Effective Instruction

Peace, Love, and Compromise

2008-04-07T13:14:00.001-07:00

What does differentiated education mean to me?

To differentiate education I believe the teacher must recognize the differences in her students, and adapt herself to all of them as best she can. She must teach to each of these differences. She must also learn to push herself and her students out of their comfort zones. She must recognize the differences in herself and realize how different and how similar she is to each of her students. These differences can be cultural, learning abilities, social, and/or ethnic.

"You don't get harmony when everyone sings the same note." Doug Floyd

I think that this quote applies itself perfectly to the ideas behind differentiated education. I think that the harmony that can exist in a classroom where everyone is excited about learning and feels no pressure to fit into any kind of mold could feel like a choir singing in harmony. There is a moment where everything is so beautiful it almost hurts to listen. I hope that my class can be that different someday. I don't exactly remember specific instances of my teachers teaching in a differentiated way. I do remember that sometimes when I was "learning" things that, I actually felt like I was playing a game. It was a fun thing! It wasn't work, like many students seem to view learning.

"You don't really know something until you teach it." Dr. Scott and others...

I don't know if I had ever heard that quote before, but it is definitly true. I am still unsure of how I will implement all of these things we have learned in my classroom, especially since I am going to be an Art teacher. All I know is that I want my students to love art and realize its importance in the world. I want them to not be nervous every time I introduce them to new materials. I want them to have fun and relish expressing themselves in a variety of ways. If these things happen, learning should come naturally.

I think that learner-centered instruction and standards based instruction can be reconciled. I think that they need to meet somewhere in the middle. There needs to be a commitee of educators, not government officials, that meets to create an instructional system that uses parts of each of the rival methods. The teachers that we read about in the Tomlinson article met and discussed the standards. They found a way to work with the standards, instead of against them. If we could come together and do the same with both of the methods, we could end the wars between educators and administrators.

2008-04-07T10:54:00.000-07:00

I think using the strategies are a great place to start with differentiated instruction
Readiness & Ability
Teachers can use a variety of assessments to determine a student's ability or readiness. Also, to learn new concepts students may be generally working below or above grade level or they may simply be missing necessary prerequisite skills.
However, readiness is constantly changing and as readiness changes it is important that students be permitted to move between different groups. Activities for each group are often differentiated by complexity. Students whose understanding is below grade level will work at tasks inherently less complex than those attempted by more advanced students. Those students whose reading level is below grade level will benefit by reading with a buddy or listening to stories/instructions using a tape recorder so that they receive information verbally.
Varying the level of questioning and compacting the curriculum and are useful strategies for accommodating differences in ability or readiness.
Adjusting Questions
During large group discussion activities, teachers direct the higher level questions to the students who can handle them and adjust questions accordingly for student with greater needs. All students are answering important questions that require them to think but the questions are targeted towards the student’s ability or readiness level.
An easy tool for accomplishing this is to put posters on the classroom walls with key words that identify the varying levels of thinking.
With written quizzes the teacher may assign specific questions for each group of students. They all answer the same number of questions but the complexity required varies from group to group. However, the option to go beyond minimal requirements can be available for any or all students who demonstrate that they require an additional challenge for their level.
Compacting Curriculum
Compacting the curriculum means assessing a students knowledge, skills and attitudes and providing alternative activities for the student who has already mastered curriculum content. This can be achieved by pre-testing basic concepts or using performance assessment methods. Students who demonstrate that they do not require instruction move on to tiered problem solving activities while others receive instruction.
Tiered Assignments
Tiered activities are a series of related tasks of varying complexity. All of these activities relate to essential understanding and key skills that students need to acquire. Teachers assign the activities as alternative ways of reaching the same goals taking into account individual student needs.
Acceleration/Deceleration
Accelerating or decelerating the pace that students move through curriculum is another method of differentiating instruction. Students demonstrating a high level of competence can work through the curriculum at a faster pace. Students experiencing difficulties may need adjusted activities that allow for a slower pace in order to experience success.
Flexible Grouping
As student performance will vary it is important to permit movement between groups. Student’s readiness varies depending on personal talents and interests, so we must remain open to the concept that a student may be below grade level in one subject at the same time as being above grade level in another subject.
Flexible grouping allows students to be appropriately challenged and avoids labeling a student's readiness as static. Students should not be be kept in a static group for any particular subjects as their learning will probably accelerate from time to time.
Even highly talented students can benefit from flexible grouping. Often they benefit from work with intellectual peers, while occasionally in another group they can experience being a leader. In either case peer-teaching is a valuable strategy for group-work.
Peer Teaching
Occasionally a student may have personal needs that require one-on-one instruction that go beyond the needs of his or her peers. After receiving this extra instruction the student could be designated as the "resident expert" for that concept or skill and can get valuable practice by being given the opportunity to re-teach the concept to peers. In these circumstances both students benefit.
Learning Profiles & Styles
Another filter for assigning students to tasks is by learning style, such as adjusting preferred environment (quiet, lower lighting, formal/casual seating etc.) or learning modality: auditory (learns best by hearing information) visual (learns best through seeing information in charts or pictures) or kinesthetic preferences (learns best by using concrete examples, or may need to move around while learning) or through personal interests. Since student motivation is also a unique element in learning, understanding individual learning styles and interests will permit teachers to apply appropriate strategies for developing motivational techniques.
Student Interest
Interest surveys are often used for determining student interest. Brainstorming for subtopics within a curriculum concept and using semantic webbing to explore interesting facets of the concept is another effective tool. This is also an effective way of teaching students how to focus on a manageable subtopic.
Reading Buddies
This strategy is particularly useful for younger students and/or students with reading difficulties. Children get additional practice and experience reading away from the teacher as they develop fluency and comprehension. It is important that students read with a specific purpose in mind and then have an opportunity to discuss what was read. It is not necessary for reading buddies to always be at the same reading level. Students with varying word recognition, word analysis and comprehension skills can help each other be more successful. Adjusted follow up tasks are also assigned based on readiness level.
Independent Study Projects
Independent Study is a research project where students learn how to develop the skills for independent learning. The degree of help and structure will vary between students and depend on their ability to manage ideas, time and productivity. A modification of the independent study is the buddy-study.
Learning Centres
Learning Centres have been used by teachers for a long time and may contain both differentiated and compulsory activities. However a learning centre is not necessarily differentiated unless the activities are varied by complexity taking in to account different student ability and readiness. It is important that students understand what is expected of them at the learning centre and are encouraged to manage their use of time. The degree of structure that is provided will vary according to student independent work habits. At the end of each week students should be able to account for their use of time.

2008-04-07T10:08:00.000-07:00

Well leave it to me to forget what day it is and that I was supposed to have this done….better late than never I suppose!
When I read the negative cases in the Reconcilable Differences article I was embarrassed for the middle school teachers who organized their students into groups of Definitely, Maybe and No Hope for standards tests, but I felt even worse for their students. There will always be students who do really well in school, some that are mediocre and some that have great difficulty in learning and passing standards based tests. Having an attitude that some of your students have “no hope” is the worst attitude a teacher could have. I’m not saying a teacher should expect all his/her students to be perfect, but I think having the attitude that your students CAN and WILL learn(even a little) if you LEARN to differentiate instruction is a much better attitude. Like Carol Ann Tomlinson said, curriculum only tells us what to teach but differentiation tells us how. I think a big part of the “how” is attitude and willingness to accept that not all students are the same! (and that some are forgetful like me)

(Ir)Reconcilable Differences

2008-04-06T20:16:00.000-07:00

Differentiation quotes:

Students will learn best when they can make a connection between the curriculum and their interests and life experiences.

Students will learn best when learning opportunities are natural.

Standard-based teaching quotes:

Are we using standards as a curriculum, or are they reflected in the curriculum?
Does our use of standards remind us that we are teaching human beings, or does it cause us to forget that fact?

Reconciliation:

At this point, I am not convinced that differentiation instruction and standard-based teaching can be reconciled. It was a downer to me when standard-based teaching was introduced in class. Here I was learning all about differentiated learning and I began to process all of the wonderful ways that I could incorporate this information into my classroom and then I was blind-sided with standard-based teaching. To me, as long as we are required to teach based on standards, then our hands are tied in regards to creativity within the classroom.

Tomlinson, when speaking on differentiation, says “Students will learn best when learning opportunities are natural.” Forcing standardization onto the teachers, in turn forces standardization on to the students. This does not seem very natural to me. She also states that “Students will learn best when they can make connection between the curriculum and their interests and life experiences.” To have the time to teach in a way that encompasses a student’s interest and life experience, a teacher would have to be able to spend a large amount of her/his planning time and classroom time implementing differentiated instruction. If this were to happen, where would the standard-based teaching fit?

We do need to look at whether we are using standards as a curriculum or are the standards reflected in the curriculum. This is a point to which Tomlinson also eludes. Maybe it is just up to us to find creative ways to hide standardization within our curriculum instead of making it what our curriculum is all about.

We certainly do not want to forget the fact that we are teaching human beings. By being forced to implement standards-based learning, it feels like we are not only making the students robots but, we are turning our teachers (ourselves) into robots, as well. What next? Will the “powers that be” create standardized lesson plans? If that happens, they will only need robots to teach because all creativity and differentiation will truly be gone.

quotes from Carol

2008-04-06T06:20:00.000-07:00

“Differentiation can show us how to teach the same standard to a range of learners by employing a variety of teaching and learning modes.” – Carol Ann Tomlison

“Our first obligation is to ensure that standards-based teaching practice does not conflict with best teaching practice. Once those are aligned, differentiation -- or attention to the diverse needs of learners -- follows naturally.” – Carol Ann Tomlison

These two quotes help summarize the importance of differentiated instruction. Carol Ann Tomlinson helps break down the curricular elements of content, process, and product because the way each student process ideas as they read, think, and conjure ideas with the use of materials is all different. As she says in my second quote once you have the content, process, and product aligned teaching your curriculum should (key word) flow naturally. I don’t feel people give teachers enough credit. In doing my lesson plan I have tried to think of every possible scenario that may arise and how I would handle questions, reactions, failures with just one lesson plan. Teachers teach a whole 8 hour day. I have spent the last week trying to work on one lesson plan using differentiated instruction. Yes, it is very easy to stand up there and give them the content, but whether they understand it and engage in it is what really matters and the use of differentiated instruction is our gateway in doing so. As for my second quote, give us two very special aspects in teaching curricula. We are given the standards which help us and give us a direction and differentiated instruction which gives us the pathway to use our creativity, imagination, and even think like the students for once. What would be fun and what would they enjoy doing. I hated school when it was boring and just had to take notes. As new teachers we are given the opportunity to excel and show our excitement to each student and we might even learn from them. Hopefully my lesson plan will be filled with excitement, engage my students, give them different ways in learning and fun.

Differentiated Instruction in Today's Education

2008-04-05T13:49:00.000-07:00

“Differentiation can show us how to teach the same standard to a range of learners by employing a variety of teaching and learning modes.” - - Carol Ann Tomlinson.

This quote and all the chapters we reviewed in class support the importance of differentiated instruction and how through it, learner-centered instruction and standard-based instruction can work together. However, all this knowledge and tools are being introduced to educators and to us, the ones preparing to be in the field. It is our responsibility to use them and continuously prepare, learn and adjust our own style in order to fit the needs of our students.

Tomlinson also says, “Differentiated Instruction shows us how to teach and Standards tell us what to teach.” Understanding each of them and their benefits is essential, not only for the students but to teachers as well. We know children learn in different ways but as educators we can teach in different ways. What a powerful tool to have, be able to reach out to each student.

Differentiated Instruction is an opportunity to accomplish this, but it requires time, planning and good communication with our students and their families. It might sound complicated but it is also a challenge, and worth a try.

I want to finish this week's reflection with a few quotes from an article written by Scott Stephens ( The Plain Dealer, April 1st. 2008), whose views are very interesting and appropriate to our class discussion.
“ With different learning styles, why not different testing styles?” he wrote. Also, “students learn in different ways. So why should everyone be tested the same way?” In the article, Stephens cites State Superintendent Susan Zelman, who says, “There are multiple pathways for students to succeed in school and there are multiple ways to measure that success”

In closing, two thoughts occurred to me while writing this week' assignment, that Differentiated Instruction is critical to our career's as Educators, and that I have much more to learn!

One Size Never Fits All

2008-04-05T13:08:00.000-07:00

"Reconcilable Differences? Standards-based Teaching and Differentiation"

One size fits all. Really? Wow what a concept but it doesn't really work, does it? Well it does if you are right in the middle all the time. Sort of like those things they have you wear at the hospital - You know what I am talking about so I will leave you with your mental picture. Not pretty is it? I have never been able to buy gloves that were fashionable or warm. Any watch I have ever purchased has to have the band replaced. Hands to big, wrists to large. How many stores sell men's size 15 dress shoes?

So imagine being the student who is extremely smart or fast to pick up concepts or who has a family where education is extremely important so they are better prepared than students their own age. Now imagine the opposite of all those things or just being a student who is motivated to do the work but things don't come easy. Teachers must teach to the full spectrum of student readiness, interest and learning profile not through "One Size Fits All" methods and without regards to standards-based instruction. The full spectrum is ROYGBIV and is all encompassing not just the visible white light. This is my definition of a diverse classroom and rationale for differentiated instruction. Standards-based instruction approaches need to be assessed in ways that make an impact on the gifted or academically challenged students who are outside the usual norms of achievement.

Primary and secondary teachers complain about teaching to the test. Well there is a reason society created the tests and standards. We discussed a number of these in class. There is a reason colleges and universities only admit students after reviewing ACT and SAT scores. Employers also want to know if the education the prospective employee received has the same quality and measures up to the other prospective job candidates. You hear the horror stories of advance students being idle and how borderline and low motivation students are being moved to Special Education so their scores won't reflect poorly on the teachers, school, administrators, school board and the community. In the Tomlinson article she lists the following bullet points as questions educators need to ask themselves about how they are teaching.

· Do the standards reflect the knowledge, understandings, and skills valued most by experts in the disciplines that they represent?

· Are we using standards as a curriculum, or are they reflected in the curriculum?

· Are we slavishly covering standards at breakneck pace, or have we found ways to organize the standards within our curriculum so that students have time to make sense of ideas and skills?

· Does our current focus on standards enliven classrooms, or does it eliminate joy, creativity, and inquiry?

· Do standards make learning more or less relevant and alluring to students?

· Does our use of standards remind us that we are teaching human beings, or does it cause us to forget that fact?

She goes on to say, that if your "practices yield positive answers", then move forward fast in differentiating your class room with "adaptations that address the needs of academically diverse learners." If your "answers are less than satisfactory" problems need to be addressed. Because "such problems… point to cracks in the foundation of quality teaching and learning, and we diminish our profession by failing to attend to them." This is what I meant earlier when I said, “without regard” it must be done the students are counting on you.

Further into the article, Tomlinson continues that the problem is not a disconnect between standards and instruction. She says, "The problem lies in an ill-conceived interpretation and use of standards" that diminish the real structure of "effective teaching and learning." "The problem is not that we can't attend to the needs of individual learners, but rather that we've lost the essential frameworks of the disciplines in addition to the coherence, understanding, purpose, and joy in learning. Our first obligation is to ensure that standards-based teaching practice does not conflict with best teaching practices. Once those are aligned, differentiation—or attention to the diverse needs of learners—follows naturally."

I think what she is saying is that teachers taught as they were taught so now they are missing a sense of coherence, understanding and purpose. Teaching is as much an art as a science but it also must be a calling. There must be joy freely given and received. But most people get into that rut at work and find a comfort zone that allowed them to feel good about what they have been doing. Now they are being told not just to do it differently, but we decided that you weren't doing it so well after all. What a blow to confidence and self esteem that must have been to the teaching community. She says once you align standards-based teaching with best teaching practice you can move on to what is truly important. And when your heart is pure and mind is clear then attention to the needs of diverse learners will follow.

I really enjoyed reading this piece. I reread it a number of times and just kept finding more and more in it.

quotes

2008-04-05T12:56:00.000-07:00

The two quotes that I took from the article were “Do the standards reflect the knowledge understandings and skills valued most by experts in the disciplines that they represent?” and “differentiation can show us how to teach the same standard to a range of learners by employing a variety of teaching and learning modes.” The first quote relates directly to what we were talking about in class. Some teachers feel like the standards that they have to teach limit them as teachers and creative individuals. Many times experts in their fields want to have the freedom to teach thing content that they want to teach. The content standards limit that freedom quite a bit. There can be different ways of teaching science and the students can learn the same skills but everyone might not want to teach the same thing. The quote brings up a good point that a teacher could be very knowledgeable in a branch in the subject that the content standards don’t cover. Should the students not be exposed to a great lesson that the teacher could teach just because it is not in the standards?
The second quote that I picked sort of answers the question from the first quote. Although this quote hits directly to meeting the needs of the learners by differentiation, it can also meet the teacher’s needs. A teacher can still be creative and do things his or her own way through differentiation Although all 10th grade science teachers are expected to teach the same chemistry lessons, the way the teach it can reflect their expertise on the subject area. Some teachers may be more hands on, and some teachers may have strong real life examples to bring to the classroom. Just as the quote directly states, differentiation can reach a variety of students. Teaching content standards just one way in a classroom may not give the positive result that is expected. Not all the students will learn those standards. As we have learned all through this class, people learn different ways, on different levels and with different techniques. Differentiation the lessons with the content standards may give more students an equal opportunity to learn the content that they are expected to be tested on.
Throughout this class I have found differentiated instruction to be confusing and overwhelming. It is something that has to come from experience. I think sometimes without even realizing it teachers naturally are progressing to differentiation instruction. With more and more inclusion in the classrooms, it would almost be impossible to have a classroom without any differentiated instruction. I do believe that it gives more students an equal chance to learn the material in the best way possible. Differentiated instruction is a good idea, and it is extremely necessary as we have learned all throughout this class. It is important to give everyone an equal chance to succeed. With all the different learning styles and various learning disabilities and differences in human beings, differentiated instruction in the classroom gives the best hope for each child in the classroom.

