When I first started the Special Education major classes, I took SPED 203 and the very first paper that I wrote was a paper on my experiences with people with disabilities. The title of my paper "My Experiences of Disabled People;" that name alone should make you cringe. There are two problems with the name of this paper, 1) it is a person with a disability, not a disabled person, I'll get more into that later, and 2) my experiences of rather than with. Apparently, at that time, I thought that experiences were a one way street with people with disabilities. I was the only one who was getting any experience out of it.
Now, on to person first language (PFL). When I was doing a project once, I was working with a few other people and we were doing a project on students with disabilities. And on all of their PowerPoint slides, they put non-person first language. They put things like "Autistic boy," "Downs Syndrome Child," etc. and I corrected them and asked them to use PFL, and they said to me "Well, if I use person first language, then the point is not as strong." So, I used this as a teachable moment and I read the sentence that she wrote, "Downs Syndrome Boy gets arrested" and then I read her how it would be if it were person first "Boy with Downs Syndrome gets arrested." And I asked her, "Does there seem to be any difference in the point of these two statements? Both get the point across, one describes the boy as being defined only as Downs Syndrome and the other describes the boy being defined as a boy first, and then he has a disability.
So, the point that I am trying to make about this issue, which is very dear to my heart, is that non-person first language implies that the student is only their disability, or at least their disability is what makes them them, because that is the first thing that you hear about them. "Jack is an alcoholic" vs. "Jack is a person who struggles with alcoholism." Both convey the same message, Jack is an alcoholic, but one gives humanity to Jack (PFL) while the other says that Jack is (keyword IS) an alcoholic.
I don't know if I am helping at all with this post. I would love to think that I am, but I don't know. This is something that is really close to my heart, and I hope that I was able to get the message that Person First Language is important because it gives humanity back to the person with the disability.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Social and Emotional Learning Part 2
http://www.edutopia.org/social-emotional-learning-introduction-video
http://www.edutopia.org/social-emotional-learning-overview-video
In the shorter video, it had an excellent way of getting this message of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) into the minds of students. They did this by having the students give presentations in younger classrooms about successful and non-violent ways of resolving a conflict. Teaching something makes you know that thing even more, and by teaching about SEL, then you learn so much more than if you had just heard a teacher standing in front of the class and talking to you about it.
Students in programs that emphasize strong SEL practices on average score 10% higher on state tests. This is a fact that was given in the shorter video, and I am blown away. Because in our society, it seems that we want to make everything easier, and we don't want to put too much time into something. So, we want something that we don't put too much time in and it does amazing things. We can't have it both ways, we, as teachers, must take time and make our lesson plans fun and interesting and, I would say, emphasize SEL in our classroom. It will take time, but look at that benefit, we in our society teach to the test. But they teach to the student and the student does 10% better on these tests than those who are just taught what is going to be on the test. Why are we not emphasizing SEL? Why is it that I did not know about this, I had heard the name, but I didn't know anything about it.
So, what is Social and Emotional Learning? Social and Emotional Learning is the connection of the mind (academics) to the heart (emotions, feelings, interpersonal relationships, intrapersonal relationship). It is the strengthening of the student's ability to deal with tough situations through a wide array of ways (i.e. emotions, non-violent problem solving, etc.). This, if you ask me, is like the Bible for teaching students with Emotional Behavioral Disorders. It is a core concept that must be taught because it can help these students who need help. And incorporating the video that I watched a few days ago on neurology and SEL, SEL changes the brain's function and structure. That is huge, because think about it in regards to a student with Schizophrenia, SEL can change their brain's function and structure. Now, I am not going to say that SEL is a cure-all to and for all students. But it is something that can help to the biggest degree imaginable.
So, now that I know what SEL is, where I have I seen it this semester? In the movie "Freedom Writers," Erin Gruwell uses many theories and practices of SEL. She does the line game, which shows her students that they have more in common than they think. She also assigns them to write in their journal every day, which is a way of encouraging them to embrace their feelings. And to embrace their feelings is SEL right there. Like this, the teacher in the movie "Precious" does this with the journals. She also takes the time to get to know her students and allow them to get to know her (by taking Precious into her home). And finally, when that woman from the alternative school came in, she gave us a packet of writing that was a lot like Freedom Writers the book. And a lot of what she said, namely that some students had a gun to their head five hours previous to coming to school, so how are they supposed to learn?
SEL is something that fascinates and invigorates me and I plan on doing even more looking into it because it can help students so much.
I'm going to leave with this one thought. In Milton Chen's book Education Nation, he talks about continuous learning, learning that happens 24 hours a day and 7 days a week instead of what is seems to be now which is 8 hours a day and 5 days a week. SEL asks students to think about their life, and incorporating the core stuff with SEL, it is strengthening that possibility that they will learn all the time because you are putting them in real life situations.
http://www.edutopia.org/social-emotional-learning-overview-video
In the shorter video, it had an excellent way of getting this message of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) into the minds of students. They did this by having the students give presentations in younger classrooms about successful and non-violent ways of resolving a conflict. Teaching something makes you know that thing even more, and by teaching about SEL, then you learn so much more than if you had just heard a teacher standing in front of the class and talking to you about it.
Students in programs that emphasize strong SEL practices on average score 10% higher on state tests. This is a fact that was given in the shorter video, and I am blown away. Because in our society, it seems that we want to make everything easier, and we don't want to put too much time into something. So, we want something that we don't put too much time in and it does amazing things. We can't have it both ways, we, as teachers, must take time and make our lesson plans fun and interesting and, I would say, emphasize SEL in our classroom. It will take time, but look at that benefit, we in our society teach to the test. But they teach to the student and the student does 10% better on these tests than those who are just taught what is going to be on the test. Why are we not emphasizing SEL? Why is it that I did not know about this, I had heard the name, but I didn't know anything about it.
So, what is Social and Emotional Learning? Social and Emotional Learning is the connection of the mind (academics) to the heart (emotions, feelings, interpersonal relationships, intrapersonal relationship). It is the strengthening of the student's ability to deal with tough situations through a wide array of ways (i.e. emotions, non-violent problem solving, etc.). This, if you ask me, is like the Bible for teaching students with Emotional Behavioral Disorders. It is a core concept that must be taught because it can help these students who need help. And incorporating the video that I watched a few days ago on neurology and SEL, SEL changes the brain's function and structure. That is huge, because think about it in regards to a student with Schizophrenia, SEL can change their brain's function and structure. Now, I am not going to say that SEL is a cure-all to and for all students. But it is something that can help to the biggest degree imaginable.
So, now that I know what SEL is, where I have I seen it this semester? In the movie "Freedom Writers," Erin Gruwell uses many theories and practices of SEL. She does the line game, which shows her students that they have more in common than they think. She also assigns them to write in their journal every day, which is a way of encouraging them to embrace their feelings. And to embrace their feelings is SEL right there. Like this, the teacher in the movie "Precious" does this with the journals. She also takes the time to get to know her students and allow them to get to know her (by taking Precious into her home). And finally, when that woman from the alternative school came in, she gave us a packet of writing that was a lot like Freedom Writers the book. And a lot of what she said, namely that some students had a gun to their head five hours previous to coming to school, so how are they supposed to learn?
SEL is something that fascinates and invigorates me and I plan on doing even more looking into it because it can help students so much.
I'm going to leave with this one thought. In Milton Chen's book Education Nation, he talks about continuous learning, learning that happens 24 hours a day and 7 days a week instead of what is seems to be now which is 8 hours a day and 5 days a week. SEL asks students to think about their life, and incorporating the core stuff with SEL, it is strengthening that possibility that they will learn all the time because you are putting them in real life situations.
Social and Emotional Learning
http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/social_emotional_learning_what_it_how_can_we_use_it_help_our_children
Remember back a few months ago when I wrote the post First Webinar and I did not know if empathy can be taught. Well, it would appear that Social Emotional Learning (SEL) addresses this issue. In this link, it says that Daniel Goleman wrote a book in 1995 and one of the five crucial emotional competencies regarding Emotional Intelligence is empathy. So, at the present moment, my theory that SEL is basically what I have been posting about all semester only with a name seems to be correct.
When that woman in the alternative school came in and talked to us, she said that part of her job was to help the students manage their feelings. Because for some of them, they had a gun to their head at 2:00am that morning, and how is a student supposed to learn knowing that they had a gun to their had last night? Like this, Dr. Maurice Elias in the article talks about how "children in class who are beset by an array of confused and hurtful feelings cannot and will not learn effectively." This coincides with what she talked about, with how we need to take care of the student's emotions and feelings before we can teach them.
