Congratulations!  You should have completed all of the assignments for this class.  This week is simple!

Teacher Training videos. 
Please take a look at this site.  I think it a great find.  Spend some time exploring.  We will not have a discussion for this topic but I think you should bookmark it for future reference.


Our last discussion.  I would like some input on the online class.  I tried to make sure I was assessable and helpful to you anytime and all the time.  I also hope you felt connected with myself and the class.  Please let me know what you liked most about the class and the format of the class.  Also, help me out with some helpful criticism.  What could have made the experience better for you concerning not only how the class was set up but also what you learned?  I am have been trying some new technologies and websites to include some "realtime" discussions because I think that may be lacking in the class.  What do you think?

You all did a great job!!  I was thrilled to get to know you!!  Please email me anytime during your program and even after if needed!!! Let me know when you complete the program so I can send you best wishes.

We are preparing our students for a unimaginable future.  Are we creating future adults who can work in diverse groups and express ideas??

Let me introduce you to another teaching strategy that I believe is necessary to prepare our students for their future.

Reaching consensus
Tim Bedley is an incredible teacher in Lake Elsinore.  He has some great teaching strategies and incredible videos and information.  Once of his teaching strategies is called “Reaching Consensus”.  We will read an article and look at some videos from his classroom.

Read Article http://www.timbedley.com/articles/article01.htm

Please be sure to watch a few videos concerning consensus as well as read the link at the bottom of the article named See a framework for the teaching strategy "reaching consensus."   

 
Reaching Consensus on a Reading Assignment(5:08)         If you have not already seen this video (third video down on the page, please watch.
In this powerful video, you will see a small group of 5th graders reaching consensus on some comprehension questions. Notice how they dig through the text to support their answers. They were never instructed to do this, but because of the learning activity "reaching consensus," they automatically skimmed the passage on their own. Two of these students are English language learners. 
The last half of the video is an interview with the students on the benefits of this teaching method. You'll love hearing these 5th graders insights.

Our discussion board for this week is to add comments on what you learned from Tim Bedley about Reaching Consensus.

The last assignment is to complete a unit plan.  Below is the template and a sample.  Your capstone is MANY, MANY, MANY things but it is usually based around a curricular unit.  You have already brainstormed over 35 ideas (Bloom/Gardner Grid) and completed a lesson plan as well as an assessment rubric on one curricular area.  Let's use all of this information to create the Unit plan.  Hopefully, you have or will have additional projects to this unit plan from your other classes.  Feel free to include these other projects in your unit plan.  This unit plan will be an incredible jump start to your CAPSTONE.

The unit plan is due next week on Saturday, January 22.

Next week is our last week of class.  Since we have completed all of our assignments this week, we will only need to check in for one last discussion topic.


NOTE TO SELF:  Tim Bedley discussion tab

I would like to briefly share another theory of learning.
Daniel Pink has authored of a great book; A WHOLE NEW MIND Why Right Brainers Will Rule the World.  Daniel Pink writes business books and is a motivational speaker to encourage others to choose their career paths and their futures. We as educators are interested in his view of the future and what will be expected of our students in order to succeed.
Please watch the following video.  Our discussion board will have more specific questions this week in response to Dan Pink, Adundance, Asia and Automation . 

How does this relate to teaching elementary school? 
With so much attention focused on THE TEST, it is easy to lose site of our true focus.  We are preparing our young students for a successful future.  Our students need to learn to become brilliant adults who invent and create and move our culture into a new generation.  So what is that future we are preparing them for? Watch Did You Know

The first video is Daniel Pink sharing some of this thoughts on what our world is becoming and what we and our students need to be to be successful.
The second video is Daniel Pink discussing how this applies to education.  Daniel Pink: Texas senate hearing on education. (You can fast forward to 1:51)

I strongly recommend adding the book, A WHOLE NEW MIND to your summer reading list.

RUBRICS

In our Bloom/Gardener grid, we came up with wonderful learning experiences to give our students.  We have gone beyond the paper and pencil worksheets to exploring the world around us, collaborating with peers and using our creative mind. 

Now…. What if I told you had to grade each and every student on each and every idea and project in the grid?
For example.. How would you grade the following assignments? What is the difference between an assignment grade of a B or a C for each of these? 

