Module 4 Reflection

DCSM4T Module 4 Reflection

4 weeks...just like that the class is over! It went by very quick, but not without a lot of good information and learning happening along the way. 

The biggest takeaway for me will be the use of Twitter. I had been on Twitter as one who took information from it, mostly following new stories or sports stories with a few education related people/organizations thrown in. All of these were mainly there for me to read up on if I felt a need to. After going through this course and learning about a PLN and finding the value in Twitterchats, I will be more of a producer on Twitter! There are so many people out there to connect with, and Twitter is a phenomenal resource to do just that, connect! I hope to continue my use of Twitter and continue to make valuable connections on it.

This blog is another tool I will commit to using. The blog provided a forced reflection :) Whenever I do sit down to think and reflect, I find it valuable, having a blog will provide more of an opportunity for that to happen and hopefully more growth results as well!

The digital footprint aspect of the course definitely made my use of social media change. I can control what I put on social media, so why not make sure there is a good footprint of me out there? With actions I can control, I need to make sure there is a good output with what I do share. Using Twitter well and posting relevant blogs will allow for a positive digital footprint.

The biggest challenge...time :) Life is full, but figuring out what priorities are will allow for the important things to get done and get done well.

Thanks #DCSM4T!

Rick Wormeli Summary/Response

The school I teach at recently attended a 1 day conference to listen to one of the current gurus in the field of education, Rick Wormeli. Rick is a phenomenal presenter and will keep viewers engaged throughout his whole day seminar though his quick wit, humor, references to movies/songs, dance moves, and his constant movement up front and in the crowd. This keeps those viewing watching intently and waiting to hear the next words to come out of his mouth. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that he is extremely passionate and about what he is talking about!

The following is a snapshot of some of a couple topics he talked about: Homework and Assessment.

Standards Based Grading

Homework

Homework is a time for students to practice the learned material. If students do not know how to do the homework, they should not have to do it because “practice makes permanent.” In addition, because it is a time for students to be practicing, homework should not be graded. Homework will will include multiple attempts and failures before it is learned well. This is one aspect I really like. I believe each students is unique and made in God's image, therefore they will not all learn at the same rate. We differentiate the content, product, and process, but why should we still think that all students will learn it at the same speed. Students are not all the same, so why should they be expected to learn it at the same rate?

Assessing

Wormeli’s overall purpose of assessing students is a way for teachers to provide communication to them about where they are in terms of where they are going. Rick stresses that schools should be assessing based on the standard the work is connected to. This way there is no false reporting of a grade, and it can be easily seen how well a student has learned a specific standard. Because of this, schools need to shift their focus to be criterion referenced, not norm-referenced. Basing a student on where he/she is at in comparison to other students does not necessarily show how well material is learned, instead it shows how well material was learned compared to how well everyone else learned it. By assessing based on a set criteria, the standards, all students are compared to a set standard and measured by it, not each other.

Averaging grades to calculate a final grade really does not make sense in Standards-Based Grading. If, again, we see that homework is used to practice and we do not expect every student to learn the concept at the exact same time (they are all unique, made in God’s image, and not 100% alike, correct) then why penalize them for not knowing it as well at the beginning of the year if now, towards the end, they do know it well?

  

Dordt College Social Media For Teachers: Module 3 Reflection

Connectivism 

For a nice overview of connectivism, watch this YouTube video.

For my first reactions to connectivism, read on. Know that they are my first reactions, and I am always learning about what it is and how it looks!

To me, the idea of connectivism makes a lot of sense. When I do not know the answer to something or a problem arises that I have not experienced before, I will immediately do a google search. Watching the video above showed some of the same experiences that I have when online. I will read an article, see comments, click on another link within the article, watch a video on that new site. Before I know it, I have gone to 4 different places to learn more information on a certain topic. It is something that comes natural to me when learning about something new. Connectivism, to me, seems like an individual way of constructivism. A person is interacting with ideas to learn more about it. It is self paced and self motivated.

Now...does that make it a learning theory? If a learning theory describes how information is learned or absorbed, then I would have to say yes, it is. So what would be better ways to make this connectivism learning theory work better? The person who is searching needs to be more conscious that it is a time where learning is going to happen. Don't just get connected to quick learn the answer and then jump out, devote the time you are using when connected to make it stick so that the next time you do not have to do the same thing again to learn it.

For educators, connectivism is a key aspect of ongoing learning. With all the information out there. Conscious steps need to be taken in order to connect with the right sources and people. The social media tool I looked at this week, Periscope, is an interesting one in light of connecting parents/community members with what is going on in school, but I am not so sure it is a great one for teachers to develop ongoing professional learning. Again, I would need to explore Periscope more as well to find out if this is true, but as far as information sharing and learning more about a specific topic, I do not see it as being a "go-to" to get connected.

DCSM4T: Module 2 Reflection: Google Update

I Googled myself.

Dave Mulder Googled himself and found some things that he did not necessarily expect to see and I had the same experience. I did not expect to have sports articles from my high school career, but I did enjoy the nostalgia of reading up on some the articles I was mentioned in from high school! Not that I am that old, but it is definitely a sign of how things are permanent and that there is sometimes no control over how my name gets online.

I also ran across a personal website I made for a class at Dordt. It was interesting what I found on there. There were a few things on it that did not necessarily help my digital footprint. I had a nice little bio of me, which is obviously now outdated. Someone who looked at it could possibly think that was current, and have a very different perspective of me than what is actually true. Also, there was a list of educational websites, one of which was now an invalid link. Invalid links on websites make me agitated because I don't understand why someone would put a link on there when there is nothing to go to. Here I was doing the same thing! It looks bad on me as an educator to have a list of educational links with one of them being invalid. A final page on the site had two documents attached to it: a resume and a classroom management plan. They were quite interesting reads I must say. Again, the resume, like the bio, was quite outdated and would not allow me to have much to stand on if it were to be used for any sort of application. The classroom management plan was ok, but definitely not what I would say is true for me currently. It was great to see what I thought back then, but it looked like that document, and whole page, was who I was currently.

I deleted the page.

This aspect of my digital footprint was something I had control over, so I decided it was one that I wanted to get rid of because it no longer accurately portrayed who I was. For an updated bio, my faculty page at school is now the only thing online that tells a little bit about who I am. This is a good thing, because before it looked as though I was currently doing undergrad work at Dordt, 20 years old, and no teaching experience!

Google search now has an updated version of who I am.