4th Grade

               i.- How many of the standards are focused on critical thinking skills? How many not?
               ii.- Pick one and discuss how it could be taught using critical thinking skills and technology.
i.  Below I have listed the standards for 4th grade literature standards for reading and placed my input as to whether it possesses elements of critical thinking.

ELA4R1

warranted and responsible explanation of a variety of literary and informational

texts.

The student demonstrates comprehension and shows evidence of a

For literary texts, the student identifies the characteristics of various genres

and produces evidence of reading that:

a. Relates theme in works of fiction to personal experience.

(yes, this standard requires students to evaluate what they have read and make a comparison to a comparable event in their own lives)

b. Identifies and analyzes the elements of plot, character, and setting in stories

read, written, viewed, or performed.

(yes; this standard challenges a student to take elements from a story an provide an individual perspective for better understanding)

c. Identifies the speaker of a poem or story.

(no; unless the students are compelled to think about the speaker's background or possible circumstances given the events of the story.  Students might also provide the point of view the author is providing)

d. Identifies sensory details and figurative language.

(no; unless the students make comparative associations to the details and language that they are examining)

e. Identifies and shows the relevance of foreshadowing clues.

(yes; students must evaluate the significance of situations and predict its value as it relates to the story)

f. Makes judgments and inferences about setting, characters, and events and

supports them with elaborating and convincing evidence from the text.

(yes; students will be utilizing their pre-conceived ideas and relating them to stories as a means of rationalizing newly introduced events)

g. Identifies similarities and differences between the characters or events and

theme in a literary work and the actual experiences in an author’s life.

(yes; this will be a valuable exercise for students to make comparisons and utilize research tools to compare the two separate thems in meaningful ways)

h. Identifies themes and lessons in folktales, tall tales, and fables.

(yes; students must assess the stories and many possible symbolic aspects of the stories to determine what significance each might have to the real world or their own lives)

i. Identifies rhyme and rhythm, repetition, similes, and sensory images in poems.

(it depends;  students may be challenge in these instances to think critically in regard to the make-up of various sentence structures)

ii.  For Standard ELAR41i, students can utilize Inspiration's program to create mind maps for figurative language in the stories and compare it to their own lives.  Inspiration allows for student created graphic organizers using pictures, text, and organizational structures.  These tools will challenge students to make meaningful connections between the material and their own lives making the lesson relevant in a number of ways.

Critical Thinking

I teach all economics in the classroom these days and feel that it more directly requires critical thinking skills than many other courses.  I feel as if Bloom Taxonomy is a ladder we climb with each class.  The goals of the course are structured to mirror the State's standards for economics.  What I have found is that it would be impossible to facillitate student learning of these concepts without large doses of critical thinking occurring.  In order to solve many of the problems in this course, students are left to 'think it out' using their prior knowledge to aid them.

Students must gain experience solving problems through critical thinking.  It is important for their overall well-being, not just as a student, but as a human being to master critical thinking skills.  Experiencing the process and practicing methods of critical thinking will make a difference in an individual's approach to many parts of life's challenges.  Everything from challenges on the job to challenges at home, critical thinking is an essential aspect one can not do without.

Finding ways to get students to practice 'thinking' critically is so much the challenge that teachers have.  Instead, I would argue that motivating students to think is the tougher challenge.  Once students begin experiencing the feeling of solving problems they will gain more appreciation for doing it more and more on their own.

Telecommunication in the Classroom

Given the availability of resources that allow face to face communications through mediums like Skype and Google+, it is great to have some exposure to meaningful ways these can be used in the classroom.  In many cases, I am struck by how much of a 'no-brainer' many of these methods actually are.  By this, I mean to say that it seems obvious that educators would be bringing 'experts' into the classroom or allowing students to communicate their ideas with students in other parts of the world.  These are wonderful opportunities which many of us have the tools to provide, but perhaps have been overlooking such opportunities in the past.  Coming up with possible scenarios is not difficult, however, I hope to also be able to utilize these options in constructive ways.

1)  It has occurred to me that students in my AP Econ classes might be interested in getting in contact with the author of their text.  Throughout the course, I have found students have questions regarding the normative or opinionated statements of the author.  It would be simplest and most common to have students research their own questions, but I would like to make an effort to put the students into some kind of contact with the author.  It would not be difficult to allow the students to follow his public blog through the Wall Street Journal, but I would like to take that a step further and make a more formal connection.  This is a project that I would like to reflect on further.

2)  Another concept project involving telecommunications that I believe would be beneficial in a number of ways is a film/documentary created by students to highlight how they use money (Econ again).  They could then upload their videos to youtube or create dvd's.  The idea would be to then share them with students from another society where different currencies are in use and perhaps other methods of exchange.  This could be beneficial in a number of ways, but particularly in helping students recognize the use of currency.