1.                  Create a photo collage about their assigned community helper.
2.                  Make a vodcast showing pictures of each type of element.
3.                  Hypothesize what kind of food you would want to eat if you were a butterfly.
4.                  Make up a chant to describe animals that fly.
5.                  Find a series of parabolas in nature
6.                  Create a human fact and opinion chain about farm animals.
7.                  Tell which element you are most interested in and why.

 
Read this article
http://t4.jordan.k12.ut.us/teacher_resources/Rubrics/Rubrics.html

 
Our next assignment is to create a rubric for one of the assignments in your Bloom/Gardner Grid.  It may a rubric for the lesson plan you just completed.  It may be a rubric for any other assignment in your Grid.  You may use any rubric generator to create your rubric, although I suggest Rubistar - Your rubric is due Saturday.
Please post it on your website/blog as well as emailing it to me.  Please label it "RubricYour NameFall2".

Here is a rubric tutorial you may watch if you feel you need more information. This video also has a part one and three, if you are interested.

I will be using Aunt Olive’s rubric on rubrics to grade your assignment.

We are nearing the end of class.  Our last assignment is a Unit Plan.   Below is the template and a sample.   You have already brainstormed over 35 ideas (Bloom/Gardner Grid) and completed a lesson plan as well as this week's assessment rubric on one curricular area.  Let's use all of this information to create the Unit plan.  Hopefully, you have or will have additional projects to this unit plan from your other classes.  Feel free to include these other projects in your unit plan.  This unit plan will be an incredible jump start to your CAPSTONE.  Your capstone is MANY, MANY, MANY things but it is usually based around a curricular unit. (Your unit plan!!)


Rubric due: Saturday, January 15
Daniel Pink Discussion board due by Saturday, January 15
Unit Plan due Saturday, January 22

Happy New Year!!!  I hope you have had a restful break.

This week, we have a video to watch, some observations to make and create a lesson plan.


We will be looking into research concerning our left and right brains.  We will begin by watching a video about a woman who had the opportunity to study the brain from the inside out.  Watch Jill Bolte Taylor's Stroke of Insight  
Please go to the discussion board to comment on the video and on others comments.



Ready for a field trip? Well, actually it's field trips! Your mission is to FOCUS ON how people use technology to learn, and what is really out there being used.

You must visit the following three locations.

• A toy store (Kaybee toys, Toys-R-Us, etc)
• A technology store (Best Buy, Circuit City, the Mac Store, etc)
• A place where people go to play games (Dave & Busters', GameWorks, etc)

At each location, you most do the following:

• Spend 20 minutes watching kids, teens, and adults at the store. What are they playing with? How are they using the equipment/toys? What are they learning? Write down your observations in a journal.
• Spend 20 minutes playing with the toys/equipment yourself. You MUST spend 20 minutes - no cheating. Write down observations about what you learned/discovered in a journal.
• Think about it: write down how these toys/pieces of equipment could be used in the classroom to enhance teaching and learning.

Post a highlight or two your reflections in the discussion area no later than Saturday this week.
Have fun! Take your family with you. 



Our next assignment is to choose one of those ideas on our grid and create a lesson plan.  It is your choice, if you choose an idea that is most likely to be used and successful in your classroom today, OR you may choose the idea that you wished you could do!!  Imagine laptops for everyone and unlimited time restraints.  Sometimes these crazy (if I could do anything ideas) lead to practical possibilities once thought completely through.  If you have a classroom, you may be more likely to choose practical. If you do not have a classroom, you may wish to dream big.
Use the one idea from the grid that you choose and complete a lesson plan using the template provided. At least 2 multiple intelligences should be covered as well as a technology component (possibly an idea from your field trip)
The template provided has a blank for "STANDARDS".  I would like both the California State Standards and the National Educational Technology Standards and Performance Indicators for Students. (NETS.S).  The NETS.S can be read online. Please read the NETS.S and add the appropriate ones to match your lesson plan.  (PLEASE NOTE: the sample included may not have NETS.S.  Your lesson plan needs NETS.S) It should be saved as "Lesson plan Your Name Fall 2" When complete, it gets email to me ([email protected] ).  It also should be posted on your website/blog.

Due Dates:
Due Jan. 8 - Video discussion (Jill Bolte Taylor)
Due Jan. 8 - Field trip discussion
Due Jan. 8 - Lesson plan
Due Jan. 15 - Rubric (more information to follow)
Due Jan. 22 - Unit Plan (more information to follow)