As far as having impact on others' learning, I'm not sure it had the intentions of impacting anyone's views, except to affirm the need for using inquiry-based learning. I received comments from Hallie and Christine that were positive and connected to the comments I shared in my post about how I try to sustain student passion in my classroom. I appreciated their feedback because it is good to know that others feel the same way. I read some articles and watched a few videos on others' blogs that confirmed and expanded my thinking about inquiry learning. Christine's link to The Teaching Channel was great because I watched a few inquiry learning videos which gave me a better feel for using it with students. I also spent some time perusing other videos on student engagement there that were extremely helpful.
Reflecting on my post for this week, I wrote about the importance of using inquiry and questioning in the classroom. I shared some resources I found that I used to support my ideas on inquiry learning, like the Dan Meyer TED Talk video, a website by Neil Stephenson, and a blog article from Math Ed Matters. My intentions with using these resources was not only to support my feelings about using inquiry learning, but to expand the ideas from those in the field who are using it with mathematics. My Master's program I am finishing is in Math Education, so the topic of using inquiry in teaching mathematics is really interesting to me. I did ask a question for feedback about inquiry learning ideas with teaching elementary fiction, but did not get a response. It is one I will further look into. I use some things to bring inquiry in, but it feels different somehow than the inquiry-based learning in math and science.
As far as having impact on others' learning, I'm not sure it had the intentions of impacting anyone's views, except to affirm the need for using inquiry-based learning. I received comments from Hallie and Christine that were positive and connected to the comments I shared in my post about how I try to sustain student passion in my classroom. I appreciated their feedback because it is good to know that others feel the same way. I read some articles and watched a few videos on others' blogs that confirmed and expanded my thinking about inquiry learning. Christine's link to The Teaching Channel was great because I watched a few inquiry learning videos which gave me a better feel for using it with students. I also spent some time perusing other videos on student engagement there that were extremely helpful.
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"The meaning of 'knowing' has shifted from being able to remember and repeat information to being able to find and use it." -National Research Council (2007) Using inquiry and questioning in the classroom is important in tapping into our students' learning-making. Teaching in the elementary classroom, I have had some experience with using inquiry-based teaching in the disciplines of science and math. Much of what you read about is in the learning of these subjects, but with the use of technology as well. One of my favorite videos from TED Talks is one that most of you are probably already familiar with, "Dan Meyer: Math Class Needs a Makeover". His point being that there are ways to engage learners in a subject that if left to the textbook, would be minimal learning at best. He deepens their understanding of concepts by posing a simple question, or removing the "junk" in our textbooks that lead students to the answer. I find it inspiring, as well as a reminder of how to incorporate this inquiry into my lessons. Through the readings this week in the Thomas and Brown text, A New Culture of Learning, and other resources I found, there were some articulate ways of looking at the importance of inquiry learning. One blog I explored is sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America and authored by Dana Ernst and Angie Hodge. In an entry titled, "What the Heck is IBL?" (http://maamathedmatters.blogspot.com/2013/05/what-heck-is-ibl.html), Ernst mentions that the guiding question of inquiry-based learning (IBL) is "Where do I draw the line between content I must impart to my students versus the content they can produce independently?" I think that is an important notion that I need to remind myself of when planning lessons each week. Another resource I discovered was written by Neil Stephenson, at http://teachinquiry.com. This is a comprehensive site that includes extensive information about inquiry learning and a blog he writes as well. There is a great video on the Introduction page that highlights a fourth-grade class engaging in an inquiry project with decomposition in science. It was an excellent example of how a teacher uses inquiry and questioning for deeper understanding and student engagement within the constraints of the curriculum and classroom. I also enjoyed reading Stephenson's blog. There is a blog article, "Engaging Students with Math", in which he suggests ways in which teachers can use open-ended math problems with their students. He had some ideas that I jotted down on a sticky-note to place in my lessons binder. How do you nurture student passion in your classroom? In my classroom I strive to make it a place where risk-taking and thinking are encouraged and valued, and a place where students feel comfortable to do so. I try to ask questions to engage and spur discussion. I finished with parent conferences today and was excited to hear positive feedback from many parents about how their children are "having fun" this year and they come home talking about what they are learning about. The "having fun" comments made me smile, as I feel like we work so hard during the day on learning that I worry about young students getting burned out. I want to incorporate more inquiry in reading and writing with fiction at the elementary level. Any good ideas to share? Resources
