Chapter 4 Reflection

Chapter 4: Emerging Roles Within the Knowledge Community

            This chapter begins by discussing the role that many teachers are thrown into due to the fast changing times of bigger and better technologies.  Many teachers are “digital immigrants” when it comes to technology which causes many to steer away from using it in their classrooms.  However, teachers do not realize how they can use their students to help them learn technology skills and best practices.  For example, giving up control and letting students “teach” you is a very hard thing to do. 

            To help aid in this problem of stepping off of the edge and using technology, the book discusses several areas of support for teachers.  Collaboration with peers, it discusses, is one of the best ways for teachers to learn new skills and adapt to innovations.  Another example was asking another teacher to grade and give feedback on student work can help students see from another perspective their strengths and weaknesses.  Teachers can also gain knowledge experience from other professions and how they handle growth. 

            The second half of the chapter deals with shifting control of the classroom from the teacher to the students.  Students applying skills learned to solve real world problems, with the teachers facilitating this work, mainly accomplish this idea of student-centered teaching.  Several examples are given; but one in particular discusses a girl whose level of school interest was very low before given a project to allow her to relate an assignment to her life experiences with disabled persons.  When she did this she ended up building a complete network of recreational service for handicapped people in her town.  This example shows, that for a student to see value in a given way of learning, they must be able to apply it to their own lives. 

            Some of the situations described in this chapter I have seen first hand.  My first couple years of teacher, students had access to technology, however, it is nothing compared to what they have access to today.  Naturally I was a little apprehensive at first (which the chapter discusses as well), but I learned to embrace the fact that students live and sleep with the technology that they possess and if I truly wanted to reach them I would have to find a way to use it for good.  In order to do this I had to open up to my colleagues and ask for help, which up until the last year I was apprehensive to do, because like any teacher I had my own “tricks” and I didn’t want anyone to steal my “tricks.”  I quickly learned that this could not be my mentality anymore, integrating technology effectively into the classroom is just to big of a job.  This is when I and another teacher really started to take a good long hard look about the way students were learning in our classrooms. 

            We asked ourselves one question: “What is the best use of our class time?”  We came to the conclusion that it was not lecturing and assigning homework after it.  We decided to make our class time more valuable and make our classes more relatable to our student’s lives.  However, this is easier said than done and it is something that we are really working hard to get up and running.  This chapter along with discussions from other “flip” teachers and teachers at our school have provided us with a number of new strategies to help relate material to today’s students.  

Chapter 2 Reflection

Chapter 2: No More Cookie-Cutter High Schools

            This chapter deals with one of the most important problems of modern day schools, the fact that modern day schools are NOT the schools of old.  The idea of “public school” stemmed off of the assembly line mentality, in a post-industrial revolution America.  We have operated in this “one size fits all” mentality so long that most of our students are never fully served.  To fix this problem, the books offers that schools should be more “Client-Driven” and personalize the education of each of their students.  It outlines that parents and student want choice in three major areas: 1.) They want options in the focus of instruction, 2.) They want a choice of instructional delivery and 3.) They want a choice in the time and place where instruction takes place.  To do this, schools must stop being a one-stop-shop and begin to embrace the community they inhabit.  Schools must find out the needs and wants of their community and change the way they operate accordingly.  With the recent influx of technology we are experiencing exponential change and schools have to keep up accordingly to keep learners engaged.  However, schools and educators must learn how to incorporate technology effectively, which means many teaching practice must be changed.  The chapter ends by pointing out the many objections that teachers and administrators are putting up opposing 21^st century change; however, the fact is our students are already been failed on many fronts.  Although, the fact is, we as educators must continue trying to develop a new vision for our “modern schools”

            In my setting I have already begun to ask questions and incorporate some of the practices addressed in this chapter.  Over the past couple of years I struggled with what seemed like the same sort of problems.  One of the major problems was trying to find a way to reach all 20 or 25 students in my classroom.  It seemed as though I was always able to reach about 10 right away, 5 more with a few questions, but that always left me with not enough time to help the kids that really needed it.  Before this year I had always taught just as I was when I was in school, mostly through lecture.  However, as much as a wanted to believe it, kids were just not the same as I was.  Then I realized that every student is different and I needed to change my approach.  I initially tried this with technology, but like most teachers, technology was thrown at me and I had to fend for myself.  Luckily, I and another teacher stumbled upon a new teaching methodology called the “Flipped Mastery” model for instruction.  In the flipped model students watch instructional vodcasts (lectures) at home, which are roughly about 10 minutes long and in class they work on what was traditionally done as homework.  With the technology that the school provided us we began to make instructional vodcasts and then worked on interaction-rich material to fill our class time with.  Our students were a little apprehensive at first, but after the first unit they were hooked.  With this new model I can now spend my class time walking around and answering the questions I used to not have time for.  Now I have a conversation about their learning with each student in every class, everyday.

Chapter 1 Reflection

Chapter 1: Partnering

            Chapter 1 explains the basic ideas of a new pedagogical way of teaching called partnering.  Speaking from personal experience, students no longer respond well to teachers talking at them.  This chapter explains how many students interviewed say that their most memorable experiences at school were during school trips, working with their peers or even teaching their peers.  However, it goes on to say that “Partnering” is merely a term for many teaching practices that already exist; for example: project-based learning, inquiry learning and active learning to name a few.  The author, Marc Prensky, defines partnering as, “letting students focus on the part of the learning process that they can do best, and letting teachers focus on the part of the learning process that they can do best.”  The chapter then goes on to explain the new roles of the student and the teacher in a partnering relationship. 

            Each of the new roles helps to build on the strengths that both the teacher and the student already possess.  Students today have a strong technological background that can be used to help them research the answers and come up with great ways to explain and show their knowledge and the answers to “guiding questions.”  Students are given these guiding questions by their teachers and then research the answers to them.  Students also assume other important roles such as: technology expert, making sense of information researched and the importance of becoming a self-teacher. 

            The teacher’s roles may seem to be really diminished in a Partnering setting, however it is the complete opposite.  Instead of the teacher being the only outlet for information, they become more of a guide or coach that helps facilitate the self-learning of the students.  This way the teacher can come up with a specific learning track for each student, because they know the strengths and weakness of each of them. 

             This is very close to the approach that I have been trying in my chemistry classes this year.  I have flipped my classroom and tried to make it a more student-centered, rather than a teacher-focused class as it had been.  Now, instead of the students getting direct instruction from me during class and them attempting practice problems at home by themselves, they watch instructional vodcasts explaining the content and then work on the practice problems, group work, labs, research projects, reflections, etc. during class. 

            Many of the hesitations alluded to by the author I felt as well.  It was hard letting go of complete control of my classroom and I have to admit I am kind of scared sometimes what people think when they walk by my room and the noise is very…very loud.  The class may seem like complete chaos, but there are actually many activities going on at once.  For instance, one group may be working on practice problems while others work on labs, inquiry activities, or peer tutoring. 

As the Book Suggests, having a principal and parents that support you fully makes a huge difference and has for myself.  I think it would have been very hard to change the culture of my classroom without the administrative help and support technologically and in other respects.