In the midst of all my other work today, I have a little light reading (pdf) to fill my breaks! But it’s on the use of games in education! I have to!
Games really are a great teaching tool. They’re naturally interactive. They’re generally engaging by design. They can be developed to promote informal learning, and even peer teaching moments.
Somehow, I think at the end of this change I’m going through, I’m going to end up at educational games, and that’s perfectly fine by me!
Posted by Rebecca as Games at 8:32 AM EDT
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I am a teacher. This is public knowledge.
I am a big fan of using questioning strategies in my teaching. This should be public knowledge.
What I should have seen coming was the day when one of my students decided to use questioning themself.
One of my students is always begging for my help, and then complains when I ask the expected question. She got so frustrated that she actually made a plan to start asking herself, “What would Rebecca ask?” when she was stuck on homework or tests. According to the student, this method has actually helped her out a lot because it forces her to sit and think about what she might be missing, or to be more confident in her own abilities. (I love it when thirteen year olds figure out the method to my wayward madness!)
The other night, though, I was helping a student. Another student at the table asked for the answer to a multiplication fact, and my self-questioning student looked at him and reflected the question right back at him. He realized he knew the answer, and she was quite proud of herself for being like me.
I was proud of her, too. She helped a fellow student without giving him the answer. The whole scene spoke to my love of peer teaching, and I’m actually flattered to have inspired that transaction.
Posted by Rebecca as Teaching methods at 7:59 AM EDT
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I was reading a disappointing article on Montessori (read: The headline suggested there would be some useful information pertaining to Montessori education. The article really didn’t have so much to do with Montessori at all except to say it’s better for most preschoolers than traditional day care without delving much into the defense of that position.) on a science blog.
Fortunately, something more interesting caught my eye. Above the comment area, there was a place to add your own comment. There was no disclaimer about how the comment would be moderated until a pack of rabid monkeys could verify that you were not a spambot. There was no captcha destroying your eyesight.
Instead, the human verification system consisted of a simple math problem, and I thought to myself, Hey, that’s pretty cool! My second thought was, How cool! Now you can get a brief math refresher with your comment posting!
I’m sure a spambot will soon have the system defeated, but for now, that’s just a really amusing, impressive human verification system. It requires a second (or less, if you’re up on your math facts) of thought. It’s encouraging!
Posted by Rebecca as Uncategorized at 8:11 AM EDT
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I suppose I’ve never really understood the sudden interest in mobile learning opportunities that seems to have sprung up over the past several months.
Then again, I’ve nearly always had a book of some sort on me, and I don’t always read for pleasure. That’s not true- I consider reading to learn reading for pleasure when I’m in control of what I’m learning.
I think that may be the point of the newfound interest in mobile learning, and it might actually explain my interest in e-learning and the application of informal learning principles to tehcnology. People are looking to acquire and improve skills, and those who have less-than-positive memories of sitting in a classroom or have little free time are willing to catch their learning opportunities any way they can.
Were I in a position to be more up to date in my technology, I know I’d be living off e-books and reading my feeds through a phone or PDA. (I actually really, really want a PDA to complement my impossibly scheduled, on-the-go life.) Perhaps I could even figure out a way to reach my more stubborn students through mobile components.
It’s a great idea- pick up a new skill while enjoying a cup of coffee (or waiting for a friend to arrive at a meet-up). Brush up on forgotten skills on the elevator to your office. Or beat boredom by accessing a quick learning opportunity.
We’re in the information age. We should take advantage of it to keep up to date and get ahead.
Posted by Rebecca as e-learning at 8:03 AM EDT
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I’m working with my tech guru to figure out why the pages don’t work on this website. Once we’ve got it resolved, I want to start writing and posting tutorials for all manner of things on this site. The jewelry-making tutorials will actually be moved to JewelryNiche (Hopefully, they might even have some pictures, but that will take a bit more work!). This blog will eventually sport tutorials for math and writing. CareerNiche might even eventually contain tutorials for finding your skills and devleoiping a resume that highlights who you are.
I’ve been working on developing some of these tutorials behind the scenes in preparation for that elusive day when the site works completely correctly, and I’m thinking I want to go back over them with this article in mind. really, it’s pretty straight-forward information, but you’d be amazed how easy it is to lose sight of things when you’re deeply ingrained in developing one of these tutorials.
Posted by Rebecca as Teaching methods at 8:12 AM EDT
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“Education is a state-controlled manufactory of echoes.”- Norman Douglas
I’m currently living in a state where the public education system routinely scares me. In an age where we should be enabling students to be able, independent thinkers, my poor students are caught between teachers staying on top of their profesison and tutors who are a bit behind the times
One of the local school districts has taken a brave step forward this year and is working toward applying some of the newer research to their teaching. It’s leading to more real-world applications of their skills, more group work, and a severe lack of textbooks (yay for not crippling the local high schoolers!). As I like to keep myself somewhat up-to-date on advances in the field of education, I’m fine with this and can roll right along with it.
But some of my colleagues are retired teachers. They don’t really get it. I actually had quite the debate with one of them over the textbook issue. To her, if the student has no textbook, then they can’t be doing homework, and if they aren’t doing homework, then they can’t be learning the concepts.
These students often bring in worksheets developed by the teachers to reflect what they’re learning in class. They bring in packets called toolkits that they fill out and study while working on these prescribed worksheets. I’d argue that many of these students have much more reliable homework than I ever had as a kid becasue it’s just a few problems for each concept, and it’s an elegant blend of straight computation and word problems. The English students come in with projects that require more analysis and research than was ever expected of me (but I did anyway) when I was in school.
Perhaps it’s a generation gap. Perhaps it’s different methods of keeping up with things. Perhaps it’s a combination of those coupled with a state trying to establish what its children need to know and how to imbue them with that knowledge.
Posted by Rebecca as Responsibility at 7:58 AM EDT
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It goes without saying we should all always be striving to learn more. Professional development is encouraged for a reason. Of course, we should also be looking for ways to better ourselves outside of work, too, which is what drives us to take a wide variety of classes offered within our communities.
For those of us with limited time or funds, the solution might actually be to engage in some self-study. With so many colleges now offering parts of their curriculum online, and with so many e-libraries offering free e-books through local libraries, there’s really no excuse why you shouldn’t be out brushing up on familiar skills or learning some new ones!
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some riveting e-reading to catch up on!
Posted by Rebecca as e-learning at 7:52 AM EDT
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Although the article itself seems to be a bit rough, this is a pretty simple explanantion of Gagne’s “commandments” of the curriculum development process. Nice. Easy. Cut and dry.
Then the author decided to put it up against his views on how this planning method is used in instructional design. As I am not an instructional designer, just someone who has spent much of her adult life preparing program, workshops, special events, and training programs, I’m thinking his attacks may only reflect those at one end of the instructional design specturm.
If instructional designers have half the sense I’ve been led to believe they do, then I can’t see this being a sweeping generalization, just a misapplied one. The “few bad apples” idea, as it were.
Ignoring the author’s feelings on the matter, the list is useful.
Posted by Rebecca as Teaching methods at 7:44 AM EDT
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