Blog Post #16

Blog Post # 14

Teaching Our Children Can be a Profession

-Problem 1- Better Teachers

Solution- Recruit from the top third of our graduates. Change the reward system for teachers.

-Problem 2-  Teachers Knowledge of Content

    Solution-  Albert Shanker suggested "national teacher exam" that test content knowledge. Supervised internship for 1-3 years.

-Problem 2-  Change in the education system

  Solution- Establish own board for the profession of teaching to establish standards. Teaching assistants. Choice for schools.

For the first problem, I would have to disagree. I do not believe picking students who graduate from the top of their class are necessarily great teachers. If a student works hard and shines in the classroom, they deserve a chance to be a teacher. Some students are good at getting good grades but not very good at teaching. They may not know how to relate to their children or provide their students with the correct information. However, I do agree with changing the reward system for teachers. I believe when the school honors a teacher, they will always strive to be better. Rewards can include luncheons, trips for the summer, or a pay raise.

The second problem, I have to disagree. Since you have to complete all these tests to become a teacher I feel there is no need to retest the teachers. If the article had stated, every 5 years teachers have to complete workshops and attend seminars to refresh or learn new information to improve their classroom skills, I would have agreed. Also, I disagree with the supervised internship because I feel that no classroom is alike. I think the only way a teacher can learn is by having her own classroom. If a teacher lesson fails, she has the opportunity for self reflection to change the lesson or improve the lesson.

Lastly, the third problem I agree, because I feel each board should choose to meet the highest standard of their choice. Examples are: introducing children to a different genre of literature, becoming fluent in a new language, or completely converting to PBL.  I believe the standards should have requirements for what is expected from that teacher, as well. I agree that teachers need assistants in the classroom because children will have an opportunity for 1 on 1 interaction. I think a teacher can be easily overwhelmed with a classroom of 30 or more students. I think an assistant would help with grading, activities and managing the classroom.

These are just a few problems in our education system. I do believe teachers should be praised as lawyers or doctors because we are in charge of guiding the next generation.  Albert Shanker and Joel Klein has some great point in this article.

Blog Post #5 Final

This has been an amazing adventure. I have started a PLN on Symbaloo. I have added some new apps  such as Nearpod, Toondoo, and Build you Wildself. I am excited about using these websites once I start teaching. I really like the Pintrest and Youtube apps. My favorite app is the Wildself, I play on it all the time. I like to see all the different animal creations that can be made. I also love that Nearpod gives you example lessons on any subject. I will definitely use these items, as a student teacher, to help me write lesson plans for my classroom.

C4T#4

Teacher Summary

In the first post, Building Mathematical through Thinking Through Play, by Mrs. Jennifer Brokofsky, explains different board games that can help children with math skills. She then explains what and how the different games work.  Logic links helps with logical thinking. Noodlers helps with problem solving. Q-Bitz extreme helps with spatial sense.

Comment

I really liked this article because I did not know any of these games existed. I think this would be fun to do in the classroom because it is something different. I could also incorporate this in math stations.

Teacher Summary

In the post, Cooking with Your Kids, Mrs. Brokofsky, explains how children benefit from helping their parents cook. The children learn skills such as listing, ingredients, and fractions. She talks about how her children love to help her cook.

Comment

I liked this article the best because I never looked at cooking as being helpful. I love how you can use the measurements to help with fractions. I am looking forward to having  my children help me in the kitchen once I become a mother.

Project 12 Part B

Blog Post #13

PBL and Special Education
Read these two articles and answer these questions:

What are some of your thoughts about special education and teaching PBL?
How can you teach PBL effectively to special education students?

Special Education and PBL
Gifted Education 

My response:

The first article I read was Special Education and PBL, I was amazed about the solar system created  by an autistic student. It was incredible. I really like the fact that they did not exclude the students from the classroom. I would make sure that the students understands the project by breaking the material down. I would type out different lessons so the student helper can relate the information to the student.
In the article, Gifted Education, I would make sure that the question I have asked challenges them intellectually. I would make sure that the student is constantly being engaged, and if they finish early I would have the student do more research on a topic that is interesting to them. I would have them do a small projects to share with the class. If I taught a gifted class, I would allow each students to pick a topic and have them do a half of a semester study. I would also have the students do projects and meet deadlines as well.

Both articles have great information! I love how the first article gave ideas about how to teach a special education student. I love how the second article encouraged me to motivate my students.

Blog Post #12

Blog Post #11

From Mr. Crosby, I learned that students can be disconnected. It is my job as a teacher to get them connected into the world. I can have classroom accounts on different websites, so people can watch my students grow. I can encourage my students to think outside the box and have them write stories from an objects perspective. I learned that my students should set goals. I need to make sure that every students has a part when we have class projects. I learned that I can incorporate all subjects into projects. Active learning is a way to power my students to enjoy learning.

