Letting Go

Letting go is a very difficult pill to swallow in the realm of education. As teachers we have an almost innate reaction to be controllers. "This is the method or algorithm for solving this math problem. Use this decoding strategy while reading." The list goes on and on. Why? Why do teachers have the innate reaction to be controllers of the classroom? Is the because of tradition and what we "know" of education? Think on that for a moment. Does that description describe you? It surely describes me. Watch this webinar  on inquiry based learning and then reflect on your teaching style and classroom. 
After watching the webinar myself I thought endlessly on how I need to reshape my classroom in order to give my students the best learning environment. In the webinar Chris Lehmann states "This education is for every child!" I couldn't agree more with this statement. Children need to be taught how to live and be successful in the world today. This means that they need technology in their hands for research, creating, and collaborating. If we are not giving our students the opportunity of a progressive education or inquiry learning we are doing them a disservice. According to Lehmann, "Technology is like oxygen." It is readily available and waiting to be put to use.  In fact as Lehmann also stated, "Inquiry and technology aren't optional anymore. This is what is needed for our schools." 
What is known as a traditional classroom, a room with 4 walls where the information being learned comes directly from the teacher is no longer the real world. That is now the fake world. In the real world of today the role of the teacher has transformed from lecturer to facilitator/ mentor. We, as teachers, need to focus more on scaffolding our students through inquiry learning and then allowing them to apply their knowledge independently through projects and experiments. Grant Wiggins states in his article Great Teaching Means Letting Go, "...many teachers seem not to know: unless you back off completely, on a daily basis, in scrimmages as well as games, to see whether or not students draw appropriately from the repertoire in a timely and effective fashion in challenges that demand it, you really have no idea what they can do on their own." This mentality of teaching is the only way we can create successful citizens for society. Alvin Toffler has a great quote that applies to teachers now more than ever before, "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." 
So how can we implement this inquiry style of learning into our classrooms? First, our classrooms need to be student centered. This means the desks should be arranged in groups to incorporate collaboration, and then technology in the hands of our students with the opportunity of self choice for tool use in project creation. If we begin with these steps we will begin to see a shift in learning for our students. 

I also think that with this inquiry and technological approach to learning you will see less behavioral issues in the classroom because students are being challenged and engaged in learning. This inquiry approach also allows you to personalize education for each of your students by allowing them choice of technology and/or web 2.0 tools. Seemingly enough it is very obvious that great teaching, technology, and inquiry learning are connected through learning in the classroom. 
In the article Great Teaching Means Letting Go, Wiggins asks this very important question, "Do students know what the complex ‘game’ is that they are preparing for on any given day?  In the short term, do they know what the big performance is for which they are preparing?" In my classroom every lesson is presented with a learning target that encompasses the objective to be mastered, however, those learning targets are focused on a skill and do not necessarily speak to students applying those skills that are being taught. I think that is something I really need to rework as I think about the upcoming school year. Thinking outside of the box is definitely a must when it comes to this learning style. 
How do you incorporate inquiry learning in your classroom? Have you learned how to let go in your classroom? If so, please share your ideas in the comment section. :) 

Reflective Searching

Searching the internet or "googling" is not a new or foreign concept to me. I've been around computers or at least had access to a computer and the internet since I was in the fourth grade. I even explicitly remember having to do a project in 4th grade that required us to conduct research on the internet. We went to the computer lab everyday for probably a week and researched the branches of government. Easier back then than now, of course, our teacher gave us an index card with the all the sites that we were allowed to use. With that being said, I was also taught how to use the Dewey Decimal system in the library, as well as, how to look up information in an encyclopedia. So I guess you could say I am on the fence of belonging to Generation Y and the Google generation as it is referred to in the article,  Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future.   While this article focuses on generation by age, I think that if you can use the internet to do research or participate in social media whether you are digitally literate or not you are a part of the Google Generation whether you are 16 or 60.  

If you consider yourself a part of the Google Generation, what is your typical search pattern?
After reading through the resources provided in this module, I began to think about myself and the way I conduct research. I like to think that I can find what I need fairly easily on the internet. I mostly rely on Google, as it is my favorite search engine.  My typical search pattern is Horizontal Information Seeking. As stated in the article, Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future, "Horizontal Information Seeking is a form of skimming activity, where people view just one or two pages from an academic site and then 'bounce' out..." I find this to be an easy and efficient way to find the information you need. This skimming activity allows you to use text features such as titles, subtitles, and summaries to help you quickly decide if a particular link will be useful for your research or not without having to completely read it.  How do you see yourself as a searcher? Are you also a Horizontal Information Seeker? If I had to guess, I would say that most young adults and teens are horizontal Information Seekers. It's just how we use the internet.
Regular use of the internet for me whether it be on my Iphone, Ipad, or laptop is fairly similar to that of a typical teen. I tend to get frustrated or impatient when things do not appear immediately. Also, more often than not I find myself "plugged in" in some way, if its not checking social media it's looking up a movie time or a good restaurant in the area, or researching the answer to some random question. This relates directly back to the article How Teens Do Research in the Digital World, which states that "today's digital technologies are creating an easily distracted generation with short attention spans." Being constantly "plugged in" definitely shortens your attention span but it also puts yourself into a filter bubble. The sites know exactly what most of your searches consist of and it tries to "help you out" by showing you things most consistent with what you search.  Thinking of this concept of the filter bubble is quite scary and it limits you to information searches that may be out of your "normal." If you notice yourself stuck in a filter bubble on Facebook, Google, or any other website there are ways to get out or "pop" that bubble. You can delete the cookies on your browser, erase your web history, tell Facebook to keep your data private, etc. You can even go incognito, most browsers have a private browsing mode which turns of the history tracking. I think I may need to use a few of these tips myself after reflecting on my internet usage.

