I did some research on various publications and the Journal of Interactive Learning Research from Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education looks ideal for what I did.
They list various topics they cover including:
computer-mediated communication
electronic performance support systems
and computer-supported collaborative learning.
All of these can apply to my work. After reading their submission guidelines,(you need to be a member to see them) I realize I will need to go back through my website and get rid of the "I"s. I wrote a lot of it in the first person. Blah.
I have become a member on their website and am actually looking to subscribe to that magazine.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Wk 3 Response to Rita Martinez
Rita wrote:
Week 3 Free Post - Instruments of Mass Distraction?
I replied:
Yes I am with you on this one. Most teachers don't really understand what a disruptive force a laptop is. For the first time, students can access more information than just what the teacher provides. This changes the dynamics of the classroom like it has not been changed in 150 years. I have written extensively on my real blog Education Stormfront about this and have come across many articles and stories describing exactly the same thing you talk about. The biggest problem is, there is no reason for the teachers to reevaluate how they teach. I mean it's not like the students can go somewhere else right? At least they can't for now.
Week 3 Free Post - Instruments of Mass Distraction?
I was reading one of the daily newsletters I get from ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development ) about different happenings in education throughout the US and followed a story that took me to an NPR (National Public Radio) story about professors who are upset about their students’ use of laptops in their classrooms. The complaint is that students are using the laptops to surf the internet, shop, pay bills, chat, etc. during class. (You can listen to or read the story here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126241853)
I am sure you have already figured out what the professors and the schools are doing about this. They are figuring out how to use these tools to create engaging, dynamic lessons that are transforming the way lessons are being taught and students are interacting, right? WRONG! They are trying to figure out (or already have something in place) that allows professors to select different levels of access that students can have to the internet. Seriously.
In the case of Bentley College in Massachusetts, the school was one of the first to make it a requirement for all students to have a laptop and shortly after all students were showing up at class with the laptops, professors started complaining about what students were using them for in class. I honestly couldn’t believe what I was reading. Instead of being proactive and figuring out how to use the laptops to improve the teaching and learning taking place in the room, the professors would prefer to remain in a reactive position and try to control the students.
All I could think about was how I wish my students showed up with laptops everyday. I would love the challenge of figuring out how to use them to transform what I have been doing. Please send unwanted laptops my way.
Sources:
Smith, T. (April, 24, 2010). Put away that laptop: Professors pull the plug. NPR. Retrieved April 24, 2010 from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126241853.
Yes I am with you on this one. Most teachers don't really understand what a disruptive force a laptop is. For the first time, students can access more information than just what the teacher provides. This changes the dynamics of the classroom like it has not been changed in 150 years. I have written extensively on my real blog Education Stormfront about this and have come across many articles and stories describing exactly the same thing you talk about. The biggest problem is, there is no reason for the teachers to reevaluate how they teach. I mean it's not like the students can go somewhere else right? At least they can't for now.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Wk 3 Response to Karlene Young
Karlene wrote:
Benjamen Zander is a true inspiration and awesome motivational writer. I wrote down two gems this week from chapters 7-9.
Page 119: Performance is not getting your act together, but about opening up to the energy of the audience and of the music, and letting it sing in your unique voice.
For our Celebration of the Arts last week, the 1st graders were darling. I tried to get them to see they just needed to get up and have fun and feel the music for their dance and accompaniment with instruments. I was out there trying to pair up students whose partner wasn’t there, and I got to dance with several students that were alone. The energy of the audience was electric, and we truly had a lot of fun.
Page 126: The Practice of Enrollment
1. Imagine that people are an invitation for enrollment.
2. Stand ready to participate, willing to be moved and inspired.
3. Offer that which lights you up.
4. Have no doubt that others are eager to catch the spark.
The arts are what truly lights me up, and I am always throwing sparks out hoping to inspire students to love the arts. Children truly are “eager to catch the spark.”
Zander, B., & Zander, R. S. (2000). The art of possibility:
Transforming professional and personal life. New York: Penguin
Books.
I replied:
What strikes me about Zander's book is all of what they are talking about comes from confidence and a belief in yourself. I believe our current school system doesn't really help with this. Some people have come up with misguided ideas like give everyone a trophy and don't keep score to try to help kids build a belief in themselves, but that is not the same as actually accomplishing something. I think what needs to change is the system in school where failure is not re-mediated. There is no time nor effort to let kids learn at their own pace. If they were allowed to keep trying till they got it right, then I think they would do much better work. If at first they don't succeed, they can try and try again.
