January 23, 2017
What's Up in the Tech World
Thoughts for the week.
There were lots of cool things that came across my desk this week, so let me apologize first for the number of resources I have included. I hope you will take just a minute to push through all the links and click on what looks interesting to you. Remember, all resources will not work for everyone. I have included a fun resource for Math teachers (Personal Finance also) and several great resources for English and History teachers. There are a few things near the bottom that might work for anyone.
I will be following my usual schedule this week (maybe); Lower Campus on Tuesday and Wednesday, Upper Campus on Monday, Thursday, and Friday.
In the paper, they talked about a student's progression through 7 stages of "grief" when confronted with the new idea of student-centered learning. It was a bit of an eye-opener for me because I really had a notion that my students should just LOVE when I offered the opportunity to do what I considered to be a fun activity. I am including the steps below. Have you heard these comments when you try something new? Take heart and don't give up! Most of your students will come around.
"TRADITIONAL STUDENTS IN A NONTRADITIONAL CLASS: A PAINFUL ODYSSEY
Woods (1994) observes that students forced to take major responsibility for their own learning go through some or all of the steps psychologists associate with trauma and grief:
1. Shock: "I don't believe it-we have to do homework in groups and she isn't going to lecture on the chapter before the problems are due?"
2. Denial: "She can't be serious about this-if I ignore it, it will go away."
3. Strong emotion: "I can't do it-I'd better drop the course and take it next semester" or "She can't do this to me-I'm going to complain to the department head!"
4. Resistance and withdrawal: "I'm not going to play her dumb games-I don't care if she fails me."
5. Surrender and acceptance: "OK, I think it's stupid but I'm stuck with it and I might as well give it a shot."
6. Struggle and exploration: "Everybody else seems to be getting this-maybe I need to try harder or do things differently to get it to work for me."
7. Return of confidence: "Hey, I may be able to pull this off after all-I think it's starting to work."
8. Integration and success. "YES! This stuff is all right-I don't understand why I had so much trouble with it before." "
"Resistance Paper". Www4.ncsu.edu. N.p., 2017. Web. 20 Jan. 2017.