My final reflection for etc 447.

It has been a very enlightening journey for me this semester and I would like to take a few moments to reflect on everything that I have learned. I would first like to talk about how my understandings of processes that govern the learning process have changed. As a creative individual both in and out of the classroom I am always looking for new ways to express myself, and for new ways to allow my students to express themselves. In the past I have mostly done this through more traditional means be it painting, music performance, or writing. Of course all of these modes of expression are very useful though with the tools afforded by the technological revolution I can see that I have only scratched the ice of the creative potential the human mind is capable of expressing.

All of my lessons involved the integration of some sort of technology. One tool that helped me to facilitate student's learning and creativity exponentially was the digital microscope paired with the smart board. Designing a lesson involving microscopes would typically require that the teacher is assuming that every student is seeing the same thing through several different microscopes. The digital microscope, however enabled everyone in the learning group to view the same thing at the same time. Using the video function allowed me to learn of a new way to access student's learning and ability to properly use this type of technology.

One thing that comes to mind quite often when I design lessons is how I can make accommodations and modifications for my students with disabilities. During my time in this class I have found just how helpful technology can be in assisting my teaching without causing any disruptions. The iPad is a tool that enables a myriad of accommodations to be implemented smoothly. On a single devise I can help a non verbal student to speek by using an app such as diego says. This app is designed to talk for the individual. By pressing on images that represent the words the student can form sentences  answer questions, and express needs appropriately.

Assessing students by using technology may have been the high point of my learning this semester. By utilizing programs like google drive I am able to share vital information with students and to gather information from them granted we both have internet access. I used this to attain answers from students and to send url's and test questions to them. One amazing aspect of this technology is that if I assign a group paper students can all work on the same paper at the same time while also chatting with each other. This enabled me to cut assessment time in half and to have a definitive archive of the artifacts that I gathered.

Teaching with and to my peers taught me quite a bit about myself as an educator. My strategy typically involved allowing each student in the group to learn one aspect of the lesson by using some type of technology. Once each member learned that item I asked them each to teach each other what they had learned. I found out through my evaluation that students were a little nervous of this at first, though once they became comfortable with their freedom they used it to its full potential. My feedback was usually positive and constructive and beneficial. assessment typically took a somewhat informal form though I gained several artifacts that would prove that I fulfilled the standards that I perscribed for each lesson.

By using technology myself in my lessons I modeled many of my expectations with each activity. I was able to direct student's use of technology by using it properly myself. There were many opportunities for students to cheat in that they had all of the information they could possibly need directly in front of them. They did not however. I believe that this was due to the fact that I set up all of the right supports for them to attain help, and that the lessons were facilitated by the utilization of vast amounts of information via the internet.

After all of this my strategies for teaching have drastically changed for the better. I have found ways to make learning more interactive, easier, and more personalized. I can truly say that I have found a new respect for technology in the classroom. I hope to use the skills and methods that I have learned in this class in my future classroom so that I may be able to help generations to come better, more informed individuals.      

Cosmology and such

My most recent lesson covered a few very interesting concepts that I often consider quite regularly. The lesson was on cosmology. I think that most elementary educators would think me to be a bit ambitious, even grandiose to expect a lesson on cosmology to be successfully implemented in the elementary classroom. My strategies, however, allow basically any person regardless of their skill level to learn something cool as the material is presented.

My only goal when teaching science is to make the students think about something that they have not thought of before. I think that by doing this, and exploring the physical world through concrete representations of abstract concepts we become acquainted with what it is to be a scientist. My background in multi-age and Montessori education has shown me the power of letting students become teachers. Through the process of teaching something to someone else we become masters of that subject or concept.

I started the lesson by asking the students what the most astounding thing they knew was. I got some pretty good responses:  "Humans are so small compared to the size of the universe, though we think that we are at the center," one student answered. Another replied, quite humorously that "no matter where you are in the world, you can buy a sausage mcmuffin... even when you are at sea." The reply I liked the most reminded me of my days in philosophy class: "The only thing that I can truly know is that I exist."

After the students answered this question I showed them a video of the famous cosmologist Neil DeGrasse Tyson answering the same question. I have added this video to the blog, I highly recommend watching it. What amazes me about essential questions is that no matter who you ask them to, whether it be a world famous cosmologist, or an eight year old the answer will most likely be quite thought provoking. Humans are amazing.

