Wednesday, February 15, 2012

EDSS 531 Journal #3


  • To what degree do you think you really understand the needs of your students and what they need for the 21st century?
  • How wide is the “gap” between them and you?
  • In what areas are the gaps?
  • What can you do to make connections?
   As much as I would like to talk about how computer and technology use comes naturally to me, I do not think I understand the needs of my students for the 21st century. The reason for that is because I think no one does. This might seem like a cheeky answer but I think it is true. We have no way to determine what the technologic, economic, and global scene will be like this time next year.
   What I do know is that I can help students by showing them what I know, and learning from them what I know about video editing, photo manipulation, presentation software, and online tools so that they can be as prepared as possible.
   Seeing as it was not so long ago I was in high school, I think I have a pretty good insight as to their world and how technology is a great tool and distractor. I have to honestly confront the “boring” elements of my content area and be aware of the distractions students face. I think I am clever enough to “flip” the distracting nature of computers and technology to help students.
   And this has a two-fold effect. Assignments that seamlessly integrate technology help students learn the content and contribute to their digital toolbox. One thing I can help myself to do this better is listen to students, see what they are good at, and learn from them. This collaborative process should help both parties and allow for more divergent thinking.

EDSS 546B Reading Response #3


Select one of the templates from “They Say/I Say” and create/develop a writing assignment for that template from your current placement.

Writing Assignment for Day 6 of Intangible Destinations unit.
  Based on Section Four of They Say, I Say, I would like to use the templates and structure to have students respond to an essay. The piece is titled Where are all the time travelers? by Simon Rich. This is something I would like to teach during the ITU I am drafting with Julie Vaccaro. Rich’s essay preposes reasons for the likelihood for time traveler in a humorous way.
  I think this would be a great starting point for students to begin thinking about the possible of alternate dimensions and traveling between them. Along the way they can respond to this article, which has a clear message, by agreeing with or arguing against Rich’s argument.
  Students would be responsible for using the templates for disagreeing, agreeing, or a bit of both and sharing what they think in an original way. I would want them to know it is not just a matter of filling the blanks of the template sentences, but to some up with reasons to support their argument, which is a key skill to any writing.

EDSS 546B Reading Response #2


Think of a unit or lesson you taught in CPI. 

  • What did students have to think about?
  • Use the guide questions on p. 262 (new edition) entitled, Reflective Questions at the end of “Using questions to Help Students Think” section to reflect on that lesson or unit. 
  • During reading of Ch. 9, write down all of the ways that you did support or could have supported your students’ thinking.
   Part way through The Scarlet Letter I had students do a quick write on why it is important to read the novel. Then I had them pair up, and share what they wrote together, and to the class. They came up with some great answers, even if they were just trying to say something to impress me. The fact is they landed on some great reasons why the book has applicable themes and messages for high school students today.
   My goal was to give them something they could take away from the book. It was written roughly 200 years ago, and without this explicit exploration about the timeless themes of the book, they might have blown it off. I like to this this exercise allowed the change to find in themselves or others a message from the book that they could look for in the book and take when they are done.
   Based on how the activity went, I think it was a great chance to foster critical thinking. I did not just hand them a theme and ask them to find instances of it. I let them express how they could relate to the book and characters that are in a story set in colonial America.
   I wish I would have done more of this. So often in class we were reading the book or working with grammar, that I did not make time for a thinking activity or a chance to “bond” with the book. And I wish I would have been more clear with my intent. Thinking about what Sir Ken Robinson has said about creativity, I wish I would not have been so focused on finding an answer, but rather the exercise of thinking and coming up with an original idea. I think if I stress the fact that students have to a look for a predetermined answer, it hinders their thinking.

