Learning With Visuals

The statistics we were shown this week remind us of the importance of providing information to kids visually.  One of the videos used during the lecture said that 65% of learners are visual learners and that 90% of the information absorbed is taken in through the eyes.  I feel like this year more than others I really see how dependent the kids are on visuals. Their auditory skills are extremely weak, and it seems that if I say it out loud chances are they didn’t catch it . Most of them still don’t catch it the second or third time I say it. I must pair visual with auditory.

Because kids depend on visuals and seem to learn better and faster with them in their lives, it is important that they learn how to visually represent information and data.  I have created an infographic for a course in the past, but I have not created one for my students. I do make anchor charts in the classroom that serve a similar purpose. I notice that when they have to be covered or taken down, the kids turn to look at the spot on the wall where they are used to seeing it. I think it would be powerful to have them create an infographic of their own to help them study, show their thinking and/or show understanding.

I have made it one of my professional goals to use technology to increase student engagement this year.  I am pushing myself to implement a lot of the tools that I am learning about through this program into my classroom, so I see students creating an infographic in the near future!   Along with learning visually, a lot of students learn by doing. I think they will get more out of the experience if they have the expectations for the assignment and they get to jump in and figure out how to do it.  Creating an infographic would give them a chance to show their creative side and also work on problem solving skills.

Guiding Students During Research

The reading and lecture this week gave some great ideas on effective search skills.  One of the sites that came up in the reading was Wikipedia, and I was glad it did. I have always encouraged my students to stay away from it as a resource in the past because anyone can post or alter the information on the pages.  With that being said, typically when my students use Google to find information, Wikipedia is ALWAYS the fist result. I teach middle school children, and sometimes they can be a tad lazy. They just click on the first thing that comes up instead of looking at their options.  In my personal experience I have found that Wikipedia is usually accurate and it has a ton of information. The book did recommend using it as a starting point in the research process, and to check other resources to confirm the information.

I liked the CARS checklist for website evaluation, and I think it would be a useful tool for kids.  I’m worried about my kids being misinformed with Wikipedia when they can stumble up a completely bogus website anywhere (the tree octopus!)  No matter what the site, it would be good for the kids to evaluate it for its credibility, accuracy, reasonableness and support. Whether they are doing researching or buying  a product, kids need to know what a reliable website contains.

Dr. Dell introduced a term this week that I was unfamiliar with but totally understand...Infowhelm.  We are all very familiar with being overwhelmed with teaching, learning, family and all of the things that come with it.  That same overwhelmed feeling happens to our students when they attempt to search for information. Google is great, but sometimes it gives us too many results.  Creating a custom Google search is a great way to let students search for information in a structured way. I also like the idea of using a bookmarking site like Diigo to help kids keep track of helpful sites or provide them a series of options to look at when researching.

We All Teach Literacy

The past few years I have definitely noticed a shift in mindset.  It used to me that science teachers taught science and social studies teachers taught socials studies and so on and so forth.  There has been a big push (at least in my building) for subjects to support each other and plan cross curricular activities. Essentially, math and science team up and support each other and ELA and social studies do the same because naturally, it makes sense.  It is interesting to hear the kids question, “What class are we in?” or “Why are we doing this? This isn’t ELA!” We are definitely taking a step in the right direction, but there is more that can be done.

As we have already talked about in this course, literacy needs to be a focus in all subject areas. I found an article on Edutopia about the importance of literacy in all content areas.  One of the things that stood out to me was one of the sub-headings that read, “Literacy is an every century skill.” Literacy was important in the past, it is still important today, and it will continue to be important in the years to come.  The approach to teaching literacy and the skill set that the students need is what has changed.

I found myself laughing at the Ferris Bueller clip that Dr. Dell posted this week. The clip of Ben Stein’s character lecturing his zombie-like students was great. What made it funny was that it was spot on!  Most of us sat in at least one class like this and we were bored out of our minds. In the lecture, Dr. Dell mentioned how we are making our move from the Industrial Age to the Information Age which means we are stepping away from talking at the students constantly and giving out worksheets galore.  We need to give them a chance to collaborate, research and problem solve.

In ELA, our focus is always on reading, writing, speaking and listening since that is what our standards are all about.  Providing opportunities for students to practice those skills in other content areas is crucial. Just like with everything else, the more they do it the better they become. There are some great tools and resources out there that anyone can use to teach literacy.  Newsela and Tween Tribune were two tools that were mentioned that could be of great use. They cover age appropriate articles from various categories and you can adjust the lexile level in order to differentiate.