Synthesis #4

            My web quest was one that I picked up from other teachers at the public school that I am teaching at.  We came across a question, “How do we teach Black History Month effectively?”  A way that allows our students to better understand the historical impact of African-Americans and how that impact has shaped their future.  I for one had a real quagmire.  I teach at a predominantly African-American school so I needed to really show my students the impact that African-Americans had not only to the United States, but more specifically to them as individuals in their community. 

       To answer the question, “In what specific ways does the webquest address questions about the most important things teachers need to do to help students prepare for their futures?”  My webquest is an educational tool that allows students on their own to discover African-Americans in their community and better help them understand the societal accomplishments they laid in the past.  Societal shifts such as Brown vs. the Board of Education or Plessy vs. Ferguson allows students to understand the impact that these court cases had on society.  Thus society and race is a forefront and the main topic f the webquest so it answers the question effectively.

        To answer the next question, “How do the ideas in the webquest relate to social justice and the core values & vision of the class?”  My webquest educates students about the civil rights movement and Black History more specifically on the United States.  Students get to understand the importance of many African-American leaders and how they shaped the United States in society.  Students get to move around the webquest wiki virtually opening new windows and sites and delving deeper into the content thus helping them discover new paths to social justice while looking in the lens of history.

Finally to answer the more specific question of, “How does the webquest relate to NCSS principles 8 and 9?”  This question can be answered by viewing the wiki webquest itself.  On many of the wiki pages for NCSS standard 8, students have to complete a discussion board.  On the discussion board students will have to answer questions related to the topic of civil rights and African-Americans.  By allowing the students to access websites, media, videos, etc. the students are discovering new ways and outlets to better society within civil rights.  Students have to e-mail the PowerPoint to the teacher and thus use this medium of technology to inform their classmates, teacher, and school of the importance of black history and the civil rights movement.  Thus standard 8 of NCSS is completed.  For NCSS standard 9 when it comes to addressing communication, trade, or transportation I believe that the flow of ideas and responses is greatly addressed in the webquest.  Students will be responding on discussion boards as well as using e-mail to turn in assignments thus the flow of technology and “trade, communication, transportation” of ideas is greatly utilized in the assignment. 

It brought me great joy to put this webquest together.  I am hoping to introduce this wiki/webquest to other schools in the county in the hopes of having more and more schools to utilize webquest.  I lieu of my discovery I am hoping to find more and more great technological discoveries to better my own technological knowledge and help my students grow the same.

What If...

I have been watching National Treasure 2 with my students and began wondering... what if some of the things mentioned in the movie were real.  It's hard to imagine John Wilks Booth not being the only main conspirator to assassinate Abraham Lincoln.  However, as inaccurate as this supposive Disney masterpiece is, the movie does have alot of my students very interested in American History.  The ironic part is I had to explain to them the inaccuracies of the movie and how it was different.  I recommend the movie though to many teachers who teach either U.S. History or Government.  This allows the students to first of all be entertained, but also teach them alot of of stuff.

Synthesis #3

         Public Secondary Schooling should be reconceptualized (structure, curriculum, and pedagogy) to be effective in 2025 by allowing the Standards of Learning to be modified to assess the whole of a student’s classroom learning.  A nationwide/statewide test, I believe, is effective in allowing teachers to be accountable for their actions/lesson plans/professionalism.  However, these tests have allowed a lot of learning habits to fall from the wayside.  An emphasis on reading comprehension, I feel, has declined tremendously.  Now in 2011 the SOL, in my opinion, has an emphasis on test taking and not on actually knowing and therefore comprehending the material teachers devote all of their instructional time to presenting.  If a student is able to take a test by rote, he/she may not even have basic comprehension of the material in order to pass it, let alone having a passing proficiency.  If the student can take a test, meaning using a #2 pencil, filling in letter bubbles correctly, erasing wrong answers completely, and regurgitating what a teacher has drilled into their heads; then they certainly have a strong chance of passing the current SOL. 

With all of that said, however, I do not believe the SOL is wrong or corrupt.  I do believe that the SOL could be modified to have assessed a fuller picture of a students learning.  Draves and Coates mentioned in Nine Shift that society changes from the horse and buggy to a car, and I believe that in a small way the SOL can change as well, allowing for more differentiation to testing.  In the area of Special Education, students are able to take the VGLA and it allows those students the opportunity to differentiate their testing.  In the VGLA students can write their answers, complete essay questions and answer even short answer multiple choice.  I think that in 2025 the SOL could model itself after the VGLA thus allowing the students to better fulfill a more rich and authentic testing situation.