Monday, February 13, 2012

EDSS 530 Visitors and Residents

Watch the following video: Visitors and Residents by Dr. White and then write a blog post reflecting on where you are in this continuum and how you see your future on the Internet. If possible, leave a thoughtful comment on some of your peers' blogs


   When I saw this assignment, I thought, "I don't need to watch that video. I'm young, I've grown up with technology, I'll just wing it with some stuff that will sound good." Then I saw the video was 20-minutes and thought even harder about this prospect.
   But I suppose that is that is what makes me a resident. I am so used to being able to consume information and aggregate what I need into my choice of digestible media. I used Google reader, Twitter, and Youtube subscriptions to bring me information. This is all for non-academic material, depending on who you talk to.
  Until recently I was used to keeping everything separate. I have over 10 Gmail accounts each with their own purpose. But now I see the value of bringing it all together. I made one last Gmail account to tie everything together. I am less conscious about my personal and professional lives colliding, because people are bound to find out my personal obsessions sooner or later. Since Google accounts are so prolific online I am using this is create my personality on the web. Mostly, I am taking stuff in, rather than creating videos for Youtube or using Photoshop to manufacture an image or graphic. But I am getting there. Before I would use Twitter just to follow comedians and other funny people. I am still doing that, but I see the value of using it professionally, and getting students to use it as well.
  As I become more ingrained in the web and use it more like my own space, rather than a tool to serve me- the lines between life online and offline become blurred. As Piratebay founder Peter Sunde said:


When did you meet [fellow defendant Gottfrid] for the first time IRL?” asked the Prosecutor. 
“We do not use the expression IRL,” said Peter, “we use AFK.”
“IRL?” questioned the judge.
“In Real Life,” the Prosecutor explained to the judge.
“We do not use that expression,” Peter noted. “Everything is in real life. We use AFK—Away From Keyboard.”

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

EDSS 531 Journal #2



1. Read: Kids Do Well if They Can”
2. Watch the TED video on Creativity in Schools
3. Skim/ preview: “Abundance, Asia, and Automation”
4. Read: “Jobs of the Future.”
5. Create a full sheet 3 column organizer to record and analyze at least 4 quotes from the text/video.
My chart is available here on this Google Doc: http://bit.ly/zjUNq7 

Monday, February 6, 2012

EDSS 541 Reading Response #10

Revise your team's Task 2: ITU Cover Sheet.
Here is our new cover:



EDSS 541 Reading Response #9

Begin your ethnographic research on your school site to complete your ethnography for EDSS 530 and to complete Task 3 for the ITU.


This information is available on the project wiki, click here.

EDSS 541 Reading Response #8


LIST ideas and resources you can use for your Service Learning and ITU 

Ideas: Reflect on life in the past century by taking to at least two different generations of people, assessing ways to improve the future, research future problems and come up with a practical solution for the present.
Resources: SDA media center, the Internet, documentaries such as Peak Oil, civil engineers

EDSS 541 Reading Response #7

    Identify the key elements and process for Service Learning.
    • It is different from community service in that the students are doing good deeds and contributing to society by applying what they have learned in the class room.
    • Students should be involved in the entire process, not just receiving commands and following through.
    • The community you serve is a broad term and varies based on location and other factors.
    • The four types of service learning are: direct, indirect, advocacy, and research.
    • The steps for service learning are:
      • Preparation: collaborating with the students to determine the appropriate outreach.
      • Action: doing what you set out to do.
      • Reflection: students consider their impact and learning during and after the project.
      • Demonstration: the chance for students to perform or display what they have learned from the experience.
    • Service learning is the specific combination of contribution to the community in a meaningful way and incorporating the lessons and themes of a classroom.

    Wednesday, February 1, 2012

    EDSS 541 Reading Response #6

    CREATE a Personal Learning Network (PLN).


    So far I have:
    A blog
    Twitter
    A wiki
    Social bookmarking
    Edmodo account

    EDSS 541 Reading Response #5

    As a school team, IDENTIFY a theme for your ITU and SHARE ideas and a draft for a Cover Sheet with you ITU team.
    Intangible Destinations- A Math and English Unit on Time Travel, Parallel Universes, and Theoretical Dimensions



    EDSS 541 Reading Response #4


    IDENTIFY what tasks you would be well skilled at leading and contributing to for the ITU assignment

    Tasks 1, 2, 8, 9, 20 -I am cleaver, creative, and I like this stuff.
    These are the areas I am confident in for this assignment. Having done district reports and lesson plans, I will also contribute to the other tasks. I will soon consult with my colleague to discuss our plans for this assignment.

