Design Blog Entry 4: Engagement

The students will have two introduction boards.  I have three topics to choose from--favorite book, movie, and place visited in Alabama.  We are going to have an opinion blog to write about whether the student liked the book or not and why.  There are going to be two modules that will compare book vs. movie for the book assigned in the module.   Lastly, there will be the Which Was Better wiki.  This wiki is meant to be broader in scope--which is better the original books or the movies made from them.  Each one of these is intended for each student to express their preferences and opinions.  There is nothing like talking about ourselves.

We are going to have the Write Me a Story wiki.  There will be a module where the student will be able to choose from the reading list.  Both of these are intended to provide students with choice.  The story writing wiki will not have a prompt to it.  It is to be completely student moderated, creative, and collaborative.  

The potential problem is that this course is for 4th graders.  I hope that they will really discuss which is better or why they did or did not like a book.  I hope that writing/communicating about their preferences and opinions will be engaging to them.

I had an Aha moment!  There will be two introduction boards.  I will use favorite book and movie for one discussion board!  I do not have to choose!

ED 307 Constructivism

Constructivism believes:

• Students construct their own knowledge by combining their prior knowledge with new information.  
• Teachers are facilitators of learning.
• Assessments should demonstrate a knowledge of process or skill.
• Curriculum is student-driven.  

I have no problem with some of the strategies/pedagogies or the (fill in the blank)-based learnings.  I have thought of several projects that I would genuinely wish to do.  For example, I would love to have students organize, develop, manage, procure, construct, and then donate something they made for a community need i.e. a dog house for an animal shelter.  I would love to have students learn to crochet or quilt as a project for community-based learning.  However, I think that (fill in the blank)-based learning (which all fall under constructivism) do not stand alone as an education.

I am not a constructivist.  I am a traditionalist, essentialist, even a classicist.  I would rather take a "both" stance.  Skills and process are all well and good.  If a student does not have a solid content base, writing as a process or skill is still difficult.  Think of the saying "Write what you know!"  Combine content with process and skill in this ratio, 2(content):1(skills):1(process), I think you have really got something!  Project-based learning will be more effective with a solid framework (content) to base it off of.  I don't think that an entire curriculum should be based on a single (fill in the blank)-based learning.  How many lesson plans does it take to teach the research process or scientific experiment process?  It does not take whole grades.  Yet once the process is learned, what do the students do with the process. Repeat it in different assignments.  This is an example of traditional and constructivist models working together.  

There are two last point I would make.  Authority is a term that appears to be a misnomer in the constructivist and traditional models.  It is said that the teacher in the traditional model is the authority over, of, on content.  I don't understand the mislabeling.  I do know more than a kindergartener or a 6th grader.  It is a matter of volume.  Authority comes from the need to lead or manage.  Is it a matter of the teacher saying what information is right?  Or is it a matter of good information is factual?  As a future teacher, I want my students to have a solid content base, so that they can develop their own opinions.  I could take up the first part of the school year having a more traditional class.  I have no problem incorporating constructivist strategies.  The class could transition to a more constructivist model for the second half of the school year.  As with all teaching, it takes a lot of work up front!

ED 308 Design Blog Entry 3: Community and Collaboration

For collaboration, my course will have two wikis.  The first wiki will be for writing a story.  This will connect with the narrative writing standards.  This is not easy to do.  In our intermediate reading class, we did this activity during class.  It was not very coherent.  This story writing wiki will run the length of the course which should allow time for a cohesive story to develop.

The second wiki will be for researching cities and town in Alabama.  This will build in subject integration between researching, writing, and social studies.  Informational is the key term that connects the wiki with the reading and writing standards.

I have discussion boards and blogs planned.  I have planned to use these for assessing students writing and comprehension.  The discussion boards for answering questions about plot, theme, setting, character development, etc.  The blog is for the students to express their opinion about the book they are reading.  I don't know if I want to add responses to either.  Maybe it should depend on the question!

I looked at my post from last week.  I think I really need to add an introduction discussion board.  I think that we will have a debate wiki on book vs. movie.  In both cases the question or prompt will go like this:  I think or I like . . . because . . .

ED 308 Design Blog Entry 2: Assessment

I will be doing the classic online course assessments:  quizzes, discussion boards, blogs, wikis, and a final exam of course.   The quizzes and discussion boards will be to check for meeting the English Language Arts (ELA) standards for fictional and informational texts.  The wikis will be to check for meeting ELA standards for producing writing that is narrative, persuasive, or informational.  The blog is for students to express their opinion and preferences i.e. I liked the book because . . .

I am satisfied with this set of assessments.  They will measure what the standard requires.  Students will read.  Students will write.  Students will utilized digital technology routinely.  I think that there could be more assignments given, such as infographs, presentations, or the traditional book report, if this course were to go the intended length of the last of the school year.  As I finished the chapter reading, I realized I don't have a systems or a student access check.  Should I make it a introduction/communication check at the start of the course?  I think I should!

I had a stroke of genius!  One or two of the books have had movies made based off of them.  Once the class has read the book, we, as a class, can watch the movie.  There will be a discussion board or a wiki to contrast the book and the movie.  As you know, the book is always better!