Week #1

Marks

What a relief it was to hear that we would all have more than one opportunity to get an A-, A, or A+ in this course. Having the ability to do something over to improve my mark is something that I allow my students to do. However, not many of them take advantage of this opportunity; they know it is available to them. I believe if someone has done an assignment and it could be improved upon it is beneficial to that student to be able to take the assignment back, make the changes necessary and resubmit it. Being able to submit your work until you get it right allows students the ability to strive for excellence. There are usually a handful of students in a class who will receive 90-100% on an assignment the first time they hand it in. The other students in the class may have received lower marks for a number of reasons including: not fully understanding how to complete or present the assignment, not having enough time, not being in class when they were given the information they needed to complete the assignment.

I believe education is about learning and growing as a person. We get hung up on the marks as the indication of how much someone has learned and grown. Marks can be a good indication of if someone has understood the assignment. Being allowed to pass in an assignment for a second time after being told what you need to do to perfect it enhances learning. It gives students the opportunity to add to their work and make it better. It gives them the chance to excel and achieve a high mark.

Some people may say that giving an assignment back with comments telling the student how they could have received full marks is enough. If a student is not going to get any credit for re-completing an assignment you know as well as I do they are never going to put their time and effort into it. This will hinder further learning on that topic. Our jobs as educators are to increase not hinder learning, so why don’t more people allow their students to re-submit assignments? I believe it is laziness. It doesn’t take up that much time to look through an assignment for the second time because you are just looking for the changes that you asked to be made. Then the student gets a higher mark and this could motivate them to do their best in that course.

Prezi

Learning how to use Prezi on the first class grabbed my attention. I was impressed by the alternative method of presenting. Power point is a useful tool, however it seems like if someone is going to do a presentation that is what you are expecting them to use. It was nice to see and use something different. We are in the process of getting the ability to use and edit Prezi on the computers at school so I can introduce this software into my classroom for my students to use.

I believe learning has everything to do with relevance and willingness. If a student comes into my classroom and doesn’t see how they can use what I am teaching them outside the classroom they might be a less willing to learn the material. However, if a student can see how the topic would relate to their lives outside the classroom they will be more willing to learn.

21^st Century Learner Homework Assignment

I struggled with this assignment a bit because I didn’t know how to incorporate the 21^st century learned with the ability to get something done at home. I know that not all of my students have access to a computer or to the internet at home, but I guess they could make arrangements to go to the library or stay at lunch or afterschool in the lab. Thank you for the comment on the Times New Roman font style, I do need to change that. I was glad to get the feedback on my assignment and was glad I had time to redo it before handing it in. I do feel like I have more of an understanding of quality homework and will be able to do a better job next time.

How Large Are Teacher Effects?

This article was a heavy read. It made me think about teachers and the effects we have on our students. It was a good article to spark a discussion. I liked the idea of having to collaborate with someone on this article. Sometimes when you read something you are only thinking about it from your perspective, and it is nice to see what someone else thought about the same article.