Round 4…
What was your favorite topic, article or video? Why?
My favorite item for the module came in the form of an animated speech by Sir Ken Robinson. As I mentioned in hypothes.is annotations, I watched this same video in one of my grad classes over the summer and have probably watched it 12–15 times since then. I think he paints a beautifully sad picture of the education system at the moment and the stubbornness we hold as educators to embrace the needed change.
(from hypothes.is…)
I think the core of this video is talking about the “shift” that is taking place in the classroom but really taking place between the teacher and the student. We as teachers may be failing to keep our students interest as we are presenting the same old info in the same old way. When students have access to a constant stream in interesting information in their pocket, we as teachers need to make sure that out lessons and the information were brining into the classroom has that same draw. That seems impossible at times but that shift is one that will be vital in creating a successful classroom in the modern era.
and
I also really loved the part in the video (though it is really quite sad) where he speaks about the dumbing down of our youth and the fact that we are making people less original and creative as they move through the education system. I for one hope that strict, one-right-answer-it-says-so-in-this-text-book, form of teaching is on the way out.
I think the ideas Sir Robinson lays out in the talk is one that all teachers in this generation need to hear.
What was the best hypothes.is discussion? Why? Provide quotes.
- My hypothes.is participation was a little strange this module as I was late* to joining my new group, King Kong. I was able to hop on some really fun discussions in the weeks that I had though. My favorites came in the discussion about The Ward Game. I think everyone in King Kong was really drawn into the article and it raised some really interesting points and some good discussions. I attached some samples below.
asylum
I think this very interesting because we always see the analogy of the factory but I think the Asylum is oddly and concerningly fitting. I love that he made this a game and and used his students seniorits to his advantage! I am curious to see how this pans out because i would love to do a big game like this sometime in my own classroom
Hide replies (3)
My students like the Prison analogy as well.
I hadn’t considered this before, but I can see the connections. I have seen teachers do a huge role playing unit with a novel like “The Outsiders” and the students love it! I’m curious to see what happens here.
There’s tons of opportunities for role play in social studies curriculum, too, so I’m exctied to see how he’s going to weave in critical reading and analysis of this text
— as well as…
WheneverIsentaplayeramission,Iwouldreviewhissurveyresponsesandtailoritaccordingtohisinterest.
This is great form of differentiation. Pretty awesome that he was able to keep track of all this. Again, I wonder how many students he was working with?
Hide replies (2)
I was thinking the same thing. Small class sizes would make this much more achievable. If he had a list of assignment ideas, it also might be easier than having to make up an assignment on the spot.
I totally agree, I think it is a great way to differentiate your students. I think this is something that could be done at the beginning of the year and you could use it in a lot of different ways throughout the year!
— and lastly…
Graduationwasaroundthecorner,andtheyweredeeplycommittedtodothebareminimumwithaslittleeffortaspossible
I see this a lot in my classrooms, and were only in the 11th grade. I think the draw of summer is beginning to ware on our students. Interested to see how he combated and what the Ward Game is all about.
Hide replies (1)
I have the same motivation problems some years as a teacher. I have to find something I'm excited to teach too.
- *I was late to the new group due to a small oversight. Not a big deal, was able to make up what I had missed and am enjoying my new group.
What was your favorite creation from a classmate? Who impressed you? Why?
- My favorite creation of this Module came courtesy of Alan Barbee and his remix of my 10 Ways to Read a Book video! I think I enjoyed this one so much because 1) he remixed something I made a clearly had some fun with it, and 2) I think that Alan took the story in a really funny direction that I enjoyed thoroughly. I used Storyboard That with my seventh grade class last semester and I know how much fun someone can have with. I think seeing my fellow classmates get so creative with their weekly-things and see something that I made get remixed made this my favorite creation by a classmate this module.
What did you make and what tools did you use? (challenges, dialogs, weekly-thing)
Don’t Stop Believin’ —
- From module 10 I decided to do the Don’t Stop Believin’ challenge. For this challenge I decided to celebrate Ready Player One coming out. I really enjoyed the novel for what it was; a good time, blast from the past that allowed me to escape from the world and get lost in a digital adventure. The movie was definitely not a pure reflection of the novel but it was fun for what it was. I created a timeline using http://timeline.knightlab.com/ to tell the story of the books creation and inspiration and it’s journey to opening weekend. Here is my timeline of the book to the big screen.
Weekly-Thing (Week 10) — Remix a Classmate
For week 10’s weekly-thing we were asked to remix a classmates work from a pervious module. This one was pretty fun. It was refreshing to back a look at some previous work from my classmates and think about how I could play with some of their thinking and make something fun or playful out of something from a classmate. I watched a bunch of my peer’s 10 Ways videos and decided to remix Brianna G’s 10 Ways To Pet A Cat. After trying and failing to figure out how cut a video in a way to make one long GIF of all the different ways to pet a cat, I found a frame I loved and decided to just have fun with it. I used gifs.com again to create a comical DEAL WITH IT gif.
Dialogue # 3 — There Once Lived…
For my third dialogue, I hosted a conversation with Jessica T. about the digital interactive biography site There Once Lived… The website was pretty fascinating and a bit different than what I expected. We had a lot of fun with this one and had a pretty interesting conversation that got us both thinking. Check it out below!
Weekly-Thing (Week 11) — Pop the Filter Bubble
FACTITIOUS (From SLACK) — For my weekly-thing I explored the website factitious and got to play a little game where I did my best to identify fake news from real news and it turned out to be a bit harder than I predicted. Based on my score I got on the quiz I am going to rate myself as a 6.7/10. Not bad, but not great either. What surprised me in this exercise was how hard it was to distinguish some of these real article from these fake articles based solely on how ridiculous the titles and topics were. I didn’t really see how I was attached or detached from other world-views though this exercise, but I did discover how easy it can be for people to buy into — or disregard — news articles. Additionally, it gave me some personal insight into how so many facebook friends (looking at you mom, and mother-in-law) can share things on the internet they are taking as fact when really they are more like “alternative-facts.” Overall, I enjoyed the site. Really played into this weeks module and gave me more to think about after watching the fake news video from our watchlist this week. Check it out!
Weekly-Thing (Week 12) — Autodidact
(from slack)
This one was pretty easy for me as my favorite writer — Haruki Murakami — is an autodidact. Haruki Murakami decided to become a writer after hearing the sound of a baseball bat crack a double into the outfield at a game in Japan. He was not schooled in writing (he owned a small jazz club in Japan at the time), and has no formal background which led him into his amazing career as writer. I think I love this story so much because it really gives me hope and is pretty inspiring to think about. The fact that someone can have such a brilliant flash of inspiration and change the course of their life is kind of what we all dream about. I also love it because the polish of his writing is something that has stuck with me since I first read it and the fact that he was, and is, able to produce such a high level of work without having been formally taught is a testament to his innate talent. if you have the time, check out his journey in his own words, great stuff — https://lithub.com/haruki-murakami-the-moment-i-became-a-novelist/ — #weekly-thing
What was your biggest stretch?
My biggest stretch for Module 4 came in the form of a timeline that I created in the Don’t Stop Believin’ challenge. I researched the website a bit before as I intended to use it in my final project but the actual creation of the time line took a bit more depth than I expected. After some tinkering and the formation of my idea for the challenge I did get to have some fun with it. The only thing that was a real challenge was figuring out how to use the excel spreadsheet properly. I really enjoy the Timeline tool and I’m excited to get more in depth with it moving forward. The stretch came in finding options for images and videos that played well into the time line, as well as how to format the information so that the user would have a clear understanding of was taking place. Overall, fun stretch this module. A little digital yoga.
