The content covered was important, as I was not very familiar with CTE standards before. I knew my school had a CTE pathway for agricultural mechanics and food service, although I did not know there were standards that could be implemented across all subjects. Apart from the CTE standards, practicing APA format was a good refresher. I understand that this writing format will be necessary for the literature review, so it’s great to have a reference. In terms of the reading, I believe it would be a bit more beneficial if it was directly applicable to larger schools. There were many aspects that could be modified for larger schools, although funding/scheduling seems to depend more on administration. However, I did enjoy the aspects of teacher-student relationships and how the education system must be reformed. I agree that many may be stuck in old ways of teaching and that we must do what we can to best support the current generation of students. In terms of the upcoming school year, I plan to implement CTE standards within my curriculum to ensure I am connecting content with career technical skills. Many of the career pathways can be implemented within the curriculum for Biology and Environmental Science to make the content more relevant to students, so I am excited to share this with my department. Although funding for field trips would be awesome, inviting guest speakers through Zoom is much more tangible now. This allows students to make real-world connections and hear personal stories. Overall, I am looking forward to enhancing my teaching practices throughout this upcoming year and creating positive relationships with students to best prepare them for their future.
0 Comments
Q: Why do so many students describe their educational experiences as boring?
Q: Name five people and five resources in your community that the schools could tap to help make students’ learning and work real.
I appreciate starting class with an ice breaker activity, as it gives us a chance to continue to get to know each other. In terms of The Big Picture, discussing chapter four and five led to some interesting discussions among my group. We agreed that one size does not fit all and that the curriculum should be differentiated for students. Although The Met has much smaller class sizes, we noted that integrating WebQuest's and multiple options for students would be a step in the right direction. For example, when discussing photosynthesis and cellular respiration in my classroom I created a choice board that allows students to choose from a variety of activity options. Photosynthesis and cellular respiration is applied in different contexts and also through different modalities (videos, virtual game, articles, etc.). In regards to the annotation project, I am still in the early stages of collecting my articles. Summer school at my school site just concluded, so I am looking forward to the extra time in the next few weeks. Although, I have decided to change my research topic listed on my mind map and focus on the effects behind positive teacher-student relationships on personal success. As I began to dive deeper into the Career and Technical Education (CTE) standards, I found many applications to the subject I teach. Truthfully, I was unaware of these standards up until recently. Our group chose to focus in the agricultural and natural resources sector, specifically on plant and soil science. I am looking forward to implementing these standards into a lesson plan with my group throughout the next week. I can already see how embedding these standards will bring a real-world application to what is taught.
Q: Imagine you’ve found out that a kid you know is really interested in astronomy (or cooking, or video games, or fashion, or baseball, or music, or police work, or whatever). How would you help her go into depth in this area? What might she learn by exploring her interest more deeply?
Q: Sternberg says that “to be successfully intelligent is to think well in three different ways: analytically, creatively, and practically.” What are some methods schools could use to help students become successfully intelligent in each and all of these ways?
Q: Are there any situations in life where “one size fits all?”
Q: What changes would have to happen to make a truly personalized school possible? Where would you begin?
2. How could a school go about showing its students that they are trusted and valued members of the school community?
5. Do you and your colleagues share the same philosophy or vision about your school or workplace? Why or why not? How does this influence the way you work together and think about your work?
My breakout group’s conversation on chapter 2 led to an interesting discussion about the discrepancies between the student population at The Met and our own schools. Although admission is based on a lottery system, The Met requires letters from both the parents and students which already differentiates students/parents willing to put in an extra effort from those who won’t or can’t. This made for an interesting discussion, as the policies and “small school” accomplishments may be more difficult in our current contexts. Although all the goals/policies mentioned may not be able to be easily implemented in our schools, the text still provides steps we can take to improve our schools. This can begin with something as simple as creating a stronger culture/community within our classrooms and campus. These positive student-teacher relationships stood out to me from this chapter, and I appreciated The Met’s motto of “relationships, relevance, and rigor.” These are things I will continue to strengthen within my classroom. In terms of literature review, EBSCO was a great resource to receive a refresher on, as it will help me narrow my search on my research topic. The slides on APA format will also be useful when we begin searching for articles to annotate. I am looking forward to diving deeper into a topic of interest.
In this chapter, student-teacher relationships stood out to me. Students must be known in order to learn and succeed. This includes creating a safe place for students to learn. Spending time at the start of the year forming these relationships is vital for a successful year. I also agree with the idea that education should not be be a one size fits all. Every student comes with unique experiences and assets which should be acknowledged. If a school's mission is to create responsible, motivated, and global-citizens, then the education system should reflect that in its teachings.
2. If our society committed itself to the idea that we care about kids more than we care about schools, what would need to change?
Setting expectations as a group is a great way to create buy-in from students. Working together to set norms holds all parties involved to the same standard and fosters a collaborative community. These positive student-teacher relationships can also help motivate students, a vital factor in getting students to want to learn. The use of Mural is a great resource to get to know each other better, similar to Jamboard. In terms of the TED Talk: Changing Education Paradigms, I definitely agree that there must be an educational reform. I believe that standardized testing does not truly assess a student’s learning and it definitely eliminates creativity. One way to potentially address this is by implementing project based learning (PBL) that allows for creative and critical thinking. Learning in this way does not simply fill a student’s brain with information but facilitates students to discover learning on their own. I also appreciated the discussions held in breakout rooms and as a whole group. It allowed me to expand my thinking and dive deeper into the history of education. In terms of technology, I believe it can be implemented with moderation. As Sir Ken Robinson stated, students are engulfed with the technology around them which keeps them interested. For this reason, I believe gamification (such as Gimkit) has a place in the classroom as it can recruit interest among students. However, this should not be the majority of learning since hands-on activities, labs, etc. are crucial for learning. It all comes down to finding a balance between technology and traditional methods.
Chapter 1 was intriguing and I agreed with much of what was stated. The real goals of education resonated with me, as content can easily be searched. For example, my students will not use the biology information in their future chemistry and physics class; however, they will require skills to be successful in their future classes/career. This is not to say that the content is not important; however, I can embed the skills and application of knowledge within the content. Inspiring students to want to learn and think about their thinking throughout my class is my goal. If this is achieved, then the students will be better prepared for their future. I am looking forward to learning more about the implementation of these goals throughout the upcoming chapters.
How would you define the differences between “learning” and “knowledge”?
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. |