In classrooms today, there's pressure about 21st century learning and staying up with the evolving technology. As a second grade educator, I often feel this pressure especially now as we continue to transition to virtual learning. With all the technology applications and websites, it can be overwhelming when deciding which tools will best support my students. This confusion led me to my wicked problem that states, what if the technology I'm using isn't best supporting the findings of my students?
I took this question and ran with it. From creating a Google survey to have anonymous feedback from a variety of Mid-Michigan elementary teachers as well as credible articles that discussed this topic, I was able to come up with a solution that can best fit me as an elementary educator, by specifically creating a Google classroom.
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This week I learned the equation, PQ + CQ > IQ. In other words, passion and curiosity are better than ones intelligence. Through reading articles as well as watching a video, I was able to explore more about being a questioner for life, as well as, PQ, CQ and IQ.
One quote that really stuck with me while I was exploring was from the article, PQ + CQ > IQ every time, by Janice Dickson. She quoted Thomas Friedman stating that, "while someone with high a IQ’s becomes frustrated when they don’t get the answer right – those with a high PQ and CQ will never stop in a world where high motivation is so important" (2015). What if the technology I’m using isn’t best supporting the findings of my students? As I experience teaching in the 21st century as well as the current global pandemic, there is a big emphasis of providing learning online and technology to support findings in the classroom. As I researched to find answers to the question above, I understand that it is a Wicked problem and I won't be able to find a definite answer, however, through the use of articles as well as feedback from other educators, I can find more clarity and support. Through the use of an online survey, I can reach out to a variety of educators from different districts as well as different grade levels to provide a wide range of feedback and personal classroom experience with technology.
What is a sketchnote styled video? This is the exact question I asked myself at the beginning of this week when I saw that part of my assignment was to create my own. It seemed overwhelming at first and when I watched a variety of examples I was so impressed with how well they looked. In today's day and age technology is evolving, as an educator I have learned that it's important to to be a lifelong learner and evolve with the times. I was excited to immerse myself with this new technology trend. Through watching the video, The Basics of Visual Note Taking, I learned that visual note taking can enhance your memory and can improve your overall understanding. This type of note taking includes text, images and structure to organize your thoughts. Take a look at my sketchnote styled video below! As you can see, my video includes all text as well as structure, due to the format of my assignment I had to include the written questions and categorize these thoughts. Moving forward I would love to include more images in my future sketchnote styled video. This week I explored questions and the importance of questioning in life. Through the use of a five minute question quickfire as well as reading from Warren Berger's (2014) book, A More Beautiful Question, I was able to think deeper about questioning in general and how our world has impacted questioning as we grow over the ages.
I set my timer for five minutes and wrote down whatever questions that were at the top of my head that related to my teaching career. Before starting, I thought five minutes would drag but before I knew it the timer went off and I had only asked a handful of questions. I realized that once I wrote down a question I would start to think deeper before moving on a writing down another one. After going back through and reading my questions I was able to take a step back and think about my best answers. I feel that I constantly question my teachings and if I am supporting my students in the best way possible. With questioning being at the top of my head I started to think deeper about if my students have the chance to question which progressed me to thinking if I as an educator, my colleagues and even my principal had the opportunity to ask questions. Berger stated that, "one of the many interesting and appealing things about questioning is that it often has an inverse relationship to expertise - such that, within their own subject areas, experts are apt to be poor questioners" (Berger, 2014). This sat with me because I thought back to our schools staff meetings that took place over the course of the school year and our principal would leave the last ten minutes for questions, however, this time was often un-useful and we would proceed to end our meetings early. Is there a better way to provide these opportunities without being put in the spotlight, can these ideas be transferred to my second graders to help them when they have questions they may be hesitant to ask? The school staff has a career and these students have an educational path they are on, as lifelong learners there are times for all of us to let down our guards and ask questions and challenge ourselves to deeper understandings. Take a look at my quickfire questions below! This week I focused on learning more about students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). After completing a year of student teaching as well as my first year of teaching I have had experience working with students who have this disorder. Through my own experiences these students typically had a hard time staying focused and completing their work in a timely manner. As a second grade teacher, to better support my future students with ADHD, I can provide technology as a tool to prevent the lack of focus, provide more productivity with their time and to keep them learning and engaged for longer periods of time.
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Work by Claire Cook is licensed under
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