Revitalized Unit

I found this activity to be beneficial in that it forced me to apply the content presented in the class in a relevant way that would benefit my students and me. It was a very interesting process as I came up with different activities, but was uncertain where they fit with our strategies. I did experience some frustration when developing the activities, but overall, I feel that I created some lessons that encompassed our strategies successfully. I'm anxious to put these ideas into actual practice. I chose to enhance my unit on Greek mythology because I thoroughly enjoy teaching the unit. I know a lot about the topics, and can generate interest from the students thanks to my excitement about the lessons. However, I do become stuck in ruts sometimes, or I take for granted what the students already do or do not know. Revamping my own unit takes those pitfalls into account and holds me responsible for the students' obtaining the content.

Socratic Seminar Reflection and Evaluation

Evaluation

I am a huge fan of the Socratic Seminar and I can't wait to use it in my class this year. I believe I was able to adequately use the model with the class by having them compare our "typical" discussion with the Socratic and then having them actually complete a very brief "mock" seminar. The videos helped me demonstrate the seminar. I was glad that the others in the class noticed the ages of the students in the videos. I think often we feel that "only the older kids" can handle something like a Socratic seminar, but these little ones proved that wrong! The other members of the class told me that they weren't too familiar with the method prior to the discussion, but that they learned a lot about it, which tells me that I was able to present the model accurately. There is SO much information about the seminar: the procedures, norms, questions, etc. that it's hard to condense and not overwhelm people. I think that had we had a class that was a tad bigger, a live demonstration would have been great. I feel that my handout provided the students with a lot of details. Their discussion was fantastic at the end! I appreciate the different points of view and their sharing the ways they would implement the strategy in their classrooms. 

Reflection

I was already familiar with the ins and outs of the seminar prior to the assignment. However I hadn't run my own before. When I stopped to think about all the prep that goes into this discussion, it really floored me. I found particular value to the point Dr. Grant made about keeping ALL the steps whether we think they're important or not. The seminar is the same no matter who has presented it to me, and that makes it easier for me to learn and implement (hopefully). I really enjoyed seeing how it ties in with the other strategies, models, and research we've uncovered. Everything kind of goes hand in hand; the Socratic seminar is student led and, to me, is a reflection of a flipped classroom. I wish I had been given the opportunity to participate in a Socratic seminar when I was in school. I can see so many benefits to it, not only from an academic perspective, but from a social one as well.

Evaluation/Reflection Induction Learning

Evaluation

I had a lot of difficulty with this strategy. The book did a great job of presenting scenarios, but I wasn't sure if I was getting the main idea of the strategy. However, when I implemented the strategy, it flowed well, and the activity was appropriate. I found that I was able to use the model effectively, present the key components of the model effectively. In fact, I may have over researched/prepared. Much of the information was repeated from Concept Development. I feel that the presentation went very well. I was prepared, and the class did a great job discussing and asking questions. Finally, I learned from my past mistakes, and created what I felt, was an informative handout. 

Reflection

All in all, I feel this went well. I'm my own worst critic, and I thought that I was missing the boat. When Sue started discussing Concept Development, I really thought I wasn't even on the same coastline! However, the more she discussed, a main distinction came to fruition: Induction gives the students the opportunity to specifically determine the 'rule' they are discovering. I find this interesting because I feel that I do this as a teacher, but I never knew what it was called. I enjoy the thought of the students finding information and having those a-ha moments! I am a "helper" by nature and I really want to hold their hands and lead them to the answer, uncover the answer, and show it to them. Induction gives the students the opportunity to think critically and hone their skills. They also can be creative in their grouping. I think this lends itself quite well to math and science, which I will be teaching for the first time in 2 years. However, I can see where this could be beneficial in ELA (per the activity I shared) and also in social studies. As I prepared, I became frustrated because I wanted to find videos of this in action. I couldn't find videos that showed what I wanted to demonstrate. However, I feel that I was able to get my message across. The class's interaction during this discussion was stellar! They asked excellent questions and were able to tie this to their own teaching! 

Summary/Evaluation/Reflection

I am going to begin with my self-evaluation for this portion of the blog. I'm waiting for my classmates to conclude the activity component, so while I wait, I figured I would start here. :)

Evaluation

Using the rubric as a guide, I honestly feel the only area I was lacking was the "handout." I honestly feel that I deserve a "1" here. It is my fault as I didn't access the rubric until after I had submitted my presentation, etc. I remember discussing the handout in class, and at the time had assumed I would submit my PowerPoint for the handout. When I put my handout together, my idea was to give a bit more detail to my PPT file. Lesson learned: read the rubric first.

I feel that I was able to find information that was relevant to my topic. The sites provided in the syllabus gave good information about blended and online learning. I went out on my own and found other helpful sites. I took into consideration the variance of grade levels represented in this class, and I knew I couldn't focus on the blended classroom for the entire presentation because it's not practical for all of us in our professional lives. I hope I was able to give the other members of the class something to think about and some ways to implement technology. It was really tough to get this all narrowed down. It's a very broad topic. Choosing where the focus should be was difficult. Overall, I feel that I earned a "4" in this category.

The activity was kind of difficult for me to come up with, but I was able to pull one from the supplemental material provided in the syllabus. It was interesting to me to look at everything to be considered when choosing curriculum. (4)

I feel that the overall presentation (the video) was done well. For this being my first time creating a project like this, I think I did a good job! I found relevant information, presented the information, created a PowerPoint to go along, and found an activity to coincide. (4)

I'm going to include the participation in others' questions and activities in this portion of my blog. While we were all frustrated with the amount of "dead" time, etc,. I found the discussions to be really interesting. I wish we had been able to conduct those via the same format as the activity. I really enjoy hearing the different POV's from the other members of the class because we are all teaching different subjects at different grade levels. During the activity portions, we had good discussion and were able to help each other through it. (4)

Summary

I really enjoyed listening to everyone's opinions about the cell phones in the classroom. I'm still not sure where I stand on it, but to hear Kaylie's opinion as someone who "has been there," really opened my eyes to the drawbacks. I especially liked her point about the drama coming into the classroom. This is a totally different world that we're teaching in right now, and there is no way to prepare for the impact social media has on our students. It's bad enough that they see it when they go home, but to have it interfering at school is something I hadn't considered. I like the idea of "airplane mode" at school. There are all kinds of questions that come up, though, about monitoring the activity. It's so easy for kid to simply swipe things on and off...interesting conundrum.

I also enjoyed the class discussion regarding the importance of the characteristics in choosing curricula. The 3 of them all have differing viewpoints, so it was interesting to hear what is important to the different teachers based on the makeup of their classrooms. I think it's important to not discount any of the characteristics as unimportant, but recognize what criteria are most important for individual grade levels and subjects. However, ALL components are important.

Reflection

This was a frustrating assignment for me because it wasn't "easy." I'm one of those people who gets frustrated if things don't go perfect the first time out. However, I did learn a lot about different ways of implementing technology in my classroom. I know I do an "ok" job, but this research has given me new ways of looking at what constitutes technology. I'm excited because I will have access to a cart of Chromebooks this coming school year, so hopefully I can get the kiddos more into tech from an educational standpoint. I appreciated everyone's honesty with this topic. We all agreed that we did "some" technology implementation but could do more. I think I always knew that technology was here to stay, but this assignment just drove it home! Finally, as I implement technology, I can expect my students to become frustrated...because I have been frustrated...and I can better relate to them.