Guidance Needed

Now that my semester is over I am contemplating whether or not I should continue blogging or if I even want to continue.  I am looking for some guidance as to whether or not I should continue.  Here are my thoughts on both sides of the issue.  After reading them I would love to hear your opinion as well!

Blogging has been difficult for me because I am not used to writing online in a scholarly context.  I also have had to make a conscious effort to log on and go to my blog to update it with questions and thoughts.  It has felt very unnatural for me to blog on a regular basis and at times I’ve found it more of a chore than an opportunity to share my thoughts and reflect on the thoughts of others.

That being said, I have learned and grown throughout the process.  Most noteably, I’ve learned not to fear new uses of technology and new media in which to explore, especially with my students.  I used to be 100% against blogging and using too many “new advances” with students because of concerns about privacy and protection.  You bloggers will be happy to know that I have thrown all of those thoughts out the window-well sort of.  I am still concerned about privacy and protection, but I have learned ways to safeguard children while allowing them to learn and use tools they have already been using for years before they enter my classroom.

Blogging also has connected me to multiple amazing resources and professionals who have served as mentors who I cannot justify losing connections with before I even enter the classroom.  I’ve spoken about some of them in my previous posts, and I would not be the teacher I am today if I had never interacted with them.  There is no justification for losing their amazing wealth of knowledge.

My blog will stay active in a sense it will not be deleted, so I could come back to it later, but I am not sure that I will continue it if I just stop.  I need your guidance and help in how to continue to have blogging as a resource for me to connect to others, as well as learn about blogging so I can teach my students, while also not feeling like it is a chore I have to fulfill.

Excitement!

My first semester in the education program is now complete and I am truly excited about continuing the program and my pursuit of a teaching certificate.  I absolutely LOVED my first semester, for the most part, and I am so excited to return to my school in the fall. The past week I have not attended my school because my practicum is finished and I have missed spending time with my students.

The best part of the program has been my fellow preservice teachers, two of my professors, and my students.  My education block is absolutely amazing! They are by far some of the best people I have ever met.  We all get along very well and it’s great to see their dedication and passion for teaching.  They have truly made this past semester better than I could have imagined with all of their support in and out of the classroom. 

Two of my professors have also been absolutely fabulous this past semester.  Sheryl and another professor have truly taken an interest in me as one of their students and as an up and coming teacher.  They both not only take the time to ask us about our practicum sites and our interactions with our cooperating teachers, but they actually share their passion and knowledge with us.  Instead of just teaching the curriculum necessary for their classes they add their personal touches to everything in their course-whether it is joking about college basketball or telling us about their lives.  These two professors allowed us the opportunities to get to know them as mentors and as friends.  I am amazed at their willingness to open their hearts to all of us in the program. 

Finally, my students have made this semester amazing.  My second graders can brighten anyone’s day!  They are so excited whenever I come into the classroom-at first because I was the cool new person.  Now though I think, or at least I hope, their excitement stems from having fun learning when I’m able to come and teach.  The students used laptops for the first time all year when I taught a review lesson on money and they couldn’t stop talking about math that day.  I teach a combination of two classes for math and the other teacher came in and told about how her students had told her about the computers.  I’ve also been able to show the teachers how easy it is to incorporate technology into their classrooms-maybe now the students can have fun with tech every week!

I can’t wait until next semester when I get to start everything all over again! The summer will definitely be lonely without everyone’s support and smiles!

Electronic Mentorship

This past semester I was given the opportunity of a lifetime through an electronic mentorship.   The top people in the field of educational technology have been at my fingertips for a semester and I’ve been interacting with them as if it were nothing.  I didn’t realize the amazing resources I was given until last week, the second to last week of the semester. 

People would kill to have been in my shoes for the past semester-Anne Davis, Karen Janowski, Chris Craft, April Chamberlain, Allanah King, Jeff Utecht, and our very own Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach-all commenting on my inquiries, answering my questions, and responding to my blogs!  In class while we were contemplating our design projects one of my classmates held up a book he was reading to find design ideas.  I looked on the cover and I see “Anne Davis” as one of the authors.  I asked him to see it again and he confirmed it was actually the Anne Davis we knew from our electronic mentorship.  I have been able to talk with the top leaders in the field as a sophomore in college.  I don’t know anyone who has had access to the top professionals in their field during their second year of college. 

Not only did I have access, I had direct connections!  I am contemplating going into special education and I was able to talk with Neil Rochelle, the superintendent of Irquois Central School in Western New York who began as a special education teacher.  I was also able to get feedback from countless other special education teachers and I gained invaluable insight into my options coming out of school with and without a specialization in special education.

I was also given the opportunity to see how professionals in the field of education collaborate and share ideas across the world.  These professionals truly shaped my teaching philosophy and allowed me to see even more how the field works and how Web 2.0 technologies are incorporated into every aspect of education.  Furthermore, these mentors have showed me the true dedication and care they each have to the pursuit of knowledge in taking the time to help guide us as preservice teachers.  Their insight and kindness will never be forgotten and I will take the lessons they have taught me as well as the resources they have shared into my classroom.

