Edutopia article reflection u06d1

Prompt: After reviewing the Edutopia articles on emotional intelligence and conflict resolution, explain how you would structure checkpoint questions, blog/discussion prompts, or entree activities to help prevent student conflict and/or empower students to deal with the conflicts when they arise.

I really enjoyed reading these two articles on emotional intelligence and conflict resolution.  I think our job as teachers isn't just to teach content, but it is to teach life skills like how to deal with conflict and how to empathize with people.  Working together, and solving conflicts are skills that people need to be successful.  We have all heard stories about someone who just can't hold a job because they didn't get along with their boss or coworkers.  Students need to realize that you aren't going to like everyone.  That working with certain people won't always be easy.  They do need to know how to adapt and work with other people.  They need to learn that they can't quit a job just because they don't get along with their boss.  I always tell my students, "Do you think I agree with everything my boss tells me?"  I tell them that I like my job and I would like to keep it.  Keeping my job requires me to resolve my conflicts and get along with my coworkers even if I don't agree with them. 

As a classroom teacher, the first thing you have to do is get to know your students.  Every student is different and this includes their emotional intelligence and ability to resolve conflicts.  I teach middle school and I know that some of my students have a great amount of emotional maturity and some of the others don't yet.  This alone can create conflicts. When you know your students, you know their level of emotional maturity.  This allows you to properly group the students.  Appropriately grouping students is essential to a successful classroom. This being said, you don't always want to put the same kids in the same groups. In order to teach empathy and conflict resolution, you need to vary the groups and allow students the opportunity to work through problems.

Organization and preparation are also a teacher's best friend.  I have learned through experience that the more you plan and prepare, the smoother a lesson will go.   As a teacher, you have to try to think of every possible outcome and/or problem in a PBL lesson. This can only go so far, after a lesson, it is valuable to reflect on the project.  What problems did you have? What problems did the student's have? How did you overcome them? It is good to do this after the project so you can adapt and change the project for the next year.  Every classroom is different! Sometimes my projects/lessons vary depending on the class. 

I also teach empathy in my class but putting them inside other people's shoes. I do this with historical figures all of the time! I have them imagine themselves as a particular historical figure.  I always ask them what they would do in this situation.  Then I have them ask why they think this person did what they did. So they try to understand why decisions were made, and the consequence of these decisions. I explain that people are the same today as they were back them. Some people made mistakes, some people made hard decisions.  I have them imagine what life would have been like if this person made a different decision.  I also teach them that compromise and conflict resolution skills were essential to the founding of our country.  There were a TON of different and passionate opinions about going to war with England and also in the development of the Constitution.  These groups of people were able to resolve their conflicts. It is important that we do here as well.  I also do a ton of opinion prompts in my class as well. This teaches my students to take a stand and defend their opinion, but at the same time respect other student's opinions.  There are a lot of controversial topics in American History/Politics.  It is important to know how to teach these topics, and to handle the student's opinions.  They should be taught how to properly debate and respect others opinions.  We as teachers are responsible for modeling this behavior, it drives me crazy when adults put down other adults in front of students (it happens), it does not teach empathy or respect for others.

When there is a conflict in my class, I try to have the students see things from the other students perspective.  I encourage students to compromise and I always tell students that yelling at other students is not productive.  I also teach my students that it is ok to disagree, its how you handle yourself and work with others that matters. 

Curtis, D. (2001, February 22). Fostering emotional intelligence lets learning happen.  Edutopia. Retrieved July 31, 2013, from http://www.edutopia.org/resolving-conflict-creatively-program.

Edutopia Staff. (2001, February 22). Emotional intelligence: putting theory into practice. Edutopia. Retrieved July 31, 2013, from http://www.edutopia.org/emotional-intelligence-sampler.

Students Meeting the NETS-S (u05a1)

Prompt: Review the National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS-S) developed by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)

Also review the Student Profiles

Explain how student use of communication, collaboration, and publishing Web 2.0 applications can help students to meet the NETS-S.

