Have you guys heard Britney Spears’ new song “Hold it Against Me?” It’s amazing! Enjoy your morning lovelies…

-Elvia

I found the Freedman article on the inadequacies of medical research really fascinating. So many times I think we guide or allow most up to date research rule how we live our lives. If we hear we should eat almonds instead of walnuts or spend at 15 minutes in sunlight, etc. all of these headlines seem to constantly contradict each other and through this article I see how that’s very true. It also brings into question for me, at what point do we as practitioners of teaching filter out research and realize that maybe we don’t have to reinvent the wheel all the time. I mean how free are we really of research’s influence on our practice even though most of the research (90%) is flawed? I think that being reflective and having a good mentor can help with the filtering of all this constant information that is thrown at us many times. I don’t really think that we are ever really free from research’s influence because it is going to affect and shape our teaching careers in some aspect. What’s more important is finding a happy medium where we see if and where research can fit into our practice.

-Elvia

I’m sick (viral infection) :( Sympathy much appreciated. - Elvia

 The most compelling article to me was the  Ethnographic Research article by Purcell-Gates. It made me think how fascinating the whole idea of using this type of research, and its various approaches, as a tool for those who are “curious about some aspect of literacy as it occurs naturally in sociocultural contexts” (94). I also liked how this form of study focused more on the community and in ways it also “gives back”.  This article showed me that research does not all have to be about one’s desire to discover something but could also enhance the community sampled in the duration of the research.

- Elvia

Holly, I too, noticed that a lot of what this book stresses is that the process of understanding is a lot more important as a teacher to focus on rather than the repetition of information. In Ch. 7 Thinking like an Assessor it also focuses on why assessing transferability of knowledge rather than focusing on accuracy of knowledge (tests) is more important because transferability shows how new learned knowledge and skills are effectively used. This chapter for me reinforces the idea that the goal of learning any topic is not to ingrain students with knowledge but to have it and use it effectively later in their lives. Without learning being purposeful through the point of view of the student then what’s the purpose of becoming a teacher anyway? Ch. 9 Planning for Learning had me really thinking of more of the process it takes in planning to get desired results from students by the various instructional approaches. The K-W-L model in particular really struck me because it gives me an overall grasp of what students know, what they want to learn, and what they learned so planning can be guided. This is something I personally struggled with in the beginning of my student teaching experience last semester. I always began planning by what activities I wanted to do in class to engage students enough so they could achieve whatever the desired goal for the day was. When I realized that my students weren’t being challenged and were bored during homophones lessons I realized that I needed to better assess K (known knowledge) so I could take them where they W (wanted to learn), etc. I began assessing and planning using this model unknowingly that I was using the K-W-L form of instructional approach.

      Since the K-W-L approach helped me to focus on planning better lessons that tailored more for where my students were and helped me understand what they needed to learn to achieve my desired results; Holly my question for you and anyone else would be, which instructional approaches, resources, experiences, etc. did you find most helpful in achieving desired results from your students in your student teaching experiences.

-Elvia-

Holly, I too, noticed that a lot of what this book stresses is that the process of understanding is a lot more important as a teacher to focus on rather than the repetition of information. In Ch. 7 Thinking like an Assessor it also focuses on why assessing transferability of knowledge rather than focusing on accuracy of knowledge (tests) is more important because transferability shows how new learned knowledge and skills are effectively used. This chapter for me reinforces the idea that the goal of learning any topic is not to ingrain students with knowledge but to have it and use it effectively later in their lives. Without learning being purposeful through the point of view of the student then what’s the purpose of becoming a teacher anyway? Ch. 9 Planning for Learning had me really thinking of more of the process it takes in planning to get desired results from students by the various instructional approaches. The K-W-L model in particular really struck me because it gives me an overall grasp of what students know, what they want to learn, and what they learned so planning can be guided. This is something I personally struggled with in the beginning of my student teaching experience last semester. I always began planning by what activities I wanted to do in class to engage students enough so they could achieve whatever the desired goal for the day was. When I realized that my students weren’t being challenged and were bored during homophones lessons I realized that I needed to better assess K (known knowledge) so I could take them where they W (wanted to learn), etc. I began assessing and planning using this model unknowingly that I was using the K-W-L form of instructional approach.

      Since the K-W-L approach helped me to focus on planning better lessons that tailored more for where my students were and helped me understand what they needed to learn to achieve my desired results; Holly my question for you and anyone else would be, which instructional approaches, resources, experiences, etc. did you find most helpful in achieving desired results from your students in your student teaching experiences.

-Elvia-

curriculumresearch:

What I’m noticing from the reading is a large emphasis on understanding and its actual meaning. I think it’s important to have a firm grasp on what true understanding is as a teacher; having students simply repeat information mechanically won’t help them to develop practical skills to use across other subjects and pursuits outside of the classroom.

-Holly-