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madmgarc-blog · 6 years

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Blog 6: Class Takeaways

The number one takeaway from this class has to be learning how to use the SmartBoard. I think that this is such a valuable tool for classroom teachers and the possibilities of ways that I can incorporate this into my future class are endless. I really look forward to the time when I can prepare lessons for my students using this and can watch them learn by using this amazing tool.

Another big takeaway I have from this class are the websites Piktochart, Poster my Wall, and Canva. I had never heard of these resources before and realize what great, free, teacher tools they are. After having used them, I love all of the different classroom things you can create. The posters I have made, or could make, on this look so professional and I would love to be able to hang these up in my classroom. As a bonus, these sites are great for other things such as making certificates for deserving students or printing off calendars to hand out to parents so they know what is going on in their child’s classroom.

In general, the whole book, “Design for How People Learn” was really great on giving insights for how people learn best and how I, as the teacher, can make sure students have those rewarding and engaging learning experiences. Probably my favorite part about this book were the different analogies that Julie Dirksen would make in relation to the ideas presented in the book. She talked about how we can think of learners as elephants and that we have to constantly keep them engaged when teaching otherwise we will lost their interest. She also wrote how we can think of our memories as stored in different shelves in our brains. The more we use those different shelves the more likely we are to remember those things. Both of those images, and the others presented in the book, are something that I think are really important for classroom teachers to think about and am really glad I learned.

The five design principles were something new that I learned in this class and think are helpful in so many different ways. Following these guidelines makes it not only much easier to design something, but it makes the end result so much better. I love that these guidelines are like a checklist that I can follow when I am creating something. As long as I know I follow the steps that I can be confident that what I make will be appealing to others, specifically things I am designing for my students.

Finally, my last takeaway from this class would be learning about all the best ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. All the different projects we did throughout the semester, and resources we learned about in class, have given me SO many amazing ways for how to enhance students learning. I love that we were able to create two lessons-one in person and one online. It really helps me to see how we can effectively use technology, without going overboard, to design the best lessons for our students in so many different ways.

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madmgarc-blog · 7 years

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PowerPoint Renovation Justification

The first renovation that I made to this PowerPoint was to create a cohesive theme that flowed throughout the entire presentation. The original PowerPoint seemed to have a different scheme going on in each page and this made it very unappealing and certainly did not adhere to the design principles of balance and appeal. The PowerPoint that I completed was much more balanced in that the design flowed throughout and the blue and brown colors were warm and appealing and, to me, seemed to well suit the ideas that were related in the presentation.

The second renovation that I chose to make was to condense the main ideas of the course into one slide and the goals of the course into their own slides as well. Dirksen talks about communicating learning objectives and why this is important in Chapter 3. She says that it focuses the learners attention, helps them know what is important, and helps them know the performance level they should achieve.The original PowerPoint had the goals/objectives randomly spread throughout the PowerPoint and I did not think that this would make it easy for viewers to understand or identify these things. Along with reorganizing these items I also added pictures to each of the slides. These pictures were relevant to the content being expressed on each page, making the presentation appeal to different times of learners which Dirksen talks about in Chapter 2. And while she doesn’t necessarily think that there is much you can do with learning styles, I still think it is a good idea to present information in as many ways as possible.

The third renovation done to this PowerPoint was related to two more principles of design: arrangement and legibility. This was done by arranging the text and pictures on the page in a way that was organized and legible so that viewers could best take it in. The pre-reno PowerPoint had text all over the page going in different directions. There was also no real arrangement to the pictures going on the pages. After I redid the PowerPoint I made sure to put both the pictures and the text I chose in a very organized manner.

Finally, the last major renovation I made to this PowerPoint was to add colorful and engaging pictures. Dirksen also addresses this in Chapter 6 when she talks about how the “elephant” is very visual, and how “the images you use make a difference.” Now, the original PowerPoint did have pictures, but they were very random and did not relate to the course objectives. I think pictures are an essential part of any presentation to both inform and keep people engaged and I tried to pick pictures that would do just that.

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madmgarc-blog · 7 years

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Blog 5: All about Engaging through Technology

I Watched the videos “Blended Learning Energizes High School Math Students”and “Collaborative Digital Presentations Enrich Projects.”

