... with a little trash talking!
My sister, Jenny, sent out a Facebook evite yesterday to her annual 4th of July party/bocce tournament. The comments began immediately.
At the Machine Again
11 hours ago
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Saturday, June 20, 2015
A Technology Viewpoint Leads to a Teaching Leap
This summer, one of my focuses is reading more education blogs to gain new ideas and philosophies for the upcoming school year that might be beneficial to my students. Today in the blog, Fool Hardie, a Teacher's Learning Journey, written by my Australian friend Philippa Clymo, she wrote about visiting Intellectual Ventures in Washington state, and quoted one of the inventors at the company.
Children should learn to question not “what does it do?”, but instead ask “what can I make this do?”
He is speaking from the perspective of inventor, businessman, and company rep, and perhaps is a bit biased toward what he does and its importance. But, as I think of Twenty First Century Learning, and its implications for my classroom, I have to put my own personal prejudices aside ("What does he know? He's not a teacher!") and think about what I can learn, not who said what and what their credentials are.
And that may very well be an important leap in my own education journey right there, even more important than the ideas from the quote that I was originally planning to reflect upon.
Children should learn to question not “what does it do?”, but instead ask “what can I make this do?”
He is speaking from the perspective of inventor, businessman, and company rep, and perhaps is a bit biased toward what he does and its importance. But, as I think of Twenty First Century Learning, and its implications for my classroom, I have to put my own personal prejudices aside ("What does he know? He's not a teacher!") and think about what I can learn, not who said what and what their credentials are.
And that may very well be an important leap in my own education journey right there, even more important than the ideas from the quote that I was originally planning to reflect upon.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
"Air Time" - Direct versus Facilitated Instruction
In many ways, I am "on my own" in my classroom. Different from the other teachers in the building, I write all of my curriculum (with the exception of Math) and am responsible for teaching the Indiana Academic Standards at the level of gifted/talented learners.
They learn differently (hence the classroom for them) and so my methods of teaching must be different so as to address their unique styles.
And, since I am different, I don't have anyone in the building to bounce ideas off of or to touch base with about what I am doing and how.
Of course, I hear a lot about how the other teachers teach- through our daily morning IIB meeting, at lunch, and as I interact with them in various ways.
Sometimes I compare my teaching methods to theirs and wonder if I am doing best practices. And one thing I wonder often about is the amount of direct instruction I do, where I stand at the front of the classroom, present concepts, and tell about them. As a direct result of the testing focus in education, it seems as though more and more teachers are spending inordinate amounts of time in direct instruction, at least from my observations.
So, of course, I question my own methods which are heavy on facilitated instruction. (Shorter teaching times with longer periods for the kiddos to explore, do, discuss.) I often ask myself, "Should I be doing that or should I change?" "Are my students getting enough content the way I teach, or should I change and go back to a more traditional style of teaching?"
In the past, it was not quite the issue as the focus was not as heavy on student performance measured by mandated state assessments. When I would reflect and wonder about my teaching methods, I would recall something another High Ability teacher said once to a parent, "My class will look different because we ARE different. I won't teach more than ten minutes or so on a topic." And she then explained the why behind her instructional style and why facilitated instruction was better for her gifted students.
That became my gauge, my measuring stick whenever I wondered if I needed to change my methods.
But things have changed in the ensuing years. Pressure to succeed, to show measurable results, is intense. And while I don't think I shortchange my kiddos, I do actively seek ways to improve what I do. Every day I reflect on what went well that day and what I could/should change.
And so, as I reflect here at home in the summer, I am wondering again about providing more direct instruction. With no one to bounce my ideas off of, I read education blogs and try to discover what other teachers like me might be doing as they address these same pressures.
Today I found a couple of articles from Rebecca Alber who was writing about the student centered classroom. She writes on an education site that is a favorite of mine, Edutopia and had seven questions for a teacher to ask herself as she reflected on her classroom and teaching in an effort to be effective in what she does. The last question was about direct teaching. I read it and breathed a sigh of relief.
As the instructor, what is my "air time" each class session? How much direct instruction is there? How might I change some of that directed teaching to facilitating?
Here was a recent, modern, and research-based answer to my self-questioning. Despite all the external pressures to change, to be a "cookie cutter teacher" doing what everyone else does, my educational practice of shorter teaching bytes with longer times for exploration, experimentation, and self-directed leaning by the students is still considered a best practice (and not just for gifted kiddos!)
