Friday, September 27, 2013
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Blog Post #6
ASKING QUESTIONS...
In order to be effective teachers, we need to consider the kinds of questions we ask our students. Asking questions to our students is very important because questions improve learning. The author of the resource"Three Ways to Ask Better Questions" says, "good questions make students think, they encourage participation, and I think they improve the caliber of the answers students give and the questions they ask." I couldn't agree more! After reading and researching about how to ask questions I have learned that asking questions that are most effective to students is more complex than I originally thought.
The author from "Three Ways to Ask Better Questions" says, "To achieve worthwhile outcomes more regularly, they're three actions we can take as teachers that have the potential to improve our questions." The first action we should take as teachers to improve our questioning is to prepare questions. When we write out questions we can make it clearer and not just the wording but also clearer conceptually. We can ask ourselves "is it the question that needs to be asked?" And we can also ask ourselves "when is it the best time to ask this question?" The second action is to play with questions. "Playing with the question means leaving it unanswered for a while and using some strategies to encourage students to think about it." A way we can put this into practice is by encouraging our students to write specific questions in their notes. Maybe ask a question at the beginning of the lesson and leave it unanswered until the lesson is almost over. The last action we should take as teachers to improve our questioning is to, preserve good questions. Good questions can be kept! After teaching a lesson, we can take brief notes on which questions were the most effective at achieving the goals we had set out and which questions led to answers we were not expecting.
"We should be working on our questioning techniques but not just because our questions are more effective when skillfully used." We need to ask good questions so that students see the importance of questions and how they make us think and help us learn (Three Ways to Ask Better Questions).
The resource "Asking Questions to Improve Learning" lists a few general strategies that can help guide our questions to be ones that have a greater effect on our students. The first general strategy for asking questions is when we are planing questions, we need to keep in mind our course goals. "For example, do we want our students to master core concepts or do we want to develop their critical thinking skills?" A second strategy is "avoid asking leading questions, which are phrased in such a way that it suggests its own answer which then discourages students from thinking on their own." A few more strategies include; "follow a yes-or-no questions with an additional questions, aim for direct, clear, and specific questions, and when you plan each class session, include notes of when you will pause to ask and answer questions." "Asking questions throughout the class will make the class more interactive as well as help us measure and improve student learning."
Another thing we need to know in order to be effective teachers, is we need to understand the goal of questioning. I love how Ben Johnson, the author of the resource "The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom," says "as teachers, we need to come to grips with the fact that we really do not know everything, and there is no reason to assume that the students know nothing." He says but perhaps the most important question to ask is, "what does a teacher asking questions of a class expect the class to learn form the questioning process?" Asking the question "does everybody understand?" is a useless question. This resource says "even though we all realize that students not answering- or even answering in the affirmative- may not really understand, we still ask it." When we ask this kind of question we really end up telling our students "Ok, here is your last chance. If you don't ask any questions, then you understand completely, and I am free to go on to the next subject. Because I asked this fair question, and gave you a fair chance to answer, I am absolved from any lack of understanding on your part." However, the problem with this thinking is that "sometimes our students do not understand that they do not understand, and if they do not know what they do not know, there is no way that they can ask a question about it." Also when teachers ask a yes-or-no question, sometimes children just might give the answer the teacher wants to hear.
When a teacher starts "pacing the room and stops to ask a question, if the students know that the question will be open to the entire class, then most likely two-thirds of the class will not even pay it any attention and will continue to doodle or daydream. To ask questions the right way teachers need to use a simple yet effective approach. Teachers should simply ask a question, pause for at least three seconds, and then say a student's name. "By doing this, all the students will automatically be thinking about an answer and only after another child's name is said will they sigh in relief because they were not chosen. Asking questions in random is also a way to get the children to focus and use their thinking skills. If asking questions is not random "then once they answer a question, think think they have answered their question and are done for the day.
In order to be effective teachers, we need to consider the kinds of questions we ask our students. Asking questions to our students is very important because questions improve learning. The author of the resource"Three Ways to Ask Better Questions" says, "good questions make students think, they encourage participation, and I think they improve the caliber of the answers students give and the questions they ask." I couldn't agree more! After reading and researching about how to ask questions I have learned that asking questions that are most effective to students is more complex than I originally thought.