           

As for three arguments I could use would be as follows: number one is Authentic Assessment.  Authentic Assessment for the SOL could allow for a more rich and differentiated testing.  Instead of answering multiple choice questions students could be given a variety of areas to choose from.  I like to think of the “choose your own ending” books, and bring that to the testing of the SOL. Then differentiation could allow students to make projects, portfolios, etc. to display for parents, teachers, and the community.  Grant Wiggins said it best about authentic assessment, “"...Engaging and worthy problems or questions of importance, in which students must use knowledge to fashion performances effectively and creatively. The tasks are either replicas of or analogous to the kinds of problems faced by adult citizens and consumers or professionals in the field." (Wiggins, 1993, p. 229).

The second argument could be made that altering the SOL could allow for more different achievements to be reached.  Instead of a number that each student has to reach, the student could be graded on a rubric that would grade him or her differently.  Students could be graded as problem solvers, thinkers, doers, artistic, etc.  Students would not have to be given an F grade on a test but be graded on their whole being as a student.  This could then prompt colleges/universities to target those students and help them reach those high academic goals.  A student, who may have a love for art, but not math, could take this SOL and achieve a higher chance of attending the Rhode Island School of Design and not Harvard.  Rubric building is essential to learning, and sites such as Rubistar and RCampus have led the way to bringing more awareness and understanding, and more importantly the use of rubrics.

           The final argument I could make to the community as a whole is that if the SOL is altered it will better the community.  Instead of passing of students because they do pass the SOL, the SOL will allow the student to find themselves and be on a better track to getting a job, going to college, or just being somebody beneficial to the community. We as teachers try to do that in our lessons, but if a statewide test emphasized that more; we would have a much stronger case to help the community.  The SOL is given at the end of third grade and up to twelfth grade.  That would allow a lot of time for a student to take the SOL and do well on it, enough to know where they are going.  Nancy Safer and Steve Fleischman of “Research Matters / How Student Progress Monitoring Improves Instruction” from Educational Leadership mentioned,  “Student progress monitoring fits well into the routine of the classroom. The probes can be administered quickly, and the results are immediately understandable and easy to communicate.”  Thus tracking student progress could allow teachers and parents to see where the students is doing well in and foster that love of subject to better themselves and the community.

Gimmicky

There is one thing as an educator I wish I had a manual on and that is involve more gimmicks in my classroom.  I feel that classroom management is on my side, but I also need more help in the way of keeping students interested in the subject matter.  Gimmicks, videos, visuals, etc. need more help to keep students on track and ready.

My wiki!!!

Please come and visit my wikispace!  It's about the importance of the Civil Rights movement from Plessy v. Ferguson to Brown  v. Board of Education to today (2011)!

http://socialjusticecivics.wikispaces.com/

Synthesis #2

The responsibility of schooling in 2025 will be that teachers will need to get students ready for the jobs that are not created yet.  Schools will need to be equipped for the future that is not yet created.  Skills, tactics and study habits will be modified and school in 2025 will be needed to adapt to a changing world.  The book Nine Shift talks a lot about how the world and technology constantly change.  From the horse and wagon to the automobile; the education community has seen that as well with the chalkboard to the smart board.  Adaptation and change will be a key role/responsibility for schools and teachers in 2025.  This could be a downfall for many teachers unwilling to adapt to a changing climate in education, but those that do will certainly be able to understand see how important the changes can be.  Also the emphasis on standardized testing will also be changed in 2025.  I hope that schooling applies more emphasis on real-life situations in the SOL.  Hopefully the standards will bring about more on how a student betters their community and not about the essential knowledge of A, B, C, and D.

The rigorous authentic learning experiences teachers can place in learning is that they need to adapt to what is important to real life situations.  In my field of social studies adaptation to a child’s life is extremely important.  Applying what they know to their surroundings allows the student to better understand the subject matter.  In the case of duty and responsibility, I allow my students to create non-profit organizations.  These projects then take the student to creating a poster, commercial, and finally a presentation to helping the community and their surroundings.  Adapting other subjects can also be successful.  Mathematics can teach the student about financial planning, while science can help the student better use resources.  Finally English can help the student communicate better their ideas and social skills.

I believe that these two separate components complement each other tremendously.  Adaptation and allowing the students to use the skills in the real world help students better use the knowledge they get in the classroom.  Thus in 2025, schooling and rigorous authentic learning will hopefully set our students down a successful path to adulthood.

 

The Importance of Black History!

Being a teacher has been one of the most important aspects of my life.  I have enjoyed the opportunity to enrich the lives of many of my students.  Especially in the area of Social Studies.  The importance of black history and this month of February cannot be undertstated.  Right now my students are doing a great project on Black History and they really seem to be taking to the material and the outcome has been amazing.  I gave my students a list of African-American/Black Historical figures they could choose from, but they suprised me by picking others I did not put on: i.e. Bill Cosby, Stachell Paige, etc.  I was very impressed and my students overall have done a fantastic job.

