Chapter 3 Reading Reflection

Discussion on what should be considered in finding “the Big Idea” for a project.
This section in the chapter discussed why understanding “The Big Idea” is important. It gave a really neat example of how to use technology to show a class what 1,000 of something looks like, which I thought was a really neat idea. The reason as to why knowing what the big idea is is important is because otherwise, the children have no reason to learn it. If there is no big idea, or no uniting feature as to why this project is being used or how it applies to the real world, then people will lose interest quickly. I can remember so many times in high school when we had to do ridiculous math problems which seemed to have nothing to do with the world we lived in. I remember saying to myself, “Well, I don’t really care if I don’t understand it because I won’t have to use it outside of this class anyways…” These are the sorts of things that children should never say. Unless there is an obviously stated “Big Idea,” then whatever it is that the students are doing won’t be meaningful and they will not want to partake.

Discussion on the 2lst Century skills.
This section discusses what is needed to plan a successful classroom in this modern age. I have already learned about Bloom’s taxonomy in a different class. The book kind of confuses these subject areas, I think, so here is a link to a more comprehensive description. http://www.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm
It is said that by incorporating different strategies of learning (by choosing different words from the chart to covey your objectives,) you will become a much more proficient teacher and will be able to affect a lot more children than if you were to solely choose from one category of the pyramid.

Discussion on the 21st Century literacies.
The first part of this section lists a whole bunch of things that, frankly, I don’t care about. What I enjoyed about this section is how they defined literacy. Usually, when we think of literacy, I think of books, reading, writing, and things like this. However, the definition in the book re-defines literacy as “…learning to be independent, aware, and productive citizens.” This is a much more comprehensive definition, to me, and I think that our current schooling system does not provide literacy very well at all. However, I was disappointed on the next page where Jeff Whipple labels children as “information artists.” I mean, seriously-is nobody else reading this?! Information artists?! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHY CAN’T CHILDREN JUST BE CALLED CHILDREN!? I am so fed up with everyone thinking that children are these empty vesicles, needing to be labeled and pushed through the system, given packaged bits of INFORMATION to be sent into the real world to apply what they know and the skills they earn…This is NOT the way we should look at children. They are not simply “information artists,” no. They are people. Real human beings. Crazy, right? I’m sorry, Jeff Nipple, but schooling is NOT ALL ABOUT INFORMATION. It’s about the kids. I’m so over this book.

Discussion on each of the essential learning functions.
This section outlined the different types of learning functions and how they relate to PBL. The first heading discusses the importance of learning outside the classroom. The second heading discusses deep learning, or finding raw information so that children can make their own meaning of the words they read. This is a great idea. The third heading discusses how it is important to make things visible and discussable. Fourthly, it is important to express ourselves, sharing ideas, and building community. It is also important to collaborate, which I’m fairly certain is the entire goal of this book. It is important to research projects and to have some good project management. These are all self-explanatory, but I’m listing them because I want to get my full point value on this assignment. And finally, if you’re still reading, we must reflect on our successes and failures so that we can try better next time. Yippee!

Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.
Of course, this section relates to our topic. We need to create different strategies for children to learn using Bloom’s taxonomy. We also need to ensure that each of our students understands the “Big Idea,” and the real world applications for studying the weather. By instilling a sense of curiosity and excitement in our students, we will easily be able to teach our students what they would like to know, learning more about ourselves as teachers in the process.