Ernst, Dana. (May 29, 2013). "What the Heck Is IBL?". Retrieved from http://maamathedmatters.blogspot.com/2013/05/what-heck-is-ibl.html. Markham, Thom. (July 3, 2013) "The Challenges and Realities of Inquiry-Based Learning". Retrieved from http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/07/the-challenges-and-realities-of-inquiry-based-learning/. Meyer, Dan. (2010). "Dan Meyer: Math Class Needs a Makeover". TED Talks. Retrieved at http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_meyer_math_curriculum_makeover.html. Stephenson, Neil. "Introduction to Inquiry Based Learning". Retrieved from http://teachinquiry.com/index/Introduction.html and http://teachinquiry.com/index/Inquiry_Blog/Entries/2012/2/7_Engaging_Students_with_Math.html. This week we discussed the benefits of learning in the collective. In my last post I provided some resources about collective learning, as well as two videos about learning in the collective by the two authors of A New Culture of Learning (Thomas & Brown, 2011). My intent with choosing the resources and posting links was to expand my thinking (and share it with others) about collective learning. Collective learning is such a fairly new thing to me, having been in elementary education for over twenty years. I knew there were communities out there, but the impact of using that type of learning community in the classroom to expand and deepen our thinking has been interesting to me. I even posed the question, "How do we create opportunities for learning in the collective in our classrooms?" I received several comments responding to this, which I appreciated their input. It is a discussion I would like to continue, especially with other elementary teachers.
I enjoyed reading others' posts on learning in the collective. I learned where their experiences were with it, mostly in blogs and learning communities, which were similar to my own. Visiting links to articles were helpful. I find it amazing how we all study the same topic but find such varying information, expanding what I had read about. I came across some references to MOOCs as well. I did some more reading about them for I have heard about MOOCs, but have not participated in them. The website I used as a resource on this week's blog post, "Hybrid Pedagogy", has been a source of interesting articles for me to get lost in. I read this one this morning--"MOOCagogy: Assessment, Networked Learning, and the Meta-MOOC". The authors said of the collective learning potential, " While the course was set up as an investigation of a cultural and educational phenomenon, what it revealed was that learning can happen spontaneously and effectively when community is formed. Although some might argue community does not equate to learning, we claim just the opposite: community functions not as a methodological approach toward a set of outcomes but as the outcome in and of itself." - See more at: http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/Journal/files/MOOCagogy.html#sthash.UQOfbDci.dpuf This week's reading of A New Culture of Learning by Thomas and Brown (2011) highlighted the phenomenon of learning in the collective. At first, I thought we were going to be reading about professional learning communities or focused learning teams. In the last five years or so our district has pushed its schools to create these. I have participated in many of these, but they are often filled with teachers who just want the credits to meet their re-certification or are being pressured to attend by administration. Those situations were not "learning in the collective", however. There have been groups I have worked with for a learning purpose where we have reached this collective state, and the results are amazing. In a way, they feel like a think tank: sharing ideas, communication, innovation and creativity. In the collective paths criss-cross and take off together in purposeful, unexpected directions. They are spontaneous. There are such powerful aspects of learning in the collective, but is it possible to provide this in our classrooms On an interesting website, Hybrid Pedagogy (http://www.hybridpedagogy.com), the authors offer articles and discussions on learning and teaching influenced by digital culture. One article, "Listening for Student Voices", spoke to the idea that our students need to be given experiences to develop their own thinking and that our classrooms can be places that are transformed. "When critical and independent thinking are the most valuable products of