Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Collaborating: March 9, 2016

Focus: What happens when we put our heads together?

1. Warming up:

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR PROJECT IS SHARED WITH ME (IT CAN BE IN YOUR "IMAGINATION/INNOVATION..." FOLDER.

GIVE ME A COPY OF YOUR RUBRIC. IF IT'S NOT PRINTED, MAKE SURE IT'S ALSO IN YOUR FOLDER.

IF YOU WERE PLANNING TO PRESENT TO THE ENTIRE CLASS, PLEASE WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW.

2. Preparing and sharing in mid-sized groups (please put students together in groups of 5-6 based on where they are sitting, but people who worked together should stick together):

In each group, select TWO members to take notes and share them with me directly during class. Here are some things each person/group should chat about:
  • What did you focus on?
  • Why did you pick that particular focus?
  • How would you implement your ideas? (Share your actual project--if your group wants to watch/see it, feel free to Google share it with them)
  • Ask and discuss any questions you have.

3. Following up as a large group via today's blog

  • Please post one takeaway (either from sharing your own or from listening to others) on today's class blog.
  • What is one small thing you can do, starting today, to help you develop your innovation/imagination skills?
  • Take some time to read and respectfully comment on others' posts.

Ex: I wanted to redesign classrooms to emphasize collaboration. From now on, I'm going to do my science homework in a small group because I'll understand it better if I'm talking about it with others.

Ex: My brain works best in natural sunlight. I'm going to bring a heavier sweatshirt to keep in my locker so that I can do school work / eat outside every chance I get.

4. Distributing Fahrenheit 451 books (they're in a box on the back shelf) and designing your reading plan

Here are the two things I need:

1. Show me that you've actually done the reading. 
2. Show me that you're thinking about the reading.

Please create a F451 folder inside your English 10 folder.

Inside that folder, create a new doc and call it Reading Proposal. Please write me a reading proposal that addresses a two-part problem:

1. How can you show me that you're reading F451 and that you're thinking about it? What will be your method/medium? Possible options: 3-columned notes? Annotations? Journaling/freewriting? Regular reading conferences? Old-school study guide? What else?

2. Why is this method/medium the most meaningful way for you to accomplish the tasks above? Defend your ideas.

3. What do you specifically need from me to make this happen?

HW:
1. If you have your own copy of F451, bring it to class tomorrow. If you don't, bring your ID so I can check out a book to you.

2. Finish your reading proposal right away if you did not finish in class. If you need a reading journal, for example, I need to bring you one tomorrow.

3. For Friday: Bring your banned book to class. We will select presentation dates and continue planning our speeches.

77 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. The highest paying jobs all have to do with engineering, yet Arapahoe puts focus on social studies and english courses. Why?

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    1. I see what you're saying but in all engineering, math is required. And I think they focus a lot on English because we use English in our everyday life. English courses are building a wider variety of vocabulary and knowing how to read a write efficiently.

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    2. I think it's probably because the education system has not been majorly improved for centuries so at the time when it was developed, english and social studies probably had a greater significance

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  3. Breakfast is essential to being a more positive and encouraging learner

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  4. One takeaway that I took from hearing other groups ideas is that the modern school systems need to change. They lack teaching us the education that we will require in the future. One small thing that I will do to help my imagination skills is that I will be outside more and creatively think every day.

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  5. Today I learned that breakfast is very important to brain function, and that you can score higher on tests, and receive a higher salary, when you eat breakfast daily. One thing that I can do to help this change is to start eating breakfast, and just take that time to help myself in the future.

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  6. School drinking fountains taste like metal carrots so I should bring my own water.

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  7. One thing i take away from these presentation are that the top 10 paying majors all have to do with math and science and at arapahoe we are required to take more english and social studies classes

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  8. Natutal light and open enviorment learning can benefit students and teachers in the classroom.

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  9. I took away that people like to focus on the schedule of their students. I did the same but at the same time, I wanted to focus on physical activity. One thing I have already done is trying to do my homework quicker, and getting to bed earlier to have more time to get ready for school in the morning.

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    1. I have also started to work out after school to be physically active during the day. I also walk home after school

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  10. I took away that I perform better in a personalized academic environment, where I can ask my own questions and be comfortable. One small thing I can do is to raise my hand and ask my own questions instead of waiting for someone else to ask a question.

