Sunday, September 29, 2013

Harvy - What is education really about?

"...a line of small dark letters on the overhead projector that emerged as the question, "What is the purpose of education?""  When I first saw this quote in the article, it really hit me.  What is the purpose of education?  We as students have spent so much time critisizing and analyzing political issues in education and reading articles that our teachers have picked out for us.  Articles that are supposed to push us into a deeper level of understanding of education.  Does it work?  Often times I find myself getting half way through an article before I just can't take it anymore and wander off to play games like World of Warcraft or cracking open a book that has nothing to do with our reality, earth, or our universe even.  I find myself entrenched in dragons and wizzards fighting evil, never putting another though into what that article is supposed to mold me into - a great teacher.

This article caught my attention.  It's about how to use nonfiction to peak our students' curiosities, but to me, it was a whole lot more than that.  I could blow this post out of the water in word count, but i'll try to keep it to the point.

To me, the overall meaning that I focused on this time can be best expressed by the line in the article that said, "...practice guiding principles that lead our students to deeper understanding and learning."

I like the idea of using a t-chart that has my focused goal on it.  "How this helps my students understand," is something we all keep in the back of our minds, but so often it's clouded by thoughs like "I have to get my lesson plan done," or, "evaluation is this week, I need to think of a reward to give my students so they'll be good for my evaluator."  There's a very important point to those thoughts, but equally and more important is using instruction effectively and making it student centered versus teacher centered.  I admit to falling into that trap and after reading this article, I am making the effort to become even more student centered than before.  Our students need to be able to use the knowledge we give them, not just know things.

"Questions are at the heart of teaching and learning"
Schools - the administration and the culture they create, the teachers and students -  need to start focusing on the questions, not the answers.  The article was completely right when it claimed that students' questions disappear by middle school.  In a world where academics are publishing new thought and breakthrough theories in the twilight of their lives, i wonder how long it took them to come back to the world of questions.  What happened to the theorists who created those questions in the prime of their lives?  the Newtons, the Leibnitzs, the Einsteins?

I left this article with more questions than I came with, which, in my mind, is an amazing thing even though those questions are not even related to the article.  I'm excited now to go spend what little free time I have this week seeking those answers instead of escaping to a world of fantasy.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Reflection: Ch 1 BB&R

I've just finished reading the first chapter of BB&R's book.  It, like all the books we are using this semester is a book about how to teach reading.  This particular chapter focuses on the convincing of the teacher why it is so important to actively teach reading in your classroom, no matter the subject matter.  Unlike Tovani, this chapter makes it clear that your subject area reads very differently than what most would consider "traditional" reading.  It is further expressed by a great example.  I had no idea what the passage was really talking about, but, having a math focus, I kept trying to read it as a math text, and it made no sense whatsoever.  It definitely reinforced the importance of math reading education.  In the end, it's the maintaining a conscious effort to teach math reading in my classes that this chapter has added to my teaching toolbox.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Web Resource Review



The Web resource I'm reviewing is http://patrickjmt.com/

This site is geared toward anything having to do with high school algebra all the way into college mathematics.  This is definitely a site that can be used in school to provide additional resources to students who may need additional tutoring.  The site contains a large number of videos that give examples of various math skills.  It is very easy to use in that once you watch a video, it takes you to a page where you can watch the youtube video.  After completing the video, there are suggested videos below the video-box.  One thing I like about the site is how simple it is to use.  Just Math Tutorials has a shortcut bar across the top and you simply click the subject you want to interact with.  As you move down the page, all you need to do is click the up arrow to go back to the top of the page.  It's a simple, sweet, to the point website with no frills or overwhelming ads.  There is just one point on the top right where Patrick has made a nod to his partner for the website - ThinkWell.  I don't like how cluttered the website can feel once you've watched/visited a few of the videos.  The best thing I like about the site is that you're not required to have a membership and adult supervision is *not* required.  Just click and go.  

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Blog 2 - reflection Ch3 Tovani

Once again I’m surprised at the flow and ability of Tovani to make her subject interesting.  I especially enjoyed the chapter on modeling text.  The beginning story completely sucked me in because I’ll admit, at first, I was that industrial tech teacher.  I quickly forgot my reaction in lieu of a class free summer working my backside off, but I was that teacher.  Reading this chapter reminded me of my first reaction to having to take a reading education class.


In the section “Putting Ourselves on the Line”, I was reminded of the phrase I use to motivate students to do something that is sometimes silly.  I say “If everyone does it no one’s embarrassed, but if no one does it everyone is.”  That saying includes myself, I was reminded that as educators, if it’s embarrassing for us, chances are that it’ll be helpful to a student, no matter the subject.  I also felt encouraged in the way I teach, because in my subject word problems (and kids say it with italicized font) are one of the hardest things for my students to figure out how to do.  I even struggle with them sometimes.  Modeling my thinking process out loud is something I do naturally for them, but now I’ll be doubly sure to do it more.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Blog 1 - Reflection on Ch1 of Tovani

I think Sturg has found a few "textbooks" that even I will like.  When you can draw something out of the first chapter of a book, make it interesting, and even be able to apply it to a class like Algebra 2, then you know you've got something to work with.  I'm writing my blog about the intro chapter of Tovani's book.  It's a narrative from the author about an experience she had when doing what she does - teach literacy.  

Like I said earlier, it's not often that you can pull applicable material from an intro chapter of a book, but I found it so interesting the way she wrote the first chapter that I found myself paying as much attention to it as I would The Lord of the Rings.  Everyone has a bunch of knowledge in their head.  This chapter took a bunch of things I knew about reading and my content area and plopped them in one box in my brain.  First and foremost, I am reminded that the first thing a true educator does is teach students to become lifelong learners – to teach themselves.  No matter what happens at the end of the year, a student should at least have the knowledge to be able to find and review previous content for themselves.  Secondly, what we teach as educators should be
Applicable.  It’s silly to teach your subject in a way that students will never use ever again after your class.  Finally, the Fix-Up strategies really brought connections from teaching math to teaching math literacy.


In the end, I’m looking forward to the next week so that I can try some of these fix-up strategies in my own classroom.  Working in a school where many of the students are high achieving, but they achieve at mimicry, not actual ingestion, I hope to use some of these strategies with my students with hope that they will ingest the material a bit easier.