Saturday, February 28, 2015
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Discussion Week #7 Responses
Anne Marie Lanning
February 20, 2015
ED 7722-Week #7
Discussion
Please discuss the most potent points in the discussion this week. What instructional and pedagogical opportunities are out there to build student voice, choice, and agency? How will you create learning experiences for your unique learners?
I really enjoyed watching the discussion forums about
Teaching Like a Pirate. Dave Burgess is
a dynamic presenter that makes the audience really want to listen to what he is
saying. Lee Graham clearly is his number
fan! She really loves everything the man
says. Which shows how his passion is contagious. I also thought it was interesting she brought
up the administration piece. Did Dave
have any resistant to what he wanted to do?
Lucky for him he has had good experiences with his administration
supporting what he wants to do which is teach but do it in a way that isn’t
about content but it’s also about presentation.
Last month I had my formal observation for the school year,
last week I had my conference with my principal to discuss how I did and if I
met the CCT Rubric, etc. The first
comment she made was how tired I must be after being on all day. I can honestly say from the minute I pull
into the school parking lot until the moment I leave I am “on”. I say good morning to anyone I see and after
being at my school for five years I am able to catch up with former students
and parents in the morning. I am happy
to have these relationships with these families because it creates a welcoming
school environment. I have a great class
this year. The kids are so excited to
learn and are disappointed when we don’t have school. In a way they are part of the reason I am
excited to come to work. Back to my observation,
I had a student who had an accident prior to the lesson starting which the kids
were talking about. I was sure to let
the students and my principal (who knew the whole story) know that I had
spilled something prior to the lesson, I didn’t want that student to be
embarrassed. We are using a new phonics
program for the past two school years and my students love it. It’s called “Fundations” and it’s very hands
on and fun. As I share the objectives of
my lesson one of my students says how, “Fundations is fun and everything is fun
in our classroom.” I seriously didn’t
pay the student to say it but during my post observation conference my
principal was sure to reference it. She
said how the transitions were smooth and done quickly and how engaged my
students were through out the lesson.
For a group of five year olds that can be difficult but I was certainty
happy to hear, honestly I didn’t notice I was more focused on the lesson. I bring this up because I think in some ways
I Teach Like a Pirate without even knowing it.
I’m excited about what we are doing.
I’m happy to see my students engaged in their learning. And most of all I’m happy they are excited
about learning and instead of being bored with our everyday routines they enjoy
them and that translates to their learning.
After watching the videos and reading about Teach Like a
Pirate it is something that I would like to incorporate into my classroom. Dave left me continuing to think about “Don’t
just teach a lesson, create an experience.”
I think that should be a bumper sticker.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Discussion Post Week #6
Discussion Week #6
There
are many things to think about, talk about, and be worried about as we review
this week’s materials. For example, can we empower students through the right
infrastructure, the right culture, and/or the right processes? Should we start with
outcomes first, or should that now change to meet new learners and the types of
engagement/experience we want for them? How do we connect the real world to the
other real world? Should we actually be worried about big brother and privacy
as we try to engage 21st century learners in a connected
environment? Is the cloud the right way to go as we begin to embrace ubiquitous
learning? Are there ethical and legal implications of this new embrace to
connectivity? The list is endless it seems. Please reflect on what resonated
with you this week and why.
I think that we
can empower students by differentiated instruction. Prior to beginning the instruction we need to
think of three things mentioned in the Connected Learning video. Ultimately what do we want the students to
learn, what is the outcome of their learning and do we keep the pace that is
the starting point.
Based on my
grade and subject matter I do this everyday.
For example students participate in literacy workstations. In my class I have some beginning readers,
some students who are starting “to get it”, and I have some that are still
struggling with the concepts that were first introduced in September. I am constantly working to figure out what
learning activities will challenge my students but not force them to struggle
or be unable to complete the task. The
students who are beginning to read might write sentences using sight words or “writing
the room”, my students who are emerging might do a sight word search looking
for sight words in text, and my struggling students might try to build the
sight word using magnetic letters or practice writing/name letters of the
alphabet. I am trying to empower my
students based on their needs but I am so thinking about the outcome. All of my students will be exposed to the
sight words but they will complete their work so they can be successful.
