135 Matching Annotations
  1. Jul 2018
    1. The most interesting article I read was on how in the past, kids with social anxiety were helped because the need to be part of a group was stronger than the desire to avoid social interaction, so they were forced to fight their anxiety and hang out with other kids. But nowadays, kids can get the same feeling of being part of a group from social media and don’t have to actually interact with people, so their social anxiety never goes away. To fix this, they should just hang out with other people and stay away from social media.

      Very cool, and again, cool to see a kid recognizing the importance/impact of this

    2. Next topic is screen-time and wellness, I would argue that this topic is the one that affects real life more than any other. I know from experience that technology can be a bit addicting, screen-time can ruin a sleep schedule, which can lead to physical and mental effects, and prolonged use can be unhealthy.

      Really cool to see a kid recognizing this.

    3. We also hoped  that our students would not only learn self-regulation, but that they would adopt practices associated with “digital leadership” – in other words, using social media for good – a concept promoted by Jennifer Casa-Todd in her book, Social LEADia.

      YES.

    4. Our intention was that by providing information, resources, and guidelines to their parents, our students would internalize the information themselves.

      I appreciate this idea of students teaching their parents, and in doing so, teaching themselves.

    5. The information gleaned from the poster presentations and discussions were then incorporated into parent letters that were distributed at back to school night. (Note:  I’m not particularly fond of projects ending in poster fairs, but in this case the poster fair was a means to the ultimate product, letters written to parents).

      It seems a little silly to use a poster fair instead of a digital tool to share this information... considering the topic.

    6. A few years ago we discovered and started using the resources provided by Common Sense Media at the beginning of the year to jumpstart the dialogue with our students. This resource has terrific age-appropriate resources and lessons. If you aren’t familiar with their website, I highly recommend it.

      Noted. RESOURCE.

    7. At my school, our staff also struggles to design the appropriate the balance between freedom and protection; it’s a cost-benefit analysis that sometimes feels impossible to nail.

      This is so real. I feel like everything in teaching (and life) is a balancing act. Where is the line of what is appropriate/inappropriate, meaningful/usefull, etc.

    8. It can be truly baffling and frustrating.

      Yes. Yes, it can.

    1. They're learning that empathy matters in a digital world. They're learning that technology can be used to showcase their talents to a wider audience. They're learning to make the web work for them. They're learning to discern, filter and organize the information they collect. They're learning that transparency and responsible sharing can only help them. They're excited about new challenges daily and learning in a collaborative environment where they are not told what to do, but instead are learning through the decisions they make themselves.

      SO COOL.

    2. And for all of their hard work and content creation, I am giving every one of them an award; however most of them wouldn't accept it. My students get more excited about their reach and how others react to the content they created. They are excited about this post and how many new users will hopefully visit their website and comment on their video.

      The task, in itself, is rewarding. That's the dream.

    3. hey are discerning between credible and bogus information and understanding how to properly cite, organize and share their findings.

      Again, such important skills

    4. They're employing critical analysis and critical thinking by seeking out the answers to the questions they generate.

      21C Skills

    5. They collaborate with their teams, schedule weekly meetings with team leaders or project managers, and we meet as a class to assess the progress and address any questions or problems.

      I don't think this design is the best choice in all classrooms, but it's a great idea. Just like it'll be in the real world in a lot of jobs.

    6. I remind them that this skill is imperative for their future no matter what path they choose.

      Yes, yes, yes

    7. they present and demonstrate their learning

      Much more practical assessment

    8. facilitator and a resource for their learning. They do the rest.

      Again, what a cool idea--putting kids in the driver's seat

    9. teach digital literacy to a mixed group of high school students.

      How cool that there is actually a digital literacy class.

    10. authoring their own learning,

      I love this idea--"authoring their own learning" They are creators of their own learning. So cool.

    1. power and patience employed during work process…

      Love this, as well! "Power and patience"

    2. Construction is equal parts inspiration and perspiration.

      Love this

    3. but I believe that the word choice involved in identifying construction as opposed to creation is also of the utmost importance.

      I think word choice is always incredibly important--this is something we learn about playwrights in theatre. Each word is chosen for a specific purpose--as actors, that's why we should be word perfect and not paraphrase work.

