Right now, at this moment, I am realising that I started looking at the course material for ICT exactly eight weeks ago. I find this difficult to believe when I think about the huge amount of material covered! If someone had told me three months ago, that in three months' time I will have created an e-portfolio, a blog, embedded into my blog a voki that I have created, a link for a wiki put together by me, a photo from Flickr, another photo which I have taken and cropped before reducing its size in Picnik, and a You Tube video (I'm out of breath after all this), I would never have believed this person. However, all of this did happen and much more! What an exciting yet challenging 'ride' this has been!
The change that has happened in me makes me think of the vast changes in the world, though on a much larger scale and over a far longer period of time, from a largely industrial economy to an economy that has become more and more knowledge-based. Along with this, continuous changes in education have been unavoidable.
Let's go back to the late 1960s and all through the 1970s, the time when I went to school. See Going back, Primary School.
When I went to high school, lessons were often delivered such that teachers stood in front and wrote on the board the work that we had to do, or they would tell us the pages in the textbooks, on which were the tasks that we were to complete. This was teacher-centred learning and, according to Heath, Mode 1 knowledge, which is transmitted in a more conventional, theoretical way. Please read High School and Reflection on High School.
Teaching in schools has undergone vast changes in the last forty years. The old ways don't seem to be successful anymore. Today's children are different. From a very early age they are exposed to modern technologies. There seem to be a lot of students with behavioral problems.
We, as budding teachers, need to take the students' interests and learning styles into account, thus designing student-centred lessons, see Reflection. We need to engage students, and keep them engaged. How do we do this? By creating learning experiences that have a real-life purpose as Kearsley and Shneiderman's Engagement Theory, Relate-Create-Donate, implies. Students collaborate on projects that they can relate to before creating solutions to these problems. Finally the children donate their solutions to the community. Please read the second half of Reflection on High School. This is Mode 2 knowledge (Heath), a more practical, procedural approach. An appropriate example of this type of learning and teaching was most of my undergraduate degree. Find out more by clicking on the following two links Music Degree and Reflection on Music Degree.
In order to prepare children for success in our Knowledge Economy, we, as budding teachers, are not so much the ones transmitting knowledge to students, but rather learning managers, who design strategies that teach students how and where knowledge is produced, accessed and how it is put into practice.
Today we have at our disposal an ever-increasing plethora of modern technologies, which are ideal for student use in the classroom and at home and, in fact, anywhere.
I shall begin with blogs. What a fantastic way for students to keep a journal, making regular entries of the material they have learned during a unit of work. Wikis are collaboration tools that are accessible by many, but can be added to only by the ones who have permission. Small groups of students, or a whole class could make a wiki on a particular topic with the different students adding their bits. Thinking about vokis, I can just imagine the fun children would have creating their very own talking voki avatars! Students can then embed their wikis and vokis into their blogs. For more details please read my entry entitled Using Blogs, Wikis and Vokis in Schools.
Please hear my green-eyed talking dog and check out my wiki by clicking on the following link Blogs, Wikis and Vokis. While in my wiki, take a look at the photo I took during the dust storm last year (it may take a while to download, but it is worth waiting for) and the You Tube video showing the total solar eclipse from the 1st of August 2009.
Mahara is a networking tool and an e-portfolio. Used as the latter, students could, from a young age until the end of year 12, keep work samples in this portfolio, and have, on leaving school, a collection of their work all in one place. For more details click on Mahara.
Then there are power point presentations. Well, I had never created one before, and worst luck I didn't have enough time to explore this wonderful tool further; however, I did come up with a reasonable presentation on bees, which, along with ways to use this great tool used in classrooms, can be located in PowerPoint.
For some reason I had always been a little bit afraid when doing new things on computers. It was mainly a fear of doing something wrong, something that cannot be undone. And this is how I felt when I began establishing both my Flickr and my Piknic accounts, but guess what, nothing did go wrong! Actually, I found the photo activities reasonably easy, had fun doing them and I am beginning to loose my fear! For more about these activities and to view the photos, click on Photo Activities.
What a great idea to use You Tube videos as learning and teaching tools! Please view the You Tube video I embedded into my blog and read about suggested uses in my posting entitled You Tube.
Both Google Earth and Wikipedia are excellent research tools for students to do their own research. Please find more details in Google Earth and Wikipedia.
I am a little frustrated that, due to a lack of time, I haven't been able to complete all of the designed tasks; however, I enjoyed this 'ride', which has resulted in a vast expansion of my knowledge of learning design, understanding of ICTs and computer skills. See In Survival Mode.
