Musings

I checked the website and did not see a topic assigned for the week.  I'm not sure if we're required to do this...I'll just post some random thoughts.
First, I have enjoyed this class.  It has been well organized and practical.  Not a waste of time...a class worthy of my time that has positively impacted my professional practices.  I wish this class occurred earlier in the program.
Last week I had the opportunity to visit the Gwinnett School of Science, Math, and Technology.  It was interesting on many levels.  First, the technology is first rate...every class has two projectors and screens that can be seen from any angle, seat in the class.  The most interesting concept I heard about was the "flip" model of instruction.  Instructors are having students listen/watch lectures for homework and come into class and actually "work" math problems or physics,etc. problems.  The teachers have seen an increase in test scores and student interaction/engagement.  The lower performing students are the ones benefitting the most.  Those students are listening/watching lectures many times before attempting the work.
I love this idea!  I think it is a model more teachers need to try...turn education on its head!

Our task this week is to look at the Georgia Performance Standards for a subject area and evaluate them for critical thinking skills.  I'm deviating just a tad from this and looking forward to next year when we will be implementing the Common Core Standards for Mathematics.  This is a timely exercise as teachers across the United States are studying this implementation and discussing the impact it will have on our classrooms.  Within Georgia, we will have new objectives for each grade K-12.  These objectives are being framed by an expectation for a "culture shift" within many of our classrooms.  In addition to the very specific objectives, teachers are asked to design lessons and create learning environments that reflect the following Standards for Mathematical Practice.

Standards for Mathematical Practice 

1 Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

3 Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.

4 Model with mathematics.

5 Use appropriate tools strategically.

6 Attend to precision.

7 Look for and make use of structure.

8 Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

If you look closely at these, you will notice these expectations require the use of critical thinking.  This is the basic premise/directive given to  teachers before they even examine individual, grade level standards.  Wow!  In my mind, the bar has been raised and I see critical thinking as an expectation for every student.  The individual, specific standards address content objectives while these address "habits of mind".

In the fourth grade Common Core Standards for Math, I found a standard that could be taught using technology and critical thinking:  

MCC4.G.2 Classify two-dimensional figures based on the presence or absence of parallel or perpendicular lines, or the presence or absence of angles of a specified size. Recognize right triangles as a category, and identify right triangles

For this standard, I would use photographs of architecture to identify parallel and perpendicular lines as well as angles and right triangles.  These photographs would be projected onto an interactive whiteboard where the initially the teacher could highlight these.  This would be followed by the students using the highlight tool to identify these features in additional photos and defend their choices to the class.  Finally, the students would be asked to work in pairs to locate photographs that illustrate each concept.

This activity would cover 1-4 of the standards of practice for Mathematics in addition to meeting the objective for MC C4.G.2.