The author from "Three Ways to Ask Better Questions" says, "To achieve worthwhile outcomes more regularly, they're three actions we can take as teachers that have the potential to improve our questions." The first action we should take as teachers to improve our questioning is to prepare questions. When we write out questions we can make it clearer and not just the wording but also clearer conceptually. We can ask ourselves "is it the question that needs to be asked?" And we can also ask ourselves "when is it the best time to ask this question?" The second action is to play with questions. "Playing with the question means leaving it unanswered for a while and using some strategies to encourage students to think about it." A way we can put this into practice is by encouraging our students to write specific questions in their notes. Maybe ask a question at the beginning of the lesson and leave it unanswered until the lesson is almost over. The last action we should take as teachers to improve our questioning is to, preserve good questions. Good questions can be kept! After teaching a lesson, we can take brief notes on which questions were the most effective at achieving the goals we had set out and which questions led to answers we were not expecting.
"We should be working on our questioning techniques but not just because our questions are more effective when skillfully used." We need to ask good questions so that students see the importance of questions and how they make us think and help us learn (Three Ways to Ask Better Questions).
The resource "Asking Questions to Improve Learning" lists a few general strategies that can help guide our questions to be ones that have a greater effect on our students. The first general strategy for asking questions is when we are planing questions, we need to keep in mind our course goals. "For example, do we want our students to master core concepts or do we want to develop their critical thinking skills?" A second strategy is "avoid asking leading questions, which are phrased in such a way that it suggests its own answer which then discourages students from thinking on their own." A few more strategies include; "follow a yes-or-no questions with an additional questions, aim for direct, clear, and specific questions, and when you plan each class session, include notes of when you will pause to ask and answer questions." "Asking questions throughout the class will make the class more interactive as well as help us measure and improve student learning."
Another thing we need to know in order to be effective teachers, is we need to understand the goal of questioning. I love how Ben Johnson, the author of the resource "The Right Way to Ask Questions in the Classroom," says "as teachers, we need to come to grips with the fact that we really do not know everything, and there is no reason to assume that the students know nothing." He says but perhaps the most important question to ask is, "what does a teacher asking questions of a class expect the class to learn form the questioning process?" Asking the question "does everybody understand?" is a useless question. This resource says "even though we all realize that students not answering- or even answering in the affirmative- may not really understand, we still ask it." When we ask this kind of question we really end up telling our students "Ok, here is your last chance. If you don't ask any questions, then you understand completely, and I am free to go on to the next subject. Because I asked this fair question, and gave you a fair chance to answer, I am absolved from any lack of understanding on your part." However, the problem with this thinking is that "sometimes our students do not understand that they do not understand, and if they do not know what they do not know, there is no way that they can ask a question about it." Also when teachers ask a yes-or-no question, sometimes children just might give the answer the teacher wants to hear.
When a teacher starts "pacing the room and stops to ask a question, if the students know that the question will be open to the entire class, then most likely two-thirds of the class will not even pay it any attention and will continue to doodle or daydream. To ask questions the right way teachers need to use a simple yet effective approach. Teachers should simply ask a question, pause for at least three seconds, and then say a student's name. "By doing this, all the students will automatically be thinking about an answer and only after another child's name is said will they sigh in relief because they were not chosen. Asking questions in random is also a way to get the children to focus and use their thinking skills. If asking questions is not random "then once they answer a question, think think they have answered their question and are done for the day.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Blog Post #4
What I have learned about podcast's
The three resources I watched and read were Landwitches "Podcasting with 1st Grade," Landwitches "Flat Stanley Podcast," and "The benefits of podcasting in the classroom" by Joe Dale. Before I watched and read about podcasts, I honestly didn't know what a podcast was and how they could be used in a classroom. This is why I found each of these resources very helpful and informative. In Landwitches "Podcasting with 1st Grade," it begins by saying "if you have not thought of podcasting with your younger elementary students, I encourage you to think again." This opening statement got me thinking why could this person encourage us to think again? As I continued to read, I realized how useful and powerful podcasts can be in classrooms. In this post "Podcasting with 1st Grade," a group of first graders listened to a second grades podcast about animals. The first graders loved it! They were so enthusiastic and eager to record their own voices that they decided to make their own. The idea they used in their podcast was that they were pretending to interview two main characters from the book they were reading. They read one chapter at a time, discussed each chapter, and then the students came up with questions they had for the two main characters, Jack and Annie. Then they started recording their own podcast. What I learned from this that can be useful in my own podcast is it's better to not read straight from a script. I also was unsure how the editing worked when making a podcast, but after this I found that editing is simple and you can put together different segments without having to memorize a lot at one time. I would love to do an activity just like this in my future classroom. It gets the children excited about learning and it teaches them a different set of skills that are important to have in the 21st century.