In the beginning of this article, it talks about just teaching academics. And, when I took the teaching philosophy quiz, I was almost completely on the side of student-oriented teaching. I believe that this is why, because students with Emotional Behavioral Disorders desperately need to be taught SEL. If SEL can help them control their emotions, then why would we not use SEL to teach them? Now, I do believe that teaching academics is important as well, and as I have said before, I believe that SEL can be implemented into academics. Therefore, it is both SEL and academics, it isn't an either or situation.
I find myself thinking about direct instruction vs. being a role model. Because being a role model doesn't always mean that you are going to directly instruct a student. The expansion of this thought, however, will have to wait for another time.
Remember back a few months ago when I wrote the post First Webinar and I did not know if empathy can be taught. Well, it would appear that Social Emotional Learning (SEL) addresses this issue. In this link, it says that Daniel Goleman wrote a book in 1995 and one of the five crucial emotional competencies regarding Emotional Intelligence is empathy. So, at the present moment, my theory that SEL is basically what I have been posting about all semester only with a name seems to be correct.
When that woman in the alternative school came in and talked to us, she said that part of her job was to help the students manage their feelings. Because for some of them, they had a gun to their head at 2:00am that morning, and how is a student supposed to learn knowing that they had a gun to their had last night? Like this, Dr. Maurice Elias in the article talks about how "children in class who are beset by an array of confused and hurtful feelings cannot and will not learn effectively." This coincides with what she talked about, with how we need to take care of the student's emotions and feelings before we can teach them.
In the beginning of this article, it talks about just teaching academics. And, when I took the teaching philosophy quiz, I was almost completely on the side of student-oriented teaching. I believe that this is why, because students with Emotional Behavioral Disorders desperately need to be taught SEL. If SEL can help them control their emotions, then why would we not use SEL to teach them? Now, I do believe that teaching academics is important as well, and as I have said before, I believe that SEL can be implemented into academics. Therefore, it is both SEL and academics, it isn't an either or situation.
I find myself thinking about direct instruction vs. being a role model. Because being a role model doesn't always mean that you are going to directly instruct a student. The expansion of this thought, however, will have to wait for another time.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Social Emotional Learning
So, upon watching that video two days ago, I came to realize that I have no idea whatsoever of what social/emotional learning is. So, today and for the next few days, I am going to post videos that I will watch (Mostly from Edutopia).
So, I am going to start this experience off with my thoughts on what I don't know about Social/Emotional Learning. I feel on the outset that this idea of Social/Emotional Learning is really something that I emphasize in my blog, I just didn't have a name for it. I don't know if this is true, I will assess if my presumptions were correct once I am done with this experience.
So, I hope you enjoy the next set of posts on Social/Emotional Learning, because I think I will.
So, I am going to start this experience off with my thoughts on what I don't know about Social/Emotional Learning. I feel on the outset that this idea of Social/Emotional Learning is really something that I emphasize in my blog, I just didn't have a name for it. I don't know if this is true, I will assess if my presumptions were correct once I am done with this experience.
So, I hope you enjoy the next set of posts on Social/Emotional Learning, because I think I will.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
The Heart-Brain Connection Reflection
http://www.edutopia.org/richard-davidson-sel-brain-video
I do not know what social-emotional learning is. But from what Richard Davidson talks about it is that it is a learning style to deal with how to deal with your emotions. His idea of brain plasticity and how social-emotional learning changes the brain's structure and function can have huge effects on Special Education. I would say the area that it would most affect is Emotional Behavioral Disorders (EBD) because according to Davidson, the brain is like plastic, and can be changed. You can teach a student with EBD how to deal and express their emotions in a positive way and that will affect their brain.
His proof of linking stress to lower memory is a huge thing in Special Education as well. He believes that if you lower the stress enough, a student's cognition will improve. This is huge for the area of Developmental Cognitive Delay (DCD) because if it is possible to have the student function highly, then why would teachers not teach students social-emotional learning?
In this field of special education, we can not afford to half-buttox our job. If there is something that can help a student for the rest of their lives, why would we not do it? Granted, it takes time that we want to do something else, but is that a good enough excuse? If you know that if you put in 10 more hours a week for 4 weeks and that will help a student with DCD or EBD and that by doing this it will help keep that student with EBD out of the Juvenile Justice System or help improve the cognition of the student with DCD so that they don't have to be taken care of in a group home? Why would any of us not do that?
Granted, we don't know if our work is going to bring about any positive results, but there is always a possibility that it will. And if you ask me, I would go without sleep for days if it means helping a student.
I do not know what social-emotional learning is. But from what Richard Davidson talks about it is that it is a learning style to deal with how to deal with your emotions. His idea of brain plasticity and how social-emotional learning changes the brain's structure and function can have huge effects on Special Education. I would say the area that it would most affect is Emotional Behavioral Disorders (EBD) because according to Davidson, the brain is like plastic, and can be changed. You can teach a student with EBD how to deal and express their emotions in a positive way and that will affect their brain.
His proof of linking stress to lower memory is a huge thing in Special Education as well. He believes that if you lower the stress enough, a student's cognition will improve. This is huge for the area of Developmental Cognitive Delay (DCD) because if it is possible to have the student function highly, then why would teachers not teach students social-emotional learning?
In this field of special education, we can not afford to half-buttox our job. If there is something that can help a student for the rest of their lives, why would we not do it? Granted, it takes time that we want to do something else, but is that a good enough excuse? If you know that if you put in 10 more hours a week for 4 weeks and that will help a student with DCD or EBD and that by doing this it will help keep that student with EBD out of the Juvenile Justice System or help improve the cognition of the student with DCD so that they don't have to be taken care of in a group home? Why would any of us not do that?
Granted, we don't know if our work is going to bring about any positive results, but there is always a possibility that it will. And if you ask me, I would go without sleep for days if it means helping a student.
The Heart-Brain Connection Notes
http://www.edutopia.org/richard-davidson-sel-brain-video
- Social-Emotional Learning changes the brain (Function and structure)
- Brain is the target of Social Emotional Learning
- We need to foster positive brain changes and one of the central vehicles is social-emotional learning
- behavioral interventions are biological
- Behavioral Interventions affect certain specific brain parts
- Parts of the brain
- Orbital Frontal Cortex
- making emotional judgments about information (good or bad)
- Dorsolateral Cortex
- Critical for certain aspects of emotion
- Guide emotional decision making positively
- Amygdala
- Good at detecting negative emotions and things that are not healthy
- Anterior cingulate cortex
- conflict resolution (cognitive and emotional)
- Pre-Frontal Cortex
- Children use smaller use of pre-frontal cortex
- adolescents use quite a bit more of pre-frontal cortex
- Pre-frontal cortex is turning on during adolescence
- lots of use of the pre-frontal cortex in adults
- Regulate emotions
- Amygdala
- Negative emotion
- Using skills that are taught in Social-Emotional Training can actually change the students' brain.
- Those good at dealing positively with negative stimulus show strong activity in part of the ventrimedial pre-frontal cortex (pre-frontal cortex acts as a controller of the activity of the amygdala)
- Cortisol
- Hormone that deals with stress
- study found that lower cortisol number in the evening
- Regulates emotions means lower cortisol at night
- High levels
- Interferes with circuits in the brain especially the amygdala and the hippocampus
- Both of these parts of the brain affect memory.
- To add stress to a situation, you lower students ability to function.
- If you can lower your anxiety, you will strengthen your prefrontal cortex
- You will do better in cognition, better on tests, etc.
- Summary
- Brain is plastic- built to change in response to experience
- Prefrontal cortex is key and is a convergence zone for affect and cognition; negative emotion will interfere with cognitive prefrontal function.
- Social-emotional learning is an empirically verified strategy to improve skills of emotion regulation and social adaptation
- As such, social-emotional learning likely produces beneficial brain changes.
- Education literally shapes the child's brain and likely produces alterations that lay the foundation for all future learning, emotion regulation and social functioning
- Qualities such as patience, calmness, cooperation, and kindness are all best regarded as skills that can be trained
- Training like social-emotional learning affects the brain.
- In essence, you can change a person who is diagnosed psychopath.
- EBD
- research is critically needed to document the impact of social-emotional learning on the brain.
- Plasticity always occurs
- Neuro-genesis
- Creation of new neurons and happens during all of life
- Sensitive periods exist
- We are rarely confronted with evolutionary dangers from our past
- No longer physical dangers, but emotional dangers.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Precious
Something happened at the end of this movie that I was not expecting at all. But I think that it incorporates what I think about teaching. What I think about students and human beings in general is that we are not just our behaviors. Unfortunately, our behaviors are the only thing that can be seen by others so we are judged for who we are based on our behaviors. Precious' mother was horribly abusive the entire movie, so much that I cried a few times with the things she told Precious. But, I saw beyond those actions in her final monologue about what actually happened with regards to the sexual molestations of her daughter. I saw that she was a human who had a lot of hurt, granted, I will not say that she had more hurt than her daughter. But I was able to see the character as more than just her actions, I saw hurt behind them.