On a final note, the world is ever changing, now at a faster pace than ever before, and so are ICTs. It is our responsibility, as teachers, to keep up with the latest, to check what else is out there, and to ask ourselves the question: can the latest technologies be used in schools? If the answer is 'yes', let's make use of them. I look forward to that which is to come!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
In Survival Mode
Getting my head around these wonderful technologies has taken me a little, no, a lot(!) more time than I had ever expected, and than the university has specified. In these last few months I learned more about IT than I had in all those years leading up to the beginning of this course! I find ICT truly fascinating but at the same time extremely challenging, especially when a rather simple task takes me hours to accomplish!
In order to 'survive' I did not complete all of the tasks. It was all getting too much for me and I stopped posting to the forums and therefore didn't advertise my blog sufficiently, and I didn't advertise my wiki or my power point presentation as it was designed in the course material. I didn't make a narration audio file for a power point presentation, explore and talk about about royalty free music, spend much time reading the blogs of my peers, post comments to their blogs or receive comments, and I didn't reference as accurately as I usually do (I chose to spend my time on the things I wanted or needed to learn instead!).
In one sense I feel as though I have failed because I didn't do everything that was asked of me, yet in another sense I can proudly say that I have mastered most of the tasks and in the process vastly broadened my understanding of ICTs. I can't wait to use in schools what I have learned, and to explore ICTs further once I have the time to do so.
In order to 'survive' I did not complete all of the tasks. It was all getting too much for me and I stopped posting to the forums and therefore didn't advertise my blog sufficiently, and I didn't advertise my wiki or my power point presentation as it was designed in the course material. I didn't make a narration audio file for a power point presentation, explore and talk about about royalty free music, spend much time reading the blogs of my peers, post comments to their blogs or receive comments, and I didn't reference as accurately as I usually do (I chose to spend my time on the things I wanted or needed to learn instead!).
In one sense I feel as though I have failed because I didn't do everything that was asked of me, yet in another sense I can proudly say that I have mastered most of the tasks and in the process vastly broadened my understanding of ICTs. I can't wait to use in schools what I have learned, and to explore ICTs further once I have the time to do so.
Google Earth and Wikipedia
I had fun 'Travelling' in Google Earth! I can see this to be a fantastic tool for students to research different parts of the world. When opening the program, a virtual globe comes into view, and by entering a place name, students are able to 'fly' to the part of the earth they want to research, be it a town, a state, a country, a river or a mountain range, and view it from close-up. Students can also view places of interest as photos by clicking on 'Street View'. Even old imagery can be viewed, and this feature would be great in history lessons. Any of these images can then be printed or shared with others via email. On this free version the sky, the moon and mars can also be explored.
Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia. Anyone can edit it; however, there are strict guidelines in order to make sure the information remains accurate. Wikipedia is easily accessible and therefore ideal for quick research.
In order to prepare children to become successful in our Knowledge Economy, we, as budding teachers, are not so much the knowledge transmitters, but rather learning managers, the ones managing knowledge, designing strategies to teach students how and where knowledge is produced, accessed and how it is put into practice. Both Google Earth and Wikipedia are research tools that students can use to gain information themselves, and it is our job to guide students to this information.
Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia. Anyone can edit it; however, there are strict guidelines in order to make sure the information remains accurate. Wikipedia is easily accessible and therefore ideal for quick research.
In order to prepare children to become successful in our Knowledge Economy, we, as budding teachers, are not so much the knowledge transmitters, but rather learning managers, the ones managing knowledge, designing strategies to teach students how and where knowledge is produced, accessed and how it is put into practice. Both Google Earth and Wikipedia are research tools that students can use to gain information themselves, and it is our job to guide students to this information.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
You Tube
In this GDLT I am focusing on primary teaching. However, since I love teaching Strings Instrumental Music, and since I will most likely continue to do so once I have completed my diploma, I have included this video of Pachabel's Canon in D, a well-known piece of music often played at weddings and funerals.
I would play this version to string students at a high school, talk about period instruments and ask the students to listen and see if they can tell the difference between each violinist's part, and if they can figure out what the cellist plays. Following this introduction the students would learn to play the Canon in D.
Instrumental music is very hands-on at any time. This exercise would add another dimension in that students get to listen to and see professionals play on period instruments, and they would learn a little about the Baroque period.
There are many other ways You Tube videos can be used in schools e.g. they can be embedded into blogs and wikis. Apart from that there are countless You Tube videos on many topics, and many particular events or phenomena can be viewed, such as a solar or lunar eclipse in a space unit. I have included a You Tube video showing the total solar eclipse from the 1st of August, 2009, into my wiki. The URL for my wiki can be found in the posting entitled 'Blogs, Wikis and Vokis', posted 04.04.10.
