Sunday, July 22, 2012
Wrap up Second take
Edwin asked that we say something about the flow and content of the course. The syllabus was a mess, for me anyway, I didn't understand what we were suppose to do and when. Ed, you were more than willing to help us out in any way you could, and I appreciate that. Just like in the classroom, the first time you run through something is "the test" and then you modify from there. So I know Edwin will modify his instruction to make the class even more worthwhile next time. I liked that there was only three students so we could share stories and ideas. Best of luck to all of you.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Wrap up
This has been one crazy summer, so far. Job interviews culminating with a new job, taking a class, a trip to NC, Rock USA, and the summer is only half over!
I want to thank my Professor and classmates for a great class. Either I am clueless-which may be the case- or my teaching classes weren't that good, but whatever the case, this class was an enlightenment. Although I am doing a lot of what the book talked about, this class was very thought provoking for me. I really want to pass this information on to my fellow teachers. It may be old hat for them, but I bet there would be some Aha moment for them, too.
I have mostly used this blog for my classwork, but am going to make a real effort to write more about being a librarian. It is an exciting time for LMS and I plan on being part of it!
I want to thank my Professor and classmates for a great class. Either I am clueless-which may be the case- or my teaching classes weren't that good, but whatever the case, this class was an enlightenment. Although I am doing a lot of what the book talked about, this class was very thought provoking for me. I really want to pass this information on to my fellow teachers. It may be old hat for them, but I bet there would be some Aha moment for them, too.
I have mostly used this blog for my classwork, but am going to make a real effort to write more about being a librarian. It is an exciting time for LMS and I plan on being part of it!
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
I don't remember which week I was suppose to post this for I think two weeks ago, but I just found it, so I will post it. Sorry, I am soooo long winded!
Just talking to teachers about how and what they do in the classroom may be a whole can of worms. But what I think I would try to do is put a unit together and ask the teachers to come in and view some new ideas on how to introduce information. I would also enlist the teachers that all ready do this. The issues I would raise would be what is your lesson about and how could you visually represent it to introduce it. For example, I read a book to the 3rd graders called The Jubilee Singer. Usually I end the book with a YouTube video of the Jubilee Singers, but maybe it would be better to start the lesson with that, so the students would have questions raised in their minds. Who are these singers? And why is the video so old? Teachers, ask questions that require thought, not just regurgitating information. In other words have a hook. How could the information you are presenting be put in some sort of graphic organizer? Give them a rubric so they understand exactly what is expected of them. Instead of having students blindly search the internet, have a few websites picked out that have good information on your subject. Have them or yourself organize information on a chart, or power point, or Inspiration. And lastly use a web application like Wallwisher, to post student responses to important and essential questions.
Because I am not a classroom teacher, I have fewer opportunities introduce a unit, vs a lesson, than the classroom teacher. That said I can see that I am not introducing my lessons properly. For example, the beginning to my 4th grade unit on reference material. I do have the five reference materials to show the students, however I could have a graphic organizer, for the students to fill in as they discover what is in each reference material. I could also use Inspiration to have a thought map. For my introduction to genres, I could use a Smart board and have students move definitions into correct columns under the heading of each genre. For a poster project I could have a clear rubric. I did a poster project without a rubric, I just showed an example of what I wanted, and it was a total mess. Students didn’t understand the level of my expectations. At the end of the year I do a Googledocs survey and what the kids liked and didn’t like about library class. What I could do is a survey in the beginning to help assess knowledge. I use multimedia a lot in my lessons. But I will have to think if I am using it correctly.
Note taking is a personal short-hand summary of what you are hearing. But what you write down is not necessarily the essence or summary of the lesson. Two people can hear the same thing and take away different information. I tend to be a person that takes many notes, and then goes back and finds the important information in those notes. Others, however, may listen, decide what is important, and then write down what they feel is the important information (summary). So note taking and summary are the same in that you are taking down information. However, they are different because note taking is a mechanical process of taking in information and getting that information onto paper. And summary is looking at or listening to information and figuring out what the important point of it is.
Just talking to teachers about how and what they do in the classroom may be a whole can of worms. But what I think I would try to do is put a unit together and ask the teachers to come in and view some new ideas on how to introduce information. I would also enlist the teachers that all ready do this. The issues I would raise would be what is your lesson about and how could you visually represent it to introduce it. For example, I read a book to the 3rd graders called The Jubilee Singer. Usually I end the book with a YouTube video of the Jubilee Singers, but maybe it would be better to start the lesson with that, so the students would have questions raised in their minds. Who are these singers? And why is the video so old? Teachers, ask questions that require thought, not just regurgitating information. In other words have a hook. How could the information you are presenting be put in some sort of graphic organizer? Give them a rubric so they understand exactly what is expected of them. Instead of having students blindly search the internet, have a few websites picked out that have good information on your subject. Have them or yourself organize information on a chart, or power point, or Inspiration. And lastly use a web application like Wallwisher, to post student responses to important and essential questions.
