Archive for the ‘Reflecting’ Category

Sharing our reflections

Thursday, April 13th, 2006

This past Tuesday I visited the class of a University of Georgia colleague, Gretchen Thomas. She invited me to be a guest speaker on my favorite topic, blogs and education. Several in the class knew about blogs but the definitions were consistently those of it being an online journal only. I love being able to dispel those notiions. It is exciting to be able to share the possibilities that blogs offer us in education. The majority of this bright class were Elementary Ed majors so I took them through The Write Weblog and modeled how you can use your blog to teach and learn from each other and then empower the students with their own blogs to explore their own learning. Each time I get the opportunity to talk about blogs I continue to be amazed at how interactive this process can be as you stand back and see the writers with distinctive voices emerge. There is really nothing like it. We talked about potential, possibilities and the need to truly listen to our students.

Near the end one of the students asked me what I thought the next big thing would be. The question kind of threw me as who knows? I told her that we just needed to be open to the ways that education needed to change and that they needed to be a part of these conversations. I pointed this group to wikis (which none had heard of) as a way to explore other possibilities and collaborate with others who are learning, too.

If any of Gretchen’s. students are reading this I just want to say that there is great value to this collective wisdom that can come from the voices of students and teachers on blogs. Let your voices be heard! We need to share our reflections.

“Bumping up” reflections

Wednesday, April 5th, 2006

Brainstorming possible questions for students for reflection about their learning:

Have you ever thought about how you learn? Think of times, either inside or outside of school, where you learned something really well. What helped you learn? Try to be as specific as you can. Was it the setting? Was it the teacher? Was it your motivation? Was it your attitude? Think hard about those things that are helpful to your learning. If it was not one of those listed, what was the thing that turned you on to learning?

Think about a time in school when you were excited about learning and you felt that you learned something that was important to you. What was that? Be specific about what made the learning exciting.

What would motivate you to learn if the topic was not something you were particularly interested in? Again, be as clear and detailed as you can.

How could teachers do a better job of making students a part of the solution to making class a place where learning is something to enjoy and look forward to?

What ways could technology be used to help teach some of the things that are already being taught in your class?

Think of something you’d like to change at this school. Focus on something that affects your learning. Explain the steps that need to be taken to put this change in place.

What skills do you think are needed to prepare you for the real world? What should you be learning? Give reasons. If you think something is irrelevant that you currently are being taught, give reasons.

When you learn something new at school do you make a connection to something that you already knew that was related to it? Give an example.

Visualize the ideal classroom. Write about it in great detail. Make the class come alive through your writing.

Be creative. Think of ways to teach and learn some of the same skills that teachers seem to have to teach over and over.

A lot of adults are saying that education needs to change. They believe we are teaching like we have for years and years and years. They do not think we are preparing students for the 21st century. Jobs change, information changes and the feeling is that we need students who are critical thinkers and problem solvers. Do you agree? What do we need to change about education to achieve that? Do you disagree? Why?

Now I know these are tough, especially knowing that we don’t have the answers ourselves but I have found that if you present these questions to students and give them practice they begin to think “deeper”. When I taught in the elementary, I always headed for high school resources when preparing my lessons. The elementary material was dumbed down. They are worthy of far more “stretching”. They don’t know how at first, but you guide and get them thinking. Bump it up! (as I say to the kids!)

Of course, you wouldn’t give them all of these at once. I usually let them pick one to blog. They love having choices.

I welcome input or additional questions……

Locked in on reflection

Wednesday, April 5th, 2006

Today I was thinking about reflections, Bloom’s Taxonomy, blogs, teaching and learning. I know, what a combination! But thinking about and discussing how we learn is time well spent in our classes. I was looking for a piece I wrote to parents on the school web site where I worked in the past. It had suggestions for parents on fusing Bloom’s Taxonomy throughout daily activities at home. I wanted to revisit that. I haven’t found that yet but I will.

