I would have to say that the best part about this class is that is has a relaxed atmosphere. I think that the ability to be comfortable (as difficult as that is being 9+ months pregnant at this time) made the class enjoyable. I am a firm believer in the fact that you can learn more when you enjoy what you are doing. While some of the assignments were better than others, overall the atmosphere of the class and Mr. B.'s easy going personality made this an enjoyable time.
My favorite assignment was the presentation and learning new presentation software. While I felt it took me longer to complete the assignment because I did not know the program as well as "the old stand-by," I feel that I learned something useful for my future as a teacher. I also enjoyed finding new technologies such as polleverywhere.com and thinking about ways to incorporate technology into the curriculum as a future educator.
My least favorite assignment was the textbook critique and reading level assessments. I did not feel the reading level was a good indicator of an actual assessment because the scores were much higher than should have been. It also took a lot of time to count all the words for each passage...BORING! And I couldn't get by without referring to the portfolio. As tedious as that was, after I began filling in all the indicators for my major, I started to realize how valuable this actually is. And besides, I think it is pretty neat that I am creating my own website in the process of bragging about myself.
Best of luck to everyone!
Monday, May 2, 2011
Does Technology Change the Way We Teach?
Indisputably, yes. Technology in the classroom today allows for much more content, connection, and communication with students. With web 2.0 technology like YouTube, there is so much more real content to supplement what is being taught in the curriculum. Students can see real world consequences and applications. It allows teachers and students to make bigger connections with all subjects.
As a teacher, technology also allows us to communicate with students on a different level. Through the use of e-mail, blogs, the internet, and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, we can be in constant contact with our students about something. We must be careful to filter our interactions and not become too comfortable with students in a faceless, and unemotional "cyberworld." It is also very easy to throw something at students and tell them to research it on the Internet, blog about it, or send me an e-mail. As teachers, we must be more cautious about authentic assessments and utilize this massive world of technology for the greater good and not just to make things easier on ourselves.
However, I do think technology allows for so much more advancement for students in special education. There are many wonderful tools for these students. Teachers must keep up with technology in order to help students succeed through the use of these mediums. This requires diligence on our part to stay current and truly continue to be lifelong learners.
As a teacher, technology also allows us to communicate with students on a different level. Through the use of e-mail, blogs, the internet, and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, we can be in constant contact with our students about something. We must be careful to filter our interactions and not become too comfortable with students in a faceless, and unemotional "cyberworld." It is also very easy to throw something at students and tell them to research it on the Internet, blog about it, or send me an e-mail. As teachers, we must be more cautious about authentic assessments and utilize this massive world of technology for the greater good and not just to make things easier on ourselves.
However, I do think technology allows for so much more advancement for students in special education. There are many wonderful tools for these students. Teachers must keep up with technology in order to help students succeed through the use of these mediums. This requires diligence on our part to stay current and truly continue to be lifelong learners.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Web 2.0 Instructional Tools
The Web 2.0 tool that I chose to highlight for my presentation is from a site called www.studentpublishing.com. This is an interactive book publishing tool for multiple grade levels. As a special education major and the experiences I have had with students with disabilities, this tool is a great way to incorporate technology and instruction. Studentpublishing.com is an online book publishing tool for grades K-8. Most of the books published are free of charge with certain requirements. Students can log in under their own identity and create books by typing their story into various book templates. They can choose, text, pictures, set-up, layouts, and even color the pictures using a simple MS Paint type technology. I think this is a great tool for students with multiple disabilities who may have trouble writing, speaking, or even using the tools to make and color their own books by hand. For a child with severe Cerebral Palsy to create anything requires the assistance of someone. This tool would allow a child to create and publish a book, who otherwise could not even hold a pencil on his own.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Is There Truth in Fiction? Movie Reviews
For my movie comparison I watched Stand and Deliver and Lean on Me. I really enjoyed Stand and Deliver, starring Edward James Olmos as Jaime’ Escalante. While I was dually impressed by the story of Joe Clark in Lean on Me, I didn’t find the movie as inspirational as Stand and Deliver.
Jaime’ Escalante’s story begins when he is placed into a remedial high school math class in East Los Angeles, CA. From the movie I gathered that Mr. Escalante began his teaching career after leaving a technology job working with computers during the mid 1980’s. I admire this quality of someone leaving their career and deciding to change the lives of young people through education. I also gave up a career to return to school for a career in teaching.