In the math video, I was pleased to see that the students were using Khan Academy to learn and practice skills. I have used that website myself and think it is a fabulous self teaching tool. That self teaching is one of the reasons I think the engagement of the students in this environment was exceptionally good. It appeared as if all students were not only doing the work, but seemed motivated to do well on it. The great thing about Khan Academy in the classroom is that it allows every student to work at their own pace. If you need extra practice on a certain concept, than you have the resources to do that and not make everyone else fall behind. And vice versa. I also loved how if the students needed help that the website could not provide they were to ask another student. That in turn motivates both students involved in a whole new way. That same kind of collaboration can be seen in the digital presentations video. I loved the teamwork that was used and how most of the students were using Google Presentations. One student commented on how when he added something his partner could “see everything that I’m doing in the presentation to benefit it or change something up.” I love that! Collaboration at its best. The shots of the video that were shown showed a classroom that was bustling with students who were highly engaged in working together to make the best presentations for their class. Having the students have the opportunity to “teach” the class while presenting, I believe led to an even higher level of motivation and retention of knowledge. And, last but not least, the aspect of using technology to do the presentations always seems to boost students motivation and this setting was no different.

I think that the roles both of the teachers in the video were different than any I would ever want to occupy, but that does not mean there were not a lot of good things I took away from watching their interactions with students. The one from the math class had a great deal of technological help from the online resources from Khan Academy. But at the same time I feel as though he was teaching his students to become more self sufficient and self motivated through not always simply asking him for help. I absolutely loved the way the teacher would have the students do three things before they asked him for help: watch a video, get a hint, or ask a peer. Reminds me a lot of the Montessori classroom rule of asking for help from three people before you ask the teacher. Another huge benefit I thought the teacher had was having the online data that showed which students were succeeding and which ones needed a that little extra boost. Really prioritizes where the teacher needs to spend his or her time. Similarly, I found the digital presentations video to also have the teacher play more of a nontraditional role in the classroom. She wanted her students to rely more on each other than to always be running to her. Plus, it’s not often that students have the chance to teach other students! The first time I taught my classmates was in the Intro to Scientific Inquiry class at IUSB. And that is an education class so it makes sense. But, back to the video, the teacher, similar to the math teacher, would be available to assist her students in any way possible to help them succeed. That is something that I undoubtedly want to do.

You would think that after watching a video on technology in the classroom you would pick up some ideas. And you would be right. There were several ideas for integrating technology in the classroom that I picked up through watching these videos. First, I have gotten the idea of how Khan Academy would be a really great homework resource. I don’t know if I’d want that be my full classroom instruction, especially since I want to teach elementary school:) But homework. Now that’s a good idea. Second, having students collaborating together on digital presentations is something I have always enjoyed doing in classes. So much more engaging than a traditional presentation. What I saw in the video gave my some unique ideas for how that could function in the classroom. The three steps the teacher had the students do in their presentations were awesome. Visual using technology; it makes things so much easier. Handout. Activity. Watch out future students.

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madmgarc-blog · 7 years

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All about my 1:1 Classroom

I think it would be so incredible to one day have a 1:1 laptop or tablet initiative in my classroom. Some schools just feel fortunate to have 1 textbook for every student, much less every student having an amazing piece of technology. The advantages and possibilities of what I could do with these and my students is endless. There are several things that I would do in my 1:1 classroom to make the most of their educational opportunities and integrate this technology into their learning experiences.

In chapter 7, Dirksen talks about developing skills, and of course the one thing that is absolutely necessary when developing skills -- practice. Sure, we don’t like to practice. We just wish we learned something once and then we were automatically an expert at it. But, unfortunately, that’s not the way it works. We’ve all heard the saying “to become an expert at something, practice it 10,000 times” and while we don’t have a chance for out students to practice all the content we teach them 10,000 times, we can certainly give them opportunities to practice. And this is where our 1:1 technology can come in handy. There are an unlimited number of fun and creative ways that technology can be used to help kids practice what they have learned. And there are a lot of advantages to practicing with technology in this setting. No waiting turns. Nobody unnecessarily falling behind. Because everyone gets one. They can work at their own pace. I can know immediately when they need help or are struggling. Bonus: kids love being on technology. And if you can do such fun kid-centered things with it. Maybe make the practice in the form of a game that they will be even more inclined to use. Oh, and another fabulous way having a 1:1 technology initiative will help on practice: students can practice slowly. They can practice it gradually and over time which is something Dirksen thinks is extremely beneficial to retaining content. She reiterates SPACE OUT YOUR PRACTICE. And this is so easy when you have a 1:1 initiative.

