I'm Bored

I chose this book cover image because I think kids are bored in school and not challenged enough. We as teachers need to involve more technology into our classrooms and get the kids involved in their own learning so they can take ownership of their learning.

In chapter on of Why don't students Like School, DanielT. Willingham introduces us to the principle that the mind is not designed for thinking. Only a small portion of the brain is designed for thinking. Willingham stresses that our thinking system is slow, uncertain, and effortless, so instead of utilizing our thinking system we rely on our memory system. Memory guides many of our behaviors, so we are not required to think/ Though the human mind is not good at thinking, it likes to think and the conditions have to be right to engage our curiosity or we quickly lose interest. When engaged in thinking and solving a problm threee factores become involved; environment, working memory, and long term memory. These factors are essential for problem solving. Then problem solving, conten is what engages our curiosity and keeps the brain interested in learning. The challenge to educators is introducing the content in a manner that challenges students' cognitive ability without exceeding their ability level causing the to lose interest. This creates a unique challenge for educators to develop curriculum that's relevant and challenges all students at their cognitive ability levels to solve problems. The mental work has to provide students with a personal pay off when solving problems to keep students excelling academically. So the challenge to educators is to create curriculum that taps into students' memory and prior knowledge to guide their thinking when problem solving but below their ability and not too advanced for their ability.

Book Cover

I haven't read the book "Why Students Don't Like School", but I am guessing it refers to digital natives. I picked this image, as my book cover, to show that as educators we need to move beyond the blackboard and into the world of technology.

Welcome to Literature Circle Twenty-six!

Your Super Summarizer schedule is as follows:

Section One--Due October 28, Janine Catlett
Section Two--Due November 4, Bonnie Dowling
Section Three--Due November 11, Matt Donnelly
Section Four--Due November 18, Becky Lowe
Section Five--Due December 2, TBA
Section Six--Due December 9, TBA