Week 4

A common thread of all of my post is the importance of empowering the students. We must give them authentic experiences to understand why material is important and apply it to their present and future lives. All too often on social media I see friend complain about how they were cheated in high school by never being taught finical literacy. I personally would argue that these skills were taught. However, many of my classmates were not able to see the true application when it was presented. To some extent I can relate. After graduating from college I attended a very expensive college to become a teacher. Do I regret my choice based upon my education? Absolutely not! Do I financially regret my decision and wish I would have better understood money as an 18 year old? Absolutely! That is why I find this article so powerful http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161027005895/en/Bank-Ramsey-Solutions-Celebrate-Education-Million-Students Dave Ramsey and Fifth Third bank have teamed up to present a student centered curriculum to provide high schools students with a student centered approach to finical literacy. What better way to learn these strategies than from a major bank and a well respected financial annalist. Heck they are even incorporating some of the strategies of the flipped model with asynchronous videos!

Are ESL students eager to learn? Is extra tutoring beneficial? Take a look at this article http://www.centralctcommunications.com/newbritainherald/article_b2ab26f6-9a57-11e6-ba6f-7715fb5f1625.html it will really help you to see where motivation can take you! When students are motivated to learn and teachers motivated to teach great things can happen!

Throughout this blog I have spoken about how a student centered approach/real world experiences can impact our learners. However, how do authentic experiences impact our teaching? Check out this article http://klewtv.com/news/local/lcsc-professor-brings-his-travels-of-the-world-into-his-classroom
to see how traveling the world can impact your teaching and our ESL instruction.

This week my students will post their first blog post about their individual Genius Hour project. I am very excited to see what they produce. Thus far I have received positive and supportive feedback from my parents. I truly hope my students’ student centered projects make a difference on their individual education! 

Week 3

Over my ten years as a teacher I have seen many changes. I have taught for a local public district, brick and mortar charter school, and cyber charter school. I have taught 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade. One may think that a young teacher with so many different experiences might feel frustrated with all the change. I on the other hand have learned to embrace and accept the change. I realize that education is no longer a career where you get a job and you stay their for 30 years. On the other hand it is a field that is constantly changing and one must evolve to stay relevant! Over the past few years I have dabbled with the idea of the flipped model. However, I could never commit. I had many thoughts that ran through my mind. The students won't watch the lessons, parents will complain, where will I find the time. While this year I finally decided to commit! Therefore, I find a lot of similarities to this article: http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/UKFLVnN5lzRf7hZzdI8v9L/Technology-to-the-assistance-of-the-flipped-classroom-model.html It is truly amazing what you can accomplish with using both Synchronous and Asynchronous instruction! I can say that I value my time this year with my students more than I did in the past. It is fun to see my students be the ones doing the work/teaching while I am acting more as a support system. I also find it really interesting to see how start up companies are presently using the same strategies that I am. This gives me hope that this student centered approach is properly preparing my students for their futures!

You cannot argue that the internet is changing the world and education.You can also not argue that no two students learn the same way. Therefore, it is critical that we no longer just provide our students with a lesson that some have mastered and some are left feeling confused. However,we have many more standards to cover so we just move on. This article https://www.yahoo.com/news/media-advisory-inacol-blended-online-learning-symposium-2016-162600028.html truly talks about a student centered approach where students use asynchronous instruction to move through objectives at their own pace until they master the objectives. This is truly an approach that is about the students and not about the standards. Standards should guide our instruction. However they should not dictate the pace of which the student moves through the content. We must make it a priority that each student masters the objectives and not just move on unprepared to the next grade due to their age. I truly believe that we can all work together to use the flipped/asynchronous model to make sure that all learners master the needed objectives with a student centered approach. Is it more important to cover standards or prepare our learners for the future?

Can a student centered approach break down the language and cultural barriers in the arts? This article https://www.bupipedream.com/ac/73552/downtown-center-poetry-festival-has-global-focus/ talks about how this happened. Although performances were done in different languages with ties to different cultures all were able to interpret the art different due to the hands on approach. These article on widely different topics all seem to have a common thread. When students are able to apply their thinking in an approach that is centered on the student education moves forward. Standards are great! However, is it more important to move through these objectives or allow all students to master these critical thinking skills.
 

