I like to write. I like words. I think it is fun to blog. So why aren't there more of them here?
Maybe because I like to take my time & invest in quality when I write. I like to say something real, at least to me. It seems that it takes me the wee hours of the morning and unassigned time to find the quiet around me to reflect, to write...snow days....trips away from home for a conference like today.... That is because the topics are hard to find sometimes.
I think I should generate a list of blog prompts for myself, the way that the student blog prompts take them deeper into their subject. I can always tell when a student is responding to a blog prompt or not. They truly help a student explore their topic. I hope soon to generate my own list of blog prompts.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Scratch
Hear ye, hear ye! I was just introduced to a new fun site called "Scratch". This is a program designed by MIT Graduate Students. It allows students to do basic programming utilizing programming blocks that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. Scratch can be found at Scratch There are also alot of chat spaces and blogs for discussion of programs. exchange of ideas and help. The help menus within the program are very user friendly.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Reflection on yet another Snow day
I like snow days. In a life so full of responsibilities and a to-do list that never ends, having a snow day is a gift. A gift of time, of unassigned hours...Not that I indulge in idleness, no, I am usually working still, just differently, mostly online. I recognize in myself that I have made the leap. I am definitely not a digital native and I am not as fanatic as having an i-pod touch velcroed to my palm so as not to miss every tweet, but still, being connected is a big part of my day. And not even socially connected, really. Facebook is nice, but does not command much of my online time. What I appreciate so much is the easy access to answers to my questions. I appreciate so much listening in to my AP French chat where teachers across the US post answers to questions that I have even before I have thought of them. I appreciate their screening of great websites that help my teaching. I never would be able to find so many quality sites with the little online time I have for surfing. My teaching is enriched by my colleagues' sharing. My understanding of what is quality teaching has grown to challenge me to keep learning, experimenting and bringing more & more digital experiences to my students.
Globaloria is like this too. From what is requested of our students digitally, I too have learned. The repetition of using online tools again and again, especially to accomplish something real, has helped to make the tools be a part of me. Familiarity...and deadlines... help me not to be afraid of them.
When I look around I see that although trying desperately from the top down to mandate improvements, our school systems are still mired in outdated tools of learning. Some teachers have been able to make the leap to the digital age, many have not... maybe most have not. Working on their own, it is the most courageous ones, the self-starters, who seem to be the most successful. They just "go for it". They are not afraid to take a risk. They are usually the younger teachers...though not exclusively. For the more experienced ones, like anything new, it's time-consuming to change how you have taught for years. It can be scary and usually bewildering to make your way through the maze of digital possibilities. You have to be patient and persistent. You have to see the benefit. Most attempts to use technology seem not to work the first time. With so little time, it is easier to give up than continue.
I wish that learning new technology was not done in such a vacuum in my school. I wish I had the equivalent of AP Chat sharing or the Globaloria Bloglogs of great research sites happening at my school. I wish I could know what my colleagues are using successfully.....hm........our tech support guy was told to create a wiki for our school to exchange info on a book-read we are doing. The site remains empty. No one uses it. Someone's nice idea, but really, it is not useful to us. We obviously do not feel the need to blog about the assessment techniques presented in the book. I think if we like them, we just do them. We don't blog about them. I guess that unless there is a personal benefit in learning & using a new technology tool, no one will invest themselves in it. Who has that kind of time?
MOVING FORWARD. I wonder if this site could be that forum I am looking for...where info is shared, where digital teaching experimenters could share their questions and successes. Again, it would only work if the information was useful & the traffic was regular....I wonder......
Globaloria is like this too. From what is requested of our students digitally, I too have learned. The repetition of using online tools again and again, especially to accomplish something real, has helped to make the tools be a part of me. Familiarity...and deadlines... help me not to be afraid of them.
When I look around I see that although trying desperately from the top down to mandate improvements, our school systems are still mired in outdated tools of learning. Some teachers have been able to make the leap to the digital age, many have not... maybe most have not. Working on their own, it is the most courageous ones, the self-starters, who seem to be the most successful. They just "go for it". They are not afraid to take a risk. They are usually the younger teachers...though not exclusively. For the more experienced ones, like anything new, it's time-consuming to change how you have taught for years. It can be scary and usually bewildering to make your way through the maze of digital possibilities. You have to be patient and persistent. You have to see the benefit. Most attempts to use technology seem not to work the first time. With so little time, it is easier to give up than continue.
I wish that learning new technology was not done in such a vacuum in my school. I wish I had the equivalent of AP Chat sharing or the Globaloria Bloglogs of great research sites happening at my school. I wish I could know what my colleagues are using successfully.....hm........our tech support guy was told to create a wiki for our school to exchange info on a book-read we are doing. The site remains empty. No one uses it. Someone's nice idea, but really, it is not useful to us. We obviously do not feel the need to blog about the assessment techniques presented in the book. I think if we like them, we just do them. We don't blog about them. I guess that unless there is a personal benefit in learning & using a new technology tool, no one will invest themselves in it. Who has that kind of time?