Thinking Outside the Box

2008-04-04T19:30:00.000-07:00

"Teaching is hard." "Teaching well is fiercely so." I'm just glad as I've said before that we don't know any different from standards based-differentiated instruction. I'll use the standards as a guideline but I'll also strive to teach "out of the box", to be creative. I'll do everything I can to provide differentiated instruction as often as possible but as Dr. Scott expressed it is not feasible for every lesson for every subject to be differentiated!
Now let me change tracks and pose two questions. My first question is what are our goals as teachers for our students? Are the goals still college (first choice) and technical/skills school (second choice) for our class? If so, what are the long term results of differentiation? Can all students pass a standardized test such as the ACT/SAT? I submit that since differentiation is still a new concept we don't know the answer to this question. OK, second question. Once I become a more experienced teacher will I have more behavior control over SGI which seems to be an integral part of differentiation?
More to come on all that but meanwhile; I will continue to improve my differentiated thinking skills. I will strive to find new and better methods to achieve successful learning skills in all of my students.

Tomlinson Quote

2008-04-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

"Our first obligation is to ensure that standards-based teaching practice does not conflict with best teaching practice. Once those are aligned, differentiation—or attention to the diverse needs of learners—follows naturally."

In today's classrooms, it's obviously important to make sure you, as a teacher, meet the standards set by the state. But for many teachers, it's difficult to find the time to meet those standards while meeting your own objectives that you've set yourself. Because of this conundrum, many teachers today set aside their creative lessons and ideas, and instead plan their lessons to only meet the state standards.

This quote puts emphasis on what's important when planning out your lesson plans for the year. I think the article gives a great example of how teachers make sure the standards-based teaching practice doesn't conflict with the best teaching practice - before the school year begins, teachers get together and discuss ways to effectively teach their material. They come up with, what they believe to be the best teaching practices. Once this is established, they go over the standards-based teaching practices and find a way to work them into their "best" practices. This is a great way to come up with ideas on how to meet the state standards while not sacrificing the "best practice."

Don't Get Derailed!

2008-04-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

Reconcilable differences indeed! A standard refers to something that is uniform by nature and differentiation refers to something that is diverse. Great, now all we have to do achieve uniform diversity, or is it diverse uniformity? Yeah, and while we're at it, why not just put an end to the Israeli - Palestinian Conflict? Well, fortunately it's not as hopeless as it seems. From our discussions in class, first around Tomlinson's text and later her web article, we seemed to learn that, as teachers, we actually can accommodate both approaches in the same classroom. Even more exciting is the prospect that one can be made to compliment the other! We just need to maintain the proper perspective. We should proceed with the outlook that differentiated instruction is the proper strategy through which the standard content is channeled to our students. We can look at it as though all our students have a common destination. However, we must realize that they all will not be starting from the same origin and furthermore, the paths that they must cross vary greatly in length and topography. But once we gather this information and carefully construct a plan to navigate each terrain, we can achieve our goal. I selected the quote from the article which compared Standards-based instruction to a run-away locomotive- obliterating everything in its path. Well, let's just make sure our tracks are laid with differentiated steel. That way teachers, students, and administrators alike, can all stay on track and safely meet up at our intended junction.

My quote from Tomlinson

2008-04-02T06:57:00.001-07:00

“Curriculum tells us what to teach, differentiation tells us how.”

This simple yet to the point quote from Tomlinson’s article stuck out to me because after learning about differentiated instruction throughout this course and knowing how important the focus is on implementing it in today’s classroom, I truly feel that it is a big under taking, but the benefits of it are so great and profound, that they are not even measurable. Research has backed this up and that is why it is being pushed. We all know that it works, but the key is that it has to be effective and being effective at it TAKES PRACTICE! I understand and even feel overwhelmed myself by all of the ways that differentiation can exist in a classroom. Of course as new teachers we are all going to feel overwhelmed. Throughout the course we have learned endless techniques and methods to differentiating our curriculum, but instead of being overwhelmed, we need to take all of these tools, resources and methods with us and slowly start to implement the ones we feel comfortable with. The gift of having our own classroom is that we have the freedom to pick and choose from these differentiation methods and practices! We need to look at this course and what we have learned as beginning introduction that is setting us up for success in being an effective instructor with effective differentiated instruction!

I feel a good starting point in being an effective differentiator is by differentiating our instruction in Tomlinson’s three areas of student readiness, students’ interests and student learning profiles. Some may come easier to us based on preferences and/ or subject matter we are teaching, but being able to identify ways to differentiate in these three areas will cause us to have a good starting point in becoming effective at this skill! Putting the time and energy into thinking about these things now will only make it easier for us later when we get into our classrooms and have other things going on, like getting to know our students!

Differentiating curriculum based on students learning profiles is what stood out to me the most after our class on Monday so I wanted to share my thoughts and ideas on this area of possibility to differentiate in! Below are Tomlinson’s guidelines for learning profile differentiation (p.63)

1) Some (not all) of your students will share your learning preferences.
It is important to recognize your learning preferences. There are tests/ assessments you can take to learn yours! I think we sometimes think we know what we are, but what I didn’t realize is that we all have a little bit of the different styles in us, just the levels of these styles varies depending on the activity!

2) Help your students reflect on their own preferences.
Spend a day assessing and let your students do an exercise/ assessment that will identify these. It would be a fun way to kick start your class and kill two birds with one stone where you are learning more about your students and the students are learning more about each other! You can collect the assessments and be able to refer to them throughout the year when you are differentiating instruction, setting up projects and even your classroom area.

3) Use both teacher-structured and student choice avenues to learning profile differentiation.
Now that we know our students learning preferences, we can guide them and challenge them to use other ways to learn as well.

4) Select a few learning-profile categories for emphasis as you begin.
Back to the overwhelming feeling, choose just a few to focus on to start with. After you collect and learn about your students maybe strategically choose which to focus on from there.

5) Be a student of your students.
Expand our universe. Truly try and understand where all of our students are coming from. Talk to parents. Make every attempt to engage in this. I think when I get into my classroom I will designate 15-20 minutes a week to engaging the class in some kind of activity where I will get to know them better and they will get to know each other better too!

I think Tomlinson’s book is a great resource to keep with us as we continue our courses and start our teaching careers. Make it a goal when you have your own class to try every method once and document how it goes and what the outcome is. Maybe even document your comfort level using the tool and/ or method based on the resources available to you. Of course some methods and tools will be eliminated based on what your subject is or what your resources are etc, but make a true attempt in your first year or two to experiment and learn from these experiments. Eventually we will all crack the puzzle and differentiating our instruction will become second nature to us! We will become so good at it that we won’t even know we are doing it. If you don’t engage in and push yourself to do this when you first start, human nature tells us that it will be harder to get started after the fact because we will probably feel more overwhelmed than we do now. It will never come easy until we practice, practice, practice!

Reflection 10 - What D.I. Means to Me

2008-04-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

The quote that I selected to write about is "Students will learn best when they can make a connection between the curriculum and their interests and life experiences." I have to believe that any teacher would create projects and come up with interesting and fun ways to connect the curriculum with their students' interests and life experiences every time if they could. However, it isn't realistic for each teacher to create that type of curriculum every time they try to. I may not be thinking outside the box, but isn't it impossible for a math or science teacher to relate their subject material with their students' interests and life experiences? I can definitely see how an English teacher or Social Studies teacher could create some projects and curriculum that would relate to their students' interests and life experiences. But it just doesn't seem realistic to be able to achieve this type of relation of curriculum in every subject or in every assignment. As a future teacher of special education students, I know that half of the battle will be to keep my students interested and motivated in my class. Differentiating the instruction and making it interesting and relative to them will help win that battle. But what does differentiated instruction mean to me? I feel that differentiating instruction is something you can do when you are in the correct situations. I don't feel it is something that can be forced. Hopefully, I will be teaching classes where it is easier to mix up my curriculum. However, I know that I can't rely on that because I will be teaching different classes each year as an intervention specialist. How is Differentiated Instruction aligned with standards based curriculum? I'm not exactly sure how it is but I know that teachers can differentiate their lessons and they can still relate to the standardized tests that their students will be taking. If it was impossible to align differentiated instruction with standards-based curriculum than we wouldn't be discussing differentiated instruction at all. Carol Ann Tomlinson says that recent demands for more standards-based teaching can feel like a huge impediment to encouraging differentiated instruction, especially for teachers and principals who recognize student variance and want to address it appropriately. A relatively new phenomenon (at least in its current form), standards-based instruction dominates the educational terrain in a time of great academic diversity in contemporary classrooms. In fact, standards-based instruction and the high-stakes testing that drives it can often feel like a locomotive rolling over everything in its path, including individualized learning. When any phenomenon in education suggests that we may have to jettison common sense and good pedagogy, we must first examine it in light of what we know about high-quality instruction. In other words, if we understand how standards-based teaching does or does not align with sound teaching and learning practices, we can then approach what look like barriers to differentiation. In truth, the conflict between focusing on standards and focusing on individual learners' needs exists only if we use standards in ways that cause us to abandon what we know about effective curriculum and instruction. I agree with Carol Ann Tomlinson. It just seems that teachers can become so frustrated because it is as though the teaching is being taken away from them and all they have left to do is to recite and repeat. Repetition, Repetition, Repetition, as though teachers are now robots! Differentiated instruction is supposed to give the teaching back to the teachers. I know that good administrators and school districts will allow their teachers to teach, although they are handicapped too because they want to show success through the standardized test scores, but in the end, good school districts and good administrators will support teachers teaching!

I may even be considered intelligent!...who knew?

2008-03-30T20:19:00.000-07:00

Intelligence is defined as the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations. This definition more or less brings the meaning of intelligence to a more attainable level for more people. I think I may even be considered intelligent, based on the above definition. I always thought intelligent people were just smarter people, but come to find out they are just “normal” people who have the ability to learn and understand and deal with multiple situations. Most days, I can even do that!

Teaching our students to become intelligent individuals seems to be more manageable to me now that I have come to realize the true meaning. Giving students the tools, resources and information they need to learn and to understand material that is covered within the classroom will assist them in their venture to become intelligent individuals. Teaching them, through actions and words, how to deal with new, trying and even at times, uncomfortable situations, will assist them on their trail of becoming intelligent. This includes their learning what is expected of them within the classroom in regards to academics and well as behavior.

Character is defined as one of the attributes or features that make up and distinguish an individual. Knowing that character can be good or bad, I would like to think that it is part, hopefully not a huge part, of my responsibility to help my students distinguish themselves as individuals with positive attributes. The best form of instilling character, I would imagine, would be to emanate positive characteristics. Praising students for good behaviors as well as identifying those behaviors that are not ideal within or outside the classroom, will assist the students’ growth in this area.

Treating all of my students with respect, being consistent with swift discipline, being active about preventing misbehavior, encouraging appropriate behavior and making classroom rules known in the beginning and reiterating as needed, will play a big role in my emanating the quote by Gloria Steinem “Intelligence plus character – this is the true goal of education.”

Intelligence without character is a waste!

2008-03-29T14:47:00.000-07:00

In class we briefly mentioned teachers as being role models for their students and setting examples for appropriate behavior. While subbing at a high school last week, many of the students in my classes were being called to the office throughout the day because one non-athlete tattled on an athlete for drinking at a party. Managing and controlling the behavior in a classroom is hard enough as a substitute, but when students are being called to the office about a drinking party it is even harder. When the students come back to class they all want to talk about what was said and know if there is any nossip. Being respectful of the students is also difficult when I know that they do not respect me, however I am learning that being stern and unfriendly is a necessity in substitute teaching.
Once all those involved with the drinking party had been called to the office, 25 students, both athletes and non-athletes were disciplined for drinking at the party. Since there was no adult present and no pictures of the students at the party, the school could not prove that the party actually happened, but all of the students received 8 days suspension from sports(even the non-athletes). And since this week was spring break, these days were used as their suspension. To me this does not seem like much of a punishment, especially for the non-athletes that were suspended from sports. I understand that because there was no proof that the party actually occurred, the school couldn’t do a whole lot, but it still seems as if the administration is just reinforcing the student’s behavior in saying that if there isn’t proof- then it didn’t happen.
Many of the students that were suspended from school are intelligent according to other teachers, but the true goal of education is not being met when these intelligent students are getting suspended for using alcohol. Eight out of 10 of the high school coaches teach at the high school or junior high, but on more than one night per week multiple teachers/coaches can be found at the town bar drinking. These teachers are not encouraging appropriate behavior in their students and athletes. (They should at least go to a different town with a population over 1000 if they feel it necessary to get wasted multiple nights a week haha J.K.).
Intelligence without character is like cake without frosting, it’s good but it could be a whole lot better. Cake without frosting is dry and boring, basically a waste, unless of course you are on a diet. Intelligence without character is dull, unexciting and a waste.

Don't Smile 'til Christmas!

2008-03-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

I have had teachers tell me that thank goodness, they don't follow the Christmas rule anymore but after some of my substitute days...hmmm....
Seriously though, most of my days are just fine with no problems at all. However; I hope I'm not alone in saying that classroom management is one of my biggest concerns. As a substitue teacher, I have used some of the preventative techniques that are discussed in Chapter 9.
I have:
clear expectations
anticipated negative behavior
approached the classroom in a positive manner
used nonverbal communication such as physical bearing, gestures, physical
proximity and withitness
So, my question is, why do these methods work on some days and not others? Taking into account factors such as age of class and such, I do think the time frame plays a part as well. In the days preceding Spring Break, my classes were unusually restless and even disruptive. I finally attributed it all to the anticipation of the upcoming vacation. I was preoccupied with Spring Break so of course the students were as well.
But looking at this chapter I realize other elements are missing from a substitute's classroom behavior portfolio. As a teacher, not a substitue we will have the additional pieces to the proactive puzzle. These pieces are curriculum, not just a one day assignment, motivation and development of the students for the long term and finally, authority. As a teacher we will have authority of a long term nature; ideally the expert and referent type of authority. As our quote tells us this week, "intelligence plus character that is the true goal of education." (Gloria Steinem) We WILL have the character and the tools needed to achieve appropriate behavior which WILL go hand in hand with our positive classroom community.

There is more to the goal of education than the eye sees.....

2008-03-27T04:54:00.000-07:00

After reading chapter 9 and reflecting on our class last week, I came to realize that developing my personal stance on education will help me address everything else pertaining to my classroom and the education I provide to my students in the future. When I decided I wanted to be a teacher, I thought of the obvious as my goal and desire: to be the best possible teacher in teaching students life long skills and subject matter that will beneft them. As this course as unraveled, I have realized that there is much more to this statement than meets the eye. I've noticed that when I tell friends and family that I am going back to school, they look at me with excitement because they think its a great job and good fit for me. What people don't see who aren't in the education systems of our country is that teachers truly are the only profession that have not only the obligation of teaching intelligence, but in my eyes the opportunity to teach character as well. What other proffession can have this impact on our youth? NONE! To some teachers this may be a bigger responsibility than one could possibly imagine, therefore they stick to just the intelligence aspect. These are probably the "good" teachers in our system, but the "great" teachers take the opportunity with open arms to teach intelligence and character as a package deal in their classrooms. Not only do these teachers impact students lives, but they do what most people want to accomplish in their lifetime, leave the world a little bit better than how they found it. As teachers, we truly have the opportunity to perform this wordly task!

The point I am trying to make above is that I don't feel I can lay out my discipline plan right here and now, it is something that is going to grow with me as I continue on in my education and experiences, but I do realize the importance of prepping and thinking about my strategies so I am prepared in my classroom. I woudl like to touch upon a few of the points from our chapter and lecure in the ideas and theories that grabbed my attention as strategies I gravitate towards. I plan on teaching high school students therefore my choices are outlined below and why I would practice them:

Establishing Dignity and Respect
1- Active Listening (I feel this is important for my age group. I want my students to see this about me right away. I want them to feel I'm approachable and that my listening will be consistent at all times.)
2- Model and Teach/ Peer Listening (This will be extremely important in my classroom. High school can be a tough time with students picking on each other etc. I want students to learn the value that each and every student can bring to the table and respect that.)

