Blog Assignment #16 Final Reflection

Blog Assignment #14

Mr. Joel Klein, who wrote the article Self-Discipline and High Standards Can Secure the Future of Public Schools, has been the front runner of the New York City school system for eight years. When asked the question, "If you could change one thing, what would it be?" He responds with how he believes there are many things needing change within schools, such as:

• Allowing more school choices for families
• Using more technology within the classroom
• Adopting a knowledge-based curriculum 
• Letting children begin school before age five.

Although he states some of those problems, he chooses an obvious problem he would change, which is to professionalize teaching. Some of the problems teachers face hinder the career from becoming a professional workplace.  These problems are:

• States not providing enough academic training for teachers
• School systems allow anyone with a degree (of any kind) to become teachers
• School systems award teachers incorrectly, valuing seniority over quality.

To solve these problems Klein suggest that:

• States require teachers to undergo national teaching exams that will test the mastery of pedagogy and content knowledge
• Schools recruit teachers from the top third of graduates, and require a one to three year supervised internship to evaluate their in classroom performance
• Removal of incompetent teachers by having teachers establish their own board to "police" the colleagues in their profession.  Along with that, teachers who master in the field of teaching should have aids that are college graduates as teaching assistants.

My thoughts....

I agree that these are some pivotal problems we face in the teaching profession.

First, having more opportunities to train and learn new techniques will only enhance our abilities to teach, and influence the way our students learn.  Teachers should continue to become highly qualified through continued academic training throughout the span of their career.

Next, not just anyone with a degree should become a teacher, no more than a graduate with an education degree should become a doctor, lawyer, or other professional.  Whatever degree a student is working toward prepares them for that specific field of study.  Throughout the course of earning a degree we are taught very different practices for our future careers.  When working toward an education degree, we study the behaviors of children and methods of teaching for helping students learn. Through internships and students teaching tiers, we have field experiences that allow us to observe these behaviors and teaching techniques.

Lastly, just because a teacher has been in a school longer does not mean he or she will be more technically qualified than a first year teacher.  In our ever-changing times the techniques continue to change and our students' behaviors also change.  An older teacher may have "set in ways" of doing things while a new teacher may be open to learning new styles of teaching.  Do not misunderstand what I write, experienced older teachers are at times the best at the job and can be excellent mentors for us new and upcoming teachers.  However, I believe that tenure should not be the rule, teacher quality should prevail.  Also, when older, qualified teachers retire the school is at a major loss.  Along with that thought, at times new teachers have no business being in the classroom and it is great to find a balance and work together to eliminate the teachers who are not meant to be in this profession.

Blog Assignment #5 Final Part

Summary of My PLN (Personal Learning Network)

When beginning this class, I had never heard of a PLN or in general anything else we studied over the summer semester. I was a little apprehensive to use most of the tools and honestly felt that some of it was a waste of time. As we near the end of the semester, I am excited that I have developed a new perspective and begun to use these tools and am working on continuing to grow my PLN.

Although I can honestly say twitter isn't my favorite, as I have had a bad experience in the past with social media, I definitely now see how it is relevant to learning and can be used in an effective way. I am hoping to continue the use several of the social media tools like Twitter,  Skype, and Symbaloo to chat and conference with the people I meet as I continue my journey to becoming a teacher and to bookmark all the important things I find interesting to aid in my teaching.  I am the type of person that likes to have face-to-face interaction with people, so I look forward to working more with teachers like Anthony Capps, Mrs. Bennett and others throughout Baldwin County, as well as educators from South Alabama. While there are many blog writers we have followed over the course of the semester, I particularly would like to continue following and learning from teachers like Mrs. Cassidy and Mr. Shareski, whom are educators and writers of blogs. As Dr. Strange would say, "we are just scratching the surface." Well, I am just scratching the surface of my PLN, and hope that as time passes I will have built a large amount of resources that provide me with more helpful and effective teaching ideas.

C4Ta #4 Post #1 & Post #2

Post #1
Summary of:
The Dr. Will Show - EdTech Check With Celine NG-O'Hara

In this blog post, Dr. Will chats with teacher and "Ed Techie" Celine NG-O'Hara. In the first paragraph, he provides us with some information about Ms. NG-O'Hara and he list some of her qualifications, which are:

• Bachelor of Arts (History & Sociology)
• Bachelor of Arts (Special Education)
• Two Masters (Teaching & Special Education)
• 24 years of experience in education

Ms. NG-O'Hara has worked all over and he states,"she has a broad global perspective on education." He speaks about her interest in using educational technology in the classroom, and explains her creation of a discussion Facebook page called, "Ed Techie." This page is used to promote the use of technology in the classroom, and help other educators effectively use technology. Ms. NG-O'Hara also holds monthly EdCamp meetings in her district to share ideas and tips with local educators about the use of technology in the classroom.  Dr. Will has included an 18 minute video chat he held with Ms. NG-O'Hara to discuss the trends and progress of her ongoing work with Ed Tech.