I really enjoyed
the video about internships offering meaning to students. The internship allows students to explore new
opportunities. The internship lets the
students explore and experience something that they may want in the future with
an individual learning plan. It also
allows students to see what they might not want to do. Rather that using real life scenarios as
examples students get to experience first hand their possible future job, real
life academics. Prior to the summer
before college my dad hired me to work at his office. Answering phones, typing up reports, and
various other office tasks. I HATED
it! I couldn’t have been more bored and
less motivated to do anything. In a way
it was an internship I saw what some people do in an office job and I knew
working in an office wouldn’t be my future.
It solidified my choice to be a teacher.
Since my mom was a teacher I participated in an extended internship
prior to my first year of actual teaching.
I would help set up her classroom, watch her plan, help photocopy and
laminate, I would volunteer in her classroom providing extra support to
students in need, etc. My twenty-year-old
internship only slightly prepared me to be a teacher but I knew I would like it
much more than an office job!
I was sad
watching the Reimagining work video. 71%
of people working are disengaged and unhappy at their jobs is a sad
statement. Doing something that you
don’t like doesn’t make your job any easier instead it makes it harder. You do enough work to get by but aren’t
giving it 100% because “its just a job”.
Productivity becomes a problem and standards are lowered in a
sense. Flexible working allows you to be
in control of where you want to be, it makes you more mindful of what is in
front of you. I have had many friends tell me they are more productive when
they work from home because they are comfortable in their own space, less interruptions
from coworkers, etc. My job doesn’t
allow me to be in a flexible workplace but on snow days, vacations, etc. I find
I’m more productive because I have fewer distractions.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Week #5 Application vs. Memorization
Discussion Point
From the readings this week, explain
what you find to be the most potent concepts that can be transferred into your
own teaching practices and why. Remember to respond to at least two of your
peers.
Grant Wiggins brought up a lot of interesting points with
Understandings by Design. Teaching needs
to be a collaborative effort not just one idea within a subject.
The moment he brought up math I cringed, as someone who has
never been “math person” I just don’t get it.
But what Wiggins said it doesn’t need to be memorization instead it’s
the application. That can be transferred
into my teaching and that is what the Common Core is doing for students
today. Students don’t need to memorize
facts and figures instead they need to apply their learning. As a Kindergarten teacher a lot of what I
teach is introductory skills and sometimes does require memorization. Instead of just memorizing I have students
show their thinking. 5+5=10, students
can use cubes to show how 5 cubes plus 5 more cubes equal ten cubes. Students need to show the real life
application rather than just knowing the facts.
Juan Enriquez showed how everything we do is permanent like
a tattoo. It is scary to think that
there is technology that can identify me in different places and locations. Andy Warhol did have it wrong we aren’t
famous for 15 minutes we are only anonymous for that long. That is something that students even in Kindergarten
need to understand. We aren’t
anonymous, there is someone always watching!
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Storify for Week #4
My Storify response for Week #4
You've been quoted in my #Storify story "Week #4 " http://sfy.co/t02C7
You've been quoted in my #Storify story "Week #4 " http://sfy.co/t02C7
Week #4 MOOC
DISCUSSION POINT: What is a "MOOC",
and how does it intersect with the online, or hybrid learning environments that
we've been studying?
When
people ask what is a “MOOC”, they are told it’s a massive open online
course. It’s a free way to share
information about a specific topic.
Participates of MOOCs want to learn more about a specific topic or they
have a lot of information to share about a topic.
Dave
Cormier says a MOOC is a response to information overload. Instead of asking someone for information,
buying a book, figuring it out on your own, or taking a course on what you
specifically want to learn you can instead participate in MOOC where
information is everywhere. Because of
the internet a MOOC can give a participant overwhelming amount of information
and the best part it’s free! It’s a way
to engage in the learning process. You
the learner decide if you have been successful.
Last
semester I participated in a MOOC along with IT&DML classmates in Central
Issues and Research in New Literacies.
Over the semester we participated in five different modules and at the
completion of the modules we earned badges.
Ian worked with Mozilla and had us participate in an Open Badge Project that allowed him to create a
badge to recognize anyone else for knowledge or skills we had obtained (Ferdig,
14). Getting that badge was important to
all of us, it was more than a badge it showed that we successfully completed
the task and that we EARNED a way to be part of the MOOC.
The
article by Ferdig shows how MOOCs can be beneficial for both K-12 teachers and
students. What makes it the most
beneficial for me is there is no right way to do the course which is networked
with other learners instead it has the ability to sprout off into various
directions. It allows the participants
to be in charge of their learning. It has
the ability to use the internet as an endless information source.
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