Responding to Behavior
1- Hints (This will be my way of starting off with slight behavior issues. I feel with direct and confident tones from my voice, students will respond)
2- Strength Refreshers (I really like this tactic. I have never seen it done with older students, but I think it would be beneficial and work well in my classroom. I like that it accentuates positives that the student has done before)

Preventing Behavior
1- Meaningful curriculum (My curriculum will be different than any other class with business type projects. My students are going to have unique projects with freedoms tied to them. They will understand the expectations and if they do misbehave, they won't have the privileges that every other student has)
2- Clear Expectations (This goes hand in hand with the above technique)
3- Positive approach (Praise will be given in my classroom because creativity and freedom will be encouraged in the curriculum)

You can see from above some of my choices that I think I will implement in my classroom. Now, the most important question, how will I view discipline as an opportunity to help students gain character, independence and responsibility? As I have mentioned in previus reflections from my classroom ambience and set up, my classroom will reflect real world business functions and offices! Choices my students make in the classroom through their work and how they move about in the ofifice (classroom), they will see the natural consequences of being in a real world environment. I will build that ambience starting from day one with rules (code of conduct). My students and I will create office (classroom) rules (code of conduct) and a mission statement as well to be displayed at all times. These early acts will set up my opportunities to teach students responsibilit through seeing their actions and how they would play out in the real world. Like the book mentions, my students will see the aftermath of their choices within a safe environment.

As you can see developing my stance and preparing my views for action will allow me to tackle the biggest opporutnity ahead of me as an educator: building intelligence along with character and responsibility in my students!

The holes in the paddle gives extra speed

2008-03-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

Topic: "Intelligence plus character is the true goal of education"

The Northwest Ordinance is one of the great documents not just of American history but also of human history. The document took care of some simple housekeeping, like spelling out how land would be surveyed and the minimum and maximum number of states that could be carved out of this Northwest Territory, etc. But the real story is how it prohibited the institution of slavery from the states to be formed but also how and why it spelled out the need for public education. ***Art. 3. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.*** To me this is a part of a great enlightenment or understanding of where knowledge and experience intersect to become intelligence. It also helped to create the national character for the citizens of a new nation. Character is something, which needs to be honed through mentor/mentee relationships with trusted caring adults providing leadership. Character is taught from the elders and entrusted to the young people. Many traditional cultures pass their shared mores and values though stories with the next generations. Teachers reinforce our societies rules of behavior in children who have been taught them at home. Teachers also have to be the sole/lone supplier of the same to children of people who are unfamiliar with these same values. Character development is part of the implicit curriculum taught in schools

An explicit curriculum "book of expected knowledge' could be produced and teachers could focus on memorization by the students of all these certain facts. At the end of the mandatory education period all students should be able to recite the knowledge. But knowledge is not intelligence; students need to learn the skills that allow them to take the knowledge they have learned and apply it to new situations presented to them. I say regularly joke that the smartest people in the world are reference librarians, they don't know everything they just know how to find the answers. That statement assumes that when presented with the definition of "Pi" they would be able to apply the knowledge for appropriate outcomes. Questioning assumptions is another example of intelligence. If you assume you know everything that you need to know, you cannot be properly prepared for life's obstacles.

Classroom management is indeed part of character development of students. Classroom rules should not be used as a function for coercion. Rebellion is also part of our national character as it is how we define ourselves and our form of government. We rebelled against a distant king and instituted self-rule. Push students to obey for the sake of submission and you may find your students subverting your authority out of spite. Classroom rules and rules of conduct should be used to encourage appropriate behavior. A primary goal of a teachers classroom discipline program should be to model character development by helping students to become considerate citizens who exhibit self-control and take responsibility for their own actions. Treat others as you would like to be treated is the called the Golden Rule. As a substitute teacher, I will give a disruptive student a privilege such as taking the attendance sheet to the office. But in doing so I take a minute and tell them of the responsibility to be sure the task is done completely and timely. I give the student the opportunity to redeem themselves from past misdeeds and get a positive experience. I treat them with dignity and respect and I then am in possession of a trump card to play, privately, if and when I need it. I am convinced that this type of maneuver allows students to see me as a caring adult. They may therefore consider me trustworthy enough to confide in me when they are going through something personal. Understanding what is going on in a students life may allow me to address a discipline problem in a way that may have a positive outcome when it could go down hill fast otherwise.

Many students from lower income homes and at-risk students in general view kindness as weakness and may try to manipulate your kindness if you are unwilling to actively prevent misbehavior. After all, they are children and children learn from an early age; cry and Mom will pick you up, throw a fit in the store and Mom will buy you a lolly to shut you up, when they don't get their way, they blame others or say things like, " you like sister better than me" or they might tell the parent "I hate you." I related this in a previous Reflection, when children respond to me in a manner as I just described, I say to them, "Unfortunately for you, this never works on Mr. Gates because I am not related to you, therefore I don't love you because I have. I love everyone and want what is best for you whether you want it or not." Students K-12 are children; children need to learn appropriate behaviors so they may make good decisions in life. Good decision-making shows forethought. When students use knowledge, experience and the understanding of consequences of bad outcomes to make a decision they are on the road to maturity. Thinking outcomes through before acting or reacting results in good character and shows development.

Accentuate the Positive

2008-03-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

"Intelligence plus character-

that is the true goal of education." Gloria Steinem

A person is educated not only when they absorb the knowledge the schools and the people around them have to offer, but also when they know how to exhibit themselves in a respectful manner to the outside world. When children come into our classrooms, we are legally their guardians for those hours of the day. We make the decisions about their behavior, we provide the discipline and encouragement, and we comfort them if they are hurt in any way. We have to provide love as well as correction.

We are there to teach them so many things. This is actually a huge responsibility and it kind of scares me. I am trying to persevere though. I suppose it is one step below having my own children. You are responsible for every little thing in this person's life. What they eat, how they act, what they think... When you are a teacher, you get them after they have had a few years with someone else. You have to learn things about them that their parents may have missed. Perhaps they have had almost no parental involvement whatsoever!

Sometimes I get really frazzled in the classroom. I wonder what their regular teacher does differently that I am missing. I hope that I can learn some better techniques when I do my student teaching. I think that I do a good job most of the time though. I take a lot of notes on the class to give to the regular teacher. I hope that they appreciate it. I know that it is hard for them and for the kids to have to deal with a new person. I think that if I choose to have fun and be excited about the day, that it makes a difference in the way that I treat the students and the way the students treat me. When someone knows that you want to be there and that you want to help them, they will react to you in a positive way.

A positive plus a positive has to equal a positive, right?

Classroom Management

2008-03-22T17:42:00.000-07:00

The quote for this week is “Intelligence plus character- that is the true goal of education.” This quote is very true because it signifies two important traits that are great assets in education. Education is not just about being intelligent, but having good moral character as well. If a Teacher can help their students gain knowledge and help them to understand how important it is to follow the rules and treat others how you want to be treated, these two qualities will help the students not only succeed in school but also in life.

As a teacher I want to manage my classroom the same way I manage my household "without the yelling". I want the enviornment to be one that is most conducive to maximize the students learning, creativity, and experiences. I want to provide a enviornment the produces motivation, pride, and self esteem. I want to have a relaxing atmosphere to help my students be comfortable with very little distractions. There is a substantial amount of research in support of relaxation being an important ingredient in improving and/or accelerating learning. Such research further supports the idea that instrumental music by such composers as Mozart and Bach are calming and actually help to raise student test scores.

Creating an environment conducive to concentration, study, and learning is more than having attractive, stimulating sights, relaxing sounds, and good ventilation. It is creating a place where all feel comfortable and at ease, a place where the surroundings are neat and orderly. It is a place where there is mutual respect in a friendly, non-threatening atmosphere, a place where everyone can bloom and do their best.

No more rulers.

2008-03-22T17:12:00.000-07:00

As proven in many surveys, teachers choose classroom discipline and classroom management as one of the most important aspects in teaching. This chapter offers many tools and examples that help us develop our technique for fostering student self control. As Andrea said in class Chapter 9 makes these examples seem “Easier said then done.” and I completely agree.
As teachers I believe we have two goals, one to teach and educate our students and two to help students become “considerate citizens who exhibit self-control and take responsibility for their own actions.” As new teachers I understand this may create a humongous conflict, because of course we are going to want all of our students to like us and be accepted. Because you will respect your students creating a disciplinary plan is very important because it will help them grow toward independence not only academically but CHARACTERISTICLY as well.
As for as my classroom and my rules I would have to keep in mind our quote and our goal as teachers to combine intelligence and character so here is my so called “shopping list” of rules, tools, and laws. I will always treat my students with dignity and respect by active listening, model and teaching, smiling, controlling my emotions (which may be hard to do sometimes) and addressing behavior in the appropriate way. As for misbehavior I feel as the way I would correct a student will be depending on the student and the misbehavior that occurred especially in a special ed. classroom. I will always use positive reinforcement; avoid power struggles, being proactive, and redirection. Always showing I care and respect the students. I feel as if I were to combine bits and pieces of the ways of discipline we learned in class on Monday (from assertive dispicipline, positive discipline, choice theory, congruent communication etc.) and years of experience I believe I will eventually find the way it works. Always remember if I doesn’t work… FIX IT.

classroom management

2008-03-22T14:40:00.000-07:00

The quote for this week is “Intelligence plus character- that is the true goal of education.” This quote embodies two main goals of the education system. Kids go to school to learn, but one of the things that they are learning is social skills and even some morals. Many times experiences in schools are what teach kids values and morals and the correct way to act. A child could learn from school how to be a leader, or a good friend to someone, or even simple ways of how to behave in social settings.
This quote could also be interpreted as the content that kids are learning can teach them character. You can learn how to be a good citizen, leader, or friend from a story that they may read in English class. It may not be the main reason of teaching the lesson but it would be the hidden curriculum. Even learning about history can have a hidden curriculum about character, look at the George Washington and cherry tree example. Children start learning right and wrong at a very early age, especially from lessons in school. Even in gym class, children learn how to play on a team and work together, this all builds character.
I have also seen character directly being expressed to children. I have seen in many middle schools posters that say “character is the way that you act when no one is looking”. In younger classrooms teachers may have conversations about why honesty is so important, or why it is good to always help other people. Although there is no character class, it is definitely an important part of school. We all hope that in schools children learn how to interact with each other and do the right thing. It may be in school where children learn how to stick up for each other and engage in the appropriate behavior. They may soon learn that fighting with someone isn’t something not to do because it will cost you a trip to the principal’s office, but instead because it is not the right thing to do.
This quote can also be applied to the chapter we talked about in class on Monday. Classroom management deals with how you control your classroom. Many times it involves a situation when a child is behaving inappropriately. The way a teacher handles the situation can help guide students in the correct way to acting. We talked about different styles of classroom management, and some common themes were posting the rules, consequences and rewards. These can all set boundaries as to how children can act and they see that they will get rewarded for good behavior. Eventually children will know the norms and know what is expected of them at school. This will hopefully build good character. The children will also be able to tell each other’s character by the way the act in class and in the social situations at school. It is important to have classroom management and a good fair discipline procedure. Without classroom management education would not be possible, the kids would go crazy, but at the same time many harsh rules can inhibit learning also. It is important to find a happy medium. A teacher needs to have classroom management and complete control, but the kids need to feel like they are being treated as equals in a sense and that if they speak out they will get sent to the office.
School accounts for most of the waking hours of a child’s life. They are going to have more social encounters at school than anywhere else on the weekdays. It is important that they learn the content and gain intelligence, but it is also important that they learn how to act. A child who has problems socializing and building character has just as hard of a time at school as the child who has problems learning math. Character is in the hidden curriculum, stated directly and also in the classroom management. The goal in an ideal world would be that every child learned skills to succeed with their education and also gain the skills to become a great person. Teachers have a wonderful role of trying to provide the children with tools needed for both.

Behavior is the Language of the Child

2008-03-22T08:05:00.000-07:00

“Intelligence plus character-that is the true goal of education.” (Gloria Steinem) Reading this quote I realized how many concepts were involved in intelligence and character. Through them I am looking not only at the academic concepts but also how character provides an opportunity to apply such concepts learned at school into the students' lives. After all, I will be preparing children to become confident and active members of our community.

An educator once said to me, “ Behavior is the language of the child.” I believe a teacher's responsibility is to listen to the students not only through words but through their actions as well. When teachers demonstrate respect to the students, address their needs and understand them, we then create a foundation for a positive learning environment.

Our textbook mentions, “Classroom discipline is said to be a series of little victories.” (p. 272) I interpret this as taking classroom management as day-by-day. We need to be prepared to use many tools, choose one of the theories that best fit our own personalities, or maybe create new ways to engage the students and to work not only on rules and discipline but also how we can prevent misbehaviors that will interfere in learning. However, we all know that it will take several attempts before we can establish an effective discipline plan.

Good planning, positive attitude, respect and flexibility can guide us to create a classroom environment where students are motivated to learn and feel independent and responsible for their own actions.

"Oh, Behaaaaave!" - Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery

2008-03-18T17:57:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of me on my first day of substitute teaching. I couldn't believe how smooth the day ran. I guess clothes really do make the man.

Having the ability to successfully manage the behavior of two dozen or so students for an entire day, five days a week, is in my mind, a very impressive skill. In fact, the strength of this ability must directly correspond to the length and quality of a teacher’s career. It’s that critical. I’m surprised that entire college semesters aren’t devoted to this topic alone, considering today’s classroom student composition in light of the No Child Left Behind Act.
On a more personal note, I need some immediate behavior management support. Right after spring break, a student from another classroom is being transferred to our classroom because of some considerable behavioral issues. The principal and school psychologist believe that part of the problem is that this male student is not responding to the efforts of his female teachers. They are hoping progress may be made with a male influence. Of course, at best, this will be only a small part of the answer. I have found a website that seems to have just the type of guidance I’m on the lookout for. The site’s address is http://www.behavioradvisor.com/. Here’s an extract that is especially appealing to me:
Traits of a Stage 5 Teacher
Stage 5 teachers are able to hold their emotions during a behavior event. Rather than striking out at a youngster who is being “inappropriate”, they are able to observe the aberrant behavior and say to themselves: “Here’s a kid in crisis. What can a caring professional such as I do to help him/her?” They then respond in an assertive, self-confident, and proficient manner.
Stage 5 teachers are able to find something to like in even the “worst” kid. Rather than focus on the student’s shortcomings, they focus on the imbedded positive aspect in the negative behavior (For example, a kid who beats up another for having insulted his little sister is showing family loyalty. Perhaps a replacement behavior for the pummeling of others is needed, but the protection of a younger sibling was admirable.) These teachers focus on the progress, however small, that is being displayed. They cheer for the student when s/he shows an approximation of the appropriate behavior.
Stage 5 teachers use “symptom estrangement” (a term coined by the behavior management pioneer Fritz Redl). They hate the behavior, but work with the pupil to create change. They realize that kids are a reflection of what they’ve experienced with adults before meeting us. Stage 5 teachers don’t blame the victim. They help him/her.
Now obviously I have a lot more to learn about the subject before I can become truly effective at helping these students but I think by keeping the three main thoughts from the passage; 1.) Hold your emotions, 2.) Focus on the imbedded positive in the negative, and 3.) Hate the behavior, not the child; I can maintain the proper outlook during my exchanges with the new student. I’m hoping this will keep things on a manageable level while I continue to further my education and begin to integrate some more specific strategies into my daily encounters.
In regards to the quote, I think that a strong character education program might have a positive effect on overall classroom behavior as well. By modeling positive character traits and embedding examples of the positive impact of good character in the daily curriculum, we can help to develop these qualities in our students. By teaching our students to employ the classical ethical tests of reversibility (Would you want to be treated this way?) and universalizability (Would you want all persons to act this way in a similar situation?) we would be, in effect, positively influencing their behavior in the classroom. This would happen because we would be specifically using these tests to emphasize how the disruptive nature of negative behavior impedes the learning process of fellow classmates.