_______________________________________________________________________________

My Student's Profile 

 The following experiences with technology and digital resources are examples of learning activities students might engage in during grades 6–8 (ages 11–14):

1. Describe and illustrate a content-related concept or process using a model, simulation, or concept-mapping software. (1,2)
2. Create original animations or videos documenting school, community, or local events. (1,2,6)
3. Gather data, examine patterns, and apply information for decision making using digital tools and resources. (1,4)
4. Participate in a cooperative learning project in an online learning community. (2)
5. Evaluate digital resources to determine the credibility of the author and publisher and the timeliness and accuracy of the content. (3)
6. Employ data-collection technology, such as probes, handheld devices, and geographic mapping systems, to gather, view, analyze, and report results for content-related problems. (3,4,6)
7. Select and use the appropriate tools and digital resources to accomplish a variety of tasks and to solve problems. (3,4,6)
8. Use collaborative electronic authoring tools to explore common curriculum content from multicultural perspectives with other learners. (2,3,4,5)
9. Integrate a variety of file types to create and illustrate a document or presentation. (1,6)
10. Independently develop and apply strategies for identifying and solving routine hardware and software problems. (4,6)  ("Iste nets for," 2012).

Standards:

1. Creativity and Innovation

 There are a tremendous amount of Web 2.0 sources that can help fulfill this NETS-S standard.  This standard is about creating and innovating.  Taking information and creating something unique.  Prezi is a great outlet for innovation and creativity.  It is very easy to create great online presentations that are far from cookie cutter and boring.  Students can take any topic, theme or information and create a creative presentation.  Another Web 2.0 site that would be great for this standard is Glogster.  I absolutely love glogster.  It takes the normal 'Create a poster' project and turns it digital.  On Glogster you can create an interactive and dynamic poster on any topic chosen.  The sky is the limit with glogster.  Another great website that would fulfill this topi could be yodio.  Yodio is a site where you can create your own podcast/voice recording.  This also adds a more creative touch to the typical presentation.  The students can pretend they are a talk show host or give their own spin on famous historical speeches.  Web 2.0 sites can take typical, boring projects and allow more creative juices to start flowing.

2. Communication and Collaboration

Web 2.0 opens up a whole new avenue to communication and collaboration between students and students and teachers.  Edmodo is probably my favorite communication and collaboration tool that I use in my classroom. I love it.  I introduced it this past year in my classes. Students simply loved it.  Students today are very fluent on online communications.  They saw edmodo as the 'Facebook for School."  For the project, I created groups within my class periods on edmodo.  These groups were to be the communication and collaborating venue for the project.  Not only did students use edmodo to communicate with each other during the project (at school, and away from school), they also used edmodo to communicate with me.  They asked questions, they answered poll questions and they even can submit their work online via edmodo.  Another great Web 2.0 site is the suite of google apps.  This includes google hangouts and google docs.  These are some of the best apps out there... and they are FREE!  It is amazing.  Google hangouts provides an avenue for students, no matter where their location to communicate and work together.  Within google hangouts, students can share documents, can collaborate on a single document within google docs.  It really is a fantastic group of applications. 

3. Research and Information Fluency

Students can use diigo to organize their information they find on the internet.  Diigo is a great Web 2.0 site that allows students to bookmark sites, categorize the sits, and organize them.  Padlet is also a great site that allows students to brainstorm and organize information.  Google docs can also help fulfil this standard by allowing students to analyze, synthesize and use information from various sources collaboratively. They can organize informations in google spreadsheets, and google docs can store research. Wikispaces can also be a great Web 2.0 to help organize research and organize information.  On the wiki, the students an separate information on different pages, they can also link information and videos right to the website. It is a great way to organize information digitally.

4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

Web 2.0 sites also help promote critical thinking, problem solving and decision making. Google Forms can be used to actually collect data from individuals and google spreadsheets can be used to organize the data and google docs or presentation can illustrate a solution to a problem or defend a decision.   Prezi is also a great Web 2.0 site that can be used to map out a solution visually. Diigo can be used to organize documents to defend or support a decision or solution to a problem.

