Sunday, May 8, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Final Report on my PLN
I'm proud to say that I have added even more valuable sources to my PLN.I am still using Symbaloo but I have added a few more links. For example, I added a significant amount of the links that Mr. McClung Suggested. Also, I have added the ALEX website. I have definitely found myself becoming more confident using the tools introduced in the class. I have found myself googling answers to things and figuring out how to solve problems.
C4T #4
I have been following Ms. Hadley’s blog titled Middle School Matrix. The first post I read was Teaching Self-Assessment. This post is all about her goal to move away from a system where students just try to please their teacher and work to their goals. She believes this is important in order to train the future generation to be able to work the jobs that will be necessary in the future. She then goes on to explain her evaluation of a writing project that she assigned her students. It was a non-traditional method which encouraged independence and self-evaluation.
I commented on her post that I agreed with her belief that too often we teach our students how to succeed in school without really requiring them to learn and understand the material. We teach them how to do well on standardized tests and how to get the A’s in our classes. I also commented that I think it would be difficult to break away from traditional grading and assessment because these methods allow our students to be confident in their easy A’s and it allows teachers to feel confidence in their students with good grades. Finally, I let her know that I think her assessment methods are a really good example of asking our students to become “independent creators and innovators”.
The other post I commented on by Ms. Hadley was The Silence of Learning.This post is about a lesson that Ms. Hadley had designed for her class. As a teacher who values creativity and independence for her students, she required them to do a project in which they pretended that they were an early explorer in the New World. They would use their imagination to create a ship log, a daily log, a biography of the explorer, a map of the journey, and a drawing of the ship. Ms. Hadley said that she was impressed by the determination and hard work of the students…they were silent for hours on end! She also commented that when she would walk around the room to check on progress, students would ask for reassurance that their work was right, but she just encouraged them to be confident in their work and record things that they felt were of value. This doesn’t take away from the role of the teacher though. As she puts it, “student independence only happens when we create and sustain it”.
I commented that I liked a lot about this post, because I truly, truly did. I liked the title of the post, which was “The Silence of Learning”. I told her that I think that too often, the image of education is perceived as a teacher standing in front of a group of students lecturing or asking guiding questions. This can be effective, but I believe that when students are silently learning, they are truly engaged and discovering the information themselves. Also, I told her that I liked how she said that teachers are definitely necessary because we have to encourage our students to be independent learners and not rely on what others judge as valuable.
I commented on her post that I agreed with her belief that too often we teach our students how to succeed in school without really requiring them to learn and understand the material. We teach them how to do well on standardized tests and how to get the A’s in our classes. I also commented that I think it would be difficult to break away from traditional grading and assessment because these methods allow our students to be confident in their easy A’s and it allows teachers to feel confidence in their students with good grades. Finally, I let her know that I think her assessment methods are a really good example of asking our students to become “independent creators and innovators”.
The other post I commented on by Ms. Hadley was The Silence of Learning.This post is about a lesson that Ms. Hadley had designed for her class. As a teacher who values creativity and independence for her students, she required them to do a project in which they pretended that they were an early explorer in the New World. They would use their imagination to create a ship log, a daily log, a biography of the explorer, a map of the journey, and a drawing of the ship. Ms. Hadley said that she was impressed by the determination and hard work of the students…they were silent for hours on end! She also commented that when she would walk around the room to check on progress, students would ask for reassurance that their work was right, but she just encouraged them to be confident in their work and record things that they felt were of value. This doesn’t take away from the role of the teacher though. As she puts it, “student independence only happens when we create and sustain it”.
I commented that I liked a lot about this post, because I truly, truly did. I liked the title of the post, which was “The Silence of Learning”. I told her that I think that too often, the image of education is perceived as a teacher standing in front of a group of students lecturing or asking guiding questions. This can be effective, but I believe that when students are silently learning, they are truly engaged and discovering the information themselves. Also, I told her that I liked how she said that teachers are definitely necessary because we have to encourage our students to be independent learners and not rely on what others judge as valuable.
Final Project #16
Smart Board Ppt
This is a project that I worked on with Olivia Bush, Lara Bishop, Rachael Gammill, and Dana Johnson. We really wanted to do this project about how to use a SMART Board, because we felt as if it would be really practical. Realistically, aside from the internet, SMART Boards will probably be the one piece of technology that we will be exposed to in the classroom setting. Because of this, it is important to become as familiar as possible with the software before entering the classroom to alleviate the learning curve. We worked together on this in person as well as collaborating through Google Docs.
This is a project that I worked on with Olivia Bush, Lara Bishop, Rachael Gammill, and Dana Johnson. We really wanted to do this project about how to use a SMART Board, because we felt as if it would be really practical. Realistically, aside from the internet, SMART Boards will probably be the one piece of technology that we will be exposed to in the classroom setting. Because of this, it is important to become as familiar as possible with the software before entering the classroom to alleviate the learning curve. We worked together on this in person as well as collaborating through Google Docs.
Blog Assignment 14
I don’t think I completely missed the metaphor in Tom Johnson’s post Don’t Let Them Take Pencils Home. Dr. Strange commented on my reflection on the post that I “had it but didn’t know it”. While I did comment that students should be allowed to express their creative side and teachers shouldn’t just come up with easy solutions to problems, I did understand that this whole post was a metaphor.
I have actually been trying to be more aware of metaphors so I could comment on their use in our everyday life. Some of the ones that I have noticed either myself or someone else saying in the past week include: a heart of gold, she’s heartbroken, her knight in shining armor, stabbed in the back, icing on the cake, the world is your oyster, hot as heck, a day late and a dollar short.
I think as educators, the concept of metaphors and similes could be a hard one to teach. I think it would be best taught as a long-term lesson. By this, I mean that I think students need to be asked to always have concepts like these in the back of their head so they are always analyzing their speech and their life. I think lessons like this help students with their critical thinking skills and help them realize the importance of always keeping your mind peeled and sharp.
I think that we use metaphors because it helps us understand things better. We can express something in just a few words that might otherwise take a great deal of words. We are able to easily compare to something that we already know so it makes it easier to understand. Also, I think we use metaphors to explain things in a different way and give ourselves a mental image. For example, everyone basically understands the metaphor “the world as your oyster” but everyone probably takes their own spin on it and it means something slightly different to everyone. I think this possibility to appeal and be understood slightly different by everyone is another reason that we use metaphors.
Blog Assignmen 13
The Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators, and Students (ACCESS) program is an organization designed to provide high school students in the State of Alabama with a quality education. Their motto as stated on their home page is “providing classroom courses and teachers via technology”. The program does this by providing students with access to highly qualified teachers and lessons through technology. The website has resources for students, teachers, and parents.
I think this program is a wonderful one, but it doesn’t come without a few obstacles. I think it’s great that ALEX is providing students with access to an exceptional education through technology, but the actual program is only available to high school students. I understand that elementary students and parents can still find and apply the resources provided on the internet, but elementary students deserve an ACCESS program as well. Also, I see the possibility for disciple problems in this program.
ALEX is another initiative from the state of Alabama. It provides teachers with various resources that they could need. The website provides such resources as courses of study, web links, and lesson plans. It allows teachers to search for ideas for their classrooms and get inspiration from others. I think this program will be especially useful when I get my own classroom. I have worked with this website before, and found numerous sources and ideas.
http://alex.state.al.us/index.ph
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)