The craft assignments given as examples in the reading were all very interesting and great ways to promote writing motivation. While reading, I thought about assignments I've had as a student both in high school and college and which ones fostered the most motivation. Take these blog assignments for example. I we were assigned a 1-2 page APA format reflection or a paper in response to a prompt every week, we would most likely groan the first day of class looking at the syllabus (I know I would). The fact that we are using a blog, a form of technology with which are familiar, and writing in a less formal academic tone, the burden is lifted. I look forward to reading how my peers responded and seeing if they have the same questions and feelings. The dialogue aspect of these assignments motivates me to not only write a quality blog, but to actually read the material. If I just skimmed every reading, my blog would be lacking and I would miss out on the conversation - hence motivation (for me anyway).
I wish I could go back in time and give multiple teachers the Ten Design Principles, specifically #2 :"Would I be interested in doing this assignment if I were one of my students?" I've had many assignments I am sure my teachers would not have the time or energy to complete. I was thinking about an assignment I had a few weeks ago. I was assigned a "Critical Essay" about Morocco's history precolonial, colonial and post colonial. Going into the assignment I had no knowledge of Morocco (which was the point) however, I did not particularly care about the history of Morocco. Why should I? I don't live there, don't know anyone from there and it does not really play that big of a role in international affairs. I wrote the paper to get the A. The essay could not be more than 5 pages, even though Morocco's history can be dated back for centuries. As a history major, research skills are implanted in brain and it is a routine task. A "no brainer" - literally. Essentially I researched and regurgitated what I found. I did not have to formulate any type of opinion or idea about Morocco's history.
Lately, I find myself in "teacher mode" more often when I sit through hours of classes and complete numerous tedious assignments. I ask myself what the purpose is and why the professor thought this subject or assignment is important. I also think of how I can alter the assignment if I were to give it to one of my own students. I came to the conclusion that the "big idea" of the Morocco assignment was to catch a glimpse of how a period of colonialism can affect those being colonized. We have been learning about the colonialism of Africa in general. As a future history teacher I would definitely change the assignment. First, I would ask students to research material and organize/minimize their research. (The essay only being 5 pages tells that it was meant to be a brief overview). This could be done by providing students with questions they can search. Did women's roles change and if so how? Which time period produced the best economy? How did the political system work in each period? After organizing their thoughts, students could write a letter to the French government as the sultan asking for independence based on the evidence they found about precolonial and the colonial time period. Students could act as citizens writing to the sultan during the neo colonial era about the various issues they now had to face as an independent country, etc. This type of assignment shows that students have researched the material while causing students to actually think about the material they found. Students are forced to think about how people were affected by repression and exploitation and what it means to rebel and fight for freedom after it has been taken. Students can relate this more recent struggle of freedom from a European colonizer to that of the 13 colonies of the United States. Comparisons can be made of taxation without representation. Students will be aware of the big idea and the assignment will be worthwhile, and worth their time. Students have the ability to be creative and as a teacher, I will not have to read 100 essays of the timeline history of Morocco or any other country for that matter.
(I could elaborate on writing motivation but I will stop here! This took a totally different path than I intended but it's okay because I like it!!!)
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Saturday, February 21, 2015
D&Z Ch. 3 and 4
While I appreciate the writing in D&Z, I have to admit chapters 3 and 4 were a little "much" for me. I feel like it could have been consolidated into one chapter. I got the point rather quickly that textbooks are not enough to be the sole basis of class instruction and the only supplemental material in the classroom. Maybe it is because this is nothing to me, a frustration I have always had a student, so the emphasis placed on numerous pages became boring to me. With that being said, I enjoyed the portion where they talk about how to balance reading from a text with other sources....
When I used other sources such as primary and secondary sources, documentaries and novels in high school I became more interested in history. We had always used a text book (some years more than others) but the years when the book was a source of terms to know and and overview were the years I learned the most. The supplemental sources allowed me to bring the text to life, to make it "real" and to make it "matter." Reading about the March on Washington in a text book is much more dull then watching footage of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Allowing students to actually witness what they are learning through media or other outlets of text brings a sense of reality that a text book cannot. Students may become more engaged or motivated when they get this sense of reality. When teaching history there is also the opportunity for students to relate content to current events and link the events of the past to the present.
