Classroom Reflection
Today, my group shared a lesson from our integration project at French Camp Elementary. The goal of the project was to have the students build their own Rube Goldberg device to help them better understand simple machines, design principles, and collaboration. For today’s lesson my colleagues asked who among the students wanted to be engineers and then introduced some K’NEX pieces to have the students construct different machines. All of the students were very focused on building their machines. Some students had difficulty interpreting the images from the instructions but persevered and accepted help. Building took a little longer than planned so we didn’t have time to talk to the students about their machines. I was impressed how one of my colleagues had the students read a statement from the board about all of them needing more time – which they did. It was a great way to have the students focus for a moment. This same colleague asked the students to give her an idea about how difficult the activity was and gave the students a chance to walk around and see the other projects. Even though few students finished their machines, they all said that they would like to be able to do it again. While playing, I believe that the students were learning skills whether they realized it or not. It is a skill to collaborate well with a group, to interpret three-dimensional drawings on a page, and to be able to orient pieces the correct way during construction. I would have liked to see the students develop further, but time was short.
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Classroom Reflection
One thing that I have always respected about TCSJ instructors is that they model the same authentic teaching styles that they talk about and that they hope will be carried back by teachers to other classrooms. I appreciated the opportunity to be creative while producing flyers for CTE standards, career readiness, and 21st century skills. It was an authentic assessment. I liked how we were allowed to work in a blended learning environment to learn APA standards and research techniques. After we had experienced the blended learning environment we had an opportunity to research some videos about it and show our understanding through PowerPoint presentations that were, again, more authentic assessments. My favorite assignment over the last few days was the assignment where we had a chance to model our own schools. Unfortunately, as with all the assignments previously mentioned, there was little time to contemplate about our understanding and how to share that information to an audience. Because I did not have a lot of time to think about how I would set up my ideal school, I was left to follow the ideas of other people in my group who were more certain about what they would say. I consider this to be a loss. As with other projects that we worked on, the school design was a collaborative project. Collaborating with people to accomplish tasks is a 21st century skill. However, I think it is important for people to take some time to think about open-ended projects before they are asked to join groups. Textbook Reflection
Chapter 8 ½ : Standards and How Testing Has Nothing to Do with Them 3. What do you remember about the tests you’ve taken in your life? At the beginning of the chapter the author asked, “What if we evaluated students in a way that motivated them to work harder?” The truth is that the tests that I took in traditional public schools did motivate me to work harder. Usually, I was interested in learning the material and prepared as well as I could for the tests believing that they would be a good measure of my understanding of the subject matter. The tests properly represented the material that was covered. I could have completed what are now called authentic assessments to show my understanding. In my experience, authentic assessments don’t always require much detailed knowledge of the subject matter but do demand that you be more creative in sharing your knowledge. I wouldn’t necessarily remember any more information weeks later by completing an authentic assessment. It is valuable to have real experiences that are connected to the material that you are learning. It is even more valuable to have those experiences with something that you are passionate about. I would like to see more internship possibilities in the schools. However, I also believe in preparing students with wide and deep coverage of the material as I have experienced in traditional schools. Yes, I learned much of what I know from books and I realize that not everybody will persevere through many academic textbooks. Let them have more experiences and help them to learn for the sake of learning, but I would not expect those students to be prepared for any discipline of their choice in college. If they want to enter college after having attended a school like the Met, then they should be prepared to take rigorous tests for entrance. Colleges could limit entrance to certain disciplines based on scores. In the past, Germany had two tracks for students. If students did not aspire to university work, they would enter an apprenticeship to learn a particular trade in their early teens. We could do something similar in this country. If students who entered trades wanted to later attend university, there would be entrance tests so that they might be given consideration. Unfortunately, there is a stigmatism against anyone not being able to gain entrance to college right away. This view is partly due to status and partly due to money parents hope their children will earn. Attending college is only one of many ways to attain status and the money earned from desired trades is greater than that earned by many people working with college degrees. Chapter 9: Make it Happen 3. Think of a current problem or challenge in your school, workplace, or personal life. How could you view this problem as “a friend”? How could you view it as an opportunity for change or a way to do something differently? The morality of our culture is deteriorating exponentially and many people place little value on absolute truth. More and more people think that the government is the answer to all of our problems and gladly relinquish their freedoms as government becomes larger and more pervasive. There is hope for change through our children, but culture quickly corrupts many of them and control of schools moves further and further from teachers so that change becomes increasingly difficult. All you can do is teach what you believe is right and try to reach one student at a time. Providing that information as efficiently as possible so that students stay engaged is important. There will be a lot of work involved, but I will need to develop more computer materials so that I can work more efficiently with students in a blended learning environment. I can view the problem of efficiently providing information to my students as “a friend” because it pushes me to make improvements. Textbook Reflection