5. Digital Citizenship

The best wan to practice digital citizenship is being familiar with various Web 2.0 websites.  Any collaborative website can teach proper use of technology.  It is the job of the teacher to inform and educate the students on the proper and respectful use of technology and how to effectively communicate with other students.  Wikispaces can be used to respectively discuss topics and work together.  Google docs can be used for the teacher to communicate the proper way to use technology and to foster positive attitudes.  Edmodo has a great feature where they can moderate the student's message boards while they are using them. This is a great tool to use for teachers to communicate the practice of responsible use of technology.  

6. Technology Operations and Concepts

One of the time consuming aspects of introducing a new technology is teaching the use of the Web 2.0 sites.  A teacher can not simply just introduce a new technology without going through tutorials on how to use it!  May of these Web 2.0 websites have tutorials and have lengthy  'how to' websites.  I believe that these should be linked for the students easy access and also gone over in front of the class. Edmodo has an extensive 'how to' documents.  Prezi does as well.  It was very easy for me to go to a new website, read up on how to do it, and try it.  The only way to really truly learn now to use a technology is to use it.  The more you use a technology, the better you will be at it.  Diigo can be used to link tutorials and google docs can also be used to communicate proper instructions. Using a website like Chatterous, Today's Meet or Google Chat can also help communicate instructions and answer questions.

Works Cited:

Chatterous. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.chaterous.com

Diigo. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.diigo.com

Edmodo. (2013) Retrieved from http://www.edmodo.com

Glogster. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.glogster.com

Google. (2013) Retrieved from http://www.google.com

Iste nets for students 2007 profiles. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-for-students-2007-profiles

Iste nets standards 2007. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007 

Padlet. (2013) Retrieved from http://www.padlet.com

Prezi. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.prezi.com

Today's Meet. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.todaysmeet.com

Wikispaces. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.wikispaces.com

Yodio. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.yodio.com

Web 2.0 Ideas (u05d1) Discussion

Prompt: As you explore Web 2.0 applications outlined in Topics, share your questions and integration ideas.


Communication Platforms

There are several Web 2.0 resources that can be used to help students communicate.  During another Wilkes course, I was briefly introduced to diigo.  I have never heard of it. I am glad that I have had the opportunity to use this great site.  In using it for the PBL project, I can truly see how it can be used in a classroom. I could use it as a teacher as 'approved' sources for my 8th graders to complete research. I could also have the students themselves bookmark sites for their research or for an activity.  Another site I wanted to comment on is edmodo. I LOVE edmodo. If you haven't tried it, do it.  My students call it the Facebook for School.  I really couldn't get over how much the loved to participate on edmodo.  I would post polls and within minutes, students would be responding and debating online.  I also checked out WizIQ. This seems like a digital classroom.  I think this could be beneficial for many reasons.  It will allow groups to collaborate without being in the same room.  I see it as the classroom version of google hangouts.  This site could allow students to complete and communicate from home using a computer and a webcam.  I can also see using this site for homebound students.  It would allow them to communicate and participate with the class.

Collaboration Platforms

Prior to this course, I have used google docs to store personal and professional documents, but I have never even considered the benefits of using google docs in the classroom.  Not only can students word process online, but there can be online collaboration via google docs.  Whomever has the link, can edit the document. This way there isn't just one student controlling the doc, they all can access it. I can see integrating google docs greatly. It will be easy to create presentations and spreadsheets online. They can create bibliographies, brainstorm and even produce a final product on a free google docs.  I think the entire google site is beneficial.  I know my life would be chaotic without google calendar, and I can see how it would be great to organize meetings with groups.  Edmodo is also great for collaboration. I have used it in class before. Each group had their own group in edmodo and they would use the group message board to collaborate in class and out of class. The students were to create a Revolutionary War newsletter, and they used edmodo as collaborative tool. It's great.