Because I am not a classroom teacher, I have fewer opportunities introduce a unit, vs a lesson, than the classroom teacher. That said I can see that I am not introducing my lessons properly. For example, the beginning to my 4th grade unit on reference material. I do have the five reference materials to show the students, however I could have a graphic organizer, for the students to fill in as they discover what is in each reference material. I could also use Inspiration to have a thought map. For my introduction to genres, I could use a Smart board and have students move definitions into correct columns under the heading of each genre. For a poster project I could have a clear rubric. I did a poster project without a rubric, I just showed an example of what I wanted, and it was a total mess. Students didn’t understand the level of my expectations. At the end of the year I do a Googledocs survey and what the kids liked and didn’t like about library class. What I could do is a survey in the beginning to help assess knowledge. I use multimedia a lot in my lessons. But I will have to think if I am using it correctly.
Note taking is a personal short-hand summary of what you are hearing. But what you write down is not necessarily the essence or summary of the lesson. Two people can hear the same thing and take away different information. I tend to be a person that takes many notes, and then goes back and finds the important information in those notes. Others, however, may listen, decide what is important, and then write down what they feel is the important information (summary). So note taking and summary are the same in that you are taking down information. However, they are different because note taking is a mechanical process of taking in information and getting that information onto paper. And summary is looking at or listening to information and figuring out what the important point of it is.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Coop.Learning/Effort/Questions Week 4 Part II
Liked the point that the groups have to be well thought out, who can work with who, what are the ability levels, and the right size. I remember putting groups together in a fourth grade classroom and we spend a lot of time trying to get the right groups formed, according to personality and ability (range of ability in each group). Then there is the point about "Cooperative learning should be used consistently and systematically, but should not be overused". I am now reading a book called "Quiet" about being an introvert. Cooperative learning is being pushed, so much these days, because supposedly that is the way of the working world, that the introverts get lost in it. Being a introvert is not all bad and we have to remember that and not push students into working with someone if they really would rather work alone. Last year I helped a Financial Literacy class made Animotos about the risks of credit. The groups were two to three students. They had a rubric, so they knew exactly what they had to do, they were required to complete a storyboard before they could start their Animoto. I think more often than not, students start the web presentation without a clue as to what they really are going to do. I think googledocs is a great platform for cooperative learning, as well as making a wiki.
The chapter about effort was food for thought. It probably would be a motivator for some students to rate their effort and see if they get better grades for more effort. And to have them do the tracking themselves is brilliant. I am definitely going to try that this next year.
Identifying Similarities and differences. Just recently I had some training in Kagan teaching methods. One of the activities we did was using this concept. It would be too hard to explain what we did, but suffice to say that our brains, even as adults, were working overtime, to form hypotheses and conclusions based on information of similarities and differences, because it is not information regurgitated back, it is forming new information in our minds. In a math class once I held up a piece of paper and said "this is a Polygon" and went on to show more examples of polygons and non polygons. Then I had the students write the definition of a polygon. There were no clues except the shapes. The had to figure out what was alike and different to write their definition. When I student taught I did a lesson on graphing points. One of the fourth grade classes did just find with it and another did terrible. I had to look at why that happen, what did I do different, what did I do the same. We have to take prior knowledge and then construct new knowledge. In other words real learning. Another lesson I do with 5th grade is give the students a list of topics (dogs, cats, space, tress, baseball, ect) and they have to group them in any manner they want and then we talk about the groupings. And the point of this is teaching them about the Dewey Decimal system. Dewey groups like thing together. And what is interesting, most students group the subject pretty close to how Dewey did it. So I was not telling them the 500s are natural thing, they figured it out for themselves.
Homework and Practice I think the recommendations are key to this topic. Communicate expectation, have a purpose, and vary feedback. I think we can all remember assignments that just seemed like busy work. The ones that enhance learning are a little harder. Again when I took this class about Kagan methods our assignment was to try some in class and then write a paper on what did and didn't work. That made me really think about what I would do differently if I did it again.
Generating and Testing Hypotheses In real life I tested a hypotheses that I was going into interviews too prepared and backed why off on my prep and the result was two job offers. Whether my hypotheses is correct or not, I don't really know, but it sure saved me some time! Before I was a teacher I was a dairy farmer, and every day we were testing hypotheses. If we feed the cows this way will they respond with higher milk? If I plant the corn at a higher population will I get more or less yield? If I hire someone to do my bookwork will I feel less stress? I think, as adults, our days are filled with multiple hypotheses that we don't even realize. I am a very linear person, so when I test a hypotheses I list in my head the yes and no, more or less, good or bad, results and make a theory.
The chapter about effort was food for thought. It probably would be a motivator for some students to rate their effort and see if they get better grades for more effort. And to have them do the tracking themselves is brilliant. I am definitely going to try that this next year.
