I really enjoyed this class. Since I have taken more classes than the rest of the cohort I am visiting I have had an epiphany. That epiphany is that I really enjoy the group projects and more likely the case, I really like the discussions we have in our study groups and in class.
The text book talked about the importance of communication, production and critical thinking. This is what I liked about graduate school the first time around. It wasn't all of the worksheets, quizzes and tests. Sure, there were a few tests and quizzes, but for the most part it was baset mainly on various products and/or portfolios we had to do. This made sense to me.
The things we have been learning in class, applied correctly, would make a much better assessment of student achievement than all of those standardized tests that students are forced to take. Being from Iowa, I apologize if you ever had to take the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.
This course has firmed up my belief that if we really want to test students abilities, we should be doing digital portfolios that are shared with an authentic audience. The artifact included in that should be authentic work or relevance and not some contrived project that has no real world application or purpose.
I have also discovered some cool new websites that I will introduce to my students so that they can have more options to turn in their work. Even though I am teaching online, it seems to me that some of the software and methodology is outdated. I will take a moment to again praise goanimate.com because it is so dang cool AND can do Japanese. That is a pretty rare quality.
Lastly, I will continue to learn from my colleagues and perhaps more importantly, from my students. Students know a lot more than we sometimes give them credit for. Just the other day a students showed me a really cool browser app that acts as a dictionary when you hover over Japanese words. The Chrome version is rikaikun and the firefox version is rikachan. I would never have found that with out talking to my students.
I will continue on my journey as a humble sensei, knowing I will always have something to learn.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Week 5 - Technology ,Creativity & School
This has been a interesting and busy week. We are to reflect on how what were learning affects our professional growth, etc.
What is interesting is that I am actually teaching online right now.... so I don't have a lot of direct influence with what my students use. I give them guidelines as to what file types I will accept, but other than that... it's up to them to find the best software fit for themselves. So in some respects I don't have a lot of say in what they use to do their projects.
Hoever, I am planning to use what I've been learning in this class and the revitalization it has provided me to share more resources (I've already shared some) with my students to provide them with alternatives to the standard file types they are supposed to use (RTF, DOC, TXT and PDF). Those are pretty.... boring when you really think about it. I mean, really....there are so many cool ways to accomplish things any more that I feel that my students are being limited by those file types. That is partly due to my employer, but I have been told if I allow other ways of turning things in (like Google Docs), that's fine. I plan collect several resources (and possibly some videos) that promote different ways of turning in work.
One related thing that came up when were were discussing Sir Ken Robinson's video was the fact that our textbook talks about learning being social. There is a strong emphasis on this and Sir Ken talked about hot the structure of schools can be a barrier to this. This got me thinking and then one of our group members posed this question: Do the standards help or harm learning?
This was a great question which set me off a little bit. IF indeed social learning is where it's at.... then do standards really matter THAT much? My father didn't have 1/100th the testing kids have today and he went on to law school. My mother went on to get her masters in library science. Also being in a career transition, the idea that you can teach hard skill but not soft ones keeps coming to mind. I can't teach someone not to be a jerk, but I can teach them how to make a Prezi.
Listening to some of my co-workers and thinking about when I taught... this pressure to constantly be teaching a standard is a lot of stress. However - the counter argument to this is ,"Well, you should be teaching them anyway...it's no different than what you already do." I agree with this, but when put on the spot there are people who can quote the standards verbatim and creatively explain how they match up. There are other people who are doing the standard but can't see that they are to be able to show they are. So, if that's the case... what is the push towards standards and testing really all about? Is it about segragating our students by ability down the road? Is it about their learning? Is it about their teacher's teaching? Or is it about treating schools as businesses and trying to hold them to a business model even when there are so many differences between the two that there is no possible way to make it work?
What is interesting is that I am actually teaching online right now.... so I don't have a lot of direct influence with what my students use. I give them guidelines as to what file types I will accept, but other than that... it's up to them to find the best software fit for themselves. So in some respects I don't have a lot of say in what they use to do their projects.
Hoever, I am planning to use what I've been learning in this class and the revitalization it has provided me to share more resources (I've already shared some) with my students to provide them with alternatives to the standard file types they are supposed to use (RTF, DOC, TXT and PDF). Those are pretty.... boring when you really think about it. I mean, really....there are so many cool ways to accomplish things any more that I feel that my students are being limited by those file types. That is partly due to my employer, but I have been told if I allow other ways of turning things in (like Google Docs), that's fine. I plan collect several resources (and possibly some videos) that promote different ways of turning in work.
One related thing that came up when were were discussing Sir Ken Robinson's video was the fact that our textbook talks about learning being social. There is a strong emphasis on this and Sir Ken talked about hot the structure of schools can be a barrier to this. This got me thinking and then one of our group members posed this question: Do the standards help or harm learning?
This was a great question which set me off a little bit. IF indeed social learning is where it's at.... then do standards really matter THAT much? My father didn't have 1/100th the testing kids have today and he went on to law school. My mother went on to get her masters in library science. Also being in a career transition, the idea that you can teach hard skill but not soft ones keeps coming to mind. I can't teach someone not to be a jerk, but I can teach them how to make a Prezi.