Reflection 9 Classroom Management/Discipline

2008-03-18T10:45:00.000-07:00

“Intelligence plus character-that is the true goal of education.” In my opinion, Gloria Stevinson is saying that the end result of education in any system is producing capable intelligent students as well as respectable law-abiding citizens. One aspect in the process of producing these individuals is discipline. Discipline can come in many forms and it can be handled in many ways. Students as well as teachers can handle discipline positively or negatively. A student knows when they are misbehaving, a teacher won’t just go off on an unsuspecting student who is quietly paying attention or doing their work. A student is usually warned or given prior opportunities to behave better. Once the teacher decides to discipline the student, the student can react positively, and say “yes, I deserve this discipline.” Or the student can react negatively, and deny any wrongdoing. Teachers can be positive in their discipline and not berate or intentionally embarrass the student. But on the other hand, a teacher can be negative in their discipline when they purposefully embarrass a student in order to make themselves look dominant.
It isn’t just the reactions to discipline that are important but also the discipline itself. Detentions are the norm in most high schools across the country, however they are not always the best option when dealing with a difficult student. In my experiences, a student who is frequently purposefully misbehaving is a student who is seeking attention. Sometimes giving the student a detention is exactly what that student wants, and by giving the detention you are just reinforcing his behavior. Perhaps a better option would be to tell the student to sit outside the classroom and therefore, not be able to disrupt the class any longer. A trip down to the principles office is another option that could be applied, however, if the behavior was nothing more than childish misbehavior, I feel that ignoring the student altogether or just sending the student outside the classroom can be beneficial. The misbehaving student is getting much attention all alone.
There are also different programs of discipline, which we were introduced to and discussed in class on Monday night. Assertive discipline, positive discipline, choice theory, and congruent communication are all different programs of discipline and classroom management. If I were to choose one of these programs to implement in my own classroom it would be a mix between assertive discipline and positive discipline. I like the teacher being in control part of assertive discipline but I also know that I will give students chances and conduct myself in a professional manner. I know that I will be tested but I feel that with my personality I will always try to keep the best interest of the student in mind. I would like to be positive and not embarrass students while at the same time providing the discipline and structure that is required.
Intelligence plus character is the combination that will make students successful during and after they finish school, and it is the responsibility of teachers too!

practice makes perfect and you will win the game

2008-03-17T08:39:00.000-07:00

I know this reflection is a little late, but after listening to the brain speaker and reading the chapter I realized, Learning by doing is the way most folks ultimately learn anything and everything. If we don’t know something we ask someone to show us a coach, teacher, co-worker, friend, parent etc. If we still do not understand it we watch someone else demonstrate it then we practice. “Practice makes perfect” or in other terms by doing something over and over you will learn it. This is where assessments come into play through education. After all the practicing or for examples worksheets, in class discussion, group presentations, center time there will be a time for the students to prove that with all that “practice” they learned it. By providing ways to prove the students accomplishments we use assessments. Assessments can be in any form, grade, quiz, test, role playing, and answering questions out load with the whole class. Dr. Krommer’s lecture the other day explained this theory in a little more detail on what we keep in our memory and what we retrieve all reflects on what we learned and how we learned it. I love hands on things, maybe that’s why I want to teach science. In science I believe I can use this quote in my everyday teaching science experiments are a great example of learning by doing. You don’t just learn to hypothesis, but you build your poster board, you make your guesses, you present to the class and after it is all over with the knowledge you have gain is a great assessment to let the teacher know you have understood what you learned. Keeping up going ideas and engaging students in interesting activities is one of my main goals for my teaching career. It”s stated in the book that standards set our goals for instruction but they way we teach and the way students grow with knowledge is based on our instructional strategies (back to chapter 6) and assessments. Using assessments is a way to gain knowledge about your students LOP and your craft of teaching. Use it usefully and you will see great results in your students and yourself.

Learning Environment - P.A.R.T.

2008-03-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

In one sentence, James MacGregor Burns explains what we will provide to our students as teachers. Reflecting on the topic of Monday night’s discussion and resources we found on the websites, MacGregor Burns quote fits nicely within the P.A.R.T. concept.

The physical aspects of a teaching environment can not only enhance the intellectual aspect of learning, but also the social aspect. For example, arranging the students’ desks in a way that allows them to be socially involved with one another in a controlled setting would be advantageous. Allowing them to partake in group assignments and team discussions will work to their advantage both intellectually and socially.

Activities that students’ participate in typically allow them to grow intellectually. Adding the social aspect within planned activities can only be an added benefit to the students. This could be groups of two or more students…working together…interacting for a common purpose.

Resources that can be used with students to help them grow intellectually while encompassing that social mechanism could include technological resources. Searching the web together to gather information on a specific topic or working with a partner to put together a PowerPoint presentation. Even if a student is working on a project by themselves, requiring them to share information with their classmates, would incorporate the social aspect of learning.

Pacing a lesson devotes just enough time to developing concepts and ideas while ensuring that you are maintaining student interest and attention, minimizing opportunities for misbehavior as well as making efficient use of a time within a crowded classroom schedule. Keeping within a strict and consistent time schedule within the classroom will help the students maintain a comfortable, organized learning environment. The students will embrace this schedule and work together with the teacher to maintain it.

Habitable Atmosphere

2008-03-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

Think about the places that you go that are uninviting they have an uninhabitable atmosphere. Uncomfortable settings like a hospital waiting room and the waiting room of the auto repair shop have very little attention spent on them. This proves just one thing to me that those in charge have no interest in providing a habitable atmosphere, a setting that makes people feel at ease (the magazines are the same as last year and for the children the crayons are nubs and the coloring books are full). My school experience was desks in straight rows and columns, seasonal bulletin boards and cursive letter examples above the chalkboard. The uninhabitable settings are rationalized with a statement such as “the students are here to learn.” This is no different than saying the patient or customer is here for us we are not here for them.
If I return to my earlier builder metaphor I expressed that the builder does not build one building out of one building material. The builder blends floor plans and building materials to give the buyer an aesthetically pleasing and as ergonomically soothing building as possible in doing this they are focusing on the end result providing a habitable atmosphere. Car dealers have a bad reputation because they are just interested in making a sale and collecting a commission not on making someone happy. The teacher that puts today’s lesson on the board, takes attendance, monitors silence and collects assignments; gives the school they work in and the other teachers in the building as well as teachers in general, a bad reputation. These teachers are cheating their students out of an education, the taxpayers out money and themselves out of a rewarding experience because their focus in not on the end result.
How you treat others and the examples you put forward as a person is how students, parents, and staff will regard you. Is this your profession or your job? People talk and students know whether you are serious about teaching or just doing it to get a check. Phonies do not fool students. Students know whether they are accepted when in your classroom. They know by your classroom ambiance, by how you manage the physical space, they know that your teacher resources are tattered and dog-eared that you haven't updates in a while, and they know when you are not paying attention to them i.e. how you are using the classroom time.
It is the professional teachers that provide a social and intellectual environment in which students can learn. Students long into their lives remember the teachers that foster a love of learning through their actions.
Doing a Internet search for classroom ambiance, I netted papers with topics such as, the better use of instructional technologies, rethinking evaluation criteria, or the relevancy of specific curriculum. I believe the first benefit of classroom ambiance is the making of a habitable atmosphere by a relationship between the teacher and the students at the interpersonal level. The face-to-face interaction between teachers and students is at the heart of the pedagogical experience, but a lack thereof is readily denied as a cause of the lack of learning by students. True teachers put their students first and the focus of their classroom is to expedite the learning process for all the students even if it results in more work for themselves.

learning enviroment

2008-03-15T13:14:00.001-07:00

The quote for this week was “Teachers provide a social and intellectual environment in which students can learn.” I believe that this quote means that not only do teacher provide the actual physical environment that students come to learn, but they also provide a place where social skills are taking place along with education. As we learned about in class there are many aspects to a learning environment. There is classroom ambience, the physical space, time management, and resources. Every teacher may have a different once that they believe is more important. Even if a teacher believes one is more important, I feel like we learned in class that each have a vital part to making a learning environment productive. They also all connect with each other.
In the physical aspect, there are different things to take into account. A clean and organized room is important for things to not get lost and for children to feel good during the school day. The way the desks are arranged could make a world of difference to how your students are going to perform. During class last Monday we found websites that had teacher blogs that talked about the different ways the classroom can be set up and the pros and cons of each. I plan on having a neat and clean classroom, I want to have decorations and I want it to feel “home-like”.
Time management is also very important. It is important to give yourself enough time to cover what you want to cover and also the way you want to cover it. You shouldn’t have to rush through a lesson just because you are a few days behind, if the students are getting something out of whatever took you off track, or if it is taking them longer to grasp the concept then it is perfectly okay to be a few days behind. One website that I found during class on Monday talked about block scheduling and how that can be a life saver in time management. I had block scheduling in high school and I thought it was amazing. The teachers had 90 minutes to do lessons and usually the kids had time to start if not finish all their homework in class with the teacher there to ask questions. Having a organized room and being able to find everything (physical space) can directly effect time management, which proves what I was saying earlier that you need all the aspects of a learning environment.
The resources that a teacher has are what the book defines as all the teaching “stuff”. This could be the Friday folders that are kept in the room for the kids, or the behavior charts, the whiteboards, the student mailboxes, or even the trays full of papers to grade. This is an important part of the learning environment as well. Teachers need to have this “stuff” in order to have a successful classroom. The classroom needs have enough resources that the children feel satisfied. This too, relates directly with organization and time management. You must have time to do things in the day like pass out the Friday folders, or file the papers into the student mailboxes. Your room must also be neat and organized in order to find everything and keep it where the children can find it.
The ambiance of the classroom is another part of the learning environment. I want the ambiance in my classroom to feel homelike. I want my kids to feel comfortable around me and everyone else in the classroom. I want to be able to joke around and have a good time, but still get our work done and follow the rules. In order to have the classroom ambiance that you desire, you must have other things in order, such as, the time management- you can’t be rushing through the day and always be stressed and still keep a comical side. The physical aspect of the classroom plays a part in the ambiance, if a few kids don’t get along, it is important that they aren’t right next to each other bickering all day long. If a teacher doesn’t have resources for the classroom, it could cause stress for the teacher and the students. All of the aspects of the learning environment are tied in.
I hope that I can provide a place where kids can learn and be social and also have a good time and feel safe. I hope that my room is neat and clean and it is welcoming when you walk by. I feel like learning environments really are important to a successful classroom. There is no right or wrong way for a learning environment and I believe every year things could be a little different because every child is different and every teacher is different, but it is important to figure out what works and make that “social and intellectual environment where students can learn”.

My learning environment!

2008-03-15T10:27:00.000-07:00

After reviewing the readings and quote, I realized that I will want to emulate my classroom as a learning environment that is related to my subject matter. Becoming a Business Education teacher, I want my classroom to emulate a business type setting similar to that of a real world business setting (board room, conference room, cubicles, offices etc.) I think it will be key to explain this setting to my students so they understand why. My personal stance on education has not been completely set in stone like a mission or vision statement, but I do know that I want my students to experience as close to real life business experiences as possible. This will include many hands on projects with community businesses etc and I want my classroom to be considered my students office by them when they walk in to my classroom. I want them to not think of it as my classroom, but their office where they will come to get work done, think creatively and experience what a business setting looks like. I will use many resources that are similar to what would be in an office. Filing cabinets with everyone having their own folders, a fax machine, computers, telephones for conference calls etc. Below are some examples of what I am thinking in regards to the different social and intellectual aspects that I will try to foster through my classroom setting:

1) Classroom Ambience- I will explain to my students the business world setting with different examples. I will show them pictures of office building with cubes, private offices and conference rooms and more importantly show them how different people come to work everyday at the same place with different functions (HR, Accounting and Marketing to name a few). I will explain how each function has different needs in order to complete their tasks and job and I will also explain to my students the different learning styles people have, this will in turn remind students that we need to be respectful of each other, each other's learning styles and our surroundings. This will set the tone that we are proffessionals working on important projects and tasks to further our company (our classroom). I believe this will set a positive ambience in my classroom and get the students excited about having their own office and co,pany in a sense!

2) Physical Space- Like I mentioned before, I will want to emulate an office setting, so after I present the pictures and options to my students we will decide together how to best set up our surroudnings. I believe this will engage the students and teach them how to compromise (social) with each other and get them excited about having their own "office". One idea I have is to separate the classroom into two areas. The first would be having the desks be in groups of 4 in which they form a square representing a quad cubicle. Students will be allowed to set up their desk how they would like in regards to personal touches just like an office or cube. The second area will be blocked off with a movable wall on wheels in which this will form our conference area. This area will have a large table with chairs around it for teams to conference with each other, conduct conference calls with community business partners and give presentations as well. These are just my intial thoughts. The students will have to reserve the conference area based on their schedules, projects, community partnerships coming in etc. This also emulates an office setting in that people have to reserve board rooms and conference rooms for meetings and presentations etc.

3) Resource Management- As far as managing resources, this would be similar to an office as well. Bookshelves, filing cabinets etc. I am thinking it would be best to have a mini resource center in the classroom where everything would be located in a neat and efficient manner. Chapter 8 mentioned paper flow being a problem for some teachers and I will utilize the filing cabinet system where every student will have their own folder for personal assignments and lesson tasks and team folders as well for projects etc. This will help keep paper flow organized and I can return graded assignments in each students folder and team folders respectively.

4) Maximize learning time- This will be extremely important in my classroom with all the different settings. I feel by explaining the setting first like I mentioned above will allow for students to have an intial understanding of not wasting time and having the students particpate in the set up of the classroom will provide them with ownership of their office space and materials. They will learn to reserve the conference area, post out of the office signs etc to emulate that business setting I keep referring to. With my curriculm, the students will always have opportunities to be working on something else if they finish early. Both individual and group projects.

How does this all pertain to the quote for this past week? I believe my execution in the classroom setup, partnering with my students on having them understand to be respectful of each other's offices will teach them both social and intellectual skills, they will not only learn to respect each other's offices and workspace (social), but the why behind it after learning the different learning styles and how people need to foster their learning through different styles and environment (intellectual).

PART in my classroom

2008-03-15T08:22:00.000-07:00

The defination of enviornment is that of any external conditions, resources, stimuli etc. with which an organism interacts. My goal as a teacher is to develope a classroom management plan through routines and organization to help shape the community which my students will be encouraged by positive and productive stimuli. Seems nearly impossible right? If you take each category from our chapter P.A.R.T it helps break it down to very simple ways.
In class I chose to put time as my first priority in developing my eviornment as the most important but after re-reading the chapter and researching the websites I changed my mind. Now I feel the first way to shape your community’s enviornment is by showing this group of children from all different cultures, backgrounds, society, etc… that you care. I will pass on Kohn’s central ideas connectedness, value and respect from the first day of school. It is very important to me as the teacher to show (through actions, tone, and words) that I can recognize their feelings and that I am willing to comminicate and listen to all students. Ambience as said in the book refers to the mood or atmosphere of a classroom. My goal to develop an appropriate sense of ambience is to start off being a good role model, listen and commicate appropriately, convey that school is pleasant, and provide intellectual stimulation. Some things that will help me accomplish this task is putting up some inspirational quotes, playing some soft music during quiet time, knowing each childs name when they walk through the door during week 1, letting the students have a say in what the classroom might look like and providing a safe place where they can come and grow intellectually and socially.
Physical arrangement, time schedule, routines and instructional activites help build and communicate my stance on education and what I want to accomplish. I will be sure to take in concideration my goals and use wall space, windows, ceilings, desk arrangement to my advantage. I will set up my classroom physical appearance with some things to keep on my mind. I will want to be able to monitor the classroom, keep a balance of power, and keep it productive and effective. Allowing children to see other children, keep their attention on me as the teacher, being able to get to a child that needs assistance, and that materials are kept as close as possible to make activities run smoother. In my classroom I will have a place to do seat work and whole class instruction but I also want to encourage my students to explore other interests in the centers I will have in my classroom. For example, an art center or music center where when they are done with their class work they can go quietly without interupting the other students and continue to learn something that interests them on their own.
We have all known some pretty messy teachers in our lives. But I can’t blame them. They have all this “stuff” to keep organized but keeping new ideas and lessons coming as well. Well all that stuff is the resources that I will use in my classroom. Resources range from homework papers, computers, books, and even children. Keeping all of these resources organized is my main goal in my classroom. You can do this by having calendars, folders, computer time, and routine for collecting homework, etc.
Finally, Time “Use your classroom time as gold: wasting a single minute costs everyone in the class, and those costs can never be recouped” Time is golden in a classroom. My main goal in my classroom is to maximize the time with my students and minimize the time they spend in inappropriate ways. The division of time in our books explains it perfectly. Give yourself as the teacher time to study or subject (allocated) but also give time to spend on a specific insturction that will address the specific subject (engaged) and finally give time where the students can engage themselves in mastery of the subject (academic learning.) Poor insturuction is at the very least a waste of time. My goal is to have prepared lessons before hand and to help teach my students the importance of time and time management.
All of these basic ways of building an appropriate enviornment may or may not work, but we have to be on our toes and ready to reconstruct our enviornment to apply it to our always changing society.

Building a Community of Learners

2008-03-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

I visualize my classroom as a community of learners, where everyone has their own interests, opinions, abilities and concerns. A group of individuals come together through education and interact to create an environment where everyone can discover and learn something new.
Communities face adversities as well. Through communication and respect from each of the community members, we can establish rules and procedures that help to prevent future conflicts. I can only be positive and open to new ideas to continue growing in my profession so one day I can apply these concepts in my own classroom.

Furthermore, I believe children are successful when they are engaged in learning, accomplish more when we organize our lessons, plan and evaluate our classroom's ambiance, physical space, resources and time. This creates a foundation to an effective instruction.

My beliefs align with this week's quote, "Teachers provide a social and intellectual environment in which students learn" (James MacGregor Burns). Ambiance and physical space lead to the development of a social environment, some of the attributes to these components are safety, welcoming, organization, and seating charts. On the other hand, resources and time can guide us to an intellectual environment, when we plan and organize them in a productive way.

I also found this quote, "Children grow into the intellectual environment that they are in" (Lev Vygotsky). In my opinion, these two quotes complement each other. Teachers provide and children grow in the best environment. Each component has their own importance with a common goal: Create a positive learning environment.

