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1. How do you see yourself using the knowledge you have gained from this course?

2. What concepts/ideas would you like to explore further?

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What is your personal reflection of "The Power of Grappling" screencast?

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Week 1 Part A Discussion:   In what ways do you currently connect to the “real world” in your classroom? What are your takeaways with regard to the importance of students having a felt need for their learning?

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Week 1 Part A Discussion:   In what ways do you currently connect to the “real world” in your classroom? What are your takeaways with regard to the importance of students having a felt need for their learning?

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1.

Daily, I really do. This sounds vague at first but I always make connections between characters and social factors in my seminars and brief lectures. Many of my essays ask students to incorporate personal anecdotes and current events while addressing questions about a novel. This also cuts down on plagiarism, which is out of control amongst kids right now. I surveyed my kids last year and over 80% said they cheated on at least one assignment "in the past month". Whenever I use poems or clips or tv clips or music or excerpts, I ask students to make connections via questions or in seminars or in individual conferences.
2.
At the root of teaching is the following: it's our job to create lessons that have "the highest probability" of engaging as many kids as possible on a daily basis. The strategies and examples offered and discussed in week 1 of this curriculum do that. Problem based learning units with authenticity and real life adaptations have a high degree of attracting many kids to giving her/his best possible efforts.

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Throughout my guidance lessons and small group activities, I am consistently trying to help students connect their learning to the "real world". Many of the topics we cover do directly relate to my students and allow them the opportunity to explore ther own experiences and reflect on how they can positively make changes when necessary.
I think that providing students with the opportunities to "grapple" with concepts, while giving them support and guidance along the way, are the best ways for them to learn the material.

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1.
As a language teacher, being connected to the world is my main goal and without a doubt, technology is a big help to make it possible. However, the first thing I do, is to find out what is meaningful to my students. Knowing well the community and their "real world" it's the key to connect students with the outside world. Oftentimes students are motivated by their own experiences to feel the need of connecting with the outside world.
2.
The main takeaway for me is the importance to always connect content to a purpose. I also have to put students in charge for their own learning process by creating opportunities of learning where the need to learn content comes from the students themselves. Students have a felt need to learn a specific content in order to solve their problem. They are taking responsibility of the learning progress while I offer small-group mini-lessons to fulfill their needs.

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1. As a Science teacher I have always been able to make connections to the "real world". In fact, many activities have required us to go outside to touch and observe the real world. The last few years, I have had the opportunity to infuse iPads into my lessons and the real world has taken on a greater meaning. We're not limited to my knowledge of a topic. Students have access to current data. Their ability to do things like track and analyze local weather patterns or research daily earthquake activities around the world adds a depth of understanding that couldn't come without this technology.
2. I was very surprised by what I learned about long term memory from the "Felt Need" activity. Students must want or need to learn concepts for them to be remembered. Problem-based activities are truly the way to engage students by letting them be in charge of their learning. It is important that they figure out the skills and information they need to solve a problem.

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1. As a fourth grade teacher, I always try to make connections to the real world through classroom activities, reading materials chosen, journaling  and hosting visitors from the community. Having the students make connections to their lives often and having students share their experiences.
2. When reviewing the revising the felt need list, it reminded me of my own experiences and engagement in learning. I did not retain the information of topics I did not have an interest in. This has me reflecting on the classroom and the need to "hook" the students so they want to be involved, want to learn, want to participate and be active members of the learning environment.

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I try to incorporate "real world" thinking/connections as often as possible.  So many times my Geometry and Calculus students think Math is just memorizing formulas and/or algorithms.  The power and beauty of Mathematics is often seen through its applications.  It encompasses problem-solving, exploring patterns, and creativity.
We study interior and exterior angles of polygons by exploring MC Escher's tessellations, cell biology and Islamic art.  We compare mathematical proof to persuasive essays or Mock Trial.  Almost all my Calculus problems relate to real world scenarios on a smaller basis.
My biggest challenge is finding examples that challenge appropriately for the level I need. I strongly believe students engage more when the material is relevant to them. Unfortunately, many of the PBL materials I find are for younger students or very "contrived". I do find that when students mention an idea in class that they are wondering about, I automatically think, "How can I make this into a problem I can use?" Although PBL takes time, the engagement and retention are worth it.

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Lisa A. Trent - English Language Arts - Grade 8

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Lisa A. Trent - English Language Arts - Grade 8

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In order to extend units of instruction, I have often tried to relate concepts, ideas, themes to real world situations.
1. "The Soul of Caliban" is a short story about a misunderstood wolf dog whose master kills the dog because he never really understood its behaviors and judged him based on his appearance and instinctual behaviors.
We would begin with students writing  and sharing about a time when they were misunderstood and the causes and feelings this situation created.  We also researched wolf dogs and the evolution of wolves and dogs and then applied this knowledge to an episode of "The Dog Whisperer" which featured four wolf dogs.  Students had to apply their knowledge and then speculate as to which dog they believed to be most likely to be rehabilitated.  As a culmination to the unit, I would bring in the owner of a local wolf dog rescue.  He would share his experiences with the rescuing of these animals as well as how they are often abandoned due to owner's lack of knowledge about the dogs.  The entire 8th grade class in our school was always thrilled to see two of the wolf dogs from the rescue and are the pets of the owner. Of course, the dogs were always the hit of the presentation.
The Holocaust
Over the last five years, I have expanded my Holocaust unit to include many different real world experiences.  As a class we read a memoir entitled I Have Lived a Thousand Years which is the first hand account of a young Jewish Hungarian girl's experiences during the Holocaust.  I was able to connect with the author via Facebook one year, and we exchanged messages with the classes and were able to ask her questions which she was gracious to share the answers.  This social media connection then gave me another opportunity for this unit the following year I taught it.  The author is a guest columnist for The Jewish Press, and my students and I were able to write an article about why this memoir is significant.  Our article was published along with pictures from our Holocaust Day presentation in which we had a local survivor come in a speak to our classes.  The students decorated the hallway with their artwork and poems they had written in response to an Elie Wiesel interview with Oprah Winfrey.  The Jewish Press was thrilled with the first article that they extended an opportunity for students to write questions to the author and have them answered and published in another issue.  We were mailed copies of both papers for students to keep as a memento of this awesome experience.
2. Without relevance students just gain temporary knowledge. I believe the themes within my curriculum lends itself to so many opportunities for students to experience real learning.

