Oh testing!!!! What an interesting thing that drives so many teachers' instruction. Some of the test questions that students had to answer was simply recall and that is not the kind of students we are trying to create. We want students to be life-long learners, not just say back everything that was told to them. I am interested to see what will happen with the new Common Core Testing. It will change the way we teach or it maybe it will be another fail!
We all agree that education needs to address the "current" student. I feel like chapter 2 is trying to shock us to feel like teachers are really not engaging students or letting them talk, collaborate and create. I cannot believe that my profession allows teachers to teach that way. We are masters of education and are dedicated to students learning and achievement. It is hard to believe that is NOT an exaggeration.
I want to learn how to organize my life and or house. For those that know me…this is huge!!!!!
Today in class, I stopped and looked at my students and thought, "Oh dear, I need to add more challenging Web 2.0 tools in my class." I watched this video the other night, but did not feel compelled to write until I let it sink in. Education is changing and I better be on board because my students will be the ones behind in the end. Today in my class, I had students question each other, with valid "google search could not answer this" questions. Instead of moving on, these students tried hard to find these answers. The question was about if the United States had a different form of government. Collaborating, and searching through WIKIpedia and others alike, these students truly desired to find the answer. Like in the video, people want to supply information just to have information available. What a wonderful idea and what a great thing to teach my students. I want to make sure that my students are just not sitting there, but collaborating with each other and on Web 2.0 tools. After watching this, again I start questioning what I am doing as an educator. Am I being the best 21 century educator? And if I am not, what I am going to do to change it? Clearly the message is that education should not be focused around standardized testing and blocking children into the educational system from 8am-3pm because they are from the ages 5-18. My paradigm has shirted, I see all around one-to-one student to teacher academies and online courses that students can complete as fast or as slow as they would like. However, what about the majority of public schools in the San Diego district. What is happening there? Are changes occurring or is it to radical that nothing will ever happen? It is a fear of mine that the same lines that were told to me back in the early 2000s to get me to work, I am going to use on a completely new generation. The video discusses how college does not guarantee a job like it might have done 15 years ago. Motivation to get a higher education cannot come from the desire to "get a job", but to be the "best" at the job. I am hoping this year, I will bring more divergent thinking in my classroom because I do not want my students education to stop them from learning.
After viewing the TED X Talk, I agree with Wesch suggestions on bringing real world problems into the classroom, working together collaboratively and using technological tools when needed. Being a World History teacher, I love connecting current issues with the major events from the past. However, I am a little nervous bringing a problem to the class that I myself will not know the answer. Nevertheless, Wesch states that classrooms where the instructor holds all the knowledge and control is not as successful as one where collaboration between all takes place. This year I plan on collaborating with my students on issues that effect us and the world, politically, socially and economically. I agree that students need to practice connecting, organize, share, collect, collaborate and publish in the classroom because that is what they will be doing for the rest of their lives. The planning and organizing that I must do to prepare my students for experiences like this is a little overwhelming, but clearly worth it.
This is a very interesting video that I needed to watch in order to reflect on where I fall on the spectrum or continuum of a Visitor of the the Internet or a Resident. Dr. White brings up issues that I felt alone in because I am now categorized as an older generation. I completely see myself as a Resident when it comes to my Facebook and Instagram social media sites. I love chatting with my mother, writing on my sister's wall and posting pictures of my last vacation or adventure. I have a heavy presence and online identity in those social media tools, however, I believe that I am a private person when it comes to sharing my "private life". I do not over-share my life. My privacy is very important to me and Dr. White mentions that privacy's value is different to various generations. After viewing this video, I can better understand that people, colleagues, friends and students will fall in different parts of this continuum. This will better help me approach the question of, "Why are you not online?" and "WOW! Why don't you take a break from posting?"
The Resident/Visitor Theory is correct when it addresses skill level. Being a Visitor does not mean that the person lacks technological skills to uses social media tools. It sometimes means that a certain tool does not pertain to their online identity or need. Additionally, being a Resident does not automatically qualify a person as technologically savvy. After reading the essay, Why School?, written by Will Richardson, I am starting to think about my own teaching practices. Richardson is calling for a reform in schools as he watches his son grow up in a system that truly might not be making him the a master learner. I am going to change all my test questions after reading that assessments need to ask questions that searching the web could not answer. Standardized Tests do not measure a students skill of being a learner. With Common Core and Smarter Balance Testing, I am interested in seeing how these assessments will measure students analytical skills as opposed to their recall skills. Clearly, my own assessments will challenge my students differently then these standardized tests by being more meaningful and require a real world application. I agree completely with Richardson that reform needs to take place in how students are tested any how they demonstrate their proficiency.
In reading the six relearning ideas for educators, there are some that I can implement in my practices right away. Sharing everything is something that I am going to start this year. I am excited to start creating for my and my students a professional online presence. I want students everywhere to benefit from my practices that I know are working. I never thought that other educators would care to see what I am doing in a classroom, but I need to conquer that fear and start posting online. Additionally, as I am preparing my students of the 21 century, they need to have a scholarly online portfolio that follows them. I am eager to share this with my students because they will see the importance of online citizenship. Another relearning idea that I would like to add to my practice is doing real work for real audiences. I am a real person and love having students turn work into me, but now I know that is not enough. I teach World History, I want my student to collaborate with student's around the world or have their projects viewed by local, national and international communities. These are the people my students need to learn to interact with and I plan on being the leader in taking them there. Some of the relearning ideas from the essay are a little overwhelming. I see the value in them, but I also recognize that I will struggle implementing in my practices right away. First, is the discovery portion. I strongly stand in the belief that great teaching practices are not when a teacher lectures for 3 hours and sends the student home, that one that fosters collaboration and meaningful questioning. However, I was amazing by the example that Richardson gives about High Tech High. The kind of planning and preparation that those instructions did both with their own content and cross content must have taken an extreme amount of time and trail and error. Some questions that come to mind are: Do the teachers have adequate time to plan with each other? and, How are students who do not show competency in this project addressed? I would love to incorporate more cross content projects that would result in a published book, but I do not know where to began and that is where my struggle with this relearning idea lies. |
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December 2014
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