Benjamen Zander is a true inspiration and awesome motivational writer. I wrote down two gems this week from chapters 7-9.
Page 119: Performance is not getting your act together, but about opening up to the energy of the audience and of the music, and letting it sing in your unique voice.
For our Celebration of the Arts last week, the 1st graders were darling. I tried to get them to see they just needed to get up and have fun and feel the music for their dance and accompaniment with instruments. I was out there trying to pair up students whose partner wasn’t there, and I got to dance with several students that were alone. The energy of the audience was electric, and we truly had a lot of fun.
Page 126: The Practice of Enrollment
1. Imagine that people are an invitation for enrollment.
2. Stand ready to participate, willing to be moved and inspired.
3. Offer that which lights you up.
4. Have no doubt that others are eager to catch the spark.
The arts are what truly lights me up, and I am always throwing sparks out hoping to inspire students to love the arts. Children truly are “eager to catch the spark.”
Zander, B., & Zander, R. S. (2000). The art of possibility:
Transforming professional and personal life. New York: Penguin
Books.
I replied:
What strikes me about Zander's book is all of what they are talking about comes from confidence and a belief in yourself. I believe our current school system doesn't really help with this. Some people have come up with misguided ideas like give everyone a trophy and don't keep score to try to help kids build a belief in themselves, but that is not the same as actually accomplishing something. I think what needs to change is the system in school where failure is not re-mediated. There is no time nor effort to let kids learn at their own pace. If they were allowed to keep trying till they got it right, then I think they would do much better work. If at first they don't succeed, they can try and try again.
Week 3 Free Topic - Both sides of the coin.
One of the most fascinating things about people is how they can ignore things when they don't fit their beliefs. I think everyone does this to a certain extent. I still do. With the dawn of the Internet, it is easy now to find information that completely reinforces our own world view.
From this myopia comes the Law of Unintended Consequences, or as I like to call it, The Other Side of the Coin. No choice in life is a certain thing but some people think it is because they choose not to see the other side of the coin. For example:
No Child Left Behind. When it was written I at first liked the idea. Let's put down some standards for students to measure up to. Encourage success, and punish failure. Sounds good.
Of course there are many problems with this. Just the name itself is loaded with problems. No Child Left Behind indicates that all children will do equally well and nobody will fail (aka be left behind). The problem is when you look at the other side of the coin. If you want all children to do equally well then you have to hold back the high achievers too. Enforcing this standardization on everyone is a left over from the factory model education system. Teachers are handcuffed to Teaching to the Test.
The only skill the students will really have after they graduate is a skill of taking standardized tests.
So here is my radical idea. Disband the Department of Education entirely. Let states try 50 different approaches to education and see what happens. Let kids excel and provide guidance to help them get there. Over time the best approaches will become clear and will then be passed around to other schools. What makes this country great is American Ingenuity, not government.
Most critically, make sure from an early age young kid's native gifts are recognized and nurtured before the factory school beats it out of them. So who's with me?
From this myopia comes the Law of Unintended Consequences, or as I like to call it, The Other Side of the Coin. No choice in life is a certain thing but some people think it is because they choose not to see the other side of the coin. For example:
No Child Left Behind. When it was written I at first liked the idea. Let's put down some standards for students to measure up to. Encourage success, and punish failure. Sounds good.
Of course there are many problems with this. Just the name itself is loaded with problems. No Child Left Behind indicates that all children will do equally well and nobody will fail (aka be left behind). The problem is when you look at the other side of the coin. If you want all children to do equally well then you have to hold back the high achievers too. Enforcing this standardization on everyone is a left over from the factory model education system. Teachers are handcuffed to Teaching to the Test.
The only skill the students will really have after they graduate is a skill of taking standardized tests.
So here is my radical idea. Disband the Department of Education entirely. Let states try 50 different approaches to education and see what happens. Let kids excel and provide guidance to help them get there. Over time the best approaches will become clear and will then be passed around to other schools. What makes this country great is American Ingenuity, not government.
Most critically, make sure from an early age young kid's native gifts are recognized and nurtured before the factory school beats it out of them. So who's with me?
