Victorian Internet

    I enjoyed reading The Victorian Internet last week and learning all about the history of the telegraph.  I was able to make connections to the book which made it even more enjoyable.  The perspective they had on the invention of the telegraph is how many people react to new things, especially educators in education, with new curriculum, technologies, and ideas.  Though there are the possibilities of consequences and negative outcomes, it’s also important to focus on the positive consequences and possibilities new things can bring. 

This book taught me that it’s okay to think of the possible consequences and negative outcomes of new things, but it’s even better to focus on the positive outcomes it will bring.  Yes, there are negative things that occur because of a new invention, idea, etc., but for all those negatives are even more positive outcomes that benefit our society as a whole.  If we’re too afraid to accept, or even think of new ideas, then we’d be hindering ourselves from better things.  For example, educators are always apprehensive of new curriculum and new ideas in education, such as digital technology, but now that we have it, learned about it, and implemented it into our classrooms, we recognize that digital technology and all that it comes with, is overall beneficial to our students.  Yes, there are negative consequences to it, as anything in this world does, but there are lots more positive consequences that resulted from digital technologies in the classroom.  For example, digital technologies allow students with opportunities to express their learning in creative ways, which I believe is the best positive consequence of digital technology.  

Having a positive perspective on new ideas, technologies, etc., will directly impact my classroom because it will allow my students opportunities to express their learning in creative ways.  These new technologies will be taught and implemented in my classroom so students have a plethora of resources to use when it comes to learning.  With those new resources, they then can make a decision for themselves on what tool they want to use when they’re expressing their learning and showing understanding with a topic or standard.  This enables the activity to be student-oriented rather than teacher-oriented.  Yes, there will be constraints and students have to be taught how to appropriately use these resources, but once they’re skilled in that resource, they’ll be able to apply it now and in the future.  

This week’s reading taught me to focus on the positive, not only with new ideas, technologies, and etc., but with life in general.  Dwelling on the possibilities of negative outcomes requires way more effort than focusing on the positive outcomes and how that thing can benefit our society as a whole.

Vygotsky

            This week’s reading taught me a lot of important information that is useful to know in education.  I had a few key takeaways which will directly impact my practice as a teacher.  

My biggest takeaway from this week’s reading is the importance of play.  It is important to allow students to play as part of their learning.  Playing allows them to learn more about themselves and others around them, all while learning the content that’s being taught.  Play is the learning while the work is the application of that learning.  We should allow students to play and learn through play which they’ll apply later when they’re working on that task or in the future.  When designing my lessons, I will include more opportunities for students to play.  This play doesn’t always have to be students playing with tangible items.  It could also be opportunities for students to play with digital products or programs.  This play time will allow students to learn about themselves, others, the product/program in use, and the connection between those things and the world around them.  Providing students with opportunities to play throughout my lessons allows them to learn about the world around them. 

Another takeaway I had this week was the importance of the zone of proximal development.  If we provide students with too much support in the ZPD, they could develop things such as learned helplessness and not know how to solve a problem without support from adults or others around them.  The zone of proximal development is the distance between what students are ready to learn and their potential to learn with adult guidance or peer collaboration.  In order to assist the student through their ZPD, we must model things for them and coach them.  Once they’re beginning to master the skill, we must fade the modeling and coaching and allow students to work through that task/skill independently.  When designing lessons, I will model and coach students through the skill then allow them opportunities to work through that task/skill independently.

With this week’s reading, I am able to design my lessons to provide students ample opportunities to learn through play and support students to move through the zone of proximal development. 

Situated Cognition and Meaningful Learning

     Last week’s readings included a lot of important information which felt a bit dense for me.  I felt quite overwhelmed with the concepts, vocabulary, and acronyms involved and was grateful for the discussions in class that unpacked all of that information.  After class discussions combined with my own take of the texts, I was able to have a better grasp of the contents in last week’s readings.  I learned from these readings, how it relates to education, and how it impacts my teaching. 

