C4T #4

In Mrs. Krebbs blog post, Explore, Create, Contribute: The Best in Free Online Resources for Educators, she tells of the exciting new that she is hosting a webinar to help educators get free online resources. She discusses what makes this "the best". With contributions from all participants and the ability to create together she says that this is what makes it "the best" of online resources. Her webinar will be held on April 2, 2015 at 2:30 EST. I hope to attend this webinar. I commented that we, in EDM 310, are learning how it is the educators role to guide students on which resources to use and how to use them. This is what I interpret this webinar as and I am excited to be a part of it.

I really enjoyed the blog, The Ultimate in Differentiation Genius Hour.
What is genius hour? Mrs. Krebbs describes it as

"In genius hour we hand over power to the students. They choose what they are ready for. They choose what they are interested in. They choose based on their learning profile. They choose the content they want to learn. They choose the process to use to get to that end. They choose the product to show their learning. Throughout, the teacher is available for scaffolding, guiding, helping, leading as needed. Primarily, it’s about the learning, not the knowledge the teacher is imparting."

I LOVE this idea of teaching! I feel like I would have been much more successful in school if my teachers gave me this opportunity. I think this would give students a chance to feel like they are doing something right! It is based on their "learning profile". Many times students feel like failures because they can't keep up with everything. But this gives them the chance to succeed! This is setting the students up for success!
Mrs. Krebbs says

" It’s not always easy to give choices when we are mandated to test and cover so much material. However, when students are entrusted with learning–real learning, not just to pass a test learning–they are empowered and motivated. "

How true is this statement? Students are way more motivated when they aren't just trying to pass a test but really understand and apply a skill or learn something new. This is where learning is for the FUN of it!

I commented on this post that I will surely bring this concept into my future classroom! I can't wait to look more into #geniushour!