Chapter 1: Arc-of-Life Learning
Quote - "what he looks for in other people's programs, he told us, "something really cool you could never know yourself" (23). I chose this quote because it really put in perspective what students are looking for when they are working with Web 2.0 programs. It is not a place of competition, but a place for collaboration and helping each other to get the most out of the experience.
Question - Maybe this is a little silly, but when is alright for me to bring in playing of MMORPG's in my class?
Connections - That most learning happens outside of the classroom, not within the four walls. I find this connection with the 20% project. I have yet to do any real learning for this project inside the classroom, maybe the start thinking of ideas. The majority of the project was and continues to be done outside the classroom, on my own time surfing the web and activity going out and trying it.
Epiphany/Aha: My aha moment really comes from failure. What seems like a failure, in reality, is a success to some students. You cannot chalk up a lesson, activity, lab as a failure until after to have re-examined it and talked to the students about it. What you see happening inside the classroom might not be what is happening in reality outside of the classroom. Students may be getting more out of the activity than you can actually see.
Question - Maybe this is a little silly, but when is alright for me to bring in playing of MMORPG's in my class?
Connections - That most learning happens outside of the classroom, not within the four walls. I find this connection with the 20% project. I have yet to do any real learning for this project inside the classroom, maybe the start thinking of ideas. The majority of the project was and continues to be done outside the classroom, on my own time surfing the web and activity going out and trying it.
Epiphany/Aha: My aha moment really comes from failure. What seems like a failure, in reality, is a success to some students. You cannot chalk up a lesson, activity, lab as a failure until after to have re-examined it and talked to the students about it. What you see happening inside the classroom might not be what is happening in reality outside of the classroom. Students may be getting more out of the activity than you can actually see.
Chapter 2: A Tale of Two Cultures
Quote - "embrace what we don't know, come up with better questions about it, and continue asking those questions in order to learn more and more, both incrementally and exponentially. The goal is for each of us to take the world in and make it part of ourselves. In doing so, it turns out, we can re-create it" (38). Every student needs to know that it is important to ask the right questions to stimulate their own learning process. Two people can look at the same object and see two completely different things. That's why there are so many variations of learning. We need to embrace the difference and let the students find out their own way of looking at the world.
Questions - How can I show my students how to observe the world and get them to start asking the right questions?
Connections - Bringing in the student's own interest will help them to being questioning. Small steps at first, then the students should take off, controlling their own education like our 20% project.
Epiphany/Aha - More of a "hmmm, well duh...." It is easier to learn and question if you are interested in the topic.
Questions - How can I show my students how to observe the world and get them to start asking the right questions?
Connections - Bringing in the student's own interest will help them to being questioning. Small steps at first, then the students should take off, controlling their own education like our 20% project.
Epiphany/Aha - More of a "hmmm, well duh...." It is easier to learn and question if you are interested in the topic.
Chapter 3: Embracing Change
Quote - "Yet it is hardly cutting edge. It assumes that there will be an endless supply of fish to catch and that the technique for catching them will last a lifetime" (40). I really like the way the author took the old saying, teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime and related it to education. It is true, the old way of learning might still work, but the process does change and it is important to be able to keep up with new technologies.
Questions - How would you model "play" for your students?
Connections - I feel a lot of my connections so far are to the 20% project, but again, I made a connection to that with this chapter because of the idea of playing to learn. I was able to get out and have fun, try something new, fail a bit, but really just go out and play to learn. If students feel like they are playing in the classroom, more engagement will happen and students will want to be there rather than feel like they have to be there.
Epiphany/Aha - I want to give more opportunities for my students to have fun in the classroom. Give them more of a reason to be there.
Questions - How would you model "play" for your students?
Connections - I feel a lot of my connections so far are to the 20% project, but again, I made a connection to that with this chapter because of the idea of playing to learn. I was able to get out and have fun, try something new, fail a bit, but really just go out and play to learn. If students feel like they are playing in the classroom, more engagement will happen and students will want to be there rather than feel like they have to be there.
Epiphany/Aha - I want to give more opportunities for my students to have fun in the classroom. Give them more of a reason to be there.