Listening to some of my co-workers and thinking about when I taught... this pressure to constantly be teaching a standard is a lot of stress. However - the counter argument to this is ,"Well, you should be teaching them anyway...it's no different than what you already do." I agree with this, but when put on the spot there are people who can quote the standards verbatim and creatively explain how they match up. There are other people who are doing the standard but can't see that they are to be able to show they are. So, if that's the case... what is the push towards standards and testing really all about? Is it about segragating our students by ability down the road? Is it about their learning? Is it about their teacher's teaching? Or is it about treating schools as businesses and trying to hold them to a business model even when there are so many differences between the two that there is no possible way to make it work?
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Tools, Teaching & Teaching Tools
Wow....it has been a busy weekend. I've been out of town so I apologize to all my fans who have been waiting with abated breath for my entry.
Our group discussion was really awesome. We were talking about various tools that we could use to collaborate and which one we should choose to do our assignment.
After looking over the examples in the textbook and talking some more, we decided to play with Google + since I was familiar with it and no one else was. We figured we might as well learn a new tool that we will probably all be able to use.
We all got a pretty good taste of what was like, although it wasn't with out problems. We were trying to use Skype while talking through how to become a G+ member and get everything signed up. I think my group learned a lot about this cool tool and I learned a little about getting people on it.
I think that I will suggest we have our next group meeting there. It really is a useful site and by getting them to use it more will be really beneficial.
Our group discussion was really awesome. We were talking about various tools that we could use to collaborate and which one we should choose to do our assignment.
After looking over the examples in the textbook and talking some more, we decided to play with Google + since I was familiar with it and no one else was. We figured we might as well learn a new tool that we will probably all be able to use.
We all got a pretty good taste of what was like, although it wasn't with out problems. We were trying to use Skype while talking through how to become a G+ member and get everything signed up. I think my group learned a lot about this cool tool and I learned a little about getting people on it.
I think that I will suggest we have our next group meeting there. It really is a useful site and by getting them to use it more will be really beneficial.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Goanimate was cool!
That was awesome! I checked out Goanimate.com and it allows you to easily create and share animated shorts. You can either record your voice or type in your text. I can see lots of really cool uses for this.
The text book is really good. Lots of great links, ideas and suggestions. I am really looking forward to meeting with my group to discuss it.
The text book is really good. Lots of great links, ideas and suggestions. I am really looking forward to meeting with my group to discuss it.
Week 3....
It has been a busy week, but it was fun to get together with my group and talk about the chapters. I really liked the chapter on creativity. I think it's because it reminds me of when I first started teaching in Wisconsin. I was handed 3 binders (one for each class I was going to teach) and let loose.
The binders contained our standards-based Japanese curriculum. I was also told that as long as our students can reach the objectives (Students will be able to do~), it didn't matter how I did it. I was given the analogy of driving to Milwaukee. I could take the highway all the way down or maybe the scenic lake front drive. It didn't matter as long as we all got to the same destination. Very well put I felt. It also gave me a little breathing room as I was able to relax and focus on how I wanted to teach and not worry about trying to copy someone else's style that may not match mine.
As for teaching problem solving... it reminded me of something a student said to me once, "Why do you always answer a question with a question?" I told her that it was because I was her teacher and not her answering machine. I would ask probing questions until they got it. I tried really hard not to give out the answers.
Not giving out the answers can be really, really hard. Especially in the high stakes testing world of today when we feel like we don't have a lot of time when we feel like it would be more helpful to just give them the answer so that they can get on task. However, as we're learning... some of the best learning is when we're taught how to problem solve on our own or with guidance. I love the whole zen of it all. I feel like a martial arts sensei working with students named Grasshopper and Willow.
Although it can be frustrating for students, I have always believed it is best to help students help themselves. In my case it was because I knew I had already given them the tool to answer the question they were asking. This method becomes infinitely trickier as there are so many resources that I don't know about and I will have to trust in my students to choose good sources and be open to them teaching me new things.
So... there's my 2 cents for the week.
The binders contained our standards-based Japanese curriculum. I was also told that as long as our students can reach the objectives (Students will be able to do~), it didn't matter how I did it. I was given the analogy of driving to Milwaukee. I could take the highway all the way down or maybe the scenic lake front drive. It didn't matter as long as we all got to the same destination. Very well put I felt. It also gave me a little breathing room as I was able to relax and focus on how I wanted to teach and not worry about trying to copy someone else's style that may not match mine.
As for teaching problem solving... it reminded me of something a student said to me once, "Why do you always answer a question with a question?" I told her that it was because I was her teacher and not her answering machine. I would ask probing questions until they got it. I tried really hard not to give out the answers.
Not giving out the answers can be really, really hard. Especially in the high stakes testing world of today when we feel like we don't have a lot of time when we feel like it would be more helpful to just give them the answer so that they can get on task. However, as we're learning... some of the best learning is when we're taught how to problem solve on our own or with guidance. I love the whole zen of it all. I feel like a martial arts sensei working with students named Grasshopper and Willow.
Although it can be frustrating for students, I have always believed it is best to help students help themselves. In my case it was because I knew I had already given them the tool to answer the question they were asking. This method becomes infinitely trickier as there are so many resources that I don't know about and I will have to trust in my students to choose good sources and be open to them teaching me new things.
So... there's my 2 cents for the week.
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