Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Slight Success

        After being out at PD yesterday, I was nervous to come back into the classroom today and try to get all the students back on the computers and up and running with their WebQuest. But I knew I had to just jump back in and do it. Once period 1 updated all of the computers for me (bless their little mermaid hearts), which took the whole period because we were updating 33 Chrome Books at one time. They weren't too mad about not having to start the new project, so overall, that period went well. Haha.

      Back to period 4, they did so much better! First of all, the computers worked (thanks period 1!) which made a huge difference! Amazing... haha. Before we started, we had another long talk about how the world of education is changing. The role of teachers and students will begin to change more dramatically than they think. Our conversation was fluid and really rolled into a conversation about how self-learning now will help them figure things out when they get to the real world. I had to reassure a few of them that that did not mean that they taught themselves everything while I watched re-runs of 30 Rock on Netflix during class, but it meant that they would have to go out on a limb and search for answer. No answers were going to be put in front of them. No more "list of steps" and "this is how you do it cheat sheets." For example, today we were making graphs on GoogleSheets. I told them that if they did not remember how to graph on google it would be a good idea to use YouTube and watch a video. The ones that really took off got it so well, and a few of them even had graphs done by the end of class! YAY!

     There were a few who struggled still. The one kid who wanted me to tell him where to find all the answers, and the other one who tried to do the bare minimum and tell me the assignment was completed, and the one who tried falling asleep because it was "going to be easier to do it at home". It's still not perfect... And lets keep it real... it won't ever be perfect. But the take away from today is that this Mermaid was able to make something happen. The hook got tied on the line correctly and the fishes nibbled.

    Treasure Chest is still out there, but the X is starting to become more clear!

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like more than nibbles, Math Mermaid. Anxiously awaiting the next installment.

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  2. Sounds about right...my favorite is always that bare minimum kid (can you say Siena?...not anymore...) I wish I had a nickel for every time I have said "Just because each question has writing on it, doesn't mean you're done."

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