To start off this last “thing,” I looked at an article from This Week in Education titled “Is School too Shallow?” I liked this article because it talked about how as educators we shouldn’t just be requiring students to recall information and/or summarize. We need to be teaching students deeper reasoning skills. They need to be able to see the relationship between topics on their own and compare and analyze. They call this in the article “extended reasoning.” I enjoyed this article because it made me think of a conversation that we had recently in our grade level meetings about how we want to scaffold our supports of students. For example, as freshmen we might provide students with detailed study guides, practice problems and kahoots, however by the time they are seniors, students should need less hand-holding and their reviews might simply be a list of topics. Students should be able to synthesize information and use their own reasoning to know what information is important and apply the skills they have learned without us telling them exactly what to expect. In my math class we are developing the basic skills that they use in all their future math classes so I don’t do as much in-depth thinking as I should. I think creating some application assignments where they have to apply the skills we are learning in class would be helpful. I have done an assignment in a summer class where student have to find areas to design houses, yards, etc. This project can be used with geometry, fractions, exponents, and polynomials. Assignments like this would allow me to address some of the the CITW9 Best Practices. This would be an assignment where students could identify similarities and differences using different methods and generate hypothesis and test them. This project would also address the levels of the SAMR model. Using their IPADS to design and create and submit for feedback. The ease with which they will be able to edit will address the Modification level.
Looking at the emerging trends in technology, it made me think. My students have access to so much technology on their iPads and phones. We use a lot of apps in our school, but technology is much more than that. There is virtual reality, 3-d printers(which our tech teacher has) and laser cutters. Students can “tinker” in new ways than just legos. If students as young as 3rd grade can create apps or contraptions, why can’t my students? Personally, I think would like to incorporate the 3D printer or laser cutter. I think since we have these resources available, we should use them and not just with the technology classes. I’m not quite sure how I would incorporate these tools, but maybe that is something I could brainstorm with my students. Honestly, I don’t know what other technologies might develop in the next five years. I barely had a cell phone and a desk top when I was in high school, and so much that I never could have imagined has evolved. I am however, intrigued to see where it takes both education and society.
The last activity was on Hour of Code. This was such a fun activity! I made a flappy bird game. My students love to play these types of games, so I think if they could make their own, they would love it! There were many other activities they could do as well. I would do the make a Google logo next. I liked that they instructed you on what to do and you couldn’t move on until you passed the level of the lesson. I also enjoyed that you could share your game with others and they “gave” you a certificate of completion.
All these activities and articles where we can apply the information to our classrooms, enables us to address the ISTE-T Standards. By doing research on new technologies or reading the articles/blog posts we are Engaging in Professional Growth and Development (b,c). When we actually incorporate ideas from these articles, or use new technology or have students code, we are able to address three standards: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity (a), Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments (a) and Model Digital Age Work and Learning (a and d). This was a great wrap up lesson because it was all about application. We could apply what we learned and it addressed so many of the standards and best practices.
Katie Sophiea's 21 Things for Teachers 