This week I felt like I got a lot out of tweeting again. These sessions are so important to our continued growth and understanding of what we are doing and where we are going to be heading. Just having others out there to answer my questions immediately or to bounce ideas off of gives me a more confident feel for how my own work is headed. When I received my feedback for the literacy review I was a little discouraged, but then I got to thinking about things and found that it was feedback I had already been thinking about and have been already working on changing. I really loved that comment by Lee this week, how everything we do is just a draft. As a teacher that is how I constantly feel, even year to year. Because everything changes, classes are different, curriculum change, and students are all different. I also appreciate all of the resources people give when responding to my blog post.
We are constantly changing our approaches, our materials, even what it is that we are teaching due to the many factors that surround our classroom world. Like when Jon stated that the student’s anonymous answers were not going to post for all students to see until they all answer the question, it reinforces that individuality of each student but also allows for their own thinking to be represented. Ali is having her students record their own reading voices so that they can hear themselves, which is something even teachers can benefit from. Like Thomas and his video-taping sessions with his classes. He may find that this may help his own teaching as well, since he will be seeing himself in action and will be able to assess his own instruction approaches. Or Tammy and her recorded interviews, which will allow for her to be more engaged in what the student has to say rather than writing while being spoken to.
What I find to be tough is figuring out which simulations to focus on. I know that I need to narrow down my resources so that I am only using ones that will benefit my students, but I am not sure that I can do this. Through my research I have learned that there are so many simulations out there and that they just keep increasing through time. I feel that I can’t narrow it down. I can give some that I feel are really good, but there will always be other simulations out there that may be better in different ways. Lindsey B was also having this issue, but she was able to narrow her list to three. She also got me wondering on whether I need to focus on just a few students as a case study. This might be the route I need to go.
Mrs. Winn's Tech Check 