Live to Learn, Learn to Live

2008-03-15T06:49:00.000-07:00

Reflecting upon this week's quote, I've decided to manage my learning environment using the Constructivism learning theory as my guiding principle. First off, the four management components should, of course, reflect the content standards that specifically apply to our classroom's grade level. The room shall be decorated with materials that remind the students of their past successes, more specifically, that they have advanced to this grade due to their commendable mastery of the previous content standards. New benchmark targets will be graphically represented in an exciting manner that challenges them to succeed again. I seek to establish an ambience that says this is a place of learning. This is a place that is only able to function and succeed because of the differences, individuality, and the complexity of its participants. This is a place where a common goal will be felt and shared by every student and teacher in spite of the fact that we all come from a multitude of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. We shall recognize and celebrate the richness of experience that this brings to our common undertaking. And we shall know that it is this diversity that greatly increases our ability to succeed. This is a place that will be physically arranged to encourage social interaction. Learning shall be defined as a group process that must rely on peer collaboration. This is a place where distractions that tear us from our common goal will be minimized collectively through a communally rationalized use of time in the classroom. This is a place where we will learn what we must learn because we know that we will all personally benefit from learning 'it'. We want to learn 'it' because this place reminds us that this new knowledge is a link in our continued learning that will ultimately provide us direct and exclusive access to the things we all very much want from life. Pictures of homes, families, societal luxuries, and communal harmony will also be prominent. The things we learn here build directly upon our prior experiences and knowledge. And because we are many, we will need to have the material introduced to us through a multiplicity of perspectives. This is a place that recognizes that we didn't come into this room as empty handed novices, but rather we've all brought our own invaluable, individual and equally important life skills and abilities, thereby instantly giving this room powerful foundational resources that allow for exciting new ideas and concepts to be put into context with, and bound to, all our existing mental frameworks. Physical space, physical resources, and time usage considerations shall collaboratively be designed by teacher and students so as to maximize the effectiveness of, the transmission of, the reception of, and mastery demonstration of the content standards. The overall efficiency of these resource allocations shall be a continually monitored jointly by the teacher and students, both of whom recognize and acknowledge their own personal responsibility in the overall success of this collaborative endeavor.

still lost...but learning...

2008-03-14T20:59:00.000-07:00

I’m not quite sure how I plan to provide a social and intellectual environment in which students can learn, but today I definitely experienced how NOT to do that in a classroom. Today was my very first day as a substitute teacher and I subbed for a special ed teacher. Her classroom was not a social or intellectual environment in which students could learn. It was more like a prison cell. The walls were bare and the desks were in rows facing the wall. At most, there were 30 books in the entire classroom. It was not an environment I would ever want to teach in or force others to learn in. I will use this classroom as one example of what I do not plan to use as a model for my own classroom.
When we ranked the four components in class on Monday, I chose ambience as being the most important. If you think of any uncomfortable social situation you have been in, it probably wasn’t the resources provided, physical environment or the time that has made it uncomfortable. It is the ambience, the mood, in that point in time that has made you uncomfortable. So when I teach I would like to provide a social and intellectual environment with a positive ambience in which students can learn.
I do think the other components are important to education, but without the right ambience the students will most likely have trouble learning. Ambience may be the most important component to me, but all of the components can work together to create the ideal social and intellectual environment.
oh dang! it's 12:02...2 mins late :(

Who Thought of Ambience?

2008-03-14T18:18:00.000-07:00

As we discussed the four components of classroom management are:
*managing classroom ambience
*managing physical space
*managing resources
*managing time
I've been aware of space, resources and time in relation to the classroom but never appreciated the full scope of ambience. Our book tells us that our goal as a teacher-manager is to start with students and blend a group of individuals without common ground or goals into a classroom community. (Kohn) Our textbook further challenges us to inspire our class to "think in the plural." We strive to achieve a class where students feel connected to each other; "they" are part of an "us." With the diverse dynamics involved in today's classroom this ideal is especially paramount to our approach.
As a teacher "trapped in a substitute's body" (Adam) I still don't have a good sense of what my class ambience should be. I want to foster a stimulating environment in which students will interact and take risks but I also must manage the behavior in the classroom. Our quote this week reinforces ambience. It is "teachers provide a social and intellectual environment in which students can learn." (James MacGregor Burns)
Two positive ambience examples that we reviewed in class were first,to have students write positive comments about each other and compile a list for each student of the comments from their classmates. And second, to encourage "put ups." "Put ups" are letters of thanks to classmates who have helped other classmates during the week. (NEA site, Works 4 Me)
And finally, we must realize that "the ambience of the class communicates your stance toward education without you saying a word." (textbook, pg. 214)

Who has a question?

2008-03-14T10:20:00.000-07:00

"Teachers provide a social and intellectual environment in which
students can learn." -James MacGregor Burns

I still haven't reached the point where I know exactly how I want to do this, but I'm starting to get a general idea. When we ranked the four components in class on Monday in order of importance to us, "Time" was #1 on my list. But now I'm beginning to lean more towards "Ambience." No matter how well you manage your time, if your classroom doesn't make your students feel welcome and open to share their thoughts and ideas, then you aren't doing your job as a teacher. I believe it's extremely important to encourage your students to participate in class ... and make sure they feel comfortable doing so!

As a middle school teaching in-the-making, I realize the importance of making my students feel comfortable being themselves in the classroom. When I look back to my middle school years (ages 11-14) I remember those being some of my most uncomfortable years. Kids at that age are dealing with so many strange feelings/emotions/hormones. Most of them are uncomfortable enough as it is just trying to "fit in" with their fellow peers. As a teacher, role model, guidance counselor (whatever you want to call this profession), I think it's important to help my students feel comfortable being themselves in the classroom. Don't we as teachers play a somewhat significant role in shaping what kind of person they become in high school and the many years to follow? Why not start instilling in their heads that it's ok to be yourself and that there's nothing wrong with sharing your thoughts and ideas with your fellow peers?

I guess I should explain how I plan on allowing my students to feel comfortable and feel the whole "positive ambience" of my classroom. I'd begin on the first day of class, by stressing the fact that I encourage openness, constructive criticism, and questioning of any kind. I'd also take into consideration any suggestions or ideas they may have on how to make my classroom a more positive environment. The book gives a good example of asking students to share music of personal significance to start they day. I believe you can learn a lot about a person from the music that's important to them. Decorating the classroom with student projects and art is another way to add a positive feel. Even putting up photos of students at work (when appropriate and permitted, as the book states). Also, having a "theme" in the classroom adds to the ambience and making sure to update that theme occasionally is important.

So to sum everything up, my feelings on which learning environment component is most important has changed a bit. I believe having an open and welcoming classroom is most important in the entire "feel" of the classroom. And I think that idea fits best under the "Ambience" component of the classroom learning environment.

Clean up! Clean up! Everybody everywhere!

2008-03-12T13:22:00.000-07:00

I want my classroom to feel like a.... coffee shop, where unique people meet with friends or come individually to do interesting things. Coffee shops feel comfortable and relaxed. There are different types of seating areas where you can lean back and read a book, or sit up straight and write, depending on what your situation calls for. Engaging in an activity with friends or solo is your prerogative. People like to be there because no one is going to get kicked out for not buying something, or for not doing what everyone else is doing. There is no pressure.
"Teachers provide a social and intellectual environment in which students can learn."--James MacGregor Burns (presdential biographer/leadership scholar)
In my experience as a substitute teacher, I would have to say that ambience and physical aspects are tied for the most important part of the learning environment. There is one teacher, Mr. R, who is arguably the most unorganized person I have ever seen. He is a regular third grade classroom teacher in the Elyria Schools. I have subbed for him twice and I have vowed to never do it again! I am definitly not the most organized person, but compared to Mr. R, I am a certified member of NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers). His bookshelves look like they've just been sick, there are papers scattered all over and around his desk, and the students! The poor sweet students are learning from his example.
Yes, they are very happy with their teacher.
Yes, they like him better than their teacher from last year.
Yes, their classroom is very laid back.
But at what expense?
As a sub, it is confusing and frustrating to be there. I can never find what I need. Walking from the one end of the class to the other is like a slalom event! I can only imagine what bad habits this encourages. Do their teachers the following school year have to retrain each of them?
I think that time is the second most important aspect in the learning environment Sometimes it is hard to gauge how long you should give students to complete a task or assignment. Sometimes I feel like I am cheating them out of time to take their tests. If they had more time would they remember the correct answer? Or would they expand in their writing just a little more? At other times I think that the students are cheating themselves. They flirt, fight, and find other ways to not be working on the task at hand.
I have heard from many professors and fellow classmates that you can expect to spend at least $100-$200 dollars of your own money on class supplies every year. Since I am going to be an art teacher, I expect this figure to go up substantially. I am not overly concerned that I won't have all of the things that regular classroom teachers have. I guess I'm more disappointed that the government/schools/school districts don't place equal emphasis on all of the subject areas. I think that limiting students in any way will be detrimental to their development.

I gotta do it.

2008-03-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

"What we learn to do, we learn by doing." Aristotle
In order to have a cohesive understanding of the information presented to us, the goals, tests, and teaching all have to be in line. We cannot take a test in a way that is totally opposite from the way that we learned. If we wanted to teach our students how to use scissors properly, the test would not involve the paper cutter. If one of our goals was for a student to be able to identify pointillism we would not show them works of abstract expressionism. This quote is actually perfect for me. People can show me a million demonstrations and give me a thousand lectures, but I still will not get most things unless I do them with my own two hands. I have always been like that. In cake decorating class in high school, I would watch the teacher demonstrate, but all I could think about was getting my hands on the materials. I still can't make a rose to save my life. I think if there had been time for her to use more one on one instruction for those of us that weren't getting it, I would make amazing roses. I think that if we think of our favorite teachers and try to emulate them in our own classrooms, we will be better teachers because of it.

Reflection 8 the four components of classroom management burns quote

2008-03-11T17:10:00.000-07:00

I believe it is the responsibility of teachers to provide for their students a safe and caring learning environment. Students should feel comfortable and not threatened when they come into a classroom to learn. I feel it is important to make it known to your students that mistreating their peers, verbally, physically, or emotionally will not be tolerated. A good teacher will manage and control the physical space, resources, time, and ambience of their classrooms from the beginning of the year until the end of the year. I don’t know which of the four is the most important, but I do feel that you have to begin with the physical space of the classroom that you teach in. The book says that your choices in arranging the physical space allow you to use it to enact your convictions about how students learn and about good teaching. I agree with that statement because if I had to set up my own classroom, I would arrange it in a way so that students could interact with each other and also feel comfortable in their own space. As an intervention specialist, I would have smaller classes, so I would carefully space the desks out in a semi circle with me in the middle, that way the students don’t have anyone behind them and they are all looking at me, and not at the back of a classmates head. I would also try to limit other distractions in my room, and try to provide helpful, organized bulletin boards in which students could know what is going on before we start or end the day. For example, I would have a class agenda bulletin board and also a homework bulletin board.
The book says that managing a classroom means managing all the stuff, to use a technical term that inevitably goes along with teaching. When I walk into a classroom, one of the first things I notice is the stuff! There are so many technological and other media that are now incorporated into classrooms. As a teacher, I would try to incorporate the resources into my lesson plans whenever I get the opportunity to do so. I would teach with a smart board if I could, and I would teach with PowerPoint, or using the computer in another way. I also would try to get students interested in using the resources themselves, especially with the smart board, which can really get students excited. In addition to technological resources, I would also use other materials that I felt would be beneficial to my students.
The book says that your central task as a teacher is to start with the students and meld a group of individuals without ground or goals into a classroom community. I feel that managing the ambience of the room is another way of saying “setting the tone” for the classroom. My tone would best be described by MacGregor’s quote because the tone for me would be to provide “social and intellectual environment in which students can learn”. My translation is providing an environment in which students feel comfortable and confident to learn. Feeling comfortable and confident means not fearing being hurt physically, emotionally, or verbally by their peers, and expecting to get respect and sensitivity from their teacher.
The book says that using your time as gold means that you need to maximize the time your students spend engaged in learning and minimize the time they spend in other ways in your classroom. In my classroom I would have an agenda bulletin board, in which I would have the day’s plans on it. That way the students know that this is what I expect of them for this class period. I would hold myself accountable also because I would need to schedule the class accordingly.

What We Learn To Do, We Learn By Doing

2008-03-10T07:40:00.000-07:00

I believe that this quote articulates the value of personal experience when attempting to learn. I also interpret this quote as implying that we are best able to learn through a hands-on-approach. I would like to advance this idea from a coaching perspective, rather than from a classroom teacher’s perspective. As a football coach there is not a truer statement than, “what we learn to do, we learn by doing” when it comes to teaching. First, let me explain our football program’s teaching progression:

1. Verbal Introduction
2. Chalkboard
3. Film
4. Walk Through with Adjustments
5. Individual Drill Work
6. Group
7. Team
8. Scrimmage
9. Game

Due to the effectiveness of this type of instruction I have attempted to implement
this type of progression into my classroom teachings. What I have noticed when it comes to teaching is that you can talk about what you are supposed to do all day, you can watch all the film in the world and draw as many pictures as you want, but players (students) will not truly learn without doing. And doing it through mass repetition. It is steps 4 through 9 that play the biggest role in learning.

Once students have done their assignment, and done it many times, then their processing speed begins to increase. As I have heard many players explain through their own testimonies, the game begins to slow down once they have experienced their assignment again and again. I believe this is true regardless of what environment you are attempting to learn in.

I think Mr. Kommer’s very interesting lecture on the brain also reinforces the idea that we learn by doing. The more stimuli that you present to the mind and the more you emphasize the piece of information that you are trying to learn, the more likely you are to incorporate that fact into short term memory and soon after long term memory.

Learning by Doing

2008-03-09T20:07:00.000-07:00

"What we learn to do, we learn by doing." - I have heard this quote before and it never ceases to make complete sense. I believe that learning by doing is hands down, the best way to learn. It's the rule that I follow when I want to learn something new. I actually lived by this quote today when I (for the first time in maybe 15 years) went ice skating with my family. I guess I've learned to skate before, but after so long, today was pretty much like learning again. Many people ask for tips, others watch and learn by example, but I, like many, learn by doing.

Another example of how I learn by doing is how I'm currently substitute teaching. Not to steal arock's example, but it just fits my current situation perfectly. I had no previous education classes before I started my Bachelor's Plus program this semester. I have never had any professional training in the classroom. But I feel that after each time I substitute teach, I become better equipped for my next substituting experience. I have learned new techniques and come up with new ideas from each substituting experience, and I hope that continues not only throughout the rest of my substituting "career" but also into my teaching career.

Having the mindset that I can learn new things each and every time I teach is important to me. I'm not saying that every teacher should feel this way, but for me, it's important to have this view each day. Going into each day knowing that I have the opportunity to learn new things gives me the drive to look forward to every new day of work.

learn by doing

2008-03-09T15:53:00.001-07:00

Even though I have spent the last 18 years of my life sitting in a classroom watching other teachers teach, I still have no idea how to be an effective teacher myself. I think this shows much truth in Aristotle’s quote, “what we learn to do, we learn by doing.” I know I am capable of teaching, but will not be completely comfortable doing it until I have had some kind of experience.

I will be starting substitute teaching sometime this week and I am extremely nervous but I know that the only way of becoming more comfortable with my teaching abilities is through having experience and learning by doing. This will be a helpful learning experience for me because I will be able to work with all grade levels. I will learn how to take charge but also gain respect from the students.

I think learning by doing can create confidence in students that might not be gained if they didn't actually "do" something. If a student is confident in their abilities they will be more likely to continue using the skills they have learned.

Using “doing” to assess students not only will give the teacher a better idea of where students are, but it will allow students to become more comfortable with the materials and with their abilities. Being creative with the different types of assessments used would keep students interested instead of being bored with the same type of assessment over and over again.

Assessment for Lesson Plan Presentation

2008-03-09T14:28:00.000-07:00

In looking at the lesson presentation as an opportunity to grow from trial and error…can I do a presentable presentation?…sure, I hope I can, I am a business major but, can I present a lesson to a class of 5th graders using all the techniques and knowledge that I’ve learned in class…I hope so…but, I don’t think one time around with a fictitious class will make me great at it.

I’m looking to be assessed, yes but, more so, I am looking for constructive feedback, not only from Dr. Scott but, from my classmates. Should I attempt to include as many teaching techniques as I can to make my lesson more cohesive…yes…should I include all of them…no, that would be ridiculous and obviously forced.

Time management should be looked at…present ability…professionalism…use of course content…effort, yes, effort…creativity should also be included but, for those of us who are not necessarily creative, this may be a challenge until, again, we begin challenging ourselves this way on a regular basis…appropriate standards and benchmarks for the presented lesson should be assessed, as well.

Reflection of “What we learn to do, we learn by doing.”…Aristotle

2008-03-09T14:24:00.000-07:00

This quote makes me think of all that we are learning in class right now. We are laying the groundwork and enhancing our knowledge base so that we can begin “doing” what we are learning about and, in turn, learn to “do.” We really won’t receive the full benefit of what we learn in this course until we apply it and begin doing it.

We will begin this “doing” process when we present our chosen lesson to the class. This will culminate into a long “doing” process in regards to real life teaching application. Trial…error…evaluate…change…over and over again.