The second resource I found helpful and informative was Landwitches "Flat Stanley Podcast." In this blog post, I learned that you can have fun and be creative when making a podcast. In this post, a class of first graders read the book "Flat Stanley" by Jim Brown. This group of first graders sent paper Flat Stanleys to relatives and friends around the country and received messages back. In their podcast they each had their own speaking part. They were able to create their own story based off of the book "Flat Stanley." I loved this idea a lot. It was very fun and creative to have the children create a story in which they pretended to be their own flat version of themselves. It was a fun way of teaching the students and it also helped the students gain the skills needed in order to create a podcast. Technology is advancing faster than ever, so teaching students skills like how to create a podcast are relevant and should be taught in classrooms.
The last resource I found helpful and informative was the video and information on "The benefits of podcasting in the classroom" by Joe Dale. In this post the clip begins by decribing what a podcast is. A podcast is "an effective way of interacting with students outside of the traditional classroom." It also "delivers radio-quality instruction and content that can be listened to anytime, anywhere." The clip also described some of the benefits of podcasting in the classroom. I really liked this post because it really focuses on the benefits. Some benefits of podcasting is it promotes creativity and innovation, it can offer distant learning opportunities for absent students, and parents can see and hear what their children are doing at school. Now knowing that podcasts can be used and listened to anywhere and anytime, this makes making a group podcast seem a lot more controlled and do-able.
The three resources I watched and read were Landwitches "Podcasting with 1st Grade," Landwitches "Flat Stanley Podcast," and "The benefits of podcasting in the classroom" by Joe Dale. Before I watched and read about podcasts, I honestly didn't know what a podcast was and how they could be used in a classroom. This is why I found each of these resources very helpful and informative. In Landwitches "Podcasting with 1st Grade," it begins by saying "if you have not thought of podcasting with your younger elementary students, I encourage you to think again." This opening statement got me thinking why could this person encourage us to think again? As I continued to read, I realized how useful and powerful podcasts can be in classrooms. In this post "Podcasting with 1st Grade," a group of first graders listened to a second grades podcast about animals. The first graders loved it! They were so enthusiastic and eager to record their own voices that they decided to make their own. The idea they used in their podcast was that they were pretending to interview two main characters from the book they were reading. They read one chapter at a time, discussed each chapter, and then the students came up with questions they had for the two main characters, Jack and Annie. Then they started recording their own podcast. What I learned from this that can be useful in my own podcast is it's better to not read straight from a script. I also was unsure how the editing worked when making a podcast, but after this I found that editing is simple and you can put together different segments without having to memorize a lot at one time. I would love to do an activity just like this in my future classroom. It gets the children excited about learning and it teaches them a different set of skills that are important to have in the 21st century.
The second resource I found helpful and informative was Landwitches "Flat Stanley Podcast." In this blog post, I learned that you can have fun and be creative when making a podcast. In this post, a class of first graders read the book "Flat Stanley" by Jim Brown. This group of first graders sent paper Flat Stanleys to relatives and friends around the country and received messages back. In their podcast they each had their own speaking part. They were able to create their own story based off of the book "Flat Stanley." I loved this idea a lot. It was very fun and creative to have the children create a story in which they pretended to be their own flat version of themselves. It was a fun way of teaching the students and it also helped the students gain the skills needed in order to create a podcast. Technology is advancing faster than ever, so teaching students skills like how to create a podcast are relevant and should be taught in classrooms.
