Ch. 4
I really enjoyed the thoughts presented in these chapters of the book. One of the questions that came to mind in the course of reading chapter 4 was, Are collectives practical for students at all grade levels? The chapter distinguished the differences between communities and collectives. The chapter explained that in a community people are still able to be passively involved, but in a collective people are required to give full participation. Students should be a part of a collective. In a collective students come together to produce more than they could as individuals, and it requires the input and engagement of each member. One of the quotes that stood out to me was, “create a collective, and every man will learn how to feed himself for a lifetime.” Essentially, being a part of collectives gives you access to many resources that one can lean on for development and support. Technology is able to give students access to people who are striving for a similar product and it allows many ideas and information to connect. This is similar to our ED 530 class where we are part of a community on Google Plus that allows us to build and reflect upon the input of our classmates. We are all striving for a common goal, to obtain teaching credentials and become effective educators. What really caused me pause in this chapter was just thinking about how collectives create a product that is greater than the sum of its parts. In the future I want to use my whole classroom as a means to come together to produce something that could not be done independently.
Ch. 5
There is a lot of controversy today about what young people post on social media. There is a common debate about what should be public and what should be private. But the authors question whether or not the argument should be between classifications of public and private. Rather, they argue that there is a difference between sharing something in a community or a collective than out in say Central Park in New York. Sharing within a collective is different than sharing something that truly is visible to the entire world. My question is should we change how we distinguish between what is private and public? I think there is a difference between something shared on social media as being public and sharing on American Idol in front of millions of viewers. The author states, “Sharing something personal with a collective is very different from taking something private and putting it into the public domain. Within a collective there is commonality and similar objectives. In our ED 530 class we share information within our community on Google Plus and on Twitter, but this is not “public” in the sense that it is for the world. There is a difference. This was a whole new thought for me in reading this chapter. Participation in a collective environment is different than participation in a public domain.
Ch. 6
The authors state, “The skilled students today learn how to watch the teacher very closely and thereby infer what questions will be on the test.” This is a form of explicit learning based on the old school model. Students learn how to pick up on cues and memorize information and demonstrate how good their memories are on an assessment. However the authors argue that we move from explicit learning to tacit learning. Students need to experience learning and be able to explore. Students cannot simply ask a teacher how the student himself or herself felt when he or she was learning the material, instead they must tacitly learn on by experiencing the learning on their own. My question is, How can we move from explicit learning to tacit learning? This chapter caused me to ponder this question and think of how this relates to my content area. For Social-Studies I think we can implement tacit learning through simulations, breaking down text, asking in-depth questions that initiate deep discussion, and through giving student the opportunity to explore topics on their own and conduct their own research. They can do this within groups and as a part of a collective. They can use digital technologies to present their findings and become active members in their classrooms. Overall, I think this chapter allowed me to think about how I can make my classroom a place where tacit learning transpires and less explicit modes of learning.
I really enjoyed the thoughts presented in these chapters of the book. One of the questions that came to mind in the course of reading chapter 4 was, Are collectives practical for students at all grade levels? The chapter distinguished the differences between communities and collectives. The chapter explained that in a community people are still able to be passively involved, but in a collective people are required to give full participation. Students should be a part of a collective. In a collective students come together to produce more than they could as individuals, and it requires the input and engagement of each member. One of the quotes that stood out to me was, “create a collective, and every man will learn how to feed himself for a lifetime.” Essentially, being a part of collectives gives you access to many resources that one can lean on for development and support. Technology is able to give students access to people who are striving for a similar product and it allows many ideas and information to connect. This is similar to our ED 530 class where we are part of a community on Google Plus that allows us to build and reflect upon the input of our classmates. We are all striving for a common goal, to obtain teaching credentials and become effective educators. What really caused me pause in this chapter was just thinking about how collectives create a product that is greater than the sum of its parts. In the future I want to use my whole classroom as a means to come together to produce something that could not be done independently.
Ch. 5
There is a lot of controversy today about what young people post on social media. There is a common debate about what should be public and what should be private. But the authors question whether or not the argument should be between classifications of public and private. Rather, they argue that there is a difference between sharing something in a community or a collective than out in say Central Park in New York. Sharing within a collective is different than sharing something that truly is visible to the entire world. My question is should we change how we distinguish between what is private and public? I think there is a difference between something shared on social media as being public and sharing on American Idol in front of millions of viewers. The author states, “Sharing something personal with a collective is very different from taking something private and putting it into the public domain. Within a collective there is commonality and similar objectives. In our ED 530 class we share information within our community on Google Plus and on Twitter, but this is not “public” in the sense that it is for the world. There is a difference. This was a whole new thought for me in reading this chapter. Participation in a collective environment is different than participation in a public domain.
Ch. 6
The authors state, “The skilled students today learn how to watch the teacher very closely and thereby infer what questions will be on the test.” This is a form of explicit learning based on the old school model. Students learn how to pick up on cues and memorize information and demonstrate how good their memories are on an assessment. However the authors argue that we move from explicit learning to tacit learning. Students need to experience learning and be able to explore. Students cannot simply ask a teacher how the student himself or herself felt when he or she was learning the material, instead they must tacitly learn on by experiencing the learning on their own. My question is, How can we move from explicit learning to tacit learning? This chapter caused me to ponder this question and think of how this relates to my content area. For Social-Studies I think we can implement tacit learning through simulations, breaking down text, asking in-depth questions that initiate deep discussion, and through giving student the opportunity to explore topics on their own and conduct their own research. They can do this within groups and as a part of a collective. They can use digital technologies to present their findings and become active members in their classrooms. Overall, I think this chapter allowed me to think about how I can make my classroom a place where tacit learning transpires and less explicit modes of learning.