Chapter 5: Learning Through Interests and Pursuing Passions 1. Imagine you’ve found out that a kid you know is really interested in astronomy (or cooking, or video games, or fashion, or baseball, or music, or police work, or whatever). How would you help her go into depth in this area? What might she learn by exploring her interest more deeply? If I discovered that a student was really interested in something I would, first, ask them to briefly tell me why it was so interesting to them. If I had some knowledge about the subject and shared some interest I might refer the student, based on my experience, to a book, video, or expert. In a traditional school setting a student might recognize a mutual interest but not have any interest in further pursuing the subject academically. If I set a goal for that student to pursue that interest academically and freed that student from other academic requirements, I think that the student would be more driven to work on a more formal assignment regarding the interest. After sufficient study, I think that a field trip or internship would do much to strengthen the student’s understanding. Chapter 6: Real Work in the Real World 2. If you could have an internship in any area, built around any interest, what would it be and whom would you want to have as a mentor? Why? If I could have an internship in any area and built around any interest I would seek an internship with a mechanical engineer. I have long been interested in the work that they do in car, plane, and ship manufacture. I found that I was lacking a lot of practical experience working with plastics, metals, and composites during and after college. Part of my studies focused on determining forces imparted to materials and the resulting theoretical stresses and strains. However, my lack of experience handling and testing different materials caused a lack of confidence on my part. I would be asked later by different companies about whether I could design a large machine for them with all these capabilities, but I wanted to start with smaller projects like valves and springs to build my confidence. Up until that point, all that I had ever done was on paper. I would be very interested in working with an engineer from SpaceX, Tesla, Boeing, or General Dynamics. Textbook Reflection Chapter 7: Giving Families Back Their Power 5. In what ways are the teachers the amateurs and the parents the experts? Teachers are the amateurs in regards to understanding what motivates their individual students. The teacher does not typically know much about the environment in which a student grew at home, many of the important influences on that student, the beliefs held, or much about the personality of the student. Parents are usually the experts in this regard. Chapter 8: Measuring What Matters in a Way That Matters 4. Dewey writes, “[In] the traditional method the child must say something that he has merely learned. There is all the difference in the world between having something to say, and having to say something.”6 What does this quote mean to you? I understand that Dewey is referring to the traditional method as one in which students learned by rote. I then understand him to be mean that it is more important for someone to be able to express their ideas than just to repeat someone else’s ideas. When these two statements are put together some educators might come to believe that, traditionally, students were not able to express their own ideas after they learned something by rote. That may be what Dewey meant to say. However, if a student does learn something at school by rote, it does not mean that there are not other ways that the child is learning. Also, a student may believe that he/she has something to say, but it does not mean that the student remembers any facts to support his/her idea. Classroom Reflection
Authentic assessment and 21st century skills are just a couple things being promoted in education. There is merit in authentic assessment and there is merit in 21st century skills. However, their very names imply that their merits may be far better than some more traditional ideas. Some authors will quickly enumerate all the advantages of their educational ideas and just as quickly denounce their version of many former ideas. There may be much truth in individual statements that they make, but they are being disingenuous to their audiences. Rarely will they tell you the disadvantages of their own ideas or the advantages of former ideas. If it’s a new idea, it must be better – that is what is naively called progress. Although, it should be said that many new ideas are just ones from the past – good or bad – that have been repackaged. As one very wise man once wrote, “There is nothing new under the sun.” I will not be quick to accept new ideas and will continue to weigh the merits of each. Textbook Reflection
