Final Reflection on Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology

This course, Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology, began by compelling students to answer one important question, what is your personal theory of learning.  To discover my theory of learning, I first investigated my learning style. After careful consideration, reading the resources provided, and taking a quiz on www.vark-learn.com/English/page.asp?p=questionnaire, I realized, like 60% of the population, I am multimodal (Orey, 2001 pg. 9). Through research, reading, and lecture I realized that I use more than one learning theory in my class. I am multimodal in learning style; I am also multimodal in learning theory.      

I enjoyed learning about the development of the learning theories. What eras and what purposes were behind the advancement of the learning theories. According to George Siemens, behaviorism as a learning theory was developed in the early 20^th century when researchers focused on behavior because “the mind is too complex” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009h). By the 1950s, researchers looked at the mind like a computer and cognitivism was born with its map of the brain and sensory input of information, short-term memory, code, and long-term memory (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009h). Finally, Siemens stated that constructivism was developed because of better brain research in decades that are more recent (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009h). Constructivism means that learning is the act of constructing knowledge, making memories and making sense of the world (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009h). Finally, connectivism is the act of forming networks and navigating networks of knowledge and there is a social dimension related to connectivism (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009h). Learning about learning theories was illuminating, especially when developing lessons.

            I will be using new technologies in my instructional practices. After experimenting with some newer technologies with my students, I will continue to use them to modify my lessons. My students conducted a mind-mapping exercise using grapholite.com. The three students who gave up their time to work on the mind-map excelled in class during the review. The outcome of mind mapping was positive so I will introduce using it to my students to complete before reviews in the future. In addition, my classes also had a video conference with Tuskegee Airmen survivors, which made the war come alive for them. Finally, my seniors took part in a virtual field trip of Israel. During the virtual field trip, they learned a little Hebrew, saw the Israeli response to Memorial Day and learned about the daily lives of Arabs, Christians and Jews in Israel.

            My long-term goals include continuing to use the new technologies introduced in this course namely, mind mapping and VoiceThread. My strategy is simple, since I already teach using multiple learning theories to address the multiple learning styles of my students I will introduce the new technology as part of lessons that already exist. Using the new technologies will be more of a modification rather than a teardown and rebuild from scratch. Mind mapping was so successful for review that I am introducing it to my students as a way to study the materials so that their understanding of the social, political, economic, and cultural (SPEC) changes in history will improve. Students were introduced to VoiceThread the week after it was used in this class. I will continue to teach the students how to use VoiceThread for their presentations in class. It will enable me to grade presentations from home, by making comments directly onto their VoiceThread, it also enables the students to hear and read the peer reviews of their presentations.

            As a final point, I will continue to add any new technologies I learn into my lessons. Modifying lessons so that students are using more problem based and student created projects will increase their ability to work together and learn the 21^st century skills that are so important for their futures. As I learn more, I impart that learning to my students, which just makes them stronger using their research to develop their projects.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009h). Program 8, Connectivism as a Learning Theory [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from             http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=la            ureate.e.college.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursen  av=0&bhcp=1

https://grapholite.com

https://VoiceThread.com

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved   from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page                       

Using Social Learning Theories in the Classroom

           According to Dr. Orey, the purpose of social learning theories is to “get kids engaged in doing something, very active and student centered. Social constructionism is not only student centered but peered reviewed (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009g). Therefore, to use social learning in your classroom you must use collaboration and cooperative learning techniques. I have mentioned before that I use multiple learning theories in my classroom, as I am sure many of my cohorts do also, I believe in the old adage “whatever works”. However, I do use and believe in the positive outcomes of social learning techniques in my classes, both senior and junior level classes.

            My students work in cooperative groups to complete their study guides at both levels. For this type of work, I set the class up into groups, dividing the study guides among the students. I follow the “jigsaw” strategy (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009g) described in our resources. I have found that the students are under peer pressure to do the work correctly and on time by their group members. I have also discovered that by giving the students class time to begin their study guides they are more likely to finish the homework and perform better on unit assessments. Other projects vary by level and grade.