I would play this version to string students at a high school, talk about period instruments and ask the students to listen and see if they can tell the difference between each violinist's part, and if they can figure out what the cellist plays. Following this introduction the students would learn to play the Canon in D.
Instrumental music is very hands-on at any time. This exercise would add another dimension in that students get to listen to and see professionals play on period instruments, and they would learn a little about the Baroque period.
There are many other ways You Tube videos can be used in schools e.g. they can be embedded into blogs and wikis. Apart from that there are countless You Tube videos on many topics, and many particular events or phenomena can be viewed, such as a solar or lunar eclipse in a space unit. I have included a You Tube video showing the total solar eclipse from the 1st of August, 2009, into my wiki. The URL for my wiki can be found in the posting entitled 'Blogs, Wikis and Vokis', posted 04.04.10.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Photo Activities
At first I established a Flickr account and uploaded some digital photos into Flickr.
I then looked for and found a photo I liked, downloaded it onto my computer before posting it to my blog. It is entitled
'Redoubt... before the eruption'
I uploaded 'Harbour in the Morning', which I took at the end of last year on a morning stroll in Port Douglas, from my computer into Picnik. I cropped it slightly and then reduced the size from 3648 by 2736 pixels to 500 by 389 pixels, or from 5.37 MB to 118 KB. This is a huge reduction, obviously at the expense of quality; however, the great advantage is that it can be uploaded much quicker. I then saved it to my computer and posted it to my blog.
'Harbour in the Morning'
Photos are another wonderful tool for teacher and student use alike. Children can obtain photos from Flickr or use their own or anyone's (with permission) photos. They can then easily reduce the pixels and embed them into their blogs or wikis or use them to make conventional assignments more attractive.
There is a great photo, which I took last year during the dust storm, in my wiki (please find URL in 'Blogs, Wikis and Vokis', posted 04.04.10). This picture takes a little while to download as I haven't reduced the pixels (at that time I didn't know, yet, how to do this); however, this picture is worth waiting for.
I then looked for and found a photo I liked, downloaded it onto my computer before posting it to my blog. It is entitled
'Redoubt... before the eruption'
I uploaded 'Harbour in the Morning', which I took at the end of last year on a morning stroll in Port Douglas, from my computer into Picnik. I cropped it slightly and then reduced the size from 3648 by 2736 pixels to 500 by 389 pixels, or from 5.37 MB to 118 KB. This is a huge reduction, obviously at the expense of quality; however, the great advantage is that it can be uploaded much quicker. I then saved it to my computer and posted it to my blog.
'Harbour in the Morning'
Photos are another wonderful tool for teacher and student use alike. Children can obtain photos from Flickr or use their own or anyone's (with permission) photos. They can then easily reduce the pixels and embed them into their blogs or wikis or use them to make conventional assignments more attractive.
There is a great photo, which I took last year during the dust storm, in my wiki (please find URL in 'Blogs, Wikis and Vokis', posted 04.04.10). This picture takes a little while to download as I haven't reduced the pixels (at that time I didn't know, yet, how to do this); however, this picture is worth waiting for.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
PowerPoint
Oops, I completely missed the (power) point! I was so excited about learning how to create a power point presentation - I had never done this before - and then putting it into practice, that I didn't read the bits where it says that the focus would be on power point as a teacher-based presentation, and that I was to create a presentation for one of my classes. Oh dear! Now I ended up with the presentation 'Facts about Bees' which I would expect a student in year three or four to make and use as visuals for an oral presentation.
Actually, I think I would be able to use this presentation as a teaching tool. I could show it to students as a guide for that which I expect of them. Yes, I think this would work. Phew, I got out of this one!
This is a rather simple power point presentation. I look forward to having the time to learn more about the great features that power point has to offer.
Power point is a great tool for teachers when presenting new topics, or as a step-by-step guide. If attractively created, these presentations are excellent for keeping students visually engaged.
I can see much potential for children using power point for creating their own projects. Even poor spellers or children with messy handwriting should be able to come up with really neat presentations.
Power point presentations are often made up of dot-points, which make them great for student's oral presentations. The audience's visual attention is likely to be divided between the screen and sometimes nervous presenters, which could make them feel more at ease.
Facts About Bees
View more presentations from Beeke Smith.
Actually, I think I would be able to use this presentation as a teaching tool. I could show it to students as a guide for that which I expect of them. Yes, I think this would work. Phew, I got out of this one!
