I'm very happy to share my final project for my Teaching Character class (Relay Graduate School of Education via Coursera.org). The assignment was to put together a macro structure, an advance planned recurring activity for students that will tackle both an academic subject or extracurricular activity as well as a character strength like grit, social intelligence, optimism, etc.
In this case, I chose a homeschool activity for my son: story reading feedback time. We take up Language Arts every Friday. Apart from IXL activities, I ask my son to also read a chapter book. He has just started the transition from picture books to chapter books and it's been a real test of grit. So, I chose to make it a point to discuss not just the comprehension of the chapter book so far but also to discuss the challenges that he has gone through while reading a long story and how he demonstrates stick-with-it-ness during the reading activity.
The feedback activity is also a good time to start applying what I've learned so far from the Micro Moments lessons (constructive feedback --> growth mindset --> character behavior language loop). I want him to see for himself what grit looks like and how to identify that he's in the middle of demonstrating grit.
Our first session will start this Friday. :-)
Note: I am taking a 4-week class called Teaching Character and Creating Positive Classrooms (offered by Relay Graduate School of Education via Coursera.org) as part of my endeavors to enrich my homeschooling experience.
Showing posts with label homeschool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschool. Show all posts
Monday, March 10, 2014
Sunday, March 02, 2014
Teaching Character #2: The Power of "Yet" and The Metaphor of My Left Hand
Week 2, Micro-Moments, was really helpful in my homeschooling. It made my "teachable moments" so much more deliberate:
B: I think I'll remove the arrows in my Amusement Park map.
Me: Why?
B: Because there are labels for each ride, anyway.
Me: I think you did a good job of putting arrows in your map [constructive responding].
B: It really helps?
Me: Yes, it does. It helps the user of the map know where to go after one ride. I really like the effort you put into the map [growth mindset]. Putting the arrows in shows a good strategy for helping someone go over your project [growth mindset]. I think you're still capable of doing a better map by making it more colorful and attractive [critical feedback].
B: Okay, Mama, I'll keep working on it. [character behavior language: grit].
Me: That's great!
I was really excited to explore the power of "yet" in the Engage section of Week 2 ("I don't know how to do that...yet"). The two exercises I chose were:
1) Doing a mail merge on MS Excel
2) Sign my name with my left hand
The first one was relatively easy to learn. It was the second exercise that really fascinated me.
Here's my first attempt.
I researched right away and I found a Wikihow post that looked really helpful. The link is here. The first thing I did was create dotted lines of the alphabet (lower and upper case) and I tried tracing the lines. It wasn't as easy as I thought. Below my attempt is my own daughter's handwriting after she saw how much hard work I was putting into the exercise. I observed that my own persistence rubbed off on my kids and they started writing exercises on their own.
Here's my second attempt:
This time, aside from writing the alphabet, I added some shapes to trace. I thought I showed some progress. I remembered that line from the video where Dr. Carol Dweck says, "This is hard. This is fun!" I had a thought: I must be growing.
After tracing basic shapes and practicing letters, I graduated to tracing my right hand (apparently, pushing the pen/ pencil against 3-D contours will help guide the left hand). I also tried coloring in shape with my son's crayon. The result: not bad!
I then started to write real sentences (I used "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" because it uses all the letters of the alphabet. I started to get the hang of it.
Using my son's science book, I started copying a whole paragraph. This was hard work. You can see from the picture that towards the end of the page, I was already struggling (my handwriting is starting to get shakier!).
My last practice I consider the opus of my left hand exercise.
Here's the text:
Left Hand
This poem was handwritten with
my left hand, a literal exercise in
a different frame of mind.
Each line trembles even when I
know where it is supposed to go.
It has nothing to do with my steadfast
will or body of knowledge -- only muscles
now, muscles and time.
###
My left hand became the metaphor for my own growth mindset. Anything can be learned. Anything can be mastered. But the other half of will (and capability) is the work itself. There is no replacement for the work that needs to be done.
This was a really valuable exercise for me. It put me in the shoes of my own kids (and students). Writing (as in literal writing with one's hand) is hard work. It's not something that comes to you overnight. It needs practice. It needs time. And there's no going around it. "Yet" is a powerful word. It provides optimism and reassures you of future capability. That's something I'd like to inculcate in my kids.
Note: I am taking a 4-week class called Teaching Character and Creating Positive Classrooms (offered by Relay Graduate School of Education via Coursera.org) as part of my endeavors to enrich my homeschooling experience.
B: I think I'll remove the arrows in my Amusement Park map.
