Connectivism

Before this class, I already felt that a connectivism (not that I actually fully comprehended the concept) approach would be the best route for my students to feel that history actually affects their life. As a social studies/history teacher, I need all the help I can get helping students feel that my classes are important for their lives, not just a grade. The biggest challenge is convincing students that the events in history have shaped the world as they know it. They need to see that current events around the world actually do affect this country - whether it is the Fed waiting to raise interest rates, due to the slowing of China's economy, the threat of the Zika virus keeping kids families from vacationing in Florida, or OPEC's control of oil barrel prices giving us cheap gas (but also forcing other oil producing countries into financial straits). For my students to grow into responsible citizens, they need to be able to look at both sides of many issues. Being able to look at world events (current or historical) from others' perspectives, will help open their minds. I know that overcoming the biases generated by our national, local, and familial cultures is an uphill battle. However, I feel that exposing students to different perspectives, even within our own country will be super helpful in helping nurture buds of tolerance. I really appreciated the fishbowl discussion. One of the topics discussed was that students need to be exposed to difficult ideas. Students need to deal with the uncomfortable reality that not everyone agrees with them/us. Teachers need to create a space where different opinions are OK. Teachers need to model how to deal respectfully with opinions different from ours. I feel that connecting with people from other areas of the world, who should have different views than our US-centric paradigms, would be a great way to  introduce the concept of respect even in disagreement. I honestly cannot think of a more effective way for this concept to "stick". I am grateful to have more ideas on how to apply connectivism in my classrooms. I am already dreading the reality of the restrictions I will face, due to the benchmarks that my students will have to meet. It will be very challenging to try to create connectivism activities geared toward the benchmarks. I understand the need for standards, especially national standards. It is just so frustrating that I will be so limited in my opportunities to foster or rekindle the love of learning. I feel that connectivity activities offer the best chance for that.
Back to the fishbowl activity, it was both enlightening and frustrating. I appreciated having to be silent (though I did slip once) as I was able to hear so many different opinions. I enjoyed everyone's deep and even passionate thoughts on all of the subjects we discussed. When I was outside the "fishbowl", I was extremely frustrated by my inability to focus on the discussion inside, while typing. I missed 3/4 of what they said as I tried to keep up with the chatroom feed, and add my own comments. I learned for myself that I really CANNOT type and listen at the same time. I plan to use an activity like the fishbowl to teach that concept to my students. I am sure there will be some who are able to type different stuff than what they are listening to, but it should give most of them some real life insight. Maybe we could even use the fishbowl as our brainstorming activity - as we formulate how to implement basic classroom guidelines. It would be helpful for the kids to see for themselves how "multi-tasking" doesn't really work. This would hopefully help them in brainstorming how our classroom could work best.