The first thing I found very interesting was having future students listen to podcast about the class prior to attending. What a wonderful idea. I believe that by doing this you are better prepared and you know what to expect. This would also reduce some of the stress and anxiety of the class.
The second thing caught my attention and that I wish was available to me when I was getting my undergraduate degree is the access to ipods for learning purposes. That would have been a great tool to have. I could have reviewed podcasts and more with the use of ipods to enhance learning and reienfoce learned material.
The third thing that caught my attention was the portion about collaboration. This struck home for me because I truly believe that when students work together and collaborate with each other they are demonstrating the knowledge, problem solving, and engaged. I find that when students are given collaboration projects for the most part there is high student motivation and engagement.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Podcastimg/vodcasting with Elementary Students
There are several podcasting/vodcasting projects that I could do with my second grade students.
1. Research a historical figure and create a newscast about that figure in interview form. Develop interview questions for host and responses for historical figure of interest. Showcase historical figures accomplishments.
2. Using a picture book ( wordless) create a story to go along with the pictures.
3. Record writing pieces to showcase student learning and to share with others.
4. Recorded booktalks for "Pippi Longstocking."
5. record and discuss what students know about Mealworms, Waxworms, Milkweed bugs and Silkworms.
6. Record math story problems for others to solve
7. record a virtual tour of our school including commentary, photos and directions.
1. Research a historical figure and create a newscast about that figure in interview form. Develop interview questions for host and responses for historical figure of interest. Showcase historical figures accomplishments.
2. Using a picture book ( wordless) create a story to go along with the pictures.
3. Record writing pieces to showcase student learning and to share with others.
4. Recorded booktalks for "Pippi Longstocking."
5. record and discuss what students know about Mealworms, Waxworms, Milkweed bugs and Silkworms.
6. Record math story problems for others to solve
7. record a virtual tour of our school including commentary, photos and directions.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
21st Century Skills
I believe that for the most part the younger teachers in my school district do an adequate job teaching 21st century skills. I believe this is true with Digital Age Literacy because we are more up to date on the latest technologies and willing to try new things in our classroom and with our students. It is important to bridge the gap and entice the older teachers to utilize and teach new technologies to students. To help bridge the technology gap we have weekly team meeting and share ideas, strategies, and lessons involving technology. It is important the if you are knowledgeable about a piece of technology that you take the time to share what you know with others. As far as Interactive Thinking I believe that we are proficient with addressing those skills. As teachers we provide various enrichment and extension activities which vary in complexity which foster creativity, higher levels of thinking and encourage students to take appropriate risks in a safe and positive learning environment. Effective Communication and High Productivity are area that are developing in my district. We are making advances towards these goals/skills by implementing Character Education Programs and revising old rubric and creating new one that allow students to see what is expected of them, thus fostering high productivity
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
How Interactive is Your Whiteboard
There were three main ideas that caught my attention after reading “How Interactive is Your Whiteboard?”
The first being that the way teachers are posing questions in the present day is really not evoking higher levels of thinking and scaffolding learning. This is concerning because isn’t the purpose of questioning to not just assess and monitor student understanding but to build upon knowledge think and respond to questions with higher complexities thus allowing further discussions and learning to take place. I believe that the way that teachers pose their questions today is due to the time restraints that teacher have to deliver instruction. I believe that teachers need to think about asking fewer question and only asking question that will maximize student response and demonstrate the knowledge of the students on higher level.
The second being the way we use an IWB. I believe that the IWB can be used as a tool to enhance teacher instruction. The teacher can use this tool to assist his/her in the way he/she delivers the instruction to enhance and promote student learning, student interactions, and discussions. It is important for teachers to remember that the IWB could be used as a teaching aid but the real instruction comes from the teacher and the way he/she gets the student to think about the material through asking higher level thinking question, having meaningful discussions, and culminating activities to reinforce the learned material.
The last thing that caught my attention was that there were gains in scores on national test. This advance was not because the students were truly applying and understanding at higher complexities. This result was because teachers are teaching to the test discouraging the students’ ability to reflectively and strategically think and process information. What has teaching come to? Is it more important to teach your students to reflectively and strategically think and process information on higher levels of complexity or to simply teach the students strategies to pass a test?
