Brooke Wiestling
  • Home
  • About Me
  • EDSS 530 Blog
  • Math is Fun!
  • Unit Plan
  • Classroom Management
    • Individualized Wraparound Support
    • Somewhere Else To Plan
    • Life Skills
    • Recovery With Accountability
    • Creating a Caring Community
  • BC Portfolio
    • Cover Letter
    • HW #15
    • POW/ HS Letters
    • Baker's Choice Revisited
    • Personal Growth
  • 20% Project

Ch. 7-9 A New Culture of Learning

5/2/2015

3 Comments

 
Picture
Chapter 7
Quote: "In the new information economy, expertise is less about having a stockpile of information or facts at one's disposal and increasingly about knowing how to find and evaluate information on a given topic." (p. 93)
I chose this quote because it explains one of the ideas that has resonated the most with me throughout this whole semester. I want my students to know how to solve any problem that they come across; not right away by regurgitating facts and theorems that I have taught them, but instead by using their critical thinking skills and resources. In whatever career they have they will have access to technology to help them solve problems. While being about to recite the first 20 digits of Pi from memory is a real crowd pleaser at a party, if they ever need that information at their job they will be able to look it up online.

Question: How do I prepare my students to use technology that hasn't even been invented yet?

Connection: This class connects to the quote above because we have been exploring different research tools all semester. Based off of the things we have done I feel confident that I could find any type of app or technology curriculum that I wante to use in my class, and be able to implement it effectively.

Epiphany: I had an epiphany about epiphanies while reading this chapter. I realized that an epiphany does not just have to be about finding an answer to a question, but can instead be making sense of how information fits together.

Chapter 8
Quote: "Geeking out asks the question: How can I utilize the available resources, both social and technological, for deep exploration?" (p. 105)
This quote again shows the importance of teaching students how to use technological resources and not just facts and procedures. Students use technology to socialize and to do research about topics that interest them outside of school. We now need to bring that type of learning into the classroom.

Question: How do you explain this type learning through exploration with technology to parents who did not learn this way in school?

Connection: In this class we have badges that are named after the three stages. We went from setting up our PLN in the first badge to creating our own digital curriculum in the last one. Showing our progression from being visitors of the internet to residents.

hmm: The process described above takes time. It takes a lot of effort and exploration to get to the geeking out stage. So I am concerned how to guide my students through these stages in just one year.

Chapter 9
Quote: "We look to gamers because they don't just embrace change, they demand it. Their world is in a constant state of flux, and it must be continually reinvented and reimagined through acts of collective imagination." (p. 115)
I agree with the authors that it is important for students to demand change like gamers do. We need to create a learning environment where students are constantly required to reinvent and reimagine. This quote also touches upon the importance of collaboration. The best way to learn to embrace, then demand, change is to work with others to achieve a common goal. 

Question: This book discusses how students learn a great deal from playing online games so we should set up our classes like games. Students have many different learning styles. How do I differentiate this type of learning for students who don't like games?

Connection: This notion of playing to learn connects to this class through our 20% projects. We create something by doing that we enjoy that is interesting to us. Since we are interested in the topic we are more likely to research it further and therefore have more epiphanies than if the topic was something that we were assigned.

Ah-ha: The authors discuss how we must value play more than answers and outcomes in order to create a learning environment where students learn through exploration and imagination.

3 Comments
Astrid Laido link
05/04/2015 12:34pm

Hello Brooke,

nice reflections! I like how you relate this book to our tech class (and I am sure Jeff will too), this is exactly what I felt like. His curriculum is set up like the suggestions in the book, including the badges. As you state, we started with our personal PLN and go to creating a curriculum ourselves using new technologies, doing ourselves what we are going to expect from our students (learning by doing and doing new things unheard of before!). Great post!

Reply
Amanda McCarthy
05/11/2015 10:50pm

I relate so much with your post for chapter 7! I agree - I don't care if my students can remember the exact details of some process I tell them about. I would far rather that they have the ability to find the answer using resources available to them. However I am having a difficult time getting my students to make the jump from being able to find answers and regurgitate them (but having no idea what they are saying) with actually researching long enough to understanding what they find. Any suggestions?

Reply
Megan Ballachey link
05/21/2015 4:05pm

Brooke, great job here. I think you are thinking very critically of the authors and that is a great skill. Sometimes I find myself reading things and loving everything the author is saying until I try to explain it in my own words and it doesn't sound quite right. Its like I become in awe of their persuasive writing techniques. Anyways, in reference to your chapter 9 question...What about the kids that don't like games? I can imagine a few students that would push back on this. It would probably be the straight A students that have learned to play the game of school very well (see what I did there). Our students today don't particularly liked to be challenged to find the material on their own or given free reign over the curriculum. they want to be told what to know for the test. But in terms of finding students that don't like games? Who doesn't like games? Am I just being completely biased here that I can't see this human being that doesn't like games...maybe. But lots of students don't LIKE writing, it doesn't mean they don't benefit from having that skill.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    My name is Brooke and I am a teacher candidate in the CSUSM credential program. I am currently long-term subbing Integrated Math 1 and Math 180 classes at Vista High. 

    Math Resources

    Archives

    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photo used under Creative Commons from Kirt Edblom