MOVING FORWARD. I wonder if this site could be that forum I am looking for...where info is shared, where digital teaching experimenters could share their questions and successes. Again, it would only work if the information was useful & the traffic was regular....I wonder......
Friday, December 17, 2010
You gotta have heart
My dear Globalorians,
I really believe this blog touches on a crucial part of a successful collaborative team. Encouragement frees up creativity. Know that our class is a safe place to try out your ideas and projects. Know that there can be no progress without taking a risk. Go for it!
Civics and STEM
Discovery Education on importance of STEM EDUCATION
Civics is a funny subject. Like, what is it exactly? US Government comes to mind, as does US History and the electorial process...
American Heritage Dictionary says that Civics is "The branch of political science that deals with civic affairs and the rights and duties of citizens." Collins Dictionary says that Civics is " (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) "a branch of learning that treats of the relationship between citizens and their society and state, originally called civil government. With the large immigration into the United States in the latter half of the 19th cent., civics became a subject in the secondary schools and colleges through the influence of the National Education Association and other organizations."
Why Civics then? I guess the NEA feels that we, as citizens, need to know our rights and duties because we all live in our society. In our democracy, we have a unique responsibility because what we invest ourselves in can determine what happens, contrary to some other kinds of governments.
So how do Civics link with STEM- Science, Technology, Engineering, Math? I think the overlap falls in the area of our rights vis-à-vis advances in these domains. The following are 5 topics where Civics and STEM overlap.
1) Genetic engineering in our food
2) Extraction of natural gas from Marcellus Shale vs rights of landowners
3) Development of alternative energy sources, profitability, efficiency, trade-offs
4) Uses of Social Networking & Technology by Wikileaks
5) Political or economic choices leading to damage to natural resources.
6) World political efforts to deal with global warming.
There are many ways these two subjects are linked. There's a lot to understand. We all ask more questions than we do.
I believe that
Civics is a funny subject. Like, what is it exactly? US Government comes to mind, as does US History and the electorial process...
American Heritage Dictionary says that Civics is "The branch of political science that deals with civic affairs and the rights and duties of citizens." Collins Dictionary says that Civics is " (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) "a branch of learning that treats of the relationship between citizens and their society and state, originally called civil government. With the large immigration into the United States in the latter half of the 19th cent., civics became a subject in the secondary schools and colleges through the influence of the National Education Association and other organizations."
Why Civics then? I guess the NEA feels that we, as citizens, need to know our rights and duties because we all live in our society. In our democracy, we have a unique responsibility because what we invest ourselves in can determine what happens, contrary to some other kinds of governments.
So how do Civics link with STEM- Science, Technology, Engineering, Math? I think the overlap falls in the area of our rights vis-à-vis advances in these domains. The following are 5 topics where Civics and STEM overlap.
1) Genetic engineering in our food
2) Extraction of natural gas from Marcellus Shale vs rights of landowners
3) Development of alternative energy sources, profitability, efficiency, trade-offs
4) Uses of Social Networking & Technology by Wikileaks
5) Political or economic choices leading to damage to natural resources.
6) World political efforts to deal with global warming.
There are many ways these two subjects are linked. There's a lot to understand. We all ask more questions than we do.
I believe that
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Making Progress
We had a staff development training earlier this year. The focus was on matching reading levels to the materials that we give students to learn from. It was quite interesting to hear that the textbooks for our "shop" classes, where students are usually very hands-on and often avoid reading, are written at a very high lexile score. Disconnect. The information is there in the textbooks, but not in a form that students can easily grasp.
Jim Allder came to our Globaloria class yesterday as a mentor and modeled his "Overview of Flash" introduction to my students. It was fabulous to see how he organized his presentation. I loved watching him take the box he drew in Flash, say, "Now I think I want to see it loop back....". He showed us how he was using the code to do this...oops, it didn't work....then tried something else. He really was modeling "tinkering" and "problem-solving" for us.
He also introduced the students to the Flash "jargon", terms that you have to know to understand even reading the Wiki tutorials.
Thanks, Mr. Aller! It was great to have you.
Jim Allder came to our Globaloria class yesterday as a mentor and modeled his "Overview of Flash" introduction to my students. It was fabulous to see how he organized his presentation. I loved watching him take the box he drew in Flash, say, "Now I think I want to see it loop back....". He showed us how he was using the code to do this...oops, it didn't work....then tried something else. He really was modeling "tinkering" and "problem-solving" for us.
He also introduced the students to the Flash "jargon", terms that you have to know to understand even reading the Wiki tutorials.
Thanks, Mr. Aller! It was great to have you.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Keeping it all together
The Globaloria platform is very rich & it can be overwhelming at the beginning to know all that is expected. I am thankful for the educator check lists that I believe will be helpful to students also, showing them what they have completed and what is not yet addressed. Taking full advantage of the platform means using all the possibilities for communication: blog comments, board blasts, talk pages, blog log links to each other and to great outside sources. Moving in and out of these tools can be a little slow at the beginning, but practice makes perfect....and quicker....and opens up limitless possibilities. Onward, Globalorians!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)