Monday+March+21

I definitely like the two goals regarding: active participant in their learning independent thinkers

I'm thinking of an overarching goal encompassing these two attributes with an addition of: even when they are faced with complex problems or when struggling etc.

Just thinking that it is kind of hard for me to come up with the overarching goal, when I'm not sure what our ideas for the lesson will actually be. I'd love to have something like Students will be confident about their problem solving skills and actively participate in a lesson that will promote risk taking and collaborative learning. Sussi

I am quite taken with the students will be confident. That can be observed not only in written work but also in their interactions with manipulatives and with others. I like it! Kip

I like the "confident" aspect as well :) I definitely agree that it can be seen through their actions. Many times students are so unsure that they don't know where to begin or how to approach the problem to solve it. You will notice the students that just sit back and let the others lead. Good thinking Sussi :) Stefanie L.

I've been reading the article - very interesting! I like the comparison that students who memorize facts, but don't understand the big picture "has the trees, but no view of the forest" :) Tracey

Becky found some more articles by Daniel Wickingham, the cognitive psychologist who writes for the AFT magazine. Please go to the research page and you can click on an article I attached. Our concerns were that we do this exciting, engaging lesson but the students don't walk away with deep learning. We had talked about addressing this by focusing on summaries or somehow highlighting the key pieces of knowledge. While his article doesn't address the summaries, it does address deep learning. His website has many more articles and some YouTube videos. What are your thoughts...just go to edit and add them to this week's page. []



Boy that is powerful stuff. Sometimes I wonder to myself, "why do we have to develop all these theories on learning?" I wonder if it is simpler just to focus on the topic at hand and figure out the most logical yet engaging way to teach it. How would I want to learn this? I feel like all these theories, methods, and studies end up complicating everything so much that no one knows where to begin anymore. However, reading something like this reminds me that these studies exist for a reason. The way things develop and grow depend on people asking questions and diving deeper. Otherwise, we would all be standing up reciting state capitals and getting slapped with a ruler for not remembering. This entire article connects with the lesson study goal of summarizing because that is a perfect opportunity to try and create true connections, relationships, and meanings for the curriculum (personal to each student?). As for the overarching goal, hmmm, "confident and independent thinkers who approach education like a puzzle that needs decoding..." and maybe something about fearless and collaborative? Lauren

lauren loved reading your thoughts. I learned by reciting state capitals and getting slapped with a ruler for not remembering. It wasn't until college when I realized what I didn't understand. Wouldn't it be great if our students were fearless learners and took chances. Kip

thanks Kip:) yes it would be wonderful.