Achievement Gap Movie

Journal #10 - "Making History"

A teacher from PA is using podcasts to help get her students more involved and out of the monotony of paper-based projects. She had students place themselves in a historic moment and act as though they were happening live. She had each group gather information through research first so that they could truly understand what their mood should be like when reenacting. They next were able to prepare a script and begin to record their podcast. They saved them as an MP3 file. Students were able to use these podcasts to eventually study for their final exam and to help review important material in a way other than reading a textbook or notes. Another tool that the teacher has used is a virtual business simulator that allowed students to create their own businesses and analyze why certain things happened to their profit and other portions of their business when certain decisions were made. These new virtual tools help to engage students that would otherwise sigh at the idea of “another research project”.

Why do you think these tools are so helpful to students?

With technology now being a part of each and every student’s everyday lives, it is important to incorporate it into the classroom. Many young adults gage their lives around technology including e-mail, e-music, social networks, etc. Instead of the old “poster projects”, digital tools now substitute for marker and poster paper. Students can create videos, podcasts, and other various digital projects that keep them engaged because they are now so in-tune with technology.

How would you incorporate this into an activity based on your content area?

As a future math teacher, I would have students act out situations in which they might use a concept we learned that year in the real world. For example, one group could say they were an architect trying to build a building and use Pythagorean’s Theorem to help solve an issue they had building it, etc. They would then create a video using this knowledge and following up by explaining the concept to the class. Each group would have a different concept so right before finals, they would be able to review all the concepts from the year using a real-world application.

Shein, E. (2008, Ocotber, 1). Making History. T.H.E. Journal, Retrieved November 07, 2008, from http://www.thejournal.com/articles/23394_1

Journal #9 - "Avoiding the 5 Most Common Mistakes in Using Blogs with Students"

While blogs are becoming more popular and resourceful as a classroom tool, Dr. Ruth Reynard states that there are 5 common mistakes that teachers make when using them. By knowing what these mistakes are and how to properly fix them, students will likely be more willing to include themselves in blogging activities.

1. Ineffective Contextualization:

This idea focuses on clarifying to students why and how the tool is creating an advantage to them and their education. It is the job of the instructor to decide what is an appropriate use of the tool within their classroom from how often to use it to which portion of the course it will aid in teaching. Because blogs are best used as self-reflection tools, teachers need to decide when self-reflection will most benefit the students within the course in order to not discourage the students.

2. Unclear Learning Outcomes

A teacher must have clear learning outcomes if they wish to use the blog for critical thinking and thought processing. One way to develop higher thinking skills using the blog is through analysis. Students can compare/contrast ideas and incorporate their answers for further learning through blogging. By doing so, they have it laid out for fellow students and themselves to reflect on. Another way is through synthesis. Synthesis can be used to take original ideas and incorporate them into what they are learning. Another way is through new ideas alone. By moving students toward new ideas through a blog, teachers can take their students to a higher level of learning. Lastly, a student’s application of all these newly developed ideas and thoughts shows that they truly have grasped a concept. It is great to see within one’s blog that these processes have been gone through step-by-step.

3. Misuse of the Environmen

It is of course important for a teacher to use a blog in the most appropriate way. For example, if a teacher is looking for a discussion, a blog is not the most appropriate tool. It is most important to use blogs for something that they can use to reflect as themselves on different ideas and also develop thought processes and “their own voice”.

4. Illusive Grading Practices

Grading of blogs should never be based on one’s specific answers because many students feel differently about different things. Instead, one should look at how well they reflect, use the course content in their ideas, move these ideas to a higher level, and apply these concepts to real life.

5. Inadequate Time Allocation

Because blogs are self-reflection tools, many students may need more time to learn more and expand their ideas within their blog. It is suggested that blog assignments stay open throughout a course so that students can often go back and add more to them.

If educators are able to follow these common mistakes and be sure not to fall into the traps of any of them, blogging should be an extremely effective tool within any classroom.

How could you use blogging within your content area of teaching?

