Here's an opportunity to add final thoughts about our experiences - even if you intend to keep following the blog as subsequent groups of teachers engage with this powerful text. If you read this before the session later today please do not add a comment. We'll do that together with two prompts...
1. Please add a comment that relates to a questions like:
-What were one or two key themes that emerged?
-What unexpected outcomes showed up in your own classroom as a result of our blog group?
-How has this experience changed an aspect of your classroom or teaching? Your beliefs about learning? Your outlook on success for our students?
-What do you disagree with, or find to be overstated? What was ignored?
2. Also include a comment to answer the question:
-How was this process/experience for me as professional learning?
If you were unable to attend the session on 4/3/08 please add your comment in the next couple of days so I can complete the Act 48 process on MLP. I've really enjoyed your thoughts and questions. I look forward to sharing in this kind of learning again. Feel free to let me know about any books you think would fit well in this format of book study...Dave
17 comments:
1. Well, something that will be incorporated into my teaching of the research paper (9th grade chooses a career in which they have an interest). I will share the statistics of the amount of jobs being offshored, and how that may affect their future career choice after college.
2. I enjoyed the process of blogging about the same book with adults, I do blogs with my students, but they just don't give as detailed responses as we did! It's also nice to post whenever/wherever...I would like to post more, once I finish the book. sad to admit, I ran out of time in my schedule to complete the book and postings. I look forward to reading other books and posting online!
Overall, I learned that things are changing. As professionals, we need to keep up with the pace! I never really took the time to think about right/left brain thinking and after reading the book it all make sense. I truly believe it is important for us to encorporate empathy, meaning and play into our teaching.
I loved the blogging. I should have checked more often, but now I realize that I need to be more disciplined. I also liked the mix of professionals/buildings; getting to interact with people I usually would never interact with. I thought it was easy access and user friendly. I am now a blogger!!!
This was my first time blogging so I was a little intimidated. I am happy I did do it because I will feel more comfortable the next time. I am trying to go out of my box. I felt the book was very interesting I liked reading the different comments and views. I would benefit from having a specific due date for each chapter,it would help keep me on track. I will definitely do more blogging.
To offset many of the leftbrained concepts I must teach, I will make a concerted effort to add right brained activities (I just printed an article on how to use riddles to build childrens' verbal skills).
I like that you can blog any time, anywhere, and I like that someone who might not have the confidence to speak in a group could share their thoughts comfortably. On the other hand, I sometimes missed any immediate reaction to my comments.
I think for right now the first way I can try to expand my blogging is through my traveling. I am getting married in Scotland this summer and I might try to set up a blogger site so that I could get pictures to family more quickly.
I am a little nervous about trying this in my classroom but once I get more experience this might change.
Pink's book confirmed many things for me. One is we can't separate our spiritual and emotional self from who we are every day. We bring our total self to the classroom. This makes me realize how important of a job our administrators have when they interview applicants for teaching positions. It is not enough to know how academically successful their college career was.
A Whole New Mind emphasized the importance of nurturing our spiritual and emotional selves. How do we do this? Play, laugh, be grateful, be social, show empathy, and recognize and honor the variety of gifts evident in our students.
I'm not convinced blogging is my best way of communicating with others. I did it because I was expected to. I did more "lurking" than probably is acceptable. In short, I prefer face to face discusssion, but I am grateful for the opportunity to become familiar with this newer form of communication.
Being a strongly left-brained individual, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I do in fact incorporate many right- brained activities into my lessons at school. I also found it very interesting to look at various things in society from a right-brained perspective.
The blogging was fun, but I would have liked more direction...like a weekly schedule..."read chapters 1-2 this week", etc. That way the comments would be all relevant to the same sections and it wouldn't be quite as confusing to me. I like directions (LEFT BRAIN again). I hope you will offer this sort of thing again. I liked reading a book for professional development where I could discuss it with others reading the same. The blogging was a nice way to connect with those other folks. Thanks!
1. Even at a young age, I think my students do seek meaning in their work. When I introduce a new concept I make sure to talk to them about why they are learning this.(those wonderful standards in kid friendly talk!) Slowly, I have found students thinking about what I said, sharing their own ideas for learning, and taking learning to a new level. Everyone, regardless of age, needs to find meaning within all that they do.
2. I was grateful for the convenience of blogging in that finding time to meet before and after school has become quite challenging now that I have a 9 month old son whom I am very eager to pick up right after school. I'm glad I learned this process and hope to continue blogging. I do a Tuesday Tidbit with my students, so maybe I'll go back and read some of their responses in order to get better at being more concise!
