My first screencast! I use concept maps often to teach vocabulary. This is an example of a simple way to create one on Google Docs.
I loved this video! Who doesn't love the idea of increasing our students' happiness? Who doesn't want children to be happy when they grow up? Logan's point was that if we want these things, we have to reflect them in our education - to make a life, not just a living (LaPlante). Logan cited the 8 therapeutic life changes designed by Dr. Roger Walsh: exercise, diet and nutrition, time in nature, contribution and service, relationships, recreation, relaxation and stress management, religion and spiritual (LaPlante, citing Walsh). Logan expressed surprise that more students hadn't been pulled out of traditional schooling in favor of "hack-schooling" (LaPlante) - a mindset of innovation that utilizes online resources, opportunities in the community, experiential camps, and a network of family and friends to explore individual students' interests (LaPlante). It made me wonder what it would take for my teaching to become more like Logan's suggestions.
In his TedX talk "The Tyranny of the Curriculum," Shawn Cornally asserts that, contrary to popular belief, school is not "broken" - it does exactly what it is designed to do. And if we want students to succeed in school, really holistically succeed, we need to change the design of school. That is what Cornally set out to do with his school, "Big."
Watching Cornally got me thinking about the way that I learn, and the way that I expect my students to learn. I learn in many different ways - reading books about subjects that interest me, or looking up information on the Internet as something comes up that makes me think about it. But in schools, most teachers expect students to learn differentl: learn about topics that we want them to learn about, through the media that we want them to use It is not based on their interest, and a lot of the time it is not authentic. When I learn, it is either because it is for a purpose or because I want to learn about it. Why would I expect less for my students?
Interdisciplinary curriculum is important to me, and one great way to develop it is by writing across curriculum. It was encouraging to hear from other teachers about their perspective in this Twitter Chat on November 28th, 2015, moderated by Robert Guzman (@rguztec):
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Ms. JohnsonI will post reflections here about educational topics that interest me. Archives
April 2016
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