My brain keeps locking in on the importance of reflection, but reflection from students mainly. I wish more teachers would use blogs for reflections about learning in our schools. I have tried to include as much time as possible for students to reflect about their learning when blogging. They really need to be thinking about what they are learning. Writing about this thinking can give them practice in discovering the meaning and the relevance of what they are studying. They can do this from their viewpoint. We teachers could learn so much. We need to give our students time to do this. I think this would be time well spent, actually it is a form of evaluation that can be of more use to us than any other test available. Also, we get the opportunity to guide them in thinking about their own thinking and foster independence in their own learning. These skills have to be learned, practiced and developed. If we have lots of students doing this, just think about the conversations that could develop and the connections that could be made. We have our students so conditioned to deliver what we want. How many times has a student asked you, “Is this what you want?” or “How many pages do we have to write?”, We need to work at creating a mindset with our students where they learn to defend what they want and write as many or as few pages needed to get their point across.

I find that when you first begin this process with students, they are clueless. They have not been asked questions about their learning. Now isn’t that strange? Why do we just focus on the what and not the how? Our journey of learning is so rarely discussed. That’s one of the marvels of blogging for me. People are doing that and I get to be a part of the discussions. Wow! I still get excited. We’ve got to move those converations among ourselves to our students. We need to talk about how we construct meaning as we read and write (blog). We must guide them. We need to talk with them about how reading and writing are the tools for making sense of everyday life. I remember back to the days when I was a remedial reading teacher and found that most of the students had no clue what the main idea was, cause and effect, etc. They just did the worksheets. That’s another story though. These conversations need to be held with middle and high students. I find them just as awkward with it as the younger students. We need to push their thinking, have higher expectations and they will respond. I think I need to work on the questions to ask to get them to higher levels. That will be my next post. I invite input.

Technology Reflections & Observations

Tuesday, April 4th, 2006

Today I was looking for something else and came across this list. Isn’t that often the case? I wrote these in December of 2001, shortly before coming to Georgia State. I was talking to my former faculty at an elementary school. Hmmm, it could be a depressing thought to think how many still apply. On the other hand, many of these issues are being addressed through blogs and at least the conversations are being held. Some of my thinking has changed as this list was made before I even knew blogs existed. Some I still firmly believe.
Here’s my 2001 list:
• A huge amount of money can be wasted and minimal effects upon student learning can be achieved by simply following the trend setters and publishing companies who market their product as the answer to all our problems.

• No one technology program can meet the needs of all our students.

• There are very few experts in the field…just a whole bunch who claim to be.

• The opportunities for failure and waste are there if we do not give much thought to student learning or purpose.

• Districts try to demonstrate that they are modern, wired, and technologically advanced and not enough thought is given to how the technology is used to improve learning.

• Murphy is always going to be loose in the technology aspects of instruction as we grow, learn, and strive to keep up.

• There are very few models of good practice and almost no data or evidence to guide decision making. What little data we have is tainted by vendors and publisher’s self interests and profit motives and our desire as a system to justify what we have purchased.

• We have to ask the right questions, make right plans, reserve funds for professional development and think before we leap.

• There is a huge amount of information on the web but many times it can be an exercise in frustration as you spend an incredible amount of time searching for information.

• What is the best use of technology?

• Skill & drill vs. information power and literacy

• We want to take what we have learned in all of our staff developments and make sure that we are using technology to improve the way students think and learn.

• Technology is not an end in itself. It is just the tool to take us where we want to go. It is up to us to make the connection between our curriculum and the tool.

• We have to prepare our students for the future they will inherit. We must engage students in solving problems, making decisions and exploring though provoking questions. They have to learn to work in groups and participate in interactive learning.

• We are doing an excellent job of teaching basic skills but we need to apply these skills to issues and questions drawn from the world around them. WebQuests provide a tool to do just that.

• Process is what is important, not a perfect product.

It’s kind of neat to put this piece of the past down on my blog. I know I am going to think some more on the various points. I still love WebQuests for student activities but blogs have taken over in my world. They can have a transformative effect but we need to keep the focus on the learning. We need to keep getting more voices in the mix, especially those of the students. Get them talking and developing a “new story”.

Inspiration for the next generation

Thursday, March 30th, 2006

On today’s posts the fifth graders at BlogWrite discussed their recent podcasting experience where they gave their suggestions and insights on blogging to second graders.

