The "I" in PICKLE, also the information using was such an eye-opener. This reading made me reflect on how we get our information. There is information everywhere and so easy to access from anywhere in the world. Information that pertains to you and information that pertains to someone across the world. No matter where you live you have access to it in form of newspaper, magazines, journals, encyclopedias, news show, telecast, radio discussions; it's all around us. Little did I know that I was self filtering not only the amount of information I read or listen to but also the type of information I wanted that interested me. I never thought of myself as a filter but when I scroll past headlines that may interest someone else, I am acting as a filter.
Similar to how we get information on the world, I find myself doing the same thing when getting information about effective teaching strategies, latest curriculum, project based learning, and even student seating. No matter how you look at it, it is all information that is mostly opinion based. Now I'm sure the research done behind each topic is legit, but again it is filter in a way that backs up their selling point. I find my self being consumed hours and hours at a time by a good article, then linked to similar articles. As discussed in class, our devices then learns what we like and only shows information that would interest me. When in fact I need to look at the pros and cons to each subject or topic being researched. I alwys look up the benefits to new ideas, very rarely do I look at the negative side to it. I don't want to see the ways it can go wrong!
We need to teach our students how to avoid spending to much time consuming. With everything in life we need balance, we need to teach our students a balance when consuming information. It is a school requirement to teach common sense media lessons. These lesson teach students how to use the computer responsibly and appropriately. We can also use this opportunity to teach them how to be healthy consumers of information. Teaching them that not everything you read is "healthy" on the internet. I too can do a similar activity in the classroom, 12 rules with a tangible, to help students remember their jobs as 21st century learners and the importance of a healthy and balanced information diet. And not only with technology but this can be used for a lot of concepts. We are currently doing famous Americans, this idea can be modified so I can have the class come up with 5-10 words that describe a Famous American and come up with a tangible that represents each one. So many ways to spin this! I am excited for class 2!
Great idea about finding the "tangible" for the famous Americans. Our school focuses on the 7 Habits, so we look for personality or character traits, but having kids find the tangibles could make these character traits more concrete for them. Huh - thanks for the connection! It's interesting you said you look for articles that reinforce the positives of topics you research. I've become accustomed to looking at reviews of products, businesses, or restaurants online and looking at the 1-star reviews to see what went wrong. I tend to discount many of the complaints (since more people log in to review places when they want to complain instead of compliment), but I guess that's another way to filter our information. With regard to proof of needing to use your personal knowledge to determine trustworthiness of online information, one of my favorite images to show the kids is the photo of Abraham Lincoln with the quote attributed to him saying, "Don't trust everything you read on the Internet." It's scary how long it takes the kids to figure out why that's wrong, though to be fair, their concept of time and how long the internet has been around isn't exactly linear. They can't believe I'm old enough to have lived during a time without Google...
ReplyDeleteThere are definitely a lot of opinions out there on seating in a classroom (just like everything else). For every positive article or blog I read about alternative seating or choice seating in a classroom there was another that said it wasn't always best. When in reality it just comes down to the type of teaching style you have and the group of kids you have. There are good and bad sides to everything and Clay pointed out that we really need to take in both to make truly informed decisions.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea of bringing this to the classroom for your Famous Americans unit.
Love your idea of adapting the tangibles to other content learning!
ReplyDeleteI have learned to hard way to look at reviews. While Mindy is right - more people will write a review if they had a bad experiences I still need to be more informed when I make purchases or other financial decisions, I’ve made poor choices that after I went back and did more research I found I could’ve made more informed decisions. As for educational research I find that I often don’t question the research findings - I simply accept them, especially when they re enforce something that I already believe (confirmation filter). I have no problem with the research supporting less/no homework. My experience is the students that do it don’t need to and the students that need to do it don’t have the support at home to do it. My experience with flexible seating is frustrating. I don’t enjoy watching students bounce on balls all day and I don’t see any connection to them learning more, focusing better or being more engaged in classroom activities. But the school has embraced this and so I’m coping the best I can.