Reaction to "Changing the Teaching of History, One Byte at a Time."

     In his November 14th post to Edutopia, Sam Wineburg discusses an issue facing history teachers worldwide. In an era where even the material captured in textbooks is suspect, as is much of the information on the web, how are we to train our students to cite evidence (one of the Common Core key shifts) when there are so many low-quality sources available? While Mr. Wineburg is clearly advertising the work of his group, his core point is that primary sources, ones originating from the periods being studied, are probably the most valuable in education. This a point I would certainly agree with- I enjoy guiding my students through the analysis and dissection of sources, which (sometimes) leads to engaging discussions. I have yet to avail myself of any of the lessons his group offers, but I am certainly considering them in planning upcoming units,

References:
Wineburg, Sam. (2013, November 14). Changing the teaching of history, one byte at a time. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/changing-the-teaching-of-history-sam-wineburg.

Reaction to "The Biggest Lie Students Tell Me (And How To Turn It Around)"

     In his October 22nd post, Jose Vilson addresses one of the phrases that I have heard many times from my students- "I can't do this!" In many cases, this has become an ingrained belief in my students, coming as the result of being left behind in several of their classrooms throughout the years. Fortunately, Vilson does provide some clues on how to start addressing this problem, many of which I have already used in my instruction.
     Perhaps the most valuable insight Vilson provides is focusing on what the student "can" do- assessing at which step of the process the student is having trouble, and providing corrections at that point. However, unlike Vilson, I would not recommend making a protracted conversation out of this- I try to limit "helping" conversations to about 30 seconds at the most. One model I use to accomplish this is Fred Jones' "Praise, Prompt, Leave" strategy, in conjunction with his conceptualization of Visual Instruction Plans. This helps to limit the disruptions that might occur while I am otherwise focused on helping a student.
      Another possibility is that offering students "breaks" within reason in an appropriate strategy. By the end of the day, many students have reached their capacity for seat time, and express their frustrations through "I can't do this" or other disruptions. Allowing for small brain breaks has definitely made a difference in my instruction, and helps to keep students more engaged. I would recommend this post to anyone who also hears that phrase in their classroom.

References: Jose Vilson (2013, October 22). The biggest lie students tell me (and how to turn it around). Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/students-biggest-lie-resolving-it-jose-vilson

Reaction to CH 8: Podcasting, Video and Screen Casting, and Live Streaming

    In chapter eight of his book, Will Richardson explains in detail the benefits of the various kinds of "casting" a teacher can do- podcasting, videocasting, screencasts, and the like. Having encountered these media in my daily life, as well as creating them in other classes, I can definitely speak to the benefits they can have in the classroom. As a teacher that implements Edmodo in the classroom, I had often found myself inundated with questions about how to perform some of the more basic tasks on the site- opening an attachment, completing an assignment, or attaching work to a post. To address this issue, I created screencasts that guided students through some of the more common functions- this allowed me to spend less time addressing procedural issues in class, and more time addressing content and knowledge gaps.
     Of course, I can see applications of this for content as well- it makes a lot more sense to record the in-class goings on than to try and catch absent students up during the few moments you can spare with them. I have also used such videos as an aid to my direct instruction as well. On the whole, these technologies can do much to address some of the stress that teachers face.

References: Richardson, W. (2010) Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin

Reaction to "5 Powerful Questions Teachers Can Ask Students"

     Being in the position of hosting a student teacher during this first semester, I find myself offering a great deal of coaching. One thing that was often brought up in education courses was the concept of "wait time," but rarely are students given the chance to practice using that strategy until their actual student teaching experience. Likewise, beginning teachers are often told to ask a lot of questions, without much guidance in how to develop them. Blogger Rebecca Alper helps to address these issues in her piece on Edutopia.

     Of the five questions she offers, I am particularly a fan of "What questions do you still have?" It gives the impression that there are always opportunities for learning to continue, and that just because the instructor has gone through the planned material does not mean that there isn't further discussion to be had. Too often, I think, students consider instructors as a comprehensive source on any topic (when the truth often is that we are anything but!). Framing the question in this way allows us to develop further questions for study, and allows me to direct them to resources that they can use to answer those questions.