I was amazed to learn how much "design" infiltrates so many aspects of life, business, etc.
The chapters on PLAY and MEANING were also very enlightening. I felt validated in attempting to share the values of hope and humor with students and my colleagues.
I was thrilled to see that humor was touted as a laudable trait, both in life and at work. Also, the ability to "play" was mentioned as something which enhances the quality of life....this is something that is easy to forget.
The experience of blogging was new for me and I have to say I truly enjoyed it! I had the ablity to comment on Pink's ideas at any time of the day or night. I appreciated the flexibility of blogging. It was cool to be connected with folks on a daily basis, to read their ideas and to be able to respond (if I chose to!) The book itself was stimulating and thought provoking. I am definitely looking at the world differently these days!
The three causes of abundance, automation and Asia struck me as being incredibly on-target. I heard someone recently describe the current economic situation in this way: We've been saturated with the "buy, buy, buy" mentality to the point that we buy much that we don't need. Then, when Americans stop buying, the government offers rebates and incentives so we can buy more that we don't need. It is interesting (and exciting) to note that people are beginning to realize that happiness and fulfillment are not found in monetary or material abundance. I found Pink's section on meaning especially interesting and will return to this quote often: "Our capacity for faith . . . the belief in something larger than ourselves . . .may be wired into our brains." (p.221) In the age of incredible medical breakthroughs and research, people seem to be increasingly spiritually sick. The abundance, automation, and Asia have opened up time for many to pursue spiritual meaning in their lives. This is a good thing!
As I was reading the book I realized design is all around us and plays a part in our lifves. Adverisers sppend millions of dollars to find designs that will sell products. I liked the chapter titled: Be Choosy. I agree that we can not let material things take over our life. It is ok to choose items that bring us joy but we still need to put family, friends and our spirit before stuff.
I really enjoyed it ultimately, though, initially, it was beyond my "comfort zone"! I'd participate with this format again, but be more at ease next time!
A big idea for me was the shift in the job market for upcoming generations - supposing that we are all sticking with our chosen professions. How does that affect education? DO we need to include more interpersonal practice, for example? My one word might be "respond". I think what we are faced with is a need to respond to whatever changes come.
As for the format - I've already said I don't like this box because I can't see the whole picture. However, I might add that I thought that as a new blogger, among other new bloggers, I saw more exposition that response. I think the conversation was discontinuous and somehow unsettling. However, the flexibility was great and I'd do it again.
I really appreciated this experience, as I found this book very insightful and thought-provoking. Pink particularly impressed me with his abundance of examples and suggestions for further research. I have every intention of using many of the portfolio ideas in the future since so many of them translate well into the discussions about society so often seen in social studies classes.
I also was happy to have a chance to experiment with blogging. I definitely want to incorporate a blog discussion into my AP Government course next year, and this book club really emphasized just how easy it is to work in this format.
I do agree with Karen F. that a little more direction probably could have improved the depth of our discussion. Overall, though, this was one of the best professional development activities in which I have participated. Thanks, everyone!
One outcome I hope to have show up in my classroom is blogging in addition to the writer's notebook. Thank you Dave and Brad for your willingness to show me how to set up a personal blog. From the information you gave me Dave, I think I can set up students with access to safe blogging. I think this is a great way to offer an alternative to students who have difficulty with their hand writing, I'm thinking about those who have this type of challenge listed in an IEP. If I have only one or two computers in my room, I can envision setting up a rotation for all of the students in the class to use the computer for writing time.
I really relate to the concept of being a first generation computer user. My kids are second generation, much more comfortable. It means I have to put in more time to learn it, and then use the learning to keep it.
With that in mind, I have found the format of this class to be very helpful. I had just finished a 30 hour on-line course with a different format. That helped me feel more comfortable with navigating blogger. Some of the skills are tranferrable, and it builds my confidence to try new things, like setting up accounts for my classroom.
Diane, thanks for your thoughtful post. Isn't it amazing?! The rebate situation. This generation has the opportunity to have quality thought time, and yet many times we are as busy as the finches on my niger feeder, consumed with fulfilling needs. Stopping to listen to that whisper instead of the screaming urge to shop can be powerful.
Dave, thanks for your availability during our class. On several occassions you quickly responded to e-mails for clarification or assistance. I'm grateful and very much enjoyed the book and study.
Kathy
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