learning, we much ask and make space for students to work and create on their own. It isn't enough for them to take notes and then recite; learners must invent-- not just the products of their knowledge, but also their own learning." The authors also go on to say that the voices of these learners talk about things that matter to them. "Students have plenty to say about learning...If we think they're only concerned with life outside of school, we're mistaken; learners have a deeper investment in our teaching than we do." The article supported many of the ideas that support learning in the collective. In the Teachers College Record (Feb. 17, 2011), titled "Cultivating the Imagination: Building Learning Environments for Innovation", Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown (authors of A New Culture of Learning) write about how imagination and creativity do not mean the same thing. They explain that understanding the difference between them is a key to true innovation in the classroom: "All of our learning environments would do well to take a cue from the past and think about how to imagine new worlds. As we take leaps of imagination, we start building the worlds where these new ideas make sense. Success in the 21st century will not be found in creative solutions to old problems. Success will be shaped by the imaginations of those who dare to construct new worlds that embrace the change around us and have the power to make the strange, the daring, and the revolutionary familiar." I am also including links to two videos. One is titled, "The Global One Room Schoolhouse", an animated presentation narrated by John Seely Brown. It highlights Brown's keynote address, "Cultivating the Entrepreneurial Learner in the 21st Century", at the 2012 Digital Media & Learning Conference in San Francisco. The second is Douglas Thomas speaking on digital media and learning. Resources
ASIDE blog (http://theasideblog.blogspot.com/) website by The American Society for Innovation Design in Education Friend, Chris and Sean Michael Morris. (October 15, 2013). "Listening for Student Voices". Hybrid Pedagogy website http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/Journal/files/Listening_for_Student_Voices.html New Culture of Learning website (http://www.newcultureoflearning.com/videos.html) Thomas, Douglas and John Seely Brown. (February 17, 2011). Cultivating the imagination: Building learning environments for innovation. Teachers College Record. Retrieved from http://www.newcultureoflearning.com/TCR.pdf. Thomas, Douglas and John Seely Brown. (2011). A new culture of learning. The role of play was the theme in my post this week. I discussed both the importance for children to experience play and for teachers to to incorporate it as well in their classrooms. I shared some quotes and articles with the intention of supporting the stories I shared about parenting and an experience with technology in my classroom. I appreciate reading others' personal stories about how they internalize or relate to the essential question, and so I try to look into my own experiences to find connections to it as well. Most of the impact based on this week's comments and responses referred to the story I told about teaching my students how to use PowerPoint in my classroom. I was prepared to give a careful, patient step-by-step tutorial because my students had minimal computer experience, but they just wanted to experiment with it. The result was a great lesson to me about giving students chances to explore and experiment with things in the classroom more. I think I learned the most from others' personal stories they posted about the importance of play in education. There were also some great articles that were thought-provoking, especially on the subject of technology. After I uploaded my post on Friday, I found an awesome website on Pinterest that I may just save and use on my post next week. Sometimes I get overwhelmed at the amount of creativity and innovation that is out there. I enjoy it and it is so motivating, but there are times it is like walking outside on a bright sunny day and you struggle to see because the light is so bright that your eyes are streaming tears and you are stumbling around frantically searching for your sunglasses. "It is impossible to live
without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all-- in which case, you fail by default." - J.K. Rowling Necessity may be the mother of invention, but play is certainly the father. -Roger von Oech Comtemporary American Creativity Guru Play has everything to do with embracing change. If you are not playing, exploring, or tinkering with things you may not discover how things work, what doesn't work, or what relationships there are to be found within. Play engages the brain in ways that develop problem-solving, communication, and perseverence. I think the quote by Jean Piaget, Swiss philosopher, sums it up: "If you want to be creative, stay in part a child, with the creativity and invention that characterizes children before they are deformed by adult society." The happiest, most intelligent adults I know do this--they keep a grounding in play of sorts, whether it be art, games, sports, or hobbies.