Comment:

Dr. Will,

Ms. NG-O'Hara has many accomplishments and I think it is great to have educators who have experience from all over the world who also have a good knowledge about the use of technology. I am on my way to becoming a teacher and have recently learned about PLN's (Personal Learning Networks). I think her Facebook page idea and EdCamp meetings are a great way to share ideas with teachers that may not have the knowledge of using some of these cool technology tools. She is definitely an educator I would personally like to add to my PLN. Thanks for your post.

Amber

Post #2
Summary of #BEYOUEDU - Finding Your Swagger With Kerry Gallagher

In this blog post, Dr. Will explains how he strives to bring a certain type of swagger everywhere he goes and in everything he does. He wants all of his students and colleagues to perceive him as friendly, warm, and inviting. He also wants others to know he is there to fulfill a purpose. He hopes that others do not judge him based on what they see in his writing or what they see on other social media, but they will see his true swagger when they meet him in person. Dr. Will also thinks that other teachers can benefit from reflecting on the impact of their swagger. 

The impact of your swagger can make or break the behavior of students in your classroom. He then describes three types of swagger (personalities?) that teachers often bring with them.  These three are:

• The confident and smart teacher that explains her high expectations of her class.
• The quiet teacher who doesn't have much to say, but has students read along as she reads the class rules and guidelines.
• The teacher who smiles and greets students, who also values the students and their opinions.

The impact of swagger on colleagues is just as important. You should always be yourself and celebrate the successes of your colleagues. You should listen and value others, and help other colleagues to find and maintain their swagger. We should also know why we are there, to help guide our students.

Comment:

Dr. Will,

This is a very interesting post, and a very unique concept. It truly makes a difference what type of swagger a person brings to the table. Being an optimistic and inviting person at your job and in all aspects of life will most definitely make things go smooth throughout the course of the day. People will learn to trust you and know they can depend on you. You will also have people value what you think and have to say. To answer your question, I am not yet a teacher, but I hope I will be the teacher that will wear a smile and greet my students daily. I hope to always value their thoughts and opinions and listen to what they have to say. Most of all, I hope to help my students achieve all of their goals. Thanks for another great post.

Amber

Group Project #12B Delivering a lesson on the SMARTboard

Blog Assignment #13

 Assignment for Blog Post #13

What can you learn from these articles/videos? 

Would you use the "The Leader in Me" program in your classroom? Why?

Read the articles and watch the videos about "The Leader in Me" program.
 
1. The Leader in Me Program

2. Students describe the 7 Habits

3. Sutton School Students Sing

My Blog Post

The Leader in Me program can be used school wide or in our own personal classroom. Staff and students can use this program. All students, even "college kids" can be greatly affected by applying these habits into our individual lifestyles. The Leader in Me program has many themes, seek out talents within all people, seeing and using strengths of all people, and to develop the whole person - in mind, body, heart and spirit.
The Leader in Me program shows us that every child is capable and can become leaders. Five paradigms of the program can help all children understand that:

• They can all be leaders
• They all have genius
• They can start the change
• Educators can help empower students to lead their own learning
• They can develop the whole person.

The Seven Habits within the program consists of:

Habit #1 Be Proactive - take charge of your own life
Habit #2 Begin with the End in Mind - Have a plan
Habit #3 Put First Things First - Work first, then play
Habit #4 Think Win-Win - Think of ways everyone can win
Habit #5 Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood - Listen before you speak
Habit #6 Synergize - Collaborate with others
Habit #7 Sharpen the Saw - Take care of yourself and find the balance.

I have witnessed this program being used in a school and it greatly affects the attitudes of students. The students learn to believe in themselves and they learn to believe in each other. This type of program teaches the students to be respectful of themselves and others. If I take a teaching job at a school that doesn't adopt these habits I would still like to teach them in my classroom. I think using the 7 habits will teach students to value each other and their education, thus offering a safe and effective learning environment.

I highly recommend buying the books associated with this program.
These books are: The Leader in Me and The Seven Habits of Happy Kids.

Blog Assignment #12

What Assistive Technologies are available to us as teachers?

Blog Assignment #11

What can we learn about teaching and learning from these teachers?

As teachers, what do we want from our students? This is simple - we want children to learn. We want them to grow and be able to function correctly in society. We want them to learn to solve problems, tackle tasks, and make a brighter future for themselves.

Children need to feel connected to what they are learning in school, they need the drive to complete tasks and they need to feel pride in everything they do. It is our job to connect students and learning. We can do so by using project based learning in our classrooms. As I've previously stated in one of my blog post, students and teachers will continue to learn how to effectively use project based learning as it is used daily.

