I structured this Discovery Education Board to give new life to the epitome of respectful discourse…the debate!
A debate embodies the respectful mind because it asks a student to stand in the same room as another with whom they disagree and to remain civil while explaining why the other student is wrong. This is a skill not easily achieved. Even famous individuals 'lose their cool' and stoop to a personal insult during a debate. Gardner (2007) gives this advice, "Members of a group should be encouraged to ask questions of one another, to weigh the pros and cons of alternatives, to advocate positions other than their own." In that passage, Gardner was not referring directly to the forum of debate, but it could well have been. Gardner states the role of the teacher as one who draws attention to the other connotations of goodness. I interpret this also as to draw attention to the goodness of other points of view. That is similar to the role of moderator of a debate of which the teacher must play in the classroom. Though both camps may hit hard and defend their points of view, it is a skilled moderator that reminds all involved of the value of the process and asks one camp to acknowledge the logic of an argument from the other camp. So, the debate reigns supreme in its power as a tool to shape students as respectful and ethical young people. Over all, I prefer the Discover Education Board to Glogster EDU for the main reason that it is quicker to load. Glogster is getting a bit old these days and I'm not sure it is receiving the support it needs to work as a Web 2.0 tool for education. DE's Board Builder is intuitive and made creating my board on systems of measurement quite easy. Being so close to the end of the school year, I will not be able to use my new media-infused experience, but I will be sure to pull it up for next year's crop of 9th graders. I can't wait to see the lively, respectful debate of students for years to come! Reference Gardner, Howard. (2007). Five Minds for the Future. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press.
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Thefutureofeducation.com. (2014, January 16). Julie Lindsay & Vicki Davis on “Flattening Classrooms. [Video
File]. Retrieved April 12, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVZuwIhjQvA As I reflected on Julie Lindsay & Vicki Davis on "Flattening Classrooms", I saw the theme of respect and integrity in using technology. Vicki's projects where students collaborate with other students around the world are impressive. I can't claim to be even close to her in the use of technology, but I do share her interest in teaching students to be respectful and ethical in all that they do. I have to small examples of things I do with my students that demonstrate this. I started using what I would call a motto in my classroom with my students. The motto is, "above all else, maintain your integrity." I say it a lot and my students know that I care about it. I say it before they work with those they might not have much experience with (when I do not allow them to choose their group members). I say it before they take a quiz or test as a reason for not being tempted to cheat. I say it before student presentations to remind them what an important role being an audience to their peers is. Another small example of something I've implemented is part of a fun lesson I do in my Earth science classes. I like to remind students how the scientific process works by trying to convince them that the Earth is flat. I provide evidence for why they should believe it, some of which is ridiculous. After they view my presentation, I ask the students to choose one piece of evidence to counter. They can do some research of their own and argue using logic and diagrams. While they counter my evidence and supply their own, I remind them that even though my interpretation of facts may be worthy of ridicule, that I am not. I ask that they always remember to attack ideas and not those who hold them. Sometimes I will sample discussion threads in the "Flat Earth vs Round Earth" Facebook group and ask students to read it. I ask students to identify examples of criticism that is useful and respectful and that which is divisive and rude. This is very important to me as civil discussion is a cornerstone of our democracy and our system of education. A logical next step for me might be to partner my classes with students in other classes or schools to carry out a scientific debate. I could ask the classes to defend opposing theories for a phenomenon. This would be an authentic way to maintain integrity in a digital forum, asking students to carry out a debate where ideas are attacked and not people. Gardner states that respect for other should permeate our lives (2007). As teachers we spend more time with a child than they will spend with their own parents, and this makes it even more crucial for teachers to help students develop a respectful mind. Reference Gardner, Howard. (2007). Five Minds for the Future. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press. This week's assignment to create a Spotlight on Strategies was designed to improve student-to-student feedback in the classroom. This strategy was chosen based on my encountering "plussing" in an Edutopia.org article by Larry Ferlazzo (2015).
