Chapter 4
Quote: “In the new culture of learning, people learn through their interaction and participation with one another in fluid relationships…” I chose this quote because it represents much of what I seek to do in my classroom. I have students work in groups probably 75% of the time to encourage this sort of exchange.
Question: How do you get students to share equally in the work, the discussion, etc? There is so often students who use groups to be lazy or just want to dominate because they don’t trust their peers to do work well.
Connection: In the Global Achievement Gap, the author highlights the need for students to learn skills of collaboration and being able to work together in a productive way. So many jobs involve projects that require teams of people to come together to solve a problem, and students must be prepared for this. It’s part of our job as teachers to give them skills for life after high school.
Aha/epiphany: I’ve been thinking a lot about how to use blogs and things like it in my classroom. I’m trying to figure out what is the best way to execute this sort of work. My aha moment came when I read the line from this chapter that says, “blogs are a medium for learning, but they do not teach.” This enlightens me how I want to use blogs. They should be means by which for students to share with one another, but they do not teach them. The teacher must use blogs to show students how they can interact with and learn from one another.
Chapter 5
Quote: “Critics fear that as a result [of our digital transparency] we are losing a valuable distinction in how we think of our lives and how we share things with others.” I chose this because it resonates with how I feel about using digital media and the societal shift more generally to a liberalization of personal data.
Question: The chapter seems to highlight many of the positives of sharing our lives through digital media. My question is: What downsides are there? How do we prevent things like identity theft by criminals and/or the government?
Connection: The connection I made between this chapter and the book relates to the part on blogging. The book describes the authorship of a blog as transformed “in a way that recognizes the participation of other as fundamental to the process.” The connection I made to this was to this class. This class has made blogging an integral part. We read, we blog about it, but the point is to foster a discussion among peers. There are opinions and thoughts about videos and readings that evoke feelings and thoughts in others, who then comment on your blog.
Aha/epiphany: Much of this chapter provided me with a “hmmm..” moment. I think there is a certain extent of, in my opinion, oversharing that goes on in the internet. Sometimes, this creates a liability in terms of one’s susceptibility to identity theft. So I wonder what the balance is. I read this chapter with some skepticism. Does someone that doesn't embrace the new social media/digital learning landscape position themselves at a disadvantage? Can we accept that someone doesn’t want their information out there in the ether and make accommodations? Or are they luddites who will necessarily learn less because of their reluctance?
Chapter 6
Quote: “Explicit knowledge...lends itself well to the process of teaching--that is, transferring knowledge from one person to another. You teach and I learn.” I chose this quote because its an interesting to consider as a teacher of history. Certainly the history we teach is stable, so I think our focus should be on skills.
Question: How do we teach students to inquire about things that they don’t really care about?
Connection: The connection I made to this was to the video about Google’s 20% project. Teaching students to inquire and to follow passions allows them to discover and learn on their own.
Aha/epiphany: I like the part about giving students a resource of the internet and students meandering along finding bits of info and producing a haphazard result. My aha moment was realizing that students really need a curated list of sources to use for research. Students are not yet capable of being handed a large resource and sifting through it for the good information. This is a skill that needs to be taught. For a while, though, students need help finding important information and putting it together in a coherent way.
Quote: “In the new culture of learning, people learn through their interaction and participation with one another in fluid relationships…” I chose this quote because it represents much of what I seek to do in my classroom. I have students work in groups probably 75% of the time to encourage this sort of exchange.
Question: How do you get students to share equally in the work, the discussion, etc? There is so often students who use groups to be lazy or just want to dominate because they don’t trust their peers to do work well.
Connection: In the Global Achievement Gap, the author highlights the need for students to learn skills of collaboration and being able to work together in a productive way. So many jobs involve projects that require teams of people to come together to solve a problem, and students must be prepared for this. It’s part of our job as teachers to give them skills for life after high school.
Aha/epiphany: I’ve been thinking a lot about how to use blogs and things like it in my classroom. I’m trying to figure out what is the best way to execute this sort of work. My aha moment came when I read the line from this chapter that says, “blogs are a medium for learning, but they do not teach.” This enlightens me how I want to use blogs. They should be means by which for students to share with one another, but they do not teach them. The teacher must use blogs to show students how they can interact with and learn from one another.
Chapter 5
Quote: “Critics fear that as a result [of our digital transparency] we are losing a valuable distinction in how we think of our lives and how we share things with others.” I chose this because it resonates with how I feel about using digital media and the societal shift more generally to a liberalization of personal data.
Question: The chapter seems to highlight many of the positives of sharing our lives through digital media. My question is: What downsides are there? How do we prevent things like identity theft by criminals and/or the government?
Connection: The connection I made between this chapter and the book relates to the part on blogging. The book describes the authorship of a blog as transformed “in a way that recognizes the participation of other as fundamental to the process.” The connection I made to this was to this class. This class has made blogging an integral part. We read, we blog about it, but the point is to foster a discussion among peers. There are opinions and thoughts about videos and readings that evoke feelings and thoughts in others, who then comment on your blog.
Aha/epiphany: Much of this chapter provided me with a “hmmm..” moment. I think there is a certain extent of, in my opinion, oversharing that goes on in the internet. Sometimes, this creates a liability in terms of one’s susceptibility to identity theft. So I wonder what the balance is. I read this chapter with some skepticism. Does someone that doesn't embrace the new social media/digital learning landscape position themselves at a disadvantage? Can we accept that someone doesn’t want their information out there in the ether and make accommodations? Or are they luddites who will necessarily learn less because of their reluctance?
Chapter 6
Quote: “Explicit knowledge...lends itself well to the process of teaching--that is, transferring knowledge from one person to another. You teach and I learn.” I chose this quote because its an interesting to consider as a teacher of history. Certainly the history we teach is stable, so I think our focus should be on skills.
Question: How do we teach students to inquire about things that they don’t really care about?
Connection: The connection I made to this was to the video about Google’s 20% project. Teaching students to inquire and to follow passions allows them to discover and learn on their own.
Aha/epiphany: I like the part about giving students a resource of the internet and students meandering along finding bits of info and producing a haphazard result. My aha moment was realizing that students really need a curated list of sources to use for research. Students are not yet capable of being handed a large resource and sifting through it for the good information. This is a skill that needs to be taught. For a while, though, students need help finding important information and putting it together in a coherent way.