I’m giving some serious thought to replanning the link dump, perhaps only doing them when I have a specific number of links.
This week’s link dump won’t have a link except as a reference point, but I did want to share a quote I read on Rosa Say’s blog the other day.
“You can’t talk yourself out of a problem that you behaved yourself into.”
I’ve been trying to make this point with my campers all summer. Many of them seem to believe that a simple "I’m sorry" will fix everything they do, regardless of what it has happened. They also believe that they’re entitled to do whatever they want without any repurcussions.
Everything we do affects somebody, even if that somebody is just ourselves. It takes a lot of courage to step up and say, "Yes, I screwed this up, and I’m going to fix it by correcting my poor decision/action." But it is complete and utter foolishness (and a real sign of the times) to expect to make poor choices and then expect to just say a couple of words and make everything all right. We have to choose to change the behavior that put us in that position to begin with.
It’s about personal responsibility, and when you can make better choices, people respond better to you.
Posted by Rebecca as Link Dump at 11:23 AM EDT
No Comments »
Here’s a link to an article on the need for librarians in the age where anyone can look up anything on the internet. While I appreciate Jessamyn West’s initial position, I think the interview bit she posted sits better with my own worldview (however misguided) on the librarian’s role in our society.
It is wrong to assume that a librarian only sits there and looks up books or information or shelves books or checks books in and out. I worked in both my high school library for a couple of years and then a public library for several months after that. Much of that work is completed by student workers and others without the training to be a full librarian.
While a librarian can do these tasks when needed, they are fulfilling other roles. They are creating educational experiences, trying to help build literacy and a love of reading in the public they serve. They help with locating obscure pieces of information. They make sure that their collection is serving the public by making sure materials are available and in usable condition.
They preserve knowledge. They disseminate knowledge. They encourage others to learn how to find knowledge, and many of them make it quite enjoyable.
In my own opinion, even in these changing times, there will always be a need for librarians in the exact same way there will always be a need for teachers.
Any librarian who stumbles on this and thinks my worldview is off is welcomed to correct me.
Found via librarian.net
Posted by Rebecca as Knowledge Management at 10:24 AM EDT
No Comments »
The first half of camp is over. For the next half, I will be enjoying a nice break as a simple instructor. Just me, the kids, and some really fun hands-on science projects!
I can hardly wait!
I’m also helping friends out with college coursework. I’ve been proofreading and editing papers for my roommate, and tomorrow I’ll be helping another friend prep for a math test. I’ve often thought that I should try to start up a business as a private tutor. Maybe these are good starts.
This week’s link dump is yet another lean offering thanks to my crazy schedule. Not that I would give up my current way of life for anything, but it does often leave me with little time for reading and blogging.
Posted by Rebecca as Link Dump at 12:56 PM EDT
No Comments »
After my very crazy weekend, I didn’t get much prep time for camp today. I had no earthly idea how I was going to start my second lesson this morning.
According to the curriculum guide, I was supposed to put up seven stars to represent Ursa Major. Fine. In my pavillion? Right. I was pretty nervous about this.
Somewhere between the beginning and ending of the first break, the part of me that spent four years teaching in planetaria kicked in. When we got back, I cut out the seven stars to create Ursa Major and started weaving my story, an old Puebloan myth of how Coyote filled the night sky. In the process, to demonstrate Coyote throwing Bear into the air, I put up the seven stars. I then used it to segue into the Greek myth of Callisto and her son.
Apparently, my storytelling mojo was completely on. Not only did I have my own kids enthralled, but the other kids in the pavillion were completely distracted by my story as well. That will pull a bit of the punch tomorrow when I have to teach the same lesson to the kids, but I’ll handle it.
Not bad for someone who often feels her storytelling skills are out of shape!
Posted by Rebecca as Reflective teaching at 6:00 PM EDT
No Comments »
I’ve had a crazy week! This past camp session was by far the hardest I’ve had in a very long time. Then, my parents came to celebrate my birthday. It seemed to be kept greatly civil, which is always nice.
As a result of all the craziness this week, the link dump is going to be very small.
Posted by Rebecca as Link Dump at 1:01 PM EDT
No Comments »
My week of freedom is over, and it’s back to camp on Monday! And what a crazy week I have in store for me! I’m not sure whether to stress now or later.
This week’s link dump seems a little tech-heavy. I guess that makes sense as I am now considering options for graduate work. One of the options I’m considering is educational technology. That would at least let me get into instructional design and/or training. For some reason, having extensive curriculum development and actual training experience doesn’t cut it in this area. I haven’t fully committed myself to this idea, though. There is a certain appeal to moving from being a museum educator to a children’s librarian.
