Goal for next year

My goal for next year is to really work on building a community in my classroom.

Curricular Design - 21st Century Learning

• Which component(s) were addressed?   Critical Thinking & Communication
• What learning activities did you plan, and why did you choose them?   
• Critical Thinking:  Students are understand the basics of structural engineering. They are learning about different loads/forces on buildings and how those loads affect the structure of the building. They are analyzing beams and determining the shear and moment forces acting on the beams. I demonstrated several beam analysis and now they are working through beam analysis of their own. Next they will be using this information to design beams for a building.
• Communication:  Students researched, created a notes sheet, and gave two minute presentations on commercial utilities such as natural gas, electrical, storm sewer, sanitary, water, and telecommunications. They communicated what they learned about their utility to the entire class answering thoughtful questions relating to how the utilities are provided and connected to buildings during construction.
• What were the results of the activity?
• Critical Thinking:  Students are still working through this very difficult concept. They are starting to understand the connections between analyzing the beam and designing it for a structure. This activity/lesson is going fairly well with the students starting to grasp the concepts after some re-teaching.
• Communication:  This lesson did not go as well. Students struggled with understanding and being able to research the utilities and see the connection between the utilities and construction since they are unfamiliar with construction methods. 
• What impact do you think integrating these components had on the learning?  Applying critical thinking has been very effective for the learning. The communication lesson needs to be revamped.
• What did you learn as a result of trying this?  Both of these components are important to learning and teaching.

AGAPE Relationships

What "a-ha" moments have you had when it comes to relationships?

"A-Ha" moments:  

Building relationships is critical to student learning

Building relationships makes teaching easier

Building relationships helps students succeed
Building relationships doesn't just happen at the beginning of the year - it needs to be worked on throughout the year
Building relationships is hard for me but very important for me to do
If I go back to the videos I had my students create at the beginning of the year and review them, I can use that information as a reminder of what interests my students and what they like to do, etc.

What are your thoughts about "connection culture" referenced in the Coach K article (Value + Vision + Voice)?  In what ways do you incorporate these principles into your classroom community?

Connection Culture:

Building a team, picture wall, competition for two big design projects - house & library project


How will you successfully sustain community with your students until the end of this school year?

Review their community building activities from the beginning of the year. Check in with each student weekly. Provide opportunities for them to stay during lunch.

How will you build connection culture with new students in the fall?

Community building activities - I need to come up with some more for my high school students.

Connect with each student weekly starting right away at the beginning of the year.

Curricular Design

Collaboration

• Students in my civil engineering and architecture class worked in groups of two last Friday to create structures out of 12 cards and masking tape that were 8" tall (+/- 1/2") and could hold a minimum of 5 pounds. They collaborated to come up with a preliminary design and then test it.  After the preliminary test, they had the opportunity to refine their design before the final test. 
• Students learned the importance of strength in shapes and working through the design process
• Since they had the opportunity to work together, they could bounce ideas off each other and create a structure within the given time period 
• Groups of two created better structures for the most part. Almost all groups developed structures that could hold the minimum requirement with many holding much more

Creativity

• Students are working to create a library using Autodesk Revit. I have given them the criteria, constraints, and due date for the library. Now they are working within the criteria and constraints and using creativity to layout the floor plans and design the exterior of the building by the due date. 
• Students are more engaged when they have the opportunity to be creative within the framework provided. They also have a competition going within the classes to design the most architecturally interesting exterior and interior finishes. 
• I enjoy seeing the students challenge themselves. When I limit what they can do to the library, I feel like it limits what they want to learn. They only do the minimum. When I open it up for them to be creative, they push themselves to learn tools that they otherwise wouldn't do
• Students like the opportunity to show their creativity skills and personalize a project so it's their  own. 

Action Research

I still have a little more data collection left. On Monday, I will be doing the post-interview for the entire class and final interviews of three students. 

Based on the data, students are more engaged when using technology. However, from my viewpoint, this engagement can decrease if the technology is too complicated, not explained well, not purposeful, or without a deadline. Students can get tired of using the same technology too long. It needs to be varied just like other classroom activities. A good implementation plan is a must.

Question: What is the best technology for students to create portfolios and turn in assignments?

AGAPE - Relationships

Last week, I finally came to the conclusion that I need to improve the relationship I have with another teacher. I know I need to and will always need to work on relationships with students, but right now, I feel like the relationship with this other teacher needs to take priority. I have had a lot of frustration this year with this teacher, but I can't give up and not help him even though he should be fully capable.

So, I started talking to this teacher about different ideas we have in the classroom. I provided support today for him since he was out sick. Tomorrow morning, I'll meet with him and talk about teaching ideas. I will also throw out ideas on classroom management to help him with his classes.

I'll post more as the week progresses . . .

It's Friday, and I feel better about our relationship. I reminded him before I left today that he needs to post grades by the end of the day. He got in trouble last semester for his lack of grading. He said that he had posted grades and things were good.

We still have a ways to go in our relationship. I can get very frustrated at times with his lack of effort. However, he has shown considerable improvements this week especially in his classroom management and focus on teaching.

ROL & Action Research Draft

Here is a rough draft of my Review of Literature and Action Research with the annotated bibliography.

ROL/AR