Final+Project+-+Guseman

ESSENTIAL BELIEFS PORTFOLIOS  “Don’t limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.”   - Rabindrath Tagore (1861-1941)

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Ask some teachers about when they first encountered technological advances such as email or the Internet, and you might hear about dial-up modems, monochrome screens, AOL Prodigy, floppy disks, dot matrix printers, and memory that was measured in kilobytes. While we have adapted and evolved in our digital interactions, we still tend to treat technology as a collection of tools that may make learning “fun” or more efficient, but is ultimately subordinate to the traditional models of learning and instruction. By and large, literacy and numeracy are still seen as the true goal, with technology playing a supporting role. =====

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As Marc Prensky argued in "Our Brains Extended," however, this view contradicts that of the current generation of learners. While we come from a world in which the acquisition of knowledge is paramount, students inhabit one in which the acquisition of skills is most important. What they are working with is not a tool in the traditional sense, but a framework that guides their view of and participation in the world. Technology, as Prensky says, “ isn't something we need //in addition// to mental activity; technology is now //part// of mental activity.” =====

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This kind of activity has the potential to develop learners who are more collaborative, innovative, and entrepreneurial, but f or all of its strengths, educators must still be mindful of the challenges the current climate poses in the classroom. Comfort with technology can lead to a certain kind of complacency. Call it the “Googlization” of thought: when the thinking can be outsourced to others, students are often quick to turn to technology for the answer. While there is nothing inherently wrong with using technology in this way, it supports a dynamic in which the device or portal is considered the source of expertise, not the learner. =====

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Because of the sheer volume of information available in this new framework, brevity is considered a virtue, but being able to be //concise// - a more accurate measure of skills mastery - requires critical, reflective thinking. Purely consumption-based approaches to technology will not lead to deeper understanding or ownership of learning. If students will be expected to use higher-level thinking skills, then, they will need ways to interact with ideas, peers, and and texts that puts them in control of examination, analysis, and production. =====

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This is what makes 21st Century instructional design so crucial. By adjusting instructional strategies to be more flexible, recursive, and open-ended, teachers can help students assume ownership of both what they have learned __and__ how they have learned it. As suggested by Dr. Stepien, beginning with students' beliefs creates a classroom ecosystem that responds directly to their interests and needs, which in turn guides not only instructional strategies, but areas such as assessment and intervention as well. =====

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The following lesson attempts to re-design the use of essential questions in the classroom so that students have the opportunity to continually reread, rethink and revise their beliefs over the course of a unit. Collected in a Google portfolio format, students will have a product at the end of the year that captures not only their collaborative efforts to read and understand, but the evolution of their thinking process as well. =====

** Part One: Stating Beliefs **

 * =====At the beginning of each unit, students will activate prior knowledge by examining a collection of print and video images related to upcoming topics.=====
 * =====Students are then assigned to small groups to discuss the essential questions for the unit. Each group will generate and record their belief statements about each question on their copy of the Essential Beliefs form in Google Docs. (see sample artifact below)=====

** Part Two: Analyzing Beliefs **

 * =====Keys texts are shared with students through Google Docs. Tracking and annotating the text (as described in //Comprehension and Collaboration// by Harvey and Daniels) is done with the tools available in Adobe Reader. (see sample artifact below)=====
 * =====Group members then share their annotated texts with one another through Google Docs. Students add to one another’s thinking by discussing the questions and ideas raised in the tracking process.=====
 * =====Each group goes back into their Essential Beliefs form to record thoughts, questions, facts, findings, and examples that either support or dispute their beliefs.=====

** Part Three: Evaluating Beliefs **

 * =====By the end of the unit, each group should have enough material collected on their Essential Beliefs document to be able to answer one of the essential questions in detail.=====
 * =====Students identify one essential question they would like to answer. Using Google Docs, they will synthesize all of the information gathered under that question and reflect upon how their thinking has changed during the course of the unit.=====
 * =====This writing piece is kept in their individual Essential Question Portfolio in Google Docs, along with a copy of their group’s Essential Beliefs document and all of their annotated texts.=====