I just can’t decide.
Anyway, onto the tech-heavy link dump!
Posted by Rebecca as Link Dump at 10:19 AM EDT
No Comments »
This week has been quite the interesting experience at my tutoring job. One technique keeps showing up in every single one of my math students. It’s one of those skills absolutely necessary to succeed in math, and 100% of my math and algebra students do not have this skill.
The skill in question is the creation of equivalent ratios.
I think the main problem is the fact that a fraction is involved. Once you involve fractions in anything, the student pales, sweats, and says, "I can’t do this." I’ve often thought that if math education presented math concepts in the order suggested by my old math education methodologies professor, this fear of fractions wouldn’t be quite so great, but for now i have to work with what i have.
To create an equivalent fraction, we must first start with a fraction. Let’s use 3/5 for the purpose of this example. At this point. I have the student model this either by using fraction tiles or by drawing it.
Next, we have to actually change this fraction so that it has different number but is still the same size. Hence, the "equivalent" in equivalent ratios. At this point, I allow the student to pick the factor we’re going to change the numbers in the fraction by. Many choose 2 or 3, so we will use 3 for this example.
Here is where it usually gets tricky for students. We are going to change 3/5 without changing what it represents. That’s a little metaphysical for your average third grader, even more so for your average tenth grader. We want to multiply 3/5 by 1 so we don’t change what it represents. We know that 1 can also be written as 3/3 (see? we’re including those 3s we wanted to use to change our fraction), so we substitute 3/3 for 1. Our new number sentence looks like this: 3/5 x 3/3.
From here, most kids can figure out how to handle it and will come up with 9/15 for their answer. I have them model this number and then tell me if the model is similar to the first model they created. They typically agree it does.
One of the major pitfalls I’m seeing in the creation of equivalent ratios is that students are not effectively taught why you must multiply both the numerator and the denominator of the original fraction by the same number. I think teaching by showing the "x 1" step helps eliminate that confusion by showing them why they both have be the same. When I used this technique last night, the students in question were creating equivalent ratios correctly on their own by the end of the hour.
Another pitfall in our program is that we teach students how to create equivalent ratios in one lesson. Within one or two lessons, we teach them how to check for equivalent ratios with larger numbers using the cross-product method. This seems to be where most of my students are getting lost. They learn that they can use cross-product to determine of two ratios are equivalent, and assume they can use this method to create equivalent ratios.
They’re right. They could, if they applied the technique properly. Most of them don’t, so I tend to limit them to the "x 1" method until they’re more comfortable.
Posted by Rebecca as Reflective teaching at 8:44 AM EDT
No Comments »
One of the most effective informal learning methods I know of (and one that I use and abuse frequently at camp) is peer teaching. When you allow people to explain things to others, you’ve done a number of thing.
First, you’ve taken somebody who may not get to be in the spotlight very often and put them center stage. When they realize they’re the local expert, that boasts a potentially low self-image.
Secondly, you’ve encouraged the class as a whole to pay attention. This one isn’t obvious until you see it at work. Last week at camp, I had a girl who wouldn’t listen to instructions and couldn’t figure out how to do most projects. I would have to build her projects more often than not. Then she’d ask to go help others. Finally, I sat her down. "Sweetie, you can’t help people with a project you can’t do on your own." Amazingly, she did all of her own projects from that point on, even if she had to struggle through it, just so she could have the privilege of helping other students at her table.
Third, students learn better when they have to turn around and explain to somebody else. It sticks in their brain and becomes more clear for them.
Fourth, by encouraging peer teaching, you crate a situation where the students regard you more a resource that the authroity, and that’s wonderful feeling. It creates a bit of self-reliance in the students. It can help build bridges of (momentary) respect as a student realizes they need a student they normally wouldn’t talk to.
Blogs are a great peer teaching tool. They encourage the students to write, to become reflective, to handle criticism gracefully, how to give criticism constructively. They allow students to discuss and debate without the direct interference of the teacher. I think there’s also a fair bit of authentic assessment inherent in the educational value of blogs.
Posted by Rebecca as Learning methods at 2:04 PM EDT
1 Comment »
I had a beautiful link dump here, but it got eaten when I was fixing some of the HTML. (Have I ever mentioned exactly how much I cannot stand WYSIWYG?)
I don’t have the heart to recreate the entire thing, so let me direct you over to my del.icio.us, where you are welcome read the links I added plus any others that grab your attention!
Have a safe weekend!
Posted by Rebecca as Link Dump at 11:08 AM EDT
No Comments »