    4. our understanding of construction and creation needs to be broad enough to allow for change in the future.

      This is especially important in today's world--as everything is constantly changing

    5. Working online is a fluid experience which calls for flexible learners.

      Very true--teaching can be this way, too. Flexibility is key

    6. The ideas and concepts in all of this work does overlap sometimes

      I have definitely found this to be true throughout the course. I develop a lesson plan and I'm like wait I think that was more ORC than OCC.. or the other way around

    7. while making it easy & flexible enough for teachers to make this work happen in their classrooms.

      This seems to be essential for these skills to be developed in all schools--but educating teachers in these practices is essential, and making sure all schools have resources for students to create content online

    1. There are many variations as the project is student interest driven, and may last any amount of time. The design, focus, and length of the Internet Inquiry Project should be determined by your student learning objectives, as well as your own technological, pedagogical, and content area knowledge (TPACK) and objectives

      I could absolutely see this taking place in a theatre classroom--especially in a tech or theatre history unit--but also areas of method acting, or different directors, etc.

    2. . Another takeaway was that K-12 students don’t understand “credibility” and “relevance”…but they do understand words like “truthful” and “useful.”

      Interesting

    3. One takeaway from this work was a focus on identifying and evaluating markers of credibility and relevance in online texts

      A very important skill

    4. Student engage in online content construction by synthesizing what they have learned and selecting the best digital text or tool before sharing this answer.

      This is the perfect final step

    5. nd sift thr

      I love the word choice of "sift"

    1. The Drama Classroom: Action, Reflection, Transformation

      Possible resource

    2. At the beginning of a new year or a new unit, you always want to deter-mine the theatre skills your students al-ready possess.

      Where are they?

    3. You can demonstrate this in a straight-forward fashion by asking for four volunteers to come up on stage or to the front of the classroom. Position the four from stage left to stage right, spaced evenly across the stage, one lying on the ground, one sitting on the floor, one sitting in a chair, and one standing up. Then ask the student audience several questions: “To which person do you eyes automatically go and why?” “Who is in the strongest position on stage and why?” “Who seems to be the most important in this stage picture and why?” “Who is in the weakest position on stage and why?” “Who is the least important and why?” With students discussing and demon-strating their understanding of these body positions on stage, you are able to introduce the concepts of strong and weak stage positions, while simultane-ously assessing their understanding of the concepts as they contribute to the discussion. Depending on the clarity of their answers, you can either review and re-teach, or move on

      Great directing activity

    4. With any pre-assessment, you also need to be mindful of the sequence of skills you are building in your students.

      scaffolding skills

    5. With any pre-assessment, you also need to be mindful of the sequence of skills you are building in your students.

      scaffolding skills

    6. You can demonstrate this in a straight-forward fashion by asking for four volunteers to come up on stage or to the front of the classroom. Position the four from stage left to stage right, spaced evenly across the stage, one lying on the ground, one sitting on the floor, one sitting in a chair, and one standing up. Then ask the student audience several questions: “To which person do you eyes automatically go and why?” “Who is in the strongest position on stage and why?” “Who seems to be the most important in this stage picture and why?” “Who is in the weakest position on stage and why?” “Who is the least important and why?” With students discussing and demon-strating their understanding of these body positions on stage, you are able to introduce the concepts of strong and weak stage positions, while simultane-ously assessing their understanding of the concepts as they contribute to the discussion. Depending on the clarity of their answers, you can either review and re-teach, or move on

      Great directing activity

    7. Beginning with the end in mind prevents curriculum from becoming a collection of random lessons, and it helps create the assessment founda-tion from which the skills and knowl-edge of students can be measured

      Helps structure the semester or year

    8. If you were doing a unit based on that standard and wanted to “begin with the end in mind,” you might ask your students to create a scene with a beginning, middle, and end that shows distinct characters in conflict. This goal is observable, measurable, and attain-able.

      Example of a learning goal in theatre

    9. We borrow our first step from Stephen Covey, who wrote the popular self-help book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey’s second habit is to “Begin with the end in mind.”

      Backward design

    10. We’re going to go a step further and offer a framework for the-atre teachers who want to incorporate authentic assessment into their theatre classes.