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  12. From now on I will try to think of ways I can incorporate what I learn into a future job I will once have. "How can these lessons help me in the future?"

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  13. Changing the study center and making it a better environment. Therefor more kids will go to get their work done and study.

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  14. I want to redesign the classrooms because i want the best learning environment for me and my classmates.

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  15. One thing I learned is everyone feels that they are not getting enough sleep. One thing we can do to help with the creativity is loosen the guidelines let the students present the information the way they want to not what would be easiest for the teacher to grade.

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  16. I wanted to change up the bell schedules, because being teenagers, we need our rest and not to mention ending a little earlier may be helpful with sports and getting homework done too.

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  17. I wanted to create a new schedule to insert a gym class at the beginning of the day to get students' a chance to wake up before school and keep their minds off of school before they start. From now on I will wake up earlier and run around to wake up and get prepared for the school day.

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  18. At Arapahoe we talk a lot about the past in classes like History and English but there are no classes that think about the future.

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    1. This is an interesting way to think about it. I would like to see Arapahoe take initiative and imput classes like this!

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  19. We wanted to redesign the classroom for example Adding more windows, changing the wall colors and also change the desks to tables and adding more comfy chairs. To do this the school would need a lot of money so one thing we could start doing today is raising money.

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  20. I think classes should revolve more around an all class discussion in order to get more students to start thinking and sharing in order to learn better rather than almost falling asleep in class

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    1. Do you think that rows of students in desks limit the possibility of in class discussion?

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  21. From here on out I will think about the skills that I have and how to improve them in order to get prepared for a career later down the road.

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  22. The need yo change schools is obvious in many ways especially in regards to a classroom environment.

    To make ideas known to superiors can further innovative ideas. If they approve they can help you get your project started.

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  23. I learned more about sleep and how it is so detrimental to kids and their success. It starts the day off great and gives kids more energy

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  24. A takeaway for me would be that a brighter classroom can essentially lead to a brighter future from the serotonin produced from a bright environment. One change I will do to help with my innovative/imagination skills is to be outside more, especially when trying to finish a difficult task.

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  25. One thing that I took away from our group work was that our school has many things that they could change to make it better and a lot of these things do not require a whole lot of money.

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    1. I agree, a lot of problems we have can be easily fixed without much time or money.

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  26. One thing I took away from the discussion is that there is a broad range of issues, going from credit requirements all the way to in eating the right way in school. Something I can do starting today is think about ways the school could collaborate with local businesses to solve some of the minor issues in the school.

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  27. High school students are not having enough sleep because they have to wake up early for school. Also starting school later will let them have a better sleep and ending school earlier will let them have more work time at home and spend more time with their family.
    I can talk to Mrs. Pramenko about changing the bell schedules and making it later for us to get more rest.

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  28. Most classes are taught by an outdated curriculum and kids don't learn the basic life skills needed to survive in the real world. Such as managing their money, doing taxes, and socializing in a workplace without being yelled at but rather learning when socializing is okay and when it isn't.

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  29. I learned that breakfast is the difference between $10,000 in jobs for college students. If college students eat breakfast every morning they are able to make more money in jobs than students that done eat breakfast.

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  30. I realized that the timing throughout the day really helps a student learn. If I started school later, I would be a very productive and happy student.

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  31. Our group talked about how school isn't fun and that we can find ways to make it fun and we can do that by showing the school what we want and what would help us learn better

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  32. I learned that natural light can help students learn better so from now on I will do my homework near a window.

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  33. People should be able to go to school later, so they have time to actually wake up and get their brain started before they have to do school work.

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    1. I agree. I think students would enjoy school much more if it didn't start so early and we could actually start our day before getting to school.

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    2. I agree. One time I read online that a study claimed a teenager's brain does not properly activate until around 10 a.m.

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    3. I agree. One time I read online that a study claimed a teenager's brain does not properly activate until around 10 a.m.

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  34. I learned that students who don't get enough sleep are at a great disadvantage. I can try and go to bed earlier to improve my productivity and success.

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    1. I shall partake in the agreement of this "blog post". I do believe that this person is correct in the statement of the time spent in sleep.

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  35. I learned that everyone thinks that school days are too long and don't prepare you for later in life.