    EDSS 541 Reading Response #3


    MAKE a list or highlight models & resources to share with your ITU team.

    Working backwards from a theme
    How can we get to Level III or IV?
    I need help understanding how theme can be applied to math
    Problem solving that involves text
    What technology will we have available? (Webquests)
    What can we do to use the technology we went over?

    EDSS 541 Reading Response #2


    READ Baldwin, Keating,Bachman (BKB) Ch.7 pgs 164-179 & pgs. 315-326
    COMPLETE Activities 7.1 & 7.2, pgs. 172-173

    7.1
    1. It is still early in the semester, but Julie and I, who are working at San Dieguito Academy, have tossed out some resources we could use. We are versed in the content standards of our subject material and have begun to look for other material we could use. She has had great insight and found a book called Flatland, a text dealing with math that would be relevant for high school students. I think this is a great starting point for our higher thinking skills.
    1. Reading comprehension, literacy, critical thinking, applications, textual analysis, storyline, logic
    2. I think I need to make more time for face to face meetings to look over the ITU assignment and decide how we are going to complete it and find the be learning outcome for prospective students and ourselves. I want our final product to be cleaver, all-encompassing, and original. Just like the previous reading response, this is going to require a new way of thinking.
    7.2
    How do Math and English relate?
    How do I apply a text to myself and the world?
    What practical skills come from Math and English?
    What processes are used in addressing a problem?
    How is possible to over-think a problem?

    EDSS 541 Journal #1

    IDENTIFY research-based instructional strategies you can use in your ITU. 


    The first thing to jump out at me in these articles came from the Focus On Blacks where it made the notion that the same type of thinking that created an achievement gap cannot be used to fix it. This is something I heard used similarly regarding US politics and it stands out as a challenge to develop a whole new way of thinking to address academic issues.

    The research based strategies that I see beneficial are community involvement, setting high help/high perfectionism goals, explicit language instruction, making the classroom a space for critical thinking and free expression, and implementing dialogue not lecture. Some of these ideas where things learned last semester. Conscious effort must be put into content instruction to implement these. As I get to know my students, I will be using the same critical thinking skill I want to teach the students.

    EDSS 531 Reading Response #1


    What is it like to be a student in my class?
    What is it like for a student to move through classes in a day at our school?

    Preface: I taught two sections of college prep English 3 at Carlsbad High School in the fall of 2011.

    I hoped that my optimism and good spirits translated into a fun class environment. I understand that it might have been dull as we were readingThe Scarlet Letter, as the text may not be as approachable in 2011-12. But I think that my modern insights and student activities made it worthwhile and enjoyable.

    As CP I progressed, I tried to be as personal with my students as I could. I let them have a snapshot of who I was personality-wise, which turned out well. Most of the students responded well to this. As a teacher this came in handy when it came down to the nitty-gritty. And for the students, I think this helped build trust to follow me through The Scarlet Letter and full process essay, knowing they would get through it safe and I would help them be better readers and writers.

    My class involved a consistent mix of reading, writing, speaking and listening activities to engage the students and deliver the content information. I hope that some of my reflective activities allowed the students to take something out of the literature and make older text applicable to their lives today.
    I am sure that the block schedule creates a unique experience at Carlsbad High School. Having classes everyday means longer periods, and a greater chance of mentally drifting in the class. But it also means that there is more time to do assigned work outside of class since there is a day in between the date it was assigned and the day it was due.

    CHS is such a large school, I do not think their is as much community between the students. The students are definitely social, but I doubt one student knows everyone else in the 3,000+ student body, let alone the others at his/her grade level. Without a smaller group of peers, I can understand how the school may be overwhelming.