Now in week two of having a private classroom blog there have been some ups and downs. Meeting the goal of developing a classroom learning environment is certainly working well. I have finding more and more students getting involved and helping each other better understand the content discussed and introduced in class. Some of the negatives have been students want to just chat at times rather than discuss, monitor, and evaluate the materials. I truly believe that over time all my students will come around as Rose and Meyer (2002) said, "students who understand the goals of their schoolwork are more likely to stay focused, monitor themselves successfully, and derive satisfaction from their practice." (p.88). I am trying to continue to provide the motivation but I continue to have students who want to run away with conversation that is non-productive. There is still much to learn for me on directing my students. I realize I may have to pull back the reins some. Do any of you have suggestions? Like so much finding the middle ground is probably the way to go. I am adjusting to the concept of giving some control away as Dr. Ertmer says and at time it may be "messy" (Laureate Education Inc., 2009), but I plan to stay the course and I believe this GAME plan will produce fruit in my classess.
John
HS
Health
Rose, D. H., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age. Universal design for learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculm Development.
Laureate Education Inc. (Producer). Spotlight on technology: Problem based learning Parts 1 & 2 [Motion Picture]. Intergrating technology across the content areas. Los Angeles: Solution Tree.
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Theo to John:
ReplyDeleteWatching your progress with your blog is exciting for me because I was denied permission to activate mine with my ISS classroom by my school's administration. Through your blogging experience, I get to observe the fulfillment of your technology goals. In addition, I also have the opportunity to obtain insight by learning about the complications you are having. Thank you for sharing!
Your complication of off-task students is most likely one that many teachers must face to one degree or another with blogging. As far as suggestions, I have one that I would like to share. However, my suggestion depends on the kind of students you have, and what their literacy levels are. Do the students in your school have high literacy rates? Or do they struggle with reading and writing? If many of your students are not being sufficiently challenged, then perhaps they are having non-productive conversations to entertain themselves. If your students are over-whelmed, then perhaps they are having non-productive conversations out of frustration. With out making too much of an assumption about your school, based on your post, you appear to have a mix of both kinds of students.
CAST (2009) expresses that a uniform approach to education is ineffective. If you are not already doing so perhaps implementing CAST's philosophy may help you with students who are off task, regardless of the reason. If you can identify who is being challenged and who is being over-whelmed, you can take different approaches to your blogging. For students who are not being challenged, additional, or more in-depth work could be assigned. In this manner, between assisting other students and completing a more difficult assignment, you may be able to eliminate most of the non-productive conversation. Students who are over-whelmed may benefit by having a reduced assignment. Since their assignment will be within their capabilities, their frustrations will be held in check, and as a result, they will be more relaxed, and focused on their work. The obvious drawback about my plan is the amount of time you may have to put into determining who should be challenged by what. One possible solution to this drawback is to seek out the students' reading and English teachers, and get their advice. They might save you a lot of time with your planning. One other cause may be that your students may simply be enjoying the novelty of blogging in your class. Perhaps he amount of time that the students spend off-task may decrease as the novelty of blogging becomes more routine? I hope this helps!
Theo
ISS MS
References
CAST. (2009). What is the universal design for learning? Retrieved from http://www.cast.org/research/udl/index.html
John to Theo,
ReplyDeleteTheo I appreciate your comments. My frustrations suppose have more to do with students getting off task in discussions than motivation. I see the premise of your suggestion and plan to evaluate if that could be a potential problem I can directly affect. Most of my students have computers at home (more than 80%) and for those who may not, they can use the media center's bank of 30 computers thirty minutes before and after school. In addition, our public library is across the street from our school and many go over after school and use their computers to get assignments done. Yes, I am blessed to be in a system that has an abundance of computer technology available to kids and in a county in Georgia that has a very good mean income level.
Thanks for participating in my blog.
John