Identifying Similarities and differences. Just recently I had some training in Kagan teaching methods. One of the activities we did was using this concept. It would be too hard to explain what we did, but suffice to say that our brains, even as adults, were working overtime, to form hypotheses and conclusions based on information of similarities and differences, because it is not information regurgitated back, it is forming new information in our minds. In a math class once I held up a piece of paper and said "this is a Polygon" and went on to show more examples of polygons and non polygons. Then I had the students write the definition of a polygon. There were no clues except the shapes. The had to figure out what was alike and different to write their definition. When I student taught I did a lesson on graphing points. One of the fourth grade classes did just find with it and another did terrible. I had to look at why that happen, what did I do different, what did I do the same. We have to take prior knowledge and then construct new knowledge. In other words real learning. Another lesson I do with 5th grade is give the students a list of topics (dogs, cats, space, tress, baseball, ect) and they have to group them in any manner they want and then we talk about the groupings. And the point of this is teaching them about the Dewey Decimal system. Dewey groups like thing together. And what is interesting, most students group the subject pretty close to how Dewey did it. So I was not telling them the 500s are natural thing, they figured it out for themselves.
Homework and Practice I think the recommendations are key to this topic. Communicate expectation, have a purpose, and vary feedback. I think we can all remember assignments that just seemed like busy work. The ones that enhance learning are a little harder. Again when I took this class about Kagan methods our assignment was to try some in class and then write a paper on what did and didn't work. That made me really think about what I would do differently if I did it again.
Generating and Testing Hypotheses In real life I tested a hypotheses that I was going into interviews too prepared and backed why off on my prep and the result was two job offers. Whether my hypotheses is correct or not, I don't really know, but it sure saved me some time! Before I was a teacher I was a dairy farmer, and every day we were testing hypotheses. If we feed the cows this way will they respond with higher milk? If I plant the corn at a higher population will I get more or less yield? If I hire someone to do my bookwork will I feel less stress? I think, as adults, our days are filled with multiple hypotheses that we don't even realize. I am a very linear person, so when I test a hypotheses I list in my head the yes and no, more or less, good or bad, results and make a theory.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Module 4 part one
Looked at It's a Wild Ride. WOW what a well thought out project. Was this project designed by the teachers or Intel? It would be wonderful to have such a interdisciplinary project, but imagine the hundreds of hours that would have to go into the planning of this. I think it could be done, but you have to have a very committed staff. At a more manageable level I have witnessed two one day projects that took time to organize but more manageable. One was a multidisciplinary unit on bread. Science-making bread, Math-recipes, LA-descriptive writing Soc St- where the breads came from. The other project was a "Trip" to Mexico where the teachers set up a "plane" in the hallway and the students took a "trip" to Mexico. All day their curriculum revolved around this trip.
The TED presentation was very interesting. Although sometimes I was a little lost in his explanations. The point is that we are in real flux right now with the who, what, when, were and why of the Internet. The newspaper industry was one of the early institutions that didn't know how to handle the Internet, they provided too much free information, and now they can not reel that back in and revenues are down because why pay for the news? Is the Internet "the press", as in freedom of the press? As he said the next 50 years will be chaos. On a more personal level, it is imperative that we as Library Media Specialist teach students how to view the Internet. I found a very interesting article recently that looked very professional and sounded very convincing, but when you researched it further I found out the guy was a conspiracy theorist. What if our students take these people at their word?
I love all the information that is available out there, but we still have to think. And I think that, at some point, government is going to step in and try to "control" the internet in some way.
There is a site that I was introduced to, and I wish I would have tagged it, where companies put out problems that they cannot solve to the general public, and anyone can try to solve it, and get paid. A perfect example of what he was saying, the institution has a staff (that have limited ideas and are scared about this approach), but they cannot solve a problem, but one weird person -way out on that graph- with a different way of looking at things maybe can solve it.
Sharing of information - I am of the old school that I don't want all of my information out there in the cloud, but the younger people seem to think it is okay, or they just don't realize the consequences yet. The video was definitely food for thought.
The TED presentation was very interesting. Although sometimes I was a little lost in his explanations. The point is that we are in real flux right now with the who, what, when, were and why of the Internet. The newspaper industry was one of the early institutions that didn't know how to handle the Internet, they provided too much free information, and now they can not reel that back in and revenues are down because why pay for the news? Is the Internet "the press", as in freedom of the press? As he said the next 50 years will be chaos. On a more personal level, it is imperative that we as Library Media Specialist teach students how to view the Internet. I found a very interesting article recently that looked very professional and sounded very convincing, but when you researched it further I found out the guy was a conspiracy theorist. What if our students take these people at their word?
I love all the information that is available out there, but we still have to think. And I think that, at some point, government is going to step in and try to "control" the internet in some way.
There is a site that I was introduced to, and I wish I would have tagged it, where companies put out problems that they cannot solve to the general public, and anyone can try to solve it, and get paid. A perfect example of what he was saying, the institution has a staff (that have limited ideas and are scared about this approach), but they cannot solve a problem, but one weird person -way out on that graph- with a different way of looking at things maybe can solve it.
