Tech Day

I thought the technology class was interesting, but I felt like we got a very brief overview of so many different things that it was hard to take it all in. For example, when I reflect upon that day I think about the digital paper and the coffee table with the multi-touch screen and all the wireless capabilities. Although those things will probably be more commonplace in the future, it is hard to apply them right now, especially on a school's budget (or my own!)

I think using technology in the classroom is very important for several reasons. First of all, students love using computers, and the more we can get them interested in what they are doing, the better they will learn. Secondly, computer skills are such an essential part of life today, and it will be even more important as our students enter adulthood. Computers can also be a very powerful tool for teaching if they are used correctly so we, as teachers, need to be educated about them.

February 21st Post

The Applegate article in our course pack was really interesting to me. I had never heard of classifying students in the way that they respond to what they read. As I was reading the article I would remember some of the students in my first grade classroom and how they respond in similar ways. I liked that the article addressed each of the different ways that children respond to what they have read but then it also explained what that meant. For example, they didn't quite understand what they read, or they are not sure what to say so they tell you what they think you want to hear. I think that it is really important to recognize these different “profiles” that your students may have when showing their comprehension. It is essential then that you address that and help them become better and understanding and comprehending what they read. I wish that we could have talked more about this in class instead of just reviewing it with group 6's presentation of the readings.

I thought that the part of the book we read in class The Secret Life of Bees was good. The book intrigued me and I think that I would like to read the whole thing on my own. I am confused on what we were looking for in the section that we read. It would have been nice to be able to go more in depth with that, it may have been something that I would have liked to integrate into my classroom.

February 14th Post

When reading the chapter one of Tompkins I liked the way she described classroom communities. She says that there are ten specific characteristics to a classroom community: responsibility, opportunities, engagement, demonstration, risk taking, instructing, response, choice, time, and assessment. I think that these ten things really give a nice wide variety of the dimensions that an effective classroom community should have. She then also gives a teacher's role of each of these and also a student's role. I would really like to implement these into my classroom some day and the table that she gives on page 23 is an easy way for me to do create my classroom community that will benefit me and my students.

I liked the technology day that we had on the February 14th. Even though she went a little fast in explaining some of the procedures for doing the technology, I gained a lot from this experience. The scrapbooking on the computer was fun and working with and editing the different clips from online videos. I was amazed by some of the technology that she presented to us. For example, the table that you could manipulate with your hands, and the paint brush was really cool.

There are many things that were brought up in class that I would have liked to talk about a bit more indepth. When we were going around in our groups quickly about the Thompkins text, I think we could have done something much better with that, however time did not allow. We all came up with a lot of cool ideas to use in a classroom when integrating all the pieces that help to improve reading comprehension, but we had so much else to do we did not get to discuss to a point of usefulness. In one of our special education classes this was all we did all semester. We came up with many many strategies on how to get children to comprehend better. It was a hard class, but definitely one that I have learned the most from. The strategies that we were exposed to go way beyond what the Thompkins text presents us, although that is a good base. I feel that in our regular ed. classes these are just things that we touch on for a minute, such as in class today, but I feel that we as teachers need to spend much more time on it.

Planning for differentiated instruction is very important to make sure that all of the students have the same opportunity to learn the content as another. As we have learned in so many classes, students all learn differently and it is up to us to make sure that their variety of learning styles are all met. Some children only learn one way and if that way is not presented in the classroom then they might become lost and not catch up. As long as we are learning about our students and getting to know them then we can plan for things to touch each and everyone of them personally. This helps each student to feel important in the class as well as to have the ability to add something to everyone else's learning. I think this is why it is important to have students share specific events from their lives if they want to, so that that experience can be used to teach other students something that they might not have known.

Feb. 7th Post: Emergent Digital Literacy

I found out that I am neither a digital native or immigrant. I think that I am a little of both. I got four of the questions right on the digital quiz but I am an emergent learner when it comes to digital literacy. There is always so many new things going in technology coming out that you can't possibly keep up with all of them. I try to stay current on the things are popular now, like blogs, instant messaging, etc. In the Tompkins book when he talks about emergent literacy he says how “children as young as 1 or 2 who listen to stories being read aloud, notice labels and signs in their environment, and experiment with pencils” (Tompkins 84). I see a similarity in this on how children learn about technology today. Now there is technology readily available for young children all around them. Even many toys now today include technology.

I feel like this can be a good thing but it could also be a bad thing that very young children are exposed to technology. I think, especially for young children, that technology has a limit and children need to be practicing being children as well. This includes going outside and running around, instead of sitting in front of a screen all day. I feel that some parents abuse technology and use it as babysitters instead of a tool to help their children develop and learn. In my classroom I will strive to have a balance of this technology, and show my students how technology can be used to enhance their learning, but not just to occupy them with a pointless video.