Me: Why?
B: Because there are labels for each ride, anyway.
Me: I think you did a good job of putting arrows in your map [constructive responding].
B: It really helps?
Me: Yes, it does. It helps the user of the map know where to go after one ride. I really like the effort you put into the map [growth mindset]. Putting the arrows in shows a good strategy for helping someone go over your project [growth mindset]. I think you're still capable of doing a better map by making it more colorful and attractive [critical feedback].
B: Okay, Mama, I'll keep working on it. [character behavior language: grit].
Me: That's great!
I was really excited to explore the power of "yet" in the Engage section of Week 2 ("I don't know how to do that...yet"). The two exercises I chose were:
1) Doing a mail merge on MS Excel
2) Sign my name with my left hand
The first one was relatively easy to learn. It was the second exercise that really fascinated me.
Here's my first attempt.
 |
| Practice #1: Shaky start |
Here's my second attempt:
 |
| Practice #2: Included shapes |
This time, aside from writing the alphabet, I added some shapes to trace. I thought I showed some progress. I remembered that line from the video where Dr. Carol Dweck says, "This is hard. This is fun!" I had a thought: I must be growing.
 |
| Practice #3: Tracing and Coloring |
After tracing basic shapes and practicing letters, I graduated to tracing my right hand (apparently, pushing the pen/ pencil against 3-D contours will help guide the left hand). I also tried coloring in shape with my son's crayon. The result: not bad!
 |
| Practice #4: Sentences |
 |
| Practice # 5: Copying a paragraph |
 |
| Practice #6: Original poetry |
Here's the text:
Left Hand
This poem was handwritten with
my left hand, a literal exercise in
a different frame of mind.
Each line trembles even when I
know where it is supposed to go.
It has nothing to do with my steadfast
will or body of knowledge -- only muscles
now, muscles and time.
###
My left hand became the metaphor for my own growth mindset. Anything can be learned. Anything can be mastered. But the other half of will (and capability) is the work itself. There is no replacement for the work that needs to be done.
This was a really valuable exercise for me. It put me in the shoes of my own kids (and students). Writing (as in literal writing with one's hand) is hard work. It's not something that comes to you overnight. It needs practice. It needs time. And there's no going around it. "Yet" is a powerful word. It provides optimism and reassures you of future capability. That's something I'd like to inculcate in my kids.
Note: I am taking a 4-week class called Teaching Character and Creating Positive Classrooms (offered by Relay Graduate School of Education via Coursera.org) as part of my endeavors to enrich my homeschooling experience.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Teaching Character #1: I Totally Underrated Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence
That said a lot to me. It means that I have a character strength that I don't recognize as something important for my kids to have (at least as part of the top 10). When I watched the video on character strengths, I was amazed that "Love" ranked #1 among teachers and administrators (I got this as #5 in my character strengths) but ranked way below that when they were considering what character strengths their students should have.
I am led back to the idea of education as real learning...and not the output of a society that is driven by productivity (and profit, if I might add). It has to do with individuals and unique ways of seeing the world. It has to do with appreciating what is beautiful in the world and what makes myself and others happy.
I'm humbled by my own VIA score. It shows me what kind of person I am and not the person I wish I could be. My leadership strength was at #22!!! But I ranked high in gratitude, fairness, hope, and love of learning. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's a snapshot of where I am right now.
I'm very happy to have gone through this exercise. And I'm really grateful for a guide in terms of character strengths which cut across religions and politics which I can apply not just to my children's education but to my own continuing education as well.
Note: I am taking a 4-week class called Teaching Character and Creating Positive Classrooms (offered by Relay Graduate School of Education via Coursera.org) as part of my endeavors to enrich my homeschooling experience.
Sunday, February 03, 2013
#EDCMOOC Week 1: Appreciating a Polyvalent and Complex View of Technology
#EDCMOOC Week 1: Looking To The Past
Appreciating a Polyvalent and Complex View of Technology
My #EDCMOOC (eLearning and Digital Cultures Massive Open Online Course) posts spring from my participation in the course offered for free by the University of Edinburgh via Coursera.org.
by Justine C. Tajonera
I signed up for the eLearning and Digital Cultures course because I am a mother coming to grips with how to bring up and educate my children in today's world. My husband and I are currently homeschooling our eldest boy (six years old). My husband and I came to this decision because we saw the benefits of real learning, discovery and one-on-one guidance (I finally got to see the statistics behind this in Daphne Koller's talk on TED:
I'm eternally grateful to the kind soul who posted the link to the 10 Best Talks on eLearning from TED). We experimented and attended talks on homeschooling here in Manila and we chose a program that's had thirteen years of experience and research. Apart from the textbooks, though, we felt that we had a great resource in the Internet. Just this first week of EDC was a great revelation to me. Despite the amount of information available, I never really focused on eLearning for home schooling purposes (this, despite the fact that I've already taken a course on Sustainability offered by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign via Coursera.org). My eyes have been opened. I'm starting to see that we made the right choice. And not only that, we have a limitless resource in our hands.