Week 3 Reading – Jackie's Story
I enjoyed the reading this week. This book is written in a very accessible way. It's like a breathmint. Leaves you feeling refreshed.
I would like to talk for a moment about Jackie's story. This is found on page 119. This is a brief story about Jackie Du Pre, who grew up to be a great cellist. She started playing at an early age and apparently completely loved it. There have been many studies over the years that say when a child is young, their brains are at their most adaptable and pick up new things easily. I have noticed myself that many gifted adults developed their gifts at a young age. The author tells the story about how excited she was at age 6 to give her first performance. She had passion and enthusiasm. I think all children have that early on, but as Ken Robinson says we send them to school which does it's best to stamp that out.
Reading between the lines, I think the reason Jackie was so happy to play that day was she didn't have any fear of failure. She was going to express herself and that was the only standard she was being held to. With so many standards we place on children these days is it no wonder they lack passion? Unless they fit into the "schoolchild" shape we make for them, they fail. This is no way to run a railroad.
I would like to talk for a moment about Jackie's story. This is found on page 119. This is a brief story about Jackie Du Pre, who grew up to be a great cellist. She started playing at an early age and apparently completely loved it. There have been many studies over the years that say when a child is young, their brains are at their most adaptable and pick up new things easily. I have noticed myself that many gifted adults developed their gifts at a young age. The author tells the story about how excited she was at age 6 to give her first performance. She had passion and enthusiasm. I think all children have that early on, but as Ken Robinson says we send them to school which does it's best to stamp that out.
Reading between the lines, I think the reason Jackie was so happy to play that day was she didn't have any fear of failure. She was going to express herself and that was the only standard she was being held to. With so many standards we place on children these days is it no wonder they lack passion? Unless they fit into the "schoolchild" shape we make for them, they fail. This is no way to run a railroad.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Wk 2 Response to Mike Ficara
Mike wrote:
Something that I have wanted to do for a while is show my students the power of Web 2.0 technologies and social networking. I truly believe that with all the problems it has, social networking can be a powerful tool inside and outside the classroom to communicate with our students. So I decided to send out a request to several people, mainly celebrities, that I follow on Twitter with this simple request.:
Social networking is powerful & I want to show my students that! Please mention @MrFicara & show my students the power! Thanks!
One of the biggest challenges was getting this post into 140 meaningful characters that would motivate people to respond! I think this is one of the biggest challenges with Twitter, but one of the things that make it unique!
My goal with this is two fold, one to show my students the power of social networking, and two use it as a way to motivate my students in class. It is fun to know that someone out there is thinking about you and what your doing. Also I hope to have more students begin to follow me on Twitter! After only posting for about an hour I got responses from @Adam_Schefter of ESPN and @Pam_Stenzel a national youth speaker! If you can, spread the word and help out! Thanks!
I replied:
Hi Mike,
On Friday I saw the coolest demo of twitter ever. Here's how you can do it yourself.
Open a new public spreadsheet in Google Docs. They have just majorly updated Google Docs so now you can see changes to a spreadsheet as they happen.
I watch several hashtags on twitter including one called #edchat. It is a very active educator group. A person posted that she was showing people the power of twitter and gave the link to the spreadsheet. She asked we fill it in with our favorite web 2.0 tools.
I have a few so I clicked the link. She had arranged the spreadsheet with columns for name of the tool, your twitter name, the web address for the tool and a notes column so we could tell what the tool is. As I watched, like magic the spreadsheet started filling itself in. It took about 5 minutes to put about 30 entries of web 2.0 tools. It was completely amazing!
I am going to try something like this myaelf.
Good post Mike!
Something that I have wanted to do for a while is show my students the power of Web 2.0 technologies and social networking. I truly believe that with all the problems it has, social networking can be a powerful tool inside and outside the classroom to communicate with our students. So I decided to send out a request to several people, mainly celebrities, that I follow on Twitter with this simple request.:
Social networking is powerful & I want to show my students that! Please mention @MrFicara & show my students the power! Thanks!
One of the biggest challenges was getting this post into 140 meaningful characters that would motivate people to respond! I think this is one of the biggest challenges with Twitter, but one of the things that make it unique!
My goal with this is two fold, one to show my students the power of social networking, and two use it as a way to motivate my students in class. It is fun to know that someone out there is thinking about you and what your doing. Also I hope to have more students begin to follow me on Twitter! After only posting for about an hour I got responses from @Adam_Schefter of ESPN and @Pam_Stenzel a national youth speaker! If you can, spread the word and help out! Thanks!