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#2 Resource Overview

Module 1 Resources:

• Oxford English Dictionary Birthday Word
• PLN and Twitter Resource Wiki
• Wordpress
• Edublogs

After careful review of each resource I have found that they all have similarities. All four sites have to do with blogs. Wordpress is a site for building a web site or blog. Edublogs is a sibling site of Wordpress. Edublogs is a site where educators can create a blog. The Oxford English Dictionary Birthday Word site is actually a blog, at first I thought this site was just a website. PLN and Twitter Resource Wiki is an example of a blog as well.

Some things that I noticed that were different about these resources is that Wordpress and Edublogs are both sites that allow you to create a blog for free, however, Edublogs is aimed towards educators. The PLN and Twitter Resource Wiki is blog that is added to, so the next time you go there it is likely that you may find new information. Then you have the Oxford English Dictionary Birthday Word is a blog site that happens to be a one stop shop. You can find your birth word and then leave a comment if you choose.

I believe that Wordpress, Edublogs, and PLN and Twitter Resource are valuable tools which are allowing me knew knowledge towards the learning goals I have set for myself.

Module 1 Blogging Resources:

• InfoWhelm and Informational Fluency
• My Daily Info - Wrangling Routine
• 8 Ways into Inquiry Learning
• The Journey from Digital Literacy to Digital Fluency

To begin with I must say that after reading through and watching the resources listed above I have an even greater hunger for learning more about informational technology, inquiry learning models, and digital fluency. These resources were very informational. 

It's very interesting the way these resources connect to one another, (at least in the way I viewed them). I began with "The Journey from Digital Literacy to Digital Fluency and then returned to the top, "InfoWhelm and Informational Fluency," and proceeded down the list. (I'm not sure why I chose this method, but it worked out nicely.) It is almost as if it takes you through a step by step learning process. 

"The Journey from Digital Literacy to Digital Fluency" focuses on how to transform from being able to use technology in its correct form to actually applying technology to specific situations and thinking about technology and the ways in which it could be used in the future. I feel as though in order to really reach your students in today's world you, the teacher, need to be digitally fluent first. 

This leads us into the next resource of "InfoWhelm and Informational Fluency." This video explains how much data output is being used now compared to previous years. It is growing at an exponential rate. It also shows how we are exposed to an infinite amount of information all the time, 24/7. This means that students need new skills for learning, such as, accessing information with the appropriate sources, analyzing and authenticating to determine fact or opinion, and applying skills to real world problems. This new way of learning is called Informational Fluency. So, how can you become informationaly fluent? "My Daily Info - Wrangling Routine" does a great job of explaining one process of this. First, one must read research and check their PLN (Professional Learning Network), this could include Twitter posts, blogs, podcasts, etc. Then one must find commonalities between topics or repeated themes/topics and reflect on them, this validates the information. Finally the last step is to decide how to present the information learned to others and through which media outlet would be a best fit. It may seem like a difficult process but with practice it will increasingly become easier. Now that you have the answer to becoming informational fluent you are probably wondering how this should be translated to actual student learning. This brings us to the last resource listed above, "8 Ways Into Inquiry Learning." Diana Laufenberg does a fantastic job of explaining how we can take the process of informational fluency and teach it to our children. To sum up her reading a teacher needs to allow students to use their own voices, have experiential learning, and to incur failure. These three things will allow students to achieve informational fluency with their own interest invested. 

These articles have informed me of the new age of teaching. I cannot wait to learn more!

#1 Introduction and Learning Goals

Hello! Welcome to my Response to Literature blog (FRIT 7234). My name is Kayla Metheny.  I have been teaching for three years, two years in second grade and one year as a tier 3 interventionist. I have a bachelors degree in Early Childhood Education and am currently working towards a Masters in Instructional Technology. I have previously had a 1:1 classroom with iPads. I felt as though I did an okay job teaching my students how to use the iPads and providing them with valuable apps and resources to help them learn. Looking back, I knew just a little, well, more like hardly any about technology capabilities in the classroom. In the upcoming school year I will have a 1:1 classroom with Chromebooks. I am very excited about this and the opportunities I can afford my students.

I have determined two learning goals that I would like to reach this summer:

 1) I would like to learn how to incorporate technology into my classroom with the use of effective and curated digital tools and resources. Previously, I just read reviews to determine how "effective" a tool or resource was. I am sure there is a more professional manner in which you can determine how effective and curated a digital tool and resource is.

2) I would like to learn a great deal about blogging. Just like the technology integrations, I know very little about blogs. I read teacher blogs regularly and it has been pressed in my mind for a while now that I would like to start my own teacher blog. Hopefully, after this course, I will know more about blogging and be able to start my own teaching blog.