I have known about Edutopia and George Lucas' work since I took my Computers in Education course in Farmington. Articles and videos frequently come up in class and were mentioned/shown several times at MAMLE. It made me realize I do not visit this site nearly enough on my own. There is an entire section of videos on middle level education (the articles are great too, but I prefer the video section). The idea of project based learning came up several times at MAMLE so I watched some videos on it and this is my feedback. (I do want to mention that Mike Muir reiterated to MAMLE attendees several times that you may not be able to do all these ideas at your school, but focus on the ones that you may be able to implement.)
This first video is about teaching math at an all boys school in Kentucky. It sparked my interest initially because we had talked about have single sex classes and recently Cony High School in Augusta has piloted all girls and all boys math classes. This video shares different classroom management and instructional strategies for working with the boys. I also enjoyed it because it is of a lesson from the CMP2 book Stretching and Shriking. My school uses this curriculum and I had never thought to teach this specific lesson with the manipulatives like he does. There is also a piece in this video where the instructor shows his homemade document camera. We are fortunate enough to have document cameras on every team, but this teacher did not let his lack of technology hold him back.
MAMLE also focused on the importance that student's learn in different ways. We need to value the different learning styles for students. In one of Mike Muir's presentations he mentioned that most students are bodily- kinesthetic learners or visually spatial learners and we tend to teach logically and linguisticly. This video highlights an interesting way to appreciate students' different learning styles.
Okay - first I have to say I loved the bbq chicken song! Thanks for the links Lindsay. The math one was intriguing with the boys - always trying to think of manipulatives to have available for all lessons is something I strive for but I never needed as a kid so I struggle to think which ones would be helpful when and that video reinforced the importance of providing hands on activities for all kids. I was wondering what the teacher meant when he said that certain colored manipulatives were important for boys.
ReplyDeleteThe multiple intelligence video was great. I was sad to hear they felt discouraged because of NCLB and testing and felt that they are just hanging in there with the MI opportunities. I liked the idea of having a period where the students could focus on their strengths. I wonder if that could be morphed into an advisory/MI group to help teachers not feel like they are taking too much time away from teaching content. The advisor could focus on one of the multiple intelligences while checking in with students. There was also a link for a MI test that would be kid friendly too off to the side of the video.
Edutopia is a veritable goldmine of resources, materials, and information. All done from a very progressive school point of view. In my opinion, it is what schools should be doing.
ReplyDeleteThe project-based learning pieces and really all the other pieces are right up our alley...for this class.
Excellent examples of what learning should be in middle level schools.