How to Engage Underperforming Students

Here is the link to this video http://www.edutopia.org/stw-school-turnaround-student-engagement-video
In Charlotte, NC, a school by the name of Cochrane Collegiate Academy was listed as one of the 30 worst performing schools. An academic facilitator by the name of Shana Oliver, was sent to the school to teach and explain to the teachers what it is that they need to do in order to engage their students and to get the school back to where it needed to be. Oliver pointed out that the teachers needed to use interactive learning, which included limited lectures, essential organizers, and graphic organizers. She stated that this allowed the students the time to talk out the lessons in class versus the teacher doing all the talking. One of the teachers stated that the lesson talking she did, the more the students paid attention because they were allowed to have discussions amongst themselves and as a whole. The teacher even stated that she had a short attention span, so therefore she would find ways to make sure that she was not talking a lot. This was an extremely fundamental video, and it stated that it took them three years to get out of the listing of the 30 worst performing schools.

Mr. Winkle Wakes

This video threw me off at first, but as it went along I began to understand the message in the video. This video was basically saying that many things have changed in 100 years, and I definitely agree with that. Mr. Winkle did not feel comfortable with all of the change that he saw around him, and many people feel that way when it comes to technology. Numerous are scared of change, and technology is one of the big moments of change. No one wants to depend on technology, but whether or not you like it we are in a world where technology is consistenly advancing.

 One thing I did like about the video was that Mr. Winkle noticed that nothing had changed in the classroom. The children sat there looking bored, but Mr. Winkle enjoyed it, just as some teachers. They are telling us that teachers have to integrate technology into their curriculum in order to get the children's attention. The world needs to wake up and realize that technology is not going anywhere, and it will only continue to advance just like everything else in this world.

Reflction on Class

Since we began this class, I definitely have learned many things about myself and technology. I really felt that I knew enough about technology to do really good in this class, but in turn I felt like I knew nothing at all. The project I have struggled with the most was the classroom website. I just kept running into problems with adding the headings and posting information under my tabs. In result of that, I received a bad grade on that project.

However, I have learned how to create a blog, what a portaportal is used for, and that the online discussions that we have are definitely a big help to discovering more about myself as the semester has went along. I did not think that this class would be as beneficial as it has been. But, I have definitely learned a lot, and I hope I can continue to expand my knowledge on the different types of technology. I am still stuck on the different items I have discovered on google.