Starting from a Perspective: Utopia and Dystopia
I thoroughly enjoyed watching the short films from our Week 1 Resources. The question that was asked: There are many utopian and dystopian stories about technology told in popular films from Metropolis to the Matrix. Can you think of an example and describe or share it in the discussion board, on your blog, or on Twitter?
There are many examples of dystopias (and utopias that are actually dystopias in disguise) but not very many utopias, I think. It brought me back to one of the utopias that I cherished from childhood: Twilight Zone's Episode 17b, Quarantine (1986). It tells the story of Matthew Foreman who wakes up to a different society, one that he mistakenly calls "backward" until he finds out that they have achieved "biological gestalt," a world where "technology" has been replaced by awareness and spiritual growth and where the organic replaces the mechanical. I won't go into the plot, here, but I became aware of my own biases when it comes to "technology" and "progress." I enjoyed that particular TV episode because it paints the picture of a world that I want to live in, a world where diversity, harmony, spirituality and living with the earth (instead of using it and depleting it) are of utmost value.
Detecting Biases and Perspectives
Coming from there, I realize that I have a suspicion of technology. I won't beat myself up over it. I think it's very normal to come from somewhere. Reading Dahlberg's paper on Internet Research: Towards a Non-Reductionist Approach, I see the value of not just focusing on one perspective of technology.
Another question asked: Which of these perspectives (uses determination, technological determination, or social determination), do you lean towards in your understanding of the relationship between technology and pedagogy? Can you point to instances in society or in your own context where this stance is necessary or useful?
I now see that I was leaning towards a uses determination. I think that the user ("I") is perfectly in control of technology. But that is not really the case. I think it's useful to have this perspective up to a certain point only...maybe as a parent who can direct my children's interaction with technology...and the way technology is used for learning purposes. But I also see how I need to be aware of the other aspects of technology (it's own structure and the way it was, and continues to be, created and organized by society) for me to really tap into the opportunities that it presents.
Education, Big Business and "The New World"
John Daniel's paper, "Technology is the Answer: What was the Question? " reminded me what education is for: learning, discovery, and eventually, contribution.
Using Daniel’s four “b”s - bias, bull, breadth and balance - what observations can you make about his utopian arguments about education? What currency do they continue to have in this field?
I noticed that Daniel is leaning towards "progress" and that it is just a matter of finding the right tools, choosing the right vendors. There is an equation in his argument made up of access, quality and cost. The idea is to increase the access, increase the quality and lower the cost. But of course, it is not as simple as that. Based on what I've read from Will Richardson's book, Why School? (TED book), maybe we don't even need reform, we need a drastically different way of seeing education as a whole.
I saw the same thing in Noble's Paper on Digital Diploma Mills: the Automation of Higher Learning which took a more negative approach.
Why does Noble say that technology is a ‘vehicle’ and a ‘disguise’ for the commercialization of higher education? How can we relate this early concern with commercialism to current debates about MOOCs, for example? And how are concerns about ‘automation’ and ‘redundant faculty’ still being played out today?
There is a bias here on economic determination. He is talking about how technology is controlled by commercial owners, by school administrations operating as businesses. There is much to be skeptical about when "big money" starts controlling the picture. However, I think it's also very extreme not to see how technology can serve the genuine learning and discovery of children. What is wrong with "automation" when, as Salman Khan (of KhanAcademy.org) points out, children can learn concepts when they can pause and repeat "lectures" (or explanations by a competent teacher) without any judgment? I think some of these concerns have been addressed by non-profit organizations such as Coursera.org and KhanAcademy.org.
Migration And Diversity
Reading Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants by Prensky, I became starkly aware of myself as a digital immigrant. I was fortunate (or unfortunate?) enough to see the actual day when there was no Internet and when there was Internet. I remember listening with incredulity as a schoolmate explained the Internet to me: it's open to everyone, it was developed by the U.S. military, but somehow it became mainstream, and you can find out absolutely anything because all the information stored on this super highway is available to anyone with a computer and a modem. I remember the thrill of hearing the modem connect because I was going to get some email. I remember learning how to text message (adapting from slow typing to typing while doing other things).
