Reading 1
http://www.thoughtfullearning.com/blogpost/get-smart-become-talented
Creating a growth mindset article-Daily work for day 7
Article was about how to get kids out of the fixed mindset type and nurture a growth mindset. The article gives a step by step process by which you can use to try to nurture this growth mindset, and how to make yourself brilliant.
This article made a big impact on me. This is the type of things i need to make sure i teach my students because my goal in teaching is not to just teach facts, but to teach kids to be successful.
Reading 2
Watch What You Say reading for day 12
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8frwh-y1pyQckdfYS1OYUZwOFE/edit?usp=sharing&pli=1
Article was talking to teachers and making sure we don't say things in our classroom that will lead to misconceptions in later years.
This hit home for me because i know some teachers sowed the seeds of misconceptions in my head and i want to make sure i don't do that, no matter if its math, science, history, or geography.
Reading 3
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8frwh-y1pyQU01vY0RhNFBqQnc/edit?usp=sharing&pli=1
This article got into the difficulty of defining polygons in ways that children can relate to. The team doing the activities with the students in this article utilized technology to help the students. Even with technology it became apparent that polygons were hard to define.
I liked this article because i like the use of technology in classrooms. I plan to utilize it no matter what grade i teach. Also this article was a good read because it makes it apparent to future teachers that some things are hard to teach and we need to be careful to make sure our children fully understand.
Reading 4
Alfie Kohn The Case Against Grades-http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/tcag.htm
This article reinforced what i have been thinking since i started in education classes at GVSU. Grades are bad. They diminish student learning, interest, and cause kids to go for the easiest task possible and never challenge themselves. Grades should not hold as much weight as they do in an elementary classroom. We need to find a way to assess kids understanding and critical thinking, not just how well they can regurgitate information to get the best grade.
Reading 5
"As People Get Older, They Get Taller-https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8frwh-y1pyQM2dGbC1LQVBseE0/edit
I like this article because the teachers who are in charge do not tell the 2nd graders what to expect when it came to growing taller and its relationship to age. Instead they had the 2nd graders make predictions and then do the activity to find out what predictions were right and which were less right.
Whats Math Got To Do With It? by Jo Boaler
This was a good book. It really opened my eyes to how math should be taught in schools, although alot of it i was expecting because that is the direction that this class (MTH 221) has been steering us. However, the biggest thing that surprised me was the extreme backlash to innovative teaching of math by traditionalist parents who havent done enough research and frankly have no clue what they are talking about. The book was pretty straightforward but that section really got me. The fact that the teacher in the intro (Maskum?) had to give up teaching her math class like she thought was best, even though her children were learning and loving math for possibly the first time in their life, was appalling to me and the parents at that school really ticked me off. I don't blame Maskum for leaving the profession. I would have done the same thing. If parents won't get out of their children's way and let them learn in the best possible way, especially in essential fields such as math, then this country is doomed.
http://www.thoughtfullearning.com/blogpost/get-smart-become-talented
Creating a growth mindset article-Daily work for day 7
Article was about how to get kids out of the fixed mindset type and nurture a growth mindset. The article gives a step by step process by which you can use to try to nurture this growth mindset, and how to make yourself brilliant.
This article made a big impact on me. This is the type of things i need to make sure i teach my students because my goal in teaching is not to just teach facts, but to teach kids to be successful.
Reading 2
Watch What You Say reading for day 12
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8frwh-y1pyQckdfYS1OYUZwOFE/edit?usp=sharing&pli=1
Article was talking to teachers and making sure we don't say things in our classroom that will lead to misconceptions in later years.
This hit home for me because i know some teachers sowed the seeds of misconceptions in my head and i want to make sure i don't do that, no matter if its math, science, history, or geography.
Reading 3
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8frwh-y1pyQU01vY0RhNFBqQnc/edit?usp=sharing&pli=1
This article got into the difficulty of defining polygons in ways that children can relate to. The team doing the activities with the students in this article utilized technology to help the students. Even with technology it became apparent that polygons were hard to define.
I liked this article because i like the use of technology in classrooms. I plan to utilize it no matter what grade i teach. Also this article was a good read because it makes it apparent to future teachers that some things are hard to teach and we need to be careful to make sure our children fully understand.
Reading 4
Alfie Kohn The Case Against Grades-http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/tcag.htm
This article reinforced what i have been thinking since i started in education classes at GVSU. Grades are bad. They diminish student learning, interest, and cause kids to go for the easiest task possible and never challenge themselves. Grades should not hold as much weight as they do in an elementary classroom. We need to find a way to assess kids understanding and critical thinking, not just how well they can regurgitate information to get the best grade.
Reading 5
"As People Get Older, They Get Taller-https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8frwh-y1pyQM2dGbC1LQVBseE0/edit
I like this article because the teachers who are in charge do not tell the 2nd graders what to expect when it came to growing taller and its relationship to age. Instead they had the 2nd graders make predictions and then do the activity to find out what predictions were right and which were less right.
Whats Math Got To Do With It? by Jo Boaler
This was a good book. It really opened my eyes to how math should be taught in schools, although alot of it i was expecting because that is the direction that this class (MTH 221) has been steering us. However, the biggest thing that surprised me was the extreme backlash to innovative teaching of math by traditionalist parents who havent done enough research and frankly have no clue what they are talking about. The book was pretty straightforward but that section really got me. The fact that the teacher in the intro (Maskum?) had to give up teaching her math class like she thought was best, even though her children were learning and loving math for possibly the first time in their life, was appalling to me and the parents at that school really ticked me off. I don't blame Maskum for leaving the profession. I would have done the same thing. If parents won't get out of their children's way and let them learn in the best possible way, especially in essential fields such as math, then this country is doomed.