Thanks to all who helped mold Sheryl’s babies!

Lesson Plan Critique

This past week I was able to teach my first lesson in my second grade mathematics class. I modified a lesson reviewing money concepts up to a dollar. The lesson I used can be found at the following site under technology lesson plan. http://kadams.wikispaces.com/

Before I began my lesson I was afraid the students would have difficulty using the laptops because they had not been exposed to laptops previously.  Furthermore, technology is not frequently incorporated into my practicum classroom so I was unsure how the students would react to having a computer in the room, i.e. they would get so excited about the computers that we would lose focus on using the computer as a tool instead of the main point of the lesson.

I chose to use a money review game online as independent group work during the lesson.  I chose this game because there were no graphics to visually distract the students and because the game was programmed to reject wrong answers.  Most of my classroom consists of students suffering from attention deficits and this game ensured those students could focus on the task of gathering coins to find a set total.

After successfully completing the lesson and seeing  the children’s excitement about learning math while playing, I realized successfully using technology during a lesson requires extensive planning.  Setting up the computers before class required more time than I expected.  Every computer had to have the game already loaded and ready to go as soon as I finished the group lesson so the students could quickly begin.  Then, after the computer hibernated during the lesson I had to quickly log back in to each computer while grouping the students to begin the game. 

Set up for the lesson went extremely well and I was ready before the students came into math class.  During the lesson the students actively participated in the problem solving activity I used to start the lesson and quickly began to answer questions and correct each other when incorrect answers were given.  The students also responded very well to being asked to explain their answer as if they were the teacher telling the other students how to solve the problem.

However, as soon as I began the independent portion of the lesson using the computer game the class became very hectic.  Most of the noise was the excitement on the part of the students, but the rest was filled with questions from students who had never used a mouse pad on a laptop.  I assumed the students would know how to use a laptop by the second grade, especially after I discovered all the resources available at the school.  I was sorely mistaken.  By the time I was able to get to all the students to show them how to drag and click because they had not understood the first time,  (I had done a classroom example before and explained how to click and drag) the class was over and the students had to go to centers.

If I had to teach this lesson again I would not spend as much time on the problem solving and jump straight into the game.  The students just needed time to explore and discover on the computer instead of being expected to just jump into the assignment.  It would be even better if I could introduce the game to the class before I used it in a lesson so the students would already know how to use the technology and work the game.  Then they could get to more problems and be more successful during their play time.

Even though the lesson was quite stressful, it was 100% worth the stress and effort.  The students begged for math to continue when I told them the lesson was done and I am scheduled to go back in a week to allow the students more time to play math games during their “Friday fun.” 

Tiny Ted

Hello New Zealand and Wales,

I’m so sorry it’s taken me so long to tell you about my adventures with Tiny Ted! Tiny Ted and I had two amazing adventures while he was here in Williamsburg, Virginia.  First Tiny Ted helped me give a tour of The College of William and Mary and then we went line dancing!

Tiny Ted helped give a fabulous tour of the College! I even think he helped convince some students to attend! He walked around the entire campus with me two times! Tiny Ted also shared his adventures with the guests of the College and told them about his friends in New Zealand and Wales.  They were all very excited to here about you all and were very honored to meet Tiny Ted.  They couldn’t believe he had made it all the way to the States! Tiny Ted the tour guide

Tiny Ted was the best tour guide that day.  He stood up in front of over 500 people and introduced himself as a tour guide for the College of William and Mary! He didn’t seem scared to talk in front of all those people and they all clapped for him when he was done.  Here is a picture of Tiny Ted with two other tour guides. The stuffed doll was part of another assignment for the student on the left. Tiny Ted with other guides

After a long day of giving tours Tiny Ted and I rested for a couple of hours, ate dinner, and went line dancing! Since Tiny Ted was in the southern part of the United States I felt it was only necessary that he attend a real country western line dancing club.  He was a little timid at first, but after a couple of dances Tiny Ted was doing the two-step like a pro! Tiny Ted line dancing

A cowboy spotted Tiny Ted and they began talking about his adventures around the world.  Tiny Ted told the cowboy about his friends in Wales and his friends in New Zealand.  Then the cowboy talked to Tiny Ted about line dancing and wearing cowboy boots and hats.  The cowboy explained to Tiny Ted that line dancing was a tradition in the southern part of the United States, specifically in Texas.  Here’s a picture of Tiny Ted and his cowboy friend. Tiny Ted and his cowboy friend

Unfortunately those are all the adventures I was able to take with Tiny Ted.  Thank you so much for letting me spend time with him! I can’t wait to hear about his future journies around the world!

What to teach

Many decisions have to be made as a preservice teacher, including what level and ability I want to teach.  Without question I want to teach at the elementary level, but I am not sure what ability level with which I want to work. 