      Authentic assessment in theatre

    1. All collaborative learning is done in a group (of at least two people), but not all group work is inherently collaborative! The trick is to structure the activity in a way that makes students work together to be successful.

      Important to remember

    2. Conduct continuous quality improvement. Immediately after an activity, jot down notes on how long it took, what worked, and what could be improved on for the next time

      I love this idea of constantly reflecting on lessons and teaching practices, I think this is always important but especially in new teachers

    3. Jigsaw Delegates Hollywood Squares Movable mind maps Trade-n-post

      I want to look these up

    4. Create or modify activities to ensure collaboration. Be sure to structure the activities foster mutual dependence, match them to the course outcomes, and ensure that learning can be individually assessed

      I like this continual focus on learning outcomes and assessment and research based practices

    5. I share the data and anecdotal evidence at the start of the semester with incoming students because there are always a few who are nonbelievers or think collaborative learning is childish, and I have found it necessary to sell it to them

      Interesting... is this because it's so unfamiliar for them?

    6. All experienced an increase of at least two full letter grades the subsequent time.

      Whoa.

    7. I then compared those averages to the averages after I implemented collaboratively structured activities and found the average scores improved 3–8 percent over lecture alone.

      This is pretty cool

    8. Collaborative Learning Group Work Group effort required “Divide and Conquer” mentality Learners accountable to each other More free-riders Social skills are improved Minimal interaction required Helping and sharing is expected Helping and sharing is minimal Emphasis on process and product Emphasis on product only

      I really like this breakdown

    9. however, if a collaborative activity is designed well, it can be reused or tweaked for a future semester, which is a time-saver in the long term.

      I think this is a goal for most lessons--to be able to adapt them for future classes.

    10. Some may consider this time commitment a drawback to using collaborative learning;

      Doesn't all quality planning take some time?

    11. The key is to structure the activities collaboratively so that learners are mutually dependent on each other yet are held individually accountable. This eliminates the free-riders (students who try to coast based on the group’s performance).

      Tricky, tricky

    12. Activities are used to teach the competencies of the course, and students assume responsibility for their learning, and they earn their own grades based on their performances on an assessment of the competencies.

      I like this idea of students taking responsibility for their learning

    13. I do not give group grades.

      I think, in a lot of ways, this is unavoidable in theatre. However, a students grade would never solely be based on the group.

    14. Group work is also reported to be a way to incorporate different perspectives, experiences, knowledge, and skill sets, but in my experience, the same could be said for collaborative learning.

      Certainly

    15. Initially, I found that when students were placed in groups, they didn’t necessarily work together. What I discovered was that the activities needed to be structured collaboratively to promote learning.

      simply placing them in groups is not coll. learning

    16. “Activities may differ considerably, but focus on students’ exploration or application of the course material, not simply the teacher’s presentation or explication of it.”

      Students explore the material

    17. Group work is often described as a good way to improve productivity by delegating tasks. However, this gives rise to what I refer to as the “divide and conquer” mentality (students who complete only a portion of the workload and then share answers with their group).

      Not the purpose of coll. learning

    1. In collaborative classrooms, the lecturing/listening/note-taking process may not disappear entirely, but it lives alongside other processes that are based in students' discussion and active work with the course material."

      Used together with "traditional instruction"

    2. In the collaborative learning environment, the learners are challenged both socially and emotionally as they listen to different perspectives, and are required to articulate and defend their ideas. In so doing, the learners begin to create their own unique conceptual frameworks and not rely solely on an expert's or a text's framework. Thus, in a collaborative learning setting, learners have the opportunity to converse with peers, present and defend ideas, exchange diverse beliefs, question other conceptual frameworks, and be actively engaged.

      Constructing their own knowledge through listening to different perspectives and defending their positions

    3. Learning flourishes in a social environment where conversation between learners takes place. During this intellectual gymnastics, the learner creates a framework and meaning to the discourse.

      Meaning created through collaboration

    4. knowledge to a framework of prior knowledge. Learning requires a challenge that opens the door for the learner to actively engage his/her peers, and to process and synthesize information rather than simply memorize and regurgitate it.

      Solving a problem that actively engages them

    5. Learning is an active process whereby students assimilate the information and relate this new knowledge to a framework of prior knowledge.

