Artifacts

Welcome to my Artifacts Page
I will be posting my new findings here. To see my working annotated bibliography, click here. 


This is a video on the Russian School of Math. I attended the school as a student from grades 1-10. I hated every year and completely rejected my time there. I benefited from what I was learning up to ninth grade, despite my constant distancing from the homework, teachers, and concept. I got all As in regular public school, even if I got a B- at RSM. But now, I work there, promoting the program in any way I can. I know appreciate what that school does and why it strives to achieve (and does achieve great results). This video is a wrap up of why the school works to promote the "thinking" behind learning directly correlating with my project. 

As I started on my said "dig", I came across this dense reading on diagnostic testing. In the beginning of this project, I wanted to make a "political" change, making diagnostic testing mandatory in order for students to understanding their natural learning style. Now, with the new path that my project has set on, this is not as valuable. 

http://www.fcrr.org/assessment/pdf/articles/RecommendationsTest%20inReadingFirstSchools.pdf

For anatomy, we also have to do a research based project in which we, essentially, are the teachers. Turns out, a lot of the resources will overlap and each project will benefit the other. These sources have a lot to do with right and left brain dominance, which is helpful in gathering basic and superficial knowledge about learning as  whole. 

http://frank.mtsu.edu/~studskl/hd/learn.html

http://web-us.com/brain/lrbrain.html

http://bama.ua.edu/~st497/pdf/rightorleftbrain.pdf

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/left-brainright-brain

In class, sharing with others will definitely be a huge benefit in this process. I got fabulous artifacts that I can use to pin point the focus of my project and to adjust my scope. A Finnish Experiment and Ben Hills on Radical Education. Also, I plan on watching "Waiting for Superman." A link to the project can be found here: http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/action/. Just under the tab, Our Mission, one will find; Great Teachers, Prepared Students, Excellent Schools, Increased Literacy, and Accomplishments. I watched this Ted Talk The talk was soooo absolutely perfect because it was exactly what the Russian School of Math does, essentially. And after going through nine rough years rejecting everything I could, I feel the slap in the face for it now. This video completely and deliberately explained why education needs to change.  When I watched this video (below), I felt completely connected to this issue. I agree 100% with the part where Davis G was talking about fixing schools will be impossible if we do not have teachers. But unfortunately, I feel powerless against that insurmountable problem. Since I work at a rapidly growing school, I see how teachers are often unprepared, despite their hard work and best efforts. This video resparked my motivation for the project and relieved (slightly) my irrational fear of the unknown of my project. 

I got a suggestion to explore Linda Hammond Darling. Here is PBS' interview with her. The interview sparked something in me. I feel if I was a teacher I would want to do better after reading the interview. A teacher can basically never do enough to achieve the desired results with students. I think that is a big contribution to the problems that I am trying to solve involving the way teachers are basically considering student's "learning". http://www.pbs.org/onlyateacher/today2.html

Also, I will look into Howard Gardner on Multiple Intelligence. I have yet to explore this aspect in depth. http://www.howardgardner.com/

Damnit! I had this wonderful paragraph all typed out, when my internet crashed and it didn't save. My luck. Either way, to sum it up, I wasn't motivated at the beginning of this weekend and felt totally overwhelmed by the people that were. Now, I am here at 1 am still looking at all this cool stuff. So check out the video below.
Very cool accent, very cool lecture, MY PURPOSE. The changing of education and the capacity of learning that he touches on really does speak to my project. 

Love Steven Johnson- Where Good Ideas Come From! I loved this video because it gave me a chance to see what I wanted to focus on. This was a great place to see if I wanted to alter learning environments to sustain good ideas and exploration from students. 

More TED talks: 

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugRZGDbPFU&feature=player_embedded#!  
• http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/michelle_obama.html
• http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/arthur_benjamin_s_formula_for_changing_math_education.html
• http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/gabe_zichermann_how_games_make_kids_smarter.html

The sites above do not help with my project but are simply fun links that have either a vague or specific relationship to how kids learn. This was helpful for me to narrow my focus and truly hone in on what I wanted to look for. 


I found this book sitting in one of my classes. It is by Diane Ravitch, who has been publishing 
books ever since 1974 on education. Seems like a promising, invaluable book! You can find her by visiting her site here http://www.dianeravitch.com/
--I started reading her book, and she has basically begun speaking on all of her work in many different organizations, and then the government. So far, she has just gotten into the surface of her ever changing opinions, but I will post more as I read her in-depth theories. 

I was just browsing about education and decided to see what role the government plays on this "CRISIS". I found this Blueprint, but I do not understand quite yet what effect it is taking, if a movement is in place, or how they will put this plan into action. I think it could be useful in the future of my project. I just don't think I am at that place in project yet to use this. It could be helpful as a part  of my presentation at the end to see where the future of education is taking us. But for now, I am not focusing on government involvement quite yet. http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/teachers/publication_pg4.html






I found a rubric out of Ms. DR's Lit Review that caught my eye. It is from Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe Understanding by Design, titled, Rubric for the 6 Facets of Understanding. This book will give me a better background coming from the teacher's side. The first question it asks on the back is, "What is understanding and how does it differ from knowing? The book focuses on the approach of introducing topics for better coherence. 


Why Don't Students Like School? A cognitive scientist answers questions about how the mind works and what it means for the classroom. By Daniel T. Willingham. The book is aimed for teachers to improve their techniques. There are a lot of case studies that I can use as well as integrate my ideas with the ones presented in the book. 


http://www.edtrust.org/dc/resources/presentations/high-school