The seniors in the AP European history class have a performance assessment due in June as their final exam, rather than a written exam. I call the assignment “Regency and Victorian Classics”. Each student gets to choose a novel from the regency or Victorian eras. Each student must describe the story line, the characters, define “what is a classic” and why this novel is a classic, explain how the book depicts the period, and compare the novel to a movie made about that novel. Each student does their research and presents their findings to the class in any manner they wish. I have students who have made movies for their report, students who created power points with photos and movie clips to show the important scenes that are depicted and other creative ways of presenting the novel to the class. One of my favorite presentations, presented last year, was on Pride and Prejudice. The student created a power point with photographs from the three movies made about Pride and Prejudice, including some from the BBC series, and introduced her characters, period and place of the novel. She then went through the different films and explained to the class the differences between the movie endings and the novel ending. She retrieved certain scenes and then played them for her class asking her fellow students what they noticed that was different about the scenes. It was very interactive even though she worked on her project alone constructing the presentation; she included her classmates as part of the total presentation and had them work cooperatively to describe differences between the novel and the movies.

I use cooperative learning with the junior classes as well; they create a video term paper. They are required to research, gather materials, and create a finished 25-minute video on a decade that the group chose. These projects include a lot of collaboration. The students have to edit their segments, record their research, edit in photos and historical footage into a video that covers their decade. Many students film at their parents homes, on the school fields and in the classrooms. Upon project completion, the finished videos are played for the entire class; through the videos, the history of the decade is taught to the entire class.

Through these cooperative and collaborative activities, I have been able to see the excitement students share about completing the projects. They learn more, they enjoy the work as they are learning, and they have clear-cut objectives to meet in each project. With the onset of the Internet and multiple technological advances, students have abundant information readily available along with programs they can use to complete these projects like a professional. After using VoiceThread.com myself this week, I am adding a lesson on how to use VoiceThread.com for my senior classes. They should be able to complete their final performance assessment on VoiceThread with ease. The Voice Thread just has to have enough memory to hold video clips from YouTube or other sources about their books. As George Siemens discussed, the major learning theories each have their role in the classroom (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009h). Using cooperative and collaborative lessons is just one part of the learning experience in the classroom today.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009g). Program 7, Social Learning Theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from             http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=la            ureate.e.college.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursen  av=0&bhcp=1

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009h). Program 8, Connectivism as a Learning Theory [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from             http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=la            ureate.e.college.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursen  av=0&bhcp=1

Voice Thread

voicethread.com/share/2907604/

Constructivism in Practice

 According to Dr. Michael Orey, constructionism is a “theory of learning that states people learn best when they build an external artifact or something they can share with others” Laureate Education, Inc. 2009f). Teachers in today’s classrooms, with the advent of technology, can easily find projects that enable students to build and learn from lessons that teachers plan. Examples of building strategies include, but are not exclusive to, “spreadsheet software, data collection tools, and Web resources” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). In history classes, teachers can use Web Quests, game simulators, and other problem based learning tools.

In my own history classes, I have successfully used a web quest on the 1920s. In this web quest, students chose a group; each group has the responsibility of reporting one of the following: sports, current news stories, advertisements, political commentary and cartoons, all in the 1920s. Students have to research using web sites I have already found and distributed, they students may use additional web sites they have found. Students then have to write a short newspaper article with photographs. Finally, the group gives their newspaper a name, a price, a date, and prints out a copy that they then orally present to the entire class. Student newspapers have included A Decade in Review, the 1920s, Sports Almanac of the 1920s, the Grand Experiment, and so many more.  My students enjoy the project; they learn from research and from each other about the 1920s. The student assessments are the written newspaper, the oral presentation and an image quiz I give the class with images from each of the newspapers presented.

In the scenario above, teachers will act as facilitators. According to Glazer, teachers as facilitators, “give students control over how they learn and provide support and structure in the direction of their learning” (Glazer, E. 2001). To set up the scenario the teacher must help to create the framework to the project, allow students to read the rubric before they begin the project and teachers should show examples of earlier work (modeling). By following these simple suggestions, a teacher can set up the project so that students and the teacher learn from each other, the internet, brainstorming with group members, creating and presenting.

