Here are the questions for your response for the week. I will be in Austin all week in a training, so I hope to be able to do a more careful reading of all the great postings from the group in the evenings at the hotel. Quiet time is a blessing that of which I plan to take full advantage.
Chapter 6:
1. How can each teacher personalize the global experience for his/her learners?
2. How can your school and your teachers bring global perspectives directly into each subject and classroom?
3. How can we share the necessity for globalizing curriculum and instruction to our larger community shcool board, and parents?
4. What is the importance of world language instruction in our specific location?
Chapter 7: Karen Seimears at BCTAL is interested in expanding a film festival concept in BISD. I was excited to learn about Mabry Middle School's concept. Maybe we could work with Karen to make it Birdville-friendly.
1. What are the underlying motivations and actions that helped Mabry Middle School make learning irresistible? Are these ideas applicable to your school? How? Are there motivators that work better for your students and staff?
2. Does the author draw lessons from the band and orchestra classes at his school that are pertinent to your school setting? Specify.
3. What leadership qualities are used on both the programmatic and personal level to enable the faculty to thrive? Would those work for you and your staff? What would work better for your leadership and community?
4. How has the film festival and movie making work helped students take more ownership of learning? Is it possible to inject this work into your setting?
Monday, May 10, 2010
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4 comments:
I love what Chapter 6 had to say about teaching children other languages. When I was in Italy, I was amazed to see that everyone spoke Italian, English, and at least one other language. This is so commonplace in every country but ours. Personally I have had 2 years of instruction in French and 2 years of instruction in Spanish; I am sad to say I can't speak either language. What we currently require is not enough to help students truly become multilingual, and I love the idea of helping students from 3rd - 12th grade develop these skills.
In Chapter 7 I was most moved by the movie project that was discussed. The main reason I found this to be so interesting was because the focus of this assignment was not on technology, it was on the content standards. I am so happy that we are combining our ITs as part of our Curriculum and Instruction department. I think we have to change the way we see technology, not as an added and seperate task, but as a means to an end that is deeply integrated. After attending the CAP meeting on Thursday and sharing our new ALT options with our teachers, they overwhelmingly said that they just wanted to make sure that we didn't just add in technology just to add in technology. They wanted something that was very meaningful and made sense with the curriculum they were teaching. They resent having to add in things that don't make sense, but they want to incorporate technology into their lessons if it is meaningful and serves their purpose. I have to say I agree with them.
We clearly do not expose our students to world global trends in the elementary learning experience. And I think that part of the problem is our state TEKS themselves. Teachers are, by nature, rule-followers for the most part, and if we give them a set curriculum in which to follow, I believe that they do their best to comply. It is going to take some real thinking outside of the box and concept development in order to begin or maximize the process of introducing global trends at the elementary level.
I do agree with April in the fact that foreign languages introduced at the elementary level would be a great start in introducing our students to the world. In fact, there are many curricular areas that I feel are excluded at the elementary level that would help them become engaged and excited about learning at a young age that are not offered them until they reach middle school. Sadly, many times it is too late, and we have crushed the desire for learning in many of our students. And again, sadly, this is a result of financial choices that must be made. As HHJ states in her concluding thoughts, "When learning languages and cultures begins in the elementary years and can continue anywhere, anytime, through online learning." If we are serious about making our students aware of their world, we have to begin to DO what we know is the right thing for our students.
In Chapter 7, the thing that caught my attention the most was the section on "Hard Questions" and the "several hours a week" in which these teachers made a commitment to have the "hard" conversations about what was "the very essence of learning". There has to be "adequate thinking time" and planning time if we are to see real changes in not only what some educators view as essential learning, but also to change the daily practices that we have become so accustomed to. I asked myself this question: How will I convince my already overworked staff to meet with me several hours a week to look at detailed horizontal and vertical curriculum alignment, discussions on the role of our school in the community,the nature of leadership, instructional best practices, curriculum mapping, grading and assessment, learning communiites, technology integration, just to name a few? It is truly overwhelming.
Being excited as I delved into the book, I have already had the first conversation with my leadership team, and the room was silent as I asked alot of essential questions about where we are and where we should be going. You could have heard a pin drop........... I allowed for ALOT of processing and think time!
Anyway, I love everything I read about Mabry. It is both inspiring and overwhelming and has given me alot to think about as we move into our next school year.
Lot of food for thought in these 2 chapters. The importance of having a global perspective does start in the elementary grades.
It is great to hear that Karen Seimears is looking to expand the BISD film festival idea. Stowe is having an after school Aspire club next year where kids will create own movie. Chapter 7 gives some great insight into what a technology tool film can be to help students get deeper into the curriculum.
Great example of power of creating own films was in a documentary we watched last week on the Documentary Channel (great channel by the way!) called Zombie Girl: The Movie. It is about a 12 year old Austin girl who spent several years writing, planning, filming, and editing her own zombie move. It was eventually screened at an Austin theater. One scene had the budding George Romero saying she wished she could be working on her film all day instead of going to school. She was very engaged in her project.
Ch. 6 - To expand our schools/classrooms toward globalization we need to take a look at ourselves - at least I do. While reading this chapter I found myself asking just how much time do I spend learning more about world events? I talk about wanting to speak another language, but have never actually pursued it (those 4 semesters of Spanish in 1980 something are gone!). I truly believe it starts with self and then as we share our passions and interest with students we begin to make authentic changes in teaching and learning.
Ch. 7 - BISD is poised to make learning irresistible! We've spent the past few years providing the tools and training to make this happen. I am thrilled that as an ITS I am now in a position where I can help develop teaching and learning projects that are irresistible! Schools/teachers only need to take advantage of the resources available and begin to move forward in transforming the way we allow students to learn.
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