When reading this paper (Prensky), try to identify the strategies that Prensky uses to make his argument - how does the language he uses work to persuade the reader? Who are ‘we’ and who are ‘they’? What associations do you have with the idea of the ‘native’ and the ‘immigrant’, and how helpful are these in understanding teacher-student relationships?
"We" for Prensky is us digital immigrants. "They" refer to our children, those who were born into a world where the Internet and cellphones are part of everyday life. He persuades me, the reader, using the argument of technological autonomy..."progress" is irreversible. Adapt or be left behind. There is some truth, of course, to what he says. My children will not experience the world that I experienced. But then...that can be said of any parent, regardless of when they were born. I think it's useful to the point that I, a digital "immigrant," can start to see things from my children's perspective and learn how to see as they see...even if "through a glass, darkly." For example, I don't have to be so opposed and totally against games. That is what excites my child. It interests him. That kind of structure can be (and actually already is) a platform for learning.
Wesch's The Machine is Us/Using Us gave me chills. But then, the question was asked: What is being left out of the story of the internet here, and from what position is this story being constructed?
I am reminded that there are many, many perspectives. Anything can be a "machine": my body, my automatic responses. So, I shouldn't be afraid of a collective Internet "machine." After all, it is a human artifact, it is made up of not only the technology itself, nor the users, it is made up of our collective being. We cannot predict where exactly it will take us but it assures us that there is diversity of thinking behind it. I think we can all profit from this diversity.
Which brings me to my most important insight from this first week: my need to value a polyvalent way of thinking when it comes to eLearning, technology and digital culture. It is highly complex and requires rigorous and expanded thinking. I hope to pass on this kind of learning to my kids.
I am very excited by everything that I've learned so far from this EDC class. And I look forward to the next weeks!
Appreciating a Polyvalent and Complex View of Technology
My #EDCMOOC (eLearning and Digital Cultures Massive Open Online Course) posts spring from my participation in the course offered for free by the University of Edinburgh via Coursera.org.
by Justine C. Tajonera
I signed up for the eLearning and Digital Cultures course because I am a mother coming to grips with how to bring up and educate my children in today's world. My husband and I are currently homeschooling our eldest boy (six years old). My husband and I came to this decision because we saw the benefits of real learning, discovery and one-on-one guidance (I finally got to see the statistics behind this in Daphne Koller's talk on TED:
I'm eternally grateful to the kind soul who posted the link to the 10 Best Talks on eLearning from TED). We experimented and attended talks on homeschooling here in Manila and we chose a program that's had thirteen years of experience and research. Apart from the textbooks, though, we felt that we had a great resource in the Internet. Just this first week of EDC was a great revelation to me. Despite the amount of information available, I never really focused on eLearning for home schooling purposes (this, despite the fact that I've already taken a course on Sustainability offered by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign via Coursera.org). My eyes have been opened. I'm starting to see that we made the right choice. And not only that, we have a limitless resource in our hands.
Starting from a Perspective: Utopia and Dystopia
 |
| source: en.wikipedia.org |
I thoroughly enjoyed watching the short films from our Week 1 Resources. The question that was asked: There are many utopian and dystopian stories about technology told in popular films from Metropolis to the Matrix. Can you think of an example and describe or share it in the discussion board, on your blog, or on Twitter?
There are many examples of dystopias (and utopias that are actually dystopias in disguise) but not very many utopias, I think. It brought me back to one of the utopias that I cherished from childhood: Twilight Zone's Episode 17b, Quarantine (1986). It tells the story of Matthew Foreman who wakes up to a different society, one that he mistakenly calls "backward" until he finds out that they have achieved "biological gestalt," a world where "technology" has been replaced by awareness and spiritual growth and where the organic replaces the mechanical. I won't go into the plot, here, but I became aware of my own biases when it comes to "technology" and "progress." I enjoyed that particular TV episode because it paints the picture of a world that I want to live in, a world where diversity, harmony, spirituality and living with the earth (instead of using it and depleting it) are of utmost value.
Detecting Biases and Perspectives
Coming from there, I realize that I have a suspicion of technology. I won't beat myself up over it. I think it's very normal to come from somewhere. Reading Dahlberg's paper on Internet Research: Towards a Non-Reductionist Approach, I see the value of not just focusing on one perspective of technology.