The last resource I found helpful and informative was the video and information on "The benefits of podcasting in the classroom" by Joe Dale. In this post the clip begins by decribing what a podcast is. A podcast is "an effective way of interacting with students outside of the traditional classroom." It also "delivers radio-quality instruction and content that can be listened to anytime, anywhere." The clip also described some of the benefits of podcasting in the classroom. I really liked this post because it really focuses on the benefits. Some benefits of podcasting is it promotes creativity and innovation, it can offer distant learning opportunities for absent students, and parents can see and hear what their children are doing at school. Now knowing that podcasts can be used and listened to anywhere and anytime, this makes making a group podcast seem a lot more controlled and do-able.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
C4T #1
For my first C4T (Comment for Teacher), I was assigned to Mrs. Kathleen Morris. As of July 2013 she was on maternity leave and that would probably explain why her latest blog post, and the one I will be blogging about, was last posted on July 31, 2013. I don't blame her though! Congratulations to her and her husband. The first post I read and commented on was titled "Blogging in the Literacy Curriculum." I really liked and enjoyed reading it. Honestly as I started this EDM310 class, I was unsure of the importance of blogging, however after reading her post I have changed my mind.
In Mrs. Morris's post she began by saying how beneficial blogging was. As she continued to write she put emphasis on the rate at which technology is evolving. Somehow in the midst of my busy schedule and the stress of trying to make every single post, blog, and project perfect, I have failed to realize the importance of blogging. Instead of complaining about how much work this class is, I need to focus on how blogging is actually becoming very popular in schools. Technology is evolving very rapidly and now that I have been reminded I might have a more positive outlook on this class.
In Mrs. Morris's post she says "The concept of literacy education has changed as technology has evolved. It is no longer enough to teach students how to read books and write on paper. This won't adequately prepare them for their 21st century." I agree with those statements because as much as I hate to say it, I believe books and writing on paper are soon to be replaced by newer forms of technology and we need to be ready for it. This is why I believe our students need to become more transliterate and opened to more technology in the classroom. In my comment to Mrs. Morris I thanked her for reminding me of how fast technology is evolving and for giving me better insight as to why blogging is so much more important that I thought.
The second post I read and commented on was titled "Looking Back, Looking Forward" also by Mrs. Kathleen Morris. I really enjoy reading Mrs. Morris's posts because after I read them they leave me inspired, hopeful, and encouraged. I'm encouraged to want to be the kind of teacher that's always looking for ways to help her students learn. Not taking the easy route, but teaching in ways that are efficient and engaging. Trying new ideas and learning from them. Another reason I like reading Mrs. Morris's posts are because after reading them I'm left pondering the way I see myself as a teacher. It's so helpful reading Mrs. Morris's posts because she has been teaching for so long as its great insight.
I've always pictured using lots of worksheets when I become a teacher and it wasn't until I took this class and read some of Mrs. Morris's posts that I realized technology can be so much more useful and time efficient than I once believed it to be. In this post "Looking Back, Looking Forward," Mrs. Morris says "It is clear to me that hands-on, authentic, collaborative, open-ended tasks have a much bigger impact on students than a prescribed worksheet." She also says " Digital resources don't take up space. My work programs used to take up a lot of shelf space. Now I work on them collaboratively with my team via Google Docs." Now having experience with Google Docs, I can understand how useful it can be in the classroom. It is one example of "saving physical space and working more effectively." She said that "parents seem to value worksheets as the key to education," and quite frankly I guess I used to fall into that category before this class. I now am able to understand and see the difference that technology is making in the classroom.
Sometimes I panic when it comes to technology because I'm not that technologically illiterate and all the new information just blows my mind, however, my goal as a future teacher should be and will be to get more comfortable with all the options possible. At the end of the day, teachers have one purpose, and that one purpose is to teach. We need to teach students things that are engaging, important, and useful. If technology proves to be more helpful to a students learning, we need to step out of our comfort zones in behalf of our students.
Thank you Mrs. Morris for the encouragement and inspiration you brought me.
In Mrs. Morris's post she began by saying how beneficial blogging was. As she continued to write she put emphasis on the rate at which technology is evolving. Somehow in the midst of my busy schedule and the stress of trying to make every single post, blog, and project perfect, I have failed to realize the importance of blogging. Instead of complaining about how much work this class is, I need to focus on how blogging is actually becoming very popular in schools. Technology is evolving very rapidly and now that I have been reminded I might have a more positive outlook on this class.