I love Jason’s title for his blog post, Inspiration for the next generation. I know he won’t mind if I borrow it. Now he’s a fifth grader talking to second graders. (short generation span there but it’s all in the eye of the beholder). Also, see these inspirations: Angel, Diana, Derrick, Marisela, Jadae, and Graciela.
Now this is the part that excites me the most about blogging - when students talk about the process and what they felt and learned. Here are some of musings from these young bloggers:

  • details are the gold in your story
  • how learning improves on a second try
  • experiencing a range of emotions and moving from being nervous, embarassed, shy to gaining conficence
  • a step-by-step analysis of the process
  • how it helps knowing what to expect
  • how important motivation is
  • how to make your writing “pop-out”
  • doing something more difficult than you are accustomed to

Everytime students blog about the process these postings can lead us in directions to really improve our teaching and learning. The students are leading us. That’s why it is so important to have them blogging about the process. I really believe this is the way we can begin to open the eyes of others. The stories that are not being told are the ones from our students. We have to help them with the kind of reflective thinking that is required. It’s not that they can’t do it, They just haven’t been given many opportunities to do just that. This networked learning is so valuable and it can be the spark to really foster change. We have to raise our expectations of our kids. We have to give them opportunities. They will rise to the occasion. We need their voices.

Why I blog with students

Friday, March 17th, 2006

Nancy is planning to talk to a group of teachers on Saturday about blogging. She asked this favor:

One thing I want to talk about is why we blog with our classes. I would greatly appreciate it if you could leave me a brief comment here telling me why you blog with your students.

I love reading the various responses. Here’s mine (unfortunately, not brief, but I got carried away as I started listing some of my why’s). I could have added more.

Why I blog with students

Weblogs are unique spaces that we can use with students to make writing THE focus. We can publish quickly. We can set up an audience for them. We can give them ownership of their work in ways we cannot in our solitary classrooms. Students can get to practice writing through a diverse array of writing experiences. It’s a way we can make writing a joy for them and let our students know and feel that their writing matters. We have to set the stage and encourage the dialogue in our classroom that leads them toward understanding the power of the written word. I want our students to be a part of the conversations we have about education. It is a great way to reassess our teaching and re-examine student learning. It is also a good way to give our students a voice. We can listen and learn from them.

Another thing is that it lets us have the opportunity to truly integrate technology into instruction and build a community of powerful learning for our students. Weblogs can engage students in a purposeful practice of writing that can promote deeper learning.

Blogging can foster classroom conversations that matter. My having a weblog shows them that I make writing a priority. My having a blog lets me share my writing and learning with my students who have blogs. We’re in this together and we learn with and from each other. I use it as a tool in the classroom to ensure that the students and I are talking, reading and writing about how and what we are learning and thinking. We interact through comments. We have others outside our classroom enter the conversations. We work at building a community who respect and encourage each other. We learn to disagree agreeably. We write to learn. We blog to learn.

Be sure to add your reasons. It’s becoming a powerful list!

Puzzled but pondering

Thursday, March 16th, 2006

I’m going to get to podcast again with the kids next week. The last time they talked about comments and what they meant to them.

I began thinking about podcasting topics and a puzzling situation that recently occurred came to mind. There’s an elementary student in one of the blogging groups that I follow and work with some. This student has one of the best “voices’ I have read on blogs. He’s creative. The topics are well-thought out. Punctuation and flow is not always perfect but the writing is excellent. I’ve seen continued improvement since this student has been blogging. In one of my conversations with the principal it came out that this student was not a good writer in his classroom That floored me. His classroom teacher could not believe his good writing on the blogs. It just didn’t add up.

So I’m just going to toss out some thoughts and invite input from you.

  • Do blogs offer a different type of ownership for students that helps bring out their creativity and spark? Do they care more because many others will be reading their work?
  • Is blogging more fun and does it bring forth more effort on the student’s part? In the groups I have worked with we are usually blogging once a week, not daily. Is it the novelty?
  • Are the formal rules of writing getting in the way? In our classrooms, most writing projects are of a more formal nature. I don’t think we have as many spontaneous writing activities in our classrooms. This takes me back to one of my favorite posts from Elizabeth Lane Lawley, rules? I don’t need no stinkin’ rules! It has stuck with me. She was talking about blogging and concluded with this statement:

    Feh. A pox on all their rules, that’s what I say.