Carol Dweck, famous for her growth vs fixed mindset research, understands that positivity and praise are not the only things necessary in good feedback. In fact, praise can have negative consequences by motivating students to not look bad instead of learning (Mueller & Dweck, 1998). As teachers we must always improve our capacity to give useful and beneficial feedback. My personal experience in class has been that when students are asked to provide feedback to their peers, they also require the same lessons. I wished to there were some easy-to-learn templates for how to incorporate plussing into their system of feedback. That was my challenge this week; I needed to apply this creative tool in a packaged way that would be easy to teach to students. Robert Kelly (2016) alludes to the rules of plussing in this passage of his book: "The only thing group member are permitted to do during the idea exchange is to add to another member's idea[…]" Each time I saw plussing referenced, the “yes, and…” method followed. By saying “yes, and…” or “what if…” instead of “yes, but…” we accept the idea and then seek to improve on its faults without drawing useless unneeded attention to the faults. Plussing principles such as the "yes, and…" method of feedback are also staples of improvisational performances. In a New York Times article, Peter Sims explains that brain scans differ between musicians asked to be judged and when playing a jazz improvisation (Tugend, 2013). Jazz is the quintessential form of creation. I think we can all take something from improvisation by adding plussing to our repertoire of classroom strategies. References Ferlazzo, L. (2015, March 25). Strategies for helping students motivate themselves. Retrieved April 09, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/strategies-helping-students-motivate-themselves-larry-ferlazzo Kelly, R. (2016). Creative Development: Transforming Education through Design Thinking, Innovation, and Invention. Canada: Brush Education Inc. Mueller, C. M., & Dweck, C. S. (1998). Praise for intelligence can undermine children's motivation and performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(1), 33-52. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.75.1.33 Tugend, A. (2013). You’ve been doing a fantastic job. Just one thing ... Retrieved April 09, 2017, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/06/your-money/how-to-give-effective-feedback-both-positive-and-negative.html I had time in my 5th block 9th grade Earth science class to have an interesting discussion about creativity and technology. I decided this class for this as we were about to begin a timeline assignment which required them to be creative in a few ways. So, I decided to frame the discussion on creativity around the timeline.
I started by asking the whole class how they would make a timeline creatively. One student said to draw it and to add color. Another student argued that creativity shouldn't be a big part of projects because she isn't artistic. Others nodded or made a gesture showing that they agreed. So I asked students to raise their hands if they saw themselves as creative. Very few did so; students were very hesitant to make this claim about themselves. I assured the students that the extent of my evaluation of their artistic talents would be based on whether information in the timeline is neat and uncluttered. I redirected the conversation to dig a little deeper into the idea of creativity. I indicated that they would need to use an analogy or metaphor for their timeline. I gave them an example by spreading my arms open wide and explaining that if my 'wingspan' were all of geologic time, the dinosaur era would fit within my left palm and all of human history would be taken away by the single stroke of a nail file. I told the students that they must use a metaphor (and they couldn't use mine). I asked again how they could use creativity to create their timeline. A lot of students gave examples of metaphors they were thinking of (a tree, a soccer field, a skeleton). I was not that surprised that students focused much more on how to be creative with the metaphor. No one mentioned that the process of working out the math of the timeline as a creative process, even though there are several ways to solve that problem. My next questions were about incorporating technology into their timelines. Some students suggested using items of technology like build a timeline out of a computer. I asked if students could use their laptops to make the timeline. A student suggested Word, hesitantly. That's about as far as they took it. My last question asked them was if they could have any technologies to help them make their timelines, what would they pick. One student volunteered Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset. This got a lot of wide eyed looks and excitement. Another student suggested being able to do it in the metal lab in the tech ed department. I thought this was an interesting suggestion. I am encouraged that 9th grade students in my classroom can be pushed to think of creativity as being more than just pretty or artistic. They demonstrated some novel ways to approach a timeline creatively, though they were not aware this is what they were doing. This tells me that creativity education is something that my students may benefit from and enjoy. After watching this video, it is clear that Howard Gardner and Sir Ken Robinson are kindred spirits. They are critical of our current system of educating young people, but they are not delusional about what it takes for young people to become great at something. Gardner's words about discipline being necessary to achieve anything worthwhile, such as creativity, are echoed in Robinson's TED talk. In it, Robinson references, early on, a performance by a "Sirena," which by his tone was apparently quite impressive. Her name is Sirena Huang and in the same TED conference Robinson gave his now famous talk in 2006, she performed a 20 minute violin concerto. I was curious to see the performance he referenced, so I watched it. I have provided the link at the bottom of the post if you would also.