Sharing of information - I am of the old school that I don't want all of my information out there in the cloud, but the younger people seem to think it is okay, or they just don't realize the consequences yet. The video was definitely food for thought.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Module 3
Am back from the vacation to NC and am regrouping as to what I need to turn in yet for this class.
1) Read The use of advance organizers, ect but did not understand it.
2) Did review three of the online tools
3) Post reflection, have done that but will post more when I get to my computer at work next Monday
4) responce to classmates, done
Read chapters 7-8 done, BUT I realized that I am missing about 10 pages in my book so if someone could email me pages 115-130 at lms4students@yahoo.com, I would appreciate it.
Now onto the next module
1) Read The use of advance organizers, ect but did not understand it.
2) Did review three of the online tools
3) Post reflection, have done that but will post more when I get to my computer at work next Monday
4) responce to classmates, done
Read chapters 7-8 done, BUT I realized that I am missing about 10 pages in my book so if someone could email me pages 115-130 at lms4students@yahoo.com, I would appreciate it.
Now onto the next module
Saturday, June 16, 2012
I really did try to read "The Use of advance organizers in the learning and retention of meaningful verbal material", BUT it was just too technical. Even the conclusion was goobly gook for me. But I am assuming that their research proved that using advance organizers in the classroom make a statistic difference in learning. So we should use them.
Compare and contrast tools.
Bubble is just a very simple program for thought clouds. Actually I had a little problem figuring out how to move the bubbles, but that is my hesitancy to "play" with a program. Anyway, you can change text size and color, but cannot change the bubble shape or color. And you can import it into a document. You can also import work from another location, but that is an upgrade. Basic, but boring. Education Oasis is a site with multiple graphic organizers. If you are not a very creative person, this might be the site for you. You have to search the chose from Cause and effect organizers, character and story organizers, compare and contrast organizers, cycle, timeline organizers, vocab/concept organizers. My favorite, by far, was webspiration, by the folks that have been in the business for a while, Inspiration software. It does cost just like inspiration, I couldn’t figure out whether the pricing was $39 per student or $39 for a classroom, which sounds more reasonable. It is just like inspiration it has all the brainstorming, or idea building applications, except better. It is a cloud application, so students can create and publish, or collaborate and publish. There is a review option to comment. The projects can be sent to the teacher. Students can chat with each other while creating. It is just a great site. It said there where lesson plans, but the one I clicked on was not the great; maybe that part is just building.
Compare and contrast tools.
Bubble is just a very simple program for thought clouds. Actually I had a little problem figuring out how to move the bubbles, but that is my hesitancy to "play" with a program. Anyway, you can change text size and color, but cannot change the bubble shape or color. And you can import it into a document. You can also import work from another location, but that is an upgrade. Basic, but boring. Education Oasis is a site with multiple graphic organizers. If you are not a very creative person, this might be the site for you. You have to search the chose from Cause and effect organizers, character and story organizers, compare and contrast organizers, cycle, timeline organizers, vocab/concept organizers. My favorite, by far, was webspiration, by the folks that have been in the business for a while, Inspiration software. It does cost just like inspiration, I couldn’t figure out whether the pricing was $39 per student or $39 for a classroom, which sounds more reasonable. It is just like inspiration it has all the brainstorming, or idea building applications, except better. It is a cloud application, so students can create and publish, or collaborate and publish. There is a review option to comment. The projects can be sent to the teacher. Students can chat with each other while creating. It is just a great site. It said there where lesson plans, but the one I clicked on was not the great; maybe that part is just building.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Week 3 Comments
Let me tell you a little about my job. I live 90 miles from home for my job, I stay in the town where I work during the week and go "home" on weekends. So I wrote my comments on my school computer thinking I would post them later, then I came home. Need less to stay I can not access my comments at this time. I will post them in about eight days, as I go on vacation on Sat-Fri.
But I will make a few comments:
Cues, questions, and advance organizers: Short videos are an excellent way to introduce information. Gone is the day that teachers play an hour long movie in class. Cues, stories, art, all stimulate prior knowledge and set a tone for the lesson. I do not see many teachers using rubrics, which I think is a shame. Rubrics put each student on a level playing field, no favorism, clear expectations. And the comments about the questions teachers ask is interesting. We should not ask to regurgitate information, but to foster thinking.
Non linguistic representation: I REALLY like organizing information in little boxes. Most of the word documents I make have some sort of graph or chart in them so why not design organizers for the students to use, also? I still remember, some 50 years ago (yes I am very old), when we made the baking soda and flour model of the United States. I don't remember if my Rocky Mountains were taller than my Appalachian Mountains, but I sure know were they are located. I taught HS CD on an emergency license for one year.When we did vocabulary I had the students draw a picture to represent the word, they were very creative, and hopefully it helped them remember the words. I think pictures could be used for vocab in any class. The fifth grade teachers in my district to a biome project every year. Each group of 5 has a biome that they physically build in the hallway. What learning! And I bet the kids never forget what planets, animals, and birds live in their biome.
