The Final Exam

I want to wish everyone a great winter break. You earned a bit of a vacation this semester. It truly has been a pleasure to get to know all of you. I am a fan of hiring the rookie teacher because you often bring so much energy, ideas, and hope to the table. Our classes revealed to me you all have something to offer in this profession. Please know if you need anything in the future you know where to reach me. Good luck on the exam. Remember...this is an individual exercise. Email them back to me by December 10th. Your file name should be your last name.

These should look pretty familiar

Final Exam: Pick 3. Answers should not be for than 250 words.


1. What is the purpose of having “essential questions and enduring understandings” in unit design? How does this connect modern research on how most people learn? How does it connect to the notion or processing our media rich world?

2. What is the purpose behind the GRASPS acronym and rubric in UbD design?

3. What should a reformed social studies teacher / curriculum look like according to James Loewen? How might you defend using this as supplementary resource in a conservative school district? Why might you defend a conservative position and not employ Loewen’s research or criticisms?


4. Discuss the merits and reservations of using _____________(you select a strategy)in a social studies classroom.

5. How do you make cooperative learning work in the classroom considering the shortcomings you reviewed in the workbook?


___________________________________


How might you answer the below question in an interview? Pick only one.

1. A parent calls up complaining about how their child only learned from the chalk and talk teaching approach. The child was successful in those types of classes in which the teacher required passive learning and memorization. Your class has been taxing to the child because you have employed methods that stem from the spirit of UbD and a constructivist classroom. What would you communicate to the parent to assure them that learning was real in your class? (FYI: real question—and a real situation).


2. Let’s say you were in an interview situation again. Let’s say the district you were applying to arrived at the Classrooms of the Future grant. What might you explain in an interview that makes you the right fit to carry out the district mission of infusing technology using this grant money.

Everyone's Last Blog

First of all Happy Veteran's Day!!! I have profound respect for our professional military keeping us safe at home and around the world both now and in a historical sense.

This will be the last one for the semester. It piggy-backs off of the last presentations in which we discussed matters of social class and contemporary history. In this blog I would like us to discuss the argument of another scholar--Diane Hess. The article is entitled "Controversial issues and democratic discourse (the PDF file was e-mailed to you). Fitting for us given some of our rich discussions on "what to teach" as a social studies teacher in the 21st Century. After identifying her main "essential questions" and "big ideas" I would like you to express commentary on her conclusions. Think about the potential of controversial issues like Iraq 2003, border control, GITMO, Lewinsky Scandal, pay raises in PA, health care reform...no shortage of issues in contemporary history.

Keep working hard in those important classrooms.
Yours, Mark

Tuesday Night October 21 Presentation

Teachers: Good class Tuesday night. Hope your week is going well. It has been quiet at Camp Hill since Monday.

I want to take a moment to reflect on J&C's lesson. Specifically I would like you to comment on thier exercises. How effective was the:

Music to open the lesson...did it hook and link? Did it bring us in for a landing?

Review the textbook exercise...

Debate...

Read the article (John Brown) exerise.

See you next week. Wes promises to deliver the best lesson ever.

Monday Night Oct 20 Presentation

Hope your week is going well. No more threats to contend with at Camp Hill. Again, I will reiterate some of the most important details to consume wherever you end up are ones that deal with emergency protocol. Know your fire exits, know your emergency routes. Make sure you have your attendance book with you at all times and know where your students are.

Now let's discuss the presentation. They made us consider in stage 3 "beginning activities", "closure activities" and the research on "How People Learn". And of course the topics were John Brown and the "Invisibility of Racism".

Consider the ways they proceeded to accomplish this...evaluate how this group accomplished getting us into the lesson...evaluate how they positioned us to learn about the central ideas to their lesson...and finally comment on their closure exercise.

With regards to the open debates we were having in class over history...was this debate more about our own personal dispostions on the topic of racism or were we being dispassionate of personal feelings toward the topic? Finally...what does Loewen want us to consider and do in the classroom with John Brown and the topic of racism? Why? Do you agree?

Reminder...a friendly one too. When you participate in the blog...you are enhancing your participation score. I read your comments...I know some of you were quiet on Monday...this is your forum to revisit participating.

Have a great weekend. Phillies up 1-0!!!!!

Tuesday Night: 2nd Presentation

Great class the other night. Let me start with that. Why I sometimes enjoy this job so much is because I get an opportunity to reflect on my own practice by watching you teach. This group went out of thier way to take the strategy of lecture and fit it to a 21st Century adolecense audience. Here are a few questions I would like you consider as you respond:

As a "student" what kept you engaged in the lesson?


Schools indeed are a battleground for contending values. Once again if you chose to utilize some of Loewen arguments in our instruction we might run the risk of opposition from students or parents. How would you defend your choice to include these ideas to parents or a principal?

Go Phillies!!!!!!!!!

Monday Night: 2nd Presentation

Thanks again for your patience with my delay last night and then later allowing the group to finish properly. Their presentation would have fit in neater if I had arrived earlier. We were getting tired and you hung in till the end offering contributions and attention.


1. So let's begin where the group left off. The last item this group offered us was a prompt. The document asks us (the learner) to think big (it is an example of a closure exercise)...What did I learn at school today. What might we say to that question? Keep it limited to 2.

2. From a pedagocical point of view...what might we do with those responses? Why?


3. Suppose you had a child take this view on Thanksgiving home to mom and dad. Mom and dad respond to this lesson with suspicion if not rage. They phone the admin and school board. The results are...the principal want to meet with you...what do you explain to the principal?

