Jul

17

Trying to meet the challenge of teaching critical thinking skills to kids who hate to read or write.

Filed Under "At-risk" students, Computers In The Classroom, Engaging Assignments and Activities for Students, Web 2.0 tools and technologies, motivating students | 7 Comments

thinkhereI think we can agree that whatever skills kids will need in the 21st century, the ability to think critically is definitely going to be one of them. My challenge is to teach critical thinking skills to kids who hate to read and/or write. I’m really worried about some of my students.In order to think critically about something, you need to be armed with facts. You need something to think critically with. Reading helps develop a storehouse of useful background knowledge and writing helps you clarify your thoughts. Some of my students avoid both, and I think they’ll  lose out because of it.

I know that students can learn facts by listening to someone and that they can practice their critical thinking skills in discussions. How can I use this knowledge in my classroom to best advantage? Maybe almost everything in my class should be done orally so no one has to read or write much. (I’m trying to think outside the box here.) I could teach the lesson, and then we could discuss it. When I want to assign a writing activity so they could practice clarifying their thoughts, I could get my reluctant writers to do this via Twitter. Surely 140 characters isn’t too much to ask them to write. Too bad Twitter is blocked at my school.

I’m only half joking about using Twitter in the classroom.  Maybe asking my more reluctant/struggling students to communicate in 140 characters would engage them.  Sort of prime the pump, as it were. Then later on I could ask for paragraphs and essays.    Besides I’m always saying it’s not about quantity, it’s about quality.

Now I’m sure that some of you reading this may think I’ve lost my mind.  Luckily it’s the summer holidays, and I’ve got lots of time to find it. I’ll take it along with Twitter to class in September and see what happens.

photo by James Cridland

Jul

15

Teaching my students Googliness- the killer app in the new economy

Filed Under Learning Strategies, motivating students | Leave a Comment

Googliness?  Yes, that’s  the ability to solve problems in unique ways, lead co-workers and thrive in a loose organizational structure.

Laszlo Bock, vice president of people operations at Google maintains  “If you have those skills, you can learn any job we give you” .

The fusing of ” left-brain skills with right-brain insights is considered the killer app in a new economy that will put a premium on creative breakthroughs… We’re convinced true innovation comes at the intersection of different fields.”

I’m looking forward to telling  my students in my Advanced Learning Strategies Class that I’m going to teach them Googliness.  I want to see their reaction.  Maybe rebranding an old skill with a new name will catch their imagination.

I want to thank @ellenweber for her tweet about right-vs-left brains

Now that I think about it, I should be teaching Googliness to my math students as well.

Jul

12

Not being perfect is no excuse for not making videocasts

Filed Under Blogging in and out of the Classroom, The way I see it, Web 2.0 tools and technologies, videocasting | 1 Comment

courage

I’m always game to try new things- as long a they don’t involve heights.  Luckily, there are lots of things to try that don’t involve me leaving terra firma. What new thing am I ready to try? What new adventure am I going on this summer?  I’m starting to explore videocasting, and believe me it’s been really scary so far for reasons I found totally surprising.

I’ve been blogging for about three years now and really do love it, but lately I’ve been feeling like I need a new challenge in the digital world.  I did podcast for about a year and a half but didn’t really enjoy the technical aspects of getting the podcast on air, so eventually I stopped.  The technical stuff wasn’t really that difficult.  The software I used, Audible, is really user friendly.   I didn’t realize then why I didn’t like the technical aspects of podcasting,  but thanks to learning the ins and outs of making my first videocast (as yet unpublished :) ), I do know why now.  I wanted my podcasts  to be perfect, and guess what? Yes that’s right, they weren’t perfect. (My blogs aren’t perfect either, but for some reason that doesn’t bother me- much.)

It’s funny how you can know things about yourself on one level, but forget those very same things  on another level.  I do that all the time.  Luckily, life gives me plenty of  opportunities that reminds  me what I’ve  learned about myself but have forgotten. That was the case when I started creating my first videocast.  Creating it taught me why I didn’t like podcasting,  and more importantly that I better get over it or I’d miss a chance to do something that I might really enjoy doing.

I knew the technical aspects for creating a videocast and uploading it to the net wouldn’t be all that challenging.  Everything is so user friendly these days.  What I wasn’t prepared for was how I looked in the video.  It took me about three hours to get used to my appearance. My spirit and my body definitely didn’t  match.  One was still youthful and the other wasn’t. When did my face get that round?  What happened to my cheekbones? When did I get all those wrinkles?  When did that loose flesh along my jaw happen?  The only thing I liked about my face were my eyebrows. If I were writing  report card comments about my face, I would start with a positive  comment about those perfect eyebrows and then address the other issues.   I wanted to stop right then and there.  I didn’t look at all like the women I admire on TV.  I didn’t have their poise or polish.   I wasn’t perfect.

I wasn’t perfect.  That’s  my problem.  No, I realized not being perfect wasn’t  my problem.  Letting not being perfect stop me from doing something was or is my  problem.  I need to stop thinking that I need to look a certain way in order to do videocasting.  Easily said.    Do I have the courage to walk my talk? Honestly, I don’t know right now. I’m trying to take Shakespeare’s  advice: “We fail! But screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we’ll not fail.”

photo uploaded by Nick Hobgood

 

Jul

6

Helping kids deal with failure

Filed Under Special Education, motivating students, underachieving students | 5 Comments

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
~ Michael Jordan

Failing at something is discouraging. There’s no doubt about it. I try to find different ways to help my students learn to cope when they’ve failed to get the mark they wanted on a project, failed to get chosen for the school team, failed to ….etc. Many of my students aren’t very resilient. When they meet with failure, they just give up. Their low self-esteem just get’s stronger and stronger, and they’re willing to try less and less. I try to encourage them, but sometimes I feel me just talking it isn’t enough. That’s why when I come across things on the net like the video Famous Failures I’m delighted. I’ll bookmark the video using Delicious and then I’ll have it when I want to show it in September when we’re back at school.

Do you know of any other videos that I could use with my grade 9/12 students to motivate them? I’d really appreciate it if you’d send me the link. Thanks.

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