This is a rather simple power point presentation. I look forward to having the time to learn more about the great features that power point has to offer.
Power point is a great tool for teachers when presenting new topics, or as a step-by-step guide. If attractively created, these presentations are excellent for keeping students visually engaged.
I can see much potential for children using power point for creating their own projects. Even poor spellers or children with messy handwriting should be able to come up with really neat presentations.
Power point presentations are often made up of dot-points, which make them great for student's oral presentations. The audience's visual attention is likely to be divided between the screen and sometimes nervous presenters, which could make them feel more at ease.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Mahara
I was fortunate to have created a NetSpot account and to have had a little play with Mahara during residential school, but oh, do I find this program a challenge! I don't know how many hours I spent watching those You Tube videos (the most painful thing was waiting for them to download!) again and again, while at the same time doing the steps in Mahara. I have created a bit of a view with which I am nowhere near happy, however, I think I know now how to change that; but I also know that I still have much to learn.
Mahara seems to be a very comprehensive tool. It is a networking system and an electronic portfolio, excellent for keeping one's resume and all those other documents, all in one place. A whole lot of different types of files can be stored in Mahara, and they can be made available in separate views for different audiences.
I can see potential use of it in schools, perhaps not so much by the younger children, but definitely by students from grade 3 or 4 onwards. Setting it up would be a good learning experience in itself and I imagine students would enjoy the process. Children could use Mahara to store their work in. This would be an incentive to produce work of a high standard. A view of a selection of their work including word documents, power point presentations, photos and wikis can be made available to others. I can just imagine the joy on grandparent's faces when viewing high quality work in their little darling's e-portfolios.
Mahara seems to be a very comprehensive tool. It is a networking system and an electronic portfolio, excellent for keeping one's resume and all those other documents, all in one place. A whole lot of different types of files can be stored in Mahara, and they can be made available in separate views for different audiences.
I can see potential use of it in schools, perhaps not so much by the younger children, but definitely by students from grade 3 or 4 onwards. Setting it up would be a good learning experience in itself and I imagine students would enjoy the process. Children could use Mahara to store their work in. This would be an incentive to produce work of a high standard. A view of a selection of their work including word documents, power point presentations, photos and wikis can be made available to others. I can just imagine the joy on grandparent's faces when viewing high quality work in their little darling's e-portfolios.
Using Blogs, Wikis and Vokis in Schools
Let's say in my EPL School the students will be doing a unit on space during Term 2. All children could have their own blogs, their own Space E-Journal to which they add on a regular basis what they have learned; and they could include links of interesting websites, embed pictures, videos and vokis. Students could give one another feedback and more ideas.
At the same time students could work in small teams, each working on a different project about space, and set up a group wiki to which each group member is permitted to add. The wiki can contain images, videos and more. Students could also collaborate on a class wiki to which each team adds information about their topic thus creating a more comprehensive wiki.
Gifted and talented students with similar interest could collaborate in a wiki on a particular topic of common interest, and they can work on this in and out of class time.
I imagine children would have a lot of fun creating their own vokis and use them in their blogs to introduce sections or at the end to summarise, making those characters or animals talk. I invite you to press 'play' and hear my talking dog. I guess vokis could also be used for sound effects.
The reading 'Teacher Education and the New Knowledge Environment' by Heath (2001), in which he talks about two modes of knowledge, comes to mind. Heath sees Mode 1 knowledge as being attained through a more conventional, theoretical, authoritative way, and Mode 2 knowledge as a more practical, procedural approach. With these technologies students would have opportunities to engage in Mode 2 learning and encompass, as Heath puts it on page 4, "...multiple sites of knowledge production, multiple modes of knowledge and multiple means of its distribution."
At the same time students could work in small teams, each working on a different project about space, and set up a group wiki to which each group member is permitted to add. The wiki can contain images, videos and more. Students could also collaborate on a class wiki to which each team adds information about their topic thus creating a more comprehensive wiki.
Gifted and talented students with similar interest could collaborate in a wiki on a particular topic of common interest, and they can work on this in and out of class time.
I imagine children would have a lot of fun creating their own vokis and use them in their blogs to introduce sections or at the end to summarise, making those characters or animals talk. I invite you to press 'play' and hear my talking dog. I guess vokis could also be used for sound effects.
The reading 'Teacher Education and the New Knowledge Environment' by Heath (2001), in which he talks about two modes of knowledge, comes to mind. Heath sees Mode 1 knowledge as being attained through a more conventional, theoretical, authoritative way, and Mode 2 knowledge as a more practical, procedural approach. With these technologies students would have opportunities to engage in Mode 2 learning and encompass, as Heath puts it on page 4, "...multiple sites of knowledge production, multiple modes of knowledge and multiple means of its distribution."
