EDM613 MAC - Week 2: AR Site

Endless Possibilities

Here I am in month 11, with only 6 weeks until graduation. A house has been rented (Thanks, Beth!) and my flight booked. It's so hard to imagine that this journey is almost over, until I look through my action research web site and review all that I have posted there. Do I have everything on the site that needs to be included? Have I double checked all my posts? I want to jazz it up, but also want to keep it straight forward and to the point. Is that ok? There are some days when I feel that I have not done enough. However, the cycles tell the whole story of my research. I'm happy with what I found, and see many possibilities for ways in which to continue in the years to come. The project has taught me HOW to see what I do with students in a whole new light. It's shown me that the cycle truly is the journey, and it never needs to end. One finding leads to a new thought or question, into a new cycle, with results to ponder and tweak as I begin yet another cycle. Who knows where it will lead. I feel as if my eyes have been opened to deeper reflection. My results are not nearly as important as having learned the process. It will help me to be much more of a reflective practitioner that I previously was. My students will benefit even more than I will.

Wisconsin has a new governor, and many are fearful of what he has planned to take away from teachers. I worry about this also, but now I have all that I have gained through Full Sail to open endless possibilities, should I choose a new direction.

EDM613 MAC - Week 2: BLOG Comment #2

@Tim

To be honest I was really being bored to tears with this weeks reading, Art of Possibility, until! I came to a paragraph the just rang out to me. In this paragraph the topic of grades is discussed. I always had a problem with grades as a way of measuring mastery of skills, I just didn’t know why. Well the authors of this book gave me the answer I was looking for, letter grades just compare student against student, and say very little about the actual work completed by the student.

Every student is different and learns at a different rate and in different ways. Taking into account these differences, why should they all be measured on the same scale. How do we resolve this situation? I really don’t know, but it is definitely something that should be studied.

Reading the paragraphs in this book relating to grades had really opened my eyes to something that has been bothering me for a long time. Wouldn’t it be great to get a giant gathering of educators together and have a massive brain storming session and see what we could come up with? Makes me really wonder about the possibilities……

Response:
Tim, I'm glad you were able to keep reading until you found the paragraph about grades that brought meaning from the reading to you. Grades are such an impossible thing! They force us to compare student to student, even when a rubric is used, because of how difficult it is to be completely objective when reviewing a student's work. It's difficult to explain here, in the shorter space of a blog, but I know that when a teacher has arrived at a score using a rubric, other pieces may be held up to one in particular to see if the same degree of achievement was met. It is not intentional, but illustrates the difficulty of maintaining objectivity. I also wonder at the possibilities. If grades are removed and students encouraged to stretch their wings to their fullest potential, can teachers be ok with the fact that some will still choose not to strive to see what is possibly, but will be content with staying close to home. We have to be ready to let such situations occur. We can present opportunities and do OUR best to prepare them, removing judgment of what they may choose, but just as with our children ... they have to reach out their wings to catch the wind.

EDM613 MAC - Week 2: BLOG Comment #1

@Saray:

Ok. So this was a great read: The Art of Possibility by Benjamin Zander and Rosamund Stone Zander.

I was so inspired that I made this visual collage from pictures that I have taken over the years. Take a look at it!

I was touched in so many levels by the first four chapters of this book. And, I feel like sharing this personal anecdote.

In 1996, my whole family moved to the U.S. from Mexico because my dad was getting his master's degree. My sister and I did not know any English and this was the day before school. Our parents called us to the living room and told us something that went like this: we want you to know that to us you are the most beautiful, intelligent, funny, and amazing daughters in the whole world and nothing or no one will make us think differently of you. We know that you don't know any English. We know that you will struggle, and when you get a failing grade, we want you to know that we will see an A because we see the effort you put in, because we see you growing, because we see you becoming women of outstanding character. Don't worry about grades, go live and enjoy our two years here. Make the most of it and if in the way, your grades happen to be A's, so be it... That evening, a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders, I was no longer scared, I was ready to take over the world!