I think that this ability to see the mother as a human being, though deeply flawed, and not as a devil is why I am going into the field of EBD. Students with EBD have behaviors that are very visible and obvious and are usually very negative. So, they are looked at as negative kids. Students with EBD are flawed individuals who have suffered greatly, just like all of us.
Now, the teacher in this movie was very much like the teacher who I want to be. I want to be the teacher who does not believe in separation between students and teacher, I mean look at many of the scenes that she is in and she is sitting with her students in a desk among them. When Precious mother almost kills her, she lets the students lead the class. I could not see the difference between the teacher and the student. And I think that that is what I will create in my classroom. Now, granted, many other people looking in would probably go hogwild because they are so angry that I do not demand respect and other things. But I think that that is clearly what those students needed; they needed a teacher who was not going to exert her authority like they have experienced teachers before. They needed teachers who were willing to break down the barrier in order to provide students with the Least Restrictive Environment.
Hah, I am kind of amazed that I was able to connect my philosophy of education to a special education term (That is true irony, seeing that this is the Future Special Ed Teacher blog). I just feel that for many students, they need a teacher who breaks the barrier between students and teachers. And if they are in a classroom where there is a giant barrier, then they will not want to come and it will be very restrictive and not comforting for them.
Personally, this movie really makes me want to teach in an alternative school. This semester, I began wanting to teach in the Juvenile Justice System, but I feel that teaching in an alternative school to begin with would be something that I am very interested in. In the article that I read for the presentation on Special Education in the Juvenile Justice System, I found out that the retention rate for teachers who start teaching in the Juvenile Justice System is dangerously low. I just think that it would be so much fun to work in an alternative school. I have a very warped sense of fun, don't I?
I think that this ability to see the mother as a human being, though deeply flawed, and not as a devil is why I am going into the field of EBD. Students with EBD have behaviors that are very visible and obvious and are usually very negative. So, they are looked at as negative kids. Students with EBD are flawed individuals who have suffered greatly, just like all of us.
Now, the teacher in this movie was very much like the teacher who I want to be. I want to be the teacher who does not believe in separation between students and teacher, I mean look at many of the scenes that she is in and she is sitting with her students in a desk among them. When Precious mother almost kills her, she lets the students lead the class. I could not see the difference between the teacher and the student. And I think that that is what I will create in my classroom. Now, granted, many other people looking in would probably go hogwild because they are so angry that I do not demand respect and other things. But I think that that is clearly what those students needed; they needed a teacher who was not going to exert her authority like they have experienced teachers before. They needed teachers who were willing to break down the barrier in order to provide students with the Least Restrictive Environment.
Hah, I am kind of amazed that I was able to connect my philosophy of education to a special education term (That is true irony, seeing that this is the Future Special Ed Teacher blog). I just feel that for many students, they need a teacher who breaks the barrier between students and teachers. And if they are in a classroom where there is a giant barrier, then they will not want to come and it will be very restrictive and not comforting for them.
Personally, this movie really makes me want to teach in an alternative school. This semester, I began wanting to teach in the Juvenile Justice System, but I feel that teaching in an alternative school to begin with would be something that I am very interested in. In the article that I read for the presentation on Special Education in the Juvenile Justice System, I found out that the retention rate for teachers who start teaching in the Juvenile Justice System is dangerously low. I just think that it would be so much fun to work in an alternative school. I have a very warped sense of fun, don't I?
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Croatian students demand free education
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/265592,croatian-students-demand-free-education.html
According to this article, Croatia offers free education from Kindergarten through PhD, but only for 40% of the population. In 2009, a bunch of students from all of Croatia protested that 60% have to pay for their education. Apparently, if they get good grades, their education will be paid for. But, the clincher here is a quote from Education Minister Dragan Primorac where he says "We want education in Croatia, from kindergarten to PhD, to be free, but only for those who deserve it..." The part that worries me is his statement of "but only for those who deserve it." How does he decide who deserves it and who doesn't?
Let's think of it this way, if he bases it on grades, then students who may have Learning Disabilities who try really hard, but can't get a good grade, will not have their education paid for. This marginalizes many people if they decide only to provide free education for those who get good grades.
I think that the thing that worries me the most is that what if that 40% are all from rich families and the poor families are not provided with free education? So, what if free Croatian education is classist (Where the poor are kept in their place by not receiving education because it is not free)? I am going to have to look more into this because this peeks my curiosity to have free education up to a PhD. That is a lot of money, and it would be awesome if it was for everyone. So, I'll have to research who actually gets the free education.
According to this article, Croatia offers free education from Kindergarten through PhD, but only for 40% of the population. In 2009, a bunch of students from all of Croatia protested that 60% have to pay for their education. Apparently, if they get good grades, their education will be paid for. But, the clincher here is a quote from Education Minister Dragan Primorac where he says "We want education in Croatia, from kindergarten to PhD, to be free, but only for those who deserve it..." The part that worries me is his statement of "but only for those who deserve it." How does he decide who deserves it and who doesn't?
Let's think of it this way, if he bases it on grades, then students who may have Learning Disabilities who try really hard, but can't get a good grade, will not have their education paid for. This marginalizes many people if they decide only to provide free education for those who get good grades.
I think that the thing that worries me the most is that what if that 40% are all from rich families and the poor families are not provided with free education? So, what if free Croatian education is classist (Where the poor are kept in their place by not receiving education because it is not free)? I am going to have to look more into this because this peeks my curiosity to have free education up to a PhD. That is a lot of money, and it would be awesome if it was for everyone. So, I'll have to research who actually gets the free education.
No student ought to be left behind
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/no-student-ought-to-be-left-behind/story-e6frgcjx-1225967194805
This article, from Australia talks about inclusiveness and college. It says that instead of just throwing money at a college for them to use on technology, colleges should train the professors on the best ways to teach to everyone.
I think that this is a really good idea, because I have had conversations with other students and they tell me that their classes are rote memorization classes of facts that they will never really have to use in real life. And this is problematic and I think that this is why many college students start but do not finish. This is just a problematic thing, to just use rote memorization on everything that you learn doesn't make it your knowledge. What if the professor says something like "All Native Americans are savages" and you just put it into your mental filing cabinet. That is not acceptable to do, because then your brain thinks that all Native Americans are savages. You need to look at every piece of information and make it yours by giving it your own words and critically thinking about it. Granted, this takes a lot of time, but you are paying for the classes, and teacher should not require rote memorization.
I, as a teacher, will never require rote memorization on anything. I want my students to think about what I say and then tell me whether they agree or disagree. And if they agree or disagree, why do they agree or disagree. This creates ownership of learning, I as a teacher can just puke out information all I want, but if their mouths are not there to receive the puke, then they aren't going to learn (Plus, they will just end up puking up the puke that I put into their mouths.). Basically, I will have mini-lecturettes where I give a morsel of information and then they talk about it. They talk about it and make their own, compare what I just said to their lives and what they think about what I just said. There is no need for rote memorization in American education, it is counterproductive and foolish to keep doing so. And yet, it still happens.
This article, from Australia talks about inclusiveness and college. It says that instead of just throwing money at a college for them to use on technology, colleges should train the professors on the best ways to teach to everyone.
I think that this is a really good idea, because I have had conversations with other students and they tell me that their classes are rote memorization classes of facts that they will never really have to use in real life. And this is problematic and I think that this is why many college students start but do not finish. This is just a problematic thing, to just use rote memorization on everything that you learn doesn't make it your knowledge. What if the professor says something like "All Native Americans are savages" and you just put it into your mental filing cabinet. That is not acceptable to do, because then your brain thinks that all Native Americans are savages. You need to look at every piece of information and make it yours by giving it your own words and critically thinking about it. Granted, this takes a lot of time, but you are paying for the classes, and teacher should not require rote memorization.
I, as a teacher, will never require rote memorization on anything. I want my students to think about what I say and then tell me whether they agree or disagree. And if they agree or disagree, why do they agree or disagree. This creates ownership of learning, I as a teacher can just puke out information all I want, but if their mouths are not there to receive the puke, then they aren't going to learn (Plus, they will just end up puking up the puke that I put into their mouths.). Basically, I will have mini-lecturettes where I give a morsel of information and then they talk about it. They talk about it and make their own, compare what I just said to their lives and what they think about what I just said. There is no need for rote memorization in American education, it is counterproductive and foolish to keep doing so. And yet, it still happens.