In Mrs. Morris's post she says "The concept of literacy education has changed as technology has evolved. It is no longer enough to teach students how to read books and write on paper. This won't adequately prepare them for their 21st century." I agree with those statements because as much as I hate to say it, I believe books and writing on paper are soon to be replaced by newer forms of technology and we need to be ready for it. This is why I believe our students need to become more transliterate and opened to more technology in the classroom. In my comment to Mrs. Morris I thanked her for reminding me of how fast technology is evolving and for giving me better insight as to why blogging is so much more important that I thought.
The second post I read and commented on was titled "Looking Back, Looking Forward" also by Mrs. Kathleen Morris. I really enjoy reading Mrs. Morris's posts because after I read them they leave me inspired, hopeful, and encouraged. I'm encouraged to want to be the kind of teacher that's always looking for ways to help her students learn. Not taking the easy route, but teaching in ways that are efficient and engaging. Trying new ideas and learning from them. Another reason I like reading Mrs. Morris's posts are because after reading them I'm left pondering the way I see myself as a teacher. It's so helpful reading Mrs. Morris's posts because she has been teaching for so long as its great insight.
I've always pictured using lots of worksheets when I become a teacher and it wasn't until I took this class and read some of Mrs. Morris's posts that I realized technology can be so much more useful and time efficient than I once believed it to be. In this post "Looking Back, Looking Forward," Mrs. Morris says "It is clear to me that hands-on, authentic, collaborative, open-ended tasks have a much bigger impact on students than a prescribed worksheet." She also says " Digital resources don't take up space. My work programs used to take up a lot of shelf space. Now I work on them collaboratively with my team via Google Docs." Now having experience with Google Docs, I can understand how useful it can be in the classroom. It is one example of "saving physical space and working more effectively." She said that "parents seem to value worksheets as the key to education," and quite frankly I guess I used to fall into that category before this class. I now am able to understand and see the difference that technology is making in the classroom.
Sometimes I panic when it comes to technology because I'm not that technologically illiterate and all the new information just blows my mind, however, my goal as a future teacher should be and will be to get more comfortable with all the options possible. At the end of the day, teachers have one purpose, and that one purpose is to teach. We need to teach students things that are engaging, important, and useful. If technology proves to be more helpful to a students learning, we need to step out of our comfort zones in behalf of our students.
Thank you Mrs. Morris for the encouragement and inspiration you brought me.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Blog Post 3
Providing Meaningful Feedback To Our Peers
I believe providing meaningful feedback to our peers is very important. Telling someone they did a "good job" to speed up peer editing ultimately does not help the person improve. I found each of the videos and the slideshow on peer editing very useful. They were good reminders of what peer editing should be like. Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes showed how we should not act while editing. The example, "Speedy Sandy" was the one that stood out the most to me. "Speedy Sandy" was described as someone who feels like peer editing is a race to the finish line. Although it might not be a "race" to see who is finished first for the older generation having to edit, I feel as though sometimes we get in a hurry because we want to get the editing process over with as soon as possible. Although the video Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes was a fun example of what we should not do as editors, I found the video What Is Peer Editing and the slideshow Peer Edit With Perfection Tutorial much more useful.
Peer editing is making suggestions, comments, compliments,and changes to help improve and revise someone else's writing. In each of these videos and the slideshow, they all encouraged three steps to peer editing. The first step was to start by using compliments. When editing a person's writing we should start by telling that person what he/she did well on. The second step to peer editing is making suggestions. This means giving the person specific ideas to make their writing better. We could give suggestions on things such as word choice, details, organization, sentences, and topics. The last step in peer editing is corrections. When we look for corrections we need to look for punctuation, grammar, sentence, and spelling errors. Peer editing gives us a chance to help improve a persons writing, so giving specific ideas and examples are very important.
The way I have been peer editing my groups writings is by doing so on Google docs which is private. However, I don't intend to peer edit my group privately every time. I feel confident that each person in my group understands that peer editing is a helpful tool which can improve their writing. The reason I have been editing my groups writings privately through Google Docs is because it seems to be easier that way. We have a system planned out and it works really well. We are able to see each group members work all on the same document during group projects and then we edit each others using different color fonts.
When peer editing C4C's however, I edit publicly in the comments that I leave. If I agree I let them know, and if I don't agree I positively give my suggesstions and thoughts. I think it is important to leave meaningful feedback to our peers, and while doing so we need to keep in mind the three steps to peer editing; complementing first, making specific suggestions, and then looking for corrections that need to be made.
