Journal 9: How to Do More with Less

Pape, L., Sheehan, T., & Worrell, C. (2012). How to do more with less. Learning and Leading with Technology, 39(6), 18-22. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/DigitalEditionMarch-April2012.aspx Summary: The author of this article exposes the idea of teaching more students and larger content areas with less money and resources.  How can parents expect teachers to improve students' test scores?  The author defines two strategies that are designed to help in this type of situation. Two learning strategies discussed are the blended classroom and the flipped classroom.  The blended classroom is a mixture of face-to-face time between teacher-students and students-students. Classrooms that incorporate this strategy have: teaching resources such as videos, notes, slide shows that teachers post online for students to review after school hours or offering on-line assessments.  The flipped classroom takes the idea of homework and classroom practices and flipping them.  Such as, rather than utilizing home time to apply the knowledge students learned during class time, they should become familiarize themselves with the content.  Once the students familiarize themselves on the content, in class the students can apply what they learned into real world situations with the teacher and other students. The article provides and explains examples of resources teachers can use in class to teacher independence and learning.

Reflection:  I found this article to be very interesting because my school incorporates some of the resources described in the article.  We use Wikis to document and collaborate strategies that assists individual student learning.  Teachers create pages for each 'at-risk' student and strategies they used to assist that student. Other teachers, who may be having difficulty with that same student, can access the Wiki page and gain ideas and strategies from other teachers. 

Question 1:  I like the idea of providing on line resources for studnets' use but I often find this tool becomes a tool for the parents use.  It takes all the responsibility away from the child and places it on the teacher. How can a great tool such as blackboard teach the kids independence without enabling them?  Our school has a blackboard site which each individual teacher sets up.  Some teachers offer a wealth of information and resources where as other don't spend the time to do so.  The teachers who offer the many classroom resources often becomes the crutch for the parents.  Parents become irate when notes, examples, and study guides are not placed on the site rather then the parents using it as a tool to help their child's independence.  The parents need to hold their own child responsible for their work, not the teacher.

Question 2:  What can a school do for those parents/families who do not have access to the Internet?  This is a huge issue with certain kids in my school.  Some families have the Internet and others are not able to have such a luxury.  I find it difficult to require something from the kids when they don't have access.