If I had to do my audio project right now I'd..

I would probably come up with some examples of how to incoporate the speaking and listening standards for the Common Core in all possible subjects. I would then challenge people to add their examples to my Wiki, and quiz them on their subject knowledge! 

Chapter 7 Reflection

This chapter was titled “Why Use Web 2.0 Tools with ELLs?” It described various Web 2.0 tools that can be used in an ELL classroom to lower their affective filter, and make them more comfortable using their new language.  As with any strategy I have seen on teaching ELLs, it is good for any student.  The chapter describes basic language learning concepts like BICS (basic interpersonal communicative skills) which is social language, and CALPS (cognitive academic language proficiency) which is academic language skills.  And describes how difficult it is for ELLs to come into a new situation and be asked to learn the common language as well as achieve academically with that language. The chapter goes on to discuss how using Web 2.0, or editable websites to the advantage of the ELL.
I have taken some classes on teaching ELLs, it was my minor in my undergrad, and it just proves to be good teaching strategies for anyone.  Especially students who are very self conscience--which is basically every student. Giving students appropriate time to practice or rehearse what they will be saying gives the student more confidence in what they are doing than if they were asked to read an unknown text, for example. Plus there is a large part of using these tools that helps with motivation.  Students are tired of sitting and listening.  They’d rather be doing.  That is the beauty of Web 2.0 tools.  The kids are the ones creating the content. They are able to use wikis or Twitter feeds to express their thought at their own pace.

Chapter 5 Reflection

           The first part of this chapter describes how connected students really are. Question that need to be addressed by educators, and really administrators and law makers, revolve around what does learning, literacy, and knowledge look like in the 21st century. The answers are concrete, but teachers need to provide ill defined problems and questions that are cookie cutter.  Things are more complex now, and learning should reflect this. Also, time, technology, learning, or anything really, is not static.  These things are ever changing, but it seems that schools and curriculum aren’t. This chapter also discusses what new media is.  New media is technologies for the late 20th century.  They mostly include mobile technologies. 

         This chapter speaks to me.  I am familiar with many of these new technologies, and I am slightly obsessed with them. Not all of them--I think I’m starting to get old--but I feel fairly comfortable with a lot of mobile technology.  I encourage use of these technologies in my class and in my work.  I want to be as fluent with these technologies as possible because I feel that they are useful in many ways.  Aside from productivity, they are entertaining and informative.  I literally get my news from Facebook.  I know what is going on in different parts of the world because all of my friends comment on them on Facebook.  This is what is happening with our students as well.  I don’t read news ‘papers.’ I read everything online.  The fact that the book for this class was only available in paper through me for a loop.  I’m by no means a total techie, but it is something I strive to be, just like many of today’s students. 

Chapter 4 Reflection

The beginning of this chapter really discusses that teachers are typically not as tech savvy as their students, and that that is ok.  The authors talk about how it is not expected or reasonable to assume that teachers must be masters in certain technologies before they are employed in a classroom.  Students grew up with handheld, mobile, technology.  They have never used a tape VHS, or cassette.  They grew up with the internet and information being a click away.  These students didn’t have to suffer through the half an hour it took to for dial up to connect us.  They didn’t need to sit patiently when someone called and disconnected their instant messaging.  Students are now so fluent with technology that they can teach us.  This not only helps the teacher, but it really shows students that their knowledge is important and valued.  The chapter also discusses how teachers should be using each other as resources in not only content, but in technology and teaching strategies as well. It goes on to talk about how technology can be used in a classroom, how students can post to message boards and have anonymous reviewers comment on their writing.  This lowers the the affective filter of students being harshly graded by teachers, and shows them how internet community members read and critique their writing.  The chapter goes on to mention that parent collaboration can occur with technology, and how videos are a quick way to show parents what students are doing, and receive feedback and communicate. I think the best part of this chapter discussed having students participate in authentic learning.  Where students are tackling real world problems that are interesting and worth solving.  No longer should students have questions posed to them about a person going to the store and buying 50 watermelons.  Present students with problems that actually occur, like data plans for cell phones, or tire mark length relate to speed of a car.  Also, students should be held to higher standards.  Just because a student can fill out a worksheet, it doesn’t mean that they understand the concept or task.  If we can engage students by using problems that are meaningful to them or the community, then they will be more interested in learning it, and be willing to be held accountable for their learning.
This is exactly what I try to do in my job promoting authentic instruction in schools.  I do understand that it is a challenge, especially when teachers have been teaching the same content for so many years.  When lesson plans that were made ten years ago are still being used today it frightens me.  Although the core concepts might be the same, the students are different and so are their interest and knowledge base, and it is not fair to the student to give them outdated work.  One example that I remember from a textbook I used a few years ago talked about text message cost.  For example, a text messaging plan cost $10 a month plus five cents for every text.  I discussed that question to my students, and they all were so confused.  Text messages are unlimited now, and they send about 300 a day!  I adjusted my instruction and situation based on that, but I did mention it to them so they knew what life was like back in my day! If lessons aren’t authentic--if they make no connection to the real word or interest of students, then most kids will check out almost immediately.  I might even, too.