Publishing Platforms

I was introduced to Prezi by a coworker last year.  I absolutely loved it! Its like a powerpoint on steroids! I wish that you could create Prezis without an internet connection. (I think you can, but you have to pay for it). I also like that you can collaborate on a Prezi. Any student that has the link can edit the presentation. I could see my students having a great time creating fun Prezi presentations on a historical theme or topic.  Voicethread seems really neat and I was excited to check it out, I unfortunately found that it was a paid site.  I can see Voicethread being a great site to complete a multimedia project for my class.  I wish they had a trial for me to explore more. Glogster is an amazing site.  This is one site I would LOVE to use in my classroom. The regular glogster is free, but the secure education site is a paid site.  I could see my students creating beautiful digital posters on various historical topics.  One site I explored was yodio. I REALLY want to use this in my class!! The students can create their own podcasts! I think this could be a great addition to any project I assign in my class. I could have them pretend to be a historical figure and write a speech. There is even an iPhone app :).  And by the looks of it, ITS FREE :)

Questions/Issues with Integration
I would love to integrate a lot of these site but there is one hurdle: Technology.  I should really say the lack of it.  My school does not have a tremendous amount of computers.  We have a few labs but they aren't available all periods of the day and we have ONE laptop cart that has to be reserved months in advance.  Hopefully my school will go to a BYOD policy in the future.  That would allow some of these sites to be used in class with much more consistency. Another question I have is, how do I get my school district to pay for some of these great paid sites??

Global PBL Projects Discussion (u04d1)

Prompt: As you explore the global PBL projects -share what you found interesting and why those specific projects, PBL vehicles, tasks, and products appeal to you.

iEARN: This collaboration website interests me because it is the largest in the world.  Over 140 countries 50,000 teachers and 2 million students. There is a tremendous amount of things you can do with that many students with different perspectives and unique talents.  They pride themselves in engaging student in meaningful educational projects with peers form the US and around the world.

www.iearn.org

ePals- I find the user interface of this website a little better than some of the others I have looked at.  It is a free membership. (which is awesome!) After you sign up, you receive a schoolsafe email, web 2.0 tools and various resources for standards aligned projects and resources for collaborative learning.  This interests me because everything you need to successfully collaborate is right there at your fingertips.  There is even a 'find a classroom math'.  You can stick in your language and the age of students and you can be matched with an appropriate match to collaborate with. It also interests me that they partner with National Geographic, Smithsonian and Cobblestone.  As a history teacher, these are resources I use all of the time. This site interests me greatly because it is cross curricular and you can start a project based on any subject and common core standards.  This makes it easy for the teacher.  They also have a great list of teacher resources.  This is the website I think I am most excited about.

 http://www.epals.com/

GLOBE- Is a science based global project. It interested me because it seems that students and teachers all over the world are contributing to exploring science and what it has to offer.  Instead of just memorizing science, they are participating in, and exploring science. Students are collecting their own scientific data and comparing the data to other students across the globe. It would be neat as a student to see your data being used for a larger purpose.  They can explore science at a local level and relevance but also their data can help those around the world.  The GLOBE process also fosters higher level thinking.  They are taking data and interpreting it to come to a conclusion.  The students aren't just memorizing the different types of clouds, they are observing and analyzing data. This project also involved scientists. This is a great learning opportunity for students to interact with scientists and feel like their work has a larger and more professional purpose. 

 http://www.globe.gov/

Global SchoolNet  Instead of being geared to a specific content area, SchoolNet focuses solely on collaboration.  This site is interesting because it helps develop a skill that is necessary in life.  The skill to work with others.  This site also includes a database for teachers to use to find other teachers and schools who would like to collaborate on a project.  This is a really neat resource for teachers.  There is also the 'Friendship Thru Education' that connects classrooms from the United States with those in other countries.  I think working with other students from across the nation AND the global can really give a unique learning opportunity and perspective to my students. They also help foster competitions among the member schools and teachers.  One of the downsides of my school is that the resources aren't always there and available.  There is a Collaboration Center that schoolnet put together to make things easier for the teacher.  It is a list of resources, partners and tools for teachers to use to help foster great collaborative lesson plans.