School plans centre to house its homeless pupils
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/dec/01/school-plans-house-homeless-pupils
This article makes me really ponder (That word is funny, say it out loud: ponder) our education system here. I am very confused because if any students here were homeless, I am quite certain they would not end up going to school. But these students in Britain go to school for four months and someone finally finds out that they are homeless. Four months of sleeping on a hard bench in a park when it is either really cold or really hot and working on homework.
And then the startling fact of 100% of this school's year 13 pupils go on to higher education, even though around half of them are entitled to free school meals. What is this school doing that we need to do in the United States? Because clearly they are doing something that is encouraging 100% of their students to go to higher education.
I respect this school because they are taking a holistic approach to education. They believe (And I do as well) that certain needs must be met in order for the student to learn. One of those is somewhere to lay your head at night and feel safe. The creation of this house for homeless students would help with that, it would also help with the meals as well, I would assume. It says in this article that a student was not comfortable in her hostel kitchen, and then one of her pans was stolen, so she had to have microwaved food for a few months.
This gets me excited that in other places, education is focusing on the student so much. Notice in this article that they are not talking at all about competition with other schools or other countries. I think that that is the worst thing that we, as the United States can do, to turn education into a competition. The minute we do that is the time where we lose the purpose of education. Which is to foster wholesome human beings. How can we create compassionate human beings when we are bombarding them with "You are not doing as well as them, you need to do better or else the US is screwed because we are behind many countries on the education list." That is pointless to do and say.
This article makes me really ponder (That word is funny, say it out loud: ponder) our education system here. I am very confused because if any students here were homeless, I am quite certain they would not end up going to school. But these students in Britain go to school for four months and someone finally finds out that they are homeless. Four months of sleeping on a hard bench in a park when it is either really cold or really hot and working on homework.
And then the startling fact of 100% of this school's year 13 pupils go on to higher education, even though around half of them are entitled to free school meals. What is this school doing that we need to do in the United States? Because clearly they are doing something that is encouraging 100% of their students to go to higher education.
I respect this school because they are taking a holistic approach to education. They believe (And I do as well) that certain needs must be met in order for the student to learn. One of those is somewhere to lay your head at night and feel safe. The creation of this house for homeless students would help with that, it would also help with the meals as well, I would assume. It says in this article that a student was not comfortable in her hostel kitchen, and then one of her pans was stolen, so she had to have microwaved food for a few months.
This gets me excited that in other places, education is focusing on the student so much. Notice in this article that they are not talking at all about competition with other schools or other countries. I think that that is the worst thing that we, as the United States can do, to turn education into a competition. The minute we do that is the time where we lose the purpose of education. Which is to foster wholesome human beings. How can we create compassionate human beings when we are bombarding them with "You are not doing as well as them, you need to do better or else the US is screwed because we are behind many countries on the education list." That is pointless to do and say.
Squeaky clean schools hide their worst nightmares from inspectors
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2010/dec/02/fielding-schools-hide-worst-nightmares
The gist of this blog entry on guardian.co.uk is "Everything needs to be cleansed, anything that can not be cleansed should be removed from the schools." This relates perfectly, even though the article has rather odd writing to it, to students with EBD and why, from what I have learned, EBD is the most underfunded field in Special Education.
A person with schizophrenia will have schizophrenia forever, there are medications that can help stop the delusions, but they only work sometimes. Basically, there is no medication, like antibiotics, that can cure schizophrenia. And we, as the western world really don't like that. We don't like things that can't be fixed with the snap of a finger. And I believe that that is why teachers who teach students with EBD quit so much, because they realize that they can't fix the student.
We want the light to be turned on, and we get excited when a student exhibits that they finally understand something that they have never understood before. We want to cure students with EBD, but they don't need to be cured or fixed, they are who they are and a good teacher will accept and embrace them for who they are.
This is the primary reason that I am going into the field of EBD, because they cannot be cured, they can only be helped. So the question is, what do I mean by helped. Well, first of all, not giving up on them just because I can't fix them. The second thing is to show them that no matter what they do, I am not giving up on them. They can stab me in in the foot or side, and I will come back and show them again that I am not giving up on them.
The gist of this blog entry on guardian.co.uk is "Everything needs to be cleansed, anything that can not be cleansed should be removed from the schools." This relates perfectly, even though the article has rather odd writing to it, to students with EBD and why, from what I have learned, EBD is the most underfunded field in Special Education.
A person with schizophrenia will have schizophrenia forever, there are medications that can help stop the delusions, but they only work sometimes. Basically, there is no medication, like antibiotics, that can cure schizophrenia. And we, as the western world really don't like that. We don't like things that can't be fixed with the snap of a finger. And I believe that that is why teachers who teach students with EBD quit so much, because they realize that they can't fix the student.
We want the light to be turned on, and we get excited when a student exhibits that they finally understand something that they have never understood before. We want to cure students with EBD, but they don't need to be cured or fixed, they are who they are and a good teacher will accept and embrace them for who they are.
This is the primary reason that I am going into the field of EBD, because they cannot be cured, they can only be helped. So the question is, what do I mean by helped. Well, first of all, not giving up on them just because I can't fix them. The second thing is to show them that no matter what they do, I am not giving up on them. They can stab me in in the foot or side, and I will come back and show them again that I am not giving up on them.
We like clean, easy students. Students with EBD are typically the complete opposite, but only because we expect them to be something that they are not. We expect them to be clean and easy to deal with, so they cannot feel their own emotions or allow themselves to have anxiety, and this adds a giant problem to their already tough lives.
I really believe that students with EBD are the lepers of our society. What I mean by this is that not many people want to deal with them, and when they realize that they cannot cure them, they give up. These are human beings who need someone who will not give up on them, because I believe that society has already given up on them. The trick is to help help them not give up on themselves because their parents have given up on them, society has given up on them. And I don't know how I will teach that, how I will teach a student how not to give up on themselves. One of the many questions of this blog, how can I teach a student to believe in themselves when everyone else has stopped believing in them?
Malcolm Griffiths obituary
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/dec/02/malcolm-griffiths-obituary
This article is about the life of Malcolm Griffiths, who was an extreme theater person. He wrote and directed many plays and it talks about his life.
One thing that it talks about is how he had a personal crusade to "build his own bridges between east and west." Like this, as a teacher, I hope to build my own bridges all over the world, whether that be starting out with just Florida or some state that isn't ours, and going all the way over to India or China. It is very important to build bridges in education, because it can lead to things like what he did with one of his classes at Nottingham. He invited Stephen Lowe to come into his classroom and share his latest play, which he had just started on, with a dozen students where each of them would have to make their own set and costumes.
I will be that teacher who builds bridges between two different subjects that seem to be completely different, and who builds bridges between continents, and who builds bridges of positive relationships for students. That is a key thing to do in Special Education, to build bridges of positive relationship for students, because many students with EBD don't have very good role models or positive relationships. And I will set out to help them find those positive relationships and build them in a positive and healthy way and then help maintain them.
So how will I do this? I will do this by possibly being the first role model and/or friend (Now, the argument that this brings up needs to be covered in another post, the argument of whether a teacher should be a friend or not to their students) to these students. And once they trust me enough, I will introduce them to someone who I feel would be a good influence and a good friend to them. I will teach them different rules that I takes to be in a friendship, such as no hitting. I will do this by playing a board game with them and make sure that there are no rules and that the game begins to be really confusing. For instance, Twister where you can push a person off if you so choose (we would play it on a soft floor probably in the gym) and that would take up all of the first class period, but at the end of the class period, I introduce what rule of socialization we will be talking about this week. For instance, with Twister, the rule would be "No hitting or bullying." So, the next day, we talk about the rules surrounding this rule. What I would do is break down this rule into a few other rules, possibly 3 (one for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday), and talk about each of them on one of the days. So, the three for "No bullying" would be "Rule 1: Don't hitting," "Rule 2: Don't say mean things to people," and "Rule 3: Build people up by saying complementing them." On Tuesday, I would talk about Rule 1, on Wednesday, I would talk about Rule 2, and on Thursday, I would talk about Rule 3. Now, on Friday, we would have an review of what we just talked about the entire week. And then we play the game Twister again, this time with the rules reinstated.
This article is about the life of Malcolm Griffiths, who was an extreme theater person. He wrote and directed many plays and it talks about his life.
One thing that it talks about is how he had a personal crusade to "build his own bridges between east and west." Like this, as a teacher, I hope to build my own bridges all over the world, whether that be starting out with just Florida or some state that isn't ours, and going all the way over to India or China. It is very important to build bridges in education, because it can lead to things like what he did with one of his classes at Nottingham. He invited Stephen Lowe to come into his classroom and share his latest play, which he had just started on, with a dozen students where each of them would have to make their own set and costumes.
