Additional Assignment #5

He Just Likes the Class for the Pencils

The main idea in this post is that ultimately, it's about trust and purpose. If we want our students to trust us, we have to be able to take the time to listen to them, so we can really get to know them. If we treat our students with respect, more than likely that is what we will get in return. The students aren't going to like us just because of some technology we use in our classroom that their other teachers do not use. They will like or not like us based how we treat them. If we don't care about what they have to say, more than likely, they will not care about what we have to say to them.



The Medium Shapes of Learning

In this post, the main idea is that we can't just pick a certain kind of technology we want to use to teach a lesson. We have to realize that the medium we use to get the information to our students can change the message if we choose the wrong one. Just because a certain medium may be more fun than another one, doesn't mean that it is the better choice.

Sketchy Portraits: 8th Grade Identity and Pencils

I think that the main idea in this post was about realizing that the students are at different ages, and they are experiencing different things in life. A fourteen year-old, for example, yearns for freedom and yet still clings to the safety of childhood. A first grader gives unexpected hugs, ignoring the rules of space and they interrupt you when they are excited. They aren't doing this to be rude. It's simply because of their age. They haven't reached an age where they learn these types of things yet. We have to understand that they are still children, and they are growing up and learning all the things we have already learned or been through. We should be more understanding.

Just Teach Them to Solve for X

In this post, I think the concept he is trying to get across is that sometimes we have to change the way we look at something, so we can better understand what we are looking for. Instead of using "x" as the variable in the math problem, he has his students create metaphors for the concept of "x". He wants them to understand how variables work, because if they don't understand how "x" is used, they won't understand how it is used in life. There are many different ways to go about teaching something. Teaching isn't always conventional. Sometimes we have to change the way the problem is seen, so the students have a better chance of understanding. It's amazing how we can not understand something looking at it as "x", but when we change the "x" into something that's real and not some "magical number", we can understand it a lot easier.