Week 8 Things to Do

1.Article from Cool Cat Teacher about the Role of Students in the Classroom
The role of the student is multi-faceted. The student is not only a learner, but a thinker. I found an interesting article at Cool Cat Teacher called "Cheating" http://www.ed421.com/?p=976. The article examines the difference between cheating in school and the nature of how we get our work done. There are many ways to cheat on your work assignments, including using cell phones. There was a study completed on how 35% of students cheat electronically and the ways they use their cell phones to cheat with. These points about cheating are not irrelevant, because more and more pressure is put on standardized testing and students are expected to perform well. With these expectations on standardized tests, is this one reason students feel the need to cheat? Many students are expected to memorize information and details for tests through rote memorization. Rote memorization does have a meaningful purpose, to an extent. It is important for students to memorize information and build their reading comprehension skills. There are ways to remember information other than cheating using a cell phone or through rote memorization. Some of the bloggers and responses from this article mentioned intervention strategies to incorporate into the classroom, so students will not feel they have to memorize every detail. Other ways to assess and measure learning include: open book exams, performance assessments , projects, using multiple testing formats, and creating/playing games.

2. "Teachers and Students Meet in the Middle" Reflection
Teachers and students should have positive communication. I learn a lot from looking at and thinking about the many ways students process information. Learning is an active process and the students should share thoughts and ideas as they learn information. The teacher is a guide and a facilitator, but not a dictator. Students should feel comfortable contributing ideas and asking questions. Without interaction and feedback, learning would be stagnate.