In my classroom I try to keep an attention to the importance of play for my students. We play and explore with manipulatives, put together puzzles and play games, and experiment with words and media. Last year I was able to have a slot of time in the afternoon for my students to have access to the portable lab cart of laptop computers. We were going to type up our Salmon Life Cycle books that the students had written. Not very exciting, but these kids had almost no experience with word processing, keyboarding, or the basics of maneuvering around the computer (give them a game controller for X-Box, however, and that's a different story!). I had the bright idea that the informational stories would be fun to create on PowerPoint, and decided to try it out. I started to give a tutorial lesson on the basics of a PowerPoint slideshow creation and one of my students raised his hand and politely asked, "Can we just play around with it first?" I remember pausing at the interactive whiteboard, thinking, and looking out at all of their faces lit in the glow of the laptops and answered, "Sure, go ahead." They tried out things that I would not have thought of to introduce them to, they used trial and error and experimented with the tool bars. They hopped up and helped others with effects or inserting items onto the slides. I only had to show a couple of students how to insert clipart and search for photos to pair with their text. Those students showed others what they had learned, and then discovered other things that worked or didn't work. It was so cool. I deal with unsolicited "advice" from others regarding my four-year-old and why I didn't put him in an academic program last year, or why I don't have him reading chapter books yet (mostly from my in-laws). This is the child who comes running up to you after playing, wiping the sweat from his brow, saying,"Whew! I am so dehydrated! Somebody get me some water!" This is the same boy who got in trouble at daycare a few weeks ago for playing "stygimoloch". (Yes, I had to look up the spelling of that one.) The ladies had a laugh because he tried to explain to them that the dinosaur stygimoloch has a hard head and could protect itself with it. He's like a word sponge. What I love about it is that he incorporates things he learns into play. Being 13 years younger than his brothers, he is raised in a way like an only child. My concern was that he needed to learn to make friends, communicate, play, share, take turns, etc. with others around his own age. We learn so much from play. There is so much pressure from adults to have kids working academically from the start of elementary school. I don't see why we can not still have play built in to our school days. It could be a way to build innovative thinking and persistence in solving problems that is oftentimes lacking in our students' habits. I found an interesting article titled, "In Preschool, What Matters More: Education or Play?" (http://healthland.time.com/2011/03/23/playing-at-preschool-mom-says-no-way/) It starts off by mentioning the New York parent who sued her daughter's private preschool on the grounds that it had not prepared her child to make the entrance test to a private kindergarten. The author goes on to quote current research and evidence supporting the need for play in early childhood programs. She mentions the book by David Elkind, The Power of Play, and says that "Elkind makes the case that so-called academic preschools that formally teach young children the three R's aren't doing children- or their parents- any favors." I spend plenty of time with my child reading, talking, and playing at home, but there are experiences interacting with other children he is getting that are priceless. If he has the love for being creative and learning new things, and builds his problem-solving with play, his experiences will be what he can build his new learning on. This idea of learning through play applies to my children, my students, and to me. I have to challenge myself often not to fall into ruts, to keep things new and question my instructional reasoning. Resources Elkind, David. (2007). The power of play: Learning what comes naturally. Rochman, Bonnie. (2011). In preschool, what matters more: Education or play? published on Time Magazine: Health & Family online. Retrieved from (http://healthland.time.com/2011/03/23/playing-at-preschool-mom-says-no-way/). "Play With Learning" website has articles in their archives on the importance of play in learning: http://playwithlearning.com/tag/piaget/ In my post for Week 5 I reflected on how my learning environment as a student growing up differs from the teaching environment I have in my classroom. It was worthwhile for me to make a connection to the way I was taught, for the way we have been taught is usually how we teach. Looking back I think I should have included the learning environment at home as well, for it too has a lasting impact on students. My parents took us everywhere it seemed. We would go on car rides into the Sutton coal hills looking for fossils or walking through the woods identifying plants and animal signs. We used to take off in the summers travelling across the United States to visit natural history landmarks and sites. I look back now and think how lucky I was that my parents were so interested in the world and that they had the financial freedom to do that in the summers.( Course gas at the time wasn't $4 a gallon!) Still, these experiences at home and my parents' style of inquiry learning made a lasting impression. I look at my students I have had over the years and see a pattern in their home learning environments as well.