I will be that teacher who builds bridges between two different subjects that seem to be completely different, and who builds bridges between continents, and who builds bridges of positive relationships for students. That is a key thing to do in Special Education, to build bridges of positive relationship for students, because many students with EBD don't have very good role models or positive relationships. And I will set out to help them find those positive relationships and build them in a positive and healthy way and then help maintain them.
So how will I do this? I will do this by possibly being the first role model and/or friend (Now, the argument that this brings up needs to be covered in another post, the argument of whether a teacher should be a friend or not to their students) to these students. And once they trust me enough, I will introduce them to someone who I feel would be a good influence and a good friend to them. I will teach them different rules that I takes to be in a friendship, such as no hitting. I will do this by playing a board game with them and make sure that there are no rules and that the game begins to be really confusing. For instance, Twister where you can push a person off if you so choose (we would play it on a soft floor probably in the gym) and that would take up all of the first class period, but at the end of the class period, I introduce what rule of socialization we will be talking about this week. For instance, with Twister, the rule would be "No hitting or bullying." So, the next day, we talk about the rules surrounding this rule. What I would do is break down this rule into a few other rules, possibly 3 (one for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday), and talk about each of them on one of the days. So, the three for "No bullying" would be "Rule 1: Don't hitting," "Rule 2: Don't say mean things to people," and "Rule 3: Build people up by saying complementing them." On Tuesday, I would talk about Rule 1, on Wednesday, I would talk about Rule 2, and on Thursday, I would talk about Rule 3. Now, on Friday, we would have an review of what we just talked about the entire week. And then we play the game Twister again, this time with the rules reinstated.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Public, Private and Charter Schools
- Public
- Pro
- Not sheltered
- Liberal arts
- critical thinking
- Con
- Sexual
- teach to the test
- bad teachers (tenure)
- high student:teacher ratio
- Private
- Pro
- Lower ratio of student:teacher
- know more about each other
- Con
- Not free
- Sheltered
- Inclusive special education program
- Public
- Controlled by school board
- until 1840, only wealthy kids went to school
- all students must go to school was a law that was passed in 1918
- Catholic's didn't like it, so they created Catholic Schools
- Pros
- Free
- More Diverse
- Free transportation
- Cons
- Large class sizes
- stigma of being a smart kid
- kid's don't think about school at the end of the day
- testing
- SPED
- IDEA
- FAPE
- IEP
- LRE
- Private
- Voucher
- State gives you money to get your child into a private school
- Special Education? Not really
- Charter Schools
- Doesn't have to follow rules
- MN was first state to pass charter law
- Charter
- School's mission, programs, etc.
- Pro
- No tuition
- No school board controlling them
- Con
- Under constant pressure to perform
- lottery system
- SPED in Charter schools
- How are they going to implement SPED in their school?
Student Says Math Easy As Pi
I hope to be that teacher who introduces a student like this to this. This video is about a kid who can say the decimals of Pi up to the thousandth decimal. And it was because of one teacher who gave it as an assignment in class. And now this kid who may not have liked numbers or mathematics previously now knows a whole lot of numbers of Pi.
It is truly the kind of teacher that I aspire to be, to help students find what they are interested in, whether that be saying Pi to the thousandth decimal place or acting. And once I help them find it, I will utilize that information and use it to teach them.
For instance, if they are into saying Pi, then use Pi to teach the student something else, maybe related to history and the history is one 1964 and that is the hundred through hundred-fourth place.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Early Intro to Math Seems to Improve Kids' Skills Later
This article talks about parents who use a lot of numbers in their talking in front of their kids will help their kids become better mathematicians when they get into school. This presents a very fascinating idea of how to include parents into their children's lives as students. I would just ask the parents to use numbers as often as they can. And maybe the student will become interested in what the parents are talking about. For instance, if the parents are talking about going on vacation to Disney World, then the student would probably be interested in it. The parents can ask the student to help them with some numbers.
I recognize that this may be a bit late in regards to introducing students early on in their lives. But it is something, and if they can find that mathematics is fun because of Disney World, then that's awesome. The point is to make mathematics or numbers a household item that is not just part of school, but expansive of school and home.
I recognize that this may be a bit late in regards to introducing students early on in their lives. But it is something, and if they can find that mathematics is fun because of Disney World, then that's awesome. The point is to make mathematics or numbers a household item that is not just part of school, but expansive of school and home.
Clinical Experience Reflection
So, this semester, I was able to observe and help in a 4th grade classroom. But, due to unforeseeable circumstances, I was removed from that classroom. I was then put into a classroom of students who English is not their first language. And one thing that I noticed in both classrooms is that the teacher's are not setting high enough expectations of their students. They are fine with their students to be below where they can be.
For instance, in the 4th grade classroom, the teacher praised and expected a lot out of group A which was the high functioning group. She even allowed them to watch a movie in the classroom while everyone else was studying and yelled anyone in the other group who was distracted. She set the expectations so low for the students that they reached it perfectly, so she was okay with it. I truly think that the best thing a teacher can do is challenge a student to do and be better. Granted, I will give you that there are many different ways of doing this, some of them positive and healthy and some of them insanely unhealthy and negative. But, I read with them and asked them questions about what they read, and they could answer. But she didn't do that with them, she just labeled them as "these student's can't read" in front of the whole class.
The teacher just did not show any respect to her students, I got the impression that she didn't like many of her students. She used fake happiness and "It's so good to see you" around them. It was hard to watch because one of them had to be taken out and walked around. And I was the one who walked around with him and he kept muttering and hitting the wall "She just doesn't respect us, she doesn't even like us, but you, we all know that you like us and respect us. We like you. But I don't like her, she's fake."
The teacher in the EL (English Learners) classroom was a far better teacher in regards to respect. He called his students "my friends" whenever he was trying to get their attention. That alone seemed to change everything about that classroom.
But, I feel that he also set the expectations too low of his students. He told me the first day, "Don't ask them to read anything, because they can't." And I accepted that because he knows much more than me. But, I read with them out of books. While reading to them out of these books, I asked them to read it with me. And when they read it with me, I slowly got quieter and quieter. And guess what, they were reading out loud without any help. And on the exit interview, he told me again that he noticed that I had said a few times "Can you read that aloud to me. And that's a problem because they can't read out loud." I didn't say anything, because he's the expert in this field, I'm not.
But in this experience, I have learned that students can do much more if we only ask it of them. There is a professor's door in the college of education on the second floor that says "My teacher expected me to do better, so I did better" (I think I may have screwed up that quote, but it is true none-the-less.). Students are more capable than most teachers give them credit for, and I hope to recognize and remember that once I get into teaching, because they are me a few years ago, and had I had someone who expected and me to do better, I feel that I would have done better. So I will help students do better by expecting them to be better, because every student has potential.
For instance, in the 4th grade classroom, the teacher praised and expected a lot out of group A which was the high functioning group. She even allowed them to watch a movie in the classroom while everyone else was studying and yelled anyone in the other group who was distracted. She set the expectations so low for the students that they reached it perfectly, so she was okay with it. I truly think that the best thing a teacher can do is challenge a student to do and be better. Granted, I will give you that there are many different ways of doing this, some of them positive and healthy and some of them insanely unhealthy and negative. But, I read with them and asked them questions about what they read, and they could answer. But she didn't do that with them, she just labeled them as "these student's can't read" in front of the whole class.
The teacher just did not show any respect to her students, I got the impression that she didn't like many of her students. She used fake happiness and "It's so good to see you" around them. It was hard to watch because one of them had to be taken out and walked around. And I was the one who walked around with him and he kept muttering and hitting the wall "She just doesn't respect us, she doesn't even like us, but you, we all know that you like us and respect us. We like you. But I don't like her, she's fake."
The teacher in the EL (English Learners) classroom was a far better teacher in regards to respect. He called his students "my friends" whenever he was trying to get their attention. That alone seemed to change everything about that classroom.
But, I feel that he also set the expectations too low of his students. He told me the first day, "Don't ask them to read anything, because they can't." And I accepted that because he knows much more than me. But, I read with them out of books. While reading to them out of these books, I asked them to read it with me. And when they read it with me, I slowly got quieter and quieter. And guess what, they were reading out loud without any help. And on the exit interview, he told me again that he noticed that I had said a few times "Can you read that aloud to me. And that's a problem because they can't read out loud." I didn't say anything, because he's the expert in this field, I'm not.
