Hi All,
Welcome back to the grant project and I enjoyed reading your posted comments and use of various strategies (e.g. Polar Opposites). I found the view of podcasts and listening minus a person/face to echo some of my feelings in this regard. Works fine for music but less so when you would like to see a video clip of the speaker (ala Teacher Tube and YouTube).
While traveling over the holiday period, I finished reading Literacy and Education. On page 114 the authors talk about "the classroom of tomorrow." So, here's a question for us:
In your view, what would an ideal classroom look like in your discipline? And, what would it offer for students?
For example, while back in my home state (Hawai'i), I read about a school on the Big Island that is essentially a Hawaiian culture magnet school. A few days each week students are out of the classroom in the natural envrironment growing taro, studying water quality, etc. The science curriculum (math too) revolves around social practices that are cultually based on ancient and modern Hawaiian ways of knowing and acting. This seems like a pretty powerful way to approch curriculum and high school graduates of this program have successfully advanced to college and beyond. In a way, this is an ideal classroom/school design for these students.
Your thoughts? (and I know it's easy to be pretty cynical amidst the perfect storm we find ourselves experiencing in 2009).....
Thanks,
Tom
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I think that my classroom would be ideal if it had more supplies and an ELMO projector. It would help me to model Interactive Notebooks and science procedures if I had the ELMO. I have seen them used before and have been trying to get one since! I would love to have the rock and mineral collections that I've seen in other schools. I envy the availability of stream tables, groundwater similators, computers and other equipment in the newer schools. Technology and hands-on activities provide motivaton for students and encourages them to explore science concepts.
I feel that my teaching would be enhanced if the budget allowed for my school to be modernized. I have a small, pie-shaped classroom. Within those walls I try to arrange my groups for collaborative discussions and lab work. I believe that is the best way to reach my ELL and students with disabilities.
Working with what I have got has been a challenge. I find myself purchasing things that I think would catch students' attention, with my own money. I have incorporated many new learning strategies with my students but still feel limitations.
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