Synthesis #1

The role of content knowledge in 2025 will be much different than it is now (circa 2011).  Most notably computers have changed how we access, use, and build content knowledge.  With the advent of the internet, students from the late ‘90s till now have been able to go online to view topics, understand ideas, research how to solve problems, and find many uses of their content knowledge online.  For example, in a history class it only takes two or three clicks to get to a website with primary documents from the Revolutionary War, or find a site on the Pythagorean theorem for mathematics.  However I feel the internet has only scratched the surface of how students in 2025 will be able access and use content knowledge.

Before I begin a discussion on how content knowledge will be much different in 2025, it would be appropriate for me to define what content knowledge is, at least in my own opinion.  I define content knowledge (Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and English) as a group of subjects that lend themselves to helping students develop strategies and skills to help them in the everyday world.  Mathematics lends itself by allowing the student to develop strategies in skills in solving problems, as well as using numbers respectively.  Science lends itself to students in developing how the world works.  The alignment of the stars, planets, and life forms and how they all fit in the universe.  Finally, Social Studies and English are the humanities that lend themselves to the students by developing ways to communicate and critically think about how society works.  Now that I have described what content knowledge is, it is appropriate to now discuss how it will be changed in 2025.

By the year 2025 I believe students will be able to involve themselves more in their content knowledge by way of virtual reality.  What was once seen as pure ‘science fiction’ virtual reality will allow the students to immerse themselves in a ‘video game-like’ atmosphere, literally allowing those students to experience their subjects beyond reading in a textbook or listening to a lecture.  For example, allowing students to experience shapes and measurements in geometry (math); literature, plays, poems, etc. (English); the signing of the declaration of independence, or battles (Social Studies); or a trip to the planets (Science).  Not only could this benefit the content knowledge for students but also the entire field of education.  Grant money could be given to priority schools, thus allowing students who may not have access to their own virtual reality system, to still have the opportunity to simulate the content knowledge.  Students could be allowed to interact with famous historical figures like Abraham Lincoln or William Shakespeare, thus humanizing these historical people they could only see in books. Speaking of mastering and using a virtual reality system, what other skills will students need to master by 2025?

The skills students will need to master to be productive in 2025 will be organization, creativity, self-discipline, and tolerance.  I have decided these four skills specifically and they are defined as followed.  The first skill students will need to have is organization.  Students will need to be even more organized because the information they will be receiving will be much faster than it was in 2011.  Facts, ideas, and concepts are going to be delivered in a much more active involvement setting (virtual reality) so students are going to have to be able to process the information more quickly.  Creativity will be the second skill students are going to need to utilize and learn.  Since there is going to be a much bigger boom in technology and wonderment, I believe that the human mind will still be the most amazing invention.  Students will have more time to create not only ideas and ways of using them but also the jobs of the future.  Self-discipline will be the third skill set students are going to need to master.  Self-discipline will be essential due to the expanded technologies, which will give students more freedom in their learning.  They will have to be more alert and ready to hand varying homework assignments, decide which projects fit which assignments, and papers to detail their to demonstate mastery, & etc.  Williams A. Draves and Julia Coates also mentioned self-discipline in their book Nine Shift.  They mentioned there was going to be a push for students to be more self-disciplined and have less supervision.  I believe that they are correct. If a student has more self-discipline there would have to be less supervision. Finally tolerance will be a huge skill set students will have to master which goes hand in hand with the freedom self-discipline affords.  The country and world will be much more diverse.  Growing countries like China and India are going to have bigger presence in Europe and North America and students will have to learn new cultures and customs, thus making the students more tolerable and respectful of other cultural backgrounds.

The year 2025 is not too far away.  I believe that in 15 years many of these changes could take effect.  If they do I hope our students are ready for the unique challenges the future will bring, master the content knowledge of their time, and use those skills to help keep this world improving, turning, and growing.

  

SOL PASS

Upon teaching every year I am reminded about the Standards of Learning exam or SOL's that we as teachers teachers must get our students to pass.  I am also reminded of the many, many resources that are avaliable to get our students to pass the SOL.  I have listed the website here, if they would like to use the resource.

http://www.solpass.org/

I WANT MY MTV!

I just posted a classic video from Billy Joel.  It's all about history and a great way for us to see how pop culture has influenced our lives.  Check it out and try to memorize all the lyrics.

http://www.teacheroz.com/fire.htm

WELCOME TO WILDCATS CIVICS

Here you will find all you need to enjoy the subject of civics.  I will be posting more specific things and ideas in the upcoming weeks so stayed tuned and keep checking.