Summarizing and note taking: This is where web tools shine, there are a multitude of applications that students can use to summarize information. Animoto, voice thread, glogster, and on and on. Also I think we should teach in all classes how to take notes. I probably learned how to abbev. words because I can't spell, but most students need to learn how to take notes. Both summarizing and note taking could be done with graphic organizers. I remember when my son was in 5th grade, about13 years ago, he had to copy word for word, information on each state, and was graded on how well he copied it. (No wonder he hates to write) Would it not been much more useful to use a organizer to collect the information?
Next week at class I will join you from North Carolina.
But I will make a few comments:
Cues, questions, and advance organizers: Short videos are an excellent way to introduce information. Gone is the day that teachers play an hour long movie in class. Cues, stories, art, all stimulate prior knowledge and set a tone for the lesson. I do not see many teachers using rubrics, which I think is a shame. Rubrics put each student on a level playing field, no favorism, clear expectations. And the comments about the questions teachers ask is interesting. We should not ask to regurgitate information, but to foster thinking.
Non linguistic representation: I REALLY like organizing information in little boxes. Most of the word documents I make have some sort of graph or chart in them so why not design organizers for the students to use, also? I still remember, some 50 years ago (yes I am very old), when we made the baking soda and flour model of the United States. I don't remember if my Rocky Mountains were taller than my Appalachian Mountains, but I sure know were they are located. I taught HS CD on an emergency license for one year.When we did vocabulary I had the students draw a picture to represent the word, they were very creative, and hopefully it helped them remember the words. I think pictures could be used for vocab in any class. The fifth grade teachers in my district to a biome project every year. Each group of 5 has a biome that they physically build in the hallway. What learning! And I bet the kids never forget what planets, animals, and birds live in their biome.
Summarizing and note taking: This is where web tools shine, there are a multitude of applications that students can use to summarize information. Animoto, voice thread, glogster, and on and on. Also I think we should teach in all classes how to take notes. I probably learned how to abbev. words because I can't spell, but most students need to learn how to take notes. Both summarizing and note taking could be done with graphic organizers. I remember when my son was in 5th grade, about13 years ago, he had to copy word for word, information on each state, and was graded on how well he copied it. (No wonder he hates to write) Would it not been much more useful to use a organizer to collect the information?
Next week at class I will join you from North Carolina.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Week 2 comments
525 Week 2
Sorry, but I don’t quite understand what we are suppose to comment on. It says compare and contrast available electronic student response technology tools , but there are no links to find information. So I found a great article at http://its.uiowa.edu/support/srs/teaching.shtml about how to use student response systems and another article at http://people.uncw.edu/lowery/swssa%20ms.pdf that tells about the different response systems there are out there. Then we are to post a reflection to our blog for each of the strategies studied this week so that means for Chapters 1-2-3?
Actually I posted that last week, but will comment further.
Objectives - I have a hard time with this, sometimes I just want students to know something because I think it is interesting, but we can no longer function that way. We need to being using our school time to teach to the Common Core Standards or we won't have a job. That said, work backward from your essential questions to find your objective. I like the organizers, but I don't know if I have the skill to set one up. Of course we can always do a simple KLW. No more the days of thinking up a lesson the night before class, this has to become a concentrated effort to plan and organize information.
Feedback - It can make or break a relationship teacher/student ,boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife. Corrective, timely, and specific No more "Good Job". Even when I was raising my son, when I truly wanted to give corrective and timely feedback, sometimes I would just resort to "Great". Feedback has to be thought out. It has to be specific to the task being done. It has to be said in a manner that the student will understand and appreciate, or at least think about.
Recognition - Sometimes in class I give "better"candy to those that do a "good" job. All the class gets candy but the ones that have completed the assignment correctly get more or bigger candy. For librarians it is sometimes hard to motivate students as often there are no grades. So recognition of those that actually do the assignment is important. I do like to walk around the room, if I can during a lesson, and make individual comments to students that I feel are understanding and doing what they are suppose to be doing. We have recently at out school started posting student's multimedia presentations on the school web site for taxpayers, and relatives, to view. What a great motivation for students. Also I handed out a certificate this year to all students that never had an over due book all year. That little recognition made their day.
Sorry, but I don’t quite understand what we are suppose to comment on. It says compare and contrast available electronic student response technology tools , but there are no links to find information. So I found a great article at http://its.uiowa.edu/support/srs/teaching.shtml about how to use student response systems and another article at http://people.uncw.edu/lowery/swssa%20ms.pdf that tells about the different response systems there are out there. Then we are to post a reflection to our blog for each of the strategies studied this week so that means for Chapters 1-2-3?
Actually I posted that last week, but will comment further.
Objectives - I have a hard time with this, sometimes I just want students to know something because I think it is interesting, but we can no longer function that way. We need to being using our school time to teach to the Common Core Standards or we won't have a job. That said, work backward from your essential questions to find your objective. I like the organizers, but I don't know if I have the skill to set one up. Of course we can always do a simple KLW. No more the days of thinking up a lesson the night before class, this has to become a concentrated effort to plan and organize information.