I particularly appreciated the content areas D&Z provided. I agree that there are key concepts that should be linked to teaching all year. This made me think about our class discussions of backward design when trying to design desired results. The "Big Ideas" that we want students to learn may not come out of one single unit. I can definitely see myself placing little emphasis on textbooks in my classroom. Last semester I had a geography class where no textbook was required. The first day of class Professor Dixon placed 4 huge textbooks on his desk and I was immediately frightened I was going to need them all! He had a little speech on how each book had something better than the other and how each book was over 100 dollars and about 20 pounds. Instead, he showed a website he created with materials, links and articles that would take place of a textbook. At a high school level this may be a little more difficult to align with curriculum but it could be used as a supplement in addition to the text. Geography is an easier content area to do this with as well because students could chose any article about a certain region to read and review. I learned so much more from these articles than I would have from a textbook. There were length requirements and other specifications, but reading something from a newspaper or watching something from the BBC was much more interesting and enjoyable than scanning a textbook.
Overall I think textbooks are not entirely awful if they are used appropriately and sparingly. Having a classroom set rather than one for every student is a much more efficient idea budget wise. Students can use the text during group work, copy an pertinent info or terms to know and then use the other materials for more direct instruction and cooperative learning.
Here is the website I used for my geography class! Super informative, user friendly and FREE!
Geography Education
When I used other sources such as primary and secondary sources, documentaries and novels in high school I became more interested in history. We had always used a text book (some years more than others) but the years when the book was a source of terms to know and and overview were the years I learned the most. The supplemental sources allowed me to bring the text to life, to make it "real" and to make it "matter." Reading about the March on Washington in a text book is much more dull then watching footage of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Allowing students to actually witness what they are learning through media or other outlets of text brings a sense of reality that a text book cannot. Students may become more engaged or motivated when they get this sense of reality. When teaching history there is also the opportunity for students to relate content to current events and link the events of the past to the present.
I particularly appreciated the content areas D&Z provided. I agree that there are key concepts that should be linked to teaching all year. This made me think about our class discussions of backward design when trying to design desired results. The "Big Ideas" that we want students to learn may not come out of one single unit. I can definitely see myself placing little emphasis on textbooks in my classroom. Last semester I had a geography class where no textbook was required. The first day of class Professor Dixon placed 4 huge textbooks on his desk and I was immediately frightened I was going to need them all! He had a little speech on how each book had something better than the other and how each book was over 100 dollars and about 20 pounds. Instead, he showed a website he created with materials, links and articles that would take place of a textbook. At a high school level this may be a little more difficult to align with curriculum but it could be used as a supplement in addition to the text. Geography is an easier content area to do this with as well because students could chose any article about a certain region to read and review. I learned so much more from these articles than I would have from a textbook. There were length requirements and other specifications, but reading something from a newspaper or watching something from the BBC was much more interesting and enjoyable than scanning a textbook.
Overall I think textbooks are not entirely awful if they are used appropriately and sparingly. Having a classroom set rather than one for every student is a much more efficient idea budget wise. Students can use the text during group work, copy an pertinent info or terms to know and then use the other materials for more direct instruction and cooperative learning.
Here is the website I used for my geography class! Super informative, user friendly and FREE!
Geography Education
Friday, February 13, 2015
UBD Reading
I found the readings on Understanding by Design particularly useful as I am preparing to take the Praxis PLT next week (YIKES). The only prior knowledge I had of backward design came from sample question explanations in a Praxis practice guide. The timing could not have been better!
Chapter 1 began with a quote from the book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." "To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you're going so that you better understand where you are now so that they steps you take are always in the right direction." I have not read this book, however I have read "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens." The book was assigned to us in 9th grade, although I feel like it was somehow tied into my religion class? I can't remember. Either way, the book was great and I got excited to read when I saw the opening quote for the chapter. The book did not have so much of an emphasis on knowing exactly where you're going so you take steps that are always in the right direction, because let's face it, in 9th grade that's a pretty big nut to crack. However, after Habit 1 (Be proactive) is Habit 2, "Start with the end in mind." This Habit has stuck with me since 9th grade and applying it to teaching makes perfect sense! If you set a clear destination you then backtrack your way and find out how you will get there! The "defective" teen had no end in sight, went with the flow and wasn't very successful. Kind of like lessons I tried to plan in the past with no end goal in sight!