.jpg "Source: www.professionalnoveleditors.com")
I believe providing meaningful feedback to our peers is very important. Telling someone they did a "good job" to speed up peer editing ultimately does not help the person improve. I found each of the videos and the slideshow on peer editing very useful. They were good reminders of what peer editing should be like. Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes showed how we should not act while editing. The example, "Speedy Sandy" was the one that stood out the most to me. "Speedy Sandy" was described as someone who feels like peer editing is a race to the finish line. Although it might not be a "race" to see who is finished first for the older generation having to edit, I feel as though sometimes we get in a hurry because we want to get the editing process over with as soon as possible. Although the video Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes was a fun example of what we should not do as editors, I found the video What Is Peer Editing and the slideshow Peer Edit With Perfection Tutorial much more useful.
Peer editing is making suggestions, comments, compliments,and changes to help improve and revise someone else's writing. In each of these videos and the slideshow, they all encouraged three steps to peer editing. The first step was to start by using compliments. When editing a person's writing we should start by telling that person what he/she did well on. The second step to peer editing is making suggestions. This means giving the person specific ideas to make their writing better. We could give suggestions on things such as word choice, details, organization, sentences, and topics. The last step in peer editing is corrections. When we look for corrections we need to look for punctuation, grammar, sentence, and spelling errors. Peer editing gives us a chance to help improve a persons writing, so giving specific ideas and examples are very important.
The way I have been peer editing my groups writings is by doing so on Google docs which is private. However, I don't intend to peer edit my group privately every time. I feel confident that each person in my group understands that peer editing is a helpful tool which can improve their writing. The reason I have been editing my groups writings privately through Google Docs is because it seems to be easier that way. We have a system planned out and it works really well. We are able to see each group members work all on the same document during group projects and then we edit each others using different color fonts.
When peer editing C4C's however, I edit publicly in the comments that I leave. If I agree I let them know, and if I don't agree I positively give my suggesstions and thoughts. I think it is important to leave meaningful feedback to our peers, and while doing so we need to keep in mind the three steps to peer editing; complementing first, making specific suggestions, and then looking for corrections that need to be made.
.jpg "Source: www.professionalnoveleditors.com")
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Blog Post 2
Mr. Dancealot:
Katlyn, Alex, Tarcela, and Jake agree that: In this video, the class is enrolled in a dance class with Mr. Dancealot. We believe Mr. Dancealot is an inefficient teacher. The first reason we believe he is an inefficient teacher is because he looked as though he was unprepared; he often made references to the notes on the board. While Mr. Dancealot relied on his dance lesson notes to instruct how to perform the dance steps, it showed how Mr. Dancealot was unprepared and inefficient on the topic. A second reason we believe Mr. Dancealot is an inefficient teacher is because his students were unable to see the steps needed to master the dance, since Mr. Dancealot was behind his podium explaining the dance steps. Mr. Dancealot did not allow his students to practice. Many of the students in his class were bored, and we don’t blame them! He seemed to talk a lot and he did not encourage class participation. In one part of the video, a student stood up to practice the dance steps and the student was told by Mr. Dancealot “to sit down I am teaching.” We think an important part of dancing and how to learn different dances is by practicing. Although he used powerpoints to teach, we do not believe that is the proper way to teach a dance class. We do not think he should have relied solely on powerpoints to teach the different dances. He expected his students to dance each of the dances he taught for the final. We do not understand how that is fair! Learning dance is about practicing each move and rehearsing over and over. Those are the reasons we think Mr. Dancealot is an inefficient teacher.
Teaching in the 21st Century by Katlyn Lusker:
Kevin Roberts hit it dead on when he came up with “Teaching in the 21st Century.” This video was so powerful and I think every student wanting to be a teacher, especially an elementary teacher, should watch it. A part of the video that meant the most to me is, when I read that the “students do not need to be entertained, they need to be engaged.” I learned that entertainment is far from engagement and I am so glad to have realized the difference. “Entertainment is passive; it is for enjoyment; it is short-lived, it does not require relevance, it allows escape from problems, and it is using the creativity of others.” Engagement, on the other hand, is “active; it is for learning, it has long-term results, it is meaningful and applicable, it solves problems, and it uses the creativity of the participant.” Like the video said, “engagement can be fun and exciting, it is our responsibility as teachers to provide meaningful and powerful engagement.”