Feedback - It can make or break a relationship teacher/student ,boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife. Corrective, timely, and specific No more "Good Job". Even when I was raising my son, when I truly wanted to give corrective and timely feedback, sometimes I would just resort to "Great". Feedback has to be thought out. It has to be specific to the task being done. It has to be said in a manner that the student will understand and appreciate, or at least think about.
Recognition - Sometimes in class I give "better"candy to those that do a "good" job. All the class gets candy but the ones that have completed the assignment correctly get more or bigger candy. For librarians it is sometimes hard to motivate students as often there are no grades. So recognition of those that actually do the assignment is important. I do like to walk around the room, if I can during a lesson, and make individual comments to students that I feel are understanding and doing what they are suppose to be doing. We have recently at out school started posting student's multimedia presentations on the school web site for taxpayers, and relatives, to view. What a great motivation for students. Also I handed out a certificate this year to all students that never had an over due book all year. That little recognition made their day.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Feedback that fits
Week Two CDEO 525
Feedback that fits
Well after reading this, I really need to rethink my approach to feedback. It is so easy to say "that's right" or "good job". But really that doesn't say anything at all. My HS english teacher was way ahead of his time. He would give us two grades for a written paper. One grade was for grammer and puncuation and the second what for content. Although I can't remember how constructive his comments where on the content. I can clearly remember that I wasn't being judged just on my puctuation.
The feedback examples were all very logical, but very time consuming.
Actually I have tried to make a conscience effort to be more constructive in my comments, but I start out great guns and then go down hill.
Then I think about that "needy" student that needs reinforment ALL the time; it just wears you out.
With having to know 750 students and only seeing them once every other week, I don't get to know them very well, so it is hard to know what motivates them, which would be very useful when phrasing feedback.
I guess the best thinking line for me was "be positive andspecific", I will work on that.
Feedback that fits
Well after reading this, I really need to rethink my approach to feedback. It is so easy to say "that's right" or "good job". But really that doesn't say anything at all. My HS english teacher was way ahead of his time. He would give us two grades for a written paper. One grade was for grammer and puncuation and the second what for content. Although I can't remember how constructive his comments where on the content. I can clearly remember that I wasn't being judged just on my puctuation.
The feedback examples were all very logical, but very time consuming.
Actually I have tried to make a conscience effort to be more constructive in my comments, but I start out great guns and then go down hill.
Then I think about that "needy" student that needs reinforment ALL the time; it just wears you out.
With having to know 750 students and only seeing them once every other week, I don't get to know them very well, so it is hard to know what motivates them, which would be very useful when phrasing feedback.
I guess the best thinking line for me was "be positive andspecific", I will work on that.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Additional thoughts
On one of the sites I read for this class there was a link to an article titled
Why Daydreaming Isn’t a Waste of Time
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/06/why-daydreaming-isnt-a-waste-of-time/
"Ironically, a lack of time to daydream may even hamper kids’ capacity to pay attention when they need to. The ability to become absorbed in our own thoughts is linked to our ability to focus intently on the world outside, research indicates."
Our society is so over simulated that we may be hurting our children in their thought processes. Food for thought, if we have time to think!
Why Daydreaming Isn’t a Waste of Time
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/06/why-daydreaming-isnt-a-waste-of-time/
"Ironically, a lack of time to daydream may even hamper kids’ capacity to pay attention when they need to. The ability to become absorbed in our own thoughts is linked to our ability to focus intently on the world outside, research indicates."
Our society is so over simulated that we may be hurting our children in their thought processes. Food for thought, if we have time to think!
Week One-reading Comments
Week One comments:
It seems funny, to me, that a student has to learn how to learn. Don’t we just learn naturally? Unfortunately it seems that those that need to be more in tune with learning-the lower academic level- are the very ones that don’t understand what they need to do to learn more efficiently. I like the line in the Australian study that said student’s awareness of learning strategies was “less than optimal”. Since I was one of those over-achievers in HS, some of the strategies listed seem logical and old hat. On the other hand, I have never thought consciously about some of those strategies, and do I use them for optimal learning?
I think schools of education spend way too much time on teaching us what to teach, rather on how to teach.
Comments on Theory and Research-based Principles of Learning
1) Prior Knowledge-I often struggle on how to direct students, without shutting them down, when they answer a question or provide a comment that is totally off the wall. What I usually do is say “Yes” and then rephrase the information in a correct manner. I remember when I started my education classes, having no prior education training, how hard it was to understand the information. But as classes went on, with that base from the first educational philosophy class, how much easier it got to understand. Prior Knowledge is important to build upon.
2) Organize information-Baseline; students have to have accurate information to begin with before they can add to their knowledge base.
3) Motivation-As far as I am concerned, this is the key to learning. Be it intrinsic, teacher motivated, or parent motivated, a student is not going to learn if they do not want to. That said it is our job to present information in a way that the student wants to learn. We can be sneaky about it. I just recently learned some Kagan strategies of teaching, and it is unbelievable how focused and directed you can get students just by structuring the lesson in a different way
4) Mastery-We have to show the students how to think and how to apply this thinking. It is not always natural.