I found that Mr. Escalante was humorous and confident in his teaching. Jaime’ also set high expectations and showed a lot of dedication for his students. This was evidenced by the rigorous schedule he set for his students to learn calculus in order to pass the AP test. Additionally, Jaime’ showed empathy for his students and gave them the tools to learn how to survive and succeed. By not showing too much sympathy or providing “crutches,” he did not debilitate them to the point of the learned helplessness phenomenon.
Other positive aspects about Mr. Escalante’s teaching methods included the use of movement, real world applications (field trip to the computer company), the establishment of respect, and student dedication through the use of a student contract. Accordingly, his cross-content area example with History in Math demonstrated interest learning when he stated “it was your ancestors, the Mayas who invented the concept of zero.”
One the flip side of my movie watching experience was the story of Eastside High in Patterson, N.J. and teacher-turned-principal Joe Clark portrayed by Morgan Freeman in the movie Lean on Me. As I began watching the movie, I was less excited about Mr. Clark’s teaching methods after he became a principal. Mr. Clark exuded a very authoritarian style of discipline as exhibited by the rule of making students sing the school song on demand, or receive detention. I enjoyed the methods he used in the first scene when they showed him teaching what appeared to be a Social Studies or History class.
On the positive, Mr. Clark was a very passionate man with inspirational speaking abilities. I do feel that his tough love attitude was necessary for the condition of the school at the time. The changes that were made (if portrayed accurately in the movie) were astounding. I feel that as he stressed discipline he was able to achieve a better educational atmosphere for the students at Eastside. It is difficult to learn in a chaotic environment. Controlling the student body was necessary to achieve learning. Eventually he was able to loosen up a bit and become more compassionate when he was confronted by the assistant principal. I do not think he realized the impact of his negative reinforcement until this time.
Both Mr. Escalante, and Mr. Clark exhibited confidence, respect, and in some ways they both utilized tough love. Parental involvement was also demonstrated by both when Jaime’ visited the family restaurant where one of his students worked, and when Joe offered to extend the weekend reading program to parents. Both stories and instructors were very inspiring and I feel that the tactics employed by each were right for the situation. Both succeeded in accomplishing the task they set out to do. It is through success that you realize, the methods and strategies you use in the classroom or school are appropriate.
Jaime’ Escalante’s story begins when he is placed into a remedial high school math class in East Los Angeles, CA. From the movie I gathered that Mr. Escalante began his teaching career after leaving a technology job working with computers during the mid 1980’s. I admire this quality of someone leaving their career and deciding to change the lives of young people through education. I also gave up a career to return to school for a career in teaching.
I found that Mr. Escalante was humorous and confident in his teaching. Jaime’ also set high expectations and showed a lot of dedication for his students. This was evidenced by the rigorous schedule he set for his students to learn calculus in order to pass the AP test. Additionally, Jaime’ showed empathy for his students and gave them the tools to learn how to survive and succeed. By not showing too much sympathy or providing “crutches,” he did not debilitate them to the point of the learned helplessness phenomenon.
Other positive aspects about Mr. Escalante’s teaching methods included the use of movement, real world applications (field trip to the computer company), the establishment of respect, and student dedication through the use of a student contract. Accordingly, his cross-content area example with History in Math demonstrated interest learning when he stated “it was your ancestors, the Mayas who invented the concept of zero.”
One the flip side of my movie watching experience was the story of Eastside High in Patterson, N.J. and teacher-turned-principal Joe Clark portrayed by Morgan Freeman in the movie Lean on Me. As I began watching the movie, I was less excited about Mr. Clark’s teaching methods after he became a principal. Mr. Clark exuded a very authoritarian style of discipline as exhibited by the rule of making students sing the school song on demand, or receive detention. I enjoyed the methods he used in the first scene when they showed him teaching what appeared to be a Social Studies or History class.
On the positive, Mr. Clark was a very passionate man with inspirational speaking abilities. I do feel that his tough love attitude was necessary for the condition of the school at the time. The changes that were made (if portrayed accurately in the movie) were astounding. I feel that as he stressed discipline he was able to achieve a better educational atmosphere for the students at Eastside. It is difficult to learn in a chaotic environment. Controlling the student body was necessary to achieve learning. Eventually he was able to loosen up a bit and become more compassionate when he was confronted by the assistant principal. I do not think he realized the impact of his negative reinforcement until this time.
