Inquiry Project Blog- Michael Lindberg

Inquiry Project Assignment # 4 Blog

What a journey this was indeed, great fun and engaging! I really enjoyed the fact that it pretty much forced us to learn something that we’ve been meaning to learn but just never had the time to do it or made up excuses to not learn it. For me the journey of learning how to fish was exciting, fun, frustrating and rewarding all tangled up into a fish net.

At the beginning of this project I needed some direction as to how to maximize my learning. 6 hours isn’t all that much time to learn a new thing effectively. I needed help so I began to Google some resources of self-directed learning. I found a great link that outlined 4 steps to this process.

  • Being ready to learn
    1. Not as easy as it sounds, you must be in the right frame of mind mentally in order to get the most of your learning.
  • Setting goals
    1. Setting measurable goals helps keep you on track when you are dealing with numerous resources and a flood of information.
  • Engaging the learning process
    1. Taking the good with the bad. Not all of this process was smooth; I had many road bumps on the way.
  • Evaluating the learning
    1. What did I learn? Was the learning deep?

Using these steps I felt helped me study and explore in an effective manner. There were some great successes as well as some failures in my journey. Some of the challenges for me was the amount of information that was at my fingertips. Trying to select and decipher what information was applicable and which was useless was a challenge. Some successes I had was being able to take what I had learned in my research and seeing if it held true to a professional. That was rewarding and an overall neat experience for me. When I went to the fishing hole I was able to talk to the professional for almost an hour about fishing! This made my learning more meaningful and I felt I had a deeper understanding once I left the fishing hole.

This experience made me really appreciate self-directed learning and how deep and impactful the learning can be. I think this may be a project I introduce to my students in a similar way referencing the Culinary Arts curriculum. I will allow my students to explore a faucet of our curriculum that interests them and have them self direct.

A Digital Story on How the Chicken Never Made it Across the Cutting Board

Michael Lindberg

Option #1 A Digital Story

The first digital story I would have my students develop would be a group activity to ease the stress of this new activity. I would make it a simple subject to start. The topic I would choose would be something that is a practical skill that they could use for their whole career in Culinary Arts something like “How to Breakdown a Whole Chicken”. Breaking down a chicken is a skill that all chefs should know and master. A valuable skill that demonstrates the knowledge of knife skills, knowledge about the components of a chicken, and also is a great money saving tool when mastered. I don’t buy fabricated cuts of chicken when I grocery shop, when I shop I buy the whole chicken and break it down myself when I get home. I save 40% doing it this way. It only takes me about 10 minutes from start to finish to do.

Breaking Down a Chicken Resources

Resource #1

Resource #2

Resource #3

Digital Storytelling Resources

Resource #4

Resource #5

 I would also do a quick demonstration in class to go over the different techniques they could use. I would order a bunch of chickens for the students and have them practice and master their techniques. I would pair them up and have them videotape and take pictures of themselves mastering their newly discovered skill. To create their digital stories I would have them use windows moviemaker because most of the schools computing resources are PC. I would show the class a couple examples of digital stories to help with any confusion regarding them. Now the magic begins with allotting the students class time to develop and put together their digital stories. Once completed I would have them present them to class. The purpose of the digital story would outline the progress they have made from start to finish. Showing the research, practice and mastery of this valuable skill.

I really like the idea of having my students create a digital story. I think this would be a great tool to help deepen their comprehension of their learning. I think digital storytelling uses higher thinking skills. It verifies their learning by taking what they have learned and puts into practice right away as they create their own personalized project. Sounds like a lot of fun for the student and a great way to keep them engaged! It could also be great for collaboration if you decide to make this a group activity. Collaboration and working effectively with peers is a vital skill to develop. Students will also benefit from the integration of technology into the classroom and once they learn this skill they will be able to use it in other uses in the future! I am really looking forward to integrating digital storytelling into my program!

A Flipped Classroom- Michael Lindberg

At first glance my first impression was the fear of all the hours that a flipped classroom will take to do well. Considering the amount of time and effort I have put into my classroom already, this task seemed daunting. After going through the articles provided, they have outlined some great benefits as well as some great advice on how to slowly implement a flipped classroom into my curriculum and class. It no longer looks like a “task” to me but a valuable teaching practice that can benefit my students and myself.

We run a very busy restaurant in our school where the students are responsible for every aspect of the food service. In reality my students only get about 45 minutes of actual classroom time a day. This doesn’t give me much time to go over the curriculum. The curriculum is usually delivered taking a hands-on approach. I do a lot of demonstrations in the kitchen and then the students get to practice their learning afterwards. My version of flipping the classroom would definitely save me time and allow for the students to practice their learning right away. In a busy kitchen where time is always working against us, this would help slow things down a little. I would have the students watch certain demonstrations that I assign them to watch at home. Instead of taking the time for me to demonstrate, they could see it before class even starts. It would allow me more time to circulate and make sure they are properly doing the task. This would allow the student more time to practice and master their learning.

Another benefit is that it promotes student-centered learning and collaboration. I would be able to pair students up on certain tasks to master their skills through collaboration. With my guidance students could teach or learn concepts together. It would be a confidence builder as well as it will allow students to drive their own learning. I would be more available to identify errors in application as well as be more available for student interactions and questions.

I think a flipped classroom can be a great tool for my Culinary Arts program where my students and myself would benefit greatly from.

Student Centered Approaches Blog#1-Michael Lindberg

My thoughts on the Article;

Student-Centered Learning Can Modernize Schools

Our education system isn’t broken; it’s outdated

A shocking stat jumped out at me when reading this article. 65% of careers will require a college degree by the year 2020. We seem to be stuck using an educational model that was geared for the educational system of 100 years ago. If you think about it, 100 years ago very few people even got through high school (17%) let alone college. With high school graduation numbers peaking have we turned the corner? This article points out that 1 in 4 college students need to do costly upgrading in order to actually begin college. Back in 2003 http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2013/2013013.pdf 28% of students required remedial courses which is 3% improvement in the past 13 years. 3% is a great increase. With the evolution of our educational system and the gaining momentum of student-centered learning I feel these percentages can improve even more. However is evolving solely to a student-centered approach the right approach?

I would like to point out some pros and cons regarding both student-centered and teacher-centered approaches.

 Teacher centered approaches

Pros

The classroom has a better chance at remaining calm and orderly.

Students learn to be independent and improve their decision making skills

Cons

When students work alone, they don’t learn to collaborate with other students. Communication skills could suffer.

This approach is sometimes boring. Boredom leads to daydreaming, and students could miss an important part of the lesson.

Student-Centered Approaches

Pros

Students learn communication and collaborative skills through group work and discussions.

Students can direct their own learning and this leads to building independence.

Students seem to be more engaged in learning activities when they can interact with one another.

Cons

Important facts can be missed as the teacher often doesn’t deliver the instructions all at once.

Classrooms are often busy, noisy and sometimes chaotic, which can be a challenge to manage for the teacher.

Some students prefer to work alone, so group work can become problematic.

I feel that there is a place for both teacher-centered and student-centered learning in classrooms. Based on my experience changing up teaching methods has been a very successful formula for me. With my experience using both teacher-centered and student-centered approaches students have enjoyed the benefits from both methods. You can target every student, those that flourish in teacher-centered approaches and those that flourish in student-centered approaches. Can a healthy blend of both approaches be the answer we are looking for to ready our students for post secondary and the work force?