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Blogs, Wikis and Vokis
Creating this blog was interesting, but it took me a very long time, again and again clicking on all the tabs and figuring out how to use the different features.
I didn't find setting up an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) aggregator as difficult as understanding the concept of one. Anyway, I think I do understand it now: we can use an aggregator such as google reader to notify us of new postings in other blogs that are of interest to us rather than going into each blog separately, thus saving a lot of time. It sounds simple now that I 'got it'.
I didn't consciously know what the word wiki meant even though I have consulted wikipedia on many occasions. Creating my own wiki was fun, but again, it was a process that took me a few hours. I found the videos in http://www.wikispaces.com/site/tour with their clear instructions very helpful.
Please feel free to have a look at my wiki at http://spaceexploring.wikispaces.com/.
What is the difference between a blog and a wiki? This is how I understand it:
A blog is a personal online journal which is accessible by others who are able to give feedback.
A wiki is a collaboration tool that is accessible by many and can be added to by the ones who have permission.
I am just about to attempt to add my freshly created voki to my blog. I wonder if it works.
So Glad I Can Talk
I didn't find setting up an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) aggregator as difficult as understanding the concept of one. Anyway, I think I do understand it now: we can use an aggregator such as google reader to notify us of new postings in other blogs that are of interest to us rather than going into each blog separately, thus saving a lot of time. It sounds simple now that I 'got it'.
I didn't consciously know what the word wiki meant even though I have consulted wikipedia on many occasions. Creating my own wiki was fun, but again, it was a process that took me a few hours. I found the videos in http://www.wikispaces.com/site/tour with their clear instructions very helpful.
Please feel free to have a look at my wiki at http://spaceexploring.wikispaces.com/.
What is the difference between a blog and a wiki? This is how I understand it:
A blog is a personal online journal which is accessible by others who are able to give feedback.
A wiki is a collaboration tool that is accessible by many and can be added to by the ones who have permission.
I am just about to attempt to add my freshly created voki to my blog. I wonder if it works.
So Glad I Can Talk
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Coping with this ICT Course
Finally I arrived at the now, well, nearly. I thought that it would be pretty 'cool' to learn more about ICTs, and I haven't changed my mind. However, when I looked at the huge amount of the first week's reading materials and since everything to do with computers takes me ages to grasp, I realised that 10 hours per week is nowhere near enough! Therefore this little slow learner has spent about thirty hours per week on this subject; and sometimes not getting anywhere. There were times when I thought I had to drop out, however, I am over that now and I'm extremely glad about this!
Reflection on Music Degree
During this degree I had two violin teachers. The first insisted on choosing the pieces that I would work on and later play in my exams, while the second let me choose the music. This is a very clear example of teacher centred and then learner centred. While with one teacher there was a good atmosphere for most of the time but occasionally terrible tension, the lessons with the other teacher always went smoothly and there was much enthusiasm on her part and on mine (DOL 1 and DOL 5, habits of mind).
Many of the subjects had a real purpose. I was able to pass on some of what I learned in my own lessons to my students, sometimes as immediate as the next day or week. When performing in public I had the opportunity to give to the community, and I have been using 'Sibelius' in my work extensively to write and arrange music for my students.
Finally I am extremely glad that I learned about computers. Without this knowledge, which is still quite limited, I don't think I would have been able to do this course.
Many of the subjects had a real purpose. I was able to pass on some of what I learned in my own lessons to my students, sometimes as immediate as the next day or week. When performing in public I had the opportunity to give to the community, and I have been using 'Sibelius' in my work extensively to write and arrange music for my students.
Finally I am extremely glad that I learned about computers. Without this knowledge, which is still quite limited, I don't think I would have been able to do this course.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Music Degree
My next 'bit' of formal study was my music degree, which I completed in 2009. I majored in the violin. The lessons and daily practice sessions (more than two hours a day, which mostly seemed to pass in no time!) were very much hands-on. So was Aural and Practical Musicianship, which included 36 hours of playing in one or more groups each term. I played in different ensembles, local orchestras and was part of a bush band over the course of the degree, often performing in public.
When I first started, I had close to zero computer experience. I was shocked when I found out that all the course material was online and that lecturers preferred e-mail over phone conversations. I had no choice but to figure out, often with the help of my youngest son, how everything works.