Some sites a teacher can use to help with constructivist learning tools are:

http://webquest.org

A site that will allow students to create their own flipbooks you can use:

http://flipsnack.com

Finally, for students to develop their own comic books or graphic novels you can use:

http://ComicLife.com

 References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009f). Program 6, Constructionist & constructivist learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from             http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=la            ureate.e.college.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursen  av=0&bhcp=1

Glazer, E. (2001). Problem Based Instruction. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved March 18, 2012, from http://projectis.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Problem_Based_Instruction

           Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Denver, Colorado, USA: McRel.

Cognitive Learning Tools

            Cognitive learning tools consist of methods to immerse the student in the subject. When Dr. Michael Orey surveyed his students on what was their most memorable course; the answers were their study abroad program and their student teaching program (Laureate Education, Inc. 2009e ), both of these programs immerse the student in the learning process.  The question teachers must ask themselves is how we immerse our students in our classrooms without the travel. Cognitive learning tools can help us with this mission.    Technologies offer many different tools that used, can immerse the students in their studies. There are search engines like Google, graphic organizers, concept maps, spreadsheets, power points, video conferences, virtual field trips and many more.

As teachers, we can learn how to teach our students to use these many different technologies to help immerse them in your subject matter. As an example, I was teaching a lesson on the Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East. As part of the unit, I set up a video conference with a representative of the Israeli government. My students were able to get a full lesson on the history and current events in Israel. The students learned a little Hebrew and given a tour through video and photos of Israel. The students were shocked that so many Arabs still live in Israel, they were surprised to learn that almost all Israeli citizens are required to serve a minimum of two years in the military, and they were stunned to see Israel come to a stand-still during Memorial Day. Our Israeli host was born and raised in North Jersey, he understood that the South Jersey kids hit the beaches on Memorial Day; therefore, he explained why the day is so solemn in Israel. My students still talk what they learned from this conference. Using video conferences or video field trips can help a teacher make the subject come alive for their students and expand the students understanding of the topic (Laureate Education, Inc. 2009e.).

In addition to virtual field experiences, the students can also reinforce ideas from lecture into a concept map, sometimes called mind mapping (Laureate Education, Inc. 2009e.). The teacher sets up a leading question or a topic with sub-topics the students need to fill in to reinforce the materials. In my classroom, I had three students help build a mind map on Napoleon III. I set the map up with a photo of the Emperor Napoleon III and then set up the sub-topics of foreign policy, domestic policy, nationalism, unification of Germany, unification of Italy. From these sub-topics, the students each volunteered to complete a specific part of the map and for homework. In class the next day we went over the map and the students were given time to correct any mistakes that may have been made. Once the map was completed correctly, the students presented to the rest of the class what they did and gave more in depth information with their sub-topics. A review was held the following day and the students who worked on the mind map did very well in the review, demonstrating that cognitive tools like mind mapping can work to help the student be immersed in the subject matter.


If you would like to view the mind map you can go on to grapholite.com at the following address:
https://grapholite.com/Designer?fileid=7433&sign=SdtuGHGGwjwvwSw943NvvJB1bNA1

The mind map was saved as "Napoleon III".

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009e). Program five: Cognitive learning theories                                         [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from             http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.e            college.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Behaviorism in Practice

Behaviorism in schools today has been widely used as a behavioral modification tool. A major part of behavioral modification is giving good students positive reinforcement while giving students who need to learn the appropriate behavior for class, negative reinforcement (Standridge, M., 2002).  Another part of behaviorism used in classrooms today is the practice of frequent repetition, generalization and discrimination (Smith, M. K., 1999). Many teachers use homework and rote memorization as ways to repeat concepts. With the advent of technology in schools and at home, students and teachers can practice frequent repetition in new and exciting ways.

Teachers can use technology to track students’ effort against student grades  (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 155). Among the different computer programs that will enable teachers and students to track effort are, spreadsheet software like Microsoft Excel and data collection tools like Survey Monkey (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, pp. 156-164). The educational behaviorist belief is that students will be able to correlate the amount of effort they have put into their homework and classwork, compare that effort to the outcome in their quiz and test grades. Once students see the outcomes, they will continue to put more effort into their work to achieve those higher assessment grades. In addition to effort, technology also allows students to complete homework and practice assessments using collaborative and creative methods.