3)  A final way to participate in a telecommunication project that I would like to implement would be a tutorial session held entirely online through Google+.  I am going to poll my students and see which of them might be interested in utilizing this technology at home for purposes of studying/homework.  I would like to gain a little more experience in using this technology, but overall I think it could be a good experience for the students in the form of the exposure to the technology itself and provide a little motivation to study.

eLearning and the possibilities

     I can't remember the first course I took that had elements of eLearning.  I can't remember the first course that I taught that involved elements of eLearning either.  At some point, education began utilizing eLearning in a ways that I could not have imagined just 20 years ago. However, in the last 10 years I began taking part in eLearning in ways that I barely noticed until beginning this program.  
     And now I can say that the possibilities involving eLearning seem limitless.  I am still amazed at the many ways education has evolved due to the inclusion of technology.  Whether the course utilizes purely on-line mediums or if some blend of traditional education and inclusion of technology exists, fantastic developments have been made to facilitate education to the learner more efficiently.
     The reading stresses the importance of providing communication as a part of an interactive curriculum.  This along with the consistency necessary to be effective in the educational process stands out the most to my own attempts to apply eLearning to my own classroom.  Having expectations that are consistent is important for both the students and the teacher as it can lead to the overall success or failure of the coursework.

Communication

Communication is a definite concern in providing effective education.  Not only is it necessary for traditional education methods, but it becomes especially important for PBL integration.  I can say that being clear with students about expectations will make or break their abilities to complete their respective projects in productive ways.  Providing methods of communication between the students and the teacher can be challenging.  Providing effective methods of communication between students is an even higher degree of difficulty. 
     Traditional teacher-student communication has taken place almost 100% in the classroom.  Only in recent years has e-mail been more consistently utilized as more students gain access at home.  Facebook-like pages, such as Edmodo.com have become a popular method as have moodle pages which allow blogging and email alerts.  Twitter has also become a method for keeping up with daily assignments.  Some teachers will distribute their personal phone number for texting purposes.  Any one of these methods can be productive.  The concern for many teachers becomes a concern about responsible use of these mediums.  Preventing misuse with technological methods of communicating is often avoided by a lack of effort.  Getting that turned around and becoming willing to utilize technology on a regular basis would be a goal in my own professional use.
     Communication between students can be tricky as well.  Many students are comfortable with one means of communication or another.  When it comes to getting things (parties and such) organized, most students of high school age are adept at communicating via texting, facebook, and twitter.  Using this as a foundation, it wouldn't hurt for the instructor to use the students' strengths.
     As students begin to demonstrate their mastery of these methods with educational pursuits they can move to other methods as deemed appropriate by the instructor.  As students get better at trying new means of communicating they may find these methods more efficient and freely choose to utilize them over other methods.
     This is a topic worth coming back to and considering for future concerns.  It can make a well-developed lesson go farther it may have otherwise.
    

Changes to PBL project

It seems as if I have been wrestling with the feasibility of implementing a project for long enough now that it is a good time to see what can be done to improve upon it. I should give you the basic background on my project first. My integration project is going to be based around students creating videos that challenge their classmates to solve problems in economics.  These short videos will be designed to bring up economic problems both audio and video mediums and levy a challenge against the viewer to utilize creative economic thinking to pose a possible solution.  For instance, the students might provide a challenge where the local water resevoir is facing critical shortages and offer several reasonable solutions, such as building a new resevoir paying and neighboring community for rights to water or increasing local taxes on water use.  The students viewing the videos will offer their solutions as the creators discuss these options and their viability. 

My biggest concern is the rubric and getting the students to take ownership of the project at all stages, especially at the presentation stage where I think many students struggle to present what they have created in effective ways.

I will be starting the rubric process soon to help clarify some of these questions and make the changes that strengthen the lesson.

PBL instruction and assessment

In discussing the class project with our small groups in class last Thursday provided a few insights into narrowing down my efforts.  Each of us shared our thoughts on what instruction we might provide all of us with the intention of what instruction to provide.  As I think about assessing what I want the students to learn it occurs to me that part of a PBL assignment is that the teacher can't necessarily pinpoint everything that the student will learn.  General categories, such as content, use of certain technology, and interactive components can be had, but the great gift of a PBL assignment is that the student who really gets into his or her assignment can take the project where they want to and many respects this will be the toughest one to assess in a meaningful and fair manner.

Provided that their are time constraints on what my students can accomplish in class and technology restraints on what they can accomplish out of class, I find myself trying to find a way to insert a PBL assignment into just one of my classes, and more than likely, one of the advanced classes.  I say this, not because it is good practice, but a lingering reality.  We discuss these issues and read research declaring PBL's exceptional tools for all students, but the underlying reality is one of coordinating the project with the classroom realities of modified lessons and unmotivated students.  What happens when the "driving question" that is supposed to motivate the students into action doesn't motivate them into action?  

I hope I don't sound too cynical regarding PBL instruction, but more or less timid to use what I think is probably a great learning method.