Faulkner
welcomes the students and talks about
the day's task as he puts a couple of
key problems on the electronic whiteboard to check for understanding on
last night's video lesson.
. If several students are
stuck on a problem, he might work
through more examples on the board
at the front of the class. And, just to
be sure, there are daily spot quizzes,
often using clickers so the students
and teacher get immediate results.
create a Moodle
site for each course. It soon became
clear that they'd have to create their
own video lessons rather than relying on prepackaged web courses or
lessons. Once the district agreed to
unblock YouTube, they embedded
the video lessons in each course site.
Classroom management was another challenge, says 20-year veteran
teacher Rob Warneke: "Kids need to
be trained and guided to stay on task,
work collaboratively, solve their own
problems, be disciplined," he says.
"This is harder than making everyone
be quiet during a lecture. Thinking
and learning can be quite noisy!"
My original goal was to get an A in the class, and every other class until I reached my objective of my Master’s w/ a 4.0. Now my goal is to become a teacher that is there for my students, who isn’t assuming any good or bad about them, who’s only goal is to help them grow and learn, (and hopefully to get at least a B in this class.)
Again, I find myself writing for a college professor rather than a middle school student. Even this past September, I handed out my “course syllabus” to each of my classes. Looking back now I wonder if they knew it was one of my course information documents or is they were trying to figure out how to clap out the syllables.
Why did I need to call it a syllabus? That wasn’t for them, it was for me.
I want them to know that I understand that some activities will suck and be difficult and that they’ll want to rip their hair out but that I also know which activities are the most fun and how rewarding and accomplished they will feel when it’s all said and done.
I really don’t know why I do things the way I do. Is it from years of routine as to this is how it needs to be done? Is it from no one stopping and helping me break these habits?
At first my fear was that I was a “dead-thinker”
I was predispositioned to not question, to memorize and regurgitate information. I was scared that I was passing this trait on to my students.
I’m losing that with all the hours it takes to create these.
I really began to question whether I am a teacher or a web designer.
After Alex asked me to think about how this may hold true in my daily life and routine I realized I really don’t speak up any where let alone in class.
I think this is not only my biggest challenge in this class but in my life as well
This is a brilliant self-reflection. Now what are you going to do about it? There is NOTHING wrong with being shy, or an introvert ( http://www.diigo.com/user/alexandrapickett/introvert ) WATCH this NOW! http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts.html You need to get MAD and use that anger to get over the fear that is preventing you from doing/being/experiencing. Anger is a powerful force that can help you stop focusing on yourself -when you flip it to use it to advocate for those less powerful than you - your students!
Oh, I'd love to get angry and actually stand up for myself and others. Unfortunately that only seems to happen with a few glasses of wine in me. Not too feasible in the classroom, lol. That should be my next goal, find strength without liquid courage!
Ya know Alex, I love you and all and this class has been amazing but I honestly think you are killing my laptop!!
Well no more soul searching I have a course to design. Best of wishes to all my fellow classmates as we begin to wrap up this amazing journey!
Lisa, I can’t believe how amazing your course is! I want to take it!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you...I'm finally now starting to spend a good amount of time looking through other people's courses. Looking forward to seeing yours!
Less than 24 hours later this article appeared in my inbox. At first I was really aggravated by this article because it seemed like it was ripping to shreds everything I have been working at this summer and I felt like he was sitting at home with an “I told you so” smirk. This quote just floored me “In terms of learning on the college level, the Department of Education looked at thousands of research studies from 1996 to 2008 and found that in higher education, students rarely learned as much from online courses as they did in traditional classes.” Really, what study? Everything that we have read seems to be in the complete opposite direction of this statement! I agree that for some there will be a financial obstacles and internet issues like we’ve all had but that’s where as a teacher we come into play and offer solutions and options. Upon reading it for a second time I feel that this article and any other article discrediting online teaching should be looked at as a challenge! I am strong and passionate about this endeavor of mine and no article or fuddy duddy teacher is going to come in the way of that. Well I hope you all have an amazing weekend. I will be attempting to cool my boiling blood as I sit by the calming cool waters of the Kinzua Dam with a delicious glass of Riesling.
As this class come to an end and I look back at where I was in May, I can only say I wish I knew then what I know now. This class has given me so much academically, personally and technologicially, lol. In only a short time I feel like I have grown so much as person and as a teacher.
"the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers"
This is a nice write up of the ZPD which I find is becoming a hot topic in Higher Ed as colleges finally start examining how students learn in as much depth as K-12 has been