Week 2

iGen:

As part of the second week's assignments I have been asked to find a TED talk about teaching today's generation of learning.  In all honesty I had to do a little research on today's generation before I could begin my assignment.  Through my research I discovered a book by Dr. Jean Twenge that I have now added to my "to read" list called iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy - and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood.  In a CBS interview with Dr. Twenge she explains how today's 18-year-olds are comparable to 15-year-olds of the past.  

TED Talk by Kahn:

After my initial research on today's generation, I am left with several other areas of teaching this generation that I feel will need to be explored.  As for my TED talk, I found a video of Sai Khan, founder of Khan Academy.  He speaks about growth mindset of students and how to build on the academic gaps of today's students.  The talk is titled "Let's Teach for Mastery-Not Test Scores."  I found his ideas to be very coherent with what I have been learning throughout the process of earning my masters degree at Wayne State.

TPACK, Building on Last Week's Lesson:

Last week we were assigned several articles and videos for class dealing with TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge).   This week, to build on what I've learned about TPACK, Dr. Lengler has provided literature on how to develop  TPACK with learning development types.  Through reading this selection I think the biggest take-away is that teachers need to be creative in how they use technology to assist their teaching.  TPACK looks different in different areas of the curriculum.  

Hofer and Harris provide an in-depth look at learning activities types (LAT), how to identify LATs, and how to substitute LATs.  They provide a list of al LATs on their website.  Also provided is a list of flexible steps for implementing LAT taxonomies: 1. Choose learning goals. 2. Consider classroom and school contexts. 3. Select activity types to combine and sequence. 4. Select assessment strategies. 5. Select tools and/or resources.  I like the simplicity of these steps.  I feel this has been the best (and easiest) explanation of how I can incorporate TPACK in my own classroom.  As an administrator, I feel it is an easily understandable approach to use in explaining TPACK to the rest of my staff through a possible professional development as well.