I only had 30 min to cover a lesson on cosmology. This is no easy task, though as I mentioned earlier I adapted a very sneaky strategy. For starters my lesson plan contained around 10 common core standards. Did I fulfill all of them?... Hell no. The idea here is to create so many options for learning that no matter what happens, no matter which direction the student goes, they will have covered at least one or two standards. They will also do so on their own terms which allows more room for enduring understandings to be established. It is a way to individualize instruction while also fulfilling standards. This is a strategy that would make the educator weak, lazy, and under prepared. I find such suppositions to be nebulous, glib, and without any real backing.

Each student was given a subject within the subject of cosmology to learn and explore independently. I included a few TED ED lessons on the blog that exemplify the content each student would explore. When we all finished the students taught each other what they learned. I facilitated the discussion to clear up misconceptions, answer questions, and build upon what was covered. The ace up my sleeve was scientific notation. Every subtopic passively taught the scale of objects through scientific notation. If all else failed (which I was sure would not), the students could show that they could scale objects using scientific notation.

A good educator always has something else prepared in case students make leaps faster that expected. We finished the planned lesson about seven minuets early so I pulled the ace out of my other sleeve, mass vs. weight. We interacted with a web site that uses and teaches the equation that converts your weight on earth to your weight on other planets, stars, and various celestial bodies. In all each student could be accessed for completing around 4-6 standards.Although I hate standards based instruction, and I think that it will be the cause of our educational system's downfall - I am able to work enduring understandings and real learning into my methods and also satisfy these standards.

Check out the videos I used in my lesson... they are very interesting for a variety of age groups. Thanks for reading. Here are the conversions my students made for assessment of learning:

Top quark = 100 yoctometers or (10^-22) and E. Coli is (10^-8) so the difference between the two is (10^14) or 100,000,000,000,000 times larger... The student taught himself this calculation with the material I gave him.

Redwood tree = (10^2)m compared to a human (10^0).... This figure is not exactly precise though the difference in scale is correct.

One student found out that they would weigh 2,240,000,000,000,000 N on a neutron star though their mass would remain the same.

         I recently constructed and implemented a lesson that was designed to teach students about the formation of fossil fuels, how to use a digital microscope, and the nature of plancton. I tend to align my personal philosophy in education with inquiry based models that allow students to form their own personal understandings by exploring materials that I provide to them. This style of teaching is most affective in science lessons.

        Aside from the sixth grade content standards that suppose students will have an understanding of the formation of oil, be able to use technology to measure an observable aspect of the natural world, and to reflect upon how globalization of scientific understandings have affected culture I wanted students to construct their own theories as to how these scientific processes affect them on a daily basis. To do this I primed them with a few essential questions. Unfortunately it is very common for students to feel the need for specific guided instruction, perhaps this is due to the fact that most students in the nited States have received a very scripted education and have trouble constructing personal enduring understandings when given the freedom to experiment.

      The lesson consisted of four centers that could be approached in any order. This allowed me to optimize my time insured that every student was engaged continuously. Each station also incorporated some form of technology. At one station students watched this video which describes the life cycle of plancton:  http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-secret-life-of-plankton. Another station allowed students to work through an animation that demonstrated the process by which plancton are turned into fossil fuels over the span of millions of years. A station that implemented the use of a digital microscope and a smart board allowed students to attain view plancton that they prepared from a collection that I attained at a local pond. Photos and videos of them can be viewed later in this blog.

     As a means to access student understanding I discussed, saved their pictures, and requested that they write two short entries. One entry requested that students describe the physical makeup of their plancton. The other entry requested that students critically consider how fossil fuels are used in our society and how they use them on a daily basis. Most students were able to give very thoughtful responses. after applying a survey I received good feedback. Students responded by saying that they enjoyed working through centers and using the microscope. One criticism was that the lesson was kind of unclear and that they were unsure of what they were suppose to be learning. I deliberately abstained from announcing any learning goals to students in hopes that they would form their own. This can be confusing at first though people usually jump in and start to explore. I included two digital artifacts in this blog consisting of students videos and the TED - ED lesson they viewed.