In the video, Blended Learning Cycle, I learned that there are 5 Es in Science: engage, explore, expand, explain, and evaluate. I learned that with blended learning students have control of the classroom. Also, acronyms help you remember things you want to teach in the class.


In the video, Making Thinking Visible, I learned I should teach my students how to accept ideas and things when they are different. I should teach my students how to look at things from a different perspective to help them gain knowledge about a subject. I should encourage them to be thinkers, so they can build relationships in and out the classroom.

Mr Pain taught me how to encourage my students to be safe and responsible while using the internet.
He also taught me that I should teach my students how to evaluate websites properly. Peer editing is a big thing in every video, so of course I need to allow my students to peer edit.

PBL is great in the classroom, because it encourages my students to enter a deeper understanding of topics. PBL  allows my students to be constantly engaged. PBL allows me to integrate two or more subjects into one lesson or project. It also allows me to give my students quality feedback.

PBL in Roosevelt  allows for teacher collaboration. It teaches my students to be independent learners. It gives students a sense of power and ownership in a project. I cannot wait to use PBL in my classroom.
 

C4T#3

Summary
In the blog, Transformation through Heartbreak, by Silvia Zannatta, which is a guest post she talks about how she started this transformation in her school with Habitude. Habitudes help students develop leadership skills by teaching them how to be positive and encourage other students.    She talks about how it started with her class and spread thru the school.Her students did journal entries on habitude daily. She then goes into the heartbreak project that her students did. One of her students heart was broken by child poverty, so she suggested the student create a donation box for children. She wants her children to understand that they can change the world in small ways.

Comment
I really loved reading this article. I must do more investigation on Habitude and the Heartbreak project. I loved this because the students realize who they are in the world and how they can impact the world by starting with their communities.


Summary
This is blog, #YouMatter, is about the students in this classroom have learned to sign "you matter" in sign language. They learned from a young woman named Brooke, who is fluent in sign language. The students always sign "you matter" to each other, and at the end of the day. The post says that they use it to influence others by letting them know they matter.

Comment
I really loved this idea! I loved how the students are using the sign language to encourage each other. It teaches children how to accept each other!

Interview with Mrs. Foy Edited Version

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Special Blog Post

Thank you for introducing Dr. Jacobs in to my life! She had some really great and fun tools I will use in my classroom.

1. Singing Fingers has to be my absolute favorite! Singing Fingers is an app that lets you records sounds and play them back on your Ipad. This would be useful in my classroom if we are studying phonemic awareness. It will allow my students to distinguish sounds in spoken word. We could also tell stories. The plus is that Singing Fingers help with cross sensory creative thinking!

2. Glogster is an interactive website that allows the students to create multimedia posters. The student would be able to do research, save the information, and even create a game. The only negative is that this will cost the teacher about $40 a year, which is not a bad investment. I can use this in my class for all subjects, so I really like this resource.

 3. Storybird is an website that allows the class to put together a visual story. I like this website because I can use it for history or science. The plus is that the class can continue to read and add to their story as they get older.  By the way, this website is free!

4. Build your wildself, is a website that allows children to draw themselves and add on animal parts. I think this would be a fun activity to use while we are studying the animal kingdom. It would help my children explore a creative side and help with identifying themselves or how they see themselves.

5. Toondoo is a website that allows students to make a comic book. I mean who does not like comic books! I like this website because I can make this a group project and use it for an English assignment. I would love to see how creative a student can get when using Toondoo.

6. Taptotalk is an website that allows verbal interaction. Right now the site is having some changes! But, I still like this idea for an special education students. I would like to use this to help them with verbal communication. Since I am thinking about working with special education students, I wanted to add this to my PLN.

Blog Post #10

I thought the children were so cute in the video First Graders in Mrs. Cassidy class. I was surprised  that the children were using blogs, skype, and wikis. The children seem to be working well together and are learning great problem solving skills. I am inspired to use Mrs. Cassidy's idea about blogs, because it would allow my class to show progress on a project, for a week to week basis. Although, I would only allow the students to post on Monday and Friday.  To protect my students I would do as Mrs.Cassidy does  and that is never use pictures or my students last name. I like her approach on technology because she seems very enthusiastic, and encouraged about what she does by helping these students learn technology. I think if I had problems along the way with administration not supporting me using technology, I would show them the childrens work and progress in technology. Also, I would have them allow me a year to do my program to show them how effective it is for the students. I believe I would benefit from using technology because it helps my students to be effective people in this world. I think my teaching skills can only get better by using technology.