As part of the certification process to become teachers in New York State, my cohort and I will be completing the EdTPA. Robin and Sam both talked a bit about the EdTPA in recent posts (here and here, respectively). If you missed that, basically the EdTPA involves recording yourself teaching and analyzing your performance. I really dislike being filmed and judged, so I have been trying not to think about it.

It’s coming though. We have been talking about the EdTPA in class over the past couple of weeks, so the denial thing hasn’t really been working.  At the same […]

I was struggling with constructing this week’s blog and it took me so long.

Though I have claimed that my research interest is teacher identity, recently I think I haven’t really thought about identity issue. I am saying this because I don’t take my name seriously, which is one of the important representations of identity.

Last week, when I checked out my reserved book from the library, the student worker asked my name. For the sake of convenience, I gave him my ID card because I thought if I said my name, he didn’t know how to spell it and I […]

Hello!

This week, the GR!S cohort began to grapple with the role of motivation and community in learning.  As you can see from Alyssa’s last post, we began our exploration into the readings by exploring “What is Science?”.  After that, we grappled with, “How do people learn (science)?”, followed by an exploration of the way that language influences engagement and discourse in science.  Here we are, a couple weeks later, focusing on, “But can’t we just make them learn science?”

As Calvin is pointing out in this classic “Calvin and Hobbs” (Bill Watterson, 2012) comic strip, the simple answer might be […]

You’re in 8thgrade and you walk into math class. As you sit down, the teacher is handing back graded tests. You’re pretty confident that you did well. When the teacher hands back your test though, you’re shocked to see that you have red marks all over the short answer questions that read “Write answer, but you didn’t do it the right way”. In your head you think, “What is the right way and why does it matter? I figured it out my own way, AND I got the right answer!”

Daily Mail

Authentic learning

Elizabeth brought up a story just like this […]

When it comes to students exploring their own curiosity, I have found that it comes much easier to the younger generations. They’re still brimming with curiosity and are very open about asking questions. As students get older, it is generally harder for them to find questions that they find worth truly investigating. Most of what they don’t know they think they can google, or they aren’t sure what they don’t know, or they just don’t care enough to pursue it.

Truthfully, though, all students need help investigate their own questions. This is where scaffolding comes in.  Instructors might start students […]

In last weeks blog I referenced Dr. Tony Wagner’s Seven Survival Skills. Dr. Wagner proposes the following seven skills as essential for: improving our teaching and learning strategies in education, and preparing students to lead lives as “civically engaged individuals” (Danielle Allen, What Is Education For?).

Critical thinking and problem solving
Collaboration across networks and leading by influence
Agility and Adaptability
Initiative and Entrepreneurialism
Effective oral and written communication
Accessing and Analyzing Information
Curiosity and Imagination

I left us with the question: How do we account for Wagner’s Seven Survival Skills when selecting Big Ideas? This week, the Get Real! Science cohort is working on Stage 3 of […]