      Actively connecting new knowledge to prior knowledge

    6. "Collaborative learning is based on the idea that learning is a naturally social act in which the participants talk among

      I love this idea of learning being a social act

    1. Connected learning environments link learning in school, home and community because learners achieve best when their learning is reinforced and supported in multiple settings.

      Reinforced across multiple settings--so important! Connecting home to school, etc.

    2. s economic and political opportunity

      creating flourishing learners serves the community and country

    3. The potential of cross-generational learning and connection unfolds when centered on common goals.

      Cross-generational learning

    4. Research has repeatedly shown that when the topic is personally interesting and relevant, learners achieve much higher-order learning outcomes. Connected learning views interests and passions that are developed in a social context as essential elements.

      Such a simple concept

    5. In their everyday exchanges with peers and friends, young people fluidly contribute, share and give feedback. Powered with possibilities made available by today’s social media, this peer culture can produce learning that’s engaging and powerful.

      Using things habits they already have for their education

    6. 2. Production Centered

      Product vs product

    7. “For more than a century, educators have strived to customize education to the learner. Connected Learning leverages the advances of the digital age to make that dream a reality — connecting academics to interests, learners to inspiring peers and mentors, and educational goals to the higher order skills the new economy rewards.

      Using the resources available in the world to create a meaningful education

    1. In math and English, teachers cede the floor to students so they can teach one another. In math class, students are given challenging class problems that encourage them to seek ideas and advice from their group members.

      Love this!

    2. e teacher selects one student to be the moderator and another to be the discussion tracker who records the flow of the conversations. The moderator can look at the discussion tracker’s notes and see which students he should invite to chime i

      I love this idea of having the students be the moderator

    3. he teacher also gives out a group-collaboration grade for each unit, which is worth 10 percent of a

      We do a lot of collaborative grading in theatre--it's cool to see if used elsewhere. The trick is balancing the weight of grades in a fair way

    4. Because the group work is intentionally more difficult, this process keeps individual students accountable for full participation in group work.

      Super cool to make the group work more difficult to keep cognitive demand high

    5. In English, the discussions are open-ended, allowing for multiple right answers.

      Multiple entry points and understandings

    6. a Harkness tab

      This is awesome

    7. let students teach one another, and encourage students to be in tune with one another.

      Collaboration

    8. focus on the process,

      Process, not product.

    9. teachers must be willing to “cede the floor” to the students.

      Give them room to try things on their own, to fail and explore and re-work things

    1. t. Moreover, it allows teachers, researchers, and teacher educators to move beyond oversimplified approaches that treat technology as an “add-on” instead to focus again, and in a more ecological way, upon the connections among technology, content, and pedagogy as they play out in classroom contexts.

      Complexity

    2. Teachers need to master more than the subject matter they teach; they must also have a deep understanding of the manner in which the subject matter (or the kinds of representations that can be constructed) can be changed by the application of particular technologies.

      Worded beautifully

    3. The choice of technologies affords and constrains the types of content ideas that can be taught. Likewise, certain content decisions can limit the types of technologies that can be used.

      Important relationship between the two

    4. Progress in fields as diverse as medicine, history, archeology, and physics have coincided with the development of new technologies that afford the representation and manipulation of data in new and fruitful ways.

      While my field does use a lot of technology on the technical theatre side--I would say that there has not been a lot of technology used on the acting side of things--except for auditioning, which is now almost always done virtually. I'm interested in further analyzing how technological advances have impacted my field

    5. , integration efforts should be creatively designed or structured for particular subject matter ideas in specific classroom contexts

      Yes! There is never a quick fix for all

    6. Many approaches to teachers’ professional development offer a one-size-fits-all approach to technology integration when, in fact, teachers operate in diverse contexts of teaching and learning.

      Teaching all teachers one "brand" of technology integration is not sufficient

    7. Furthermore, teachers have often been provided with inadequate training for this task.

      training!

    8. Many teachers earned degrees at a time when educational technology was at a very different stage of development than it is today. It is, thus, not surprising that they do not consider themselves sufficiently prepared to use technology in the classroom and often do not appreciate its value or relevance to teaching and learning.

      Perhaps continuing education in technology should be required in today's world...