Another way that the 1:1 initiative will come in handy in a fantastic way relates directly to what Dirksen discusses in chapter 9 which is about designing for the environment. She talks about “learning the right things.” This basically means that all the knowledge required in school isn’t necessarily something you have to know by heart. I took trigonometry last summer. And, no, it wasn’t an enjoyable experience. Especially when you condense 15 weeks into 3... but that’s another story. Anyway, on the exams, the professor would give us some of the formulas. The formulas would be useless unless we knew how to use them, but it would have be extremely difficult and unnecessary to actually memorize them. Now, on the other hand, we HAD to learn how to use the formulas with problems. That is what Dirksen is talking about. Now, you might be asking, what does that have to do with a 1:1 classroom?? Well, laptops and tablets can be extremely useful in helping students focus on what they actually need to learn. For example, another interesting (and helpful) idea that Dirksen brought up in the chapter was the use of what she considers “job aids.” In my classroom this would look like charts, graphs, diagrams, etc. that students could access on their device. Maybe they would show the cursive alphabet, reference for the times tables, a flow chart that helps students start writing an essay. Things that would aid the students in learning, but things that they do not actually need to learn, or know off the top of their heads.

Now, not to totally ruin this post, but, I just happen to be an over-thinker and a perfectionist, and, well, there is one caution I have with a 1:1 initiative. While having this program implemented into my classroom, I want to make sure that the technology doesn’t take over the classroom. When used responsibly, technology can have a hugely positive impact on the students in your class. But it’s also important to not let it replace all the actual teaching going on there. In this decade, elementary students in our classes have grown up with every type of technology at their finger tips. Sometimes they think that is all there is. But it’s not. And we have to show them that. Technology is an aid to learning, it can even be a scaffold, but it cannot replace it altogether.

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madmgarc-blog · 7 years

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Blog 3: All About Attention

We live in a world where so much grabs out attention. Technology around every corner. Simply put, we live in a really fun world. And that is not necessarily a bad thing expect for one problem. The problem is that with so much to pay attention to, we have trouble paying attention at all. Even as adults, our attention spans our limited. Imagine how much more limited and how much more minds wander when we are in elementary school. Kids think all sorts of things in class, “What’s for lunch?”, “How long till recess?” “Look at the kid playing on the swing set!” This makes it really hard for me, as the teacher, to get them to pay attention. So, that means this post is all about how we can get our students to pay attention to what we are saying.

Growing up I was never the kid who had much trouble paying attention. As Dirksen would say my “rider” was typically in pretty good control over my “elephant”. I could read a book and pay attention to what it said. I could sit through church on Sunday without forgetting where I was. And, for the most part, I could pay attention during school. Now while I was certainly not the most ADD person around, there were certainly things that helped focus my attention better, and in turn helped me remember what was being taught. The most attention-holding tdhing that I found was storytelling. I mean, what kid does not like to listen to a story? Dirksen seems to agree with my storytelling analysis when she says that “the elephant (listener) seems to be pretty willing to give stories an initial listen”. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but whenever one of my teachers, past or present, has started the lesson with, or ingrained the lesson into a story, I pay attention way easier. As a matter of fact, I don’t even need to “pay attention”, if something is interesting enough my mind is automatically on it. And for me personally, I tend to pay attention to things when there is a sense of urgency about them. If you tell me “This is going to be on the final” then BAM, something goes off in my head and all my attention is focused right on what you are saying. However, Dirksen does not seem to agree with this, thinking that just because you hear something is urgent does not mean your mind is drawn to it. In my case, I disagree. I believe saying something is important is a good way to get attention. But, maybe that is just me. Maybe it’s completely different for others. However, I don’t think I’m alone when I say I have trouble paying attention during an hour long lecture where all the professor does is talk, talk, talk. In those cases it’s not long before my mind, just like those elementary students, is on other things: what’s for lunch, the paper I have due for next class, the season finale American Ninja Warrior last night. So disappointing nobody won the million dollars. Such a great show. I wonder if anyone will complete all the courses next year... oops, sorry, back to what I was talking about. I guess what I want to say is that I want to be the kind of teacher whose students don’t have to fight to pay attention. They don’t have to fight falling asleep in class. Now, I guess how to do that is the question.

