did Robinson believe was the most progressive” (2010, p. 75). November goes onto suggest that eventually students will be able to create their own critical question that help them put the text in context and hence help them make meaning.
Another great resource for teachers are the National Archives and Record Administration’s worksheets. The worksheets structure a format for analyzing primary source document by forcing the student to answer some basic, but also very important questions. There are many types of worksheet, one for each type of document a student might find (picture, poster, sound recording, personal letter, map) and each one asks the student to analyze the document in unique ways that will help them create meaning and context.
To conclude I believe the following quote will help teachers better understand the role of primary sources in the curriculum: “In some cases we will have to teach the students to let go of the notion that the answers are more important than the questions and the process” (November, 2010, p. 69). I like this quote because it implies that student will need to think outside of the box, in new and exciting ways in order to make sense of primary sources. As students “hunt” through primary source literature they may be confused and frustrated because they cant find the answers they want, but they need to realize that through their search they are discovering new questions that may be more relevant and more useful for their research. This process can only help students develop the information and critical literacy skills that all good teachers desire to teach.
How can teachers use Podcasting and/or multimedia tools to promote collaborative learning?
Podcasting was designed so people could create and easily share information and ideas, and this is what the new online classroom is about. Students from elementary school to high school to college are using podcast to disseminate information about their school, about their classes, and about what their learning in those classes (Richardson, 2010). There is great potential in this for students to collaborate in order to enhance their education. I can imagine using podcasting in my classroom as a forum to have debates about the most controversial topics in science today. I would have my students research both sides of the genetic engineering controversies and then collaboratively compose their arguments in the form of a podcast. By using the online community of teachers I could get in touch with an agricultural education high school, and share my students’ podcast with them. My vision is that students at this Ag. Ed. School will have very interesting insights about the controversy since many of the latest genetic technologies are geared toward increased crop production or pest reduction. I could see the collaboration even going as far as having the two groups of students get together to synthesize their ideas into one very powerful podcast that they could then share with their legislatures whom may one day be faced with a bill that deals with this controversial issue.
By using podcast in this way students will learn a valuable lesson in the importance of obtaining different perspectives when they are composing their own personal opinions. I also believe that the use of collaboration and authentic audiences in this way will increase student motivation as well as understanding.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Learning Theories Week 4 T2P
Two things that I feel will most stand in the way of me teaching critical literacy in public secondary schools are students whom are unmotivated/resistant/won’t dos, and students that treat others with disrespect and furthermore don’t realize that they are treating others with disrespect.
In order to defend against these two fears I, as a an educator will work towards highly quality motivation that will take place in emotionally safe environments
To right the first problem, that of resistance, I feel they are many “tools” that I have gotten from the philosophers we have discussed in class. I think that main methods are 1) constructivism through the integration of youth pop culture into lesson in order to make the curriculum's relevancy more apparent, and 2) becoming students of my students through the development “caring relationships” that help us know who they are, where they are coming from and where they want to/should be going.
With this said my working theory is as follows
If a teacher wants to create a safe place where student can freely express themselves and are highly motivated toward self growth and development then the teacher needs to develop caring relationships with their students through authentic dialogues that breakdown the power relations between teacher and student roles because in order for a student to feel free enough to cast down their social armor they need to know that they will be emotionally supported through the journey they are about to undertake. I also believe that this atmosphere will support acceptance while fighting to end unwarranted prejudices and discrimination in our schools.
I feel that there multiple ways I could strengthen this theory, one of which being the addition of contextual data, but I do feel strongly about the ideas represented in this theory and I feel I will be useing them in my final Learning Theories paper.
In order to defend against these two fears I, as a an educator will work towards highly quality motivation that will take place in emotionally safe environments
To right the first problem, that of resistance, I feel they are many “tools” that I have gotten from the philosophers we have discussed in class. I think that main methods are 1) constructivism through the integration of youth pop culture into lesson in order to make the curriculum's relevancy more apparent, and 2) becoming students of my students through the development “caring relationships” that help us know who they are, where they are coming from and where they want to/should be going.
