Since day one of this course, I feel that I am better equipped to be a teacher and share my knowledge to other teachers. After reading The Big Picture by Dennis Littky, cover to cover (when was the last time I read a book in its entirety? yikes!) I understand his views and concerns. Although he is a bit extreme to me, I have picked the concepts and ideas out of the book as "doubles". Simple things, like having students have a voice and choice..can I do that? YES! Creating relationships with families in the very beginning of the year is what I plan on doing, etc. etc. etc. Andrew created a safe, collaborative, engaging and relevant course where I felt the need to participate in every session. I tried to be quiet in the beginning, however, the topics that were discussed were to juicy to be a bystander. That is what a good class should do. I thank you Andrew for your expertise, engaging topics, and helpful knowledge. I have your contact, so as said in "The Wedding Crashers".."IIIIIIIIIII finnnnnnd youuuuuuuu" =)
Working in my Integration Project has made me realize the comfort and struggles students must have when working in groups. Who is the leader? Are we all working on the same thing or can we spread out responsibilities? Is everyone on the same page? I now recognize the students NEED to learn HOW to work in a group. How? I think doing ice breaker activities and getting to know each other activities help unite and make the class cohesive. Once students trust each other and know each other's strengths and weaknesses, then group work isn't so daunting.
1. How does the idea of Khan Academy relate to the ideas and philosophies of Big Picture?
The idea of Khan Academy, where students learn are learning at their own pace and time through the use of technology, supports The Big Picture's view that students learn best when they are in charge of their learning. Another relation between Khan and The Big Picture is that instead of the teacher being the lead educator, the students are teaching each other through watching the videos and conversing about their findings. I liked the idea that when the teacher looks at the graph of who has mastery of a concept, to partner them up with a struggling student as the "first line of defense"- Littky would be proud =) Both Khan and The Big Picture provide enjoyment while learning and to humanize the classroom (interactions and enjoyment= a lot of learning can happen!) 2. What is your current situation with technology? (school, home, students) I am personally not a huge tech person. I am not interested in social media, and the only type I use is Facebook (rarely). In the classroom, I incorporate technology in the classroom on a daily basis. Using an ELMO to teach concepts, providing games on the computers for every student to develop tech-skills (keyboard and mouse functions), etc. The kids are very tech savvy and I continue to strengthen their skills. 1. How can you foster the ability of the students or people around you to think "outside the box"?
In order for teachers to think outside the box, we need to trust each other and take risks. There needs to be time for teachers to collaborate, have opportunities for team-building, etc. and at our school, we aren't given any time. Our time is spent listening in meetings and listening at workshops. Almost every workshop (inservice) I attended in the last 2 years was hand-holding activities and listening. If we want to have our students be risk takers and team members, then we need to understand how and what it feels and looks like. If we, as teachers aren't given the opportunity to show that it can be done, then how will we show our students? This was my favorite chapter because Lettky did a great job in painting a clear picture of how pointless grades are. I have never been questioned about the reason behind grades and having an alternative way to measure student growth. I had an epiphany =) The way Lettky explains how his teachers justify their student's growth and areas of concern is through a narrative. Yes, it's time-consuming, however it is more realistic. The "real world" doesn't give grades, so why do we use them?
3. Why do schools so often seem to resist, or even fear, parent involvement? What can parents do to change this? What can schools do?
Based on my experience at my school, that I witnessed, one event changed the way parents are involved at our school. A parent couldn't find her son at pickup time and frantically walked on campus cursing, screaming, pushing the principal and teacher, yelling, etc. She made a huge scene, when in reality, he had walked home instead of wait for her to be picked up. This caused our school to make a "closed campus". Parents could no longer walk their child to class (other than checking in at the office and wearing a visitor badge). 99.9% of parents respect the school, teachers, staff, and property, but its that .5% that unfortunately creates the rules (the exception). As Littky stated in a previous chapter, "Why do we make rules based on the exception?" (He was referring to hugging in this quote). I understand keeping our school safe is the priority, however, if we can't trust parents to walk on campus without wearing a "badge", how are we going to begin trusting and involving parents in a positive way?
"When we are interested in what we are learning, no one has to force us to keep learning; we just do"-
I completely agree with this quote from chapter 5. I was a struggling reader and was not interested in reading. I was just decoding text and not comprehending what I was reading. My mom couldn't understand why, and she kept asking me to "paint a picture of the words in my head". I tried and tried, but still wasn't processing the information. Then, we went to the library and as I was walking down the endless rows of books, I came across a section that I had never discovered "BIOGRAPHIES" At that time, it was the winter olympics and Nancy Kerrigan was my idol. I began thumbing through the titles, when I came across a biography about Nancy's life. From then on, I gained the comprehension skills through reading something I was INTERESTED in, and then I become a strong reader. This is an example of when a student has an attachment or interest in the subject, then learning will begin. I used my experience when I was teaching 3rd grade. The students were going to do a report on a wild animal. The other 3rd grade teachers told me to assign them an animal because they said it was too much work to let them pick their own because I would be the one to get the information. I immediately felt ill about that idea as I had my flashback about the discovery of biographies and how EXCITED I was. I just nodded my head to the other teachers, shut my door, and scratched that stupid idea! My students chose their animal and WOW was in an amazing and fun 3 weeks. Yes, I helped them get research and yes it took time-but that's my JOB! Each student chose an animal, and not by choice, there were not 2 people doing the same animal. From tigers to sharks to porcupines, students worked their butts off and enjoyed the process. The Big Picture is extreme for "traditional teachers" who don't have that extreme choice, however we can make small changes to our practices to give students the best experience in learning. I love the quote "one size does not fit all"...so true, but that's the reality right now of our school system. I can hear you say..."what can we do to make that statement true", well, to begin, we need teachers who believe that statement is true. If every teacher believed that the BEST way for kids to learn is to individualize their education and meet their needs on a one-on-one basis, then the system will change. If students were grouped based on their interest instead of by their ability-don't you think that we would have students who were engaged, excited, happy, and determined? I can't remember all of the courses I took where I could careless and cheat and do anything possible to "get through the class". Ughh I don't wish that feeling on any student-sadly my wish hasn't come true YET.
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