I feel as if a million ideas run through my head when I think of the best ways to keep attention in my classroom. After all, I plan to have a classroom setting that is filled to the brim with resources and technology that help students learn best. Colorful books, games, and puzzles, that help reinforce new knowledge. Amusing posters on the walls that inspire students to learn. Computers and tablets ( if i get the funding!) that will unlock a brand new world in the eyes of these kids. And, while those are doubtless ways that will keep the kids attention, there are also going to be times when they have to pay attention to what I say so I can give them the beginning knowledge to explore those resources I have provided. And holding their attention then can be a little bit more of a challenge. Here are some ideas that I plan to use as attention keepers:

1. Using visuals. ESPECIALLY for kids, if you use pictures and videos when you are explaining something it is not only going to make a ton more sense, but they are actually going to pay attention. Which is probably important, right? ;). I guess Dirksen is right when she says we are all visual learners.

2. Rewards. Although I think I have to be careful with this one, there are definitely some benefits to using it depending on the type of students. I’m going to steal something else from Dirksen. And that is the idea of using intrinsic motivation vs. extrinsic motivation. Basically, that looks like not simply doling out candy every time you complete an assignment -- that’s certainly not teaching them to love learning. No, it looks like having as Dirksen says “rewards built right in.” The students actually getting something useful out of the lesson or the information. Learning how to tie their shoes. Or being able to draw a picture for mom. Learning to read because it’s fun. Real life stuff.

3. Finally, feeding on what Dirksen calls “the elephant’s curiosity.” And who is more curious than a 9 year old kid? I plan to make things interesting for them. Exciting, mysterious, challenging, at times frustrating, but always so that they want to push towards the end.

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madmgarc-blog · 7 years

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Blog 2: All About Memory

Wouldn’t it be easy if we could just look at something and then we instantly remembered it from then on? Yeah, I know it’s wishful thinking, but it would certainly make my life a whole lot easier. I’ll honestly say I’ve probably tried every technique there is to remember stuff. I have vivid recollections of using what Dirksen calls “pure memorization” to remember my lines for the American Girl plays my cousins and I would put on for our families when we were younger: I’d just say the lines over and over until I knew them. When I was learning the definitions of vocab words back in high school I would put the words in funny or meaningful sentences such as “Caleb was very ostentatious”. Yep, he was really arrogant. For college classes in science and history I have written my notes over and over until I literally remembered every single thing on them. I’ve also done the typical note card method we’ve all used. But there is one problem with those methods. I don’t remember that stuff anymore. I don’t remember the lines from my play, esoteric word definitions, or random dates and facts about the Civil War. And that is exactly why I want to take a different approach in the way I help my students remember things.

Dirksen used what I thought was a really insightful analogy on the way we store things in our brain. Shelves was the way she put it. Every piece of information that is stored in our memory goes on a certain shelf. We can have some very populated and often accessed shelves. Since I love to bake I’ll use the example of baking. My baking shelf is used often and because of that I remember the information I am storing there because it actually gets put to use. On the other hand, my phone number shelf doesn’t get used too often thanks to the efficiency of the contacts app on my phone. Therefore, I have only a few phone numbers that I can actually remember and in turn retrieve from the shelf. That thinking can easily be thought in terms of how I can help my future students remember information. Because I don’t just want to be a teacher whose students are satisfied with the typical “remember and forget” method that I was so accustomed to using in school. I want them to be able to retain and use the content I’m teaching in ways that will help them for the rest of their life. Here are a couple of ideas to boost my students memory by helping them actually remember the information:

1.) Using an interdisciplinary approach to teaching content. For example, when teaching about cells in biology, not only incorporate it into the science unit, but have students do math problems about multiplying and dividing cells and/or have them write an essay about the story of a cell’s life. That way students are putting their newly discovered information on more than one “shelf” and will be more likely to remember it later on because it gets used more often.

2.) Storytelling. This category, which Dirksen considers a type of memory, seems to always help me remember things better. So, I’m going to assume it would work well for my students too. Whether it’s dramatizing the life of George Washington, or using comics to illustrate how photosynthesis works, as a culture we seem to recall stories easier than anything else.

3.) Giving plenty of opportunities for hands-on learning. This might include dissecting a frog while having students learn about the insides, or reenacting the Continental Congress in which students get actual roles to play. Purely based off of my own school experience, I remembered things a whole lot better when I was involved in some type of hands-on practice. Dirksen also kind of relates to this when she talks about in-context learning and how people remember things when they are placed in the environment where they are performing the task.

