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Week 4

Topic 1

I think visuals are very important in a classroom, especially for elementary aged students.  The visuals allow for students who might not have prior background on what an elephant is to look and understand.  Visuals also allow for simple and usually inexpensive ways to differentiate the classroom.  While visuals are great, just having them is not enough.  The image needs to connect to what the teacher is talking about, otherwise the visual and the opportunity becomes wasted.

The article “Using Visual Aids” is great at supporting this thinking.  The article provides background into how to use visual aids and reinforces the idea that a poorly done or inappropriate visual aid will not enhance the lesson but detract from it.  The author gives tips on how to prepare visual aids.  At the end of the article she breaks down images in to different media categories and provides techniques.   Some of the tips include to keep the visual aid brief, give student the opportunity to look over the image, and do not ask students to look and listen allow them to do one or the other.  The two most important rules the teacher should remember is not to talk directly from the aid and to give students paper copies.  

Looking to the first statement, the teacher should not just read from the text in the aid.  They should highlight the important words in the phrase or sentence and then continue to add more detail and understanding.  If a teacher just reads from the text, she is not giving any new information.  If the visual is an image, the teacher should highlight the important points and then continue addressing those points with information the students should concentrate on.

In the second statement, while the classroom is becoming more digital teachers should hand out paper copies for their students to use as references or study aids.  Looking to a digital classroom though, the image could be made available through the use of the classroom blog or another digital place the teacher provides.

I think visuals are very important to a classroom.  Some children are visual learners and seeing a chart or picture will only enhance their understanding.  Teachers need to remember that just like technology not to use visuals for visuals sake.  The visual need to have purpose and connection in order for it to enhance the classroom.

Week 3

Topic 1:  

While I have never see or heard of teachers using podcasts, I think it would be a great idea.  Like posting to a Blog, this sounds like a wonderful option for the shy students.  By creating a podcast, it would allow the teacher to actually hear their voice rather than reading their words.  For the student, they still have the time to plan their responses and would not worry about having to face criticism from classmates.  Since the podcast would not provide complete anonymity, this would be a great way to start to get those students out of their comfort zone.

Another reason why podcasts could enhance the classroom is that students always want to hear or see themselves on the radio or television.  By using a regular podcast, the students can pretend to be like their favorite DJ.  For the enhanced podcasts, students could display art work or other projects to show meaning and understanding.

I think some of the benefits would be it gives students a different way to create.  This would be a great and easy way for students to use Bloom’s Taxonomy.  As stated above, for students who are shy this would be a great way for them to still not directly face their peers, but gets them out of their comfort zone.

One barrier would be if it is posted to the web.  Like a Blog, there would need to be parental permission to allow for the podcast to be posted.  A minor barrier would be starting the program.  This could be overcome by attaching the podcast project to a project based learning session the teacher thinks cold benefit from a podcast.  By doing this both the teacher and students could figure out how equipment works, best ways to load the program, or other potential pitfalls.

Topic 2:  

I listened to the the EduWin podcast station.  The podcast I used was “EduWin Weekly #007: Twitter and Time with Bill Selak”.  Selak and two other hosts talked about how teachers can use Twitter to both educate themselves and others on new educational ideas.  One stated that a teacher at his school told him that Twitter is “the best professional development” he has.  With school budgets shrinking and teachers not being able to participate in advancing development, the sharing on Twitter could be a good way to go.  

After the few times I have gotten on Twitter, I would agree with the statement that Twitter creates more of a connection than Facebook.  If someone follows engaging individuals or groups on Twitter, you are more likely to learn from it.  Facebook truly does seem more voyeuristic rather than collaborative.

Some aspects I did not like about the podcast related to a statement the hosts made.  One stated that teachers who did not pick up on new social technology could soon find themselves out of a job.  While I think teachers should embrace technology, teachers should still have an option about how connected they become.  Many teachers might not join Facebook or Twitter because they do not want their information to become too public.  While teachers should share ideas, sometimes face to face is the best method.  