I replied:
Hi Mike,
On Friday I saw the coolest demo of twitter ever. Here's how you can do it yourself.
Open a new public spreadsheet in Google Docs. They have just majorly updated Google Docs so now you can see changes to a spreadsheet as they happen.
I watch several hashtags on twitter including one called #edchat. It is a very active educator group. A person posted that she was showing people the power of twitter and gave the link to the spreadsheet. She asked we fill it in with our favorite web 2.0 tools.
I have a few so I clicked the link. She had arranged the spreadsheet with columns for name of the tool, your twitter name, the web address for the tool and a notes column so we could tell what the tool is. As I watched, like magic the spreadsheet started filling itself in. It took about 5 minutes to put about 30 entries of web 2.0 tools. It was completely amazing!
I am going to try something like this myaelf.
Good post Mike!
Wk 2 response to Margaret Campbell
Margaret wrote:
I download music to my iTouch and listen to it on my long commutes. I collect DVDs about musicians and music and have the full DVD lecture series on music from Professor Greenberg of The Teaching Company. Years ago I used to collect LPs and I had an elaborate Bose speaker system and I also listened on headphones with a 50 ft. cord…with the volume turned way up. I love loud raucus rock concerts and African/Caribean music concerts and I love to dance.I do not ever listen to music in my home, I listen to podcasts, and I often get ideas for new music to listen to from the musical interludes in podcasts.
I responded:
I listen to music at home on my TV! I have a bose sound system hooked up to it and a Roku box. I bought the Roku around christmas time and it allows you to access the internet on your TV so I can watch netflix. I can also access Pandora. Have you ever tried Pandora? Awesomely cool service. You tell it what kind of music you like and it then plays music similar to that. I have discovered all sorts of music lately. It's the wave of the future. Music isn't segmented into albums and bands, it's into genres. I like it!
Oh 50' cord for headphone = epic win!
I download music to my iTouch and listen to it on my long commutes. I collect DVDs about musicians and music and have the full DVD lecture series on music from Professor Greenberg of The Teaching Company. Years ago I used to collect LPs and I had an elaborate Bose speaker system and I also listened on headphones with a 50 ft. cord…with the volume turned way up. I love loud raucus rock concerts and African/Caribean music concerts and I love to dance.I do not ever listen to music in my home, I listen to podcasts, and I often get ideas for new music to listen to from the musical interludes in podcasts.
I responded:
I listen to music at home on my TV! I have a bose sound system hooked up to it and a Roku box. I bought the Roku around christmas time and it allows you to access the internet on your TV so I can watch netflix. I can also access Pandora. Have you ever tried Pandora? Awesomely cool service. You tell it what kind of music you like and it then plays music similar to that. I have discovered all sorts of music lately. It's the wave of the future. Music isn't segmented into albums and bands, it's into genres. I like it!
Oh 50' cord for headphone = epic win!
Wk 2 Response to Hillary Burchett
Hillary created a youtube video:
This is what I wrote in reponse:
Firstly, let me say I am truly sorry for your two lost children. One of my wife's closest friends lost her first child at birth and for me it was probably one of the worst things I ever went through. As removed as I was from them, my pain was only a shadow of what you went through and still do. I will say a prayer for you tonight.
To get ready to go to your school board people and defend your arts class, might I suggest you talk with Ken Robinson about it? Email him and see if he has any suggestions as to how to approach the problem. He's very smart and well respected and it wouldn't hurt to contact him.
I like your observation on the reading about how spiritual it all is. That struck me too. I bet we can find similar ideas in religions all around the world. It seems like a universal quest to try to make sense out of the things life throws at us. I have enjoyed being your classmate this last year and I know you will be a worthy graduate!
One last thing about your art. Do it in secret. Try to paint something when nobody else is around. Don't tell anyone you did it and never, ever show it to anyone. Just give yourself permission.
Just a tip I have found to be helpful.
This is what I wrote in reponse:
Firstly, let me say I am truly sorry for your two lost children. One of my wife's closest friends lost her first child at birth and for me it was probably one of the worst things I ever went through. As removed as I was from them, my pain was only a shadow of what you went through and still do. I will say a prayer for you tonight.