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    1. I agree. School is taking up to much valuable time and not being helpful to us in the long run.

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  36. One thing I learned today was about different ways schedules could be designed

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  37. The school needs to grab students attention and make them want to learn.

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    1. i agree i think schools need to think of more creative and innovative ways to make it fun again.

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  38. I learned a lot about the importance of comfort and how much easier it is to focus in a comfortable environment. I think I am going to start taking advantage of the comfortable chairs in the library more.

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  39. I learned that if students are put in a more colorful environment (like a 1st graders class), it will reduce stress levels and create an area that will allow individuals to learn easier and more efficient.

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  40. I took away that, students would prefer to have career based classes. Students often go to college confused and unsure what to pursue. If high school gave students chances to make classes more career based, student will be more prepared.

    Something I can do, is to start thinking about career options now, so I wont be confused later.

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  41. I wanted to share the idea that most school systems value grades more than students learning. This just goes to show how corrupt the system is, because school is the place we are supposed to go to learn. Not to go and get a letter put in the system for showing up.

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    1. Students aren't taught to learn new things, they are taught to memorize. It doesn't help us to memorize things it would help us if we understood the things we learn and why we learn them.

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  42. One take away from other students is that a lot of people want more classes based on jobs we could have. One thing that i could start doing to day to help my creativ skills is to draw more.

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  43. One thing I took away from my group was that school hasn't changed since it was created. The same building, same learning environment, same curriculum. Everything else has evolved over time but school hasn't. That needs to change so the kids in school are being prepared for what is to come after which is changing every day.

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  44. We are too boxed in and sitting in uncomfortable classrooms too long. We need some natural light. Starting spreading awareness, just sharing with people my or others ideas.

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  45. Many students want to spend their time on focusing on their future rather than learning about subjects that were irrelevant to their career choice. It was brought up that more career-based classes should be offered as well as time in a schedule to intern.

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  46. I learned how important sleep really is for kids our age and why it makes sense to start school later. By going outside as much as possible I can develope my imagination because I wont be trapped in a white box that we call a classroom.

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  47. I learned that if everyone bands together we can create a school that everyone loves and learns.

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  48. I realized that learning is not as effective as it could be if we had an internship to look forward to in the afternoon. We shouldn't have homework because then most of us end up staying up until 10 doing homework and then don't end up going to bed until 1.

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  49. The school needs to grab students attention and make them want to learn. To exploit my imagination today I could really focus on and do research of how the environment affects learning and talk to people who can help change the environment of the school about my ideas.

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  50. I learned that kids learning in a better environment for them selfs, like practical as in hands on learning vs Lecture learning can really help. Kids who learn in a environment that they enjoy and can relate to are the kids who are way more successful in school.

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  51. I learned most students don't get enough sleep to function in a fully productive way. If school started a little later it might have a bigger impact on the feel of the school. I think that something I can do is to increase my teamwork and time working with others to improve my innovation.

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    1. I agree with you and think that school should start later!

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  52. One thing that I learned from the in class discussion is that creating unique assignments that force a student to learn is an up and coming idea going to be used in the recent future. Starting today I could keep up on my work just so that I can wait until the new next generation of schooling happens.

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  53. While sharing I saw that many students have the same very similar ideas, which proves that there are many problems that most, if not all, of the students notice and think should change. If multiple students get together then the school board will finally realize they need to change things.

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  54. One thing that I learned is that everyone learns in different ways. I learned that a flexible schedule can help with this.

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  55. Hi! Good ideas. I appreciate your honesty. What I change for you here in English 10?

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  56. I realized that there is a lot to improve on at all schools, not just Arapahoe. Noah and Riley presented the layout of Arapahoe and how it can be fixed. As long as there is a set budget and the students are willing to volunteer, it is possible. I also realized that there is not much to say about school that is positive.

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  57. I learned how important sleep really is for kids our age and why it makes sense to start school later. By going outside as much as possible I can develope my imagination because I wont be trapped in a white box that we call a classroom.

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  58. Sam is in the ER, btw, but hopefully we will get to go home today. He woke up at 2 am wheezing-they think he has croup. He keeps asking if Dr. Seuss works here.

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  59. One thing that I learned is that everyone learns in different ways. I learned that a flexible schedule can help with this.

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