Jon Corippo- New Mindsets & Workflows for Common Core

Jon Corippo's presentation was so inspiring! I really enjoyed his talk about the pacing guide and how it never works. His example about when is "Y" used as a vowel was great example. Teachers are so busy trying to cram an abundance of material that they only give an overview of material yet, neglect to teach students with purpose. I think that is a large component of why students are no longer engaged and have difficulty with critical thinking. Their creativity has been taken away by required standards and has been replace with this notion of there only being "one right answer." In addition, Corippo stressed the importance of professional development. This really resonated with me because I feel that many educators that I have come across do not invest enough in this. Professional development can be as small as going to coffee with other educators or connecting with teachers through social media. There is no excuse for teachers not to continue to flourish in their professional life. As Corippo stated, if you are in education to get out of work by 3 then you are in the wrong profession. We as educators cannot motivate, engage, and have students see the value in their education if we do not value our own profession. The last point I would like to make is the importance of making connections whether it is in or outside the classroom. I think that it it is so important for students and teachers to connect with each other. I agree with Corippo's point that we are much more intelligent as a group rather than as individuals. This video really reiterated the  the importance of sharing with other educators.

Glogster Challenge!

First Glogster

Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose....

Autonomy, mastery, and purpose align with Bloom's revised Taxonomy for the digital age because it addresses students having the ability to be creative and find purpose in their work through the use of technology. HOTS explains the importance of students being able to bookmark their favorite sites or talk about their learning process by using blogs. Students must be personally invested in order to be motivated to reach Bloom's higher order thinking skills. I believe that HOTS cannot exist without intrinsic motivation. In Dan Pink's TED Talk it becomes apparent that autonomy, mastery, and purpose is instrumental in people's ability to have higher order thinking. Though he was talking about productivity in a business market, I feel the same concept applies in the classroom. Students need to know how academic material relates to them in their own personal life in order for them to be personally invested. Incorporating technology in the classroom does just that because we are preparing students for the future and also using programs that they use in their everyday lives. By following Bloom's revised Taxonomy for the digital age model students can find purpose in their work and begin to think outside of the box where creativity can flourish. 

Failure and Learning...

After watching Diana Laufenberg's talk about what learning means I believe failure has everything to do with learning. When you think about success stories the majority of these stories have to do with failure and overcoming adversities. For example, Steve Jobs was a college dropout that had a vision that seemed far beyond his time. He was constantly rejected but ended up being one of the creators of Apple. The importance of his story and every other successful innovator is that they all experienced failure at one point yet learned from it. This is a vital concept to teach our students especially since they have been taught to believe that their is only one right answer. Teachers need to expose students to failure and teach them to understand that failure is a part of the learning process.

Thoughts on Elizabeth Calhoon's PLN Presentation

I was very impressed with Elizabeth's PLN presentation. I felt that in the short amount of time she spoke she really opened my eyes up to the importance of PLN networks. I have been really hesitant to create a Twitter account because I have always associated it with celebrities. My perception of Twitter has been that it is used for promoting purposes and quite frankly I am not that relevant to be sending out tweets. After her presentation I now realize that many professionals use it and it is a great resource for future educators like myself. I am very excited to start using Twitter and Elizabeth really alleviated my fears by explaining that I do not have to feel obligated to tweet anything. In addition, I was thankful for the various sites she presented. I really enjoyed the fakebook site and thought it would be a great tool to use when teaching history. I think Elizabeth is a great example of why teachers should continue to educate themselves when it comes to the advances in technology. She to was hesitant to incorporate PLN networks in her everyday life and now it is her career!!

Are Learning Networks the Future?

I feel that learning networks are the future when it comes to higher education. Many universities already implement online courses and you can now earn a degree online. As for primary and secondary education I feel that learning networks may not be the future because of many safety and legal issues that may be encountered. I also feel that right now in the age of the "tech boom" schools would have incorporated much more technology than they do now. The only way I see public schools having learning networks is if they could get enough funding but until then I believe that schools will continue to incorporate technology little by little.

Khan Academy and the Future of Education

I was very excited to watch Salman Khan's TED talk because I used the KhanAcademy to study for my CSET. While studying for the test I kept thinking to myself how wonderful this site was and if only I had it available to me while I was in school. Though I used it for myself I never really thought about incorporating the site into the classroom until now. This idea of flip teaching and using videos to educate students is a new concept that I had never thought to explore. I am actually very drawn to the idea because it allows students to use various resources to strengthen their comprehension of academic content. I feel that incorporating these tools can only help students to achieve academic success. Having education move towards the route of using academic sites such as the Khan Academy may seem very scary for some educators because they may feel as though technology will interfere with the ways in which they teach. I on the other hand disagree because I feel video, flip teaching, and the Khan Academy are academic tools that should be incorporated in the classroom. Teachers should not think that the Khan Academy will take their place but rather help facilitate a lesson or reiterate any information that a student may have missed. In recent years, education has been moving towards an online education which has contributed to the fears that technology may take educators jobs. It is now possible to earn your bachelors, masters, or even a Ph.D online! I see why many educators are hesitant to use technology in the classroom but I feel that it is necessary. Students need to be exposed to different methods of teaching in order to best determine their learning style. I often times need to hear information more than once for concepts to stick. With flip teaching this is now possible. As opposed to having students reread a chapter in their textbook they can watch a video or even review a lecture from class. I am excited to incorporate technology into my own classroom. I feel that education is moving and will continue to move towards implementing various technologies into the classroom. With that being said, we as educators need to become familiar with these programs. Districts should provide education classes for teachers in order for them to be able to transition into this new form of pedagogy. We also need to address the issue of accessibility. In the TED talk Salman was working with a school in Los Altos  which is an affluent area. How can we as educators make these tools accessible to students living in poverty?