To get ready to go to your school board people and defend your arts class, might I suggest you talk with Ken Robinson about it? Email him and see if he has any suggestions as to how to approach the problem. He's very smart and well respected and it wouldn't hurt to contact him.
I like your observation on the reading about how spiritual it all is. That struck me too. I bet we can find similar ideas in religions all around the world. It seems like a universal quest to try to make sense out of the things life throws at us. I have enjoyed being your classmate this last year and I know you will be a worthy graduate!
One last thing about your art. Do it in secret. Try to paint something when nobody else is around. Don't tell anyone you did it and never, ever show it to anyone. Just give yourself permission.
Just a tip I have found to be helpful.
Wk 2 Free Topic - Thinking the Unthinkable
I wrote this last week on my main blog and liked it so much I am re-posting it here.
One of the first people I added to my PLN was Scott McLeod. He has a great web blog called Dangerously Irrelevant. (see the link below) Today he posted a little blurb about how the biggest barrier to changing schools is our mental model of schools. This is very timely because my own thinking has been leading me right down that same path.
In 2003, the space shuttle Columbia was destroyed on reentry into the atmosphere, tragically killing all 7 astronauts. The primary reason this happened was because a large piece of foam insulation on the External fuel tank broken off and put a hole in Columbia’s heat shield. The larger reason this happened though was a failure on NASA’s part to envision this could happen. Pieces of foam had fallen off for the last 100+ shuttle flights but had never caused a lot of damage. Therefore the engineers and managers accepted this as routine instead of asking what if. In fact they had been dodging a bullet each flight and it finally hit them.
This failure to envision things outside the norm is a big problem in any endeavor. The school system has many factors that are holding back innovation and this failure of vision is a big part of it. I also think that the bigger the risk to change, then the more we don’t want to see possible failure. If we try to change the school system with some massive government directed “one size fits all” approach, then we won’t be able to see the flaws coming.
What I think should happen is we setup lots of different kinds of schools (which is happening in some areas) and make sure the lessons learned get passed around to all educators. The school system need evolution, not revolution. That way not as much is at risk with each step and perhaps we will be able to see a little bit more down the road.
Our mental models are the biggest barrier to moving schools forward into a digital, global era – Dangerously Irrelevant
One of the first people I added to my PLN was Scott McLeod. He has a great web blog called Dangerously Irrelevant. (see the link below) Today he posted a little blurb about how the biggest barrier to changing schools is our mental model of schools. This is very timely because my own thinking has been leading me right down that same path.
In 2003, the space shuttle Columbia was destroyed on reentry into the atmosphere, tragically killing all 7 astronauts. The primary reason this happened was because a large piece of foam insulation on the External fuel tank broken off and put a hole in Columbia’s heat shield. The larger reason this happened though was a failure on NASA’s part to envision this could happen. Pieces of foam had fallen off for the last 100+ shuttle flights but had never caused a lot of damage. Therefore the engineers and managers accepted this as routine instead of asking what if. In fact they had been dodging a bullet each flight and it finally hit them.
This failure to envision things outside the norm is a big problem in any endeavor. The school system has many factors that are holding back innovation and this failure of vision is a big part of it. I also think that the bigger the risk to change, then the more we don’t want to see possible failure. If we try to change the school system with some massive government directed “one size fits all” approach, then we won’t be able to see the flaws coming.
What I think should happen is we setup lots of different kinds of schools (which is happening in some areas) and make sure the lessons learned get passed around to all educators. The school system need evolution, not revolution. That way not as much is at risk with each step and perhaps we will be able to see a little bit more down the road.
Our mental models are the biggest barrier to moving schools forward into a digital, global era – Dangerously Irrelevant
- What is the biggest barrier to moving schools forward into a technology-suffused, globally-interconnected era? Our mental models of what schooling should look like.
Wk 2 Reading Blog Post
I had some trouble this week with the reading assignments. Not the actual reading part, but keeping an open mind when I was doing it. You see I am a rather conservative person. I believe that individuals are given certain opportunities and it is up to us to make the most of them. I am still digesting chapters 4-6 but with my background in mind, here are my initial thoughts on each.
