Instructional Problem Description

At St. John's, a student is expected to be technologically adept --- in fact , this is one of the school's expected schoolwide learning results. For the most part, a good majority of our student population ARE tech-savvy. Most have their own laptops (only the latest model!) or handhelds. They use the computer in school and surf the Internet with ease. Almost all of the students have Internet access at home enabling them to be connected to the vast resource that the Internet provides.

This year, the middle school (grades 6-8) teachers initiated a Study Skills course that allows each student the opportunity to learn a skill --- conflict-resolution, logic, creative writing, proper eating habits, to name a few. My course was called Internet Research. Each course was to run for 4 days (out of 5 days in a week; the 5th day was reserved for chapel services) every quarter, with the student switching from one Study Skills to another every week. In other words, if I was a 7th grader, I would have Logic Class this week, Conflict Resolution next week, and Internet Research the week after that. This would repeat every quarter, which means that a student would have a total of 4 days x 4 quarters = 16 days in the whole school year to learn one course. Of course, this is in reality actually just 10 days or so (with holidays and some events that take precedence over Study Skills).

In the short time that I have taught Internet Research, I can see the need make the class a full-time subject, something that could be taught in a semester instead of just 10-16 days. The students, although capable of surfing the Internet, do not really understand that doing research on the Internet does not mean believing every website that comes up on Google, for example. Or that Google is not the only search engine available to them. They should know what keywords to put in the search box of a search engine to optimize the results that they want. They do not yet know how to tell a good website from a bogus one. They need to be taught this skill before being let loose on the Internet. They need to create their own websites so that they know how easy it is to make people believe that one can pretend to be an authority on a certain subject. They also need to be made aware about NETtiquette.

This course will be designed with middle school students in mind. It will run for at least a semester or at most a school year. This will be taught for the specific purpose of teaching the students on HOW to do research on the Internet.

Chapter 11 - Next Steps...

The last chapter of the book speaks of the steps we must take to bridge the gap between what is happening in the classroom and the research that determines what must be done different in the classroom.

I am reminded of one workshop I attended a long time ago. It was a PREL workshop regarding the use of technology in the curriculum. We were brainstorming within my assigned group and we were asked to critique a certain research finding. One of the members in my group said something to this effect: "The researchers must know what they are talking about. Let's just copy their findings. After all, they are researchers!" And the other one in my group said sarcastically, "Yeah, and we are just teachers."

Between the researcher and the teacher, between the administrator and the teacher, we must put more stock into what the teacher says than anyone else. And I am not saying this just because I am a teacher. We are the ones in the classroom, we are the ones who will be directly affected by anything and everything that these researchers will insist that we do to support their hypotheses. Which is ok if they are always right. But they are not. I can think of numerous "new findings" that didn't pan out because of lack of merit.

I say that teachers should also take a more active role in research. (Yeah, with 5-6 classes a day, how?) I know that in China, math teachers only teach 2 classes a day because the rest of the day is spent collaborating with colleagues, to learn useful techniques from one another, and to design effective lessons. They reserve half-a-day each week for in-service training. The trainors are all master teachers, not researchers who have never set foot inside a classroom. Is it any wonder how the United States is so far behind China in terms of math? They must be doing something right.

I know this idea above is going to be met with skepticism (!) but the state of education in our country is not so great. Maybe it is time that we begin to look for answers from people who know the state of education inside and out --- teachers.

Chapter 10 - Conclusions

Since the chapter was basically a summary of the conclusions from the past chapters of the book, I believe I have said everything that I can say in my previous blogs. So instead let me recap the important points I have learned in each chapter --- my own conclusions:

• Chapter 1: The definition of "knowing" has shifted from being able to remember information to being able to find and use the information. Therefore our teaching methods should also shift appropriately.
• Chapter 2: Expert teachers should know WHAT to teach and HOW to teach it.
  
• Chapter 3: Teachers should work on or reconceptualize the students' existing knowledge to make transfer of learning more fluent.
• Chapter 4: Children learn better around caring adults.
• Chapter 5: The mind is a remarkable organ that can connect and reconnect at will. This seems to occur much more easily during childhood.
• Chapter 6: The television has its benefits in the field of education. Otherwise, if only used for entertainment purposes, parents should be wary of what their kids watch.
• Chapter 7: History could have been more fun for me had I realized its interpretative nature; that it is not merely a collection of unrelated facts and events.
  
• Chapter 8: In order to learn, a teacher has to teach and be taught.
• Chapter 9: Technology is here to stay and if we want to be teachers of tomorrow we must learn to adapt to education's ever-changing needs.

These seem to be little snippets of things that do not necessarily encapsulate what each chapter was meant to show. But they stood out for me and I found meaning in them, hence their inclusion in this blog.