My biggest takeaway this past week is that there are a lot of things educators consider and take into account when they are designing and planning lessons that are meaningful to students.  I made this connection through all the vocabulary, concepts, and acronyms discussed in last week’s reading.  It showed all the things we need to consider as educators when we teach.  There are processes, procedures, vocabularies, tools, and more that we think about and incorporate in order to provide students with meaningful learning.  Though I knew how much we do as a teacher, it was shocking to really see all the things we do even before planning and implementing a lesson.  Knowing there is so much to do and consider, it’s quite overwhelming to see and think about all the things educators do and we do it every single day with open minds and positive attitudes.  Yes, there are days where it seems like everything’s going wrong and we feel like we’re drowning, but we still show up to work and get the job done to the best of our abilities.  I am in awe of teachers everyday and am always inspired by who we are as people.

Last week’s readings impact my teaching directly through my design process and lesson planning.  I will consider all these vocabulary words, concepts, procedures, and processes when designing and implementing lessons in order to provide students with meaningful learning.  As educators, we know how important it is to provide students with meaningful learning opportunities in order for them to be future-ready learners, and we do just that--we provide them those opportunities so that they are future-ready learners.   As with the other articles in previous weeks, my teaching will be impacted because I will continue to be intentional with designing and implementing lessons.  Each week I add to my shelf of resources I can refer to and use in order to provide my students meaningful learning that will prepare them to be future-ready learners. 

Though last week’s readings were dense and a bit overwhelming for me, I felt like it depicted how I feel as an educator--overwhelmed and a bit confused at times, and that’s okay.  After class discussions, I was able to have a better grasp of the topics from the readings and how it is related to education and how it’ll impact my teaching.

The Saber-Tooth Curriculum

    After reading The Saber-tooth Curriculum and discussing it as a class, there were a few things I was able to reflect on:  what I learned from the text, the importance of education and what it means, and how this perspective might impact my practice. 

First things first: what I learned or in this case, confirmation of what I already knew in education.  This text showed confirmation of what I already knew in education--the importance of hands-on learning.  This was as important then as it is now.  In order for students to have meaningful learning experiences, we must allow them to learn through experience.  We have to allow our students opportunities to learn through play.  Just as the book said, they are “learning what they live, and living what they learn.” This text also confirmed the importance of specific best practices in order for learners to succeed.  Aside from hands-on learning, I know the importance of engaging learners in purposeful activities, making real-world connections, and providing a positive culture.  As educators, we must provide these best practices to students so that they can be the best versions of themselves and to be future-ready learners.  Students must be engaged in purposeful activities that connect to the real-world all while providing them a positive classroom environment.  Without these, students won’t be future-ready learners.  My favorite quote from the book supports this practice of students engaging in purposeful activities that connect to the real-world: “We must teach them how to think, not what to think.”  Providing them these engaging and purposeful activities that connect to the real-world allows them for just that.  They’re able to learn how to think for themselves and be future ready-learners, rather than learning what to think.  

Next, this book discussed the importance of education and what it means.  It discussed how education came to be and how it got there.  After reading the text and discussing with our class, education is the key to success in the world, whether that leads someone to become a doctor, educator, or artist.  We are the reason behind other practices in the world.  We bring together communities, identify the needs of the communities, and provide them resources to succeed.  

Finally, how will this impact my practice as an educator?  Just as it did with my previous blog post on teachers as designers, what I learned or confirmed through reading The Saber-tooth Curriculum will allow me to be intentional with my teaching.  When designing and implementing lessons, I will make sure students are provided opportunities to engage in purposeful activities, hands-on learning, and connections to the real-world all while providing them a positive classroom environment.  I will provide my students with meaningful experiences that will allow them to learn how to think for themselves, rather than learn what to think.  

The Saber-tooth Curriculum provided great topics for self-reflection that confirmed my thoughts on education, the importance of best practices in education, and how all of these will impact my practice.