(Sorry for this rant, I just got excited! Here is the link to the book on amazon - you can take a sneak peak and check it out. It;s worth taking a glance at in the future, it could be something you could direct your students to if need be!) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens
On to the good stuff - backward design. When I designed one of my first lessons, I had a nice template with neat boxes to fill in. I was excited to start but had no idea what I was doing. It was pretty much free reign. I could pick whatever topic, align it with some standards and fill the required amount of teaching time. I had no idea what I was doing. Once I had chosen a topic I was concerned with finding interesting activities for my students to enjoy and learn from, rather than first examining my desired results from the lesson. Eventually after much tweaking I caught on to this idea somewhat - although knowing these stages ahead of time most definitely would have not only saved me time, but it would have helped me to clarify my goal.
The application scenario of the health teacher using backward design, step by step, was extremely helpful. I was able to envision each step and could see myself working a lesson similarly. When the scenario got to stage 2 I starred, underlined and highlighted the statement, "Kids tend to focus on their races rather than on their learning. Perhaps the way I've used assessments - more for grading purposes than to document learning has contributed somewhat to their attitude." YES! This was almost my entire schooling experience! Teachers say "try your best," "do the best you can do" as if doing your best will get you some type of reward. What happens when you do your best and the answer is incorrect? You get a bad grade and the cycle repeats. The teacher here is reflecting on ways in which HE assessed his students and how he contributed to this attitude of needing the right answer for the grade. Determining how you will assess and thinking as an assessor will ensure that you are spending time on what's really important. We've all had that teacher who puts questions on the test that we have never seen before. Sure they intended to get to that content but something along the way didn't work out. Starting with the end in mind allows us to make sure the desired results are met through our instruction and planing of instruction. *SIDE NOTE: I also thought of a Jerry Seinfeld SNL skit that Emily showed me (I can't take credit, so thanks Ems!). SNL History Class Skit If you don't have time to watch, the students are simply concerned with their horrible quiz grades and not concerned with learning the content.* And why is this? Because too often teachers assess solely with tests and quizzes and regurgitation rather than assessing the connection with understanding and learning - learning in the sense of "something that should serve us in the future" as Bruner noted in 1960. Most of the time the only purpose those quizzes of regurgitation serve is a grade on a piece of paper. I felt this coincided with Module A and the idea that teachers impose understanding by good fortune more often that understanding by design where they throw content and activities to the wall and "hope it sticks." Overall I enjoyed the readings, although lengthy they were not difficult to comprehend and brought back a lot of memories of my entire academic career both good and bad!
Chapter 1 began with a quote from the book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." "To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you're going so that you better understand where you are now so that they steps you take are always in the right direction." I have not read this book, however I have read "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens." The book was assigned to us in 9th grade, although I feel like it was somehow tied into my religion class? I can't remember. Either way, the book was great and I got excited to read when I saw the opening quote for the chapter. The book did not have so much of an emphasis on knowing exactly where you're going so you take steps that are always in the right direction, because let's face it, in 9th grade that's a pretty big nut to crack. However, after Habit 1 (Be proactive) is Habit 2, "Start with the end in mind." This Habit has stuck with me since 9th grade and applying it to teaching makes perfect sense! If you set a clear destination you then backtrack your way and find out how you will get there! The "defective" teen had no end in sight, went with the flow and wasn't very successful. Kind of like lessons I tried to plan in the past with no end goal in sight!
(Sorry for this rant, I just got excited! Here is the link to the book on amazon - you can take a sneak peak and check it out. It;s worth taking a glance at in the future, it could be something you could direct your students to if need be!) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens
On to the good stuff - backward design. When I designed one of my first lessons, I had a nice template with neat boxes to fill in. I was excited to start but had no idea what I was doing. It was pretty much free reign. I could pick whatever topic, align it with some standards and fill the required amount of teaching time. I had no idea what I was doing. Once I had chosen a topic I was concerned with finding interesting activities for my students to enjoy and learn from, rather than first examining my desired results from the lesson. Eventually after much tweaking I caught on to this idea somewhat - although knowing these stages ahead of time most definitely would have not only saved me time, but it would have helped me to clarify my goal.
