How Their New Thinking Reshapes My Old Thinking

1
How Their New Thinking Reshapes My Old Thinking

• A Journey of Millennial Reflection and How It
  Changed My Teaching

2
Part 1) Digesting the New Jargon Teaching the
Millennial Generation

• For the several years, advice has flown about
  educational circles for teaching the
  millennials.
• Last spring, I encountered Marc Prenskys
  Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants for the
  first time, which is worth reading in its
  entirety.

3
Loving My Love of Linear

• Different kinds of experiences lead to
  different brain structures, says Dr. Bruce D.
  Berry of Baylor College of Medicine.
• I realized that I love being linear, am comforted
  by the linear, and as a well-intentioned person,
  set out to share a linear lifestyle with my
  students so that they, too, could enjoy its sweet
  calming nectar as a reprieve from lifes chaos.
  I discovered I am a linear fundamentalist. But
  then I read this

4
Part 2) Shifting CampsRealizing Ive Fought
this Battle from the Other Side

• Legacy content includes reading, writing,
  arithmetic, logical thinking, understanding the
  writings and ideas of the past, etc - all of our
  traditional curriculum. It is of course still
  important, but it is from a different era. Some
  of it (such as logical thinking) will continue to
  be important, but some (perhaps like Euclidean
  geometry) will become less so, as did Latin and
  Greek.

5
Part 3) Listening with a More Open MindTrying
to Find Tangible Advice

• Today's teachers have to learn to communicate in
  the language and style of their students. This
  doesnt mean changing the meaning of what is
  important, or of good thinking skills. But it
  does mean going faster, less step-by step, more
  in parallel, with more random access, among other
  things.

6
Part 4) Trying New MethodsIncorporating Random
Access

• Honestly, I believe writing requires a linear
  process, but I was willing to look for
  compromises.

7
Letting Go of Hierarchical Order

• I decided to let students encounter directions in
  Just in Time learning style. As they click on
  the FAQ directions, pop-up screens appear

8
Working Out of Sequence

• The Backwards Works Cited Activity
• assigned weeks before the research project
• Students received a four item Works Cited page,
  excerpts from a student essay using the four
  sources, and a series of questions that required
  students to find the sources using the Works
  Cited page to determine the answers.
• If you scroll all the way to the end of
  Brytek-Materas article, what do you find at the
  end?
• a) biographical information that establishes
  Brytek-Matera as an authority on the topic
• b) a series of sources used in the production of
  the article, much like a Works Cited
• Once this source is looked up on the database, it
  is clear that this source should not be used by
  the student writer. Why not?
• a) You should never use a source without an
  author.
• b) The source isnt available in its 10 page,
  full-text version. The student writer pulled
  from just an abstract and represented it as if he
  or she found the full article. Thats
  academically dishonest.

9
Observing How They Leap Before They Look

• Mental Health Anorexia Nervosa.
  MayoClinic.com. 20 Dec. 2007. Mayo Foundation
  for Medical Education and Research. 9 Sept. 2008
  lthttp//www.mayoclinic.com/health/anorexia/DS00606
  gt.
• H
• I was wondering if you had any luck finding the
  "works cited" articles?  I still have not found
  the last one, by MayoClinic.com and have been
  looking for probably 2 1/2 hours.  I'm sure I'll
  kick myself when someone points me in the right
  direction, but right now, I'm lost.
• S.
• S
• That one stumped me as well until it dawned on
  me that it is the only one that's not listed as
  an SCC source. Just go directly to the Mayo
  Clinic page on your internet browser and skip the
  library.
• R.
• R.
• Actually, I thought of that after I posted the
  question, but thanks for responding!  I
  appreciate it.
• S.

10
Integrating More Networking and Collaboration

• A discussion thread of show and tell got more
  students doing initial research than any
  assignment Ive tried in the past fourteen years.
  Besides exceeding the word minimum, students
  cross-pollinated, offering each other sources
  they found for each others topics. Astonishing

11
Part 5) Drawing Conclusions

• My efforts have increased student engagement.
• My efforts have expanded my own intelligence
  thinking out of sequence hurts!
• Enriching every course online allows students the
  24/7 access they desire without me increasing my
  physical availability.
• While difficult to conceive in the beginning, my
  surrender of some sequencing has cost me very
  little to nothing in the end.

12
Resources

• Click here for Mark Prenskys full article
• http//www.twitchspeed.com/site/Prensky20-20Digi
  tal20Natives,20Digital20Immigrants20-20Part1.
  htm
• Click here for Kate Kellens Backwards Works
  Cited activity
• http//www.betweenclasses.com/2008/10/09/for-what-
  its-worth/
• Click here for SCC online course enrichment
  resources
• http//www.scc-fl.edu/dl/faculty/
• SCPS Ed Tech Facilitators
• joy_rector_at_scps.k12.fl.us michael_wicks_at_scps.k1
  2.fl.us lynn_cullum_at_scps.k12.fl.us
• cecil_nelson_at_scps.k12.fl.us paul_toomey_at_scps.k12
  .fl.us christopher_storms_at_scps.k12.fl.us
• adrienne_adams_at_scps.k12.fl.us
  jesse_flory_at_scps.k12.fl.us cecil_nelson_at_scps.k12
  .fl.us
• gary_bungart_at_scps.k12.fl.us art_woodruff_at_scps.k
  12.fl.us
• jesse_walker_at_scps.k12.fl.us wil_dershimer_at_scps.k
  12.fl.us
• david_aslin_at_scps.k12.fl.us tamicka_merthie_at_scps
  .k12.fl.us