Blog Post 7

Last week in class, we discussed how students learn and complete a new (to me) exercise to help analyze an online article, called LEOs. The exercise asks students to take on a specific role, like archaeologist or connector, the latter of which was my role. I was asked to connect specific quotes or aspects of the article to other classes, learning experiences, work, or anything that might help to further the explain the article. Hearing from my classmates, allowed for multiple perspectives into concerns that may not have been brought up if not for their role in the group. We also discussed transfer and appreciated hearing from my classmates about online tutoring. We discussed how context or the environment the student-tutor are in, influence the way they teach students. 

Marc Prensky, advocates for colleges to shift from physical books to electronic books, a move away from ancient outdated tools better left in museums. While some students may enjoy reading physical books more than ebooks, by moving towards online reading, we can encourage students, teachers, and universities to contribute to open source software helpful for understanding the readings. For example, current software may allow students to electronically annotate text and read other student's annotations. Not only does this save paper and move towards a more modern technology, it allows students to get a sense of each other's thoughts before class, a possibly helpful technique to creating successful group interactions. There are still many advantages to physical books, like the ability to read without having to worry about battery life. Online books allow for quick searching, but this may have disadvantages for teachers and students. Students might, for example, search for key terms and only read these sentences, rather than looking at the full context of the phrase or passage in the text. 

In Ancient History and Current Research, we learn that book clubs have been around for centuries, and in America's history, they date back to the colonials coming from Europe during the early 1600s. Today, they still exist inside and outside of the classroom, with literature circles, becoming common in the classroom for primary school students. By choosing their own books, reading them independently, and talking with peers about the material, students are able to better learn. The collaboration that takes place between students allows for additional perspectives that may not have been initially obvious to a single student. Collaboration in the classroom grows out of a field called group dynamics, something that is critical to success outside of the classroom, like in an office or research lab. Librarians, teachers, and group facilitators all need to be more aware of what makes a group successful.

Santos & Altowairiki (2015) discuss their experiences with book clubs in the school setting. They say book clubs act as an activity for students to share individual reflections on readings and contribute to the class' knowledge. The book club should be set up to consider the age and learning experiences of the group members. Like writing, book clubs help students develop meaning from conversations, or grow their self-identity. Unlike writing, book clubs encourage collaboration and constructive criticism from peers who completed the same reading. From the collaboration, communities can grow where students learn to rely on each other to get better at developing ideas and arguments. Metzger (1998) argues that reading is far too often a passive task for students, meaning students become fixed on the belief that they will either get the reading or they won't. Book clubs help to promote a growth mindset by encouraging an understanding of the literature beyond answering a question correctly on a test. Through a process, Metzger calls The Socratic Seminar, discussion in groups at an appropriate level of abstraction, allows students to develop leadership roles and focus on how they are reading, a metacognitive approach to learning, rather than just what they are reading.