I have a class every Monday evening and one on Saturday mornings. Every Tuesday I will go to Bloomington High School North. On Friday mornings we have a seminar with Dr Keith Barton (who has spent three months in New Zealand doing some research and was based in Wellington) and doctoral candidate Hope Rias. Classes are two and a half hours long, apart from the Saturday class which is FIVE hours long. I will also meet with my adviser every two weeks to discuss progress on my research.
On the other days I will fit in educational readings and development of my Capstone Project. Already I have a pile of books to read, and I have added some fiction by American writers. I have decided to only read US fiction whilst in the US, kicked off by taking up reading Barbara Kingsolver's "Flight Behaviour" just before I left NZ.
One of my classes is "Advanced Study of Teaching Literacy in Content Areas" and focuses on addressing literacy issues at secondary school level. We will develop instructional activities to improve literacy in adolescents, learn about reading research, and use reading/writing/thinking skills activities. I will always have a bent towards how digital technology is being used to achieve these goals.
My second course is called "Instructional Strategies for Thinking, Collaboration and Motivation".
We will be learning how to develop classroom environments that stimulate critical thinking and creativity. We will focus on creating learning environments that promote cooperative learning and motivation. There will be a strong technology focus in this course.
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| The course has a live stream to Indiana University's Indianapolis campus. Two participants link into the course each Saturday morning. |
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| There are a lot of group work activities which involve moving around in this class. It needs to be like that as it is FIVE HOURS LONG ON A SATURDAY -- 8AM UNTIL 1PM!!!!!!!!!! |
The seminar on Friday is great too because we are learning about the US education system, current issues in education and also what has happened during the twentieth century. We have discussed the Civil Rights movement, desegregation, education for English as a New Language students, US policy on special needs, etc. We are making a comparative study sharing ideas from all our countries. It is taken by Dr Keith Barton and Hope Rias, who is a doctoral student. We are quite a talkative group, so there are lots of questions and input from the floor.
Wow Fiona!! This all looks so interesting and intellectually stimulating!! I can't wait to hear about what you're learning, especially in the area of adolescent literacy. Go you!! Cath xxx
ReplyDeleteOk second time lucky ... I just posted a very long blog about a book but then tried to publish it and it all disappeared! So this is a tester....
ReplyDeleteRight now I know that works here is what I was saying ... I am just reading the "End of Your Life Bookclub" by Will Schuralbe. I think it is a work of fiction as he writes at the beginning that he is writing about his life and his mother. The book itself is about how the author and his mother began their own unique book club comparing books they are reading while they sit together as she gets treatment for her cancer. One of the books that they discuss early on and the author says is a best seller in America is called, "Crossing to Safety" by Wallace Stegner. Supposedly Stegner wrote predominantly about the American Mid West but in this book he writes about the lifelong friendship of two couples Sid and Charity and Larry and Sally. Charity is dying. It was written in 1987. I don't know if you will have a chance to read it but if you do let me know what you think xx
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