Week 2

Can Flipping be done wrong? https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-10-13-sherry-turkle-says-there-s-a-wrong-way-to-flip-a-classroom

In reading this article the author really talk about how some teacher who flip their instruction use class time as homework recitation. We must remember that the true idea behind this model is to engage students at a higher level during our instruction. Just reciting homework assignment in class is not forcing our students to think and engage at higher levels. Therefore, I would agree that this is an example of flipping gone wrong. However, when we use this method to engage our students with student centered projects we are forcing them to think at higher levels. When they are working at higher levels they are truly engaged. I believe that when lower level thinking at home allows for higher level student engagement in class flipping has gone right! I truly believe that it is important that we put the power in our students hands for them to engage and be prepared for future opportunities!

Student Centered learning is not just about the students. It is about all the stakeholders involved. Read the article http://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/16/10/p8560099/sun-prairie-area-schools-in-wisconsin-join-districts-in-pennsylvania-an and find out how a district in Wisconsin evolved all stakeholders when deciding on the right LMS. I truly believe that this approach will not only benefit the learners but all parties involved. I personally can't think of a more important student centered project than all of these stakeholders took apart in!

Does being bilingual increase your job perspectives?http://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/2016/10/11/52645/prop-58-sparks-the-debate-over-english-only-learni/

This article discusses Prop 58 and how being bilingual can really increase your future job perspectives. Do you think we can utilize flipping and student centered learning to increase our turnout of bilingual students? Should we only teach English, or should we use a bilingual approach? I can definitely see and understand both arguments. Would you be able to successfully teach in a bilingual approach?

Week 1

Check out how Jon Bergmann is changing education with the flipped model. His creativity is changing the way student are learning! It allows for students to come to class prepared to be active participants and not just consumers of information.

http://www.jonbergmann.com/about-m/   

Does the quote sound familiar to you  “I know what students do at English lessons. They just do grammar exercises and practice writing. They don’t have listening and speaking lessons,” he said. “This is because students learn English just to pass exams, not to use English in daily life.”

This quote really makes me think. I took three years of Spanish in high school and two in college. I can truly say I never took the courses to master the content. On the other hand I defiantly took the courses to fill a requirement and pass a test. 

“I think the practice of listening and speaking skills should be the top priority,” he said.

I wonder if we changed our approach and utilized the flipped model if students would come to class prepared to participate. If this happened I believe that we could have our students participate in student centered learning and actually master the skills.

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/education/164447/students-learn-english-to-pass-exams--not-to-communicate.html


Hopefully, these student centered approaches could allow learners to learn the need skills before it is too late. It is critical to avoid the situations presented in this link. http://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace-relations/the-fatal-consequences-of-miscommunication-between-pilots-and-air-traffic-controllers-20160927-grq1d9.html 

Who would ever think learning a language could be a matter of life and death? 

Take a moment and listen to this Podcast. http://www.jonbergmann.com/how-i-get-my-students-to-own-their-learning/

How can we put the students in charge? What is the role of the teacher? What steps can we take to allow students to take ownership in the classroom and allow the teacher to just be a support system?

https://mtairynews.com/news/44735/city-schools-mapss-success-draws-attention-from-state-education-director

This article continue to talk about the value of putting students in charge of their learning. With increasing access to the internet in the classroom it is really easy to cheat. However, if the students are working on a project based assignment they won't be able to cheat. However, they can learn the value of collaboration and citing their sources.

http://www.trtribune.com/index.php/local-news/item/2758-furman-launches-furman-advantage-with-47-million-endowent

This type of learning is not only happening at grade school level. However, it is being implemented at the college level too! What better learning opportunity than applying real world skills to your learning.

http://www.gazettextra.com/20161005/dual_language_program_shows_a_creative_approach_to_learning

“Language has to be acquired, you can't teach it,”  If this does not speak to the value of student centered learning then I don't know what does. Students cannot just sit back and absorb content. They must be active participators to learn it. This article also talks about how having the students learn another language broke down cultural barriers and allowed friendships to develop. Theses are friendships and experiences the students may have never experienced without this student centered approach. Talk about powerful!


This past week was a very challenging week for me. I really had to work hard to balance all of the new student centered projects. By the end of the week I was really feeling burned out by the implementation. However, I arrived home to a wonderful parent email. In the email the parent thanked me for all of my hard work and allowing the students to explore their passions. This was the little bit of motivation I needed to find my drive. This week made me realize that at times implementing a model like this can be taxing at times. However, I am motivated by knowing my students appreciate it. I also know that soon the ground work will be set and I will then truly be able to focus on the students' needs. Once this happens my time demands will decrease and student engagement will increase. I am sure that it will be time well spent!