Random Thoughts About Teaching & Learning

The article by Terry Heick, 25 Random Thoughts About Teaching & Learning, was a fun article to read and sparked a few thoughts of my own:

That teachers don't always know the right answer.

That technology is going to advance like crazy in the next 10 years.

That parents and administrators should side with teachers rather than go against them.

That teachers are put into a classroom to make a difference.

That teachers should remember to stay youthful and remember why they entered this profession.

That students won't know unless they try.

That students need to start engaging in more face-to-face interactions.

That learning occurs for both the teacher and student.

That even though we may think we know it all, we really don't.

That 20 years from now I will still enjoy what I do and teaching will still be my passion.


Responses:

Angela M: That change can be a s l o w process, but every step forward is significant.
I like this thought because I think it can be addressed to both the students and the teachers. Personally, I am not a huge fan of change, I tend to prefer consistency. However, to be in the education system I must learn to be more flexible and adapt quick to change. This is something I am continuously working on everyday.

Tommy R: That time spent working hard is very important, but also time spent resting the mind is almost as important.
A balance in life is extremely important. The fact that I can go into a career that I am passionate about is a great feeling, but I will need to learn to how to incorporate family, friends, and me time with my career. There is so much work that comes along with being a teacher so it is vital that us teachers learn how to balance such a busy schedule. I hope that sometime in the future I can rest my mind while traveling the world!:)


Source:
Heick, T. (2015). 25 Random thoughts about teaching & learning. Retrieved from: http://www.teachthought.com/learning/25-random-thoughts-about-teaching-learning/

Journal #4

The article Social Media for Teachers: Guides, Resources, and Ideas provides information and links to articles that help teachers learn how to incorporate social media into a classroom. To be honest, before I wasn't sure if social media in a classroom was a good idea. I thought that there could be many negative consequences that may arise, such as cyberbulling. However, after reading a couple of the articles posted, such as 50 Ways to use Twitter in a Classroom, I am beginning to open up more to this new idea. With regulation and supervision, social media may actually be a good tool to use in this new digital age.

In the future, I would consider using Twitter in my social studies high school classroom. There are so many ways I can utilize this tool to in the classroom. Nowadays, student have easy access to social media sites through the phones. Twitter is especially helpful as it is accessible on both a phone app and on the computer. With a majority of the students using twitter, communication between the teacher and the students may increase. I would be able to post links to resources, post sample questions for an upcoming exam, or retweet an relevant articles for the class. It's an easy way to make announcements so that students will be more informed before coming to class. Also, it is a great way to communicate to parents. The twitter feed may be made readily available so that if parents have any questions about the site as a whole, they are free to access the class' twitter page.

Another cool feature that I didn't know before was that I could sync the class' twitter feed straight into my teacher website or blog site. My teacher page would then offer a one-stop site where both students and parents could access for all information that pertains to my classroom.
Student collaboration can be facilitated even more so. For example, students would be able to live tweet during an assigned movie or book. In this live tweet, students can post any initial questions or reactions from the movie or book. Students can then respond to their peer's tweets. Also, before students can ask me a question, I would advise them to post the question onto our class twitter page and ask at least two other peers for help. Something I also found interesting was that I could use my twitter page a discussion board for the class. Students would be free to post a quick response (only 140 characters allowed) about an activity or lesson from the day. Lastly, the easy use of hashtags can help organize and keep track of any twitter conversation pertaining to our particular class. So if a student misses class, he/she could search our class's hashtag and look at the twitter conversation for that day.

Ultimately, I would consider incorporating Twitter as a social media tool into my classroom in the future. With a new generation of kids who are tech savvy, it may pose more benefits than consequences in the classroom.





Sources:

Miller, S. (2005). 50 ways to use twitter in the classroom. Retrieved from: http://www.teachhub.com/50-ways-use-twitter-classroom

Davis, M. (2015). Social media for teachers: Guides, resources, and ideas. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/social-media-resources-educators-matt-davis

Journal # 3

From a student's perspective, I had always thought that we were given rubrics so that students can decide what grade they want to achieve based on the requirements given by the teacher. I thought that this rubric or guideline was given to us so we know what an 'A' paper or project demonstrated. To be honest, I never really liked rubrics because they were always so broad and general in terms of what was required to get a good grade. I had always preferred criteria or an outline of each task that was expected of us. However, reflecting back on it now, I realize that I grew up during a time when us students were always expected to pass and get a good grade or else we don't meet up to the "standards" of the school; I could see why I never appreciated the use of a rubric.

Reading this article from a teacher's perspective was very interesting and now I can see why rubrics can be helpful. Susan Brookhart (2013) explains that the, "main purpose of rubrics is to assess performances." Given a rubric, a teacher may be able to assess the progress of a student in regards to their performance throughout a project or paper. I learned that an analytic rubric allows a teacher to evaluate a student based on each criterion. On the contrary, a holistic rubric evaluates all the criteria and scores are based off of the overall quality of work. General rubrics describe the criteria and tasks across all areas that will be graded. Lastly, a task-specific rubric describe the criteria and tasks in a specific content area. All these different types of rubrics have their own advantages and disadvantages, it typically depends on the what is being assessed and how the teacher wants to assess the student's performance.

It was interesting to learn that rubrics allow teachers to lay out what "you intend students to learn rather than what you intend to teach [and] actually helps improve instruction" (Brookhart, 2013). I believe that the purpose of a rubric is to assess the quality of a student's work rather than the quantity (grades). I can see why rubrics can be beneficial to both the student and the teacher. As a future teacher, I will be able to assess a student's learning throughout the assignment. I will be able to judge whether or not they have learned the material based on their performance and the quality of their work rather than grade based off of specific tasks they accomplish. Student's in turn are more involved in their learning and they get to choose how they will be successful in the assignment. Students become responsible for their own learning in that they are the ones who will choose which level of tasks they want to accomplish, not the teachers. Student's will be able to self-assess and evaluate their own performance as well. One disadvantage I can see with a rubric is that it seems to be time consuming if a teacher has to create a rubric for each assignment given. But ultimately, I can see the long term benefits of a rubric and how it contributes to a student's learning.

Source: Brookhart, S. M. (2013). What are rubrics and why are they important? Retrieved from: http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/112001/chapters/What-Are-Rubrics-and-Why-Are-They-Important%C2%A2.aspx