This week I shared resources that revolved around the theme of innovating with technology and how our classrooms should reflect this "new culture of learning" that was our assigned reading for the week. My choices of the articles I linked in this week's post were intended to expand on the focus for the week and ways we can innovate with technology. I believe that it's not just the technology that is the key, but the way the teacher uses technology with the students. I received positive comments about the articles I posted links to as well as the sharing of my personal experiences with my education growing up. I also learned a great deal about this learning community's own learning experiences and how those environments affect us to this day as teachers and in our classroom. Very powerful thoughts from everyone. I found this graphic on Pinterest about how we need to use the activities we use with technology to not be the end-all outcome for students, that there is a higher purpose to use technology. This question is complicated. My parents were teachers and I kind of grew up in the schools. Many of my teachers were "hand-picked" by them and were often friends of my parents, so I was very lucky to have had some wonderful teachers who went out of their way to challenge me. I didn't have difficulties in school, but learned early on that although my teachers liked that I was a quick learner, creative, and quiet, that those qualities made you stand out and you soon didn't have any friends because your work was always the one used as an example by the teacher. I tried hard to do well in school, but not draw attention to myself. Being an example of made me feel uncomfortable because I noticed how it made my classmates feel.
This question really got me thinking, though. I am now realizing that I have taken it for granted that when I moved through school--from kindergarten through graduation from high school--my teachers differentiated learning for me. I started school already reading any book I could get my hands on, and I wrote letters to my grandma in Florida every week (phone calls used to be pretty expensive and the sound quality was bad). My teachers provided me with instruction and materials above my grade level so that I could be challenged. I do have a memory of being in first grade and asking my mom why I was never in a reading group with other kids because it always looked fun to be with others. It happened through elementary school, but I remember there being a group of us in fifth grade. Having a group of like-minded kids to learn with was fun and I think it made an impact on how I continued to learn. In junior high I had a math teacher who taught me from the high school algebra text, an English teacher who inspired me with an after-school Shakespeare group, and another who pushed me to enter essay and creative writing contests. In high school the teachers didn't seem to want to differentiate much, but encouraged me instead to take classes offered only to upper grades. My last couple of years in high school I took some advanced classes (our school didn't offer AP) and had the opportunity to take some unusual classes that weren't required. The reason I'm mentioning all of this is that my learning environment then was supportive and challenging. My learning experiences weren't always like what my friends had. I feel fortunate. I like to think that my teaching environment has these same qualities. I do think of what it would have been like to have grown up in the information age, as compared to the 1970's in the Mat-Su Valley. In high school in the eighties I took a typing class on electric typewriters. Computers were just beginning to pop up in homes when I went to college. My first classroom had one computer, a dukane projector, and a record-player (I brought in a tape player from home). We had one tv/vcr on a cart to share for the whole downstairs of the school. We made copies on the drum copy machine that left our fingertips blue. Our school was one of the first in the Valley to get a computer lab of Apple computers. My first classroom was technology-rich at the time! Twenty-one years later, my classroom, and the environment I teach in now, is different in not only the type of technology, but also in purposeful, deeper instruction based on new research about how kids learn. I guess the more we know about learning, the more it affects the way we teach. What is the same, however, in my teaching environment now and my learning environment growing up, is that my teachers mostly tried to provide for me what they thought I needed and based on what the educational climate at the time thought was best. That's why I think it is vitally important that we as teachers strive to keep up with learning research, reflect on our teaching, and collaborate with other teachers. What we do through these habits will enhance the learning environment for our students. Resources to Share: "How to Bring Innovation, Education, and Technology Together to Help Children Learn Better" by Kumar Snehansu (http://edtechreview.in/news/news/trends-insights/insights/594-how-to-bring-innovation-education-and-technology-together) "Can innovation, education and technology be the ingredients for a better education? For answering this, one needs to know the meaning of learning better. Learning depends mainly on three factors, student’s interest, teacher’s ability and environment. Increasing the standard of learning means increasing student’s interest, diversifying teacher’s ability and providing a suitable environment." "Five Simple Ways to Inspire Innovation in Learning" by Bob Crain on TeachThought. (http://www.teachthought.com/trends/5-simple-ways-to-inspire-innovation-in-learning/) "How 21st Century Thinking Is Just Different" by Terry Heick. (http://www.teachthought.com/learning/how-21st-century-thinking-is-different/) This week I shared my mentor project plan, the timeline, and how I plan on collecting the data. I also chose three resources I plan on using with this project--articles that identify characteristics of effective websites and the reasons building one for your classroom is a good idea. I hoped that with the choices of these resources, others could see what I had in mind to reinforce the importance of a classroom website for teachers, parents, and students.
