In my current position my work is largely focused on teachers and how I can support them with their learning. Based on this, my target for my Capstone project will ultimately be the students, but will center around providing strong research that supports best practices. I am all about wanting to make things action-able. What are some strategies that can support our ELLs in acquiring english, and how can that support their reading fluency and comprehension. In thinking of the influence and resources my capstone project might provide, I focus first on the teacher and how as adult learners what they need to move forward. As adults we are best suited to be active in our learning, construct our own learning. In Baggio (p. 6), she cites assumptions of what adult learners need: They need to know the WHY, they can make their own decisions about their learning, they play a role in the volume and quality of their learning, they want it to apply to real life, and be experience and life centered. This really resonated to me as to what we need as teachers to further our learning and honing of the craft of teaching. The hope for my research is that it is digestible and actionable, and in order for it to be that it has to be an authentic learning experience. Meaning, not a "sit and get", or a "spray and pray" which has been the norm for professional learning, but a body or work that provides they "why" and some strategies that are grounded in research.
In the "Analyze" portion, posted under EDUC 791, I went into a deep analysis of how the work of Dervin, Baggio, and Clark might bolster my thinking around my Capstone project. Dervin's work highlights what we all face daily in teaching and learning, what is the gap and how do we bridge that gap in student's learning? This is a constant in our daily lives. Next, Baggio's work just amplifies to me that importance of Visual learning, specifically the statistic that "65%-85% of individuals are predominantly visual learners". This and the quote she uses from Aristotle, "without image, thinking is impossible", drives home that visuals are a powerful tool for learning. This makes me think of a book I read called "Slideology", which is one of many resources that points to less text and more images when sharing knowledge. Even in this class I love how Ms. Curtis is using visuals to support these deep bodies of research, it helps me build bridges for my gaps, and gives me context to construct my own knowledge. In thinking about my final Capstone design, I want to be intentional about using more visuals, music, and other means to share the knowledge and resources. In Clark's work she states the "bulk of your training should be targeted toward the application level, which requires the trainee to use the information the way it will be used on the job". This drives home for me the importance of the "I do, We do, You do" model. Model something that uses that information together, then allow teachers to try it with a partner, and then they can take it back and do it in their class with their students. This gets to the application level, which so many times we never have time to get to. I look forward to thinking in more detail about how I can craft my Capstone to deliver knowledge and resources in a meaningful way.
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Sense-Making and Meaning Making--What is the connection?
In doing some research around Sense-Making I came across the above graphic, which I believe helps me make sense of link between Sense-Making and Meaning Making. I feel like I have a good understanding of what Meaning Making looks like, as I have spent a lot of time with the new ELA/ELD Framework and the Circles of Implementation. One of the five circles focuses on Meaning Making. But as I "closely read" Dervin's Sense-Making Methodology, I feel l have a better understanding of what Sense-Making means. Now, I am trying to understand how one feeds the other. Dervin states "Sense-Making has come to be used to refer to a theoretic net, a set of assumptions and propositions, and a set of methods which have been developed to study the making of sense that people do in their everyday experiences." So it is theory, and the meaning making is how one might apply it their personal experience? Diving into Dervin: My meta-cognitive process and what exactly she is trying to say. I spent several days combing through this article. I use my AVID marking up the text strategies, marking in both the left and right hand margin the "gist", underlining important information and circling things I wasn't sure about. A few pages at a time was key for me to be able to digest it. Now, onto what she is trying to teach, the facts, processes, concepts and principles! Dervin discusses discontinuity "as a fundamental aspect of reality", and a constant of nature and the human condition. Moments are seen as vehicles for examining gap-defining and gap-bridging, not necessarily reality. Information use can be captured by looking more specifically at gap defining and gap-bridging. By focusing on the gap we can gain more relevant and pertinent information. As we or our student's construct knowledge they come across gaps, and what they do to bridge that gap provides information to use as teachers as to how they are sense making, and eventually making meaning or personalizing for them. She states that sense-making research is usually a systematic qualitative research, which is similar to the power of systematic quantitative research. "The act of constructing and the act of using that which is constructed is a qualitative act." She states "the use of a standard is itself a constructing". Some may chose to judge that standard by accuracy, expediency, familiarity and/or comfort. To me this is how many of us digest information, we construct our knowledge using the terms and facts we need to support that. If I had to teach this to a high-school student, I would begin with some images that get at what Dervin is saying. The images that Ms. Curtis used during our first session allowed many of us to see some of the connections. I have used Visual Thinking Strategies in my classroom, and using those same 4 questions with images that relate to Sense-Making would be a place I would start. Then chunking the article to do a close read. A close reading of a short, worthy passage from her Mind's Eye of the User, along with specific questions that get the reader to think a bit more about specific aspects. Lastly, an after-reading task, a way for the students to take what they have learned and process it. This blog has allowed me to process, and even begin to apply it as I think about the connection back to meaning-making, the more personalized process. I look forward to reading other student's blogs in my cohort, as the will only enhance my sense-making of this sense-making ;) |
AuthorKarly Miller: Archives
April 2017
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