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Katie Stein - Social Studies - 7th Grade 

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Katie Stein - Social Studies - 7th Grade 

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In my content I feel it is much easier for me to connect to the real world and make learning meaningful to the students. Regardless of the time period you are teaching it can always be connected to the students everyday lives, community, and culture. This makes having the students get involved and truly learn the material much easier from my point of view.
Many of my lessons already have the need for the student to get involved. Many times the students are trying to solve "history's mystery's" in my class and it almost becomes a very competitive atmosphere as to who can provide the most concrete evidence leading to their belief. The students become actively engaged in their learning and the learning of their partners to ensure no other group can out justify each others conclusions.

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The Power of Grappling really got to the heart of what we want to do in Math.  We tell our students and parents that students need to "struggle" through a problem situation, make and analyze errors, discuss strategies, and reflect, to really "own" the material.  Many textbook questions are just skills regurgitation and practice.  Projects don't necessarily engage students (and tutors sometimes do the work!).
The video reinforces the concept that for students to truly engage, a problem must be meaningful and relevant to them.  The value is the process and not necessarily the end product.

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The presentation used two different content areas to show how to take the subject matter to the highest level of thinking. As a visual learner, I could "see" how each idea was looked at differently with the end result for all students to become more engaged in the content. In addition to engagement, students end up synthesizing and analyzing the content rather than just surface level end products that may look nice but have only "scratched the surface" of thinking. I like the "minds on vs. hands on" concept as well.

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The idea of grappling to engage students is very interesting to me. When I started teaching in the last century, teachers worked their students gradually to higher level, analytical thinking. You laid out a series of activities that built up background and hoped students could eventually apply it and remember what they learned. It seemed impossible to reach this level of thinking without spoon-feeding students everything they needed to know.
I'm very excited and encouraged to approach teaching from this prospective. I really see the possibliities of "grappling" for my students.

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Not sure if I added this correctly...was I supposed to click on the spot that said K-Add comment pictured in the screen shot below?  If so, sorry but here's my response to the question....

I probably don't connect what we are learning to the real world enough. I spend a lot of time using manipulatives and talking about "why" things work. I feel like students will remember things much better when it makes sense rather than through memorization. Of course, we answer lots of questions in a context, like word problems, but I need to be more thoughtful about thinking of questions that are more relevant to the students.

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While teaching Agriculture to middle school students, one of our standards revolves around career and education planning. I have my students think about what career they want in the future and what standard of living they would like. They then have to research the cost of living that standard. I then have them take an "Interest Inventory" that places them into categories with certain jobs listed within. Sometimes the jobs match and sometimes they do not. I then have them choose one career and research salary, work environment, and education needed. Knowing that they want in life creates that 'felt need' and researching the cost of living gives them a sense of 'real world. For instance, we are advised when choosing a home to multiply our salary by 3 and not choose a home that will cost more than that number. So a person earning $40,000/ year should not buy a home that cost more than $120,000. When the students have an idea in their mind about what home they would like, it gives them an idea about what salary they will need. When they are researching their career they can then see if that career will give them the home they would like. As they finish, the students have a better idea about what their goals and priorities are.

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1. How do you see yourself using the knowledge you have gained from this course?

I think this is going to really help me daily: what exactly from each chapter of a book, in each lesson can kids truly use in their lives. That's my big take-away; yes, there are specific skills and tasks and organizational structures and rubrics, but this will help me each day. I believe I can tier and structure my lessons better.

1. What concepts/ideas would you like to explore further?

The creation of rubrics; I need to improve on that, especially with the consistency of language. I have good books and sources to help with that but I need to improve on that.

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I am currently working with colleagues on aligning our current Science units to the NYS Learning Standards. In a recent team meeting, I shared what I learned about creating a problem task statement for a unit and it was very helpful. In future collaborations, I hope to share what I have learned about rubrics, scaffolding and assessments.
I would like to explore more about how scaffolding will help me with the constant challenge of differentiation. It would be very helpful to have a classroom where I can spend more time with those that need help while encouraging engaged students to do more while being more independent.

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1. 1. How do you see yourself using the knowledge you have gained from this course?

What I am learning from this course will help me to implement my teaching with new strategies to build knowledge in an authentic context to create that felt-need for learning. As a language teacher my goal is that my students recognize that knowing another language and culture broadens their perspectives and will help them to understand and connect to more people personally and professionally. In this prospective, connecting learning to the real world is a must. What I learned from this course will help me on how to reach this goal. For example, a well structured analytic rubric guides students to achieve their goals, but it also guides teachers in designing authentic, open-ended tasks. While creating an analytic rubric, teachers constantly reflect on the task and on how to make a scaffold for learning with a variety of opportunities for students to engage with the content.

1. 2. What concepts/ideas would you like to explore further?

I would like to learn more about the transfer task as a tool to monitor students understanding of what they are learning.