Chapter 2 Reflection

Chapter two discusses that there is a real need for change in not only the interaction between students and teachers, but school itself.  The design of high schools has been the way it is since before any of us have been alive.  There has been so much change in the world, and yet schools are still the same as they are when I was in school and my parents, too.  Heck, even my grandparents.  I am so much different then my grandparents, and my students are so much different than my parents.  Technology has had so many advances, that it is crazy to think that they way my parents were taught Algebra is basically the same way I taught my students last year, aside from calculators. The chapter describes that we are not meeting the needs of our students in the public system.  That is why so many charter and magnet schools have developed. Schools must offer more choice when it comes to what is being taught and how it is being taught.  School design must also change.  There is constant change occurring, and schools are stagnant.  Schools are built to last--which is understandable, but when instruction is ever changing, who knows what shape schools will need to be in the next 10 years.  If classrooms were more malleable then different types of instruction could occur.  I foresee the first transition to this is movable furniture at least.

In my classroom I received a 21st century classroom grant.  The majority of this grant provided technology, but I also got new classroom furniture.  I had tables and chairs with wheels.  That was awesome because when students were grouping or moving, then they were comfortable.  They weren’t dragging self contained desks across the room.  They weren’t awkwardly sitting with uneven surfaces to write on.  That small change made collaboration easier and more comfortable.  That’s what schools need, and students want. This chapter also discusses that change is always met by resistance.  People get comfortable where they are, and they don’t want to do a drastic change because there is so much that is unknown.  A favorite response of mine when I go out to talk to teachers about change is, “I did it this way, and look at me.  I’m successful!”  And I agree to a point.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.  But I, and many others will argue that it is broken.  Students aren’t the same as they once were.  I am different that my colleagues, and I do things differently.  It doesn’t make either one of us right, but It shows that there is gap in age as well as how things are done.  I am far from an ideal teacher, but as research, and this chapter, says, I am newer to the profession so I am not as set in my ways.  I believe that students need to speak more and interact more.  I know they can research and come to conclusions with little help from me.  I am also scared about the transition though.  There are so many variables that must be taken into consideration when it comes to this transition, and all the weight feels like it falls on the teachers.  People need to get on board and be on the same page before a huge transition can occur, and that is the current struggle.

Chapter 1 Reflection

Chapter one discusses partnering which is basically describing a student centered classroom where teachers are facilitators and partners in learning as opposed to the old view of the one and only source of knowledge.  This chapter describes how there is a huge gap in how classes are run and organized that not only bores students, but stifles their opinions and ignores their preexisting knowledge.  Students enjoy group work, discussions, sharing their ideas, and hearing the ideas of their classmates.  Children are in an instant information age.  If they want to know something, they take out their phone and Google it. They “operate faster than any generation that has come before. (Schrum, 2012).”  With this plethora of knowledge at their fingertips, they can go farther and deeper than any other generation.  These students will be doing jobs that are even created yet, but we are still teaching them like we are preparing them for a factory job. Teachers should not just be helping students understand the concept or idea being taught (because honestly, it’s an internet search away), but we should be teaching them how to self-monitor, self-assess and self-correct. I’m not saying that learning concepts in schools aren’t important, but we must also be teaching students ways to be lifelong learners.

When I read this chapter all I could think about was how this is authentic teaching.  At the K20 Center we focus a lot on authenticity and what that means. Many of the things we focus on Dewey and Newman based, which is what this book also refers to. The book also describes mutual respect, which is what I believe is the cornerstone of teaching.  If you respect students, their opinions, their knowledge, and where they are coming from then I think you’ve won half the battle.  If students know that they are valued, then there is a lot better chance that they will participate and be generally ‘good.’  At the K20 Center the principles of authenticity that we use are construction of knowledge, disciplined inquiry, value beyond school, and implicit view of the student.  Construction of knowledge is exactly what this book refers to, where students are building on their existing knowledge, using their higher order thinking skills to move up Bloom’s.  Disciplined inquiry means that students are exploring and asking their own questions, not being lectured at and informed. Value beyond school is just that.  Proving that what they are working on isn’t busy work and has a value.  Implicit view of the student means that these children are individuals and they have autonomy.  They have ownership of the learning environment, they aren’t being forced to learn one certain way.  And they have ownership of their learning.  They aren’t reading a text book and answering the questions at the end of the chapter.  Students are talking and discussing and are able to do so without being reprimanded.