When do we learn best? It's always when we are personally involved in the subject matter. When my cousin was diagnosed with Leukemia I learnt far more about the disease than I ever did in my biology classes. I have a fascination with science fiction, so I often find learning about science interesting, it captures my attention and imagination.
Obviously this is a dilemma in the classroom, we just can't reach all our students on this level, they're not all personally interested in every topic.
So how do we engage them on this level given this obstacle?
How about involving them personally in the project of learning?
Perhaps Young Jenny doesn't care much about how to calculate the hypotenuse of a triangle, but she probably likes making movies, so how about Jenny and 2 of her friends making a movie to show not only how to calculate this (a meaningful learning experience), but also the application of this formula in real life? To give this project more meaning, make sure that it's going to be posted on the internet, or used in other classes, students love teaching each other.
Reaching our students can be one of the hardest parts of teaching, but if we want to ensure that learning is meaningful and successful it is vital.
Thank you to Doug Spicher for the inspiration for this blog entry.
Melanie.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Managing your networking online.
We all need to network, it's how we manage learning online, especially if blogging (or bleading = blog reading) is one of our major means of continuing our education and connecting to other educators of value.
However all this networking can begin to dominate our lives and a management strategy is necessary to keep us going or risk loosing interest or even the drive to update ourselves.
If you're like me you enjoy keeping on top of things, which means I like to check all the blogs and websites I value everyday, but this is not possible in reality, and it's beginning to take over my life. So I've had to find ways to manage this. Here are some helpful hints that might help you do the same.
1. Set a limit of how many bloggers you can subscribe to. It maybe 10, 20 or 30, you need to decide for yourself. This number of course may change over time, but setting a reasonable limit makes your bleading more manageable.
2. Think about your frequency of reading. Some blog sites, like this one are not update as regularly as others, or equally as important, they may not be of as much value. So assign blogs days, or even of regular contact. Put in on my bookmark folder those blogs you check daily and another that you check weekly, then pick a day a week for some serious bleading.
3. Take a break, don't do this everyday, you need to get yourself centered and fresh from time to time, make it happen and turn the computer off.
4. Using RSS can really be of benefit, by seeing the titles of blog entries can help you to know if an entry is something that really interests you. And even if you open it, but then find from scanning that it's not of value, move on. You are not required to read and respond to each and every entry.
5. There are times when your focus will be on different areas, increasing your networking time as you learn about a new topic . Don't be afraid to drop your favourite spots during this time, they'll be there when you get back and it'll help you maintain your sanity.
6. Be aware that your network is larger than you realise. The blogger you're reading got their information from somewhere else and they're now passing it on to you, it's a big web out there and it's all connected. So don't feel limited by what you're doing, realise how much your engaging by spending sometime connecting.
Case in point, I just read a blog entry by David Warlick who I've mentioned before in the blog about this very topic and agreed with it so thoroughly that I wanted to pass it on, and so the web of networking continues.
Melanie.
However all this networking can begin to dominate our lives and a management strategy is necessary to keep us going or risk loosing interest or even the drive to update ourselves.
If you're like me you enjoy keeping on top of things, which means I like to check all the blogs and websites I value everyday, but this is not possible in reality, and it's beginning to take over my life. So I've had to find ways to manage this. Here are some helpful hints that might help you do the same.
1. Set a limit of how many bloggers you can subscribe to. It maybe 10, 20 or 30, you need to decide for yourself. This number of course may change over time, but setting a reasonable limit makes your bleading more manageable.
2. Think about your frequency of reading. Some blog sites, like this one are not update as regularly as others, or equally as important, they may not be of as much value. So assign blogs days, or even of regular contact. Put in on my bookmark folder those blogs you check daily and another that you check weekly, then pick a day a week for some serious bleading.
3. Take a break, don't do this everyday, you need to get yourself centered and fresh from time to time, make it happen and turn the computer off.
4. Using RSS can really be of benefit, by seeing the titles of blog entries can help you to know if an entry is something that really interests you. And even if you open it, but then find from scanning that it's not of value, move on. You are not required to read and respond to each and every entry.
5. There are times when your focus will be on different areas, increasing your networking time as you learn about a new topic . Don't be afraid to drop your favourite spots during this time, they'll be there when you get back and it'll help you maintain your sanity.
6. Be aware that your network is larger than you realise. The blogger you're reading got their information from somewhere else and they're now passing it on to you, it's a big web out there and it's all connected. So don't feel limited by what you're doing, realise how much your engaging by spending sometime connecting.
Case in point, I just read a blog entry by David Warlick who I've mentioned before in the blog about this very topic and agreed with it so thoroughly that I wanted to pass it on, and so the web of networking continues.
Melanie.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
10 ways to make your iPod a better teaching gadget
Open culture list 10 ways to make better use of your iPod in education. The list includes the following topics and then some! - Wikipedia on your iPod, loading you tube videos, making videos iPod-ready, converting MP3 files into one audio book, ebooks for iPod, maps and language study.
Unleash the potential of mobile devices in education!
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