Week 10 Review: ThinkThankThunk
About:
ThinkThankThunk is an educational blog created by Shawn Cornally who's mission is to "Deal with the fear of being a boring teacher." This website has resources for any teacher at any level as he introduces ways to make the classroom a fun and safe learning environment. There are numerous posts about a variety of different subjects ranging from Inviting the Public Back to Public Education to Time, Space, and Assessment that introduce new and innovative teaching techniques that liven up a classroom. Shawn really begs teachers to present each and everything they can to present knowledge in an interesting and motivating way so that students may engage in meaningful learning. Below is Shawn's Ted Talk which gives his readers some context for what he and ThinkThankThunk are all about.
ThinkThankThunk is an educational blog created by Shawn Cornally who's mission is to "Deal with the fear of being a boring teacher." This website has resources for any teacher at any level as he introduces ways to make the classroom a fun and safe learning environment. There are numerous posts about a variety of different subjects ranging from Inviting the Public Back to Public Education to Time, Space, and Assessment that introduce new and innovative teaching techniques that liven up a classroom. Shawn really begs teachers to present each and everything they can to present knowledge in an interesting and motivating way so that students may engage in meaningful learning. Below is Shawn's Ted Talk which gives his readers some context for what he and ThinkThankThunk are all about.
Day 1, Hubble, Rates, and YOLO
Of every post that I viewed on the website, this post seemed to speak personally to me as an a prospective teacher as the tactics used can be applied in any level of education at any subject though Cornally primarily discusses it as a calculus lesson. As teachers, it should be our goal on the first day of class to get students to really grapple with the weirdness of our subject matter. They’re often unintuitive and carry with them misconceptions about the subject that is being taught, so the first step is to "tee up the misconceptions." by using a variety of different methods (projects/assignments) that allow the students to create a schema of how not to do something or what something is not. Next, You have to provide an experience that frustrates and confuses students; something that gets them outside of their comfort zone and into the model of trial and error. This experience should be practical in order to teach them the value of the subject matter and to justify your teaching. Lastly, You have to measure the extensibility of the new model. We as teachers are obligated to give students something they can take with them as a golden nugget of information that is practical in the real world. We have to set them up for success by giving them a stronghold, something they can hold onto to connect their learning as they move on to the next level of curriculum.
Conclusion:
Overall, I found this blog to be incredibly insightful and inspiring. ThinkThankThunk is a wonderful blog to revisit when you are needing some advice on how to motivate your students. The website is easy to navigate and there are a few TEDx talks that are also pertaining to motivating students and changing the stigma of education. This website is applicable for any teacher, but can be especially useful to a secondary educator as it deals with a lot of higher level lessons and contains a lot of specificity. The specificity however, with useful thinking, can be applied to any classroom. This blog is a handy tool to have in your pocket so that you're never questioning what your purpose is as a teacher. This blog is here as a friendly reminder that we as teachers can and must do a better job of being creative, innovative, and fun without adding the pressure to our students already hectic lives.
Overall, I found this blog to be incredibly insightful and inspiring. ThinkThankThunk is a wonderful blog to revisit when you are needing some advice on how to motivate your students. The website is easy to navigate and there are a few TEDx talks that are also pertaining to motivating students and changing the stigma of education. This website is applicable for any teacher, but can be especially useful to a secondary educator as it deals with a lot of higher level lessons and contains a lot of specificity. The specificity however, with useful thinking, can be applied to any classroom. This blog is a handy tool to have in your pocket so that you're never questioning what your purpose is as a teacher. This blog is here as a friendly reminder that we as teachers can and must do a better job of being creative, innovative, and fun without adding the pressure to our students already hectic lives.