Alber includes a link to two other sites that examine direct instruction versus facilitated instruction, and then wraps up her insights with, as she calls it, a "well worn" quote from Confucious.
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
Well worn, it may be. But there is a LOT of education truth wrapped into those few words. I'll keep on with my facilitated instruction.
They learn differently (hence the classroom for them) and so my methods of teaching must be different so as to address their unique styles.
And, since I am different, I don't have anyone in the building to bounce ideas off of or to touch base with about what I am doing and how.
Of course, I hear a lot about how the other teachers teach- through our daily morning IIB meeting, at lunch, and as I interact with them in various ways.
Sometimes I compare my teaching methods to theirs and wonder if I am doing best practices. And one thing I wonder often about is the amount of direct instruction I do, where I stand at the front of the classroom, present concepts, and tell about them. As a direct result of the testing focus in education, it seems as though more and more teachers are spending inordinate amounts of time in direct instruction, at least from my observations.
So, of course, I question my own methods which are heavy on facilitated instruction. (Shorter teaching times with longer periods for the kiddos to explore, do, discuss.) I often ask myself, "Should I be doing that or should I change?" "Are my students getting enough content the way I teach, or should I change and go back to a more traditional style of teaching?"
In the past, it was not quite the issue as the focus was not as heavy on student performance measured by mandated state assessments. When I would reflect and wonder about my teaching methods, I would recall something another High Ability teacher said once to a parent, "My class will look different because we ARE different. I won't teach more than ten minutes or so on a topic." And she then explained the why behind her instructional style and why facilitated instruction was better for her gifted students.
That became my gauge, my measuring stick whenever I wondered if I needed to change my methods.
But things have changed in the ensuing years. Pressure to succeed, to show measurable results, is intense. And while I don't think I shortchange my kiddos, I do actively seek ways to improve what I do. Every day I reflect on what went well that day and what I could/should change.
And so, as I reflect here at home in the summer, I am wondering again about providing more direct instruction. With no one to bounce my ideas off of, I read education blogs and try to discover what other teachers like me might be doing as they address these same pressures.
Today I found a couple of articles from Rebecca Alber who was writing about the student centered classroom. She writes on an education site that is a favorite of mine, Edutopia and had seven questions for a teacher to ask herself as she reflected on her classroom and teaching in an effort to be effective in what she does. The last question was about direct teaching. I read it and breathed a sigh of relief.
As the instructor, what is my "air time" each class session? How much direct instruction is there? How might I change some of that directed teaching to facilitating?
Here was a recent, modern, and research-based answer to my self-questioning. Despite all the external pressures to change, to be a "cookie cutter teacher" doing what everyone else does, my educational practice of shorter teaching bytes with longer times for exploration, experimentation, and self-directed leaning by the students is still considered a best practice (and not just for gifted kiddos!)
Alber includes a link to two other sites that examine direct instruction versus facilitated instruction, and then wraps up her insights with, as she calls it, a "well worn" quote from Confucious.
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
Well worn, it may be. But there is a LOT of education truth wrapped into those few words. I'll keep on with my facilitated instruction.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Dictation Gone Awry
I popped into Craig's office while he was transcribing this afternoon. I wanted to give him some news about my cousin who had had her first baby. As he turned to listen, he forgot to turn off the dictation machine (which records your voice as a written document on the computer.)
After I left and he went back to work, this had been added to what he was transcribing:
yeah this about Jennifer's baby Jennifer's baby cat and Shannon Ned Shannon and Jenny had a baby and you know she's pregnant just to tell me about vegetable really couldn't until the adoption was finalized they got them there in the hospital or burgers she named him Jack after my dad first video and they adopted baby
Too funny! And you can see why normally we transcribe ourselves instead of using the dictation function!
After I left and he went back to work, this had been added to what he was transcribing:
yeah this about Jennifer's baby Jennifer's baby cat and Shannon Ned Shannon and Jenny had a baby and you know she's pregnant just to tell me about vegetable really couldn't until the adoption was finalized they got them there in the hospital or burgers she named him Jack after my dad first video and they adopted baby
Too funny! And you can see why normally we transcribe ourselves instead of using the dictation function!
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