3.29.16

Making learning relevant to students (NCTCS 3d) has always been necessary but for students in the 21st century it is extremely important.  21st century learners are connected to the world around them, so we should make their learning connect to the world.

This time of year, as the weather warms up, it can be hard to draw students in and keep them focused on schoolwork.  One thing that really grabs my attention, and has always grabbed my attention, at this time of year is March Madness.  March Madness is kind of like a month-long holiday in my house and something that I remember discussing with friends and teachers every year from about the time I was in 5th grade.  I know some students may not be interested in basketball or in March Madness, but David Lamers, a 6th grade teacher from Wisconsin, has created a basketball-themed unit that I think would draw any student in and possibly even make students a fan of March Madness.  If learning had of been associated with March Madness when I was in 5th or 6th grade I would have been so excited to go to school each day and to find out what we would learn or do next!

Lamers says that he uses "the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament to liven up the cold stretch between the winter and spring breaks.  It's simply amazing what a plastic basketball hoop and a little creativity can do to spark interest in learning."  After Selection Sunday (when the teams are picked and divided into regions of the bracket) Lamers has his students randomly draw a team to follow throughout the tournament.  Students may end up with a big name team that is predicted to make it to one of the final rounds of the tournament or a team that is expected to fall in the first round.  Either way they will stick with this team for the duration of the unit.

Mr. Lamers manages to tie in ELA (with researching, writing letters to the team, writing poetry, and reading sports biographies and autobiographies), Math (with statistics, graphs, spreadsheets, and charts), and Social Studies (with map skills).

The results?  Mr. Lamers says that "During a part of the school year in which it's typically difficult to get students to focus, [he] got some of the year's best work from [his] class.  The excitement generated from a topic for which they had a true passion was translated into outstanding classroom results."

Please check out Mr. Lamers article (the link below).  His ideas are truly outstanding and I hope to be able to use them in my future classroom one day.

https://www.essentiallearningproducts.com/hooping-it-david-lamers

3.21.16

This weekend I had the opportunity to present at the LOTS Conference on campus.  LOTS stands for the Life Of The Scholar.  This is an annual, multidisciplinary conference designed to showcase  the research and work of GWU undergraduate and graduate students.

My team and I represented the School of Education by presenting on integrating technology and literacy into 21st Century classrooms.  Sound kind of familiar?  Without this class we would have been stumped with how to tackle this subject.  We probably would have deferred back to YouTube and the SmartBoard, but with so many technology tools being used and discussed in Social Studies, we had a strong foundation to take this topic and run with it when preparing our presentation.

Our professor/mentor for this presentation suggested discussing the importance of literacy integration, but with so much knowledge of the importance of technology we felt that must be included as well.  "How can we tie these two together?" we asked ourselves.  And then we realized some of the tools that we have discussed in Social Studies this semester tie in with literacy and can be used to strengthen content taught in another subject area.

It was a neat experience to be able to share and almost brag on how much we have learned this semester.  I definitely would not consider myself an expert on technology in the classroom, but I can tell that I have grown a great deal in that area this semester.  If you had of told me last semester that I would give a presentation on integrating technology and literacy in the 21st Century classroom I probably would have laughed in your face or said "Not me!"

This makes me feel confident that I am setting myself up to be a teacher leader in the area of tech integration and also that I can integrate and utilize technology in my instruction. (NCTCS 1b and 4d).

3.14.16

Teachers have long been criticized for "teaching to the test."  I'd like to say that this isn't true, but in a society concerned with being the best, statistics, and status quo's, it has become more and more of a norm to teach to the test.  Though with backwards design we learned that the assessment should be created first and then the learning planned around that assessment, teaching to the test is different.  Teaching to the test is teaching specific information so that students can bubble in the correct answer and backwards design ensures that students are equipped with the information to create, perform a task or assignment.

This week, I found an article Phys.org.  The article it titled "Teaching, Not Testing Makes Better Students."  This article stressed that teaching should not be defined as a series of practices that lead to perfect standardized test scores. Teachers need to realize that we are lifelong learners and that we should inspire students to think critically about the world in which they live.  I really liked that the article suggests "focusing learning on critical thinking, curiosity, sharing ideas, and igniting emotions."  This type of teaching and learning is based on demonstrating understanding rather than memorizing and bubbling or reciting.

The article asks:

"What kind of adults will we produce if we're churning out children like they are cogs in a machine?"

This is a question that I think we really need to think critically about and use to shape our practices as teachers.  We have to remember our students are not robots who we can program to spout out answers.  These are human children who must learn to think for themselves and share their opinions in a safe environment.  Our future students are going to need a "learning environment where [they] can have more opportunities for reflection, inquiry, and self-directed learning that inspires creativity."

When thinking about and preparing for 21st Century learners, teaching to the test is not going to cut it.  Authentic assessment is a must in order to push these students toward success.

I related this article to NCTCS 2c "Teachers treat students as individuals" because students are not robots and we must take into account their individuality.  I also related this to NCTCS 4e "Teachers help students develop critical thinking and problem solving skills" because we are tasked with pushing students toward critical thinking rather than teaching them exactly what will be on the test.

http://phys.org/news/2016-03-students.html

3.1.16

We all need a break sometimes. Tiffany Vedova, blogger and virtual school teacher, shared on this in a post on TeachHUB.com.  Her article is titled "The Underrated Full Stop: Why Students Need a Real Break" and oh how true it is friends.  Spring break is so close yet several assignments still stand between me and a break in which I will still have to work on school work.  Vedova says there are two versions of school breaks: the Comma Version or the Full Stop Version.  The Comma Version is a version in which teachers think that their students are receiving a break from getting up early and sitting in the classroom each day, but still assign projects, homework, or studying for a test right after the break ends.  In the Full Stop Version, teachers assign no homework because students work hard throughout the year or semester and simply need a break as a chance to relax and unplug from responsibilities and expectations of school.  "When we fail to respect our students’ need to rest and their right to vacation the way they want to with their families, we align ourselves with the chaos instead of being what we should be, their partners in facing [the need to rest]."  When I think about assigning work, I want my students to turn in top notch work.  However, when I reflect on assignments that I have had to complete over breaks in high school and middle school, I realized that I did not put forth my best effort and I often rushed through the assignment in order to be finished and able to have fun. 

Though I will still have homework over the break, I am thankful that Dr. Parker sees our need for a chance to unplug from school work and relax in preparation for the second half of the semester.  I think as a future teacher it is important that we recognize the importance of a full stop break in order to spend time with family and just take a break from the day in and day out of school.  We cannot expect students to hand in their best work if they are just trying to get the assignment done in order to leave for family vacation, spend time with friends, or just enjoy their time off. 

I related this idea to NCTCS 1 and 5.  As a teacher leader, we can advocate for the Full Stop Version of breaks so that our students can recuperate and come back ready and willing to work for the rest of the semester or year.  I also think that this relates to teachers reflecting on their practice, because we must think about the way we will run our classroom and how we will meet the needs of our students.  We will reflect and see that our students have worked hard and need a break without the stress of school work.  This will lead us to choosing the version of school break that works best for our students. 

http://www.teachhub.com/students-break-homework