they expect to choose where and when they work; they use technology to escape traditional office space and hours; and they integrate their home and social lives with work life.
want to be able to work in places other than an office
I wonder if we are losing the “creative set” of teachers from the classroom, as young Net Geners, (or older ones of us) who thrive on this sort of play, creativity, flexibility–but are still intensely committed employees–seek other opportunities.
One of my frustrations with education is that it doesn't necessarily allow for flexibility in where we work. Because the kids come to school, we are still tied to a location. Hopefully, virtual schools and extended learning opportunities will allow this to change.
It’s something we should be thinking about–because not only are we teaching Net Gen students, who crave this kind of flexible, playful, time shifting environment in our schools/classrooms, but we are employing Net Geners who crave these same things. And don’t we want them to stay?
It’s something we should be thinking about–because not only are we teaching Net Gen students, who crave this kind of flexible, playful, time shifting environment in our schools/classrooms, but we are employing Net Geners who crave these same things. And don’t we want them to stay?
I've been thinking a lot about Tapscott's comments about this particular expectation of Net Gen workers, because I believe that not only are we seeing Net Gen students in our classrooms and libraries, we are seeing Net Gen employees in our new(and sometimes in our experienced) staff as well.
dana boyd reminded us that "technology does not determine practice"
Just shoving broadband into a group of kids, just giving them an iPhone, we can think of a gazillion designs that are valuable ... but, if you don't have a culture embedded in it, [it] becomes just another toy you can text your friends with... I've become so infinitely frustrated with... "let's just dump a bunch of laptops into a population and see what they do with it"... That doesn't work... We've watched students rip out the batteries and use them for everything else under the sun.... I don't think we can just think about the technology.... We have to think about it in a broader system.
what school requires students to do -- think abstractly -- is in fact not something our brains are designed to be good at or to enjoy
it is critical that the task be just difficult enough to hold our interest but not so difficult that we give up in frustration. When this balance is struck, it is actually pleasurable to focus the mind for long periods of time
Students are ready to understand knowledge but not create it. For most, that is enough. Attempting a great leap forward is likely to fail.
students cannot apply generic "critical thinking skills" (another voguish concept) to new material unless they first understand that material
Trying to use "reading strategies" -- like searching for the main idea in a passage -- will be futile if you don't know enough facts to fill in what the author has left unsaid.
what is being taught in most of the curriculum -- at all levels of schooling -- is information about meaning, and meaning is independent of form
At some point, no amount of dancing will help you learn more algebra
What makes professional development even more frustrating to
practitioners is that most of the programs we are exposed to are drawn directly
from the latest craze sweeping the business world. In the past 10 years,
countless schools have read Who Moved My Cheese?, studied The Seven
Habits of Highly Effective People, learned to have "Crucial Conversations,"
and tried to move "from Good to Great."
With the investment of a bit of time and effort, I've found a
group of writers to follow who expose me to more interesting ideas in one day
than I've been exposed to in the past 10 years of costly professional
development. Professional growth for me starts with 20 minutes of blog browsing
each morning, sifting through the thoughts of practitioners whom I might never
have been able to learn from otherwise and considering how their work translates
into what I do with students.
This learning has been uniquely authentic, driven by personal
interests and connected to classroom realities. Blogs have introduced a measure
of differentiation and challenge to my professional learning plan that had long
been missing. I wrestle over the characteristics of effective professional
development with Patrick Higgins (http://chalkdust101.wordpress.com) and the elements of
high-quality instruction for middle grades students with Dina Strasser (http://theline.edublogs.org).
Scott McLeod (www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org) forces me to think about driving
school change from the system level; and Nancy Flanagan (http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/teacher_in_a_strange_land) helps
me understand the connections between education policy and classroom practice.
John Holland (http://circle-time.blogspot.com) and Larry Ferlazzo, Brian Crosby,
and Alice Mercer (http://inpractice.edublogs.org) open my eyes to the challenges of
working in high-needs communities.
That's when I introduce them to RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed readers.
If you're not sure where to begin, explore the blogs that I've organized in my
professional Pageflake at www.pageflakes.com/wferriter/16618841. I read these blogs all the
time. Some leave me challenged. Some leave me angry. Some leave me jazzed. All
leave me energized and ready to learn more. School leaders may be interested in
the collection of blogs at www.pageflakes.com/wferriter/23697456.
A power shift is underway and a tough new business rule is
emerging: Harness the new collaboration or perish. Those who fail to grasp this
will find themselves ever more isolated—cut off from the networks that are
sharing, adapting, and updating knowledge to create value. (Kindle location
268–271)
The few moments
Technology has made it easy for educators to embrace continual
professional development.
The other important aspect is to keep the number of windows that have to open to a minimum. If too many windows or links to resources are spread throughout the site, students get confused and frustrated quite easily.