With this said my working theory is as follows
If a teacher wants to create a safe place where student can freely express themselves and are highly motivated toward self growth and development then the teacher needs to develop caring relationships with their students through authentic dialogues that breakdown the power relations between teacher and student roles because in order for a student to feel free enough to cast down their social armor they need to know that they will be emotionally supported through the journey they are about to undertake. I also believe that this atmosphere will support acceptance while fighting to end unwarranted prejudices and discrimination in our schools.
I feel that there multiple ways I could strengthen this theory, one of which being the addition of contextual data, but I do feel strongly about the ideas represented in this theory and I feel I will be useing them in my final Learning Theories paper.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Reflection to Microsoft Office Screencast assignment
The creation of these screencast was definitely a good experience for me. I enjoyed working with my group as we shared what we knew about Microsoft Word and explored our creativity as we tried to find they best way to present our knowledge. Secondly, I enjoyed the project because I never thought that I could create a computer tutorial like that, and I was impressed by the overall quality of our end product. I was pleased wit the reviews we got from our classmates as they filled out our screencast survey. On a scale of 1-5 for our questions about clarity and usefulness of our screencast got almost all fours and fives, which pleases me because we did work hard address these two goals. We did however receive some comments about our clarity. Our classmates suggested that we should have used a script next time to ensure that we are speaking as clearly as possible and, they also recommended that a script might help our narrator slow down enough to ensure that our viewers can follow along. We also got a lot of comments focused on the footnoting section of our advanced tutorial. Many classmates felt that we needed to start at the very beginning in order to effectively show exactly how footnotes were used. They liked what we told them, but they thought we assumed too much of them. We also received similar advice about our hyperlinking section.
I certainly liked the other groups presentations. I found them personally useful and very professional. I think I will definitely be using screencast in my classroom whenever i get a chance to implement them. However, I don't think I would use the screencasts that we produced in class because I would want to create my own and structure them around my own personal needs, but with that being said I will probably steal some of the ideas that were used in these screencasts.
I think every student could benefit from teacher created screencasts. They can be used to introduce elementary school children to some common and useful features of desktop computers or they could be used in high school to introduce students to their classroom blog. They could even be used at the university level in sophisticated research labs that need to train lab assistant in uniquely complicated software.
In closing, I would love to incorporate screencast in my curriculum. I think its a nice way to express your creativity and perhaps humor to your students and the information they contain can be very helpful. I might even go as to as to have my students create screencast. Perhaps after they have learned how to search scientific journal databases they can create a screncast they future students will want to watch. I think this would be a great way to make to students feel involved in the class and the school community.
I certainly liked the other groups presentations. I found them personally useful and very professional. I think I will definitely be using screencast in my classroom whenever i get a chance to implement them. However, I don't think I would use the screencasts that we produced in class because I would want to create my own and structure them around my own personal needs, but with that being said I will probably steal some of the ideas that were used in these screencasts.
I think every student could benefit from teacher created screencasts. They can be used to introduce elementary school children to some common and useful features of desktop computers or they could be used in high school to introduce students to their classroom blog. They could even be used at the university level in sophisticated research labs that need to train lab assistant in uniquely complicated software.
In closing, I would love to incorporate screencast in my curriculum. I think its a nice way to express your creativity and perhaps humor to your students and the information they contain can be very helpful. I might even go as to as to have my students create screencast. Perhaps after they have learned how to search scientific journal databases they can create a screncast they future students will want to watch. I think this would be a great way to make to students feel involved in the class and the school community.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Education Technology Weekly Reading Responses
1. Now that there is unlimited potential to celebrate the work of students with their communities, what is the best way to mange this opportunity?
I believe publishing student work on a classroom blog is one of the most effective ways to share a student's work with family and community members. Students might stay more focused and work harder on projects if they know that people they care about from outside of the school will be viewing their work. In this way the blog promotes extrinsic motivation for students whom want to impress community members, or simply express themselves to audiences they never had before. November asks us to consider how students would respond in a sporting event, or a recital, or a theatrical performance they were taking part in that didn’t have an audience (2010, p.43). If we don’t expect student to participate in these events without authentic audiences how can we expect our students to participate in the classroom without authentic audiences
Secondly, if students are working on a research project or a data collection project, using the internet to share their research and data with organization that want it is a great way to give students purpose and a sense of relatedness to their communities. One example from Empowering students with Technology was a group of students in Massachusetts whom were helping a global climate change group collect and analyze data. Students were able to share their data and thoughts via Skype, and they were also able to get instant feedback from experts in the field (November, 2010, p. 36). I think that this must have been a great learning experience for the students as well as an awesome motivator.