How can Educators be sure that interactive tools are used to their best potential?
The teacher must first learn how to use the tools correctly and demonstrate their knowledge about the tool to the students so that they to can interact and manipulate the tool. It is also the role of an educator to use this tool to enhance and promote student learning, student interactions, and discussions. Not to assume that the tool will do the teaching for them. Incorporating interactive technology into the classroom can have positive effects on student learning as long as teachers are willing to learn how to use new technologies, use the technology as a tool to enhance instruction, and allow the students to interact with the technology.
The first being that the way teachers are posing questions in the present day is really not evoking higher levels of thinking and scaffolding learning. This is concerning because isn’t the purpose of questioning to not just assess and monitor student understanding but to build upon knowledge think and respond to questions with higher complexities thus allowing further discussions and learning to take place. I believe that the way that teachers pose their questions today is due to the time restraints that teacher have to deliver instruction. I believe that teachers need to think about asking fewer question and only asking question that will maximize student response and demonstrate the knowledge of the students on higher level.
The second being the way we use an IWB. I believe that the IWB can be used as a tool to enhance teacher instruction. The teacher can use this tool to assist his/her in the way he/she delivers the instruction to enhance and promote student learning, student interactions, and discussions. It is important for teachers to remember that the IWB could be used as a teaching aid but the real instruction comes from the teacher and the way he/she gets the student to think about the material through asking higher level thinking question, having meaningful discussions, and culminating activities to reinforce the learned material.
The last thing that caught my attention was that there were gains in scores on national test. This advance was not because the students were truly applying and understanding at higher complexities. This result was because teachers are teaching to the test discouraging the students’ ability to reflectively and strategically think and process information. What has teaching come to? Is it more important to teach your students to reflectively and strategically think and process information on higher levels of complexity or to simply teach the students strategies to pass a test?
How can Educators be sure that interactive tools are used to their best potential?
The teacher must first learn how to use the tools correctly and demonstrate their knowledge about the tool to the students so that they to can interact and manipulate the tool. It is also the role of an educator to use this tool to enhance and promote student learning, student interactions, and discussions. Not to assume that the tool will do the teaching for them. Incorporating interactive technology into the classroom can have positive effects on student learning as long as teachers are willing to learn how to use new technologies, use the technology as a tool to enhance instruction, and allow the students to interact with the technology.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Dewey’s Democracy in Education
Important Ideas:
A society exists and continues to evolve because the elders of a generation continue to communicate and educate the younger generations on social beliefs, morals, aspirations and knowledge. Formal education is just as equally important as the education of social beliefs and there should be a balance of both forms of education taught to younger learners. According to Dewey, without this balance, as a species we will regress to the primitive creatures we once were long ago. But as our world changes and advances in technology occur, beliefs and knowledge of younger generations may differ from that of the older generation causing gaps in learning. It is important to continue to develop as learners and make a commitment to become life long learners so that we are able to help bridge the gap between generations of learners and ensure that our species keeps evolving.
A society exists and continues to evolve because the elders of a generation continue to communicate and educate the younger generations on social beliefs, morals, aspirations and knowledge. Formal education is just as equally important as the education of social beliefs and there should be a balance of both forms of education taught to younger learners. According to Dewey, without this balance, as a species we will regress to the primitive creatures we once were long ago. But as our world changes and advances in technology occur, beliefs and knowledge of younger generations may differ from that of the older generation causing gaps in learning. It is important to continue to develop as learners and make a commitment to become life long learners so that we are able to help bridge the gap between generations of learners and ensure that our species keeps evolving.
Bloom's Taxonomy and My Learning Experiences
Secondary Education and Blooms Taxonomy
Bloom’s model of classifying thinking contains six cognitive levels of complexity. The lowest three levels are: remembering, understanding, and applying. I remember when I was in high school receiving my secondary education, only having a limited amount of assignments that would relate to Bloom’s three highest levels of cognitive development : creating, evaluating, and applying. What comes to mind when I think about the levels of Bloom’s cognitive development that I primarily utilized were : remembering, understanding, and applying. All my learning was generally focused on memorizing facts and taking notes to help me remember those facts. I believe by not being challenged to think about things on a higher level, correlates to why I am unable to recall some of the things that I have learned and studied. The education during this time period was focused on learning what the teacher taught by memorizing your notes, taking a test on that material, and moving on and then never touching upon that content again. This led to meaningless connections and applications of the material I studied. The few projects that were assigned during my secondary education and encouraged higher levels of cognitive complexity I can actually say to this day I can remember fully and with great detail. When exposed to a more complex way of thinking for the purpose of learning and achieving the highest levels of cognitive development allocated me a greater understanding and allowed me to make meaningful connections to the area of study.