The parents want a meeting too...what do you explain to them?

Tuesday Night: Group 1

You are on "Fall Break". I am back at work. I went to check on the blog last night and saw that the Tuesday night prompt was not published. I forgot to hit "publish" when I wrote it out last week. My apologies for the delay.

Let's weigh in on the presentation from last Tuesday. I am interested in constructive criticism.
D. and Z. presented chapters 1 and 2 in Lies while pronoucing the pedagogical purposes of designing a "beginning to a lesson" and "end" to a lesson.

Could you please comment on how they did that.

A few moments to remind you of the lesson. (I took a few notes)

The "Google Search"
The "Work at the board"
The "Workbook exercise"
The "Exit ticket"

Think of the usefullness of the above as it related to the Loewen chapters.

Hope you enjoyed yesterday's great weather. The Phillies are in...the Eagles...well...my committment is waivering with them...and Penn State is on a path that I like. Wisconsin next week! Finally, check out the debate this Tuesday.

Mark

Group 1 Monday Night

Interesting talk last night last night. MU actually has a rather noted scholar (he retired) on the topic of hero making. We discussed this tricky business of judging history. Is Loewen a bad scholar with his rich display of presentism? Or does he have a point regarding who and how we manufacture heroes in our own self interest. Columbus has to fit the grand story of bravery, struggle, and sacrifice in the name of country and faith. Rape has no place in the collective memory. So that's the content...now let's talk about the pedagogical design choices of the presentation. Group 1 had to consider assessment practices. Which types did they utilize? How did they work on you? What were they measuring? Please comment on these aspects of the presentation. Indeed another area worth commenting on is the fusion of technology and assessment.

They had the dirty work of going first...and it can be tough...and I know co-teaching can be tough too but let me ask you to consider a few things:

Watch your language choices..."guys"...and too many, "you knows".... When Chelsea spoke I thought her fluid language helped me understand what she expressing. And you know it is coming but let's be a little more formal with how we craft our responses too. You are professionals.
Consider "wait time"...in other words wait a few seconds (4-5) to let the question soak in and then call on someone in large group questioning. I am not always innocent of doing this myself especially when I am excited about a topic. Indeed I can work on my "Umms" and "you knows" as well. I am the reflective practitioner and proud of it.

Mark

Fair and Balanced and our kids

Check this clip out...

How should this influence us as teachers? Should we "teach" this doubletalk? Does this make them more prepared to take on the challanges of "citizenship" in the 21st Century. I am not intetionally trying to make a political statement with this clip. I am more interested in hearing your POV on how we prepare our students in an environment loaded with "knowledge claims". Should John Stewart be the one we turn to for "truth"? Our kids might and they might also turn to FOX "fair and balanced".

http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=184086


Mark

The Frontline "Growing up Online" Link

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/

Do not post here...this is just for the link. Mark

Frontline (PBS)...Growing up On-line

In this digital age with a Zeitgeist shaped by rapidly moving information...how does this impact the 21st Century student? In other words what types of habits and learning patterns do we need to think about in 21st Century education? Finally...how can the UbD assist teachers in coping with the same type of forces shaping students. And yes...please feel free to launch any critical insights into these questions and what you witness from the clip.

Please view the following Frontline Special "Growing up Online" and then address the above questions on the blog.

Your Music and the EQ

Remember...if it is possible, link us the lyrics of your selection. Always a wise move to have a print copy. Many will process the song better and indeed some of our special needs students may need it help them better grasp the meaning. Look forward to seeing the array of choices...and don't forget your audience (young)...if it is rich with foul language probably not a good move to use.

Mark

The Essential Question

I really like this concept for social studies. Great questions are invaluable. For various reasons the essential question gets me thinking and more importantly my kids thinking. For this prompt I would like you to simply post your EQ that you derived from the EQ exercise and "justify" why it is an EQ using the criteria on page 91. For example an EQ from my unit on the 1920's: "Can government influence morality in a free and democratic society" I would justify this by saying it is indeed an EQ because it has no one right answer (this is not an exercise in post-modern thinking either). I could also justify it because it raises other important questions. For example how much of the "Republican and Democratic convention talk" was about moral issues and what government might do?

Here we go

No need to respond to this...just a P.A. We are now in two sections. Monday and Tuesday. The class would have been huge and this is no way to do a methods course. MU did the right thing in spliting this up. We will talk about the syllabus. The syllabus was published with the notion it would be only Monday. Tuesday night class needs to shift the dates over one day. So if something was due on Monday 9/22 it would be due on Tues 9/23. Also, for Tuesday night class...we will have class on Tuesday the 16th. Tuesday night does however not meet on 9/9...my high school back to school night. Please correct this in the syllabus.

Look forward to meeting Tuesday night class tomorrow. Monday...see you next week and keep plugging away at those assignments.

Happy Labor Day, Mark

Post 2: Charlie Rose and Teacher of the Year

Take a look at this interview between Charlie Rose and a past Teacher of the Year? What choices did she make to become this kind of a teacher? Does NCLB have any connectivity to her success?

http://www.charlierose.com/features/the-education-series

It is the second interview from the top.

Post 1: What are your opinions on this NCLB law?

Take a look at your answer to # 5 from the Mallein text to assist you with this answer. Does more government oversight make a better school? Is education getting better b/c of NCLB?