But in this experience, I have learned that students can do much more if we only ask it of them. There is a professor's door in the college of education on the second floor that says "My teacher expected me to do better, so I did better" (I think I may have screwed up that quote, but it is true none-the-less.). Students are more capable than most teachers give them credit for, and I hope to recognize and remember that once I get into teaching, because they are me a few years ago, and had I had someone who expected and me to do better, I feel that I would have done better. So I will help students do better by expecting them to be better, because every student has potential.
Teachers take charge to save ailing public schools
But, it presents a very fascinating idea. It is almost like a democratic school, in that all teachers have the same say in things. They have a say in what they would like to teach, which is very helpful, I would think. Very helpful in keeping the teachers teaching there at the school.
I guess that this article doesn't really affect how I will teach, but it may affect where I end up teaching. It would also be good to just know about it because it sounds like a very fascinating movement within the education movement in the United States.
McCain: We need a study of the study on ‘don’t ask’
I think that today, many students feel the same way that McCain feels about this study. They want their hypothesis to be true, they are not willing to accept that they are incorrect about something. So, if they want to find proof that the teacher does not care about them, they may just find it, even if that is not the case and the teacher is trying very hard to show it.
So, the question is, how can I, as a teacher (I should rename my blog this, because I use it in almost every post), teach students to accept information that they do not like. I think that one of the only ways of doing that is by teaching about the past and how people from the past have used incorrect knowledge and hypotheses that they have "proven" to prove that, for example, African American's are less than Caucasians because phrenology proves that they have smaller brains. They also have less veins than Caucasians (Which was only one body that was brought before the doctor who said this). Phrenology, we now know, is quite a load of lies that was created to keep African American's below Caucasians. But now, we typically, recognize that they are equal to us.
However, I think that it is a really good idea to critically think about these things. But, don't make a big deal about something if you haven't seen or read it, like what McCain is doing here. Critically read it when it comes out, and don't have pre-biases before even reading it, or else you are most likely going to find a reason to not like it.
Like this, I, as a teacher, cannot go into a classroom with pre-concieved notions about my students or else I will be hurting them quite intensely. By not giving them a clean slate in my classroom, they are going to continually think that they are their behaviors and nothing else defines them. And that is no okay to teach students either directly or indirectly.
Failure is impossible for high school students! (No, really)
If you look at this from a perspective of Tony Wagner, author of The Global Achievement Gap, I believe he would say that this is getting students more ready for college. Because if there is a possibility that students will give up if they get an "F," then it is not worth it to give it. Instead, allow them to learn it later by giving them an "I."
I think that it is possible that this is babying the students, so a thing that I would add to this is individual break-down of grade with an overall grade. For instance, give them a grade on such things as their respect towards each other, their overall attitude, etc. Give them an A-F and if you give them an F tell that just because they got an F does not mean that they are a failure.
Kids will be Kids Part 2: Cyberbullying
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/111504/as-bullies-go-digital-parents-play-catch-up
So, this article talks about cyberbullying and the legal ramifications of it and what to do in regards to contacting the parent of the child who cyberbullied.
I am just wondering how I, as a future teacher, will address cyberbullying. And, like has been said many times on this blog, I don't know. However, in the article, there is an interesting story of a woman who was going to school for cyberbullying and her daughter ended up cyberbullying a student. Things got worse from there, and then the two of them (mother and daughter) started talking to each other. The mother got the daughter a puppy, and the daughter really loved the puppy. And the mother used that as a perfect tool for teaching her daughter. She said, "How would you feel if someone through a rock at him?" And with that, her daughter started crying. But, that is a perfect teaching moment that was surprisingly appropriate.
And it relates again to my thinking of the last post on bullying. Getting her daughter a puppy to me would imply that she was reinforcing her daughter for cyberbullying. But giving attention to students who bully who may be in my classes seems to be reinforcing the bully, not the victim of the bully. There is a story that I heard two years ago. It goes like this. A bunch of people were having a delicious 4th of July picnic on the Mississippi River when they saw in the distance up the river a basket floating down the river. One of the people swam out into the river and grabbed the basket and brought it ashore, and everyone was filled with horror when they found that there was a baby in the basket. They thought that that was bad, but then they looked up the river only to find that there were hundreds of baskets coming down the river. They all form a line so that none of the baskets could get through down the river. And they save as many as they can. Then, they miss one. And they become really discouraged. And someone has a very bright idea and gets out of the water. Everyone in the river is very angry with them and yelling them and screaming "Don't you care about these baskets?" And as he is walking up the river, he pauses and turns around and says quietly, "You are saving the baskets by catching them once they are in the river, but I'm going to go up river and stop whoever is throwing the baskets into the river."
The basket in this story is the student who is bullied. And the person throwing the baskets into the river is the bully. If I help the bully, then nobody will have to help the student who is bullied, because the bully will not bully him. I will help the bully by seeing him first and foremost as a human being, then his actions. He is a person with a story that would break any heart listening to it, but no one listens to it because all they see is a bully. I will fight my own biases (Which I will have many because I, myself, was bullied) and see that student for who he really is.
So, this article talks about cyberbullying and the legal ramifications of it and what to do in regards to contacting the parent of the child who cyberbullied.
I am just wondering how I, as a future teacher, will address cyberbullying. And, like has been said many times on this blog, I don't know. However, in the article, there is an interesting story of a woman who was going to school for cyberbullying and her daughter ended up cyberbullying a student. Things got worse from there, and then the two of them (mother and daughter) started talking to each other. The mother got the daughter a puppy, and the daughter really loved the puppy. And the mother used that as a perfect tool for teaching her daughter. She said, "How would you feel if someone through a rock at him?" And with that, her daughter started crying. But, that is a perfect teaching moment that was surprisingly appropriate.
And it relates again to my thinking of the last post on bullying. Getting her daughter a puppy to me would imply that she was reinforcing her daughter for cyberbullying. But giving attention to students who bully who may be in my classes seems to be reinforcing the bully, not the victim of the bully. There is a story that I heard two years ago. It goes like this. A bunch of people were having a delicious 4th of July picnic on the Mississippi River when they saw in the distance up the river a basket floating down the river. One of the people swam out into the river and grabbed the basket and brought it ashore, and everyone was filled with horror when they found that there was a baby in the basket. They thought that that was bad, but then they looked up the river only to find that there were hundreds of baskets coming down the river. They all form a line so that none of the baskets could get through down the river. And they save as many as they can. Then, they miss one. And they become really discouraged. And someone has a very bright idea and gets out of the water. Everyone in the river is very angry with them and yelling them and screaming "Don't you care about these baskets?" And as he is walking up the river, he pauses and turns around and says quietly, "You are saving the baskets by catching them once they are in the river, but I'm going to go up river and stop whoever is throwing the baskets into the river."
The basket in this story is the student who is bullied. And the person throwing the baskets into the river is the bully. If I help the bully, then nobody will have to help the student who is bullied, because the bully will not bully him. I will help the bully by seeing him first and foremost as a human being, then his actions. He is a person with a story that would break any heart listening to it, but no one listens to it because all they see is a bully. I will fight my own biases (Which I will have many because I, myself, was bullied) and see that student for who he really is.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Boys will be boys
The age old saying that has been used to justify bullying in schools all over the United States. I recently watched Bullied, a movie about a gay teenager who sues his school in order to feel safe in his environment. I was one of the students who was bullied. It is one of the most debilitating experiences I have ever had, it affected everything from my schoolwork to socializing with others. I refused to do homework because I would just get it wrong and then be made of for being fat and stupid. I wouldn't socialize with others because I felt that the person who was being nice to me had ulterior motives to bully me with the information that they gained in that one day or week.
To be gay and bullied must be just as bad, if not worse because it is who they are. They don't have a choice (I don't believe that it is a choice) to be who they are and it must be terrifying and scary to be bullied for being gay.
I want to be that one teacher, who does not have tenure yet (and has not taught for very long) and I want to help the student who is doing the bullying. I, personally, have been torn about this issue for the last semester. Because I feel that by giving my attention to the bully (Who may be diagnosed EBD or ADHD) that I am betraying the student who that student is bullying. For instance, I may end up teaching in the Juvenile Justice System where I will teach students who have murdered someone or attempted to murder someone. I have been struggling with this idea of if I am trying to help this student who really needs help, am I hurting the person whom they hurt in the first place?
But I see now that there are reasons behind bullying. On Glee right now (I am really into that show), one of the characters that keeps beating Kurt (an openly gay student) up ends up being gay. He is a bully to Kurt because he has suppressed his sexuality. If you look at functional behavioral analysis, it requires you to see and try and find out what the function is behind that specific behavior (I learned that in SPED 431).
