Monday, October 15, 2012

C4T #2

Action-Reaction

For my C4T #2 assignment, I was assigned to Frank Noschese's blog, Action-Reaction. Mr. Noschese is a high school Physics teacher at John Jay High School. In his blog he said that he believes that "students learn best when they are actively engaged in physics through activities such as reading, discussing, experimenting, and solving problems." From what I gathered, he is a very active teacher who is passionate about Physics and helping his students learn.

C4T #2 Comment 1

The first blog post that I read by Mr. Noschese was called, "VPython Screencasts". In this post, he tells about an assignment that he gave his students. They were to make a screencast, a virtual walk-through showing what is actually on screen, explaining their VPython programs. The students were to use Screencast-o-matic to explain the way that the VPhython program worked and its reasonings. Mr. Noschese said that he gave this assignment not only to help students learn how and why something works the way that it does, but also to give himself insight as to who was lagging behind and who was excelling in this area of subject.

In my comment, I introduced myself as a student at the University of South Alabama and complimented Mr. Noschese on his blog post. I said that I thought his idea of using screencasts as a learning tool was a great idea. I also mentioned that not only did the students' creation of screencasts help him know who was behind and who was ahead, but it also taught the students a useful technology skill and also a communication skill.



C4T #2 Comment 2

For this week, Mr. Noschese hadn't posted anything recently, so I went back to the most recent post prior to the last one I had commented on. Entitled Metacognition Curriculum , this post was a basic outline of the curriculum that Mr. Noschese was teaching his students. He said that he was attempting to introduce his students to metacognitive processes and the fact that our brains can grow neurons as we age. He taught that intellectually stimulating environments and activities can work to make learning easier.

His curriculum consisted of an in-class survey simply asking student opinions on certain, science/metacognitive topics. They're answers could range from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Also, he provided the class with a packet consisting of articles, an infographic, and a final questionnaire. Also he showed a video and afterwards had students answer questions in groups on white boards. They were to write one thing that they learned, one thing that they were surprised to find out and one question that they still had after watching the video.

In my comment, I expressed to Mr. Noschese that, even though metacognitive processes weren't my area of study, I did appreciate his style of teaching. I love his student centered approach and the fact that he teaches his students in a hands-on manner. I think the best way to teach students is through experience. I expressed my appreciation to Mr. Noschese in my comment. I liked reading his posts for C4T #2; even though I am not planning to teach older children, his style and zeal for teaching is inspiring.

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