Both Mr. Escalante, and Mr. Clark exhibited confidence, respect, and in some ways they both utilized tough love. Parental involvement was also demonstrated by both when Jaime’ visited the family restaurant where one of his students worked, and when Joe offered to extend the weekend reading program to parents. Both stories and instructors were very inspiring and I feel that the tactics employed by each were right for the situation. Both succeeded in accomplishing the task they set out to do. It is through success that you realize, the methods and strategies you use in the classroom or school are appropriate.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
What Value is there in Portfolio Assessment?
I think portfolio assessment is one of the most underused and valuable tools for assessment in education. Yes I agree that you must test students basic knowledge for various concepts and skills, but taking one test at one point in time does not measure the true ability of a student. Being a Special Education major, we talk about the use of portfolio assessment for students with disabilities. I think there is much more room for creativity when using portfolios and they can be valuable to assess the multiple and various skills that a student possesses; not just how well they can cram, memorize, and spew information back to you in question and answer form.
If you think about Bloom's taxonomy, the ability to create is one of the highest levels, falling in the synthesis category (2nd highest). What better way to assess what a student has learned than by asking them to create something. The biggest issue that I can see with portfolio assessment as a part of a graduation requirement is the ability to be consistent with evaluation techniques. There would need to be a very detailed and clear rubric created for the assessment along with strict guidelines that teachers/evaluation teams must adhere to.
If you think about Bloom's taxonomy, the ability to create is one of the highest levels, falling in the synthesis category (2nd highest). What better way to assess what a student has learned than by asking them to create something. The biggest issue that I can see with portfolio assessment as a part of a graduation requirement is the ability to be consistent with evaluation techniques. There would need to be a very detailed and clear rubric created for the assessment along with strict guidelines that teachers/evaluation teams must adhere to.
Monday, March 21, 2011
What was it like to critique myself?
Critiquing oneself is always awkward. At first I focus on how my voice does not sound the same. I have watched myself on video before, but never with a critical eye. I think that it helps to improve our public speaking abilities when you take a critical look at yourself. It was helpful for myself to see that I may not project my voice as loud as it seems. Here is my official critique:
"Watching yourself in video is always interesting. For some people I know it can be difficult and awkward. It was not too awkward for me because I have done this many times throughout my career before coming back to school for education. After watching myself in the past I would always try to think about what I could have done or said better, but until now I have never really had the time to sit down and reflect on these things in writing.
As usual, I talk a lot with my hands. This has always been something that I do. I don’t feel it is a big distraction, but I was a little annoyed that I kept placing my hand on my belly. I guess as I have a nice shelf due to my status of being seven plus months pregnant, I do this more than not while talking. I was also a little disappointed in my posture. I think I need to improve upon that to have a more confident look in the classroom. It might actually make me look a little taller.
I think I have a pretty nice speaking voice and am pretty comfortable speaking in front of people. I did feel that I could have projected a little more throughout the room, as I tended to talk toward the screen throughout most of this lesson. This may not have allowed my voice to carry to my right, or the audience’s left. Next time I might try moving to the other side of the screen more frequently."
"Watching yourself in video is always interesting. For some people I know it can be difficult and awkward. It was not too awkward for me because I have done this many times throughout my career before coming back to school for education. After watching myself in the past I would always try to think about what I could have done or said better, but until now I have never really had the time to sit down and reflect on these things in writing.
As usual, I talk a lot with my hands. This has always been something that I do. I don’t feel it is a big distraction, but I was a little annoyed that I kept placing my hand on my belly. I guess as I have a nice shelf due to my status of being seven plus months pregnant, I do this more than not while talking. I was also a little disappointed in my posture. I think I need to improve upon that to have a more confident look in the classroom. It might actually make me look a little taller.
I think I have a pretty nice speaking voice and am pretty comfortable speaking in front of people. I did feel that I could have projected a little more throughout the room, as I tended to talk toward the screen throughout most of this lesson. This may not have allowed my voice to carry to my right, or the audience’s left. Next time I might try moving to the other side of the screen more frequently."
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Video Editing
Video editing to me before taking this class was a very long, boring, and complicated project. I used to be in the business world and had an office next to two video editors. The language and "tech-speak" they used was very foreign to me. It seemed like a long process as they were always "rendering" which would take hours for them. Granted they were professionals who worked for companies like P&G and the like. After learning the software from class, it seemed like a not-so-daunting task. I think it's pretty cool that a 34-year-old grad student and working mother can even learn and enjoy video editing. Who care's what they say about old dogs and new tricks! If I can prove them wrong, anyone can.
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