I think Kevin Roberts thinks teaching in the 21st century means to teach students using different tools than what we’ve ever had to teach with before. Technology is evolving faster than ever, and we are starting to realize that. Even the age at which we start using technology is seen at a younger age than ever before. Therefore, I believe he thinks we need to start teaching students on more relevant subject matters, and not just teach them new things, but we also need to teach them how to acquire the skills in order to learn the different things.
I strongly agree with all of the positions expressed in this video. It kind of goes along with why I think Roberts is correct when he wrote this. I agree with his statement, “If teachers can only provide facts, content, dates, information, and formulas, then our role in the lives of students is obsolete.” That is so true because if someone has a question, the Internet is so convenient and it has endless amounts of answers. It is true that “students can find information on anything, anytime, and anywhere.” “Information is virtually limitless, and teachers are no longer the source of information.” Unfortunately, this could be bad news for teachers. This is exactly why we need to change the way we teach and why we need to change what we teach. We need lessons that are “engaging, challenging, and most importantly relevant!”
The Networked Student by Tarcela Kohn:
This video is very compelling and visual. I thought it was a different way of introducing and explaining what a networked student really is. What I gathered from the video is that a networked student is knowledge that is spread out among people and the network connections of other people. By informing and teaching students where to find reputable information on the internet,they can build personal learning networks. Through this, students can communicate using these tools.
I really like this method of a “Networked Student.” It teaches the students how to build networks and then gather information on different topics which we find unique or need to know. We then can converse within these networks and debate or reflect on the information that was discovered.
When it comes to needing a teacher for the networked student I would agree with the video. The teacher is there as a model. Without a teacher who knows the material and the ins and outs of the technology that their students will be using to make personal networks for learning. Who will the student go to and will the student’s even use this “Networked” as resource that will help them become lifelong learners?
Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts by Jake Dukes:
This teacher has a very different style of teaching, but I like the way she teaches her class. In her class, she doesn’t use any paper at all, everything they do in class is online. She believes that teaching on the computer gives the students a better chance to learn information about a certain subject. She also thinks that not everyone learns by writing stuff down on paper, and I believe that is true. Everyone has their own way of learning. Another thing that I like about her classroom is the ability for the students to teach the class for a day. She does not teach the class every day, and I think that helps the class. Listening to the same boring lectures every other day from a teacher can get old. I like when teachers switch it up and try something different with how they teach their class. The one thing that I did not like about everything being on a computer is, students tend to venture off, and they may go on some websites that are not class related such as Facebook and Twitter that may distract the class from learning.
Flipping the Classroom- 4th Grade STEM by Alex Hopson:
Flipping the classroom could possibly be a good idea, but I do not believe it is necessary for 4th grade students. These young children have enough trouble paying attention for seven hours at school a day that they do not need the extra work this flipping will give them. These students would have a hard time sitting in front of a computer screen with a book and paper to take notes with, I just do not believe the attention span is there for these children. Now for older students at the high school and college level this could definitely be useful. It would give students a chance to understand more difficult materials instead of having to pay for tutors. So yes this is a good idea for furthering the education of students, but not for the younger students.
Katlyn, Alex, Tarcela, and Jake agree that: In this video, the class is enrolled in a dance class with Mr. Dancealot. We believe Mr. Dancealot is an inefficient teacher. The first reason we believe he is an inefficient teacher is because he looked as though he was unprepared; he often made references to the notes on the board. While Mr. Dancealot relied on his dance lesson notes to instruct how to perform the dance steps, it showed how Mr. Dancealot was unprepared and inefficient on the topic. A second reason we believe Mr. Dancealot is an inefficient teacher is because his students were unable to see the steps needed to master the dance, since Mr. Dancealot was behind his podium explaining the dance steps. Mr. Dancealot did not allow his students to practice. Many of the students in his class were bored, and we don’t blame them! He seemed to talk a lot and he did not encourage class participation. In one part of the video, a student stood up to practice the dance steps and the student was told by Mr. Dancealot “to sit down I am teaching.” We think an important part of dancing and how to learn different dances is by practicing. Although he used powerpoints to teach, we do not believe that is the proper way to teach a dance class. We do not think he should have relied solely on powerpoints to teach the different dances. He expected his students to dance each of the dances he taught for the final. We do not understand how that is fair! Learning dance is about practicing each move and rehearsing over and over. Those are the reasons we think Mr. Dancealot is an inefficient teacher.