    Now maybe we should make the same pronouncement on writing rules. Do we impose rules upon our students that constrict their creativity? Now I’m not saying toss out all the rules but use them with common sense. Allow mistakes so they can learn. It is about the process. If the process is done correctly I believe they will want the product to be good and they will work themselves to create that. Perhaps too many rules too soon hampers writing. Do you have rules you impose upon yourself? I know I do and they get in my way and slow me down. I’m still thinking here but I think we need to dig deeper in this area. I’m just on the surface level.

I’m stuck on this and will write more later.

I need to pose the right questions to the kids. Many times they have the answers. I like having the kids reflect about such matters. This type of reflecting is new to them but they usually rise to the occasion and then some. They need lots more practice on thinking about their learning and talking about it - not rules, not facts but what works for them.

What about the middle and high school kids? What questions would you ask them?

Reflecting on reflecting

Wednesday, February 15th, 2006

To Be a Slave by Julius Lester is a book that Mrs. Baros is reading to the Getting Heard group. It has had a profound effect on them. Getting those feelings written down and on their blogs is no easy feat for these students. They really struggle. Mrs. Baros talked about reflections in class and how you have to make a connection. It can be a connection to your experiences, to a book, or to your personal feelings. Then she worked at taking them to another level encouraging them to think about the past and its effect on today. She encouraged them to think about what happened in history and what effect it had on them now. What difference has it made?  What’s the big picture? When they write they put down words but the thinking piece of the writing is a major struggle.

This got me thinking about the importance of providing time in our classrooms for reflection. This is something all our students need to be doing, as well as ourselves. What does our learning mean to us? We ask our students to reflect on what they have been learning but once students learn something they need time to explore that so that they can focus on it and try to make sense of it.I fear our classroom have become places where we go from skill to skill in order to cover material on which our students will be tested. We need more time for discussions where students are doing much of the talking. Then we need time for writing. Writing helps students connect the dots in their learning. Writing takes time but as they write they are putting pieces together and making connections. They have to have lots of practice with this. Far too many of our students cannot write, and unfortunately I’m not talking about just the at-risk students.

Running out of time for reflection seems to continue throughout our lives. We get too busy. I started thinking about workshops and conferences where the reflective piece is put at the end and in many instances time runs out or participants are filling it out hurriedly in order to go to the next session. That’s a shame because those reflective pieces become meaningless if they are done in a rush. 

I don’t think we do a very good job of having our students make connections to their learning. I think we need to start much earlier with this connection process and make reflection a viable piece in our classrooms. Our classrooms have to become places where we honor giving our students time to reflect. As for me, I am going to keep on reflecting on reflecting. Mrs. Neville and I are going to try to see how the second graders fare in this area. She is asking them some good questions on Becoming Authors.

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Another session with the second graders

Monday, February 13th, 2006

Last Friday I met again with Miss Neville’s second graders. They didn’t get to answer follow-up comments they had received because they were busy posting introductions. We wished we could do this for the whole day but unfortunately that couldn’t be. Miss Neville and I talked as they wrote. We decided that we’d use the class blog for them to post. We posted them under Miss Neville’s name and decided that we would label future posts from the students themselves in this manner:
Cameron’s Introduction (2nd part being whatever their post topic is) These students probably won’t be having individual blogs so we’re going to test-drive the management part of this. I think it will work fine. We’re working towards them being able to post, comment more in their classrooms during the week. We’re trying to come up with a plan that a classroom teacher can manage and oversee during the regular classroom time.

Gordon Brune and Bronwyn G. have commented on the kids’ introductions. Thanks so much! We hope we get more for them as we go along.

Kelly and I then brainstormed on our plan for next week. We decided to focus on the writing process and get them thinking about those aspects. Kelly had great ideas and was jotting them down as we talked. I suggested that that would be a great item for her to post. And post she did! Take a look! Isn’t it great? Now we’re emailing back and forth and tossing out thoughts and ideas and working out the kinks!

I’m trying to do a better job this time explaining the behind the scenes work with the teachers. Kelly Neville is working on her Instructional Technology degree at the University of Georgia. She is a quick learner and is not afraid of the technology. That helps a bunch! I love the school. It is full of warm and friendly people. It reminds me of J.H. House. I’m trying to give her the behind the scenes help, provide tips, share possibilities, and work with her in anyway she needs help.

Update:  Thank you, Elizabeth Ditz! (I love the name of her blog and it is one of the most interesting blogs I read!)