    9. Understanding how these affordances and constraints of specific technologies influence what teachers do in their classrooms is not straightforward and may require rethinking teacher education and teacher professional development

      I think that rethinking teacher education is essential. The world is ever-changing, so should teacher ed--especially in our technological world

    10. Rather, particular technologies have their own propensities, potentials, affordances, and constraints that make them more suitable for certain tasks than other

      Important to realize the capabilities of the technology

    11. Over time, these technologies achieve a transparency of perception (Bruce & Hogan, 1998); they become commonplace and, in most cases, are not even considered to be technologies. Digital technologies—such as computers, handheld devices, and software applications—by contrast, are protean (usable in many different ways; Papert, 1980); unstable (rapidly changing); and opaque (the inner workings are hidden from users; Turkle, 1995).O

      One purpose versus many, stable versus ever changing

    12. Teaching with technology is complicated further considering the challenges newer technologies present to teachers. In our work, the word technology applies equally to analog and digital, as well as new and old, technologies. As a matter of practical significance, however, most of the technologies under consideration in current literature are newer and digital and have some inherent properties that make applying them in straightforward ways difficult.

      Defining technology

    1. onnected Camps is a benefit corporation that offers virtual summer camps and afterschool programs in the game of Minecraft. High school and college Minecraft experts are trained to teach younger kids coding, engineering, game design, and digital citizenship. The programs mine the enthusiasm that kids have for the most popular game of all time, by building connections with mentors who share their interest and help them level up in high-tech skills. http://connectedcamps.com/

      This is awesome-- I think this would be a great option for my stepsons to engage them in a new way!

    2. Quest to Learn is a unique middle and high school in New York City that was founded by game designers and educators and embodies a game-based approach to teaching and learning. Quest to Learn connects young people’s interests in gaming to academic achievement through collaborative challenges and problem solving. http://www.q2l.org/

      Whoa! How cool!

    3. learning rather than distraction.

      Love this--for learning rather than distraction. Using the tools for good!

    4. Connected learners have a web of relationships and organizations that support their learning, beyond the formal educational pipeline.

      And this will extend beyond school into their lives once they're in the real world

    5. connected learning puts progressive, experiential, and learner-centered approaches

      This seems to be the key to making meaningful connections

    1. Consider the ways professionals work within their chosen disciplines—conducting investigations in science, writing for different purposes (to inform, persuade, or entertain) to real audiences, interpreting events and primary source documents in history, applying mathematics to solve real-world problems, researching, critiquing books and movies, and debating issues of social and economic policy

      Real world connections make learning more meaningful

    2. "For any subject taught in primary school, we might ask [is it] worth an adult's knowing, and whether having known it as a child makes a person a better adult" (p. 52). A negative or ambiguous answer means the "material is cluttering up the curriculum."

      Is it worth knowing? Does it make us better?

    3. We would say that student learning is incomplete if the unit or course concluded without mastery of these essentials.

      What does the student need to know?

    4. we sharpen our choices by specifying important knowledge

      identifying what is important--sharpening

    5. Clearly, we cannot address all areas; thus, the largest ring identifies knowledge that students should find worth being familiar with. During the unit or course, what do we want students to hear, read, view, research, or otherwise encounter?

      Broad strokes

    6. Broad-brush knowledge, assessed through traditional quiz or test questions,

      The type of knowledge being imparted informs what type of assessment is used.

    7. he term enduring refers to the big ideas, the important understandings, that we want students to "get inside of" and retain after they've forgotten many of the details. F

      Big idea is sometimes more important than the standard

    8. helps them to clarify their goals but also results in a more sharply defined teaching and learning target, so that students perform better knowing their goal.

      I like this idea of "sharply defined teaching and learning"

    9. We are advocating the reverse: One starts with the end—the desired results (goals or standards)—and then derives the curriculum from the evidence of learning (performances) called for by the standard and the teaching needed to equip students to perform. T

      Figure out what you want your students to learn before you figure out how to teach it

    10. will understand the nature of prejudice,

      Understanding is not measurable

    11. we also consider the needs of our students when designing learning experiences

      Needs of our students more important than standards

    12. Clearly, students are our primary clients,

      students as clients

    1. we must “mobilize educators, policymakers, and others to address this threat to democracy.

