Check out this Twitter Chat that I participated in RE: Supporting Algebraic Thinking
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This video is a short 6 minute tutorial on how to add the Video Note app to your Google drive so you can take notes on any video with a URL! Being able to refer back to a specific part of a video is super helpful! Check it out!
Here is the article: Redefining Teachers with a 21st Century Education 'Story'
Many people think that education comes up with new ideas every few years. While that may be true in some situations, I agree with the article, that in fact, education just tends to rotate a few ideas that they deem important. The new thing about schools today is that technology has transformed it into a global network. Teachers are able to collaborate with other educators who are in different countries via a simple blog post, tweet, or email. Therefore education is now encouraging us to contribute to a global vision where we become part of a network that collaborates to teach and raise the upcoming generation. I love the author’s suggested remedy of redefining smart. Students tend to relate being smart to having an A in a class. I have never been a fan of that term because students see it as a trait you either have or not, instead of being something that you constantly strive to perfect. We need to transform student’s thinking to where being smart includes demonstrating “grit, resiliency, empathy, curiosity, openness, creativity, and evaluative thinking.” Helping our students develop these traits is one of the many tasks we have as teachers. Perhaps the most important part of being a teacher is to embrace both the challenge and the beauty of teaching. It may require flexibility with the ever changing rules, procedures, content, etc., but I find it to be one of the most rewarding things I have done in my life. Seeing students making a breakthrough, watching their personalities develop, seeing them challenge themselves, and become responsible young adults are aspects of teaching that I value. I love being a part of student’s lives, hoping I am making a positive difference, and feeling valuable when I see those positive changes taking place. As you work with students, remember to be grateful for the opportunity because although it may be a huge responsibility, it results in joy, appreciation, gratitude, and vision. M. (n.d.). Redefining Teachers with a 21st Century Education ‘Story’. Retrieved December 05, 2016, from https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/02/11/redefining-teachers-with-a-21st-century-education-story/ Here is the article: How to Get a Job at Google
I found this article to be very interesting. The first thing that stood out to me was that “G.P.A.’s are worthless as a criteria for hiring.” I think they do a good job of further explaining that when they say that “IF your good grades truly reflect skills in those areas,” then it would be an advantage. Unfortunately it is true that grading and final grades are so reliant on the teacher and the choices they make, so it does not always genuinely reflect the student’s performance in the class or knowledge of the material. The number one thing Google looks for is “general cognitive ability, or learning ability. It’s the ability to process on the fly.” I think this is the main purpose of common core, so in that sense, I do think we are preparing our students to get a job at Google. I agree with this philosophy, because while specific examples and protocol may be nice, it’s important to have a general understanding so that you can think critically and problem solve. That, in turn, makes your knowledge malleable so you can be moldable and flexible in new situations. Leadership, humility, and ownership are some of the other things Google looks for when hiring people. Common Core is focused on students working together in groups. That is one way that we are preparing students to be leaders when working with a team. The important thing for them to know, however, is how to work with different teams, because they need to know appropriate times to be a leader and when it’s okay to let someone else lead. They need to be a team player, not just a leader. In regards to humility, when working in a group it is important to realize, acknowledge, and accept that other people in your group may have ideas, and that those ideas may be better than yours. Friedman, T. L. (2014, February 22). How to Get a Job at Google. Retrieved December 05, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/opinion/sunday/friedman-how-to-get-a-job-at-google.html?_r=2 Caine's Arcade I found the video above to be very inspirational. Nowadays so many children spend hours on their phone, watching television, or playing video games. I remember when I was a child and how much fun I would have with just a plain old cardboard box. Well this video takes cardboard box creativity to a whole new level. It proves how porous young minds can be. This boy Caine grew up in a run down neighborhood in a family that did not have a lot of money. He didn’t let that affect his passion for arcade games. He took plain cardboard boxes, a pair of scissors, and packing tape, and created multiple different types of homemade arcade games. He paid attention to detail when visiting the real arcades and took note of the different characteristics of the machines. The games that used a ball had a ball return on it. If you won the game, then Caine would crawl inside the box and feed tickets through a slot as if it were a real machine. When he was given feedback that the soccer game was too easy, he used his own army men toys to add a goalie to make the game a little more difficult. He created his own claw machine with an S shaped hook and a track cut into the top of a box! It truly amazing me what children can accomplish when they aren’t forced inside of a pre-labeled box. Caine was given the opportunity to use his imagination powered by his passion to create something innovative. I think that is important to remember in the classroom. Students will naturally become creative thinkers and problem solvers if you give them something that they care about. So make the material relevant to them! Give them a reason to be interested in it. You will know if you succeeded because just like Caine, your students will say, “I was proud.” N. (2012, April 09). Caine's Arcade. Retrieved November 30, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faIFNkdq96U&list=PLbRLdW37G3oMquOaC-HeUIt6CWk-FzaGp&index=5
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AuthorMegan Schmidtbauer Archives
October 2017
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