2. How can we create authentic work and relationships for our students to give them a deeper meaning in relation to complex issues such as globalization and cultural sensitivity?
To enhance cultural sensitivity students can use technologies to conduct interviews with members of cultures that they have never met, but have only studied about in their classes. A story form November about a boy who inadvertently shows his cultural ignorance by making some very incentive comments to a Puerto Rican girl via Skype gives me a great idea for a lesson on cultural sensitivity (2010, p. 39). By prompting students to write about a culture before an interview takes place, and then revising this essay after the interview students can see the stereotypes they had been using and they can reflect on why these stereotypes are bad.
Another great way to get to know someone is through collaboration. Students can work with people from other cultures on a common project via the internet and in doing so build strong relationships. They can keep a blog of their interactions and discuss how their feelings toward their new colleagues have changed over time and write about what they have learned about this other culture and how it has changed their global views.
The great thing is we don’t even need to converse with people around the world, we can talk to students from different regions of the USA. I think I would be great if an environmental science teacher spent some time talking about the oil disaster currently going on in the Gulf of Mexico, and then to get her class in touch with students from the affected region to see how the crisis have impacted their lives.
3. What are the emerging collaborative relationships for teachers?
Just as it is an effective tool for students to receive feedback on their work from anonymous reviewers via the internet (November, p. 5) it can be incredibly helpful for teachers to use the online community to enhance their skills. Although teachers may know a lot about their subjects it is not possible to know everything or be up to date on everything. November offers a story about an American poetry teacher who reached out via the Internet to a teacher in Japan who was able to give him great insight in the art of the haiku (November, p. 52).
I have my own personal story of how the online community of teachers has helped me with my pre-service teacher studies. Yesterday in our Learning Theories class GNA was telling us about this “great teacher,” Vicki Davis, who had some really interesting ideas about how to get students motivated. First we watched a documentary style video about Vicki in her classroom and then we blogged about her teaching style. Using twitter GNA contacted Vicki to inform her of our learning activity that involved her. Vicki seemed excited so GNA encouraged us to ask her questions via our blog post, and Vicki actually responded to my question before class was over! I was amazed, first at how super nice Vicki was for responding, but second at how connected I felt to this online community of teachers that I never knew existed before. I’m realizing just how powerful a tool it is, and we would be foolish not to take advantage of it.
Parents are also extremely important in the learning process of our students. From my personal experience in the high school I know that many teachers feel their relationships with parents are more of a hassle than help, but we cannot deny the power of a family that is reinforcing the concepts and the attitudes that we are promoting in the school. Through the publishing of assignments on class blogs and through easy to access to video conferences parents can be more involved with their child’s academic career than ever before. It’s an awesome opportunity as educators to connect with parents in this way and I am excited to start building these relationships.
I believe publishing student work on a classroom blog is one of the most effective ways to share a student's work with family and community members. Students might stay more focused and work harder on projects if they know that people they care about from outside of the school will be viewing their work. In this way the blog promotes extrinsic motivation for students whom want to impress community members, or simply express themselves to audiences they never had before. November asks us to consider how students would respond in a sporting event, or a recital, or a theatrical performance they were taking part in that didn’t have an audience (2010, p.43). If we don’t expect student to participate in these events without authentic audiences how can we expect our students to participate in the classroom without authentic audiences
Secondly, if students are working on a research project or a data collection project, using the internet to share their research and data with organization that want it is a great way to give students purpose and a sense of relatedness to their communities. One example from Empowering students with Technology was a group of students in Massachusetts whom were helping a global climate change group collect and analyze data. Students were able to share their data and thoughts via Skype, and they were also able to get instant feedback from experts in the field (November, 2010, p. 36). I think that this must have been a great learning experience for the students as well as an awesome motivator.
2. How can we create authentic work and relationships for our students to give them a deeper meaning in relation to complex issues such as globalization and cultural sensitivity?