http://www.globalschoolnet.org/

What I find interesting about all of these is that I had no clue that these tools existed.  I feel like the world has been opened up to myself and my classroom.  Pleasant Valley school district students have started what has been called the HOPE initiative.  It is a movement based on positivity.  I think this initiative could be spread using these resources.  If you would like to learn more about this project:

http://www.tnonline.com/2013/jun/07/hope-spreads-through-pleasant-valley

References:

ePals, Inc.  Retrieved from www.epals.com

Global School Net.  Newsday. Retrieved from http://www.globalschoolnet.org

Globe. Retrieved from http://www.globe.gov

iEarn. Retrieved from  http://www.iearn.org

PBL Project Management Challenges- u03d1

Prompt:

Based on your experiences in the classroom, what project management challenges might you anticipate as you integrate PBL?

Challenges

Class Time: The one challenge that I might have in managing a PBL project is the amount of class time that is involved in the process.  It is that and it is hard, for me at least, to gauge how long a project should and will take.  I go into some projects thinking it will take three days, and it ends up taking a week (usually during the first time I assign a project). PBL will even require more time.  There are also interruptions, snow days, last minute assemblies (happens ALL OF THE TIME), testing, pull outs for testing, group member absences to name a few.  All of these can interrupt a long term project. This concern/challenges leds me into the next challenge.

Completing the "Checklist" Curriculum: I have a set curriculum of topics I need to cover.  This year they added two more chapters to my already crowded schedule. It was difficult for me to get everything done this year. I actually had to cut activities and projects I have done in the past. We have district Unit Learning Outcomes that I have to complete. I see myself being able to implement aspects of PBL but I dont' know about a long term project.

Planning Time: I have 42 minutes of prep per day and I usually spend about an hour after school and contract hours at school planning, grading, doing paperwork.  PBL Planning is a ton of work. I might try to implement this earlier and I do feel like the purpose behind PBL is extremely valuable but even now I feel like there aren't enough hours in the day for me to do what I have to do. I am going to try though! I would also have to differentiate the projects because I teach various levels of students.

Holding all group members accountable: During group projects I have done, it is hard to hold each group member accountable for their work.  I have had students do nothing in their group and allow one group member to do all of the work.  I think it will be easier with PBL because they will be more in the driver's seat but I still have my worries.  This also goes with assessing the project. I would like to learn more about rubrics for these projects.

Technology- This is a HUGE challenge for me. My district is kind of in the stone ages when it comes to technology.  We have one Lab and one laptop cart that are available to the entire middle school.  They have to be booked months in advance and if snow days/assemblies mess that up you are up a creek without a paddle.  I will also have to spend time teaching the students how to use some of the technologies needed.

Overwhelming: To he honest, PBL scares me a bit. I want to try PBL but I am always scared about how each class will react to it. Not knowing what to expect is one of the great things about PBL, but it also makes me nervous. I am nervous because I am also not quite sure I completely understand it. I am hoping that as we work through the units in this class, I will feel more comfortable with PBL

Constructivist Instructional Design Principles Discussion Post u02d1

Prompt: Explain the pedagogical justifications for using project-based learning based on the unit's readings.

Think back to learning experiences in your own education. Describe the circumstances of that experience that were particularly successful in helping you make meaning of and transfer the learning.

The one thing that stuck out in my mind about the textbook reading is that it focuses on "real world projects."  The students now are in the driver's seat.  "Instead of following the teacher's lead, learners pursue their own questions to create their own meaning"(Boss & Krauss, 2007).  The student's are creating lifelong connections to the material being presented.  They are seeing the APPLICATION of the knowledge instead of memorizing the material only to forget it once the test is over.  This reminds me of Bloom's Taxonomy.  This is taking learning from the bottom of the taxonomy, all the way to the top! The students are going from memorizing details to applying the knowledge to ask and answer higher level questions.  When the student's get their mind to make these connections, they truly learn.