5) Goal-directed practice, targeted feedback- As a Library Media Specialist, I have the students for a half-hour at that time, in which I have to teach a lesson and check out books to 25 students. I bet we all feel that there just isn’t enough time to disseminate information, let alone give constructive feedback. One of the education classes that I think had a lasting effect on me was curriculum design. She pounded into us the fact that we have to have an objective for the lesson. Without an objective, you shouldn’t be teaching it. And along with that I am a true believer in rubrics. Rubrics take out the bias and give the students a clear idea of what is expected of them. For example, I substitute taught HS-CD for one year. I gave a poster project to the students. One student that I would have clearly given a higher grade, because I liked her and she was a “good” kid in class, did not do very well on the project because she didn’t follow the rubric. It was my fault too, I should have more clearly explained the assignment and rubric. I could never teacher anything below 3rd grade because I tend to assume way too much prior knowledge and am not good as laying out ground rules.
6) Student development-Students are all over the board in their development, and that is at any level K to 12th grade, so we need to provide a positive, stable environment that they can count on to be the same day to day. I am not the greatest at this sometimes. I do let the kids get to me sometimes. But am getting better at putting on my “game face.”
7) Become self-directors-It is our job to model and teach effective learning strategies.
Teaching principles
1) Acquire relevant knowledge-I feel the greatest factor that works towards you being an effective teacher is learning to get to know the students. What motivates them, what are they interested in, what is their home life like, their social life. One of the best Jr. High teachers I know knows all of that, and her students know that she know that, and because of that, her classroom atmosphere is great. I know she does not like some of the students, but that has never gotten in the way of her dealing fairly with all students.
2) Learning objective, assessments, instructional activities- I think I have addressed these in the prior comments, accept assessments. Parents like grades, which makes it hard for teachers. Authentic learning is often project based which takes a long time to do. Parents are checking in on parent access daily and wondering why the teachers are not putting in grades. So teachers are between a rock and a hard place. I think technology is going to help in respect to classroom assessments. Students will be able to answer a question in class without other students knowing the source, like with wallwisher, yet the teacher can easily see if the concept is being understood.
3) Expectations-My answer Rubric, rubric, rubric. Clear expectations.
4) Focus-We’ve been told coverage is what is wrong with the educational system of the US. We try to cover everything. That’s what I love about being a LMS, I don’t have to focus as much as a classroom teacher. Often times, I deal with enrichment. And I love it!
5) Effective teaching- “…and so we often skip or combine critical steps when we teach.” That has me written all over it. I try to go too fast and cover too much.
6) Adopting appropriate teaching roles to support learning goals- What is the objective and what role should you take on to meet the objective? Many teachers are still in the mindset of “teacher”, stand up in front and lecture. Doesn’t work for most students. I am trying to be more reflective on how I “teach.”
7) Refection and feedback-I think I am pretty good at this, after each lesson I write down if the lesson “worked” or didn’t and how I might change in the future.
A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of teaching and learning
As a regards to this article, statistics was not my favorite class. So weeding through this was interesting but basically, the research shows, even if it is a little old, that students learn more when using technology. And like Homer Simpson says, DAH. Of course they are going to learn more, you are trying something new and engaging. One of my HS-LA teachers did a wiki last year for one unit, she didn’t ask them to do anymore than before, except report it on a wiki. Interest was way up on this unit. That said, and this may be the most important thing I say the whole class, technology is not the answer to education’s problems, it is just one of the many tools that good teachers use to disseminate and organize information. How and why a method is used, and is it used correctly, are more important questions. At our school there is this technology blitz. Basically we are to become technology savvy or risk our job. There is all this technology being thrown at us without training or suggestions of how to use it. That is why this class is so important to me. I need to be a facilitator to the teachers as to how and why to use technology in their classroom.
If you made it through all of this, I commend you, and I promise I won’t be so long winded next time!
It seems funny, to me, that a student has to learn how to learn. Don’t we just learn naturally? Unfortunately it seems that those that need to be more in tune with learning-the lower academic level- are the very ones that don’t understand what they need to do to learn more efficiently. I like the line in the Australian study that said student’s awareness of learning strategies was “less than optimal”. Since I was one of those over-achievers in HS, some of the strategies listed seem logical and old hat. On the other hand, I have never thought consciously about some of those strategies, and do I use them for optimal learning?
I think schools of education spend way too much time on teaching us what to teach, rather on how to teach.
Comments on Theory and Research-based Principles of Learning
1) Prior Knowledge-I often struggle on how to direct students, without shutting them down, when they answer a question or provide a comment that is totally off the wall. What I usually do is say “Yes” and then rephrase the information in a correct manner. I remember when I started my education classes, having no prior education training, how hard it was to understand the information. But as classes went on, with that base from the first educational philosophy class, how much easier it got to understand. Prior Knowledge is important to build upon.
2) Organize information-Baseline; students have to have accurate information to begin with before they can add to their knowledge base.
