Extras from week 12

Last week we were asked about instructional plans and materials we've used.  I am a huge fan of problem-based learning and love Dr. Shelagh Gallagher's work with gifted learners.  I had the opportunity to attend an educator conference sponsored by the Duke TIP program several summers ago.  I attended two of her sessions - one on problem-based learning and one on effective questioning.  Both were excellent!  I purchased her middle level problem-based learning units and have tried (unsuccessfully) to get my teachers to use them.  I think that I am finally going to get an opportunity to facilitate one of her units at the end of the school year (after state testing has completed.)  I am so excited and can't wait to share that experience.

Extras from week 12

So this video showed up today based on my previous searches and views.  "What if every child had their own teacher?"  Take a look at this view of blended learning and the limitations of America's current education system.

Extras from week 10

Our discussion board this week - “Research since the early 1980’s confirms that the choice of media for delivering instruction does not make a difference in how much students learn or in their attitudes about what they are learning; rather, it is the design of the instructional experience- the instructional strategy- that makes the difference.” (Chapter 9)

I agree whole-heartedly.  The same multi-media presentation can be shown by two different teachers and there will be two different results.  The content might have been delivered in the same way, but it is the teacher's use of effective instructional strategies that engage the learner and progresses the learning.  The same is true of our students.  We know that they do not all learn the same way, yet somehow there is a perception that there is a one-size fits all prescription for teaching.

Dick, W., Carey, L. & Carey, J., (2015).  The systematic design of instruction.  (8^th ed.).  New

     York:  Pearson.

Extras from week 10

Chapter 5 introduced me to Summit Public Schools.  The video clips are not available on my kindle book :(  But I found this clip on YouTube.  I love this idea of blended learning with personalized learning time and project mode instead of a traditional school day schedule.  I would love to see this model in South Carolina!

Extras from week 9

Planning the learning components of an instructional strategy...  This was a good week.  The preinstructional learning activities part of this made me really reflect on posting objectives.  I'll be honest and say that I used to think of this step as a necessary component only because it was required of me as a student and by my first principal.  My second principal is much more laid back.  As a result, I became a little slack and stopped posting objectives (and corresponding standards.)  My lessons are fun and engaging but only after really studying this chapter of our text did I realize that I was doing my students a disservice.  I want them to be able to evaluate our lesson (and particularly my instruction.)  Their feedback is important to me.  They can't do that if they don't know what their expected outcomes are in the first place.  Eye-opening moment for the teacher!

Extras from week 9

I am completely enamored with Blended: Using disruptive innovation to improve schools. I cannot stop reading in order to write my discussion post.  I am inspired!  But sadly, also defeated!  How can I share this message with the stakeholders of my school district?  How can we implement a true blended learning model in our school?  How do I get my teachers to understand that technology-rich instruction is not the same as blended learning?  Our district has invested heavily into providing access for our students.  We are 1-to-1.  We have a district technology integration specialist.  We are making progress, but we are still missing the mark.  Our district's mission is "to provide a quality, student-centered education."  How do we live up to our mission?  New inspiration that wants to be fueled met with frustration at how things really are.  One recent example - a math teacher tries to implement a flipped classroom.  Spends a good portion of her summer converting her old lecture slides into videos hosted on EdPuzzle.  Weeks into the semester, she is flooded by complaints from parents.  Students are saying she is not "teaching" them.  They have to teach themselves.  More time should have been spent educating the parents.  We need them as stakeholders to "buy in."  Instead, she stopped assigning the videos for homework and they listened to them during class time instead.  What??!!  Our teachers were initially overwhelmed by pressure to integrate technology into their classrooms.  They now have, but they don't seem to have made the connection that all they have really done is substitute (SAMR model).  Technology-rich instruction is not personalized.  It is not student-centered.  Sometimes it is more engaging.  Sometimes it addresses different learning styles and modalities.  Sometimes.  Sometimes it proves what teachers (with their eyes open) fear - they are making themselves irrelevant.  You can't sit a student in front of a hyperdoc for an entire class period, day after day, with no direct instruction.  I'm sad.  We've added technology resources but we've maintained our traditional school factory environment.  

Extras from week 8

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