Caryn Hay
2/8/12
EDT 3470
Reflection # 3
The chapter begins by discussing
the “big ideas” which are the core concepts or the main point of the subject we
are trying to teach. As teachers we will be planning lots of projects, and
being able to identify the “big ideas” is the first task. When we are planning
these projects we should be constantly relating them to real world experiences.
This chapter also discusses the 21st
century skills and literacies. These skills allow your students to go beyond
the typical learning activities and develop more important skills. Some of the
higher thinking skills the chapter talks about are, analyzing, evaluating, and
creating. The concept of these skills/literacies is to go deeper and
incorporate more into the lesson.
Finally the chapter outlines the
eight essential learning functions. The first is ubiquity, which is trying to
get students to learn not only in the classroom but outside the classroom as
well. The second is deep learning; this means we need to get students to search
for research from the main source and not sources that have been adjusted. The
third is making things visible and discussable. This is where concept maps,
like the ones we have been doing for our projects in class, come in handy. The
fourth is expressing ourselves, sharing ideas, and building community. We are
using this function in our projects by creating blogs and e-pals. The fifth is
collaboration, sharing ideas with others is a better way to learn together and
get feedback from the people around us. We are doing this in class by working
with others to create these projects because we can all share our own ideas to
come up with the best for our project. The sixth function is research; teaching
students to go beyond the web and using other sources for research can help
them get all types of information. The seventh is project management; this
allows students to manage their own time as well as many other key points of
their project. Last but not least, the eighth is reflection and iteration,
students should be reflecting on their work daily in journals or blogs to be
able to look back at throughout the project. All these essential functions can
help us when creating projects for our future students.
I liked the way you laid out the eight learning functions talked about in this chapter based off of what we are doing in class for our projects and how they can be used outside of class in our teaching. Very nice reflection Caryn.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you incorporated everything we are doing in class to what you read in the text. For example, the epals, and the concept maps in which we are doing in our groups. Its a perfect example for the practice we are getting, from not only reading the text but hands on in class with our group members.
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