This reflection also makes me think of what I do with 5th & 6th graders to get them to begin thinking about realistic career options. We take a group of students from JVS and we set up a mini career fair within the school building. The 5th and 6th grade students alternate booths every 10 minutes. There is a hands-on activity relating to a specific program area such as, Culinary Arts, Auto Technology, and Web Graphic Design, just to name a few.

The students learn about these programs and the careers that culminate from these programs. The 5th & 6th grade students learn by doing. This opportunity turns on light bulbs for some students, others it sparks interest in an area of two. Some may take the day’s activities and reflect; others will take their excitement home to share with their parents and maybe begin helping their mom or dad with cooking dinner or helping mom or dad to fix the car. They may even begin to think more about the games they play with their Wii or their Playstations in regards to how those games were created and the possibility of them creating a new game someday.

Lesson Plan Using Technology

2008-03-09T12:43:00.000-07:00

In a lesson on writing for my English Language class, grade 5, I would use and allow my students to use technology as a research tool. I would instruct them in regards to proper writing and sentence structure. I would group them in twos and give each group a topic to research. There would not be extensive research needed for this project, just enough for three to four paragraphs of writing.

I would require that they type their papers in Word and I would also require that they access spell check and grammar check. Finally, I would require that they print it out and turn it in for a grade.

Reservations I would have in regards to is having 5th graders surfing the web is the possibility of them happening upon an inappropriate website. With that being said, I believe that school computer networks offer the highest monitoring system available and I would have to rely on that to keep my students safe.

The challenges that would be involved with the use of technology within my writing lesson plan include assisting 10-12 groups of students during a class period. Also, there may end up to be too many computer-related questions from the students so that the lesson that is supposed to be learned is getting lost in the mix.

Things that I would take into consideration when creating a writing lesson around technology is again, not allowing the lesson to get lost in the mix of computer inquiries. Also, I would have to take into consideration the diversity of computer skills among my students. This is not the way I would teach this type of lesson all the time because handwriting skills should be enhanced with this age group.

Learning by Doing (RIGHT NOW!)

2008-03-09T06:55:00.000-07:00

Class,

First off, I hope you all enjoyed the seminar this past Monday evening! I was unable to make it because I am at training for a new job so I look forward to hearing about it from you when I return. The quote to reflect on for this week is defintely hitting home from me in the sense that I am doing this exact quote right now. I'm at training for a new job that I haven't even started. I know we are all different learners, but learning by doing is the best way I learn. I do need to know background knowledge first, but then I can't role play or fake it, I need to dive in and do it to learn. It is a sales job in which I am learning our buying/ sales process and different techniques to be successful at it and overcome objections etc. I feel as if I have learned all of these things and my brain is on overload and I just want to get home start my new job and learn as I go and do it! Our students might feel this way sometimes and if we don't offer up the chance for them to learn by doing, some may never actually learn. Some students need the opportunity to learn by doing and it benefits every student to do it.

I thought it would be interesting to share some of the learning techniques that the instructors have used here to compare to what we have learned in our class thus far. First and foremost, the instructors I have here at this training are doing a great job at differentiating the instruction. The first day of my training they did a module with us on explaining the different learning styles and we took an assesment in which we identified what are learning styles are. Throughout the training they have accomodated to all of these learning styles in that they have us role play with others, do independent work, watch videos, listen to lectures, gain hands on computer experience etc. Every morning we have assesments from the day before in which have also been differentiated as well. It was a relief to see that differentiated instruction and assesment was important to these instructors. I can tell when my peers feel comfortable with certain methods and when they don't, but I have realized that students need to be pushed out of their comfort zone at times because this is a true way everyone learns by doing. We gain valuable informaton and experiences when we are pushed outside of our comfort zones and to me this goes hand in hand with learning by doing. Role playing the sales techniques we are learning has been something new to many people here at my training. They have never done it before and you can tell. They get extrememly nervous and it seems they don't know the information, but they do! They just are being pushed outside their comfort level and are learning when they don't even realize it. As teachers we need to do this to our students so they can truy experience learning by doing. This teaches explicit, implicit and null instruction. Think of how many null lessons are taught by pushing students outside of their comfort level and forcing them to learn by doing. They are learning the feeling of being challenged, learning to feel comfortable in their own skin, learning to present themselves and present information on the spot. They are learning to deal with being nervous about the information they know. Pushing students teaches more than just learning by doing. It is an important life lesson!

As I mentioned above, we are having assesments every morning at this training to test our knowledge. Some are written, some are verbal. It is interesting to compare these assesments to the outline of Chpater 7. The Goal--> Teach--> Test cycle is defintely implemented here at my training. The goals are consistently laid out, both at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day at class end. When I leave training every day, I am aware of and understand what will be on the assesment and how it pertains to the goals of the training! I feel good when I leave the class and comfortable that I have the knowledge to succeed on the assesment. Students should never feel like they don't have the appropriate information to do well on the assesment. It should be up to them on whether or not they put the energy and focus into it to do well. My assesments have been inclusive of me (the learner) in the sense that I know what's going to be on the assesments and I even engage in the some assesments with the teacher (role playing, answer questiosn out loud etc.) I have realized that differentiating assesments is also important because students are experienceing different ways to capture the learning in which they are more likely to truly understand the material when it is evaluated in different ways. Sometimes things have hit home when I write it (on a paper assesment) or when I hear a peer say it aloud (on an informal group assesment).

Sorry to keep babbling, but I am truly learning by doing right now when it comes to being a teacher myself someday!

do due

2008-03-07T18:44:00.003-08:00

Topic: "What we learn to do, we learn by doing." Aristotle

I have been involved in education, athletics and activies my entire life. There are people with exceptional gifts such as the Savant that just do. There are gifted students who absorb knowledge and there are musicians who simply pick up a guitar or sit down in front of a piano and just play and there are kids who pick up a baseball or football and throw it further than anyone else. These people are exceptions to the rule (our quote). The rule is truly about the student of academics, music or athletics and the professional teacher/coach who instruct them. These people who with a passion or desire apply themselves and learn the rules for participation and activity. Then through hard work and perseverance learn to do the object of their desire and become technically proficient or maybe even subject matter experts. But there is also a whole group of people that don't know what to learn or that learning is advantageous because they have no experiences to guide them. These persons need someone to guide them where they need to go and give them the needed experiences along the way. This is the professional teacher, the mentor and guide whose first duty is to prepare a student for life.

This is where a true teacher can change the landscape for many students. I spoke with a teacher recently, who says Content Standards be damned, she teaches her students some life skills within a unit on Economics. This lesson has been taught for the past 15 years. She teaches her students the hands on of household budgeting, bill paying and balancing a checking account, and along the way also provides a healthy dose of "reality check". She relates going to school with going to work. Every student begins with a job that is part time in that there is no sick leave or vacation pay and raises or bonuses are earned through hard work. In your magical checking account you get paid based on how many days you came to school during the pay period. Students had to decide the kind of car to buy and actually afford it, rent an apartment, check insurance rates and MPG for cars they purchased; they get bills for utilities, phones, car repairs and other items. Students have to grocery shop and bring in a receipt or they pay the same as the teacher's bill at the grocery for the week. Students have to go shopping with a parent. They learn that food doesn't just appear in the refrigerator. They have to buy gas and they are assigned mileage and then pay gasoline based on how many miles they drove/mpg of the vehicle purchased. The teacher listens to her students talk during the week and assigns them recreation bills for going to a movie or buying a new game or going to shopping mall. I could go on and on.

To this teacher these students need to be prepared and they cannot be prepared by being lectured to. If they don't come to school for a day they don't get paid for that day. Students will not walk out of any Senior High school and walk right into a well paying job with a boss who won't care if I stayed up all night playing Halo and didn't make it to work or if they woke up feeling bad and got to school 3 hours later than the start time. She believes this reality check about life needs to be intentionally learned and is only learned by doing. She is firm in that the only way to learn to do is by learning through doing.

Isn't that the most important and truly authentic assessment- That the student can and does use appropriately the information you the educator is trying to impart.

Learning+ Doing= Experience

2008-03-07T17:49:00.000-08:00

Assessments help teachers to monitor the progress of our students but also give us a feedback about our own instruction. Either we receive a positive response or need to address some possible changes on the process of our lesson.
As I work on my lesson plan ("Calendar", foreign language) , I consider the information that we received on Monday's conference and methods of assessment. Understanding how our brains work and how we can help our students retain information was fascinating. Assessments as applied to my "Calendar" unit will be active participation during instruction time. This will help to engage students on the lesson, it will give me an idea of the student's abilities, and where they are in terms of skills required to effectively participate on the unit.
Also working in small groups, I can use oral methods such as accountable talk where students interact with each other and teacher will be able to evaluate if a lesson is being understood.
Learning a foreign language can be frustrating for many students, small groups will allow me to be attentive to facial expressions and body language. Smaller group allows for more questions to be asked, without fear. And, my lesson can easily be "chunked" because when we work on calendar time, students already were introduced to concepts of numbers, months and days of the week.
Having this calendar time in this structure help students to practice day by day.
This brings me to the quote "What we learn to do we learn by doing" (Aristotle), which I have applied to my lesson plan. When working in small groups Spanish students get more comfortable as we practice the calendar components day by day. This could be a year around activity, where students can master many concepts taught during the school year.
As adults we know that is our nature, we learn by doing. Everyday needs to be a learning experience where we can identify what we did right or wrong and later integrate our experiences, guiding them to a personal and professional growth.

what you learn to do, you learn by doing

2008-03-07T15:46:00.000-08:00

This week the reflection quote is “What we learn to do, we learn by doing”. I find this quote to be very interesting. I feel like this quote relates directly to the speaker that we heard on Monday night. He stressed that the best way to get kids to remember things is to put it in a context that will mean something to them. Many times actually experiencing something hands on is the best way to learn. Kids will remember a science project that taught them about osmosis better than reading about it in a text book. Having an actual experience usually sticks in people’s mind better than just reading about it in a text book. Sometimes things are impossible to learn unless a physical act is done. A child could read for days about how to ride a bike, but until they actually try to ride a bike they will never learn. It takes the actual physical sensation of trying to balance while peddling and steering for someone to learn how to ride a bike. It also may take more than a few tries. This goes for everyone. College students (and graduate students) who are learning to be teachers, they spend time in a classroom reading and hearing lectures, but they also spend time in a classroom. You can sit through a million lectures but nothing will give you the sense of what it is like to teach until you are actually standing up in front of the classroom. You learn what to do, by doing it. Sometimes things may not make sense in your head, but as soon as you actually start doing something and instinct or whatever just takes over, you learn. First hand experiences stick with you. In 8th grade we learned about the Holocaust and obviously there was no way to actually experience it, but we were then taken to the Holocaust museum in Washington D.C. and spending an hour in there hit home for the students harder than doing a month’s worth of lessons on it.
This can be related to assessment also. In the most basic form, by assessing the students they are forced to do the assessment with the material that they learned. It forces the students to actually do the problems. Math is a good example, they can see it in the text book and see examples on the board, but until they actually do the math problems on their own, they may not learn how to do it. Another way this quote can be related to assessment is that assessment can be given in different forms. Sometimes a paper and pencil test isn’t always the best method. Maybe after learning a science lesson for example, it would be best for students to show what they learned by a science experiment in front of the class or another form of alternative assessment.

Cooperative, authentic rubric

2008-03-07T08:40:00.000-08:00

[Please note the new label for posts relating to this topic....]

Sorry to be so slow getting this on the blog...

My understanding, based on our class discussion on Monday, is that the following are suggestions for areas to be addressed in the assessment of your lesson plan presentations:
*Creativity
*Effort
*Standards/Benchmarks
*Clarity (Communication)
*Content (Not sure what was meant by this...interest? amount (substance)? relevance?...)
*Evidence of incorporation of/addressing various aspects of pedagogy (i.e., differentiated instruction/diversity, technology, assessment, strategies, learning environment, classroom management, etc.)
*Goals accomplished (Again, not sure exactly what this means...correlation of assessment(s) to objective(s)? Self-evaluation of "success" of lesson?...)

I think this is a very good start. I think I might also add--
*Student engagement, and possibly--
*Consistency with stance

I think another big area in assessing your lesson plans is evidence of reflection/self-assessment (surprise, surpise). I actually believe that the "success" of this first attempt is less important than your evaluation/response to it.

Comments?

What we learn to do, we learn by blogging.

2008-03-06T18:22:00.000-08:00

“What we learn to do, we learn by doing”
I plan to tie Aristotle’s quote in with the lecture on memory that we heard this week. My initial impression is that this quote seems to just be stating the obvious. Amusingly, it almost sounds like one of those pseudo-intellectualisms that I might have heard on an old Kung Fu television episode, “He who questions training only trains himself at asking questions Grasshopper.” At face value Aristotle’s quote is so blatantly apparent that it’s almost just as laughable. Only when we stop to think about WHY “learning by doing” (LBD) is such an effective way to learn, does the intended value of the quote become perceptible.
When we are experiencing a new activity, we are receiving information simultaneously through all of our senses, rather than just auditorially. With all the senses involved we can more adequately conceptualize the information as we are taking it in. Our brains are also linking this new experience to our existing ones, comparing and contrasting until there is enough context assigned to it that it can be properly filed into our memory retrieval system. Chances are also good that when we are engaged in LBD, because of the novelty of the situation, we are also in a heightened emotional state. This too raises the probability of the information being properly integrated. LBD usually takes place in a public setting, giving us the added motivation of peer pressure. Overall, LBD is a procedural activity that is usually practiced after the initial experience. This leads to retrieval automatization, virtually guaranteeing survival in our long term memory.
Understanding this process can guide us as educators in our quest to have our students learn in the classroom just as effectively. Now, obviously, we cannot literally provide a LBD environment for every single benchmark. But, if we are creative and industrious enough it should be possible to simulate a comparable state of mind in our students during classroom instruction. This is exactly why we are learning to COME IN (Connect, Organize, Model, Enrich, Interact, Nature and Needs.) This is why we are learning to use differentiated instruction, universal design, and applied technology. This is why we are learning about Inquiry Training, Concept Attainment, Learning Cycle, Concept Formation, Unguided Inquiry, and Cooperative Learning. These are our ‘virtual reality’ building blocks. When properly assembled we can construct a learning environment in which we’ve approximated the cerebral conditions that are present during LBD. I think if I go into every lesson plan with the goal of inducing this state of mind in my students, I should be able to become an effective instructor.
Now, what to say about assessment? It is what it is. At this point, we’re putting the horse in front of the carriage. Assessment has to be tied to skills that we are only now beginning to develop. I think the best thing to take away with us regarding assessment at this early stage is the idea that, as beginning teachers, it’s going be especially important to use ‘everyday assessments.’ We will do this not to test the students, but to test our own effectiveness while we learn by doing .

Reflection 7 - On the Job Training

2008-03-06T17:29:00.000-08:00

“On the job training”. That is the present day translation for Aristotle’s quote, “What we learn to do, we learn by doing.” This quote can apply to almost anything a person does, but is most easily relatable to a person’s career. My life, as of this moment and for the next year and a half, is best summed up by Aristotle’s quote. I am a special education teacher, currently stuck in the body of a substitute teacher. Because I am not currently licensed to teach my own class, I substitute for other teachers who are at home for the day, or who have other responsibilities. I’m not complaining about the job, honestly I don’t think it’s that hard. However, it is difficult to demand respect when you have a tag hanging around your neck that proclaims for all to see, that you are in fact, a substitute teacher! I have had many successes in my short stint as a substitute and have felt pride on many occasions. This pride comes from helping a student or even sharing a laugh with my class. I have had great experiences when I sub for special education teachers and in special education classrooms at the junior high and high school levels. However, it is the general education classes that seem to give me the most trouble. I know that I haven’t been doing this for very long, and it is pretty tough to tell a student who is four and a half years younger than you to get to work, but I have to try don’t I? I realize now more than ever, how Aristotle’s quote is true. I am learning to do what I will for my career right now. I don’t have my own class to go to everyday for a year but I do have the classroom experience everyday, and that on the job training will only help me when I begin my actual teaching career.
As I watched the presentation that was given on Monday night I often found myself relating to what Mr. Pfrogner was saying. When he gave examples about sensory memory, short term memory, and long term memory, I often found myself saying “yes, that happens to me.” I really enjoyed Mr. Pfrogner’s presentation. Assessment is obviously necessary. Without giving our students a quiz or a test or some other form of assessment, we won’t know whether or not they have a reasonable understanding of the material that we are teaching. In our book the authors stress that teacher’s tie assessment to their stance on education. Teachers should also have their assessment driven by learning goals. Teachers should also have a systematic approach to assessment as well as tie it to their instruction. The authors of our book also want assessment to be inclusive of the learner, and integrated into a manageable system. In education today, assessment doesn’t have to be a test or a quiz, and although some students crave testing and perform well with them, it is true that others excel in forms of alternative assessment.