Another question asked: Which of these perspectives (uses determination, technological determination, or social determination), do you lean towards in your understanding of the relationship between technology and pedagogy? Can you point to instances in society or in your own context where this stance is necessary or useful?
I now see that I was leaning towards a uses determination. I think that the user ("I") is perfectly in control of technology. But that is not really the case. I think it's useful to have this perspective up to a certain point only...maybe as a parent who can direct my children's interaction with technology...and the way technology is used for learning purposes. But I also see how I need to be aware of the other aspects of technology (it's own structure and the way it was, and continues to be, created and organized by society) for me to really tap into the opportunities that it presents.
Education, Big Business and "The New World"
John Daniel's paper, "Technology is the Answer: What was the Question? " reminded me what education is for: learning, discovery, and eventually, contribution.
Using Daniel’s four “b”s - bias, bull, breadth and balance - what observations can you make about his utopian arguments about education? What currency do they continue to have in this field?
I noticed that Daniel is leaning towards "progress" and that it is just a matter of finding the right tools, choosing the right vendors. There is an equation in his argument made up of access, quality and cost. The idea is to increase the access, increase the quality and lower the cost. But of course, it is not as simple as that. Based on what I've read from Will Richardson's book, Why School? (TED book), maybe we don't even need reform, we need a drastically different way of seeing education as a whole.
I saw the same thing in Noble's Paper on Digital Diploma Mills: the Automation of Higher Learning which took a more negative approach.
Why does Noble say that technology is a ‘vehicle’ and a ‘disguise’ for the commercialization of higher education? How can we relate this early concern with commercialism to current debates about MOOCs, for example? And how are concerns about ‘automation’ and ‘redundant faculty’ still being played out today?
There is a bias here on economic determination. He is talking about how technology is controlled by commercial owners, by school administrations operating as businesses. There is much to be skeptical about when "big money" starts controlling the picture. However, I think it's also very extreme not to see how technology can serve the genuine learning and discovery of children. What is wrong with "automation" when, as Salman Khan (of KhanAcademy.org) points out, children can learn concepts when they can pause and repeat "lectures" (or explanations by a competent teacher) without any judgment? I think some of these concerns have been addressed by non-profit organizations such as Coursera.org and KhanAcademy.org.
Migration And Diversity
Reading Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants by Prensky, I became starkly aware of myself as a digital immigrant. I was fortunate (or unfortunate?) enough to see the actual day when there was no Internet and when there was Internet. I remember listening with incredulity as a schoolmate explained the Internet to me: it's open to everyone, it was developed by the U.S. military, but somehow it became mainstream, and you can find out absolutely anything because all the information stored on this super highway is available to anyone with a computer and a modem. I remember the thrill of hearing the modem connect because I was going to get some email. I remember learning how to text message (adapting from slow typing to typing while doing other things).
When reading this paper (Prensky), try to identify the strategies that Prensky uses to make his argument - how does the language he uses work to persuade the reader? Who are ‘we’ and who are ‘they’? What associations do you have with the idea of the ‘native’ and the ‘immigrant’, and how helpful are these in understanding teacher-student relationships?
"We" for Prensky is us digital immigrants. "They" refer to our children, those who were born into a world where the Internet and cellphones are part of everyday life. He persuades me, the reader, using the argument of technological autonomy..."progress" is irreversible. Adapt or be left behind. There is some truth, of course, to what he says. My children will not experience the world that I experienced. But then...that can be said of any parent, regardless of when they were born. I think it's useful to the point that I, a digital "immigrant," can start to see things from my children's perspective and learn how to see as they see...even if "through a glass, darkly." For example, I don't have to be so opposed and totally against games. That is what excites my child. It interests him. That kind of structure can be (and actually already is) a platform for learning.
Wesch's The Machine is Us/Using Us gave me chills. But then, the question was asked: What is being left out of the story of the internet here, and from what position is this story being constructed?
I am reminded that there are many, many perspectives. Anything can be a "machine": my body, my automatic responses. So, I shouldn't be afraid of a collective Internet "machine." After all, it is a human artifact, it is made up of not only the technology itself, nor the users, it is made up of our collective being. We cannot predict where exactly it will take us but it assures us that there is diversity of thinking behind it. I think we can all profit from this diversity.
Which brings me to my most important insight from this first week: my need to value a polyvalent way of thinking when it comes to eLearning, technology and digital culture. It is highly complex and requires rigorous and expanded thinking. I hope to pass on this kind of learning to my kids.
I am very excited by everything that I've learned so far from this EDC class. And I look forward to the next weeks!
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