Yes, I would agree that podcasts are something I will continue to use in professional learning.  I am an audio/visual learner.  I love listening to podcasts and finding new ones that help me learn and grow professionally.  The other thing I love about podcasts is that you can listen when you want.  They are usually up on the website or easy to obtain through the archives.  You do not have to feel like there is a time crunch before the session closes or that you have to be free at a certain time to listen.

Topic 3: 

I watched the video presented by the Digital Learning Series.  It was a great little clip that reenforced the idea that school projects and future work based projects are not the same.  The video is easy to understand and could be shown to students to help them understand the concept.  

What was great about the clip it showed a connection between how a project would be completed in the work place and how the idea could be refigured for the classroom.  If we want to teach our 21^st Century students, we have to let them communicate in their own language when appropriate.  While papers are often easer to grade a PBL could be too as long as guidelines are set and a rubric is provided.  

It seems that the great thing about PBL is the project could change year to year for your students.  This way the teacher does not get bored by reading the same material 25 times and over a course of their first five year 125 times!  Each year would be different and the teacher could tweak the assignment to help accurately reflect their students knowledge.

Topic 4:

I want to start by saying that Chris Lehmann is AMAZING!  His ideas and people with like minds, I think truly will change the direction our schools go in as well as the education of the future.

I truly love the idea that Lehmann thinks children should create and produce valuable projects for their instructors.  I have mentioned it in other posts that creativity and creation is the highest order in Bloom’s Taxonomy.  Isn’t that what we want our students to strive for?  We want them to take the information we give to them and they must repurpose that information, because they will encounter in in the real world.

The concept of making our students citizens is also very important.  Most likely, a majority of Lehmann’s students will go on to another form of education. Unfortunately, for many high schools that is not the case.  Those students who are not able to further their education, still must be a part of society and they need to know how to function in it.

The last point is the idea about creating meaningful projects and having a sense that the teacher and peers care about it.  What are students going to give to the world by always writing papers that only the teacher see.  In real life the world is collaborative.  People share their ideas and thoughts and that is how end of unit “exercises” should be.  Again going back to the idea of being a citizen, a student could have a wonderful idea that would benefit the community or world, but if they cannot work with others or communicate their idea, the idea might become lost.

I truly hope that as many preservice teachers as possible have a chance to become introduced to these ideas and find meaningful ways to introduce them into the classroom.

Week 2

Shelley Wright stated when she teaches in a more traditional setting, her students “wait to be rescued.”  As teachers we like to think we are preparing our students for life, but many times do not let them experience it.  While teachers like to feel in control of the learning environment, sometimes we have to let go and allow students to experience it for themselves.  Wright’s introduction of the Inquiry method is a great example on how teachers can still teach, but allow their students to understand the meaning behind learning a topic.

I loved how the teacher stated she wanted to be a co-learner rather than a lecturer.  When teachers act as co-learners, they can still point out what students need to know and guide them if they are stuck, but can also sit back and let the group create their own experience.  The unit on the Holocaust provided the students the opportunity to find what they were most interested in but still meet the objectives the teacher had set forth.  This idea is very similar to some of the thinking in the video from least week.  Teachers set guidelines on what needs to be accomplished in the project but students can complete it how they would like.  Wright has told her students the topic and the end product but how a student gets there is their choice.

In the “Going Deep” section, Wright talked about how after the research phase both she and the students became stuck.  I liked how she did not have an immediate answer on how to solve their problems but instead listened and together came up with solutions.  The idea of the Socratic circle has been presented to the cohort before and seeing it in action was very helpful.  In the circle students expressed both frustration and accomplishments.  It allowed the students to come together in a meaningful way to discuss the topic and find solutions.

As an exhibit designer, I found this project very interesting.  A suggestion I would make to the instructor would be to not only focus on the historical research but also how exhibits are put together.  She was right in the fact that there needs to be a purpose, it can not just be a collection of random pieces of information.  This is true to real life as well.  Students need to learn how to organize information so teachers, friends, and parents understand what they are talking about.  This is true both in and out of the classroom.  The students ideas were great and I would have loved to see an image of the final product.