Task Two

7/27/2018

Read Chapters 3, 4, and 5, on design components around Inquiry, Game Design, and Network Design.

Note that the authors specifically addressed these three elements as major components of Contemporary Learning. Please respond to the following and remember to comment on one or more of the other participant's responses.

What is resonating the most with you across these three chapters?
What questions do you have as a result of reading these three chapters?
What roadblocks do you foresee in the implementation of these ideas?
How might you get over those roadblocks?

7 Comments

Tracey Palmeri

7/29/2018 06:24:05 am

What is resonating the most with you across these three chapters?

I love the chapter on creating questions. As I read, I jotted down several possible questing thread ideas that I could use in my classes this year. The fact that you can pick an idea that runs through every novel, short story, and poem we read and have the students make the connections between them throughout the year is very exciting. It ties the whole year together in a way of their own choosing, with some guidance.

I also really love the idea of building connections with network design. I think that this helps to make learning more authentic for the students because this type of communication is their “real world” it’s how they interact outside of the classroom and it teaches them to use their skills to learn inside the classroom.

What questions do you have as a result of reading these three chapters?

With the limited amount of time (40 minute class periods) how will playing these games that only very loosely connect to curriculum help my students? I understand that interacting and cooperation are essential skills, but most of the suggestions in the gaming chapter would not further the knowledge of my tenth grade English students. I love the idea of using Apples to Apples for grammar, but in my class we are using focusing on specific, rather than general grammar skills. I wonder if games like Kahoot or Plickers would be acceptable? I use these and they foster a healthy sense of competition and there is even a mode in Kahoot where students can work in teams. If this counts, and I think it does, students could design their own Kahoot. If you haven’t used Kahoot and you have access to devices for each student, I highly recommend it if you want to see your kids having a blast while learning.

What roadblocks do you foresee in the implementation of these ideas? How might you get over those roadblocks?

Roadblocks that might arise in the questioning area is that students will want to change their quest thread halfway through a project. I think that helping them by developing probing questions can help keep them on track though.

The game, Everything, sounds like a really cool way to get the students to consider perspectives and practice narrative writing. However, it costs $14.99. I think that is a problem with a lot of these games. There is no way my district will pay for multiple accounts. To get past that roadblock, I could try to create my own similar activity. Or ask the students to do it.

Another roadblock to the gaming aspect is that you will likely have students who are playing the games that they want to play, that do not relate to the curriculum. Blocking certain websites and trying not to spend too much time with any one student so that you can keep an eye on everyone are two options, but I don’t know that they are the best.

Network Design can be difficult too because our school blocks most of the sites suggested in the book. To get around this, my district uses Google Classroom and I have set up many discussion questions on the board so that they are in blog format. The students respond to a question, ask more, and interact with others.

Nicole Neri

7/30/2018 07:25:24 pm

1. Chapter 3- I liked how this chapter focused on the importance of creating high quality questions to use in the classroom. These consisted of essential, driving, probing, and reflection questions. I wrote down some question starters from the chapter that I plan on using in my instruction. They were very helpful and had several examples.
Chapter 4- This chapter provided educational game ideas that create a learning experience for the students. They are categorized by cooperative, competitive, and simulation. This definitely gave me some suggestions on how I can incorporate more games into my instruction. Each specific game targets a different content area and skill.
Chapter 5- Network design involves students engaging in things beyond the classroom based on their needs, interests, or objectives. This allows students to research different topics and share their ideas with others. Since I am a 4th grade special education teacher, we would focus more on the physical and plus spaces.

2. -How do you find time to incorporate more educational games into instruction?
-How do you get your co-teacher and grade level team on board to making these changes?

3. A roadblock is we just implemented a new program, Lucy Calkins reading and writing workshop. We are also focusing on STEAM and Leader in Me this school year, which is new as well. With so many changes, I am afraid that my co-teacher will not be on board with adding more new games and trying more with network design. I always like trying new things, but do see how it can become overwhelming or too much change at once.

4. We could overcome this by taking baby steps and possibly trying one new game a month to begin. This will be easy to implement and a good learning experience. Also with networking design, since we are focusing on the plus and physical space, we could try google hangouts. We were trained in this already and one of our cooperating teachers has used this. We could ask her for assistance getting this started one morning before school.

Kelly Zimmerman

7/31/2018 04:16:10 am

I agree with all the initiates we have in our district/buildings another new thing can be overwhelming. They way I think about it though is what small tweaks can I make to what I am already doing to work it into my curriculum and enhance it. I never think about it as a complete overhaul. Yes even the tweaks take a lot of time but I always like to start small.

Tracey Palmeri

7/31/2018 05:23:20 am

Getting other teachers on board is a huge roadblock. This is a new way of thinking and learning and students may be coming from other classes where they sit, take notes, and memorize. Your class would be entirely different, but chances are pretty good it will be the favorite! The success and engagement could be a good campaign to get others on board.

Kelly Zimmerman

7/31/2018 04:13:33 am

I agree I love the idea of the questing and yes I can see students wanting to change halfway through. However, it could lead to more questions and answers that they didn't think about in the beginning or ever anticipate. That is a great teachable moment too.

Kelly Zimmerman

7/31/2018 04:10:29 am

I think in these three chapters the thing that is resonating with me the most is the idea that the teach steps back in this idea of contemporary learning. They become a guide and students become responsible for their own learning.
My major question is..How does this relate to art? What can I do to integrate this into my curriculum?
Roadblocks I foresee could be… The time it takes to implement these ideas into my curriculum. Yes I understand it is initially more work to plan and then students become guides so in a sense it is less time consuming. In addition the idea of students accessing social media such as twitter/facebook/ google plus to access mentor groups. This could be an issue with district administration.
I could overcome these roadblocks with time and talking to administration about the benefits of these types of social media and how they will foster real world skills.

Tracey Palmeri

7/31/2018 05:21:15 am

Yes! Time is always a problem! I try to get a lot of my planning for new initiatives like this done over the summer. And, like you said in a response above, I think it is important to take things in small steps when making a big change. That way it is not so overwhelming.

Task Two

Leave a Reply.

Book Study

Archives

Categories