I received two responses from classmates about my mentoring project (from Christine and Heather) and I appreciated their thoughtful questions and positive comments. Their specific questions helped me clarify details in my proposal. Several posts by others, like Christine, laid out weekly goals on their timeline. I had my goals written on a calendar in my plan book, but it didn't occur to me to write them out in my proposal. I changed that and added the weekly goals into my proposal on Livetext. Another change I made was the length of the mentoring project, and shortened it for the purposes of this class. I think the mentoring, however, will continue as needed throughout the year. This weekend I came across several great resources that I linked to the student research page on my classroom website. We are studying the life cycle and anatomy of salmon, and I wanted to add links for students to use. I plan on sharing these with my teaching partner in case he wants to add something like this to his site. Here is a link to that page on my class site: What is the goal of my mentor project?
"It is not about the technology; it's about sharing knowledge and information, communicating efficiently, building learning communities and creating a culture of professionalism in schools. These are the key responsibilities of all educational leaders." Marion Ginapolis Introduction My technology mentoring project will be mentoring my 3rd grade teaching partner. We have worked together for the last 15 years and when I mentioned about an upcoming technology mentoring I would be needing to arrange for my Ed Tech class, he got excited. "Teach me how to set up a classroom website like yours!" I had to laugh. This was a huge step for him because he had decided last year that he was only going to do a minimum class webpage. He and I were both irritated that our district required teachers to maintain a webpage with a list of things that had to be on it (of course, that was a demand on one of those days before school starts when the only thing you have on your mind is getting ready for the new group of kids). The thing was that last year we had to use the district's page creator program which is rigid, boring, and difficult to use. I decided to create one this last spring on Weebly, and when he checked it out, he wanted to create something like that for his classroom. Goals & Timeline The goal of my mentee creating a classroom website also includes the goals for my teaching partner to become independent and self-reliant in designing a website with Weebly, to customize his website to match his needs, and for him to feel comfortable with trouble-shooting the program. My timeline began a week ago, when I started my colleague on opening up an account with Weebly and creating a home page. My plan is to continue mentoring until late November, meeting anywhere from once to twice a week, depending on the need. He wants to not only create the site, but learn how to add and organize pages, link pictures, add buttons with links, insert text and videos, posting spelling lists and newsletters, and student & parent links, as well as a link for ordering Scholastic Book Orders. I mapped out a timeline of goals for each month during the mentoring period (September, October, November) to keep us on track. Data Collection Data collection will be in the form of weekly journal entries and reflections, and a record of meeting dates and what occurred. There will also be a link to his classroom website as part of the data collection. Resources To help guide me in my mentoring project, I have found several resources on the importance of having classroom websites for teachers. The first, an article on Edudemic titled "How To Create An Effective Classroom Website", is written be Dale Borgeson (http://www.edudemic.com/how-to-create-an-effective-classroom-website/). In it the author lays out a situation quite similar to what my teaching partner and I have experienced: "Now, more and more districts are implementing a provider that the entire district will use that provides continuity and uniformity. This obviously will have its benefits for staff development but may stifle creativity." The author then lays out options for elements that successful websites incorporate. Another resource I intend to use is an article on Scholastic's site for teachers ( http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2013/06/create-impressive-class-website-under-hour) titled "Create an Impressive Class Website in Under an Hour". It had quite the catchy title, but covers why to create a website and gives step-by-step instructions on how to do it. I like the way the author, Genia Connell, gives simple, practical advice for beginners alongside great ideas for using Weebly to create the website. I also liked "Top Ten Reasons to Create a Classroom Web Page" at http://www.kinderart.com/teachers/webpage.shtml. Andrea Mulder-Slater lists ten things that classroom web pages can do for you. Some of her ideas are great to use to guide some of the goals for this mentoring project, like posting items for parents, communication, and using the site as a "show and tell". |
AuthorMy name is Ginger Christensen. I am in my 21st year of teaching in the Mat-Su Borough where I grew up. I am also a mother of three boys: one 4-year old and his twin brothers who are in their senior year of high school. Between teaching and family, I am finishing my Master's Degree in Math Education with UAS and teach Art Club at my school. Archives
December 2013
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