Twitter Favorites (weekly)

May 12, 2012

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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Twitter Favorites (weekly)

May 5, 2012

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Twitter Favorites (weekly)

April 28, 2012

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Twitter Favorites (weekly)

April 21, 2012

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STEM Opportunity

April 17, 2012

My sixth grade daughter attends a rather large middle school, one with over 800 students in grades 6, 7 and 8.  Like many middle schools, they have a house set up with about 120 kids in a house with 4 teachers who teach the core subjects.  Next year, they are starting a STEM program at the school for 6th and 7th graders.  This STEM house will consist of 50-60 students, combined 6th and 7th graders, with 2 teachers.  The focus will obviously be STEM with an emphasis on project based learning.  Families had to apply to the program and a lottery was held to see who gets in and who doesn’t.  We applied and were fortunate enough to be was of the chosen ones.  We now have about two weeks to decide whether or not to be a part of the program next year or have her remain in a traditional house.

It’s not an easy decision and below are some thoughts/questions my wife and I have about this important choice.  I’m thinking out loud with many of these and would love any thoughts from you.

  • Socially, how will this work out?  She probably won’t be with as many of her friends as she is right now.  Educators know middle school is a crazy time and keeping solid friendships, if you can get them, is important.
  • The 50-60 student house will be made up of 6th & 7th graders.  She’ll be a 7th grader.  How much impact will this have on the maturity of the group?
  • Project based learning.  I love the idea myself and feel it’s more “fun” than taking traditional tests.  I think she likes the idea as well, but worries a little about all of the writing that may take place.
  • Academics.  She’s currently in Advanced Math, but there won’t be Advanced Math in the STEM house.  How will this impact her future math abilities and whether or not she can take future advanced classes.
  • What happens next year?  They they will be expanding the program to 8th grade next year and students currently in the program will automatically be accepted.  Will this program prepare her for high school, where she’ll probably be back to traditional teaching and learning?
  • I’ve worked in schools long enough to know that everything for scope of a project hasn’t been thought out yet or completely planned.  There will be some snags and the project will develop over the school year.  My daughter will be part of the learning process.  Should I be okay with that?
  • What if it doesn’t work out like we hope?  What if she hates it or the program isn’t taking off like the District hopes it will?  Then what?

What else should I be thinking about?  I’ve emailed some of these questions to the lead administrator on the project, but am curious what my fellow educators think.  Would you go for it?  Is this an opportunity that shouldn’t be passed up?  Please share your thoughts, suggestions, questions, and anything that can help.

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Twitter Favorites (weekly)

April 14, 2012

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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Twitter Favorites (weekly)

April 7, 2012

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Twitter Favorites (weekly)

March 31, 2012

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Twitter Favorites (weekly)

March 24, 2012

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Beyond the Textbook Forum

March 18, 2012

There was quite a buzz a few weeks ago when Apple came out with their big iBooks/Textbook announcement.  Many in the world of education called it a “Game Changer.”  I can’t stand that phrase – game changer.  Nothing can be a game changer if it’s not accessible by everyone easily.  Sure, Apple might change the textbook landscape with their recent announcement, but it’s hardly a game changer.  Tonight and tomorrow, I’ll be attending the Beyond the Textbook forum, at Discovery Education headquarters in Silver Spring, MD.  The list of attendees is quite an impressive group and fortunately for me, I get to attend – not so much as one of those great minds, but as a job requirement working with Steve Dembo, the organizer of this event, at Discovery.  Call it yet another job perk.

There have already been some posts about the forum and the discussion is off to a rather nice start.  If you want to follow along and join in the discussion, or check out the posts already written, the best way is to follow the event hashtag - #beyondthetextbook.

I’ve had my experiences teaching both with a traditional textbook, teaching third grade math, social studies, and science for a number of years.  It was fine, served the purpose a little and was rather easy to teach from.  The teacher’s guide had all of the question and answers to ask the students, assessments ready to go, and moved along in a nice sequence.  As a beginning teacher fifteen years ago, I thought this was pretty nice.  Basically a step by step guide to teaching the subject.  What I realize now, is that process didn’t produce a step by step guide to learning.  And there’s a big difference.  After a few years, my district adopted the FOSS Science Series, a more hands-on approach to teaching science.  There wasn’t a textbook that came with this series, but rather guides, book lists, journals, and equipment to make science much more hands on.  And fun.  It was more prep for the teacher, which for some, was a challenge.  Many still wanted that step by step textbook with everything all in one place.  I liked the FOSS series, with one exception, there was little to no technology integration.  Looking back, I think this was a step in the right direction as far as a science curriculum, but no where near what could exist.

Within the past couple of years, Discovery Education launched their Science Techbook.  I never taught with the techbook, but have had a little time to work with in on my own and see the various components of it.  The content, lessons linked to state standards, assessments, virtual labs, and more all are part of what I think should be included in a curriculum.  I’ll be curious to see what the educators attending the event have to say about it.  I believe much of what Discovery created with the techbook is pretty darn good.

Regardless of Discovery has created with the techbook, which certainly isn’t perfect at this point, I believe a few crucial components need to exist in the “textbook of the future,” which I highly doubt will actually resemble what many believe a textbook is.  This new creation should include:

  • Multimedia
  • Literature
  • Interactivity
  • Content creation
  • Content sharing
  • Differentiated materials
  • Language translation
  • Anywhere access

The above list is a start.  I’m sure there are things I’m missing, but I do believe that the resources we need to increase student learning must include the above and more.  The next day and a half should be both fun and interesting.  I can’t wait to listen to the discussions and read the posts that are shared after the event.  Stay tuned!

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