Well I guess a lot of us were a little confused by the reactions I gathered as we were asked to redo our assignments. I really did think I had done a good job and the fact that I had spent a considerable amount of time working on the assignment made it disappointing to know that it was done wrong. However once I got a look at Barbs example I realized that I was way off from my design and I had a lot of work ahead of me to resubmit the assignment. So I was off to do it.
At first I became very frusterated with the fact that I could not figure out how to rearrange my web to make it flow in a linear fashion. This was complimented by the fact that we were asked to extend on the assignment with the inclusion of excutive functions from the George McKlosky article. This article had a lot of information and it was hard to decipher what information would be relevant for the assignment. I spent most of the class time trying to explore the inspiration program and understand how to remove links and rearrange my first attempt at the web of my writing process. It was not until Barb offered to send us her example as a guideline that I felt a bit of comfort with the activity.
Using the sample writing process I was able to recreate my web design and gather some understanding of where excutive functions and attention to task fit into my wrting task example. Although their is quite a bit of repitition, I was able to gather an understanding of the relevance that the process needs to be linear and that an ommision of excutive functions would not do justice to the actual process. Having finished the project, I began to run into problems trying to upload it to my blog and am trying to work out the kinks. Been quite a 2 weeks - but a learning experience all the same.
Thanks for persevering Blair. I think it is so important for every teacher to understand how children learn and the processes of each task we are asking them to perform. Maybe a course on this in the B.Ed. program would be beneficial... not just how to teach the curriculum but how children learn. Thanks again for your work and your comments.
ReplyDeleteAfter doing the webmap and reading and participating in the misunderstood minds website, it's a wonder that any of us learn to write at all. It makes me wonder if our at risk youth would be as at risk if we were able to identify and provide intervention as early as possible. At what point do you stop pushing printing by hand, as this is an important skill, and provide the student with the tool needed to keep them engaged and content in school.
ReplyDeleteYes Blair I also found it difficult the redo of our assignment. I think with me it was perhaps I find writing quite easy and "how hard can it be?" Well viewing everyone's concept maps and viewing Barb's and last weeks class gave me some realization just how hard it can be. And just how intricate. If one thing is not set up just exactly, then troubles may begin. The videos alone were very powerful to watch. The class in general opened my eyes to how to properly speak to a child when he is trying to write and to be aware of difficulties I might not otherwise be aware of in my class.
ReplyDelete