Learn by Doing

2008-03-05T20:21:00.000-08:00

After drawing a blank for this week's assignment , I decided I needed a broader prospective and in the spirit of technology I goggled in "Learning by Doing". The results of this search truly inspired me and I have to admit to a greater appreciation for this approach and overall attitude in the classroom as well as, a means of assessment. Here are some thoughts for inside and outside the classroom:

"Learning by doing strikes at the heart of the basic memory process upon which humans rely. We learn how to do things and then learn how what we have learned is wrong and right." (Engineers for Education)
"I have done the deed. Didst thou not hear a noise?" (Macbeth)
"The story of learning is always about doing. The story of learning is a tale of bridging the gap between theory and practice, the cadence to which educators march." (Ted Nellen & Lori Mayo)
"Learning by doing is a concept of economic theory. It refers to the capability of workers to improve their productivity by regularly repeating the same type of action." (Wikipedia)
"One must learn by doing things, for though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try." (Aristotle)
"We learn by doing after we have reflected on what we have done." (Dewey)
And finally, a last word specifically on assessment: "Teaching for tests creates learnoids." (Apple Seeds for Teachers)
*I have a cartoon to share with you as soon as I can get it to post!

2008-03-05T20:16:00.000-08:00

Student Assessment

In a perfect world

2008-03-02T21:06:00.000-08:00

My lesson is on painting. It will be for an elementary art class. I found a lesson online where children will mimick the image of Monet's Waterlilies through the use of watercolors and collage. I could use technology in this lesson in so many ways. I already used the internet to find the lesson itself. I could have students research Monet and other painters on the internet for the Unit that the Monet lesson would be a part of. They could write reports/research papers on Monet's life. I could set up a field trip to a museum through the use of the internet so that my kids could see some of Monet's work in person. I could set up "Miss Lucas' Class Website" so showcase my students work. Through this website I could solicit parental feedback, and feedback from other teachers and schools. My kids would be so excited to show off the fact that they were on the internet! They could each have their own pages that they update with class and personal goals. They could write artist statements on their pages explaining their inspiration for the work that they create. I would of course not let them include any real personal information. First names only and definitly no pictures of the kids. There are a lot of weirdos out there. We could also contact another school and have kids from across the country talk to each other. I could talk to the other teacher beforehand and we could both do the same lesson and have the kids talk about it. This might all be far far beyond what could ever be possible. In my year of subbing, I have yet to see an art room with a smart board. I have been in art rooms that have their own computers with internet access, but not many. Usually those computers are reserved for teacher use. It seems like the regular classrooms get the first dibs on the technology. I know that there are efforts to get computers into the schools, but many of these school districts don't even have money for books. We could go on and on about the depressing state of our schools. I really like my website idea though. In my ideal classroom the class website would be possible. Included in that ideal is me actually knowing how to set up a website for my kids. But it doesn't hurt to dream!

Pappas Technology

2008-03-02T19:33:00.000-08:00

Technology has taken us from chalkboards to power point presentations. As teachers, we no longer catch students passing notes, but rather text messaging their friends sitting two rows away. Technology has taken us from black and white movie projectors to high definition DVD videos. It has taken us from hand written papers to online blogs. It may even take my job one day! This is based on the premise that technology is evolving exponentially and human beings are not. So, before I am replaced by a mechanical instructor I would like to share some ideas on how I might use technology with my upcoming lesson.

The first use of technology that I plan on using is power point. Power point provides the following advantages:
· Organization of the material you intend on presenting
· Eliminates the need to “write” notes on the board
· Long term storage for future presentations
· Allows students to acquire the presentation on their home computers by simply downloading it
· Pictures and videos can be incorporated into the presentation through power point. This adds a spatial dimension to your presentation.

Power point also presents the following disadvantages:
· Must have a computer and projector in order to present
· Time required to create a power point presentation can be lengthy. However, once it is created it can be reused for many years.

In addition to power point, I will include a 10 minute VHS video clip with my
lesson. Unfortunately, I lack the means to splice the video into the power point, so I will need a VCR in order to present the clip. Regardless, this strategy can induce a student’s interest to the material being presented. It also provides another source for the students to learn from. I have noticed that 10 minutes seems to be the ideal time when presenting a video. Anything more and students tend to doze off. Breaking up your lecture with a 10 minute video can reset the students attention. I have also noticed that frequent use of videos can increase class morale. These are the reasons why I have chosen to use a video with my lesson.

The last use of technology that I will use for creating my presentation is the internet. I will use the internet to gather information from credible sources. I also intend on giving the class an article on the subject I am presenting, which was taken from the internet. I will even provide students with suggested websites for further studies. As a teacher, the internet has become my ally. It has become part of my everyday life. Hence, I intend on using it for my class presentation just as I do in my everyday classroom. Furthermore, I will use the internet as a means of communication amongst the students and myself. I will provide the class with my e-mail address incase they would like to get in touch with me about the presentation or have any questions regarding the material. I will even take it one step further and provide my cell phone number incase students would rather reach me that way. You may e-mail me, call me, or text me with any questions you come up with! This includes all of the forms of technology that I intend on using with my presentation.

Geometry and Technology

2008-03-02T15:50:00.000-08:00

For my 3^rd grade Math/Geometry lesson I would like to use Google Sketchup as a technological aspect of the lesson. Sketchup is a free 2D and 3D modeling software package developed by Google. It allows users to do things as easy as drawing 2D shapes (circles, triangles, squares) to as complicated as 3D architectural designs (skyscrapers, houses, bridges). At the beginning of the lesson I would like to start off using the interactive white board to draw 2D shapes such as triangles, circles and squares. Then I would use the “push up” tool in the program to transform each shape into a 3D one. There is also a tool that allows the shapes to be rotated so that every face of the object can be seen. The interactive white board will not only be used as a teacher demonstration tool, it will also be used by the students so that they can assist in making the 2D and 3D objects.

There is a geometric shape manipulation tool available online that is even easier than Sketchup. The tool shows several 3D images that can be rotated and resized. The number of faces of each image can be counted by clicking on them. Once a face has been clicked on it changes to a different color. The “counter” in the corner shows the number of faces that have been selected. The same can be done for the edges and vertices.

I have also found a number of Geometry WebQuests that could be used for my lesson. One WebQuest has students design a quilt that was described in Betsy Ross’s diary using geometric shapes. Another WebQuest is about triangles that include multiple tasks for the students to choose from. A variety of interactive math lessons can be found online as well as interactive games and flashcards.

One of the challenges I may face in using technology for this lesson might be that the district I am teaching at does not have the technology available. It would be difficult to implement the use of the WebQuests and interactive math lessons without a properly maintained computer lab. A reservation may be that the students might have a tendency to get off task and do other things especially if the internet is being used. Lab management software would be ideal so that this would not occur.

Technology and The Order of Operations

2008-02-29T14:07:00.000-08:00

For my lesson plan, I will be instructing my students on the proper way to solve mathematical formulas using the Order of Operations. In order to move further into to study of Algebra, understanding the order of operations is a must. There are many approaches to take when teaching the order of operations such as the use of an overhead, Smartboard, breaking into groups and working on problems, etc. One can use technology to teach the order of operations through applications such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, or even Paint.

Obviously the use of a Smartboard would be one way I'd incorporate technology into my lesson plan. Writing out the rules and completing sample problems can be done on the Smartboard. But the one specific plan I have for incorporating technology into my lesson plan is to have students work with Excel and Word to create their own individual posterboards explaining the order of operations. On their posterboards, students write out the acronym "PEMDAS - Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally" (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiply/Divide, Add/Subtract). Using Word/Excel I will have them come up with and type out their own example formulas. Then they'd print them out and break each step down using each letter of the PEMDAS acronym. Example formula:

[(5+4)^2/(11-2)]+8*3

Once pasted onto the posterboard, students may add arrows from Paint, Word, or Excel to point out each step in the process of solving the formula. Additional math-related images from the web or clipart may be used to "spice up" the posterboard.

Technology with Measurements

2008-02-28T19:21:00.000-08:00

It is so important for students to learn all measurements but this lesson plan would just address volume measurements. Our fun and exciting lesson plan would include a measurement power point project. I would provide the students with a sample and review the bibliography format with them as well. I would also give them a sample bibliography to take with them to the computer lab. My next step would be to schedule time over several days in the school's computer lab for my students to work on a three slide power point presentation. The first slide requirements would involve a list of ten measurements and one equivalent of each measurement. It would be required that this slide contain a clip art image. The second slide requirement would need to include an internet image and a short explanation of why measurements are important. The third slide would contain the bibliography.
This lesson plan could be used for grades four to six. The students would not be expected to complete it all in one day. The students would learn measurements and computer skills at the same time. All of these lessons could be used almost on a daily basis.
The lesson encompasses:
*Measurements
*Power point
*Clip Art
*Internet imagery
*Bibliography skills

I would allow time in our schedule to briefly view these power points. After watching the power points presentations the measurements should be reinforced in the students mind.

technology in grammar lesson

2008-02-28T19:00:00.000-08:00

In every classroom it is important to incorporate technology. Technology is growing rapidly and it is more than likely that your students know more about technology than you do. It is important to keep kids interested and technology is one way of doing that. Technology isn’t the only way of teaching kids and it should not take the place of a teacher, but it is still very important. It is important for kids to get familiar with technology, there may be some kids in your class that don’t have access to a computer at home or maybe even a television. School may be the place that some students can get technology experience that they will need later in life. In the world we live in today, it is important that everyone knows how to use a computer or is at least semi familiar with it and what it can do. As I mentioned before as important as technology is, it should never take the place of a teacher and the teacher shouldn’t let technology be the entire lesson.
There are a few ways I have come up with to incorporate technology into a grammar lesson. First I could show one of the videos of “School House Rock” which would be on a TV or on a projector. More specifically I could make up a power point for the kids about synonyms and antonyms (what my lesson is about) instead of them just listening to me and taking notes. I could use clip art and other various pictures to try to make it more interesting. Another form of technology that I could use would be different websites. There are different websites that kids can go to that have interactive games with different grammar lesson. I know there is a game on funbrain.com that has to do with grammar and synonyms and antonyms. Unless a class had access to a computer lab, maybe only a few students could do this at a time. This could also be a station in a workshop type setting if a computer lab is unavailable. If more games are wanted if you type in grammar games into google you can find thousands. It is important to keep up with technology and incorporate into your classroom, luckily in the world we live in today, it isn’t too hard.

Technology and lesson plan working together...

2008-02-28T18:01:00.000-08:00

Technology provides an opportunity to transform traditional lectures into an interactive experience, making a simple lesson very exciting. My lesson plan is Spanish K-4, Calendar Unit which introduces the concepts of months, numbers, days of the week and basic questions related with the mentioned concepts. Much of foreign language is practicing linguistic fundamentals consider by many students to not be exciting.

As a technology immigrant educator, I can enhance a mundane unit with interactive instruction.

Through high speed Internet, classroom smart boards and inexpensive web cams the class will conduct a live classroom session with an English language class in Mexico. Once a week we will have an activity where students will ask each other questions such as: What day is today?/ Que dia es hoy?, What do you do on the weekends?/Que haces los fines de semana? . American students will use their Spanish and Mexican students will use their English. Exposing children to listening and speaking any language helps to develop their understanding and pronunciation in a foreign language.

Also utilizing available technology, students will visit the computer lab where they will create their own month of March. They will type in Spanish the activities that they perform during this month. This activity will improve their spelling and increase their vocabulary.
Not only we will embrace diversity but we also open children's eyes to another culture.

Technology in my lesson plan....

2008-02-27T12:59:00.000-08:00

Figuring out how to incorporate technology into my lesson plan and future classroom is something I have been thinking about since day one of wanting to become a teacher. Being in the integrated business program, I will be certified to teach 4-12 and vocational. I will be able to teach many different business courses such as word processing, accounting, personal finance etc. When I first started my lesson plan planning, I came to realize there were no standards for business for K-12 by the state of Ohio, therefore I turned to national standards and Ohio standards for technology. These have been my guide thus far in prepping my lesson. To me being in the business world goes hand in hand with technology. When students take my courses, they will learn how technology comes to play in the business environment. They will learn more than just how to connect to the internet and make a power point, but rather other technological skills to assist and understand how business and technology play together.
My lesson plan is to introduce the marketing mix to 11th and 12th graders in a high school marketing course. The rest of the unit would be to dive deeper into each mix element. The marketing mix is made up of four components (price, product, place and promotion) on how a company launches a marketing plan for a product and/ or service. I could incorporate technology into this introduction lesson by having students pick their favorite brand name and product of that brand and conduct research on the internet through observing blogs, the company's website, consumer reviews etc. I could have the students identify the four components through their research on the internet. Another way to integrate technology into this lesson would be to have the ultimate goal at the end of the unit (after diving into each mix element) to be for the students to be in groups of 4 in which they will create their own product and a marketing plan for it. Each of the members of the group will have a responsibiity similiar to that of a real person in a marketing job function in which they will work hand in hand in creating this product and its launch plan. They will be paired up with a business member from the community who will be their mentor on the project. They will communicate with this mentor through email, web cams and blogs in which any meetings will be done this way and feedback given this way as well. My hopes would be to even have students particpate in teleconferencing with their mentor as well to see how their mentor uses technology on a day to day basis to get their job done!
You can see, I could go on and on about ways to incoporate technology in my classroom setting because the truth is, I have to incorporate it. The more I do, the better and more rounded my students will become with the way today's business world is. I will feel the pressure to incorporate at any and all times. To me the medium is the message in the sense that my concepts that I will be teaching will be easier and more effective with technology added in. Since children aren't in the business world to experience things for themselves, I need to utilize technology to make it as possible for them to experience and witness this world as possible for them to better understand the concepts and build vital skills to function in our business world today!

Web 2.0: Helping Reinvent Education http://thejournal.com/articles/21907_2

2008-02-26T16:30:00.000-08:00

Web 2.0 is a "perceived" second-generation edition of the world wide web. "Perceived" because the celebrated features attributed exclusively to Web 2.0 are based on ideas that were present in the development of the web from the beginning. It just took this long for the proliferation of computer access and some modest technological advances to make these features attainable. Web 2.0 in its most ideal form refers to any web communities that "facilitate creativity, collaboration and sharing." Blogs, wikis, and podcasts are all examples of these kinds of sites. The article identifies a resultant paradigm shift in peoples' thinking process. The participatory and collaborative nature of Web 2.0 assures that "knowledge is gained through bottom up, individual methods, rather than top down, traditional forms." The article goes on to correctly(I think) conclude that new forms of knowledge and learning demand new ways of teaching. It's time to retool our education system so that it compliments the new knowledge acquisition technique of our next generation learners.

"The medium is the message"

2008-02-26T11:35:00.000-08:00

I'm going to relate this quote to Web 2.0, a.k.a. "the participatory web." Marshall McCluhan would have us set aside the thoughts and ideas conveyed in the multitude of blogs, podcasts, and wiki's that exist all over the internet and instead asks us to examine the overall effect Web 2.0, as a medium, has on our society. After a few hours research, I'm most intrigued by this medium's propensity to become a living, breathing and ever-growing collective intelligence. I'm immediately reminded of movies like 'The Matrix' and 'The Terminator' where man has been overtaken by his own technology. I definitely agree that the information sharing put forth through this medium is invaluable. I admire the spirit of collaboration and cooperation it inspires in the academic arena. However, reflecting on Mr. McCluhan's quote has made me realize that, indeed, often times the medium ultimately has much more societal impact than the message. The advent of television has definitely proven this. Are we giving enough thought to all the possible ramifications that might come from the existence of such a dynamic, international, and interactive information network? By it's very nature this particular medium's growth can only be characterized as exponential. Will the tremendous educational benefits bestowed upon our society be nullified by the initiation of a paradigm shift that is incompatible with the human psyche? Can our finite biological intellect exist in a newly created digital environment that trancends the physical boundaries between mind, space, and time? I think Marshall McCluhan's quote, "the medium is the message" is more relevant today than ever. I don't think we can overestimate the potential consequences this medium may have on our society. In fact, is it not our duty to monitor this oh, so powerful medium? We should consider every possible theoretical permutation on how this thing might evolve. Yeah, I'm probably getting a little too 'science fiction-y' here, but does anybody think that television hasn't had a lot of negative impact on society? Television is child's play compared to the world wide web. Not since we first split the atom has anything so powerful been released.
Now to the more mundane task at hand. My lesson plan is about converting fractions into decimals and percentages. A specific way that I could use technology to enhance my instruction would be to incorporate one or two clever teacher generated videos found on http://www.teachertube.com/. Here's a specific video I like because the audio portion is spoken by a student while visually, a simple animation graphically illustrates the process. So what better way to engage your students than putting them "right at home" in a familiar You Tube-like environment combined with all the advantages of peer tutoring. Take a look if you like; http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=be6613daea643a7706a4

Reflection 6 - The three branches of government

2008-02-26T09:57:00.000-08:00

Reflection # 6

The subject of social studies is a key to understanding our history on the national and international levels. As an intervention specialist I know that I will be teaching a variety of subjects, therefore I have chosen a lesson in social studies on government at the national level. I feel that being knowledgeable and comfortable in the subject of social studies is a key component to a well-rounded student. In my lesson I will focus on the three branches of government in the United States of America. The three branches of course, are legislative, judicial, and executive.
I feel that I can incorporate technology into my lesson in three interesting ways. The first way deals with the way I will present the material. By creating a powerpoint presentation, complete with facts, discussion questions, pictures, etc., I believe students will be more interested than if I just stand up at the front of the class, write the three branches of government on the chalkboard and talk about them. Powerpoint could possibly hold students’ attention better, and also be responsible for more interest in the subject material. I feel that presentation of the material has a lot to do with the excitement level and interest level of the students that you are teaching.
A second way in which I can incorporate technology into my lesson could be a video on the internet or just simply a DVD or VHS, that relates to the three branches of government. This video could be from a series that provides videos or DVD’s on education, for example, PBS. This video could also be from of an educational website, and viewed on a projector that is hooked up to the computer. After giving an initial lesson or some type of instruction, I feel that it sometimes helps to have students view and listen to the material from another source other than the teacher.
A third way in which I could incorporate technology into the classroom would be a sort of capstone assignment to end the lesson. For this assignment I would have my students find an example of the legislative branch, judicial branch, and executive branch in action. For example a student would get on the internet and look for an article about a criminal who was recently sentenced for their crime. This would be an example of the judicial branch. I feel that incorporating this final capstone assignment and third form of technology is beneficial for a students understanding of the entire process of our three branches of government.

