Day 2 Reflection

Today was challenging. I got frustrated halfway through and had to take a nap (it's summer and that's totally acceptable) and then come back to it with fresh eyes. I also had the realization that this whole process takes FOREVER but once it is done, it is actually really rewarding and will be really fun and engaging for my students. I am proud of the work I have done and look forward to sharing with the group! Also, I think this is a pretty sweet assignment. And my apps are cool.

PLN time - I mostly focused on growing my PLN because that has not been much of a priority in the past. I looked at several different organizations and found lots of good resources. The highlight of the day was having people follow me back! It feels good to be realized for doing a good job. One of the resources I found was an athletic training group in Canada. I hope to be able to incorporate more collaboration for my students and help them realize that that is a huge part of the real world! I found this awesome video of a TED talk from my alma mater and it was pretty amazing. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T9TYz5Uxl0
I also read some pretty cool articles from Time and Scholastic on reading and how to help students get interested. That is kinda my thing. You would think I would be a reading or English teacher...but anyways one of the articles talked about reading aloud. That is HUGE for our students. Some of them really struggle with reading so I know if we read aloud we are all going to actually read it and more of us will comprehend what it says. We can start more discussions that way, too. As far as tech goes, I starting follow some edtech boards and specialists on twitter. But I was more interested in athletic training. :)

Your lesson and student sample - I am using a lesson on acute vs chronic vs overuse injuries for this course. I selected visme to use as our web tool. It is at the evaluate level of Bloom's and augmentation level of SAMR. 

Barriers

The top 4 barriers for barriers that make transformation difficult are:

1) being stuck in old school ways - Some times we get stuck in a rut and don't want to change. We are happy doing things the way we are already doing them and resist doing it differently. So how do we combat this? Most realistically by having total buy in. We have to realize that change can be a good thing and sometimes the way we are doing things is not working. We didn't get to where we are today by staying the same. Nothing has. So if we want our students to succeed (and we all should!) then we need to be willing to do whatever we can to help them. Embrace it! 

2) we are skeptics - We do not believe that things will change no matter how awesome new, cool ideas sound. Education is education and it won't get better. Basically, the only way to get over this is to test out the theory and see if it does in fact work. Have a little faith in the system. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPhM8lxibSU

3) our students - Regardless of how much we may want to transform, our students are always going to be a factor. If they resist the change, it makes things more difficult. If they have limitations, it makes the changes harder. If they are excelling without the change, it makes a desire to change hard.
This one is hard. Really hard. We have no control over others' behavior, as much as it pains us sometimes. We can influence our students but at the end of the day they make their own decisions and make up their own minds about things. So, how do we fight against lack of motivation to conform? Explain, teach and SHOW them why the change is beneficial. One of the best ways is by being an example. Our students are watching EVERYTHING that we do! They will never admit it but they are. So, if we expect them to change, we need to first and then model it for them. According to an article by connectedprincipals, you should show how it saves times, explain that it is different (not more) work, and emphasize why doing it differently makes it better. 

http://connectedprincipals.com/archives/9756

4) the rigor and pacing of the subject material - our classes are so fast paced and test-driven that it is almost impossible to deviate. Because heaven forbid we get off our pacing calendar...
This one is a huge juxtaposition. You are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Short of overhauling the entire education system and starting over, there isn't much we can do. However, like Tony Wagner says in his TED talk, "The world doesn't care what you know. They care about what you can do with what you know." That is pretty powerful. I think that the more prepared we are beginning in August before school even starts, the better off our students will be. We need to plan with them in mind and forget the pacing calendar. Our students should be setting our pace and the rigor. We obviously need a minimum but the sky is the limit with how high they can go. Build levels into the lesson and let their minds set the standard. We often get caught up in petty things like deadlines and calendars and forget that the students and their futures are really at the heart of the issue. That is what education is all about. We have to make changes for them because everything around them is changing, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvDjh4l-VHo


Change is a good thing. But we are all human and no one really is excited about change all the time.