To enhance cultural sensitivity students can use technologies to conduct interviews with members of cultures that they have never met, but have only studied about in their classes. A story form November about a boy who inadvertently shows his cultural ignorance by making some very incentive comments to a Puerto Rican girl via Skype gives me a great idea for a lesson on cultural sensitivity (2010, p. 39). By prompting students to write about a culture before an interview takes place, and then revising this essay after the interview students can see the stereotypes they had been using and they can reflect on why these stereotypes are bad.
Another great way to get to know someone is through collaboration. Students can work with people from other cultures on a common project via the internet and in doing so build strong relationships. They can keep a blog of their interactions and discuss how their feelings toward their new colleagues have changed over time and write about what they have learned about this other culture and how it has changed their global views.
The great thing is we don’t even need to converse with people around the world, we can talk to students from different regions of the USA. I think I would be great if an environmental science teacher spent some time talking about the oil disaster currently going on in the Gulf of Mexico, and then to get her class in touch with students from the affected region to see how the crisis have impacted their lives.
3. What are the emerging collaborative relationships for teachers?
Just as it is an effective tool for students to receive feedback on their work from anonymous reviewers via the internet (November, p. 5) it can be incredibly helpful for teachers to use the online community to enhance their skills. Although teachers may know a lot about their subjects it is not possible to know everything or be up to date on everything. November offers a story about an American poetry teacher who reached out via the Internet to a teacher in Japan who was able to give him great insight in the art of the haiku (November, p. 52).
I have my own personal story of how the online community of teachers has helped me with my pre-service teacher studies. Yesterday in our Learning Theories class GNA was telling us about this “great teacher,” Vicki Davis, who had some really interesting ideas about how to get students motivated. First we watched a documentary style video about Vicki in her classroom and then we blogged about her teaching style. Using twitter GNA contacted Vicki to inform her of our learning activity that involved her. Vicki seemed excited so GNA encouraged us to ask her questions via our blog post, and Vicki actually responded to my question before class was over! I was amazed, first at how super nice Vicki was for responding, but second at how connected I felt to this online community of teachers that I never knew existed before. I’m realizing just how powerful a tool it is, and we would be foolish not to take advantage of it.
Parents are also extremely important in the learning process of our students. From my personal experience in the high school I know that many teachers feel their relationships with parents are more of a hassle than help, but we cannot deny the power of a family that is reinforcing the concepts and the attitudes that we are promoting in the school. Through the publishing of assignments on class blogs and through easy to access to video conferences parents can be more involved with their child’s academic career than ever before. It’s an awesome opportunity as educators to connect with parents in this way and I am excited to start building these relationships.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Learning Theories Week 3 T2P
T2P (2) from in last class last week
If a teacher is continually reflecting on their beliefs and is creating lessons and activities that are solidly based in those beliefs then the students will benefit the most from what the teacher has to offer as a person and as an expert in their field becaue the teacher will be engaging students in the most passionate way that they know, and will be trying to teach the students lessons that they hold most dear to their heart. (afterthought ...especially lessons about respect and acceptance)
If a teacher can model their behavior in the classroom to reinforce their beliefs then students will benefit because they can see a walking talking example of those beliefs.
Week 3 T2P Class Reflection
Today was a busy day. GNA took a poll at the beginning of class and there was a consensus that everyone was really tired. GNA's response was to hold an "extra long" morning chit chat in order to get everyone relax and laughing and hopefully get the blood flowing. It worked, I managed to make it to lunch and then the activity we took part in after lunch was kinda fun so by the end of the day i was in good spirits. But enough about summary I must get into what I learned today and how it will affect me as a teacher. i want to start with my Theory from last week, which was...
If teachers want their students to be actively engaged in the classroom and motivated in their own education then the teacher should start every class with an open conversation that allows the teacher to express any personal points that he or she thinks the class might enjoy hearing and also allows the students to share their stories, questions, comments and concerns with everyone else in the room because this activity will foster a friendly and healthy social environment that will promote cooperation among students, and will make the teacher appear more accessible to the students as a source of helpful information and also as a role model that they can look to for advice.
what i want to do is incorporate some of the new ideas about motivation. Something I learned from the chapter 9 reading was that two of the most important factors in student motivation are the ability of the teacher to express their concern for students well being, and their ability to create a emotionally secure environment. I think that my above theory ties into both of these idea about motivation and I think its cool that I found literature that supports my theory. I also wanted to incorporate Vygotsky's theory of socially motivated learning in to my Theory because i think it is also a big part of what i am trying to say and I feel it will make my thoughts more clear. Sadly I feel constrained by time so i wont be modifying my Theory tonight, btu I will attempt to get back to it this weekend.
