Reflection of Curation Tools

I'm feeling overwhelmed!  There's SO much out there in cyber world.  Some of these tools I had heard of, but never used, and others were brand new.  Feedly I'm still not sure about.  It doesn't seem quite as useful to me.  It's news based, and I'm looking for practical ideas and strategies to use with kids.  But I'll keep playing with it!  I've never been to Pintrest before.  Mainly because my Facebook friends post too much information from it and it turned me off.  But, wow, it is COOL!  I could get lost in it for hours.  I love the visual part of it.  The education vids are very helpful.  Obviously, there's a plethora, both professionally and personally, that can be accessed.  Now I know what to do on a sleepless night! 

Project Ideas

       Well, in true fifth grade fashion, we have a billion ideas.  We made a list in May of ideas, revisited today. and had a good laugh at ourselves.  We had a great talk with Mike who helped us focus.  We came into the course wanting to organized our sited and google drive and look for resources.  I think that is our focus.  There was a lengthy discussion about whether diigo, twitter or feedly meet our needs.  Are we better off with what we're doing on google.  I think we decided to move all our kid links and professional links to diigo.  Which is what we spent our afternoon doing.  I'm still unclear on our next moves.  Work in progress.  I'll keep you posted!

Ed Cafe Takeaway

Video 1

Student questions are the seeds of real learning.  Not scripted lessons

curiosity
embraced trial and error
intense reflection

Rule 1
Curiosity comes first

Rule 2
Embrace the mess   This can be a challenge for teachers.  We like to be in control and know what the outcomes are going to be.

Rule 3
Practice Reflection/Revision

We are the cultivators of our students' curiosity.



Video 2

Angela Duckworth

Ability to learn is not static

Need a better understanding of motivation

Who is successful and why?  Asked this question in many different situation.  The successful people were not successful because of IQ; it was grit!

Grit is passion and perseverance, stamina day in, day out, year after year

Many talented people don't follow thru on their talents and therefore don't reach their potential.

Growth mindset.  Ability to learn is not fixed ... can change with your effort

Don't believe that failure is a permanent condition

We need to be grittier and teaching our kids grit--How in the world do we teach this?  Can we or is it intrinsic?

Videos: Key Points and Questions

"Building Relationships"
       Very motivational speaker.  I liked how she used some humor to get her more serious points across.  Some key points I thought she made were:

• The value of human connections--Students learn better from people they like.
• Two quotes that spoke to me--"No significant learning can occur without a significant relationship" and "All learning is understanding relationships."
• The importance of apologizing!  
• We won't like every student, but we act as if we do.
• -18 vs +2  Making students think, "I ain't all bad."  Like that!

Questions:

• How do I do a better job making those difficult students feel liked?
• What are some activities/strategies I can do with students to build better relationships? 

"Teens Talk"
      I have seen my teenage son have these same thoughts.  It's not about the learning; it's about the grade and GPA.  Which is sad.

Key Points:

• Make the learning relevant.
• Schools are killing creativity.
• Make the topic real.
• Many students learn better with hands-on activities.
• Most important skills to know are how to speak and think for yourself.

Questions:

• How do we honor students' creativity better?  It's tough with CCSS.
• Should we have more programs/schools for the students who learn by doing?  Such as PATHS and Casco Bay HS.