A sciTunes Human Body Adventure
By sciTunes | January 05, 2011 @ 21:36:30
A sciTunes Human Body Adventure is an interactive videogame package for pre-K ? fourth grade students that includes six games related to the main systems of the human body. Each game includes a clever, catchy, scientifically accurate song in the background that reinforces the main components of that human body system. The ability to select a difficulty level for each of the games will ensure that the younger children will not become frustrated and that older children will not become bored.
In a sentiment no doubt echoed by news organizations everywhere, an MSNBC editor acknowledged that the four-missile picture was initially welcomed with open arms. “As the media editor working the msnbc.com home page yesterday, I was frustrated with the quality of a fuzzy video image we published of the Iranian missile launch,” said Rich Shulman, the network’s associate multimedia editor. “So I was thrilled when the top image crossed the news wires.”
Is hasty journalism going to continue to reduce the quality reporting? If a skilled graphic designer manipulated an image used by the news media could it be detected?
It sounds and looks nice. In my experience, however, it is super slow with a poorly organized layout. I used it the past two years with my fellow team teachers to share files and links. It didn't matter what computer or network I was on; it always ran very slowly. It became very frustrating to use. I logged in a few times this year, even recently, and it still seemed cumbersome.
A must try downloadable program that removes or delays processes during your computer's bootup and shaved 2 minutes for me. Easy to use and every Windows computer should have it.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+&+Web+Tools
Nothing makes you more blue than a clogged up useless glue (bottle). We've all felt the frustration and disgust when glue bottles don't work right. But have we considered how this makes THEM feel? This original musical Fugleflick by Dryden 5th graders may change the way glue bottles are used everywhere!
A great, easy to use virtual wall site where you can attached text, files, photos and other media to post-it notes. A great way to share and remember things online.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+&+Web+Tools
I identify the Direct Object by finding the "main" verb of the sentence, the action verb. In the highlighted sentence to the right, what is the main (or only) verb?
HIT.
To identify the D.O., ask yourself WHO or WHAT is being hit in this sentence?
The ball. Your Direct Object is THE BALL.
What is the action verb in the next sentence?
READS. Ask yourself the question...
Who or what is getting read?
The BOOK. So the book is your D.O.
It's as easy as that. If you can identify the main/action verb, you can identify the D.O.
PLACEMENT. Important. Where do you put the pronoun once you figure out what it is?
Look at how Spanish and English are different.
"Lo tengo" and "La tengo" BOTH mean "I have it."
direct translation doesn't work so well:
La como.
This is completely incorrect!
Learn to translate groups of words, rather than individual words. The first step is to learn to view two Spanish words as a single phrase.
Just as no one has ever learned to ride a bicycle by reading about it, neither will you learn to use direct object pronouns simply by reading this lesson. The key to success, as always, is to practice, practice, practice.
Do you feel like you understand Direct Objects? Are you frustrated? If so, how much have you practiced? How many sample exercises have you done?
If you read and take notes on a good explanation and then do some exercises, you will feel much more confident with the topic.
Feed readers
are probably the most important digital tool for today's learner because they
make sifting through the amazing amount of content added to the Internet
easy. Also known as aggregators, feed readers are free tools that can
automatically check nearly any website for new content dozens of times a
day---saving ridiculous amounts of time and customizing learning experiences for
anyone.
Imagine
never having to go hunting for new information from your favorite sources
again. Learning goes from a frustrating search through thousands of
marginal links written by questionable characters to quickly browsing the
thoughts of writers that you trust, respect and enjoy.
Feed readers can
quickly and easily support blogging in the classroom, allowing teachers to
provide students with ready access to age-appropriate sites of interest that are
connected to the curriculum. By collecting sites in advance and organizing
them with a feed reader, teachers can make accessing information manageable for
their students.
Here are several
examples of feed readers in action:
Used specifically as
a part of one classroom project, this feed list contains information related to
global warming that students can use as a starting point for individual
research.
While there are literally dozens of different feed reader
programs to choose from (Bloglines andGoogle Reader are two
biggies), Pageflakes is a favorite of
many educators because it has a visual layout that is easy to read and
interesting to look at. It is also free and web-based. That
means that users can check accounts from any computer with an Internet
connection. Finally, Pageflakes makes it quick and easy to add new
websites to a growing feed list—and to get rid of any websites that users are no
longer interested in.
What's even
better: Pageflakes has been developinga teacher version of their tooljust for us that includes an online grade tracker,
a task list and a built in writing tutor. As Pageflakes works to perfect
its teacher product, this might become one of the first kid-friendly feed
readers on the market. Teacher Pageflakes users can actually blog and create a
discussion forum directly in their feed reader---making an all-in-one digital
home for students.