Many teachers assign homework for students to practice what they learned in class at home. “Technology facilitates homework and practice by providing a wealth of resources for learning outside of the classroom, making it easy for students to work on collaborative homework assignments and providing ‘drill and practice’ resources that help students refine their skills (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 189). Among the technology programs that help with homework for the elementary school student as well as the high school student are, word processing applications, spreadsheet software, multimedia applications, web resources, and communication software (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, pp. 189-201). In my classes, I hold a review session before each unit test set up similar to a game of Jeopardy. My students set up a Facebook page where they quiz each other at night in preparation for the test the next day.  They took the initiative to set up that page on their own and to peer review the materials I went over during the day in class. All of the participants on the Facebook page have seen their test grades improve and students not already part of that page; have put in requests to join the group for nighttime reviews. My students review page is an excellent example of student effort at work improving grades while working collaboratively with peer-reviewed materials. This is a wonderful mesh of learning theories, behaviorism and constructivism, in one classroom.

  Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Denver, Colorado: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL).

 Smith, M. K. (1999). “The behaviourist orientation to learning”. The encyclopedia of informal education. Retrieved March 6, 2012, from         

http://www.infed.org/biblio/learning-behavourist.htm

Standridge, M. (2002). Behaviorism. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching and technology. Retrieved March 6, 2012, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Behaviorism

Reflection on Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work and Society

           Teachers are constantly learning new materials, from textbooks to technology. Teachers who have been in the classroom for the last 30+ years have learned how to use e-mail, e-board, Moodle, Microsoft programs, and others. Teachers are truly lifelong learners, they must continue to learn how to change their roles in the classroom and how to change the way in which they present materials. From this course, I learned many ways of changing my role in the classroom. I have also learned how my students should be taught the materials, through collaboration.

For the first time, I have collaborated with other teachers on developing a wiki. I created a blog and learned how to feed my groups blogs onto my blog and to post comments on their blogs as well as adding new posts to my own blog. I have learned how to become part of a group on a wiki, I have never even seen a wiki before, not only become a part of one. Finally, for the first time I recorded my students answering questions, edited their responses, joined those responses together into one podcast and posted it on my blog. I have never attempted to use these programs before; but I have learned to work with them over the last seven weeks of this course.

In Will Richardson’s, book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for the Classrooms (Richardson, 2010), he gives systematic instructions for teachers on setting up blogs, wikis, and other learning tools. It has become an invaluable source of information. Mark Prensky defined the differences between a digital native and a digital immigrant and those definitions were debated between Dr. Thornburg and Hall Davidson (Debate: digital natives and digital immigrants). Surprisingly, because of that debate I concluded I was a digital native since I watched more than 3 hours of TV a week as a child. That was a surprising conclusion since I did not grow up with computers and had a panic attack in college when I had to go to the computer room for a statistics class. The personal computer has changed how we, as teachers, research, gather, analyze and synthesize information for our students. It has also changed the way in which we allow our students to do their research for class projects.

Change in the way teachers and students research, change in the way teachers run their classroom, change in the way teachers facilitate their classes rather than lecture to their classes. These changes have all occurred with the development of technology and will continue to evolve as technology changes. The challenge of the classroom today is to keep up with business. Teachers are educating the business people of tomorrow and it is our job to help them succeed. They must be able to collaborate they should become familiar with the latest technology available. Problems are posed by financial crises, school districts unable to afford the latest technology. Problems are also posed by a lack of communication between technology departments and the core subject departments. A lack of training on the newest technology also hurts teachers and students.

In closing, I have a word of advice for all teachers, we are the lifelong learners; it is our job to continue learning the newest technology. We are the ones who teach English, History, Math, Science, Technology, etc.  to students of all ages, all economic backgrounds, all cultures and all learning abilities. We are the ones who modify our lessons to meet the needs of all students. Learning new materials and transferring that information to our students is just a part of our job. We are the educators, we have the responsibility to educate our students and prepare them for the challenges of 21^st century society.