I did conduction and learned how to use 'Sibelius', an excellent notation program. I learned to record music with 'Protools'. In my favourite assignment I arranged a piano piece for full orchestra and became so engaged that I forgot about meals and everything else in the world. The whole rather complex arrangement was completed in only a few days. For another assignment I wrote and recorded a song.
Then there was music theory and history.
When I first started, I had close to zero computer experience. I was shocked when I found out that all the course material was online and that lecturers preferred e-mail over phone conversations. I had no choice but to figure out, often with the help of my youngest son, how everything works.
I did conduction and learned how to use 'Sibelius', an excellent notation program. I learned to record music with 'Protools'. In my favourite assignment I arranged a piano piece for full orchestra and became so engaged that I forgot about meals and everything else in the world. The whole rather complex arrangement was completed in only a few days. For another assignment I wrote and recorded a song.
Then there was music theory and history.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Reflection on High School
In high school most of the lessons were largely chalk and talk except for sport (there were no theory lessons), visual arts, music and chemistry, and they were very much teacher centred. I cannot remember any excursions. There were no computers or TVs at school. A few times old silent films were shown in history and geography lessons. The quality of these films was shocking!
Most of the time teachers stood in front and wrote onto the blackboard that which we had to copy, or they told us what to work on in our textbooks. New concepts were explained and there were class discussions. That was about it. There were several students who were not engaged in the lessons, especially when they were not interested in the particular subject. This is where the first of Marzano's Dimensions of Learning, (DOL 1), attitudes and perceptions, comes to mind. Who is responsible for students' negative attitudes towards subjects, the student or the teacher? According to Marzano the answer is both.
We, as teachers, should
1. help students foster positive attitudes. This includes helping them to develop strategies for improving their attitudes and perceptions and
2. design lessons which keep students engaged.
Kearsley and Shneiderman's Engagement Theory implies that learning activities should
1. happen in collaborative teams
2. be project-based and
3. have a real-life focus
There are three components to the Engagement Theory, Relate-Create-Donate.
Relate: students work on a problem task they can relate to
Create: students create a solution to the problem
Donate: students give the solution to the world
When I watched and listened to George Lucas, the founder of Edutopia, talk about 21st Century education, I realised that this is the Engagement Theory in action. Teachers are there to help students nurture their interest and confidence. Students work together on projects that have a real meaning, work on something they can give to the community.
Most of the time teachers stood in front and wrote onto the blackboard that which we had to copy, or they told us what to work on in our textbooks. New concepts were explained and there were class discussions. That was about it. There were several students who were not engaged in the lessons, especially when they were not interested in the particular subject. This is where the first of Marzano's Dimensions of Learning, (DOL 1), attitudes and perceptions, comes to mind. Who is responsible for students' negative attitudes towards subjects, the student or the teacher? According to Marzano the answer is both.
We, as teachers, should
1. help students foster positive attitudes. This includes helping them to develop strategies for improving their attitudes and perceptions and
2. design lessons which keep students engaged.
Kearsley and Shneiderman's Engagement Theory implies that learning activities should
1. happen in collaborative teams
2. be project-based and
3. have a real-life focus
There are three components to the Engagement Theory, Relate-Create-Donate.
Relate: students work on a problem task they can relate to
Create: students create a solution to the problem
Donate: students give the solution to the world
When I watched and listened to George Lucas, the founder of Edutopia, talk about 21st Century education, I realised that this is the Engagement Theory in action. Teachers are there to help students nurture their interest and confidence. Students work together on projects that have a real meaning, work on something they can give to the community.
High School
In Germany high school started in grade 5, and I went to the local gymnasium. All of a sudden we had a different teacher for each subject, and there were many. The different sciences were taught as separate subjects: physics, chemistry and biology. There was history, geography, social studies, religion, sport, visual arts and music as well as mathematics and German and, can you believe it, the boys did woodwork while we, the girls, were knitting and sowing!
Chemistry was my favourite subject. I have fond memories of my passionate chemistry teacher guiding us through one experiment after another.
When I was in year 8 my parents separated. It was decided that my sister and one brother would go with my mother, and my youngest brother and I with my father. I was not coping well with this new change. This became apparent at school when my marks dropped by one in each subject. I found it difficult to focus on lessons, became disengaged and spent much of my time in class staring outside through the window. I began to hate school and I was never able to get my marks up again. Maslow's Hierarchy had crumbled. While I still had food and shelter, there was no more the stability I had enjoyed before. The family unit had split, I didn't know where I belonged, and this went all the way up the hierarchy. My self-esteem wasn't what it used to be and I was not achieving to my potential.
Chemistry was my favourite subject. I have fond memories of my passionate chemistry teacher guiding us through one experiment after another.
