Imagine My Surprise!
Well, I checked the blog and the listserv and the wiki before heading off to bed last night. Then I got up early this morning and checked all again. A few notes and some randome thoughts and I left a few replies. Then I went off to a meeting arriving back in Newark just a few minutes before class.
Little did I know that between breakfast and lunch a windstorm of conversations had taken place on the blog and the listserv. And of course, no one tipped me off in class.
As I read through all of it, however, I am struck by how closely your questions follow the lines of thinking I was attempting to draw out in class today. Yes, the project is unclear. Yes, the requirements are emerging as you get a better picture of what good integration is. Yes, the process is very much what your students will experience if you change your teaching style.
There is one more thought I'd like to share with you as you try to think freely about that project. That is, that we have discussed whether the "product" or the "process" is more important. In my mind, the "product" of this class is not the unit or the essay you'll be producing, those are only observable manifestations. The "product" I have as a goal is changes in your teaching behaviors and attitudes. I hope you leave with a mindset that allows you to evaluate your practice continually and to harness new technologies as they emerge.
So, if the project isn't great and doesn't score well on the rubric, do you get a "D" or "C" in the class??? Well, you get the idea.
posted by Pat at 8:38 PM
5 Comments:
My comment is that the process is what I try to get the students to learn but if you only have a few teachers in the school in that mindset it makes the job a whole lot harder. I mean the students have difficulty when they go to one class and they have a normal multiple choice/ true false and then they come to science and they are being asked to problem solve. How do you get by that frustration?
10:15 PM
Thinking over what I observe in the library, I realise students are actually very adaptable. I work with numerous teachers so I see the same students coming in with teachers who have very different styles of class management and type of assignment - from complete control and direction with some, to group discussion, modeling, and free choice of available resources with others. They quickly learn what different teachers expect, and it doesn't seem to bother them at all.
Since I have to work through other teachers I think I will have more difficulty getting THEM used to new ways of doing things, but it will be well worth the effort if they are pleased with the results. They are all aware of the requirement to integrate technology but many are unsure how to do it. I think this is the case everywhere - even the most reluctant know they have to find ways to do this and will welcome successful examples on inservice days or after-school workshops.
9:27 AM
Bearing in mind the different forms of modes of learing we discussed previously, none of these is perfect substitute for the other. Rather, they may complement each other. I believe, circumstances vary and we may tend to utilize the mode that best fits the student's learning style. Please comment!!!
8:03 PM
I think it is a combination of learning style, teaching style, style that fits the material and a host of other considerations. I think any of these used as the sole contributor to the decision is insufficient.
8:17 PM
I think the process is more important. Process is what creates lifelong learners. Success at process will lead to good products--that's what I have always believed. The process we are following here in our class, I believe, has made learning very dynamic and hands-on!
7:43 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home