Chapter 3: Atmosphere and School Culture 1. What would a school that was “a little more human” look like to you? There were many great ideas expressed by Dennis Littky about improving personal relationships with students. Greet students before taking attendance. I know a great principle in my district who stands at the front gate every morning to greet students individually. It makes a tremendous positive impact. Many middle school students like to sing “Happy Birthday” for each other and give cards to each other. I was wondering what would happen if I passed out a birthday card to someone whose friend’s birthday was coming up so that the card could be filled with messages from other friends. Sharing stories about our school to young students can also make a great impact. Students enjoy listening to stories. One of my master teachers was an excellent storyteller, and you could always hear a pin drop every time he told one. Finally, I do believe in giving the older students more responsibility. This happens at home when older siblings are asked to help their younger brothers and sisters. I have seen many younger students look up to 8th graders at my K-8 school. Chapter 4: One Student at a Time 1. Tell me about a time when something you learned motivated you to learn more. What implications does this have on education? I studied metallurgy for a long while in college. At the time, I really wanted to understand more about the rocks from which we mined the different metals but I didn’t have time to investigate it. A few years ago I came to understand that a lot of geological formations can form in a matter of minutes, hours, or days rather than thousands or millions of years. I now have a couple hundred rocks in a rock collection, dozens of books and videos on geology, and had the opportunity to visit Mount St. Helens. If you are truly inspired to better understand something, there is a very strong intrinsic motivation to continue learning about it. Understanding students’ interests so that you can help direct them on paths to understand subjects is important and should be encouraged in education. Classroom Reflection
Today, I followed many of my classmates to shadow students at French Camp Elementary School. Students were not in regular classes. It was very much like being involved in Boys and Girls club after school. There were some older students like those whom I usually teach , but I chose to follow a young boy about 9 years of age who was very focused on solving a Rubik’s Cube that he had during recess. I told him it was very cool. The leaders for the activities called all the students together, but I had to encourage the boy to join the rest of the students. I told him that I was going to work with some teachers to create an activity for them next week and asked if I could follow him. I felt at a loss because I did not know what the students had been told. We were out in the sun and he told me that all the veins were showing in his arm. I showed him the same thing in my hand, and he followed by showing me a scar on his hand and telling me about all the glass that he had to have pulled out. I offered my hand and introduced myself. He gave me his first, middle, and last name and told me a little bit about the name. His name was Nathan. We played a few games of capture the flag with everybody. During the first game, I was making more attempts to capture the other team’s flag while he ended up carefully guarding our own flag. I told him that he was doing a good job and he told me that he had stopped one of the other teachers. Later, Nathan spent more time at the front line trying to rush to the other side of the field. At the end of a few rounds of capture the flag, the students were again called to gather together, but Nathan said that he didn’t want to stand in the sun. I told him that we wouldn’t be standing in the sun for long, but I waited a little longer because I realized that other students were still getting drinks of water. We walked inside for a STEM activity. Nathan and his friend were very driven to build the roller coaster project and kept working out different ideas, but didn’t pay much attention to the other boys in the group. A student who Nathan had had a spat with earlier was at one end of the table and didn’t seem particularly inclined to do more than hold on to the ball for a time. Nathan had a short temper and kept getting upset with him for not providing things when they were needed. I told Nathan that he needed to talk nicer with the other student. I also encouraged Nathan to accept thoughts from a couple other students at the table. In the end, Nathan and his good friend were very happy with the success of their little roller coaster. Hopefully, in the future, Nathan will give more thought to other people involved in his group. Class Reflection
We began the day by reading an article entitled A Diploma Worth Having. The author, Grant Wiggins proposed that we not demand that every student pass the same collection of traditional courses which he described as focused on coverage rather than meaningful learning. To help us better understand meaningful learning, we were introduced to Design Thinking in which partners had to work together to help each other realize their goals. Later, we read the Traditional High School by Jeffrey Morel. According to the article, there has long been a debate between those who believe that all students should take a standard set of courses in preparation for college and those people who believe that the courses should be more diversified to more effectively serve the student population. Textbook Reflection Chapter 1: The Real Goals of Education 3. What is your reaction to Dewey’s statement that “education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” It is hyperbole. If we were to take Dewey literally, then I would say that he is correct in part, but not wholly correct. Each of us has a purpose in life, and it is our duty to equip ourselves for the task of completing that purpose. This should compel us all to be life-long learners. The correction that needs to be made here is that education is not life itself. Education is important for life, but I would not give our institutionalized education system the opportunity to arrogantly place itself on a level comparable with God. Chapter 2: Kids, Schools, and the Bigger Picture 2. If our society committed itself to the idea that we care about kids more than we care about schools, what would need to change? Education should be controlled locally. An increasing amount of control has moved from school sites, to districts, to states, and now to the federal government. Some misguided people at the highest levels of educational bureaucracy attempt to direct the system with a one-size-fits-all mentality. In order to give students flexibility and more control over their learning we need to allow teachers and local administers to have more control. |