As a future math teacher, I would use blogging for students to somewhat “workout” their problems with math. It is known that many students grunt and sigh at the idea of taking a math class. Instead of making it all numbers, I could have each student create a blog. The students would then be able to use these blogs to answer different questions I propose to them about real-world applications of math, their fears about math, and somewhat solve their own math issues by blogging about how I could make their math class better for them to understand.

Why do you think blogging/self-reflection are important tools to use within a classroom?

I think it is important for students to self-reflect because it makes them more aware of who they are and how they learn best. By thinking of what troubles they had with a certain concept, or what activity helped them learn best, students will understand better what they need in order to succeed. If students are aware of these ideas themselves, teachers are able to better adapt to their students’ diverse ways of learning.

Reynard, R. (2008, October, 15). Avoiding the 5 most common mistakes in using blogs with students.. T.H.E. Journal, Retrieved November 07, 2008, from http://www.thejournal.com/articles/23434_1

Journal #8 - "A 'Fantastic Super' Use of Technology: Closing the Digital Divide"

At a North Carolina pre-K-5 school, students, families, and educators are using e-mail and other technological tools to their advantages. Every family has access to Internet whether provided by their own funds or by the school’s grant through Bell-South. Students and their parents are able to e-mail teachers and administrators 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Each day a Web summary of what the students learned is posted onto the class website and parents are able to access it as well as other people that are parts of the students’ lives. Parents are able to know exactly what their child learned in school that day without having to ask the age old question or probe at their child for hours about what they learned. The entire design of the school, from classrooms to chairs to the way in which teachers are collaborating is set up to help students and support academics as best as possible.

What do you feel is the most important piece of technology that this school uses in their classrooms?

While I do not necessarily believe that there is one specific piece of technology that creates the best atmosphere for students, I think the e-mail plays a vital role in the success of communication between parents, teachers and students. Without e-mail, there would be a constant game of phone-tag being played as it has been in the past. I think that e-mail allows teachers to respond to parent questions quickly and abruptly without having to spend much time thinking about it. It also allows parents and teachers to access each other when they would otherwise not be available.

How would you incorporate the ideas given by this school into your classroom?

I think that it would be a great idea to have a class website or blog. Just as the article states, there would be much less paper used by choosing to go this route. Instead of having to print the newsletter one created in Word, they could publish it in their blog or on their site. Also, one could post grades on the site using student ID#s. I also love the idea of having a web-recap of the day’s events. It is a good idea to just have your students go over what they learned that day to keep it fresh in their mind, but it also helps to have it somewhere that they can access it to remind them in case they forget. One last way I would use the class blog/website is to post homework. I know that students often do not write down what their homework assignment is and forget to do it. If the students could get into a routine of looking up their homework online each night, they would never forget.

Curtis, D. (2002, November, 1). A "fantastic super" use of technology: Closing the digital divide.. Edutopia, Retrieved November 07, 2008, from http://www.edutopia.org/fantastic-super-use- technology

Journal #7 - Calendars

Calendars are important in a classroom and to an educator in more ways than one. Using an online calendar can be helpful because a teacher will be able to access it in many different places, and they would be able to send it to a principal or substitute without having to give them their actual calendar or make copies. There are also many calendars that can print so that a teacher can hand-out paper copies if needed.

One thread I followed was about a new Facebook application that is called "StudyGroups". It allows people to create a group page with other classmates or colleagues and share information, chat, post pictures, graphs and even problems sets to work on. It also allows one to post due dates so that as a group, everyone stays on track. This seems like a great idea, however, I tried to use it on my own and there seem to still be some technical glitches to work out.

Another thread I followed was a teacher looking for a calendar that was larger than their outlook calendar and able to create a weekly lesson plan. I tried going to the websites of a few different suggestions and I found one that actually links one's lesson plans to state standards so that they are able to follow which standards they have taught throughout the semester. I thought that it would be a great way to stay on top of one's teaching and organization all in one.