When I was in year 8 my parents separated. It was decided that my sister and one brother would go with my mother, and my youngest brother and I with my father. I was not coping well with this new change. This became apparent at school when my marks dropped by one in each subject. I found it difficult to focus on lessons, became disengaged and spent much of my time in class staring outside through the window. I began to hate school and I was never able to get my marks up again. Maslow's Hierarchy had crumbled. While I still had food and shelter, there was no more the stability I had enjoyed before. The family unit had split, I didn't know where I belonged, and this went all the way up the hierarchy. My self-esteem wasn't what it used to be and I was not achieving to my potential.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Reflection
Primary school was largely an enjoyable experience for me. I liked going to school and was reasonably good at it, especially at music. I was interested in most subjects, and even though the approach was teacher centred, one could say that, in my case, much of it was also learner centred, since it was suitable for me, though it is very unlikely that it was intentionally designed for my interests and learning styles.
There were some students who could not stay engaged. I remember a couple of boys who were oftentimes made sit on a chair facing the wall and sometimes sent to the principal. I always felt that this particular teacher, who taught me from grade 1 to 4, preferred the girls. I may be wrong in this, but thinking about it a little more takes me to the first of the five dimensions: Attitudes and Perceptions. If a teacher has a less than great attitude towards groups of students or individuals, how can these students have a positive attitude towards this teacher's lessons?
I do find it interesting that I have the fondest memories of experiences where we actually 'did' something, rather than just sitting still and listening, like excursions, sport, singing and doing projects. Yes, I remember the things that were relevant to real life!
However, I also have strong memories of the grammar exercises. This may be so because I disliked them, or perhaps because we did so many of them, I'm not sure.
Thinking about Maslow's hierarchy of needs, it was well intact then. I had several friends, a happy home-life with my three siblings, and parents who took us on camping and canoeing adventures on weekends and in the school holidays.
When I did some of the personality and learning styles tests a couple of weeks ago, I learned a lot about myself:
According to Jung's Typology test I am apparently a feeling and judging introvert.
On Felser's scale things were reasonably well in balance.
Emotional Intelligence: average
According to Gardner's Multiple Intelligences test, I scored the highest in musical intelligence, followed closely by naturalistic, then intrapersonal and kinaesthetic.
Okay, I 'get' it, I am an introvert. But no! This cannot not true, I love people! But I do think that I learn well when working by myself.
What do these experiences tell me about my own teaching design, or should I say my own design or way of managing student learning?
Should I teach no grammar and get the kids out of the classroom?
The answer to this question would be no, but I couldn't imagine that kids nowadays would find folk songs too interesting, or the identification of trees. A lot has changed in the last forty years. Many parents don't let their children roam and climb trees anymore. Children now are exposed to ICTs from a very early age and we, as learning managers, have no choice but to use ICTs in schools, and use them extensively if this is going to help students become engaged, but it not only that. We need to make sure that children become skilled in many different ways in which ICTs can be used, and this has been changing rapidly and it seems obvious that it is going to continue to do so. It is our responsibility to gain ICT skills ourselves, keep up with the latest, continually expand our knowledge and skills, yes, be life-long learners. Someone like me has to work harder at this since I have only started using computers reasonably confidently about six years ago.
Furthermore I need to get to know the children, get to know a little bit about their home-lives, their interests, the styles in which they learn best. I will then need to design my lessons in a way that they cater for the different learning styles and the different interests of students, in other words student centred. I imagine this will not be easy, and if a certain lesson plan or unit works one year, I will have to review it and perhaps make changes before using it a year later with another class, a class with students of again different interests and learning styles.
There were some students who could not stay engaged. I remember a couple of boys who were oftentimes made sit on a chair facing the wall and sometimes sent to the principal. I always felt that this particular teacher, who taught me from grade 1 to 4, preferred the girls. I may be wrong in this, but thinking about it a little more takes me to the first of the five dimensions: Attitudes and Perceptions. If a teacher has a less than great attitude towards groups of students or individuals, how can these students have a positive attitude towards this teacher's lessons?
I do find it interesting that I have the fondest memories of experiences where we actually 'did' something, rather than just sitting still and listening, like excursions, sport, singing and doing projects. Yes, I remember the things that were relevant to real life!
However, I also have strong memories of the grammar exercises. This may be so because I disliked them, or perhaps because we did so many of them, I'm not sure.
Thinking about Maslow's hierarchy of needs, it was well intact then. I had several friends, a happy home-life with my three siblings, and parents who took us on camping and canoeing adventures on weekends and in the school holidays.