Post-Secondary Education and Bloom’s Taxonomy
Through post secondary education I’ve experienced multiple levels of cognitive development. I can remember certain courses that I had taken my freshmen and sophmore years focusing on Bloom’s cognitive levels: applying, understanding, and remembering. As I advanced through college and continued my learning through graduate school, the complexity and expectation of higher cognitive thinking was prevalent and constant. At this level and through various assignments I was able to develop a greater knowledge and think cognitively at the three highest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy: creating, evaluating, and applying. I believe that this relates to my ability to recall a greater amout of what I have learned in college and can apply today. I also believe by scafolding learning and building solid foundations, you can begin to think in greater complexities, building upon previous knowledge by adding new knowledge to your existing knowledge in specific areas. That is what was successfully implemented for me during my post-secondary education.
Bloom’s model of classifying thinking contains six cognitive levels of complexity. The lowest three levels are: remembering, understanding, and applying. I remember when I was in high school receiving my secondary education, only having a limited amount of assignments that would relate to Bloom’s three highest levels of cognitive development : creating, evaluating, and applying. What comes to mind when I think about the levels of Bloom’s cognitive development that I primarily utilized were : remembering, understanding, and applying. All my learning was generally focused on memorizing facts and taking notes to help me remember those facts. I believe by not being challenged to think about things on a higher level, correlates to why I am unable to recall some of the things that I have learned and studied. The education during this time period was focused on learning what the teacher taught by memorizing your notes, taking a test on that material, and moving on and then never touching upon that content again. This led to meaningless connections and applications of the material I studied. The few projects that were assigned during my secondary education and encouraged higher levels of cognitive complexity I can actually say to this day I can remember fully and with great detail. When exposed to a more complex way of thinking for the purpose of learning and achieving the highest levels of cognitive development allocated me a greater understanding and allowed me to make meaningful connections to the area of study.
Post-Secondary Education and Bloom’s Taxonomy
Through post secondary education I’ve experienced multiple levels of cognitive development. I can remember certain courses that I had taken my freshmen and sophmore years focusing on Bloom’s cognitive levels: applying, understanding, and remembering. As I advanced through college and continued my learning through graduate school, the complexity and expectation of higher cognitive thinking was prevalent and constant. At this level and through various assignments I was able to develop a greater knowledge and think cognitively at the three highest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy: creating, evaluating, and applying. I believe that this relates to my ability to recall a greater amout of what I have learned in college and can apply today. I also believe by scafolding learning and building solid foundations, you can begin to think in greater complexities, building upon previous knowledge by adding new knowledge to your existing knowledge in specific areas. That is what was successfully implemented for me during my post-secondary education.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Integrating Technology into the Curriculum
Technology is always changing. New advances in technology seem to happen rapidly. Students are also coming to school with an excellent understanding of computer technologies, sometimes with a greater knowledge than that of the teacher. It is important that as teachers, we remain current on the latest trends so that we are able to effectively enhance the lessons we teach. We need to be able to reach, motivate, and teach the latest generation and styles of technologically driven learners by utilizing the technologies we have available. This will enable students to connect the content they are learning with real world technologies. If technology is integrated in to the curriculum, students will acquire a solid understanding of the technologies and application of those technologies that are prevalent in our economy. Let’s face it, by incorporating technology into the way we deliver our instruction we will be allowing today’s learners to gain knowledge and understanding through lessons that are multi-sensory, and that provide meaningful activities that are appealing, engaging and motivational. Vivid colors, interactions, animated graphics, and auditory components are appealing to today’s youth. By integrating technologies into the way to deliver our instruction and assess our students, we will be enriching their learning and preparing them to be successful and well equipped to meet the needs of the technologically driven society that we live in.
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