Note Taking The Lost Art of Listening

In today's world surrounded by technology and what it looks like an infinite source of information note taking has become a lost art. Even the Ivy League institutions are aware of this phenomenon and have been developing technique for good note taking. Harvard has the Harvard Note Taking System http://www.law.harvard.edu/current/student-services/taking_notes.pdf that it looks is based on the Standford University's Center for Teaching and Learning.

For many students the use of a laptop during class for taking notes has become standard, but is it really helping them with note taking? Or is it more likely a distraction? We are in a wireless environment and mobile devises can and normally do connect to the Internet making it almost impossible to concentrate on what is happening during class.

Some of the questions I have asked are:
How can I optimize the use of these devises during class in enhance learning?
Is there a way that technology can help learning during a lecture?
How can the synchronous-asynchronous teaching-learning dichotomy can be resolved with the use of technology?

Let's spend some time clarifying these questions. We know that the technology is here and is evolving continuosly. Some of the devices are short lived therefore developing a strategy based on those might be time consuming and not very efficient. The technology available is diverse so working on developing a strategy bases on a particular platform might not apply to a different platform and might make some students feel that they are being pushed to a side. Some technologies and platforms have so many different applications that keeping track of one is hindered by the presence of the others, such is the case with word procesors in a computer that has also email, and other social media softwar like facebook. At the same time the use of social media might enhance the motivation of the student to be on top of the issues discussed in the class.
The presence of the student physically and mentally in the class is another issue with the interaction between the teacher and the student. While the teacher might be present and focused on a particular topic -the one s/he is teaching the student on the other hand might be mentally far away either day dreaming or through the Internet on her/his computer in front of him/her.

The fourth week

This is critical week when teaching science because students start to feel overwhelmed. In any science class there is new vocabulary and new syntax. So how to you express a chemical reaction as an algebraic equation that has meaning beyond the mathematical solution. How can we see if the result obtained from solving the arithmetic relationship makes sense in "our world" in our language?
So at this moment in our course I pause and take some time to make sure that all are onboard, that we have some homogeneity in the level or degree of understanding, especially important when students come from a diverse background. The three main tools I use for this purpose are: face to face conversation allotting time for a one-to-one 15 minute talk during lab time; online questionaire through our Moodle site where they have to reply to a survey; and thrirdly through a practice or sample test I have posted on our iLearn site and they have access too.
At this time making the enphatic statement that they are in control of their learning becomes the focus of their education.  

Benedic Carey in the NY Times

Last May Benedic Carey published a very interesting article in the NY Times about how collaboration in the classroom increases testing scores.  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/science/13teach.html?_r=1
"The research comes from a closely watched group led by Carl Wieman, a Nobel laureate in physics at the University of British Columbia who leads a $12 million initiative to improve science instruction using research-backed methods for both testing students’ understanding and improving how science is taught" said Carey. Today Prof. Wieman is at the Univeristy of Colorado.
It looks like programs such as POGIL "Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning" that are helping college educators and to certain degree high school teachers are the way to go.

eBooks at Google Books

Google has started to put some very good book online. The idea is that you can purchase these eBooks at a low price and can read it on any kind of device but some are online for free! One that I read during the summer is Dexter Chapin's Master Teachers can now be found in Google books at http://books.google.com/books?id=hTwU12DqD1gC&pg=PP8&lpg=PP8&dq=dexter+chapin+master+teachers&source=bl&ots=GdDSwcTE8w&sig=GtOPC7zzYbnrBQvqOPZj3St6-C4&hl=en&ei=CKJOTpiUD4nksQLv5-HCBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

The Inner World of the Teacher

In chapter 14 in the anthology On Excellence in Teaching [by Robert Marzano (Ed) written by Robert J. Marzano and Jana S. Marzano] we can find a good discussion on how the inner world of the teacher molds the way that s/he behaves as a teacher. Even though the general consensus is that there is no difference between the way we think and act, ontological reality  shows that frequently there is a big gap between the believe system (based on general assumptions) and the way the teacher act based on his/her experience.
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/What_Works_in_Schools_Marzano_cover__handouts_157021_7.pdf
and the book at
http://www.amazon.com/Excellence-Teaching-Robert-J-Marzano/dp/193400958X  

Managing Discipline in the Classroom

Any relationship that involves many people will be complicated. This is of course a redundant statement and in many ways you could say a "no-statement". But I think that not only will it be complicated because each individual in the relationship has its own idiosyncrasy but because personalities change with time and circumstances. Maybe not the basic personality but the way in which personalities interact. So when even one is analyzing some-one's basic personality one must take into account that we are only defining gross, broad, fundamental traits that will help to establish a framework of reference. One this is established we can go to the finer detail of individual behavior in that multiple entity relationship, such a a classroom.
With this in mind we can then look at personalities defined in psychology and use the basic needs for these personalities when addressing discipline in the classroom. Basic needs like "being the center of attention" for some, to the "live me alone-I'm not here" students that want to have complete control of what happens in their life.
One problem frequently encountered with any relationship is the idea of compromise. Not that compromising is a sign of weakness or lack of defined values, more than it is because compromising it self needs a set of rules and accepted principles that in general are not agreed before the situation arises. In the classroom rules must be clear and according to Rosenblum in her book "You have to go to School, you are the teacher: 300+ classroom management strategies" It is better to not have rules than have rules that are broken.

The Science Channel

There are today so many good programs that divulge science, one avenue in particular is The Science Channel. The question is how can we best use this documentaries to motivate science students? Through the Wormhole is a series that is worth watching. http://science.discovery.com/tv/through-the-wormhole/
They are bringing to public notice, ideas and research that is way out at the frontier of discovery. One idea is to ask students to watch a particular program and then have a class discussion about it and if there are misconceptions either explicit or implicit then these can be addressed by the professor in class and of course can be used to show the students that science is always evolving and new ideas are constantly being advanced. Not always within the consensus of the established scientific community.