Hi Betsy! I'm Mariam Raza from the Ning Classroom 2.0 community. It's been so nice to be able to read your blog.
I just wanted to comment on something you wrote: "If my students ever viewed my teaching ... I would die of embarrassment. I don't want to be a dinosaur, ...skills they need to compete in the 21st century work force.
I totally agree with you! I had some of the best and brightest students last year -- 5 6th graders who have always been top students. They're fabulous readers, decent writers, and just Ace almost anything. I was really blessed to have them. They're manners were right up there with their academics. Whatever I asked them to do -- whether write a research paper or read a 12 chapter novel -- they're do it! However, I noticed several times that they got bored with my teaching. I could get a grammar lesson on appositives done in literarly 10-15 minutes with them. But I had to spend more time on it because 1 had one slower student. Anyway, the got bored waiting for the 5th student to finish her assignments so they were left to twiddle their thumbs. I was thinking of changing my teaching style entirely -- by incorporating more and more PLNS - Personal learning environments where they find, access, and compile their own research on a topic, like say, for example, the text we're reading :Swiss Family Robinson. It would save me a lot of lesson planning and I'd be there just as a facilitator. What do you think?
That sounds like a great idea. Our school year just let out, and I'm cleaning my room so I can get checked out, but as soon as I'm able to sit down and process my thoughts for next year I will definitely check out that link. I completed this blog for requirements for a technology inservice I completed at the end of last summer. Since then, I have made many changes in my classroom due to two grants I received over the school year. It was exhausting, but very exciting at the same time. I think the students loved it.
Hi Betsy! I'm Mariam Raza from the Ning Classroom 2.0 community. It's been so nice to be able to read your blog.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to comment on something you wrote: "If my students ever viewed my teaching ... I would die of embarrassment. I don't want to be a dinosaur, ...skills they need to compete in the 21st century work force.
I totally agree with you! I had some of the best and brightest students last year -- 5 6th graders who have always been top students. They're fabulous readers, decent writers, and just Ace almost anything. I was really blessed to have them. They're manners were right up there with their academics. Whatever I asked them to do -- whether write a research paper or read a 12 chapter novel -- they're do it! However, I noticed several times that they got bored with my teaching. I could get a grammar lesson on appositives done in literarly 10-15 minutes with them. But I had to spend more time on it because 1 had one slower student. Anyway, the got bored waiting for the 5th student to finish her assignments so they were left to twiddle their thumbs. I was thinking of changing my teaching style entirely -- by incorporating more and more PLNS - Personal learning environments where they find, access, and compile their own research on a topic, like say, for example, the text we're reading :Swiss Family Robinson. It would save me a lot of lesson planning and I'd be there just as a facilitator. What do you think?
Here's a link I saved on diigo about PLNs:
ReplyDeletehttp://onceateacher.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/pln-your-personal-learning-network-made-easy/
That sounds like a great idea. Our school year just let out, and I'm cleaning my room so I can get checked out, but as soon as I'm able to sit down and process my thoughts for next year I will definitely check out that link. I completed this blog for requirements for a technology inservice I completed at the end of last summer. Since then, I have made many changes in my classroom due to two grants I received over the school year. It was exhausting, but very exciting at the same time. I think the students loved it.
ReplyDelete