I had a strong support system at home with regards to bullies, my parents never cared about what other people thought of them, so I got that same idea. They also told me that all of what the students who bullied me told me was a bunch of bs (They told me that I was so fat that my parents shouldn't even love me and then spit on my food). They fought for me when I really needed them (i.e. when I was attacked 3 on 1 during recess when I walked a few feet with all 3 on my back and finally went down), they helped me through all of this stuff.
But, I cannot change the home support system, but I can say that my classroom is a haven. If there is any bullying in my classroom, an intervention must be attempted. I don't know how exactly I am going to teach students who bully other students, but I will. Because they clearly have a hard time expressing their emotions, maybe it is because of the movies they watch or that thought that runs through movies and different media outlets like that that men don't have emotions.
But I recognize that women bully as well. And with this issue as well, I wish I had something to say. Because female bullying, according to Brad Kuhlman, seems to be much more social meanness (They ostracize the student rather than attack the student).
I hope that by the time I am in the classroom, I will have figured out how I am going to deal with bullying in my classroom as well as the hallways. I am very inexperienced, but I want to become more experienced.
To be gay and bullied must be just as bad, if not worse because it is who they are. They don't have a choice (I don't believe that it is a choice) to be who they are and it must be terrifying and scary to be bullied for being gay.
I want to be that one teacher, who does not have tenure yet (and has not taught for very long) and I want to help the student who is doing the bullying. I, personally, have been torn about this issue for the last semester. Because I feel that by giving my attention to the bully (Who may be diagnosed EBD or ADHD) that I am betraying the student who that student is bullying. For instance, I may end up teaching in the Juvenile Justice System where I will teach students who have murdered someone or attempted to murder someone. I have been struggling with this idea of if I am trying to help this student who really needs help, am I hurting the person whom they hurt in the first place?
But I see now that there are reasons behind bullying. On Glee right now (I am really into that show), one of the characters that keeps beating Kurt (an openly gay student) up ends up being gay. He is a bully to Kurt because he has suppressed his sexuality. If you look at functional behavioral analysis, it requires you to see and try and find out what the function is behind that specific behavior (I learned that in SPED 431).
I had a strong support system at home with regards to bullies, my parents never cared about what other people thought of them, so I got that same idea. They also told me that all of what the students who bullied me told me was a bunch of bs (They told me that I was so fat that my parents shouldn't even love me and then spit on my food). They fought for me when I really needed them (i.e. when I was attacked 3 on 1 during recess when I walked a few feet with all 3 on my back and finally went down), they helped me through all of this stuff.
But, I cannot change the home support system, but I can say that my classroom is a haven. If there is any bullying in my classroom, an intervention must be attempted. I don't know how exactly I am going to teach students who bully other students, but I will. Because they clearly have a hard time expressing their emotions, maybe it is because of the movies they watch or that thought that runs through movies and different media outlets like that that men don't have emotions.
But I recognize that women bully as well. And with this issue as well, I wish I had something to say. Because female bullying, according to Brad Kuhlman, seems to be much more social meanness (They ostracize the student rather than attack the student).
I hope that by the time I am in the classroom, I will have figured out how I am going to deal with bullying in my classroom as well as the hallways. I am very inexperienced, but I want to become more experienced.
Native American Education
http://www.as.wvu.edu/~equity/native.html
http://www.literacynet.org/lp/namericans/contents.html
http://www.integratelearning.org/NA/na.htm#FORWARD
http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/oieresearch/conference/sorkness_200602.pdf
http://jaie.asu.edu/v27/V27S2hol.htm
http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-3/alaska.htm
Most of these are sites that either talk about research that has been done about Native American Education and how it can affect your teaching.
There are also other things that are resources for how to remove your bias from your teaching.
http://www.literacynet.org/lp/namericans/contents.html
http://www.integratelearning.org/NA/na.htm#FORWARD
http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/oieresearch/conference/sorkness_200602.pdf
http://jaie.asu.edu/v27/V27S2hol.htm
http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-3/alaska.htm
Most of these are sites that either talk about research that has been done about Native American Education and how it can affect your teaching.
There are also other things that are resources for how to remove your bias from your teaching.
As a teacher, what can you do to encourage students in special ed to continue on to college?
By planting a seed, getting a student to go to college can be easy (but I have a rather warped sense of the word easy). But if you prepare them for college-level thinking, they may start believing in themselves.
But the most important part of my solution is finding out where the student's niche is. Once you do this, you can help give them self-confidence and use that activity to train them how to do college courses. Because there is PSEO (Post Secondary Enrollment Option) in Minnesota, I would encourage a student who I believe would benefit from college course. I would advise them to take a study skills course, which I took my first year and semester of PSEO, and it was a really easy and sort of interesting class. By showing the student that they can pass this class (Which is a college class), it may just give the student confidence in thinking that "Oh, wow, I can do this college thing."
So planting the seed will be different for each student, for some students it may be the PSEO option, for others, it may be something like the STEP program, or AP program. Any number of things can be done to encourage and help the student recognize that they can do that terrifying thing that they call college.
But the most important part of my solution is finding out where the student's niche is. Once you do this, you can help give them self-confidence and use that activity to train them how to do college courses. Because there is PSEO (Post Secondary Enrollment Option) in Minnesota, I would encourage a student who I believe would benefit from college course. I would advise them to take a study skills course, which I took my first year and semester of PSEO, and it was a really easy and sort of interesting class. By showing the student that they can pass this class (Which is a college class), it may just give the student confidence in thinking that "Oh, wow, I can do this college thing."
So planting the seed will be different for each student, for some students it may be the PSEO option, for others, it may be something like the STEP program, or AP program. Any number of things can be done to encourage and help the student recognize that they can do that terrifying thing that they call college.
Global Achievement Gap- Chapter 3: Testing 1 2 3
Question: To what extent do the state tests assess the skills that mattert most for work, citizenship and college?
- No use or way of assessing 7 survival skills on standardized state tests.
- Science and math knowledge doesn't really affect lifelong success.
- People who support NCLB say that there is proven fact that taking high level math or science classes results in better success in life.
- What they did not factor in is the fact that a correlation between two things does NOT give a cause and affect relationship.
- Example: Ice cream leads to more drownings. (In reality, ice cream and drowning have something in common, most likely it is summer out which is why a person would be swimming and they are having ice cream. Two correlated things that I just used to "prove" cause and affect.)
- The NCLB law affects students pointlessly, it assesses students using multiple choice, which is pointless because it doesn't require you to think.
- There are good test that do assess some of the 7 survival skills
- Open-ended questions and tests that require you to explain your reasoning for giving that answer.
- Open-ended tests cost a lot more money than standardized tests that use multiple choice
- It is easier to give multiple choice because it is easier to correct.
- AP classes are rigourous.
- But only for tests, it is all to get you ready to take a test.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Take the Lead Part 4
"As I look around, all I see are choices; I do not see a single reject." Pierre Dulaine
This correlates to my teaching philosophy in that every student begins my class with a clean slate. It is really interesting to see this played out with Dulaine's character on his students. It really makes that idea to me even more cemented into that philosophy.
In the juvenile justice system, and even in regular schools as well as alternative schools, students need this. Especially, I believe, students with EBD, because they are a bunch of students who are tough to handle emotionally and sometimes physically. But, I think that all they need in order to begin developing relationships with others is to be told that they are not their behavior. They are not what they have done in the past. That it is okay to not know who they are, because not many students at that age do know who they are.
I hope that one day I will be able to say these things to students who have begun to believe what the school system has told them, that they are their behavior.
This correlates to my teaching philosophy in that every student begins my class with a clean slate. It is really interesting to see this played out with Dulaine's character on his students. It really makes that idea to me even more cemented into that philosophy.
In the juvenile justice system, and even in regular schools as well as alternative schools, students need this. Especially, I believe, students with EBD, because they are a bunch of students who are tough to handle emotionally and sometimes physically. But, I think that all they need in order to begin developing relationships with others is to be told that they are not their behavior. They are not what they have done in the past. That it is okay to not know who they are, because not many students at that age do know who they are.
I hope that one day I will be able to say these things to students who have begun to believe what the school system has told them, that they are their behavior.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Take the Lead- Arts Education
Tony Wagner's Global Achievement Gap, one of his seven survival skills was creativity. And I believe that art education is the best way of nurturing this skill. Now, I am going to do something somewhat creative and combine the philosophy of the survival skill of creativity from Wagner's Global Achievement Gap with Milton Chen's Education Nation in the both-and category as well as the curriculum edge.