3) Motivation-As far as I am concerned, this is the key to learning. Be it intrinsic, teacher motivated, or parent motivated, a student is not going to learn if they do not want to. That said it is our job to present information in a way that the student wants to learn. We can be sneaky about it. I just recently learned some Kagan strategies of teaching, and it is unbelievable how focused and directed you can get students just by structuring the lesson in a different way
4) Mastery-We have to show the students how to think and how to apply this thinking. It is not always natural.
5) Goal-directed practice, targeted feedback- As a Library Media Specialist, I have the students for a half-hour at that time, in which I have to teach a lesson and check out books to 25 students. I bet we all feel that there just isn’t enough time to disseminate information, let alone give constructive feedback. One of the education classes that I think had a lasting effect on me was curriculum design. She pounded into us the fact that we have to have an objective for the lesson. Without an objective, you shouldn’t be teaching it. And along with that I am a true believer in rubrics. Rubrics take out the bias and give the students a clear idea of what is expected of them. For example, I substitute taught HS-CD for one year. I gave a poster project to the students. One student that I would have clearly given a higher grade, because I liked her and she was a “good” kid in class, did not do very well on the project because she didn’t follow the rubric. It was my fault too, I should have more clearly explained the assignment and rubric. I could never teacher anything below 3rd grade because I tend to assume way too much prior knowledge and am not good as laying out ground rules.
6) Student development-Students are all over the board in their development, and that is at any level K to 12th grade, so we need to provide a positive, stable environment that they can count on to be the same day to day. I am not the greatest at this sometimes. I do let the kids get to me sometimes. But am getting better at putting on my “game face.”
7) Become self-directors-It is our job to model and teach effective learning strategies.
Teaching principles
1) Acquire relevant knowledge-I feel the greatest factor that works towards you being an effective teacher is learning to get to know the students. What motivates them, what are they interested in, what is their home life like, their social life. One of the best Jr. High teachers I know knows all of that, and her students know that she know that, and because of that, her classroom atmosphere is great. I know she does not like some of the students, but that has never gotten in the way of her dealing fairly with all students.
2) Learning objective, assessments, instructional activities- I think I have addressed these in the prior comments, accept assessments. Parents like grades, which makes it hard for teachers. Authentic learning is often project based which takes a long time to do. Parents are checking in on parent access daily and wondering why the teachers are not putting in grades. So teachers are between a rock and a hard place. I think technology is going to help in respect to classroom assessments. Students will be able to answer a question in class without other students knowing the source, like with wallwisher, yet the teacher can easily see if the concept is being understood.
3) Expectations-My answer Rubric, rubric, rubric. Clear expectations.
4) Focus-We’ve been told coverage is what is wrong with the educational system of the US. We try to cover everything. That’s what I love about being a LMS, I don’t have to focus as much as a classroom teacher. Often times, I deal with enrichment. And I love it!
5) Effective teaching- “…and so we often skip or combine critical steps when we teach.” That has me written all over it. I try to go too fast and cover too much.
6) Adopting appropriate teaching roles to support learning goals- What is the objective and what role should you take on to meet the objective? Many teachers are still in the mindset of “teacher”, stand up in front and lecture. Doesn’t work for most students. I am trying to be more reflective on how I “teach.”
7) Refection and feedback-I think I am pretty good at this, after each lesson I write down if the lesson “worked” or didn’t and how I might change in the future.
A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of teaching and learning
As a regards to this article, statistics was not my favorite class. So weeding through this was interesting but basically, the research shows, even if it is a little old, that students learn more when using technology. And like Homer Simpson says, DAH. Of course they are going to learn more, you are trying something new and engaging. One of my HS-LA teachers did a wiki last year for one unit, she didn’t ask them to do anymore than before, except report it on a wiki. Interest was way up on this unit. That said, and this may be the most important thing I say the whole class, technology is not the answer to education’s problems, it is just one of the many tools that good teachers use to disseminate and organize information. How and why a method is used, and is it used correctly, are more important questions. At our school there is this technology blitz. Basically we are to become technology savvy or risk our job. There is all this technology being thrown at us without training or suggestions of how to use it. That is why this class is so important to me. I need to be a facilitator to the teachers as to how and why to use technology in their classroom.
If you made it through all of this, I commend you, and I promise I won’t be so long winded next time!
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
New Year-New Class
Hi,
Wednesday night right after class.
Looking forward to this class as it is the last before I get my Masters. It is bittersweet as I have really enjoyed learning all these wonderful web tools. But I think it is fitting that this is the final course for me, because all we hear at school is technology, technology, technology, but most teachers don't even know much about web tools and even if they do they don't know how to use them effectively or when to use them.
Wednesday night right after class.
Looking forward to this class as it is the last before I get my Masters. It is bittersweet as I have really enjoyed learning all these wonderful web tools. But I think it is fitting that this is the final course for me, because all we hear at school is technology, technology, technology, but most teachers don't even know much about web tools and even if they do they don't know how to use them effectively or when to use them.
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