Educating the 21st Century Learner

I can only speak for myself, but something weird is happening right now: In my first year of graduate school, I'm enjoying school in ways I never have.  It may be a matter of being able to apply my education to my career but I think it also has to do with in-class interactions, and the nature of my assignments.  I have been exposed to the concept of self-directed learning and before I knew it I realized that my professors were using self-directed learning assignments on me.

My research paper will be discussing how to effectively combine self-directed learning, the reversed classroom and the teacher website.  I realize this is broad but I am pretty sure I will be able to dial in an organized central argument.  I aim to further my understanding of these pedagogical strategies so that I can meet our "21st Century" learning needs.  In other words, I will be adapting from all my previous learning experiences to becoming a teacher who facilitates learning by incorporating digital technology to supplement my class time and homework assignments.  Part of the theory behind  Self- directed learning is to blur the line between entertainment and education, and for students to advocate for their learning experience.  My goal as an educator is to [as much as possible] deliver content that captures the attention and minds of my students and to provide well-planned, compelling assignments that students can take interest in.

This is why I find this class essential to my development as an educator.  Before taking this class the concept of reaching students, especially at risk students, was a seemed to be the million dollar question; I feel that I have some great tools that I can apply to my career as an educator.

Eric

Advanced PowerPoint and WebQuests

Let me start by saying I have downloaded the Advanced PowerPoint tutorial for future consultation, but reviewing it has given me some great ideas to enhance my PowerPoints for class.  I plan on making the SmartBoard and PowerPoint a big part of my teaching strategy.  For my PowerPoint assignment I created a presentation that covers a week long in-and-out of class group assignment with the idea that such a lengthy assignment can be posted on my hypothetical teacher webpage to be used by students while they conduct their research.  Immediately I saw my assignment faintly reflected the WebQuest model we went over in class this week (9/22).  I was exposed to effective instructional strategies in class that I had overlooked while creating my assignment namely the introduction (which I associate with a hook exercise),  evaluation; the WebQuest model will prove helpful to designing effective assignments.

Yesterday I read on seventy-five page packet for a different class that introduced the Interactive Lecture Model. PowerPoint and WebQuests would not necessarily fall into the ILM according to the reading, but I see my classroom using them in tandem to create the most effective classroom experience for all learners.  The ILM maintains that lecturing is effective in maximizing the amount of content covered within a certain time period and that is hard to argue.  Having students connect with lectures and be able to harness the information is the challenge at hand, and the ILM provides practical solutions and techniques for this.  PowerPoint presentations are a great visual aid for lecturing and allows the teacher to conduct notes, graphic organizers, videos, and worksheets with ease.

A concern of mine becoming a new teacher is capturing and maintaining my students' attention; for this, I think the abilities of the SmartBoard are rather essential.  With that, it is my goal to not only engage my students in the learning process but (ideally/naively) give them a sense that learning is something that can be enjoyed.  WebQuests, along with the type of assignment I attempted to design, facilitate independent learning processes that are fundamental to developing critical thinking skills, research skills, and just maybe an appreciation for learning.

This is my journey,

Eric

Web 2.0: Social Media and Beyond

My understanding of the term Web 2.0: Second generation of the internet. This generation is far more interactive, full of different media, and advertising.  I asked my friend, a computer science major, described it simply as the internet that we know today with YouTube, all the social media, and Google etc. I want to discuss a few ways to evolve the classroom through the use of the web and technologies.

The further I investigate the role of technology in schools and in the classroom the more I appreciate it.  The use of social media in the school setting certainly is a controversial issue and I admittedly was a skeptic even though I knew we were to use it in our class.  My reservation for applying it in a high school setting is naturally fear of different forms of abuse.  For this I look forward to learning some of the different models schools have used to incorporate social media like Facebook and Twitter so that kids interact in positive and thoughtful ways.

Eric Sheninger, a pioneer of incorporating social media in schools, describes it as coming up to speed with the times and most importantly with our children and students.  Essentially, this form of communication appeals to our students in a time when schools are becoming more and more disconnected with their students.  Further, social media is free form of communication that takes very little time and allows for teachers and administrators to reach students,parents and their communities quickly and often.  As I watched a presentation Sheninger  gave at a teaching summit I thought to myself that by tweeting and posting ideas, events and updates online for the public to read it also potentially spreads positive messages among school districts.  Social media connects people; my thought is that if one principal is posting new learning ideas and positive messages about their school then I am lead to believe that those messages, along with the embrace of technology,  will spread to other school districts and their constituents.  Let's think of it as inadvertently thinking collaboratively: schools building on each other's ideas just by participating.

Another concept I am familiarizing myself with is the 'reverse classroom model.'  If you ever find yourself wanting more time to discuss topics, continue an experiment or practice a few more math problems this may be a useful model for you.  The teacher is to videotape themselves delivering lesson and upload it to either iTunes or her teacher website and assign the lesson for homework and the following class the lesson will be practice or discussed in class.  First thing I thought when I heard of this was replacing the textbook chapter reading with the online lesson.  I see it that by creating a 20-30 minute lesson for students to watch for homework is not only a more effective delivery system in that the teacher creates the message and not relying on a textbook, but it will likely take less time than reading and be more engaging for students.  

It's exciting for me to learn about this subject.  Effectively engaging students is central to my developing theory of pedagogy, harnessing technology seems to be the future of connecting with our students.