One of the things that Wiggins and McTigh mention is how students always ask, “Why do we need to learn this stuff?”  I have to say, I get that all of the time being a social studies teacher.  I also notice that a great deal of my students simply forget material after I give the test.  According to Wiggins and McTighe, “Students typically perform adequately on items requiring recall and basic skills but do poorly on items requiring application or careful analysis and explanation” (2008).  This statement truly is telling.  The students are not developing those higher thinking skills.  They are simply cramming for an exam, spitting out the info, then forgetting about it.  I want to break this mold!!  Project based learning forces the students to think beyond the information.  PBL requires that the students to make connections, ask questions and apply knowledge they already have.  The pedagogical justifications of PBL are that the students aren’t just memorizing then forgetting.  They are not only building knowledge but also building a problem solving skill set that will serve them as they go through school and life.  “The mission of high school is not to cover content, but rather to help learners become thoughtful about, and productive with content. It’s not to help students get good at school, but to prepare them for the world beyond school- to enable them to apply what they have learned to issues and problems they will face in the future” (Wiggins & McTigh, 2008).  The purpose and justification of PBL is to create high level thinkers that use their new found skills for the rest of their lives.

One of the things I thought about while doing the readings for this week is that I can barely get through the curriculum as it is. How can I effectively get through the curriculum and devote a large block of time to doing projects. There have been times I have had to cut things short because I simply had to get through x number of chapters.  “In the race to prepare for high stakes  state assessments, students are losing out on instructional practices that foster meaningful learning” (Brooks & Brooks, 1999). I sometimes think that the current climate toward high stakes testing, limits the true learning that can occur in a classroom.  It really is sad! This article also discussed that these tests are actually constricting learning and I completely agree with them.  Project Based Learning is about taking the time for students to find and construct their own learning.  “Learners control their learning” (Brooks & Brooks, 1999). Are state tests a good measure of this learning?  Teachers today spend a great deal of time getting information in before a state tests.  If a student needs more time with a topic, sometimes the teacher will just move on in fear of not getting to page xxx in the textbook.  I truly believe that state assessments hinder the cultivation of higher level thinking in the classroom.

To be completely honest, I cannot remember any particular project based lessons during my education. The one thing I do remember is that in 8th grade, we had had to debate a topic in one of my classes.  We had groups and we had to develop our own arguments to support a topic.  Our goal was to win the debate.  I wish I could remember more about the project, but I know we had to be really prepared on BOTH sides in order to win.  From my experience being a teacher, I had one group of students that completely modified a project I had assigned.  Instead of writing diaries of a frontier traveler, the students put on a full scale play.  They researched the obstacles a settler would face, and also researched what was required for the trip and wrote a script.  They even wrote their own music and lyrics that helped portray the move westward.  They even performed the play in front of the entire team! I also have a project that goes over the difficulties of the Jamestown settlement.  They have to identify the issues that Jamestown had and solve them.  They have to sketch Jamestown how they would lead it.  They would have to think of the basic necessities of life and of community and implement them into this new Jamestown.  I would simply ask them questions like “How are they going to store food?” or “How would you solve the Native American issue?” I am going to include this in my own education because I saw that the students enjoyed these projects much more than writing an essay. I learned from my students!

References:

Brooks, M. G., & Brooks, J. G. (1999). The courage to be constructivist. 57(3), 18-24. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/nov99/vol57/num03PBL Research

Boss, S., & Krauss, J. (2007). Reinventing project based learning: Your field guide to real world projects in the digital age. Eugene, Oregon: International Society for Technology in Education.

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2008, May). Put understanding first.  Educational Leadership: Reshaping High Schools, 65 (8), 36-41. Retrieved from: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/may08/vol65/num08/Put_Understanding_First.aspx