References

Bringing the fun into teaching with technology. (2008). Baltimore, MD: Laureate Education, Inc.

The Changing role of the classroom teacher: part 1. (2008). Baltimore, MD: Laureate Education, Inc.

The Changing role of the classroom teacher: part 2. (2008). Baltimore, MD: Laureate Education, Inc.

Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. (2008). The Third Wave. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Education, Inc.

Partnership for 21st century skills. (2011). (Partnership for 21st century skills) Retrieved January 23, 2012, from http://www.p21.org/

Debate: digital natives and digital immigrants. (2008). Baltimore, MD: Laureate Education, Inc.

Dede, Christopher. (2008). The Changing Work Environment, part 2. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Education, Inc.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). Digital-Age learning. Retrieved September 9, 2011, from iste.nets.s: http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students.aspx

New Jersey Department of Education. (2010). 2010 NCLB Report. Retrieved November 2, 2011, from New Jersey Department of Education: http://education.state.nj.us/rc/nclb/nclbreprt.php?c=15;d=55500;s=010

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (Third Edition ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, a Sage Company.

Skills for the 21st century. (2008). (D. Thornburg, & C. Dede, Compilers) Baltimore, MD: Laureate Education, Inc.

Spotlight on Technology: collaboration through Wikis. (2008.). (J. Houston, Compiler) Baltimore, MD: Laureate Education, Inc.

Thornburg, David. (2008). The Changing Work Environment. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Education, Inc.

Demographic Profile, Podcasting & Interviewing Students

When beginning a project that has three components you have never used before, set aside enough time to complete each component. You will have to teach yourself, by reading and watching YouTube videos on how to use the latest applications that are needed for the project.

I began with a Survey Monkey of my students; you can find the survey I used at www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=55512367472

The demographic profile was created using the results of the survey monkey. Below is that profile:

13 surveys were given to a sampling of students

Age Group 16 to 18

Boys & girls

1.      All in 12^th grade

2.      All own a computer at home, all work on the computer for school work, all have internet service, all have e-mail at home

3.      All use a computer daily

4.      4 of the 13 answered yes to all the sub-topics (If you do not have a computer/internet can you use one/it from somewhere else?; Does  your teacher use email for communicating with your parents?; Does your teacher use e-mail for school assignments?) 9 answered no or not sure for teacher communicates with parents via e-mail

5.      2 use computer 2-4 Xs weekly

6 use computer weekly

4 use computer daily

1 seldom/never uses computer

6.      3 use it before, during & after school

1 after school only

5 during and after school

1 before and after school

3 during school

7.       6 chose all choices of the 6 that did make choices NONE USED SPREADSHEETS

8.      1 survey had no answers for 8 & 9

1 instant messaging

5 (Facebook, twitter, social networking)

5 research, 1 with word processing added

1 word processing

9.      1 survey blank

12 use the internet to Microsoft power point

After completing the survey and tabulating the results, I was ready for my interviews. I held the interviews after school in my classroom. I then saved them to a stick drive and transferred them to my home computer where I could work with editing to meet the time requirements of the project. I watched YouTube videos to teach me how to edit in audacity, and after a few tries I finally understood how to copy, paste, cut, fade in and out, and adjust the volume.

Below is my very first podcast, using programs I have never used before, with different computers in different locations. I hope you enjoy what I was able to put together and my students will tell you where improvement is needed at school and what program they are comfortable using. Enjoy.

http://podcast22181.podomatic.com/entry/2012-02-05T10_22_08-08_00

Partmership for 21st Century Skills - a Website http://www.p21.org

         When first looking at the home page of the site partnership for 21^st Century skills I was overwhelmed by all that I saw. I felt, “I’ll never be able to work my through all of this information”. However, at closer look the tabs at the top of the page can lead you into the site where you will be able to read the posted information with a feeling of adequacy. I did not like that links to articles that were advertised on the home page went to sites that you had to join, with a fee. I do not think that paying a second site to read one article is fair, the partnership for 21^st Century skills should not have links on the home page that force readers to pay a fee to complete the article.