      Threat to democracy...

    2. we should also be engaging them in discussions about how they should react when presented with a new source and what kinds of questions to be asking (going beyond “who wrote this?” for example, to “who’s behind this URL?”). The most important aspect for educators to embrace is that every text used in a classroom is constructed, so we must be aware of not only the authors’ biases, but of our own.

      Teaching bias awareness

    3. what is real from what is fake, be aware of the hazy lines between entertainment and news, and be adept at applying these skills to the mountain of information we are constantly exposed to.

      SO IMPORTANT

    4. I’ve found it helpful to focus on what the National Association for Media Literacy in Education defines as “the core principles of media literacy education.” Essentially, this is as close as we have to a set of standards for media literacy.

      Helpful guidelines. Should there be media literacy standards?

    5. is a powerful call to action for all educators, not just those of us in media-focused classrooms: media literacy must be valued and taught right alongside the traditional reading, writing, and listening standards.

      Must be taught, everywhere!

    6. “Overall, young people’s ability to reason about the information on the internet can be summed up in one word: bleak,” the report reads. In other words, my students are far from the only ones taking the internet’s word for it.

      Bleak, indeed.

    7. “Fake news” is everywhere, and unfortunately we have not prepared our students, parents, and teachers to fully understand the risks of this new and increasingly influential type of media.

      Something that is not real can be influential--scary

    8. create a dialogue based on inaccuracies

      So powerful

    9. We were quickly able to debunk the killer clown story, but it’s not always so easy to help students tell fact from fiction.

      One of the many reasons why media literacy is important

    1. Media Literacy Education affirms that people use their individual skills, beliefs and experiences to construct their own meanings from media messages.

      individualization

    2. Media Literacy Education recognizes that media are a part of culture and function as agents of socialization.

      HUGE part of modern culture

    3. Media Literacy Education builds and reinforces skills for learners of all ages.

      Integrate early

    4. The purpose of media literacy education is to help individuals of all ages develop the habits of inquiry and skills of expression that they need to be critical thinkers, effective communicators and active citizens in today’s world.

      Media literacy promotes active citizenship

    1. Digital literacy is not about the skills of using technologies, but how we use our judgment to maintain awareness of what we are reading and writing, why we are doing it, and whom we are addressing.

      Teaching our students to use judgment.

    2. powerful authors block alternative viewpoints.

      Power dynamics--present everywhere. Censoring what information gets to the public.

    3. It means opening dialogue about why we write in public, to what end, and for whose benefit.

      the "why"

    4. I avoid putting my students in high-risk situations, but this does not mean avoiding teaching digital literacy.

      Teaching may be more meaningful in a low risk situation--but it's important to teach them about high-risk situations so they can handle them in the future. Teaching digital literacy does that

    5. Do our students recognize the ways in which Facebook’s privacy settings continually shift without user permission, and what posting a photo today might mean for their future employment opportunities?

      Consequences and dangers of tech presence

    6. When they tweet to people from another country in another time zone, what kind of context do they need to consider?

      cultural awareness and sensitivity

    7. Instead of teaching how to use a hashtag and how to tweet and retweet, I give my students meaningful tasks to help their learning

      Meaningful tasks facilitate learning

    8. Who puts themselves at risk when they do so?

      Important to recognize potential risk in using a public platform

    9. Digital skills focus on what and how. Digital literacy focuses on why, when, who, and for whom.

      Both must be present for learning and growing

    10. Digital literacies are not solely about technical proficiency but about the issues, norms, and habits of mind surrounding technologies used for a particular purpose.

      I like that he mentions a purpose for the use of technology. Technology as a tool to serve a specific purpose, not just to pass time

    1. Knowing how to read, write, and participate in the digital world has become the 4th basic foundational skill next to the three Rs—reading, writing, and arithmetic

      These skills give our students the power to enter the world.

    2. Examples of these skills include collaboration, communication, creativity, and problem-solving.

      Skills that are also learned in theatre education! Integrating tech and theatre education could be powerful in developing these skills

    3. open access to the skills and know-how needed to use the web to improve their lives, careers, and organizations.

      Teaching media literacy is an important skill!

    4. eb remains a healthy open and public resource fo

      I love this idea of the web being a "healthy" resource