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Stories to Tell

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

I like Bud’s post, It’s Monday.

It echoes some of my sentiments although I haven’t been firmly

entrenched in the edublogssphere. I’ve been totally out of it for over a week dealing

with various personal issues. It’s good to be back though. When you

miss a week, you miss out.

When I read Clarence’s post, Telling New Stories, this statement just jumped off the page.

We need new stories about education but it may take a generation to change.

That’s

depressing but I’m so afraid it’s true. I get down and out about our

slow pace in education but then when I look around I get back up

because I do see so many good stories that I believe will hasten the

pace. We just have to keep sharing the stories, creating good models,

and blogging about needed changes.!  Here’s a few of those good

stories……

First off, from Clarence himself….

Blogging has given many of their ideas a sense of permanence. As

adults, we feel that blogs are transitory and formative, a space where

we can place our ideas down and ask for critique. But for students,

while they definitely see the formative nature of blogging, compared to

assignments that pass across a teacher’s desk and no one else reads

them, blogging gives their ideas a sense of time and themselves a sense

of progress and change allowing them to refer back to their ideas from

the beginning of the school year. What will this be like for kids when

they begin blogging during their early years of school and carry on

over years?

It

captures how students feel about blogs. I’ve seen that same feeling

with my elementary students. He speaks about bllogging giving their

ideas a sense of

permanence. I think it also is the “immediacy” of blogs.  It is

empowering to students that they can voice their thoughts and

immediately see them published on the web. Then the anticipation they

feel when they open their own blogs and knowing that someone cared

enough to comment and care about what they wrote. It really gives them

ownership in a way we could never provide within our classroom walls. Clarence is sure telling a lot of good stories.

Then

from one of Darren’s students. Her name is Kristen. There’s nothing

more powerful than the student voices. She is responding to his Pre-Cal

20S class.


I really believe that we as students, and Mr.K, have learned more than

just formulas and sequences, but we have learned something much more

valuable. We as a class have learned how to communicate, how to ask

questions, and take the most of of the opportunities that are handed to

us. We now can take these things with us to future courses, and

wherever our lives may take us. This has been a really fascinating

experience, and I am really glad I got to experience it with all of my

classmates, and Mr.K.

Mr.K, keep up the good work! (I sound like

a teacher, don’t I?). It’s people like you that show that high school

teachers can really care about their students and their learning. The

way you interact with your students, and how you go out of your way to

help us succeed, well, this just astounds me. Your determination and

willingness to succeed is a refreshing characteristic that not all

teachers have. You inspire me, as a student, and as a person. You make

me strive to be the best I can be, and to always “Go for Gold”.

Thanks for all that you have done, I am so grateful. More than you know.

Darren

said he had been interviewed a few times about how he used blogs as

educational tools in the classroom. He points to Kristen’s post as his

answer. Darren let his student do his talking for him! And doesn’t

she do it well?  I took the liberty of making one of Kristen’s

statements bold because

that really says it all. Darren is doing incredible work with students.

More of us need to jump in that arena. Kristen knows that they have

learned more than just formulas and sequences, something much more

valuable.His students have been empowered.  Blogs facilitate

connections. The impact of blogs on

education can really be seen through the voices of his students. They

take ownership of their learning. 

So, follow Kristen’s advice and “Go

for Gold!”

Then I read Zach’s post where

he shared how he learned from his mistake. Wow! His post is one you

could share with every student and they would all relate to it. Think

of the additional stories that could be told.  Then the really

neat story to tell here is what happened on his comments. Bronwyn G

makes a comment. Zachary’s mom makes a comment. Then Bronwyn G comments

back to both mom and Zachary. Then his classroom teacher commenting on how well he uses the traits of writing! Here

you have immediacy, permancy,

and  connections. The connections are where the real learning

occurs. His title is discussed and Zachary is led down a path of even

more connections. You see these everywhere with blogs. This is one of

the aspects I love best.

Now there are many more stories. We need to repeat them and share

them outside of our blog world, too. When I was the instructional lead

teacher at my former elementary

schools I was always amazed when I walked through the halls. Whenever

teachers were telling stories in their classrooms, almost always every

child would be giving the teacher their full attention, hanging on to

every word. They were mesmerized. So get your students in the loop and let’s do some more mesmerizing in the blogging world!



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