Cool ideas in a fourth grade classroom. Comment below: What barriers are in the way that prevent more activities like this from happening in MP's or Keota's PK-12 classrooms? How could those barriers be removed?
You can post a comment by clicking on the word "comments." Don't forget to click the "Post Comment" button.
If the video does not appear above - this is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66mrAzz7nLw
I think this teacher asks an excellent question: Do we want to teach kids to be excited to learn, direct their own learning, be able to learn anything THEY want; or do we want to teach kids to be good at being taught? Teaching the students to be teachable is certainly less work in the short term.... but also less rewarding and less fun in the long term. This can be a struggle when you are a teacher with several preps, lots of "extra" duties, and few resources- for instance no UNR grad students to help teach science.
ReplyDeleteI think creativity, connections to your "10-minute universe" and the whole world, as well developing a schema of how ideas fit together are critical, but are also more difficult to incorporate in multiple lessons every day. I look forward to finding out more about how other teachers do this in their classes.
Where is the math? I find the methods of teaching that Crosby was talking about extremely exciting, and I see how he integrated science and LA and SS, but I want to see great examples of how to teach math this way.
ReplyDeleteHere is an issue of Educational Leadership that is devoted to using technology to educate. It is very interesting
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/current-issue.aspx
and a school district that is working to integrate technology into all aspects of education
http://www5.mgsd.k12.nc.us/staffsites/digitalconversion/Digital_Conversion//MGSD_Digital_Conversion.html
I think this is the perfect place to suggest the help of your local Teacher Librarian. We can be the bank to help connect teachers with technology tools and resources. Whether it's brainstorming, researching or creating a how to guide for you or your students - I am very willing to be a part of this process! :)
ReplyDeleteFrom the video, he was lucky to have a 1 to 1 initiative in his classroom. The heavy use of technology in the middle school makes it hard to begin to create a routine with technology. We have a reading blog with our students that they work on once every other week because of lack of available and reliable resources. But, this is really not enough for students to see the value in this type of communication.
ReplyDelete--8th Grade Team
Elsie, I see Mooresville has multi-day summer institutes for teachers and administrators. Is that an idea that would work at MP? Would teacher-leaders take the lead in organizing?
ReplyDeleteI would certainly like to check it out. I will talk to the other grade teams and the 7th grade team, and see if this is something that people would like to pursue.
ReplyDeleteI think we need to be doing whatever is going to get the students excited to learn and get the most from whatever that may be. I am not opposed to adding more technology, but there needs to be much support and that can't be a one time early out session and be done. It needs to be ongoing.
ReplyDelete