The application scenario of the health teacher using backward design, step by step, was extremely helpful. I was able to envision each step and could see myself working a lesson similarly. When the scenario got to stage 2 I starred, underlined and highlighted the statement, "Kids tend to focus on their races rather than on their learning. Perhaps the way I've used assessments - more for grading purposes than to document learning has contributed somewhat to their attitude." YES! This was almost my entire schooling experience! Teachers say "try your best," "do the best you can do" as if doing your best will get you some type of reward. What happens when you do your best and the answer is incorrect? You get a bad grade and the cycle repeats. The teacher here is reflecting on ways in which HE assessed his students and how he contributed to this attitude of needing the right answer for the grade. Determining how you will assess and thinking as an assessor will ensure that you are spending time on what's really important. We've all had that teacher who puts questions on the test that we have never seen before. Sure they intended to get to that content but something along the way didn't work out. Starting with the end in mind allows us to make sure the desired results are met through our instruction and planing of instruction. *SIDE NOTE: I also thought of a Jerry Seinfeld SNL skit that Emily showed me (I can't take credit, so thanks Ems!). SNL History Class Skit If you don't have time to watch, the students are simply concerned with their horrible quiz grades and not concerned with learning the content.* And why is this? Because too often teachers assess solely with tests and quizzes and regurgitation rather than assessing the connection with understanding and learning - learning in the sense of "something that should serve us in the future" as Bruner noted in 1960. Most of the time the only purpose those quizzes of regurgitation serve is a grade on a piece of paper. I felt this coincided with Module A and the idea that teachers impose understanding by good fortune more often that understanding by design where they throw content and activities to the wall and "hope it sticks." Overall I enjoyed the readings, although lengthy they were not difficult to comprehend and brought back a lot of memories of my entire academic career both good and bad!
Monday, February 2, 2015
D & Z Chapters 1&2
Daniels and Zemelman's," Subjects Matter," is definitely a text book worth keeping. Chapter 1, The Core Purposes of Reading, gave insight to realistic issues regarding literacy today in high schools. It also gave meaningful suggestions for how to better provide strategies for readings in our classrooms. I particularly liked the two visions of reading and the examples of how teachers taught. The lesson on Fast Food showed that is had genuinely inspired students to take initiative and do something about what they had learned. Not only did the students understand what they were learning, they understood why. Looking back to my high school years I experienced both visions. I had dedicated teachers who created lessons that inspired me to take action or research further outside of school. I also had dedicated teachers who assigned text book reading, answering questions from the text and regurgitating the material the next day on a pop quiz to see if we had really read and done the assignment. Daniels and Zemelman point out that content teachers care about reading, and that studies shoes most teachers are similar to those who assign the reading and questions without providing reading strategies.
As I read the story of the science class I thought about when I am assigned readings in classes that i do not typically enjoy. Most of the time I do not enjoy the class if it is a topic that does not interest me. At the college level I know enough that my interest does not really matter, I have to complete the assignment regardless to the best of my ability. I muster enough courage to get through the gruesome pages with strategies I have learned along the way. I know if I do not, and simply try to read the text I will end up finishing the text not remembering a single thing I had just read. At the high school level this occurred many times when I was not interested int he reading or if the language was too difficult. I would have to re and reread the text to fully comprehend the content, and then for what? The next day I would complete a quiz, have a discussion on what we read and move on to the next topic. I was not particularly moved by any of the information nor did I really care. I simply read the content because it was assigned.
On the flip side of this, I thoroughly enjoyed completely the exact same type of assignment for my history courses - because I was interested. But still, I did not take away the amount of meaningful and effective learning as I had from assignments similar to the Fast Food assignment.