When I did some of the personality and learning styles tests a couple of weeks ago, I learned a lot about myself:
According to Jung's Typology test I am apparently a feeling and judging introvert.
On Felser's scale things were reasonably well in balance.
Emotional Intelligence: average
According to Gardner's Multiple Intelligences test, I scored the highest in musical intelligence, followed closely by naturalistic, then intrapersonal and kinaesthetic.
Okay, I 'get' it, I am an introvert. But no! This cannot not true, I love people! But I do think that I learn well when working by myself.
What do these experiences tell me about my own teaching design, or should I say my own design or way of managing student learning?
Should I teach no grammar and get the kids out of the classroom?
The answer to this question would be no, but I couldn't imagine that kids nowadays would find folk songs too interesting, or the identification of trees. A lot has changed in the last forty years. Many parents don't let their children roam and climb trees anymore. Children now are exposed to ICTs from a very early age and we, as learning managers, have no choice but to use ICTs in schools, and use them extensively if this is going to help students become engaged, but it not only that. We need to make sure that children become skilled in many different ways in which ICTs can be used, and this has been changing rapidly and it seems obvious that it is going to continue to do so. It is our responsibility to gain ICT skills ourselves, keep up with the latest, continually expand our knowledge and skills, yes, be life-long learners. Someone like me has to work harder at this since I have only started using computers reasonably confidently about six years ago.
Furthermore I need to get to know the children, get to know a little bit about their home-lives, their interests, the styles in which they learn best. I will then need to design my lessons in a way that they cater for the different learning styles and the different interests of students, in other words student centred. I imagine this will not be easy, and if a certain lesson plan or unit works one year, I will have to review it and perhaps make changes before using it a year later with another class, a class with students of again different interests and learning styles.
Going Back, Primary School
My own schooling took place in a small town in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In primary school (grades 1 to 4) our school day began with the singing of German folk songs, our repertoire ever increasing, which I loved, but some children hated.
Apart from the usual chalk and talk language and mathematics lessons we learned about where the food we eat comes from e.g. milk, cream and cheese, followed by a visit to the local milk factory. We did projects on the different grains grown in Germany.
We learned about the area we lived in, the timber industry, and I remember being completely impressed by an excursion to a place where attractive quality puppets are created, their heads hand-carved from wood.
Wild animals were covered, the deer, hare, hedgehog and birds including the nightingale, the different wood-peckers and birds of prey. I recall doing a project on sqirrels and spending seemingly hours on drawing this pretty little creature.
Once we went on a nature walk as part of a unit on common trees. We learned to identify the different trees by their bark, leaves, flowers and seeds. There were oak trees, beech, birch, willow, maple trees and many more.
The German Geography was covered with important cities, rivers, mountains, forests and industries.
Sport was fun, though I was never really good at it, and mostly indoors in a huge sports hall. Only on fine days (in Germany there are about as many fine days as there are rainy days in Australia) would we go outside and practice for the yearly athletics carnival or play team games.
I only have vague memories of maths and language lessons, however, I do recall teachers giving us hours and hours of grammar exercises, in order to get us to understand the ever so complex German grammar.
Apart from the usual chalk and talk language and mathematics lessons we learned about where the food we eat comes from e.g. milk, cream and cheese, followed by a visit to the local milk factory. We did projects on the different grains grown in Germany.
We learned about the area we lived in, the timber industry, and I remember being completely impressed by an excursion to a place where attractive quality puppets are created, their heads hand-carved from wood.
Wild animals were covered, the deer, hare, hedgehog and birds including the nightingale, the different wood-peckers and birds of prey. I recall doing a project on sqirrels and spending seemingly hours on drawing this pretty little creature.
Once we went on a nature walk as part of a unit on common trees. We learned to identify the different trees by their bark, leaves, flowers and seeds. There were oak trees, beech, birch, willow, maple trees and many more.
The German Geography was covered with important cities, rivers, mountains, forests and industries.
Sport was fun, though I was never really good at it, and mostly indoors in a huge sports hall. Only on fine days (in Germany there are about as many fine days as there are rainy days in Australia) would we go outside and practice for the yearly athletics carnival or play team games.
I only have vague memories of maths and language lessons, however, I do recall teachers giving us hours and hours of grammar exercises, in order to get us to understand the ever so complex German grammar.
A little bit about myself
I have been teaching violin and guitar for more than thirteen years and I absolutely love it! In 2004 I decided to do formal study in order become qualified for the work that I do. I was fortunate to be able to do a music degree through the Mackay Conservatorium as an external student while at the same time continuing with my work.
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