The second thing I want to talk about is this "new" idea of autonomy and how it can provide motivation. In class a lot of my teachers have been speaking about constructivist learning, and they would explain to me that the idea of it was student-centered curriculum that built off of what they students already knew and what they were currently interested in. The idea makes sense to me but I struggled see how i could put it to practice. As we talked about autonomy in class today I was given a new perspective on constructivism and I feel can now implement it better in my classroom. What Im learning is that we need to observe our study and study the choices they make when they are provided autonomy. Only by becoming "students of our students" (Ayers) can we truly know our students and know what they are interested and know how to scaffold our curriculum to support them so that the function in the "zone of proximal learning" (Vygotsky). Knowing are students is important and Vicki Davis goes as far to say that we should love them. In a post she made on my blog she says that through caring and empathy we can bring the "human aspect" into teaching, and through this we can become great educators. (Davis)
If a teacher is continually reflecting on their beliefs and is creating lessons and activities that are solidly based in those beliefs then the students will benefit the most from what the teacher has to offer as a person and as an expert in their field becaue the teacher will be engaging students in the most passionate way that they know, and will be trying to teach the students lessons that they hold most dear to their heart. (afterthought ...especially lessons about respect and acceptance)
If a teacher can model their behavior in the classroom to reinforce their beliefs then students will benefit because they can see a walking talking example of those beliefs.
Week 3 T2P Class Reflection
Today was a busy day. GNA took a poll at the beginning of class and there was a consensus that everyone was really tired. GNA's response was to hold an "extra long" morning chit chat in order to get everyone relax and laughing and hopefully get the blood flowing. It worked, I managed to make it to lunch and then the activity we took part in after lunch was kinda fun so by the end of the day i was in good spirits. But enough about summary I must get into what I learned today and how it will affect me as a teacher. i want to start with my Theory from last week, which was...
If teachers want their students to be actively engaged in the classroom and motivated in their own education then the teacher should start every class with an open conversation that allows the teacher to express any personal points that he or she thinks the class might enjoy hearing and also allows the students to share their stories, questions, comments and concerns with everyone else in the room because this activity will foster a friendly and healthy social environment that will promote cooperation among students, and will make the teacher appear more accessible to the students as a source of helpful information and also as a role model that they can look to for advice.
what i want to do is incorporate some of the new ideas about motivation. Something I learned from the chapter 9 reading was that two of the most important factors in student motivation are the ability of the teacher to express their concern for students well being, and their ability to create a emotionally secure environment. I think that my above theory ties into both of these idea about motivation and I think its cool that I found literature that supports my theory. I also wanted to incorporate Vygotsky's theory of socially motivated learning in to my Theory because i think it is also a big part of what i am trying to say and I feel it will make my thoughts more clear. Sadly I feel constrained by time so i wont be modifying my Theory tonight, btu I will attempt to get back to it this weekend.
The second thing I want to talk about is this "new" idea of autonomy and how it can provide motivation. In class a lot of my teachers have been speaking about constructivist learning, and they would explain to me that the idea of it was student-centered curriculum that built off of what they students already knew and what they were currently interested in. The idea makes sense to me but I struggled see how i could put it to practice. As we talked about autonomy in class today I was given a new perspective on constructivism and I feel can now implement it better in my classroom. What Im learning is that we need to observe our study and study the choices they make when they are provided autonomy. Only by becoming "students of our students" (Ayers) can we truly know our students and know what they are interested and know how to scaffold our curriculum to support them so that the function in the "zone of proximal learning" (Vygotsky). Knowing are students is important and Vicki Davis goes as far to say that we should love them. In a post she made on my blog she says that through caring and empathy we can bring the "human aspect" into teaching, and through this we can become great educators. (Davis)
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