In the United States there is the never ending debate on how to close the achievement gap and the search for the perfect recipe for the educational ranking to increase. The reality is there are so many factors that go into educational achievement and the achievement gap that many of the top countries will never face. This text was the first in my career at Rhode Island College to point out the fact that non of the top scoring countries "have anywhere near the levels of deep, enduring poverty of America." Along with poverty is diversity. We live in a country that is so culturally diverse, and teach in heterogeneous classrooms with different cultural and educational learning styles. Catering to each cultural norm and style, along with the issues that come along with poverty are factors that affect these scores. Creating a system of standards that takes all of these factors into account is no simple task. The Common Core State Standards Initiative, while brand new, has been the topic of debate. With any implementation of a new system there are pros and cons and reasons for doubts. The intent behind the initiative is one that makes the most sense in proposals we have seen thus far. Literacy is involved in all content areas and all teachers are reading teachers in one way or another. The standards do need fine tuning (which we can find on page 19) however, that will come with time. For now, we can experiment with the standards and measure progress made in literacy since the implementation of the standards.
Chapter 2 was also very interesting and make me assess myself and my reading strategies. The reading lessons the book provided, were frustrating at times. I am a college student, I know how to read! Yet some passages I did not understand at all! The reading lessons give teachers a perspective of how their students may read certain subjects. We cannot assume because our students made it to 12th grade AP History that they are 100% able to read the text the same way their teacher is able to read the text. Stressing the stages of reading at all academic levels, even so high as 12th grade is an essential tool that will not only aid the students' comprehension of material but can also decrease the amount of stress and anxiety a student may face when they are asked to read difficult content. With multiple groups of students we are unable to gauge our students reading ability right away. Teaching and reviewing reading strategies early in the year will help all students become better, more effective readers.
As I read the story of the science class I thought about when I am assigned readings in classes that i do not typically enjoy. Most of the time I do not enjoy the class if it is a topic that does not interest me. At the college level I know enough that my interest does not really matter, I have to complete the assignment regardless to the best of my ability. I muster enough courage to get through the gruesome pages with strategies I have learned along the way. I know if I do not, and simply try to read the text I will end up finishing the text not remembering a single thing I had just read. At the high school level this occurred many times when I was not interested int he reading or if the language was too difficult. I would have to re and reread the text to fully comprehend the content, and then for what? The next day I would complete a quiz, have a discussion on what we read and move on to the next topic. I was not particularly moved by any of the information nor did I really care. I simply read the content because it was assigned.
On the flip side of this, I thoroughly enjoyed completely the exact same type of assignment for my history courses - because I was interested. But still, I did not take away the amount of meaningful and effective learning as I had from assignments similar to the Fast Food assignment.
In the United States there is the never ending debate on how to close the achievement gap and the search for the perfect recipe for the educational ranking to increase. The reality is there are so many factors that go into educational achievement and the achievement gap that many of the top countries will never face. This text was the first in my career at Rhode Island College to point out the fact that non of the top scoring countries "have anywhere near the levels of deep, enduring poverty of America." Along with poverty is diversity. We live in a country that is so culturally diverse, and teach in heterogeneous classrooms with different cultural and educational learning styles. Catering to each cultural norm and style, along with the issues that come along with poverty are factors that affect these scores. Creating a system of standards that takes all of these factors into account is no simple task. The Common Core State Standards Initiative, while brand new, has been the topic of debate. With any implementation of a new system there are pros and cons and reasons for doubts. The intent behind the initiative is one that makes the most sense in proposals we have seen thus far. Literacy is involved in all content areas and all teachers are reading teachers in one way or another. The standards do need fine tuning (which we can find on page 19) however, that will come with time. For now, we can experiment with the standards and measure progress made in literacy since the implementation of the standards.
Chapter 2 was also very interesting and make me assess myself and my reading strategies. The reading lessons the book provided, were frustrating at times. I am a college student, I know how to read! Yet some passages I did not understand at all! The reading lessons give teachers a perspective of how their students may read certain subjects. We cannot assume because our students made it to 12th grade AP History that they are 100% able to read the text the same way their teacher is able to read the text. Stressing the stages of reading at all academic levels, even so high as 12th grade is an essential tool that will not only aid the students' comprehension of material but can also decrease the amount of stress and anxiety a student may face when they are asked to read difficult content. With multiple groups of students we are unable to gauge our students reading ability right away. Teaching and reviewing reading strategies early in the year will help all students become better, more effective readers.
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