References: Alper, R. (2013, October 31). 5 powerful questions teachers can ask students. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/five-powerful-questions-teachers-ask-students-rebecca-alber

Reaction to Richardson Chapter 7

    Richardson (the author whose book I have been chronicling in my previous posts) takes great care in chapter 7 of his book to explore the possibilities that Flickr.com offers in the classroom. These possibilities are things that I had not previously been aware of- I haven't really used Flickr in any meaningful way, outside of a few image searches. Of course, it certainly has benefits of "flattening" the world as a social site, but the feature I am most excited about is the annotation tool.
     Many of the Michigan Social Studies GLCE's deal with analyzing traditions/lifestyles of classical cultures. On a related note, one of the Key Shifts of the Common Core standards is to increase students' ability to cite evidence from a text in making an argument. Flickr's annotation tool seems as though it could be the perfect item to address both objectives. For example, I can envision an assignment where I allow students to choose from a collection of photos related to Ancient Rome, and then have them annotate specific parts of each photo to highlight interesting points of architecture, as well as to hypothesize about what such buildings might have been used for. Similar exercises might be undertaken for an exploration of Neolithic-era stone tools and the like. The possibilities here seem endless, and I am excited to work on ways to integrate this into my classroom.

References: Richardson, W. (2010) Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin

Reaction to Teachers: Staying Positive in Trying Times

Blogger Heather Wolpert-Gawron wrote an interesting piece that shares an anecdote about how she observed one of her colleagues burn out on teaching. This is too real a problem in many schools- I saw it in my previous position, and am fearful that one of my colleagues in my current position is undergoing the same sorts of changes. Of the strategies that Wolpert-Gawron offers, I think the most critical, (at least for me) is knowing your own limits as a teacher. Too often, in an effort to be a good employee, I've seen teachers say "yes" to tasks that probably stretch their abilities and time management skills to the limit- I too, have been guilty of taking on things that probably didn't get the full attention that they deserved. However, it is very empowering to be able to say "no" once in a while- not for selfish reasons, but because I'd prefer to do a few things well instead of many things adequately. I think it has increased my job satisfaction overall- I feel more proud of the work I do when I manage my commitments in such a way. This, along with Wolpert-Gawron's other tidbits, are useful advice in trying to keep our collective heads above water in this difficult profession.

References: H Wolpert-Gawron. (2013, September 30). Teachers: Staying positive in trying times. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-staying-positive-trying-time-heather-wolpert-gawron

Reaction to Planning For Engagement: 6 Strategies for the Year

     I am currently hosting a student teacher, and this experience has done much to confirm my hypothesis; many teachers don't really have "classroom management" problems, rather, they have "engagement" problems. When students aren't invested in the work they are performing, there will, of course, be an increase in disruptive behaviors. And so, when sorting through my feedly account, I came across an article highlighting just that-ways to increase engagement in the classroom.
    Of the strategies discussed by Joshua Block in the blog post, providing authentic assignments and allowing students to present and perform, I think, are the most powerful. Firstly, I feel that students need to see that their work can be connected to real-world tasks- therefore, I often engage them in tasks that real historians will do. I don't necessarily teach the American Revolution through textbooks, instead- a rich variety of primary sources offers the the details I am hoping for students to acquire. By analyzing these primary sources as historians do/did, students gain a much deeper understanding of the topic than what a textbook might provide.
     I am also a fan of allowing students to present their work to people other than just...me. When possible and appropriate, my students engage in gallery walks to provide both affirming and adjusting feedback on the work of their peers. Knowing that their peers will evaluate them often pushes students to succeed at the task- they don't want to be the student that receives only adjusting feedback! Both strategies, I think, are key to increasing student engagement.

References: J Block (2013, October 1). Planning for engagement: 6 strategies for the year. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/planning-for-engagement-6-strategies-joshua-block