As I was going through the variety of project audiences, I couldn't make up my mind. It was only after I thought about which objective would benefit me the most did I decide on the one. Instruction for K-12 Students sounds great and something I could share with my future class but as I just said, my future class, and therefore cannot even pick a grade level or subject! Professional Development for Teachers sounds exciting as my dream goal is to become a professor in professional development! But I'm still learning (not yet an official novice teacher) and cannot choose what to teach myself and professionals (plus, it'd be a bit hypocritical). Online Community Awareness sounds challenging... I would choose a specific matter (fueled with passion and curiosity), learn about the issue (from the nuts and bolts to its analysis), and decide on its projectile (is it to inspire, to call for action, to disseminate resources, all of the above?).
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| Why not? (I say this as I shiver with anxiety) |
So exactly what educational topic do I want to explore and share about? NCLB? Achievement Gap? How schools kill creativity? How education varies across countries? I don't know, I don't know, I can't make up my mind!
People are always talking about the American education system, and the education system as a whole. People are filled with opinions, "it is broken", "it is outdated", etc. I have a general idea of the American education system (i.e. compulsory education; high-stakes testing; more strict teaching evaluation; stark racial academic achievement gap; federal curriculum of the Common Core; lowly ranked Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores across industrialized countries), but I feel like I do not really know that much about the U.S.'s education system. I feel like I've heard from many people's opinions but did not necessarily formulate my own independent or different question...maybe because I always felt like I didn't know enough or experience enough for me to judge appropriately.
So maybe I'll start with that first. I'll try to compile a mass of information about the American education system and how it relates to other other countries. This is going to become very political.
As I was perusing through the Thinkfinity groups, I found myself to be slightly disappointed; many did not pertain to my general question of "WHAT IS THE AMERICAN EDUCATION SYSTEM?" As I reached to the 7th page, I found the International Perspectives on Education (IPE) group. Awesome. Recent content includes 2 months ago, 6 months ago, 2 years ago... not so awesome. But it'll do; I'll just read their archived stuff and see if I can instigate participation (*shrugs*). I figured that this group will give me insight about how other countries view education - perfect for my exploration of the U.S. education system compared with other countries. With this, I can compare and contrast international education systems. As for the other online community, I subscribed to John Bergmann's , creator of Flipped Classrooms, blog http://jonbergmann.com/blog/. It was actually difficult to find an online community that talks about educational issues (many was to subscribe to information like this site that offers archives of educational issues and trends). The concept of Flipped Classrooms is radical in terms of students studying/learning about the content before they come to class. This pedagogical system has been enacted specifically with urban schools and is showing some signs of improvement. I hope that my subscription with this blog will illustrate the possible turns of American Education and its pedagogy.
Hi Vivian,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about this project being quite an undertaking. I'm excited about it though. The process is making it seem more bearable which lets me know that when I do this with my students from 9-12 that it isn't in vain. I kind of walk them through each step and then let them fly. It takes time and sometimes it feels as though we have been working on the same thing forever, but for each step we are learning a new skill.
I know that you don't have a class yet, but I think once you take on a project like this, it can be tweaked to fit the needs of any class. I've differentiated a project for 6-12. It is possible. The group, IPE, sounds really interesting especially because I joined the groups: Online tools for Educators and Using Multimedia for Communication and Education, because I was looking for global feedback in terms of how people are implementing technology in their classrooms and schools in general. Too bad that that isn't currently posting. That would definitely be a worthwhile group for all of us to join as educators because the US seems to be following the trends of other countries when it comes to education especially in regards to Math.
I forgot to comment on the pictures that you added to your blog. I love them! I never realized but I'm a visual learner. I was always the student who took notes and during the test I could see my notes in my head. I really like how when the challenge was accepted the head got bigger as if to say I'm going to beat this challenge.
ReplyDeleteThis project sounds huge but really interesting. I love the idea of flipped classrooms, myself, so I'll be especially fascinated to read what you discover about that! Are you going to have a narrower focus on what you're going to compare between countries' educational systems? Like test scores, or how the systems themselves work? It's a great idea to compile information and form your own opinion - sometimes I feel like my opinion on the US education system is 50% other people's opinions, too - and I think you can really get a lot out of this project. Have you thought about how to present it, like an interactive website with... graphs, maybe... or tables. That's probably best left to after you have your info. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteHi Vivian
ReplyDeleteThis is a great blog. I enjoyed your honest and authentic struggle to select a project. It is always difficult to narrow down choice and commit. Once that is done all other doors have been effectively closed. I wonder if some of the ideas in White Space is not your enemy-Golombisky and Hagen will help you to visualize the presentation you are going to create. Laura's ideas about drilling down to a solid topic and then exploding the details is spot on. I hope your humor, logical voice, and balanced development is present within your project as that is sure to result in an excellent tool.
Hi Vivian,
ReplyDeleteI am in agreement with Vickie here, I loved your writing style for this particular blog post. It was great to hear your voice within the writing itself -- very nicely done!
I'm glad to see that you've applied the idea of checking archives and old posts to get ideas where "current" participation is lacking -- such as the IPE group you mention above.
I'm also glad to hear that you're open to the idea of exploring a topic new to you, specifically the flipped classroom perspective. I had a student a few semesters back who completed a flipped classroom unit for his elementary social studies students (he taught 6-8). He said that the project was a great success. I think that sort of teaching works when you're really "with" the current trends in educational technology, keep abreast of new forms of pedagogy as they relate to multimedia, and enjoy this form of teaching. The students know when you aren't into it. That said, this particular teacher was (and still is) extremely active on Twitter with various teacher hashtags and edtech groups. I suggest you check out Twitter for more flipped classroom discussion that may formulate the basis for your MMP.
It's okay not to be 100% sure of your topic right now -- you're at the very beginning stages. Just make sure you keep in mind the proposal deadline in a couple of weeks and if your idea changes AFTER you've submitted, just talk it over with me and let me know what you'd like to do instead. I've had this happen several times in the past and it's not a problem at all.
Great job!
prof h