Using project based learning in the classroom gets students excited and involved in their own learning. It gives them a sense of power, and it creates pride in all the work they do. Often there will be areas of the curriculum where students are struggling. It is not our job to simply meet the standards, it is our job to help students understand. We need to find ways students can actively and enthusiastically meet standards. We can do this by getting students involved in projects that relate to "real-world" problems.

In the video, Back to the Future, Mr. Crosby's students are struggling in general social science knowledge and language arts.  To help solve this problem, they are given a balloon science project, where they are provided the opportunity to interact with people from all over the world through blogging, comments, wiki's and flickr. This enabling them to learn about geography, communication and grammar. Through the use of these technology tools, they were able to meet their science standards as well as improve their writing and language skills. The students took pride in this project and were thrilled with the results. The teacher was also excited with how he took their learning process to a whole new level.

Paul Anderson gives us an acronym he uses in his science classroom to promote learning. This acronym QUIVERS, as seen in the video, The Blended Learning Cycle, stands for:

• QUestion - What is the question?
• Investigate - Let's try and investigate it.
• Video - Maybe we can find videos that relate.
• Elaborate - Explore it in further detail.
• Review - Let's check our understanding.
• Summary - Take a quiz!

He uses these steps to boost learning and to be certain all students have understood the content being delivered.

Safety is key, as explained in Sam Pane's video Super Digital Citizens. Mr. Pane takes us on a journey into his fourth grade classroom. He explains how he merges technology, safety, and writing standards in a fun and interesting way. His students are eager to learn and use the technology to build their super digital citizen characters. They also get the chance to show off their writing and creativity, by taking a gallery walk around the room. Showing work to others encourages students to take pride in their work and create a better quality product. "Doing work this way gives the children a greater sense of ownership and makes learning meaningful" (Pane).

It is so important that we use and understand the use of project based learning. Using it will keep our students engaged, more knowledgeable, learn communication, collaboration, and cooperation. It will apply life long skills and give students a choice. It also motivates our students to continue their learning.

Other resources:
Project Based Learning by Dean Shareski
Roosevelt Elementary's PBL Program

C4Ta #3 Post #1 & Post #2

Summary:
My Ongoing Struggle with Diffusing the Impact of Grades

This is a very interesting blog post. The author Dean Shareski discusses his opinions about grades and self-assessment. He mentions that he has written many posts regarding assessments and that they are something very challenging to discuss. He also indicates that he is always looking for new ideas to explore on better methods of assessing students. He values feedback and thinks that students will value their work and time if they have the opportunity to assess themselves. He would also like to see the students receive more feedback from their peers. Although most institutions require the submission of grades, he expresses the importance of reflection and self-assessment. No matter the age of students, all students should be able to reflect and evaluate themselves. Mr. Shareski doesn't like traditional methods of giving grades, so he has made a template for his students to follow in assessing themselves.

This assessment looks like this:

• What I did well this week?
• What I struggled with?
• My interactions?
• My grade? (with 10 being a perfect score)
• How might I improve this assignment?

This template works well in his classroom, and usually the students assess themselves correctly. He usually honors the grade they have given themselves. Granted, some students will give themselves a perfect score knowing there is room for improvement. In this case he always tries to be considerate and provide meaningful feedback.

Comment:
I also value self-assessment. I think that students will try harder when they they are providing a personal assessment of their performance and resulting grade. At times when teachers provide a grade they may not take into consideration how hard someone has worked, it just may not be something that comes easy to that student. I feel it is fair to give the student consideration for how hard they have tried, not the grade based only on the number of incorrect answers. This is definitely a method of assessment that I would prefer to use in my classroom. Thanks for a great post.

Summary: What About Snapchat?

Dean Shareski gives us a look into Snapchat and what it is all about. He states that, "Snapchat has been around for years" and he also explains how he thought it has been used for sharing inappropriate videos and images. After a conversation with his daughter, he realized that may not be the case. His daughter informs him that she likes Snapchat because it enables her to share images and have private conversations with friends, and that just because they are private that does not mean they are inappropriate. Mr. Shareski believes that while we try and protect our identity, as well as our children's identity, he now realizes that Snapchat may be a tool that helps to aid in protecting privacy and identity.

Mr. Shareski has created his own Snapchat story which he embeds in his blog. He finds it interesting to make stories and learn from others stories. He assures the audience that he isn't pushing for the use of Snapchat in schools, but if it seems to enhance learning and be useful he would explore the idea further.

Comment:
I think that like all social media tools, Snapchat can be fun and informing. I have had my concerns about Snapchat as well, as I am a little confused with where the images go once they disappear after being viewed. I believe that we can all share too much from our personal lives and use inappropriate images. We should train ourselves and our children to use these tools in moderation. We should also continue to learn how to protect and respect ourselves.