Teaching Social Studies Topics using Technology

2008-02-25T16:38:00.000-08:00

The basis for any serious discussion begins with and ends with what ideas, concepts or relationships are you as a teacher trying to relate? Implicit, explicit or null content and in which content area and by who's standards based curriculum and through which instructional strategy or combination are you trying to relay this knowledge to your students. Unless we specifically are teaching a course on technology in content area Geography and show changes in surveying equipment over time or more specifically are we training to locate our exact spot on the earth using a handheld Global Positioning Satellite device. Can we teach navigation of roads and roadways via a Garmen GPS system? This would be Direct Instruction on how to utilize the physical equipment.

But technology in the classroom is more that how to use a tool. It is how can you as an instructor use cutting edge technology to impart and impact learning. Will your lessons encourage classroom participation? Will your students understand the important matters. Example: A student can be taught how to utilize the latest and greatest technology but if they are never presented and learn the components of a compelling story they will never be a filmmaker regardless of how impressive the computer, the software, the number of pixels in the flat screen monitor are in their classroom. It is most important if you can use technology to convey the lessons you want to impart and then have technology: encourage student interest, hold the students attention, which then results in learning, thinking and retention.

Social Studies, American Government, High School students.
The Smart Board technology software suites allows for many different uses for layering of words and pictures. In Geography we would have learned the concept of a physical map and a political map. In Government we would have brainstormed as many different political subdivisions as we could come up with. Starting with national boundaries, state boundaries, then county's, townships, cities, villages, school districts, zip codes, political districts-state and federal, courts and representatives both. Utility service territory's would be examined as well. Students would create a list and then in diverse groups would research definitions, office holders and search for maps. The smart board allows teachers to ask questions and the handheld devices allow real time feedback of each students understanding of the information presented. The student would be asked for instance to rank the political districts from smallest number of people to largest. These maps would also be scanned and overlaid in PDF format so we could pinpoint our schools location and then create an X-marks the spot presentation to start small and build up or reverse starting with a world map and moving down. I believe this exercise would build research skills and understanding and prove to students the wider world in which others have inputs into our individual lives.

Ideas for Today & Tomorrow

2008-02-25T16:32:00.000-08:00

This is a power point on the "future classroom". It is a quick reference with key points about the capacities of our classrooms now and in the future. It is the precursor to the "Did you Know" presentation!

Implications of New Media for K-12 Education

2008-02-25T16:25:00.000-08:00

After reading the article, I was most intrigued by the four new forms of expression predicted for 2015:

1) knowledge webs
2) virtual communities
3) synthetic environments
4) sensory immersion

The fact that our society can follow the technology path and predict where it's going is somewhat scary, but relieving. As we study to become teachers we can focus on today and how to incorporate technology in our curriculum, but we can also know what's coming and start to prepare for these new forms of expressions.

The article touches upon teaching our students how to handle such a vast array of information as well. I think this is going to be important for teachers to have a handle on this themselves because we have access to a plethera of information and we have to pick and choose what works for us, our purporses and which resources are truly rich and which are not. How do we teach this to our students? The quote below is from the article and touches upon that these expressions will not just make students smarter with greater knowledge by themselves. They need to make connections.

"However, access to data does not automatically expand students' knowledge, nor will the mere availability of information intrinsically create an internal framework of ideas that learners can apply in real world settings. While presentational approaches transmit material rapidly from source to student, often this content evaporates quickly from learners' minds. To be motivated to master concepts and skills, pre-college students need to see the connection of what they are learning to the rest of their lives and to the mental models they already use. "

The Future of Learning in a New Free World

2008-02-25T16:17:00.000-08:00

http://www.newhorizons.org/future/dryden.htm

Summary: The author notes that millions of teachers and billions of students continue to work mainly in isolation, yet in today's world of instant communication, collaboration is essential in order to make the most effective changes.

The author gives these three choices/solutions for the problem he presents:

· A world where only two billion rich people share the benefits — and two billion live in poverty?
· Or a new sharing, caring world?
· A new world of cooperative enterprise and mass innovation?

He states his choice as, "the new free world of cooperative enterprise, where all children are the leaders of the new free world. And where we all share the benefits of a new World Wide Learning Web."

I agree with a lot of what he states in his article, especially when he talks about how it's unfair that such a large group of students are being "left out" by high-priced computers and high-priced software.

Linking Students with Their world

2008-02-25T16:08:00.001-08:00

The article I read was "Linking Students with Their World: A Good Day in French Class" by Nancy A. Bacon. This article was about a French class in Washington state that was able to be video connected with a class from Dakar, Sengal. The class talked to each other and learned about issues that each class was dealing wtih. They were able to give power points and presentations together at conferences. They talked about issues such as education and even serious issues like AIDS. The connection between Foster High School and Senegal began in 1996 when returned Peace Corps volunteer and Tukwila School Board member Mary Fertakis visited Sue Pike's French class to talk about life in Senegal.

The questions that were asked back and fouth were:
From students at Lycée Thierno Saïdou Nourou Tall in Dakar, Senegal:· Do communities try to find solutions to the increasing violence in schools?· Can you speak about a true American culture if you consider the different ethnic groups who make up the population?· Don't you think that the attitude of the USA toward China may be the beginning of a new cold war?· How do you feel about the Bush presidency?
From students at Foster High School in Tukwila, Washington:· How do you feel about the spread of AIDS and other diseases? · If there were a civil war which broke out in Senegal, to which country would you go and why?· If you had the chance to visit the USA, where would you like to go and what would you like to visit?· What do you worry about?

I feel like this is a very interesting article about techonolgy in the classroom.

Students with disabilities and computer technology

2008-02-25T16:07:00.004-08:00

I found this article interesting because as future educators we need to be aware of how technology can help our students to reach their potential. They can communicate, participate and achieve academic and personal goals.

Virtual Reality in Education

2008-02-25T16:07:00.002-08:00

Virtual Reality in Education is an article written by seventh grade science teacher John Shaffer. Some of his ideas to incorporate virtual reality in education are as follows:
-development of "VR math flash cards" (vision, color, touch, sound)
-bilingual math VR flash cards
-bilingual reading; imagine, walking into a VR room, touching items and getting feedback.
-social studies; imagine, looking at a VR globe, where a country and information can pop up when pressed, on a world geography map filled with experiences of geography, culture, peoples daily lives, language, and founding history.
-science; demonstrating cells, photosynthesis, space, chemistry, geology, physical and environmental science.
John Shaffer hopes to become involved in any of the following areas:
participate directly in research regarding Virtual Reality benefits.
This would include all areas of program development, data gathering and analysis.
Working with a facility or school test site that would be willing to participate in program development.
This would involve developing Virtual Reality learning experiences for application in the classroom content curriculum. One such area to develop, mathematic programs and follow data for student enhancement.
Direct involvement with a commercial venture.
This area would pursue all data and concepts in developing programs including education, sports training and entertainment.

I feel like this is a very interesting article about technology in the classroom.

T. Clark - Role of Technology in Education

2008-02-25T16:07:00.001-08:00

An effective use of technology can co-exist with a demanding curriculum with technologically savvy, highly-trained teachers. Technology is an important tool to use within the classroom, it is not the end – it is a means to assist students in achieving significant improvements in students’ performance and achievement.

Technology should not be used in the classroom to overshadow the importance of academic results. Interactive learning resources are critical components that should be available in every classroom. Students using technology and research in a controlled environment and under instructional conditions tend to learn faster than those students who do not have classroom access to technology.

Different Types of Technology and their Educational Applications

2008-02-25T16:07:00.000-08:00

This article presents ideas on how technology can be used to enhance learning in the classroom.

For example;
- word processing and e-mail promotes communication
- spreadsheet and database programs promotes organization skills
- modeling software promotes the understanding of math and science

It is important to identify what technologies are being used in the classroom, and for what purpose. Each technology is likely to play a different role in student learning and should not be treated as the same.

The article emphasizes that educational technology, "compliments what a great teacher does naturally," extending their reach and broadening their students experience beyond the classroom.

Take Back the Afternoon: Preserving the Landscape of Childhood In Spite of Computers

2008-02-25T16:06:00.003-08:00

This article is to try to get teachers and parents to encourage the old way of learning at least a couple times a week. Like playing outside at recess, feeling the air touching the trees, faling down scuffing thier knees etc... The point here is that computers should follow, not lead. Dynamic, real life engagements that build skills, self-confidence and a sense of purpose in life are the motive force of education. The computer has a role to play in this drama, but it should be a supporting cast member, not the star. Right now, the computer is too much of a prima donna, attracting attention away from the rest of the players and the technical crew. And if an increasing percentage of the school budget is spent on computers, then not enough will be spent on pianos, art materials, laboratory equipment, land acquisition for the nature center, bilingual education specialists and a new sound system for the theater. Childhood is short enough; there is no need to hasten its demise with exposure to soul-depleting electronic media.

Take Back the Afternoon real, old-fashioned play, at least a couple of days a week.

Technology in Environmental Education

2008-02-25T16:06:00.002-08:00

major points of this article:

Integrating technology into our educational programs provides students with additional tools to enhance their learning
Technology supports our efforts to appeal to different learning styles
Technology supports our multidisciplinary approach to learning
Technology gives us a way to connect with each other and extend the learning experience
Technology aids our efforts in supporting teachers
role of technology in education is that technology is an "amplifier"

examples of technology integration at IslandWood

time-lapse movie of a caterpillar metamorphosizing into a butterfly
spreadsheets to display data graphically
showing how things work through simulations
handheld computers to collect and analyze data

http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/environmental/wolf.htm

My reaction:
I agree that technology is an "amplifier" for education. Using technology can be very advantageous and there are many ways to reinforce the content that is being learned through using technology.

Mr. Coulter's Internet Tendency: to Infinity and Beyond

2008-02-25T16:06:00.001-08:00

so mr. coulter started publishing his students writing on the internet. he is a fourth grade teacher. he has them write everyday in their journals for fifteen minutes. after the fifteen minutes, they get together and share what they've written. after they do a lot of rewriting and the teacher helps them edit, they type them up in a simply formatted word processing document. the students pick out their very best writings every month or so. the teacher then publishes the students writings on the internet. he adds pictures when he thinks they will accent the writing.
he doesn't let the students embellish their writing with crazy text or pictures in the beginning. so the writing that they do is just about the writing. i think its a great idea. encouraging students to write helps them find their place in life. they will become better readers. they will be better writers in all the different ways you can write. writing everyday will help them evolve in all the subjects of their school day.

http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/literacy/coulter.htm

techno in education everybody dance

2008-02-25T16:01:00.000-08:00

http://www.ed.gov/pubs/EdReformStudies/EdTech/effectsstudents.html

Web site is interesting. I have bolded the interesting bits of information.

Increased Motivation and Self Esteem
The most common--and in fact, nearly universal--teacher-reported effect on students was an increase in motivation. Teachers and students are sometimes surprised at the level of technology-based accomplishment displayed by students who have shown much less initiative or facility with more conventional academic tasks:
The kids that don't necessarily star can become the stars. [with technology]. My favorite is this boy . . . who had major problems at home. He figured out a way to make music by getting the computer to play certain letters by certain powers and it changed the musical tone of the note and he actually wrote a piece. He stayed in every recess. . . . When I asked him what he was working on, he wouldn't tell me. Then he asked if he could put his HyperCard stack on my computer because it was hooked up to speakers. I said "sure" and at recess. . . he put it on my computer and played his music and literally stopped the room. And for months he had kids begging him at recess, every recess, to teach them how to make music. And for that particular kid it was the world because he really was not successful academically and was having lots of problems. . . . This really changed him for that school year. -Elementary school teacher
Teachers talked about motivation from a number of different perspectives. Some mentioned motivation with respect to working in a specific subject area, for example, a greater willingness to write or to work on computational skills. Others spoke in terms of more general motivational effects--student satisfaction with the immediate feedback provided by the computer and the sense of accomplishment and power gained in working with technology:
Kids like the immediate results. It's not a result that you can get anywhere else except on the computer. . . . For them it really is a big deal. Much more so than I ever though it was going to be. --Elementary school teacher
Technology is the ultimate carrot for students. It's something they want to master. Learning to use it enhances their self-esteem and makes them excited about coming to school. --Fifth grade teacher
The computer has been an empowering tool to the students. They have a voice and it's not in any way secondary to anybody else's voice. It's an equal voice. So that's incredibly positive. Motivation to use technology is very high. --Elementary school teacher
In many of these classes, students choose to work on their technology-based projects during recess or lunch periods. Teachers also frequently cite technology's motivational advantages in providing a venue in which a wider range of students can excel. Compared to conventional classrooms with their stress on verbal knowledge and multiple-choice test performance, technology provides a very different set of challenges and different ways in which students can demonstrate what they understand (e.g., by programming a simulation to demonstrate a concept rather than trying to explain it verbally).
A related technology effect stressed by many teachers was enhancement of student self esteem. Both the increased competence they feel after mastering technology-based tasks and their awareness of the value placed upon technology within our culture, led to increases in students' (and often teachers') sense of self worth.
I see more confidence in the kids here. . . . I think it's not just computers, it's a multitude of things, but they can do things on the computers that most of their parents can't do and that's very empowering and exciting for them. It's "I can sit down and make this machine pretty much do what I want to," and there's something about that that gives them an extra little boost of, "Wow, I'm a pretty special person." --Elementary school teacher
Students clearly take pride in being able to use the same computer-based tools employed by professionals. As one teacher expressed it, "Students gain a sense of empowerment from learning to control the computer and to use it in ways they associate with the real world." Technology is valued within our culture. It is something that costs money and that bestows the power to add value. By giving students technology tools, we are implicitly giving weight to their school activities. Students are very sensitive to this message that they, and their work, are important.

2008-02-25T12:51:00.000-08:00

my lesson plan + technology pros and cons

2008-02-25T12:42:00.000-08:00

I feel as if there is quite a bit of controversy throughout education on the usage of technology. There are many pros' and equally as many cons. Using telecommunications to connect with fellow teachers, family members or students, using tools such as PowerPoint’s, scanners, multimedia and real world simulations are all positive forms of using technology. On the other hand, technology has some negative features. I believe that technology shapes our student’s lives and education if used properly. If not and the amount used in negative ways can affect their language, penmanship, and spelling. Technology is freezing these important parts in today’s curriculum. Yes, I said I was a “native” in class but I feel that when I was a student technology was just up and coming and the practice was learned, on my own or by my parents, not in school. I believe as teachers we need to lead the students to technology, monitor their progress, and use it as a tool to support their rich and deep learning experiences.
Therefore, as far as the quote from class, it is not the way you use the medium its what is in the message that really counts. The message, I believe, is the content we as teachers are guiding the children in our curriculum to use technology to get that important message across to themselves and their fellow classmates. I am doing my lesson plan on weather, from a science lesson. The usage of technology will be helpful in many ways. The first way it can be used in my information that I give to my students like in a PowerPoint presentation. I feel as if students find looking at graphs, pictures, and animation more engaging then taking notes on a piece of plain notebook paper. The second way I would use the Internet is to let the students explore using “monitored” websites on weather around the world. Finally, the usage in technology in my class I would put up my web cam and talk with my Aunt or Cousin that live in Colorado and Hungary and have them show us what kind of weather is out there right then and there. These three ways are not the only ways I could incorporate technology in my classroom. I can have grades on the Internet for parents to look up. A teacher website for due dates and classroom activities, we could watch dvd’s or vhs tapes in class, and so on and so forth. My main point I would like to get across is to make sure those important lessons in curriculum like spelling, grammar, sentence structure, etc do not get ignored or frozen because the usage of technology in the classroom.

2008-02-25T06:27:00.001-08:00

Sandbox

2008-02-24T10:17:00.000-08:00

This is just a test. I'm going to label this "Sandbox" (that's commonly a place where users can test out an online application without creating a mess in the "real" areas--e.g., there's one at Wikipedia).