Her eyes closed for the duration, only opening to keep track of her lightning-quick fingers as if to keep them from flying away. It makes me wonder if great violinists close their eyes because their teachers and influences did the same or if it is necessary to experience the full range of emotion, as if opening the eyes to allow visual stimuli would simply be too much to process emotionally. The point of bringing up Serena here was to demonstrate Robinson and Gadner's regard for discipline. Robinson's thesis is outlined here as he discusses Sirena. "…she's exceptional, but I think she's not, so to speak, exceptional in the whole of childhood. What you have there is a person of extraordinary dedication who found a talent. And my contention is, all kids have tremendous talents. And we squander them, pretty ruthlessly." So, Robinson recognizes there are problems with our system, but he mentions Sirena's "extraordinary discipline" as the thing that sets her apart from other kids. Kids are talented, variably and in different areas, but they have talents and it is hard work and discipline that allows their creativity to flourish. Our job should be to nurture that creativity but to be cognizant of how true creativity is achieved. And that is different than simply saying, "all children are creative." So to Robinson's thesis, do schools kill creativity? I think he is being intentionally hyperbolic here. In order to get people talking, and draw attention to this cause, he says that schools 'kill' creativity. This implies that not only do they not foster it in any way, but through its operation, schools prevent creativity from happening. He cites all kinds of research and facts that explain both why our school system is the way it is and why they are not designed to maximize creativity. I agree with these facts. But I think he steps too far to say that creativity is killed in schools. His call to action, however is more to the point. We should make changes to schools so they can become engines of creative minds. Technology clearly plays a big role here. This is not because technology is inherently creative or is inherently designed to engage in creative process or produce creative works. However, Robinson reminds us that a young person entering school for the first time, in 2006, would retire in 2065. Even if Moore's Law (the biannual doubling of transistor density in circuits) tapers off over the next half-century, the world of a decade or two from now should be much more 'connected' by technology than it is now. This time period will be the prime working years of Robinson's kindergarten cohort. Most do not spend their time arguing against the use of technology in schools, but rather how best to implement it within good pedagogy. My opinion is that technology moves too quickly to have a formal systemic review of most technologies for use in the classroom. It is necessary for individual teachers to be the testers and for our students to be the guinea pigs. Do not get me wrong, obviously I believe that this should be a careful exercise on the part of the educator, but risks will yield more rewards and keep us riding at the front of the wave of advancing technology instead of paddling behind it. In my classroom, if I do actively wish for creativity to be a central part of an assignment, technology usually is the means to the end, not the end itself. I do not often begin describing an exercise in creativity with, "for this creative project you will make a StoryboardThat." Instead, the prompt is given with reserved encouragement to utilize technologies of their choice. I teach in a high school, so many (certainly not all) of my students can take a creative risk by incorporating some technology. I have a good current example. I have students create a geologic timeline utilizing a metaphor. In other words, they have to create a timeline within the context of some object or concept. One idea a student had would be to turn a tree into a timeline. If they utilize the metaphor or analogy creatively, they will deal with timeline issues (like proper relative scale, accuracy, and clutter) within the context of a tree. So instead of simply drawing a timeline on a tree trunk, they might decide to use the tree's rings to represent the passing of time, or perhaps they will use the tree's height to represent all of Earth's history and branches signify important events that have changed the course of history on Earth. There are several objectives to this assignment: 1) Gain an appreciation for the immensity of geologic timescale (we call this concept: wrestling with the idea of 'deep time'), 2) accurately represent important events and 'chunks' of time, and 3) learn to scale by math and measuring, which is really a derivative of the 2nd objective. I would not limit students to drawings or models. I have had students do projects using Minecraft and other computer-based programs to meet these goals. They are not always successful