Assessing students

I believe that all the procedures should be geared toward the children. By this I mean, all assessments should be for the good of the child in some way. That may be what the child knows/doesn't know, abilities, skills, curriculum, etc. The main focus should be on the child and I feel over the past few years that this idea has gone away. More and more the focus is on the amount of money the district will get or the consequences for the teacher. I do understand that money is an important factor when operating a school, but I don't think it should be the main focus. This change in focus puts a great amount of stress on children, teachers, faculty, etc. School should be a comfortable setting geared toward bettering the children. Hopefully this can be altered in the future.

How to Get Schools on Track

I admit I'm not exactly the go-to person when it comes to creating and enacting laws to ensure that schools work hard to prepare their students for the world. However, I usually have pretty good ideas about a lot of things. The difficult part is getting people that have the power to do something to listen.

First of all, we should be allowing successful and experienced teachers from a variety of settings decide what is best for schools. We need to make sure that all voices are heard, from wealthy to poor, urban to rural.

Secondly, our goals should be based on a student's preparation for the world. School districts should be monitored based on the progress they make over time, and how wisely they can use resources, not by standards of other districts. If one school district can make 3/4 of the progress with 1/4 of the resources when compared to a wealthier school districts, then they are doing an amazing job. Additionally, this progress should be monitored in a multitude of ways with less focus on standardized testing.

No Child Left Behind

As we have talked about in many many of our classes, No Child Left Behind is taking a toll on our education system. I do think that we need something implemented for those states that have schools that just are not up to par. My cousins just moved to Arkansas about two years ago and my aunt has already pulled them out to home school them. She said that she can just not believe how much the teachers do not even want to be there, let alone care if their students are getting the education that they need. It is schools like these that need some sort of motivation to give children the best education that they can, but No Child Left Behind is just not working. It involves all states and I think it has actually changed the teaching style of Michigan for the worse. Many teachers here are so worried about this test that the students are not getting the creativity that they deserve and once had.

On top of this children with special needs are at a total disadvantage. I cannot remember the exact figure but there is a small amount of students with special needs that get extra help on these tests and the rest just have to deal with it. Furthermore, 95% of these students with special needs have to pass in order for that school to pass AYP. I feel like in order for the schools to pass they have to use some sort of strategy like grouping that 5% that does not have to pass and put them to the side. Pretty much just excluding them and accepting the fact that they will fail. Then they can use that percentage of people who get help to go towards students who will most likely pass if they have the help and then hope for the best with everyone else. This is such a terrible thought, but many teachers are relying on such strategies since there is not much else to do. Obviously, it is a heated topic and I just hope by the time I start teaching it has become a bit better.

January 24th Post

One common theme that seems to be talked a lot about in all of my classes lately is student involvement in small group activities. Last week in English we discussed the new book clubs that we would be participating in and the one that we would be observing. Also in math we have talked about how to get all students in a discussion involved, the same is true for my LLT class (teaching non-English speakers the English language). One thing I noticed about the book club that we observed on Monday was that everyone was participating. Although not everyone talked during the large class discussion, when we broke into the smaller groups everyone in mine was very willing to share their thoughts and ideas about the book. This is really important to make sure that everyone is able to participate in some way. Our book Scaffolding Language Scaffolding Learning talks gives different suggestions for group work in your classroom. Some of these suggestions relate directly to what we recently discussed in math, about how to get all the students in the group involved. You can do this by giving each student materials needed to solve the question at hand. This way everyone is part of the solution and everyone is needed to help figure out the problem. We have mentioned similar things in my LLT class about how to get those non-native speakers into group discussions, and not leave them feeling left out each time they get into small groups.
I have not seen this type of problem solving in my first grade classroom. I would be really interested to see how my students react to having each student holding some of the materials needed to solve the problem. This type of group work could be a good possibility for one of my lesson plans for this semester. It is really important that students learn at a young age how to properly participate and involve everyone in small group times.

Choral Reading

I think the choral reading has its good points and its low points. I think that it can be important to do when maybe first introducing the students to something. In my classroom the teacher has the students read over grammar rules and poems that have to do with these rules. They use choral reading in doing this. I think that it helps the students to realize that what they are reading is important for them to know. It also helps the teacher notice who is paying attention and who she might have lost. As far as choral reading goes for just anything, I think there might be sometimes that it does not work very well. If there is a piece of reading with a lot of words in it that the students will not be able to pronunce, this could then lead to many not participating. It was always embarrassing for me when the class would be reading aloud and I would make a mistake. It is something that is very easy to hear and it is pretty obvious of who made the mistake. I think something that might be beneficial to do before choral reading is to go over the words that you know some of your students might have trouble with. This would help them feel confident enough to stay up with the class and to try to read every word.