Chapter 9 - Technology

When St. John's started to offer to host a cohort of graduate students who will major in Instructional Technology, I thought that there couldn't be a better fit for me. So I and several of my colleagues said yes --- and here we are today.

I am happy that the chapter on technology made me realize that we are not doing so bad in terms of technology in our school. For the most part, our teachers from PreK - 12 are all technology advocates. Handheld computers are being used from lower school (to practice math skills, music skills) to middle school (for essay writing, outlining). Our high school teachers use Moodle to check students' works. Colleagues talk to each other using quick e-notes (popups). Parents are able to check their child's progress by logging on to an online grading system. One can see how important connectivity is at our school. The moment our connection is down, our computer person is all over the place, checking to make sure that what is up should be up.

This year I did a virtual form of the science fair patterned after a presentation I attended last year at EARCOS (East Asia Regional Council of Overseas Schools) of which St. John's is a member. This virtual science fair paired each student of mine with a science expert (some were science undergrads from UOG, some were science teachers from the Philippines, some were colleagues, etc) who advised them (online) regarding their project. The students had the benefit of their advisor's expertise and I as their teacher are not bogged down advising 100+ students. For me, this was a win-win situation. There were a lot of kinks that needed to be ironed out in the beginning but for the most part, it was good to see the kids doing science online.

Chapter 8 - Teacher Learning

The book is right in saying that the need for teacher learning has dramatically changed over the last couple of decades. There are a lot more opportunities now for teachers to learn to improve their pedagogical skills than there were when I started teaching (we won't say how long ago that was)...

One thing I would like to focus on in this blog is that "teachers learn how to teach a student by focusing on their own experiences as learners." When I was a student, my teachers were all the lecture-and-test types. So for the first couple of years when I started to teach myself, lecture-and-test was the way that I went. My thinking was, hey, if I learned that way, so should my students. I turned out ok, and so should they.

Of course, now we know that not all learners are like you and me. And that is why teachers need to be taught many different methods of pedagogy --- to accomodate the many types of learners in our classrom.

One thing that also caught my attention in the chapter was that teachers need to teach other teachers so that they may learn about learning (boy, that's one sentence you shouldn't show an English teacher). I am actually reminded of my college physics teacher who said the same thing. He said that he only actually learned physics not when he was in college nor when he was in graduate school, but only when he started teaching it to freshmen. I actually thought he was joking until I started teaching myself. Not only that, I learned more about teaching when I started collaborating with colleagues, teaching them and being taught myself. The only thing one needs is an open mind and a willing spirit.

Chapter 7 - History, Math, and Science

Well, finally.... now I know why I never liked history...

I love math and I love science (even if sometimes they don't love me back). But there is no love lost between me and history. The mere mention of the subject sends shivers down my spine and makes me want to crawl into a corner and hide... Why, you ask? Because when I was studying history all I remember was being made to memorize "important" events so that I will learn from past mistakes of other people.... How do I do that with dates and facts and stuff? I still remember this teacher of mine who asked the following question on a test: "How many cows died in WWII?"

Contrast this with my husband who is a history buff. Whenever we are watching documentaries or movies based on actual events, he ALWAYS has an answer to any factoid I bring up. From medieval history to Asian history to current events, he seems to know the subtle interconnections between them. So last night when I was reading the chapter I asked him how come he loves history so much. His answer was that he finds history interesting that it did NOT become HARD to remember dates and facts.

As teachers then, it is important to stimulate the interests of our students enough that they will want to remember dates and facts. And even if they did forget one or two facts (hey, we're only human), they know enough not to say that the Pearl Harbor was in the Philippines (that was me!) or that Russia was one of the bad guys in WWII (me again!).

Chapter 6 - The Design of Learning Environments

OK, so we had more of the same things to read for this chapter. I thought the book was kind of repeating itself because I saw the same concepts that I read earlier in the book --- concepts like having learning environments that are learner-centered, knowledge-centered, assessment-centered, and community-centered... and so on and so forth.

Until I got to page 149 and got to read about television. What it basically says is that educational TV is ok; and children will get the greatest benefit of watching entertainment TV if watched with the guidance of an adult. This is common sense; everything that kids do is better (or made safer) with caring adults around.

I grew up watching The Electric Company. I still sing some of its songs to my daughters even though it has been off the air for decades. But that is how deep an impact the show had on me. I was an impressionable child when I watched that show; every song that they sang I sang it too. Every dance that they did I danced it too. Every stunt that they pulled... well, suffice it to say that my parents should probably thank their lucky stars that The Electric Company is educational TV at its finest.

Which is why we have to be wary of the television acting as babysitter to our kids. Yes, it does have its educational benefits but for the most part, kids watch it because of its entertainment value. And that is where the danger lies.