Needless to say, my sister and I did extremely well. Due to language immersion, we were proficient in English within 4 months. I went on to tutor in Spanish, French, and Chemistry after school and took some extra courses to graduate a year early. My parents believed in me and that made the difference. I was given an A and the rest was history.

Posted by Saray Taylor-Roman at 5:56 PMBaby

Birds in my yard,getting ready to explore

- outside the box

Response:

Saray, Thank you so much for sharing your story and your collage. Both brought tears to my eyes. The collage was a beautiful interpretation of the chapters in the book. Your story reflected the depth of love parents have for their children, and gave me pause to consider how I show that to my own son and the challenges he is facing as a teenager. I am going to ask my husband to read the chapters also, and see where we go from there. This message of belief and love is very important for educators and parents alike, as well as being a message to ourselves about self perception. It comes at the perfect time.

-Catherine

EDM613 MAC - Week 2 Reading - The Art of Possibility

Where will your A take you in your world of possibilities?

Our children start in life with no stifling concerns about expectations. They are free from those constraints and it is reflected in their creative self expression. Unfortunately, that begins to change as they enter the world of education. Grades become the measuring stick of their growth, instead of pencil marks on a door frame or pictures of their imagination in play. Conversations change from, "Let's pretend we're on an adventure...," to, "Why did you fail that test?" It's no wonder so many children become disengaged in school, and from their families. They are being asked to perform within the box of expectations rather that thinking outside the box and in a world of possibilities. With the pace of technology changing the world we live in, we NEED to encourage the wider thinking outside the box, filled with the potential of creativity, and ever expansive thinking. The future does not exist inside the archaic box of measurement of the past. Rather than admonishing our children and ourselves for not conforming to the measurement standards that are so rigid, we need to encourage them and ourselves to, as Jim Morrison sang, "Break on through to the other side." Exploration and growth has always depended on the belief that more is out there, we need to go and find it. Ask the early explorers, scientists, philosophers and artists. I'm not quite sure how that was lost in guiding our children, students, and each other, but we need to believe in it again.

EDM613 MAC - Week 1: Literature Review

This is the class I did my
action research project with.

Month 11 and my literature review has been submitted for a final time - I hope! Writing the literature review was a good experience, even though I can't say I overly enjoyed it. Most of the literature I found was very supportive of what I was doing my action research project on, using music to increase knowledge retention (in math). However, there were aspects of the review that were very frustrating, namely wording the search in a way that yielded pertinent results. That was not as easy as I expected, considering my topic. Finding literature that disputed my research was even more difficult! EBSCOhost proved a great resource. Fine-tuning my review was also difficult. It's amazing how much passive language can slip past you, even when you are searching for it with a magnifying glass. Now, I see myself viewing every piece of written work as whether it is passive or active. Guess I finally got it!

EDM613 MAC - Week 1: BLOG Comment #3

Palmyra-Eagle HS Band, marching through Eagle, WI
days after a terrible tornado in June, 2010 (personal photo). Even when the going is tough,
keep on marching!

Week 1 WIMBA-Course Intro and AR Activities

The initial Wimba session was a plethora of information. Dr. Professor Joe was able to recap all of the information from the videos that students were to watch independently. I liked the specific information about the AR project- who would ever imagine that I would present this as a "scholarly" presentation? Or have it ready for publication? This was the scariest moment for me in realizing that I am almost finished so I have to "walk the walk and stop talking the talk". Blogging is a very cool way to present ideas and opinions. It is also a way to put yourself out there so there has to be some degree of confidence and readiness to face the world. I look forward to putting it all together and being one step closer to graduating!!!
Although I am familiar with most of our classmates, there were a few new faces in the WIMBA session. It's good to mix it up!!!

cyoho said...

When we started this program 10 months ago (only 10 months ago?!) I never even considered having written material worthy of professional publication. My goal has been to learn and grow so that I can be the best teacher I possibly can be. But we have done work and research that is worth sharing with others. It may help them also.

I am also enjoying the blogging more than I expected do. I see a new perspective with each classmate's blog that I read. All of them are helping me to get more out of the material I am reading and watching. Onward towards graduation we go!

February 3, 2011 6:07 PM