For more
information about the teacher version of Pageflakes, check out this
review:
So many of my middle school students would come and ask, "Is this what you want?" Then, they would get frustrated when I responded, "Well, what do you think? Is that the best answer you can come up with for the question?"
Many students were very uncomfortable with the idea that they would be making the decision about what form their project will take, and continually tried to get a stamp of approval.
Students today are accustomed to instant gratification, and therefore can be overwhelmed by tasks that require time-consuming research.
I'm finding that I am becoming more like the students and wanting that instant gratification as well! We are becoming scanners more than readers.
They do not stop researching and begin another activity because they got distracted; in our experience, they are more likely to spin themselves in circles making no progress for an entire class period because they do not want to go through a cognitive process that will take “forever.”
· When students are given a research prompt by their teacher, students often do not care enough about the topic to really persevere.
Use this strategy to help students become more invested: STRATEGY:
I'm going to show you 30 seconds of this video and I want you to write down 3-4 questions you think this video is going to answer.
Turn and talk to a neighbor to share your questions.
After looking at the video clip, have students determine if their questions were answered and what questions they still need to answer.
THEN, students are invested and have things they WANT to know about the topic.
There are very few things in life that our students have to wait for today
This Now/Not Now worldview causes great frustration for the child, his teachers, and his parents, and must be seriously considered when designing activities and approaches for motivating the child with ADD.
respond more positively to a curriculum that allows him choices and options. He will also be more likely to participate actively in tasks when there is a degree of creativity and novelty
the presentation should be creative, colorful, multimodal, and enjoyable.
pervasive and complex disorder that impacts nearly all of the child's activities and interactions.
The child's impulsivity ("Ready, fire, aim!") can present serious safety concerns; his distractibility makes it extraordinarily difficult for him to understand and follow instructions; his memory difficulties make even rote learning troublesome; his executive processing problems (ability to plan and prioritize) present great challenges when he attempts to plan simple daily activities; his organizational deficiencies cause him tremendous problems with homework, household tasks, and long-term projects.
two most important words when dealing with these special children: "support" and "challenge."
The adult should continually challenge the child by presenting him with activities designed to improve his behavior and his learning, while simultaneously providing him with the support that he requires to meet these goals. Support without challenge is meaningless. Challenge without support is equally ineffective.
Among the specific teaching strategies that may foster the child's motivation are:
Pick your battles - if you try to fight with them about everything.. nobody wins
- Talk to a colleague about how you are feeling. Sometimes venting is all you need! - Go for a walk at recess or lunch - Take a deep breath and remember, the child is not doing this on purpose and they may be as frustrated as you. - Play a quick game online...
It is important to remember that we need to be fair to all students. Fair means to support them with what they need... not to treat them all the same way.
Deep-listening experiences, wrapped in a pedagogy of music listening, take students far beyond the surface of their barely noticeable surround-sound environment and into the nature of music and its workings.
Attentive-listening experiences occur when teachers point out specified points of focus, put questions or challenges to the listeners, or merge graphics or visuals with the sound experience itself. Graphs or maps of particular musical features can be helpful, since visual cues may enhance listening. Teachers can provide diagrams of the contours of the melody or depict rhythmic components of a piece through iconic symbols-staff notation, splotches of color, or geometric shapes, for example. Instruments, real or illustrated, can focus student attention on their entrance or continuing presence in the music.
Engaged listening invites listeners to enter into the groove or the flow of the music, pick a part to contribute, and consequently feel more involved in the music. A phenomenon of "participatory consciousness"[ 5] unfolds as engaged listeners find their place in the music, find something in the music to hang on to (a melody, a pulse, an ostinato, a groove), and select a contribution to make back to the music. In this way, they connect with the music, joining the recorded musicians and their live participant-colleagues in a musical team.
The process of enactive listening is a pathway to the performance of music. The goal of this third level of a listening pedagogy is to continue ear training with a strong musicianship program by allowing the listening act to guide musicians to stylistically appropriate performance.[ 6] Not only can students learn the music of oral cultures aurally, but they can also effectively learn the nutated music of literate cultures by listening. In attempting to perform a musical selection, students gain from opportunities to hear a recording that allows them to concentrate on timbrai qualities, the dynamic How of a piece, its melodic and rhythmic components, and the interplay of its parts. Notation alone, whether from composed or transcribed works, can never fully depict all the musical nuances of a piece, and so listening is a helpful guide to performance.
Enactive listening takes time. It can be frustrating for those who have learned to use and value notation as an important means for music's transmission.
Young musicians can learn songs for solo or unison voices — as well as multipart songs and selections for percussion ensembles, strings groups, and gatherings of wind players — by ear.
I've been thinking a lot about Tapscott's comments about this particular expectation of Net Gen workers, because I believe that not only are we seeing Net Gen students in our classrooms and libraries, we are seeing Net Gen employees in our new(and sometimes in our experienced) staff as well.
