TED'S TEACHING AND LEARNING BLOG
I would like to offer a discussion blog that revolves around ther nature of teaching and learning. My main focus will be higher education but I would welcome comments from K-12 professionals (teachers, administrators, staff) since we are so inter connected and face many of the same problems and challenges.
INDEX
Ted's Class Materials-
Chapter Prep forms- These are the pre-class homework assignments for MAT030- elementary algebra and MAT040-intermediate algebra
Homework- These pages are to be used for homework.
First Class Materials- These are the materials I send out prior to the beginning of the semester , a letter of introduction, A math autobiography writing assignment due at the first class, and a course description and class schedule for the semester. In addition there is an extra help flier that describes all the help options available to students during the semester.
Class worksheets- All handouts used in Intermediate algebra are available on this page and many from elementary algebra are also available. The MAT030 site is still under development with new materials being added.
Materials for Teachers
Cooperative learning articles by Ted and others- This section contains articles, book chapters, and an ebook that I have written on the subject of cooperative learning.
It also includes a subsection with articles by many other authros who describe cooperative learning approaches and research.
Teaching sites- This section will include materials on teaching.
+7principles of good undergraduate education.
+Articles on appreciate inquiry.T
+articles on SLO's -student learning outcomes and how they are used in assessment.
+Adult education web sites
Teaching workshops by Ted- includes the agenda’s and materials from workshops and seminars I have offered over the years in a variety of venues.
Teds' WAC book for math- This page contains a link to my book on writing assignments deasigned fore math class. A table of contents is available for your review.
Retention ideas for DE math- This section includes my sabbatical report on successful retention programs at colleges around the nation in developmental math courses, plus a great deal of extra information regarding success in DE math.
Contact- allows you to email me
About Ted- My resume plus a link to an html version of my resume
Ted's clean joke file- Need a good or bad joke to tell somewhere? This is the place to come to get one.
Links to PBL/WAC/cooperative learning/ and the 7 principles sites
Ted's teaching approach as viewed and described by an outside observer
TED'S BLOG starts here. Please add your comments to any of the questions and topics presented below.
Thanks in advance for participating in my education blog
Tue
22
Dec
2009
Do you use cooperative learning activities in your courses?
Mon
13
Jul
2009
Should students be allowed to fail?
I came across the article below which I thought would make for some interesting summer reading and perhaps discussion. Especially in light of the recent emphasis on student
retention and success. The article sums up the true nature of success in college, in a more articulate fashion than I ever could provide and in a very simple and direct thesis which also applies to
how people succeed in life.
I was attracted to the article below because my experiences bear the speaker out. I have never had a student fail any of my classes in my entire career when they have made a
good effort! Some students need to make a very strong effort and a few a herculean effort to pass algebra, but when they have made the effort they succeeded. This might include extra help from me or
the tutoring available, working with a special support group, getting advising from faculty and staff, to name a few areas of support for students. But the bottom line still remains that success
depends upon the student effort.
My questions might be then 1.how do we convince our students that this is the case and 2. can we really motivate them to make the effort if they are not self motivated?
Educators Urged to Allow Their Students to Fail June 28, 2009 10:50 PM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/esther-wojcicki/tipping-point-for-educati_b_222071.html
Success is not as easy as it appears to be on first glance, according to noted author Malcolm Gladwell who gave a thought provoking keynote Sunday evening at the National Education Computing
Conference in Washington, D.C.before a capacity crowd.
Gladwell, author of the New York Times best sellers the Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers, addressed several thousand teachers about what learning really looks like.
"What you get [in education] is a simple function of what you put in. That is the beautiful and powerful idea behind learning... Sometimes the struggle to learn something is where the actual learning
lies," he said.
Gladwell used the example of the well known rock band Fleetwood Mac saying that it took them ten years and sixteen album failures before they produced their masterpiece Rumours. In the years before
their success, they had a rocky path that included losing their founder Peter Green for a few years before he rejoined the group.
"When we look at people who tend to master something, we have a tendency to telescope how long that took place. We underestimate how much time or energy it takes," Gladwell said.
When we examine the history of people who have mastered a field, we will see that on average it takes about four hours per day for ten years or what Gladwell calls the 10,000 mile rule. He gave an
example of the Beatles who had played together 1200 times before they experienced success when they came to America.
So how does this relate to learning and the classroom in the 21st century?
It shows that success comes with hard work, according to Gladwell. Few people succeed without hardwork. He gave another example of the KIPP schools that has one of the highest student success rates
in the country with low income students. "Those students go to school 60% more than their counterparts. Their motto is "Success is hard work," he said.
Gladwell stressed that one of the things we need to change in the schools is the attitude that success comes easily. Students need to know that to succeed they need to work hard.
He is right about that. In today's world, many students in the U.S. schools aren't taught to work hard. The complain about the homework load; or they complain that the teacher wasn't clear and they
can't do the homework. They don't think to figure it out themselves. In fact, schools today are worried that the students are too stressed and make adjustments. There is a trend to dumb down the
curriculum so that everyone can "succeed." Schools are looking to eliminate laning or tracking of students.
Another of Gladwell's points was that people who fail but don't give up are actually better able to build on their failures. They learn how to work hard in pursuit of a goal.
In fact, he said, in compensating for a failure students are really just learning how to be better. They try harder and come up with new pathways because inherent in failure is feedback...the
feedback of why you didn't succeed.
He talked about the dyslexic student who has to work very hard to get to the same point as the average student. He learns that he can't do it the way everyone else does it, but if he really wants to
learn, he figures out alternative methods and in doing so he learns many other useful skills.
They learn leadership skills because they needed a group of peers around them to help them; they learn how to delegate; they learn how to problem solve and they usually perfect oral communication
skills. "Their dyslexia turned out to be an an advantage, they learned how to compensate effectively."
In fact, there are many famous dyslexics who are heads of companies now--- Richard Branson, Henry Ford, Charles Schwab, just to name a few.
They never gave up trying.
Gladwell gave another example of the paradox of small class sizes. Studies are inconclusive when it comes to the importance of small class size. In fact, the students who score best on international
tests come from countries where class sizes are huge--China and Japan. He hypothesized that perhaps being in large class sizes encourages students to be more self-reliant. Perhaps they are helping
each other
"Perhaps here in America we don't give out kids an opportunity to flex their compensation muscle," he said. We are afraid of failure, but it is through failure that students learn. Perhaps we should
change our assessment system to allow students to make mistakes without the stigma of failure.
Failure allows for feedback and for modifications. In each instance of failure we learn, but if we refuse to try again, we are lost. Persistence and hard work are the keys, he said.
He ended commenting on an upcoming panel discussion entitled "Bricks and Mortar Schools are Detrimental to the Future of Education."
Gladwell said, "Whether it is bricks and mortar doesn't matter; what matters is how the learning takes place, not where the learning takes place." The applause he got indicated that most teachers
thought he was right.
Sat
21
Mar
2009
1. How do you encourage your students to take responsibility for their learning?
Here are some questions you might consider when responding to my blog question:
· What does taking responsibility for one’s learning mean?
· How do you implement your approach/philosophy in the classroom?
· How do your students react to being encouraged to assume more responsibility for their learning?
I have a site that may provide you with some interesting links to adult education theories. I believe that most of our current students are in a transition from being child learners to becoming adult learners.To find out what this means and get some additional ideas for the blog please visit:
http://tpanitz.jimdo.com/teaching-sites/adult-eduvation-theories/