Finally, I think I would be a little out of touch with the times if I did not discuss how technology and memory mix. In a lot of ways, I think that technology can actually be harmful to our memories. If you just think about the example with remembering the phone numbers that I used above, technology has, in some aspects of life, taken away our need for memory. Granted, it has made our lives easier, but is it taking away part of our memory functioning with it? I, just like everyone else, love my phone, love my laptop, etc. and am always looking for creative and functional ways to incorporate that tech into my future class. However, I think it requires some degree of, for lack of a better term, digital responsibility. I certainly think tech can enhance learning and make it easier and more accessible for students to gain information both in and out of the classroom. But I also think it’s important to admit that technology is not a replacement for our memories. Just because you can look up anything on Google does not mean there is no purpose to maintaining it in our own memory. The human brain is superior to any computer and we should actually use it. We have memory capacity. Let’s do something with it. So, to sum it up, I totally think technology can enhance learning and even be an aid to remembering things. But that does not mean it is a replacement.

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madmgarc-blog · 7 years

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Blog 1: All About My Learners

“If you don’t understand your learners, unfortunate things can happen”. That quote from Julie Dirksen really got me to thinking. Thinking about how who your learners are and what you know about them can play a HUGE role in the way you teach. I expect to be teaching in an elementary classroom 5 years from now. That means I will be teaching younger kids who are still hopefully at the sweet stage where they love their teachers. The crazy thing is that each and every student in my classroom will be different. Different genders, races, religions, cultures, prior knowledge, lives. Different people who each have a different learning style. What is similar about my students is that for each of them I have the chance to make a difference in their lives. My job is to help them all succeed -- despite their differences.

Dirksen talked about intrinsic verse extrinsic motivation. I think that is definitely something that I will take into account in the future when I plan my approach to teaching the content. It’s crazy to think you will have some intrinsically motivated students who want to learn as Dirksen says “for its own sake”. Then on the other hand you have the extrinsically motivated kids who are only doing it to get some type of reward out of what they are doing. I think it helps to take a step back and look at my motivations in school. I would classify myself as somewhere in between the two. Sure, I love learning, often for its own sake. But often that depends on the topic. Math? Yep. English? Uh, probably not. However, that own reflection helps me realize that my students are not going to learn the same way I do. I might have a bunch of kids (hopefully) who simply love learning no matter what. But it’s also a given that I will have extrinsically motivated students in my class who I need to plan for and find ways to keep them engaged and interested in my class.

That topic leads to another big takeaway that I think is important for teachers to know. Your learners are not you. It seems like a pretty obvious statement, right? Well, it’s certainly not common knowledge. First off, it’s a cold splash of reality to realize that although what I am saying or teaching makes perfect sense in my head it’s not necessarily going to be that crystal clear with my students. I think the most obvious reason for this is that I have studied this material a million times before. I mean, I graduated from college. That counts for something, right?? Anyway, I’m an expert in the subject and I have to take into account what knowledge, if any, my students will have had about the topic. What do they bring with them? What misconceptions do they have? How can I correct those? Dirksen used a really great analogy to illustrate the current skill levels of people’s knowledge of a certain topic. She said to picture learners climbing hills. The more content you know the less steep the hill. The less content you know the steeper the hill. I’m going to take a second to relate that back to my musical career (if you want to call it that). I began playing the piano when I was 11. And I can honestly say that when I started, with basically zero knowledge, improving was like climbing a really steep hill. It was hard. It was confusing. I needed direction. But, almost 10 years later, my hill is definitely less steep. I don’t need as much help. I can process new information. I can play more advanced things. Now, back to how this relates to teaching. Every student I have will be at a different skill level. For most, at the beginning, all the material I teach will be new to them. That means that we have to take it slow. They are at the steep hill level. I need to assist them. I need to scaffold for them – another term that Dirksen talks about. Then, as they slowly gain more information and understand better, I can gradually take away the assistance until the point where they can do it on their own with little to no guidance.

Learning styles is another biggie that I think is really important for teachers to know about their students. I think in many ways this ties back to the idea of “your learners are not you”. But this time around it relates to what are the best ways that students learn information the best. Maybe I’ll have an artsy student who learns best visually. Auditory learner? Very likely. Kinesthetic learner? Got to prepare for that too. But I also think it’s interesting, and probably true, what Dirksen says about tailoring teaching to learning styles. It’s hard to do. But that doesn’t mean I can’t do my best to accommodate them in the way I teach. Provide lots of visuals, give students a chance to try things out for themselves. Make sure discussion is included where they get a chance to voice their opinions. At the end of the day, it just matters, no matter how much effort I have to put into it, that students leave my classroom excited, knowledgeable, and ready to take on the world.

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