Teaching in the 21st Century by Katlyn Lusker:
Kevin Roberts hit it dead on when he came up with “Teaching in the 21st Century.” This video was so powerful and I think every student wanting to be a teacher, especially an elementary teacher, should watch it. A part of the video that meant the most to me is, when I read that the “students do not need to be entertained, they need to be engaged.” I learned that entertainment is far from engagement and I am so glad to have realized the difference. “Entertainment is passive; it is for enjoyment; it is short-lived, it does not require relevance, it allows escape from problems, and it is using the creativity of others.” Engagement, on the other hand, is “active; it is for learning, it has long-term results, it is meaningful and applicable, it solves problems, and it uses the creativity of the participant.” Like the video said, “engagement can be fun and exciting, it is our responsibility as teachers to provide meaningful and powerful engagement.”
I think Kevin Roberts thinks teaching in the 21st century means to teach students using different tools than what we’ve ever had to teach with before. Technology is evolving faster than ever, and we are starting to realize that. Even the age at which we start using technology is seen at a younger age than ever before. Therefore, I believe he thinks we need to start teaching students on more relevant subject matters, and not just teach them new things, but we also need to teach them how to acquire the skills in order to learn the different things.
I strongly agree with all of the positions expressed in this video. It kind of goes along with why I think Roberts is correct when he wrote this. I agree with his statement, “If teachers can only provide facts, content, dates, information, and formulas, then our role in the lives of students is obsolete.” That is so true because if someone has a question, the Internet is so convenient and it has endless amounts of answers. It is true that “students can find information on anything, anytime, and anywhere.” “Information is virtually limitless, and teachers are no longer the source of information.” Unfortunately, this could be bad news for teachers. This is exactly why we need to change the way we teach and why we need to change what we teach. We need lessons that are “engaging, challenging, and most importantly relevant!”
The Networked Student by Tarcela Kohn:
This video is very compelling and visual. I thought it was a different way of introducing and explaining what a networked student really is. What I gathered from the video is that a networked student is knowledge that is spread out among people and the network connections of other people. By informing and teaching students where to find reputable information on the internet,they can build personal learning networks. Through this, students can communicate using these tools.
I really like this method of a “Networked Student.” It teaches the students how to build networks and then gather information on different topics which we find unique or need to know. We then can converse within these networks and debate or reflect on the information that was discovered.
When it comes to needing a teacher for the networked student I would agree with the video. The teacher is there as a model. Without a teacher who knows the material and the ins and outs of the technology that their students will be using to make personal networks for learning. Who will the student go to and will the student’s even use this “Networked” as resource that will help them become lifelong learners?
Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts by Jake Dukes:
This teacher has a very different style of teaching, but I like the way she teaches her class. In her class, she doesn’t use any paper at all, everything they do in class is online. She believes that teaching on the computer gives the students a better chance to learn information about a certain subject. She also thinks that not everyone learns by writing stuff down on paper, and I believe that is true. Everyone has their own way of learning. Another thing that I like about her classroom is the ability for the students to teach the class for a day. She does not teach the class every day, and I think that helps the class. Listening to the same boring lectures every other day from a teacher can get old. I like when teachers switch it up and try something different with how they teach their class. The one thing that I did not like about everything being on a computer is, students tend to venture off, and they may go on some websites that are not class related such as Facebook and Twitter that may distract the class from learning.
Flipping the Classroom- 4th Grade STEM by Alex Hopson:
Flipping the classroom could possibly be a good idea, but I do not believe it is necessary for 4th grade students. These young children have enough trouble paying attention for seven hours at school a day that they do not need the extra work this flipping will give them. These students would have a hard time sitting in front of a computer screen with a book and paper to take notes with, I just do not believe the attention span is there for these children. Now for older students at the high school and college level this could definitely be useful. It would give students a chance to understand more difficult materials instead of having to pay for tutors. So yes this is a good idea for furthering the education of students, but not for the younger students.
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