Chapter 4 - Being a Contribution
Something makes me uneasy about this chapter. It basically says to me that rather than try to achieve goals, just be happy to do anything. Don't strive to be great, just exist and be happy you did so. Are there people who live like this? Sure, lots of them. But I don't think those are the people who make a difference in life. The dissatisfaction with our condition is what caused mankind to leave caves and discover fire. The constant striving to better ones self and leave a better life for our children is what has driven humanity. It's what drives me. It's why are are all putting ourselves through this EMDT program. I am open to the possibility I don't understand what the author is trying to say, but that's my take so far.
Chapter 5 - Leading from Any Chair
As much as I didn't like the previous chapter, I liked this one. I understand what the authors are trying to say here. They are saying that you can be a leader no matter what your actual job title or role in life. What I don't understand is how you be a leader without wanting to change anything, which is the condition Chapter 4 would leave you in. I look at these chapters as sort of contradictory. In my current job I am trying to make a difference and lead from my chair.
Chapter 6 - Rule Number 6
I agree with Rule Number 6 to a point but there are things in life that MUST be taken seriously. That being said, many people including me could stand to lighten up a bit. I have found that strong emotions tend to cloud one's judgment. It's very Vulcan if you think about it.
I am interesting in reading some comments about my take on these things!
Chapter 4 - Being a Contribution
Something makes me uneasy about this chapter. It basically says to me that rather than try to achieve goals, just be happy to do anything. Don't strive to be great, just exist and be happy you did so. Are there people who live like this? Sure, lots of them. But I don't think those are the people who make a difference in life. The dissatisfaction with our condition is what caused mankind to leave caves and discover fire. The constant striving to better ones self and leave a better life for our children is what has driven humanity. It's what drives me. It's why are are all putting ourselves through this EMDT program. I am open to the possibility I don't understand what the author is trying to say, but that's my take so far.
Chapter 5 - Leading from Any Chair
As much as I didn't like the previous chapter, I liked this one. I understand what the authors are trying to say here. They are saying that you can be a leader no matter what your actual job title or role in life. What I don't understand is how you be a leader without wanting to change anything, which is the condition Chapter 4 would leave you in. I look at these chapters as sort of contradictory. In my current job I am trying to make a difference and lead from my chair.
Chapter 6 - Rule Number 6
I agree with Rule Number 6 to a point but there are things in life that MUST be taken seriously. That being said, many people including me could stand to lighten up a bit. I have found that strong emotions tend to cloud one's judgment. It's very Vulcan if you think about it.
I am interesting in reading some comments about my take on these things!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Wk 1 Comment - From Margaret Campbell's Blog
Margaret wrote:
I had asked 5 students to go onto classzone.com, the McDougall-Littell Math book online companion site. Each time they struck the keyboard…the keys transmitted a signal to the computer…but nothing was happening. We only have 5 student computers in the school…so I had to figure out what was going on, but I could not. Luckily, one of the students remembered (or he was the one who set up the problem ) that there is something called “sticky keys” and there is a procedure to unstick the keys. I had never heard of it, but it totally disabled our class, and I was trying to solve the problem as a hardware problem…and it was a software issue.I responded:
Ah yes the good old days of troubleshooting. I remember when I got my first PC. I really got into how it worked. It was DOS based, way before windows 95. I still remember using floppy disks to load things and the hard drive was 40 whole megs!
My point is, it doesn't matter how far we advance in computers, there are always new problems for us to straighten out. :) I am sure in 20 years time we will be trying to argue with our built in AI about how we want our hover cars parked! lol
Thanks for sharing Margaret, that takes me back.
Wk 1 Comment - From Stephanie Layne's Blog
Stephanie said:
I responded with this:
In Chapter 3 of our textbook, Zander talks about how giving an A to a student can have a much bigger connotation than what we believe. Giving students different grades puts them in a line and, in turn, puts those behind number one at a disadvantage. Students are much more intuitive than what we give them credit for. I know in my own teaching, I tend to be very lenient with grades. At the end of the semester, I have all of the students come up and tell me what grade they deserve, what grade do they think they earned, then I change the grade in the system if I agree.
You may think that most students would automatically give themselves an A, but you would be surprised that most students really do give themselves the grade they deserve. I am not one to rely only on test grades because I teach Foods. It’s a hands on course where we try to teach students skills to use for life. So to judge a student only on if they know how to divide and double recipes just isn’t practical. I grade on behavior and comprehension of the big ideas. Because of this philosophy I have had the honor to be “the only teacher to get through” and by that I mean what Michaelangelo said, that you much break away at a stone to see the art within. As a teacher in a urban school setting, we have many rocks and most of the teachers treat them as such and they seem shocked when they get an A in my class, but now I will just tell them that I was able to see the art inside that rock!