            This site, the partnership for 21^st Century skills, clearly lays out the framework by which they have developed the skills needed for the 21st century. According to the site, their framework begins with the core subjects that include No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the Secondary Education Act of 1965 that spells out the core subjects. Interesting that the secondary education act was past 47 years ago and the core subjects have not been changed since. Next in the framework is the 21^st century content that includes global awareness, financial, economic, business & entrepreneurial literacy, civil literary, health & wellness awareness, and environmental literacy. These content areas are not really stressed in many curriculums and perhaps they are not addressed in all 50 state standards.  The framework goes onto stress the learning and thinking skills that students need to be taught for them to be successful in the new business world; these include creativity and innovation skills, contextual learning, and information and Media literacy skills.  Information and communication technology (ICT) is “the ability to use technology to develop 21st century content knowledge and skills in support of 21st century teaching and learning” (Partnership for 21st century skills, 2011). The framework then goes into the life skills that are needed which include ethics and accountability, just to name a few listed. The framework ends with the type of assessments that should be implemented for 21^st century skills. According to the site: “To be effective, sustainable and affordable, assessments must use modern technologies to increase efficiency and timeliness. Standardized tests alone can measure only a few of the important skills and knowledge students should learn. A balance of assessments, including high quality standardized testing, along with effective classroom assessments; offer students a powerful way to master the content and skills central to success” (Partnership for 21st century skills, 2011).

            When looking over the laundry list of skills that we must teach our students for the 21^st century, the task is daunting. Some of these skills we have long taught while others should be the domain of parents and religious organizations. However, I can understand why we, the teachers, are the role models for a large majority of our students. I would like input from my colleagues. What do you think of these skills? How do we incorporate all of these skills into the classroom? Personally, schools would have to change. There can no longer be constant interruptions from senior trips, proms, dances, assemblies to test days. You cannot cover this amount of material from September until March when the big state tests are given, then cover more for May when the AP exams are given, covering more for early June when the End of Course state tests are given. Seriously?! Let us teach! Do not interrupt the classroom flow, there should be no state assessments in March, the state assessments should all be changed to End of Course exams that are given the first week in June. Giving assessments along these lines will enable teachers to cover large amounts of required skills and content in an uninterrupted fashion, keeping the flow moving, enabling students to get the scope and sequence of the course in preparation for one large test in June.

Works Cited

Partnership for 21st century skills. (2011). (Partnership for 21st century skills) Retrieved January 23, 2012, from http://www.p21.org/

http://www.p21.org

I can open my current blog about history curriculum up to my students’ comments, but the truth is that a separate blog dealing with a topic they are learning about would be a better tool. I am in the middle of a unit on Enlightened Despotism, which leads into the French Revolutionary Period. Developing a blog about Napoleon, someone that the students are always interested in and are willing to research would be a more appropriate blog for my history class. I would love to set something up about the good Napoleon vs. the bad Napoleon.
When I was in Ireland a few years ago, Trinity College in Dublin was having a Napoleon exhibit. My son and I attended the exhibit, which was very prejudicial against Napoleon; my son did not understand why the Irish would be against Napoleon, since my son was correctly taught that the Irish backed Napoleon and would have loved to see the defeat of England. I explained that Elizabeth I founded Trinity College as a stronghold of Protestantism in Catholic Ireland, that her goal was to convert the heathens to Protestantism. The English Protestants were Napoleon’s greatest enemy, not the Catholic Irishmen. The exhibit was prejudicial because of the religious dissent at the back of all modern history. A blog based on the two views of Napoleon would be a great sounding board for the students, a good learning experience for both the students and me, and a tool for research and writing. 
I would set this blog up for my European History class, which is a 12th grade elective course. It will enable my European history students to share their findings, to discuss the different points of view and to make their research viewable to all instead of just me. As our text states: “Blogs engage readers with ideas and questions and links. They ask readers to think and to respond. They demand interaction.” (Richardson, 2010, p. 18). Blogging can become a good tool to help students think and write at a higher level, using more analysis and synthesis over a longer period time with reflection on what they have posted to the blog. (Richardson, 2010). The blog can be the tool that aids the students in their thesis development and overall writing. 


Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (Third Edition ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, a Sage Company.