I am trained in Applied Behavior Analysis as an early intervention behavioral therapist for children with autism.  I love working with the kids and I would never trade a day spent with each and every one of them.  The time and energy required to work with children with exceptional needs does not deter me from working with this age group because a single success they make outweighs the frustrations associated with the job.  Although I would often come home exhausted, I always found joy in reflection about the day-a single moment of eye contact, a number counted, an interaction with a peer-all the mountains each child climbed daily outweighed my frustration and fatigue. 

I truly love working with these children, but I am not sure if I want to teach an exceptional needs classroom or if I want to teach in a typical classroom.  Immediately one might say both desires are easily met in a school system with full inclusion.  However, the school system I absolutely want to teach in does not participate in the full inclusion methodology. 

I also love working with neurotypical children because I get to interact with a larger group of children at one time.  I can explore more concepts in a smaller amount of time and proceed quickly through routine tasks to allow more time for instruction.  Neurotypical children also have different needs and expectations in a classroom that I enjoy facilitiating such as opportunities for conflict resolution and colaboration as well as many opportunities for application and evaluation.  During my experience working with these children I love hearing their debates and discussions.  Furthermore, I enjoy enhancing and facilitating their desires for knowledge and exploration.  I am not saying children with special needs cannot perform these tasks or have these goals, rather the means to these ends are different with the different groups of children. 

I have received many suggestions as to whether or not I should obtain a degree in special education.  The suggestions are split almost 50-50 arguing that I should absolutely pursue this passion and obtain the degree to be more marketable, or that I should shy away from special education at first because the teacher shortage would cause me to be pigeon-holed into a special education position.  There seems to be two conflicting ideas on the topic and this debate seems to be one that certainly preceeds my entrance into the world of education.

Although this process has still not resulted in me making my decision as to whether or not I will obtain a degree in special education, it has made me question the field of education.  It seems counter-intuitive that preservice teachers with more qualifications could be pigeon-holed or limited in their scope of opportunities.  With the shortage of qualified special education teachers one would think a school system would jump at the chance to hire a qualified teacher who could also attend to exceptional needs in their mainstream classroom.  I never thought gaining more knowledge in the realm of special education could cause me to close my opportunities in the job market-especially with my work with children on the autism spectrum.  Why should I have to use all my degrees immediately?  I certainly never expected that my potential desire to become certified in special education could close doors to job opportunities.  I thought the debate would be over what I wanted to do, not what would potentially limit my professional positions.   Does politics have to weasle its way into everything??

Assessment for Understanding

George Lucas’ piece entitled “Assessment for Understanding,” found at http://www.edutopia.org/, investigates alternatives to standardized testing found throughout the United States.  These performance assessments allow students to show what they have learned through projects and independent studies that are then presented to either a panel of professionals in the field of interest or teachers.  Proponents of performance assessment argue that many success skills such as analyzing and communicating are not displayed on standardized tests.  They also argue there are many students who have the skills to be successful in the “real world” but are unable to display these skills on standardized tests.  The documentary did note, however, that the projects must align with teaching objectives and standards to ensure the students are gaining knowledge from the projects.

I feel like this is a fabulous idea in theory.  The program is right-you do not succeed in the global economy by knowing how to answer multiple choice questions or reading short stories and responding to plot content.  These skills must be applied to a specific field in order to ensure success. 

Although application projects seem to be a fabulous way to ensure students truly understand subject material, I feel it is not practical to think most school systems in the country are or would be able to provide such an opportunity to their students in the near future.  Realistically these programs require a large amount of money that quite frankly is nonexistent in some school districts, especially in urban areas.  Not only do resources have to be obtained for use in the projects, but teachers who can foster this type of learning must be found.  I would love to see all school districts using performance assessment by the time I am licensed, however I feel the concept is nothing more than a theoretical dream to most of America’s school districts.

Lucas, George. (2002) “Assessment for Understanding.” Retrieved on February 12, 2007 from http://www.edutopia.org/.

technical autobiography

Historically I do not use technology if I do not have to, or if I do not find it convenient. I use technology mostly in the form of email, instant messaging, and research on the internet. I communicate through facebook as well. I do not consider myself technologically sophisticated; I can simply get by using what I need.  Word processing comes naturally, although I do not know shorthand keystrokes and I feel confident creating assignments for classes. I have been taught how to create a powerpoint and use Excell, but I require a large amount of time to do both.

I prefer to do things by hand because I feel more comfortable with a paper copy of documents for records.  However, I find that I am not opposed to technology and advancements in technology as long as I understand how to use them.  I do not understand blogging, but now I am doing it. I am slow to learn how to use technology and require very simplistic instruction.  Usually I learn through trial and error, as seen in the other class assignment, and eventually get the correct answer.

My biggest concern with technology is that I will create something or join a site that is not protected or safe and release private information.  I am also concerned with the security of sites and what can be sold to companies or organizations.  I even wonder if my current actions on the internet will impact me in the future. 

Finally, I have a limited scope of techonolgy and view it as mainly things pertaining to computers and the internet. I know there are more examples of technology in the world, but I am pretty much set in an old fashioned mind set of preferring to do things by hand and hard copy as opposed to electronically.