GREAT TEACHING=WHAT!!!??? LETTING GO???!!!

I believe that many teachers (to an extent) are “control freaks!”  I know I AM!  “Control” is important to us and is difficult for us to give it up.  I mean, if I ever “lost control” of my class, then there was little to no learning going on.  I believe this is the reason that many of us do not “scrimmage” more often.  

I also believe that many teachers are torn between all of the cues, scaffolding, prompting, & simplifying things for learners because “we” (teachers) are the ones held accountable for student learning… not the students… not the parents.  I mean I remember when I used to read the exact test to our students on Thursday and then give them that same test on Friday.  I know that we have been told before that we have to do “WHATEVER” we have to in order to make our students successful.  We’ve been told things like, “if they are failing your class, they BETTER fail the CRCT.  If they are passing your class, then they BETTER pass the CRCT.”  We have SST/RTI meetings to discuss and find ways to modify our lessons for struggling students “IN ORDER TO HELP MAKE THEM SUCCESSFUL.”  

My husband works at the middle school and I am at the elementary.  He used to teach math, and complained all of the time about the kids NOT being prepared for the middle school.  I HAD to admit to him that the elementary school HAS to take some responsibility for this.  I mean, I admitted how guilty we were of “spoon-feeding” our students.  

OH BOY! I LOVE the quote on the video-“If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.”  TIME!!!!  Now that’s one of our biggest problems!  Teachers have to make sure that they cover ALL of the content BEFORE the 3^rd week in April, and therefore feel that doesn’t leave much time for PLAY!

I LOVED listening to Lehmann.  He made the comment about the teachers' role in the classroom and how they should understand that it is not about control…it is about support.  What’s equally important is that this support is system-wide as well.  I still believe that many teachers are still not comfortable with giving up their control and depending on the students to guide their own learning or to be self-directed learners.  I do think that our more tech savvy teachers do a great job of allowing their students to do this and use many technologies or web 2.0 tools for their learning.  I just think that we could do better, especially in our middle & high school. 

Reflective Searching

I MUST admit that there have been MANY times that I have been as guilty as students are when it comes to typing in my entire question when I “GOOGLE IT!” I am better than I used to be, and after watching the Even Better Search Results video I now know how to refine my search results even better.

 I really did not realize just how “personally tailored” our search results were with their “filter bubbles.” I have mixed feelings on this. I believe that there is good and bad with these filters. While I LOVE to just “GOOGLE IT,” I see now just how important it is to use more than one source to gather information.

I think I am a pretty good searcher. I do think that I have gotten better at it over the years. I’m sure it is pretty obvious that I am of the Google Generation. It is the first place I go to when I want to know the answer to something. I will read over the summaries provided and look for keywords and information that I am looking for in my search.

I am currently covering the Research and Information Fluency standards. I asked my students where is the first place they look whenever they do not know the answer to something. MANY used that same term that I myself like to use—We GOOGLE IT! They were very familiar with this term. MANY also believed that if it was on the internet that it HAD to be true! While planning this unit the state farm commercial came to mind. Of course there’s a “blonde” in the commercial who believes that “they can’t put anything on the internet that isn’t true,” and so the guy asks, “Where’d ya here that?” AND of course she says, “The internet.” I believe this was a perfect example to show to my students. They understood the idea I was trying to get across when her “French Model” that she met on the internet showed up.

Information OVERLOAD!

The first two resources focus on what I would call information overload!  I like the comment about how our digital output has exceeded our ability to store it.  I believe this is why so many of us can’t seem to remember ANYTHING anymore--that this is exactly what is happening to our memories-running out of space to store info.  I like to call it “brain overload” is why I can’t seem to remember anything anymore!  

What comes to my mind as I view these resources is the time I tried explaining that MORE is NOT always better.  When info, resources, technology tools, etc… are constantly being thrown at our teachers without the appropriate amount of professional development for them, what happens is that they just feel OVERWHELMED with so much information or resources that many do not even know where to begin—and therefore many just do not use ANY of the resources.  We can’t seem to master one thing before there is something new already available.  

It’s tough for the classroom teacher to teach the necessary content AND learn AND teach the technology resources/tools to their students.  TIME-it’s always an issue.  NEVER enough time!  However, we must find ways to make technology work for us in the classroom--- to quote from the article Creating Classrooms We Need- “There are so many ways that kids can be active in their learning, beyond the standard call-and-respond business.”  This is where teachers need to realize that the technology tools can be more helpful than a hindrance to them.  We need to find the ways to make all of this technology and wealth of information work in the classroom in order to prepare of kids

effectively for the 21^st century workforce.  I have a quote outside my classroom-“We MUST prepare our kids for jobs that do not yet exist.”

POST #1

Brief Reminder:

I am Lynn Doyle and I teach technology to grades K-5 at Screven County Elementary School. 

Goals for FRIT 7234:

→I look forward to learning more about developing technology-based student learning that aligns to state and national professional learning standards. 

→I just HAVE to steal one of Ashley Miller’s goals: “to be able to keep up with the pace.  It’s been a while since I have taken a course!” 

→Effectively use web 2.0 tools, digital tools and technology resources to support the classroom subject areas for enhancing student learning.