One side of the Endangered Species Act
Friday, July 6, 2007
Thursday, July 5, 2007
EDUC632 Project Proposal
I'm designing a curriculum lesson for a high school Advanced Placement
Environmental Science Class. The lesson is on grass roots support that
leads to the passage of environmental laws. Students working in pairs
will research the historical context that has produced major
environmental legislation in the United States. In many cases it takes a
crises and public outrage to get congress to act. Each group will
investigate one law. Student groups will also investigate the key
provisions of the law and research the government agency charged with
upholding the law. There final task will be to research and share a case
study that demonstrates whether or not the law is functioning as
intended. The final product will be shared with the class in fish bowl
setting.
At this point I'm not sure which format will work best. The webquest
format may be a best fit
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Final blog for Pat's class- but not my last blog
The new world of social networking gives me anxiety. After spending 2 weeks learning the potential of web 2.0 tools I feel unsure of my ability to use some of them. I will never be able to master all of the tools, both present and future, that will continue to help students learn. I don't have the same intuitive thinking that allows younger generations to use web 2.0 tools effortlessly. I will have to work harder to understand and make use of web 2.0 tools than most of my students.
Should I pack it in and give up? Hell no!
I'm ready to start making some mistakes. I expect to be corrected and instructed by my students. In the future I anticipate that they will be the ones showing me the web tools that will allow our class room to move forward. As is always the case it will be hard to give up old methods and start making the best use of new methods. It must be done to give students the best chance to succeed in time of economic change.
Friedman's The World is Flat gives historical context and immediacy to the notion that our children will be competing and living in very different economic climate. One thing made clear in the book is that in the capitalist world of globalization many people will work in different ways. Even knowledge jobs such as programmer or engineer may not pay very will if there are 350,000 people graduating with those credentials from Indian Universities every year. If an American student doesn't possess special talents valued by others or skills that can't be outsourced they could be in for a long and frustrating life.
Unless the fiber optic cable is cut, students today will need web 2.0 collaborative skills to compete. They need to practice these skills in the context of learning in school not just outside of the classroom. Many students in the flat world today already exercise those skills. We need to make use of the tools in school as well. Teachers must also be able to make the most of web 2.0 skills. I hope I continue to be amongst the ranks of teachers that use technology to help students learn. Todays social networking tools make it clear that powerpoint is no longer good enough.
I plan to use wikispaces this fall for student collaboration. I plan to use blogging as a way to assess learning and give feedback. My students will use pageflakes and protopage to display and share their efforts with a larger audience. I plan to make mistakes and fail as well as succeed. I will not know all the answers. It may be more than a little frustrating but to teach students of the 21st century I need to use the collaborative tools that will give them the best chance at being competitive in a global marketplace.
Should I pack it in and give up? Hell no!
I'm ready to start making some mistakes. I expect to be corrected and instructed by my students. In the future I anticipate that they will be the ones showing me the web tools that will allow our class room to move forward. As is always the case it will be hard to give up old methods and start making the best use of new methods. It must be done to give students the best chance to succeed in time of economic change.
Friedman's The World is Flat gives historical context and immediacy to the notion that our children will be competing and living in very different economic climate. One thing made clear in the book is that in the capitalist world of globalization many people will work in different ways. Even knowledge jobs such as programmer or engineer may not pay very will if there are 350,000 people graduating with those credentials from Indian Universities every year. If an American student doesn't possess special talents valued by others or skills that can't be outsourced they could be in for a long and frustrating life.
Unless the fiber optic cable is cut, students today will need web 2.0 collaborative skills to compete. They need to practice these skills in the context of learning in school not just outside of the classroom. Many students in the flat world today already exercise those skills. We need to make use of the tools in school as well. Teachers must also be able to make the most of web 2.0 skills. I hope I continue to be amongst the ranks of teachers that use technology to help students learn. Todays social networking tools make it clear that powerpoint is no longer good enough.
I plan to use wikispaces this fall for student collaboration. I plan to use blogging as a way to assess learning and give feedback. My students will use pageflakes and protopage to display and share their efforts with a larger audience. I plan to make mistakes and fail as well as succeed. I will not know all the answers. It may be more than a little frustrating but to teach students of the 21st century I need to use the collaborative tools that will give them the best chance at being competitive in a global marketplace.
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