in utilizing the technology, but that becomes part of the learning process. To improve how I use technology to not kill my students' creativity, I might offer an incentive to ADD the use of technology to their project. I would be clear that this would not exempt them from the other assignment objectives, but that they would be rewarded for taking the creative risk. Proper scaffolding of this would be necessary. For example, I would be less willing to have a student work with iMovie if they had no previous iMovie experience. I would not be ok with my assignment being the first opportunity for them to learn a skill that might have a steep learning curve. But there might be ways for a student to try integrating a new technology in a limited way without learning all of what that technology has to offer. That strikes me as an appropriate way to use technology to enhance creative opportunities in my classroom. Sirena Huang at TED 2006 https://www.ted.com/talks/sirena_huang_dazzles_on_violin#t-1336449
The media-infused presentation has a lot of practical uses in the classroom. The Prezi I created on genetic inheritance patterns is something that I would use as an in-class assignment akin to a webquest. I might also use it as a stand-alone assigment students could complete outside of class before a discussion on genetics in a flipped classroom style. The multimedia aspect of this presentation allows students with various learning styles to experience the same information in a variety of ways. My genetics presentation could certainly be made better by asking questions that would access the many intelligences students possess. By asking students to apply humor or story-telling, this might increase the effectiveness of the presentation.
Media-infused presentations can help foster the development of the disciplined mind by offering multiple approaches, as mentioned above. Gardner (2007) also states that students must spend considerable time on a subject. The fact that a presentation such as those created in Prezi could be used outside of the classroom can extend the analysis of any topic and make it easier for a student to spend quality time examining that topic. Importantly, Gardner selects a science as one of four precollegiate topics to introduce discipline. Though simply learning the facts is very different than thinking in a discipline, it may help to prepare students for when they are better able to achieve a disciplined mind in college or graduate school. A synthesizing mind is quite another challenge and at first glance it is difficult to see how a simple presentation could help advance students toward it, but it may serve a role. Of all the kinds of synthesis, I believe metaphor and narrative are possibly the best to use with genetics and the presentation I created. For example, I often use a metaphor of making apple pie to help students understand the "central dogma" of biology, which is the production of protein from our genes. As a way for students to truly synthesize the information they access in the Prezi, I could ask them to come up with a metaphor that connects the content with something else in their mind. Reference Gardner, H. (2007). Five minds for the future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Hi all, I was introduced to a new Web 2.0 tool today called EduClipper. It is a digital curation website with which I have created this eduClipBoard on the topic of mitosis and meiosis. I've curated this content because I wanted to have a way to help students explore the differences between the two processe. I also wanted this to be a stand-alone module that I could assign to students who miss school within the unit on cell growth. The fact that it places multiple files and links in one space makes it appealing.
This is an exercise I have my students do frequently. I call them THINK questions. They are essentially a do-now or starter. I try not to ask questions that have a definite correct answer, but this one happens to be covered in my content. I want to start using some images to help students visualize the question and help get them started. The instructions I always provide are below in blue. The prompt is in red and the image follows.
With a partner who sits near you, ponder the following question…then write your opinion WITH SUPPORTING thoughts on an index card. Ensure your names are on it and give it to Mr. Edens. You have 3 minutes starting when the bell rings. “I don’t know” is not an answer. I’m not asking you to know…I’m asking you to THINK! Today’s topic is DNA replication, a process by which your cells make two copies of DNA from one original strand of DNA. Think from the perspective of a cell and its needs! Provide one POSSIBLE EXPLANATION for WHY a cell would need to replicate its DNA. This should require more than one simple sentence. |
AuthorScience teacher for 6 years. Life-long learner and problem-solver. Copyright
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