Hi Stephanie,
Great post! This whole idea of giving grades was what I lived by when I taught college. My lectures were very structured and I gave a quiz everyday to start the class. Unfortunately I realize now that all that did was give the students a panic attack to start the class off. I don't feel bad about it anymore because I realize that was all I knew. Thankfully we are all learning about some different teaching options in EMDT and I am looking forward to exploring them further.
Thanks for sharing your story about your Foods course!
Wk1 Free Topic Post - Learning From Failure
I really agree with this article I saw in the Sydney Morning Herald. The article states that if we don’t let kids fail once in a while, it give them unrealistic expectations for life.
As a college teacher I saw this a whole lot. Many of my students were not concerned with doing their best because they always got what they wanted regardless of their effort. They had what I call a “blinding acceptance of mediocrity”.
I think back on my life and can clearly remember times I failed. It seems to stay with you and help motivate you to better things.
Here is a good site about recovering from failure. Overcoming Failure
This is the article.
Helicopter parents not doing enough to let children fail
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
As a college teacher I saw this a whole lot. Many of my students were not concerned with doing their best because they always got what they wanted regardless of their effort. They had what I call a “blinding acceptance of mediocrity”.
I think back on my life and can clearly remember times I failed. It seems to stay with you and help motivate you to better things.
Here is a good site about recovering from failure. Overcoming Failure
This is the article.
Helicopter parents not doing enough to let children fail
- THE belief that regular praise will improve the self-esteem of students has backfired, with educators urging over-anxious parents to let their children fail so they can learn from their mistakes.
- Rod Kefford, the headmaster of Barker College, has warned: ”We are creating a generation of very fearful learners and the quality of our intellectual life will suffer as a result.”
- in the 1960s, it was not uncommon for teachers to tell students bluntly that they had given a wrong answer.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Wk1 reading - Thinking Outside the Box
The ebook Art of the Possible is a fascinating book and caught my interest right away. For probably the last 3 years I have been pondering this process of being able to think outside the constructed framework of our existence. The authors indicate that many of the rules and conventions we live by are just artificial in nature, and thus we can choose not to follow them. One of the things they do not mention however is this can be a double edged sword. A person like Seth Godin thinks outside the usual guidelines, but a person like Charles Manson did too.
I do believe however that history is littered with people who could take advantage of situations because they could see something that others could not. Before World War 2, France had constructed a large elaborate set of fortifications called the Maginot Line to guard its' border with Germany. While this would have been good in World War 1, advances in mechanized warfare such as tanks and aircraft made fixed defenses useless. As it turned out, Germany just invaded Belgium, then invaded France through there, thus going around the defenses entirely. Another example is the loss of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. Both were lost really because NASA had grown complacent about problems that had been in the system from the start. Especially with Columbia, they though since they had been loosing foam from the External Tank for 100+ flights, it was no problem. Actually though, they were rolling the dice each time and Columbia finally lost.
In the last 5 years I have lived with two guiding quotations. Ken Robinson said "If you are not prepared to be wrong, then you will never come up with anything original". I like that. The second is by Ralph Waldo Emerson. He said "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." I liked it so much that I did this video on this idea for Kathy Craven's film class.
I do believe however that history is littered with people who could take advantage of situations because they could see something that others could not. Before World War 2, France had constructed a large elaborate set of fortifications called the Maginot Line to guard its' border with Germany. While this would have been good in World War 1, advances in mechanized warfare such as tanks and aircraft made fixed defenses useless. As it turned out, Germany just invaded Belgium, then invaded France through there, thus going around the defenses entirely. Another example is the loss of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. Both were lost really because NASA had grown complacent about problems that had been in the system from the start. Especially with Columbia, they though since they had been loosing foam from the External Tank for 100+ flights, it was no problem. Actually though, they were rolling the dice each time and Columbia finally lost.
In the last 5 years I have lived with two guiding quotations. Ken Robinson said "If you are not prepared to be wrong, then you will never come up with anything original". I like that. The second is by Ralph Waldo Emerson. He said "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." I liked it so much that I did this video on this idea for Kathy Craven's film class.
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