So, we can look at this issue, art education, as an either/or situation. So, either we teach the generals for the test or we teach art education. But, why can't it be both? I propose a rather creative way of combining these two. If you are talking about geometry, make the students paint an isosceles triangle or the never-ending half-triangle trick (You take any kind of triangle, equilateral works the best, and you draw a line to split it in half. Then, with those two parts, you draw a line to split those two in half and keep drawing lines to split it in half.). By doing this, you are promoting creativity by allowing the students to draw any kind of isosceles triangle in any color. Thus, this is combining the core concepts that are taught on tests with the art education.
Art education is important, and by art education, I mean more than just art. I am talking theater, music, etc. So, let's look at theater because this can be another both-and thing only for an English class as well as a study skills class (I will describe why in a minute). So, in the theater, the actor typically has to memorize their lines. But, once an actor becomes proficient enough, they are no longer saying the lines from memory, they are feeling the lines and understanding why they are saying those lines. But with memorization comes the strengthening of three different kinds of learning. It is strengthening the reading, kinesthetic, and auditory memory/learning of students. This is the reason why, they have to read the script in order to know what they are supposed to say. So, part of the memorization of their lines comes from reading. The auditory memory/learning is strengthened by recognizing in time that there is are words that are said before your line, as well as lines that are said after you say your line. So, it is strengthening your recognition that "Oh, they are saying this, so my line is right after this." Finally, and this one may not make much sense on the get-go, but acting helps strengthen kinesthetic memory. It does this by the director telling the actor to move stage left when they are saying this. So, they will recognize that they are supposed to move at this line, what was that line, oh, yeah, that is what the line is.
I am an actor, and that is why I typically always, for some reason, score the same on all learning styles inventories. So, either this works, or I'm an odd person (Which is very possible).
So, we can look at this issue, art education, as an either/or situation. So, either we teach the generals for the test or we teach art education. But, why can't it be both? I propose a rather creative way of combining these two. If you are talking about geometry, make the students paint an isosceles triangle or the never-ending half-triangle trick (You take any kind of triangle, equilateral works the best, and you draw a line to split it in half. Then, with those two parts, you draw a line to split those two in half and keep drawing lines to split it in half.). By doing this, you are promoting creativity by allowing the students to draw any kind of isosceles triangle in any color. Thus, this is combining the core concepts that are taught on tests with the art education.
Art education is important, and by art education, I mean more than just art. I am talking theater, music, etc. So, let's look at theater because this can be another both-and thing only for an English class as well as a study skills class (I will describe why in a minute). So, in the theater, the actor typically has to memorize their lines. But, once an actor becomes proficient enough, they are no longer saying the lines from memory, they are feeling the lines and understanding why they are saying those lines. But with memorization comes the strengthening of three different kinds of learning. It is strengthening the reading, kinesthetic, and auditory memory/learning of students. This is the reason why, they have to read the script in order to know what they are supposed to say. So, part of the memorization of their lines comes from reading. The auditory memory/learning is strengthened by recognizing in time that there is are words that are said before your line, as well as lines that are said after you say your line. So, it is strengthening your recognition that "Oh, they are saying this, so my line is right after this." Finally, and this one may not make much sense on the get-go, but acting helps strengthen kinesthetic memory. It does this by the director telling the actor to move stage left when they are saying this. So, they will recognize that they are supposed to move at this line, what was that line, oh, yeah, that is what the line is.
I am an actor, and that is why I typically always, for some reason, score the same on all learning styles inventories. So, either this works, or I'm an odd person (Which is very possible).
Take the Lead Part 3
Antonio Banderas' character recognizes that his students do not like the music or dancing that he is teaching them. So, on his 3rd seen day in the movie, he shifts things up and brings in a different kind of music and dancing. Dancing that, according to the woman of the day before, is about romance and beauty.
This is just an excellent example of adaptation of curriculum. However, he won't teach them the tango until they have "earned it." This is just an awesome movie so far.
This is just an excellent example of adaptation of curriculum. However, he won't teach them the tango until they have "earned it." This is just an awesome movie so far.
Take the Lead Part 2
Antonio Banderas uses a very fascinating classroom management technique of negative reinforcement by playing songs that they hate. He keeps playing it until they do what he says, and actually turns up the loudness of this song and they actually do what he asked them to do in order to stop the music.
This is a perfect example of negative reinforcement where you are reinforcing the students to do something that you want them to do by removing something that they do not like. It is very fascinating. By moving forward into the line, the music stops.
This is a perfect example of negative reinforcement where you are reinforcing the students to do something that you want them to do by removing something that they do not like. It is very fascinating. By moving forward into the line, the music stops.
Take the Lead
So, at this moment, I am watching the movie "Take the Lead" with Antonio Banderas as a ballroom dance teacher who ends up in an urban city school.
Near the beginning of the movie, Banderas' character gives a perfect example of the time/place edge talked about in Milton Chen's Education Nation. He continually opens the door for everyone going out of the principal's office. There is a student next to him who keeps chiding him for doing this, saying "You ain't even gettin' their digits." But, he just maintains that it is the right thing to do, and so he will keep doing it. He holds the door open for three women and then sits back down and says "See, all three of them smiled at me as they were walking out." This is a perfect example of every moment can be a teaching moment.
Also, it was interesting to see the principal's reaction to Banderas' character opening the door for everyone. She just thinks that he is a freak and tells her secretary to get the security ready for her meeting with this guy. As he is going into her office, the student whom he was sitting by opens the door for a woman and the principal yells at him to "sit down." It is interesting because he was a much better teacher than she was at that present moment. He taught this guy manners, but the guy was all "that's idiotic, man." But, Banderas' character planted a seed in the student's brain to open a door for people.
Near the beginning of the movie, Banderas' character gives a perfect example of the time/place edge talked about in Milton Chen's Education Nation. He continually opens the door for everyone going out of the principal's office. There is a student next to him who keeps chiding him for doing this, saying "You ain't even gettin' their digits." But, he just maintains that it is the right thing to do, and so he will keep doing it. He holds the door open for three women and then sits back down and says "See, all three of them smiled at me as they were walking out." This is a perfect example of every moment can be a teaching moment.
Also, it was interesting to see the principal's reaction to Banderas' character opening the door for everyone. She just thinks that he is a freak and tells her secretary to get the security ready for her meeting with this guy. As he is going into her office, the student whom he was sitting by opens the door for a woman and the principal yells at him to "sit down." It is interesting because he was a much better teacher than she was at that present moment. He taught this guy manners, but the guy was all "that's idiotic, man." But, Banderas' character planted a seed in the student's brain to open a door for people.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Cultural Incompetence
In the Holiday 2010 issue of Scholastic Instructor, on page 10, there is a clear example of cultural incompetence. The page is entitled "IdeaSwap: Winter Activities" and the article is "Christmas around the World." It talks about different ideas for arts and crafts that all revolve around Christmas. They also say that they talk about Israel and they paint a menorah.
The fact that they put Israel's menorah under Christmas just annoys me a lot because Christmas is for Christians. CHRISTmas, so it could be looked at as offensive by people who are not Christian. If you look at our population right now in this school district of Somalians, there are a lot of Muslim Somalians in the schools right now. Are we really going to teach about Christmas and say that we are going to do Christmas arts and crafts? That is unacceptable to make students feel marginalized because they are not Christian, therefore, they may feel like they are a freak for not being Christian.
It just disappoints me that this is in a teacher's magazine and many teachers are going to think "Wow, this is a great idea, I'm going to do it." And by doing it, they marginalize their students who are not Christian.
Holidays around the world would be better to teach. Talk about all of the holidays around the world during the Christmas season. Granted, this is a heroes and holidays approach, but this is better than the approach that the magazine takes. Because it doesn't marginalize anyone.
The fact that they put Israel's menorah under Christmas just annoys me a lot because Christmas is for Christians. CHRISTmas, so it could be looked at as offensive by people who are not Christian. If you look at our population right now in this school district of Somalians, there are a lot of Muslim Somalians in the schools right now. Are we really going to teach about Christmas and say that we are going to do Christmas arts and crafts? That is unacceptable to make students feel marginalized because they are not Christian, therefore, they may feel like they are a freak for not being Christian.
It just disappoints me that this is in a teacher's magazine and many teachers are going to think "Wow, this is a great idea, I'm going to do it." And by doing it, they marginalize their students who are not Christian.
Holidays around the world would be better to teach. Talk about all of the holidays around the world during the Christmas season. Granted, this is a heroes and holidays approach, but this is better than the approach that the magazine takes. Because it doesn't marginalize anyone.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Nell
So, tonight I watched the movie "Nell" which stars Jodie Foster as a woman who seemingly speaks her own language. Just a quick comment, I have wanted to see this movie ever since I took the course on Speech Communications and Special Education. But, while I was watching this movie, I was trying to figure out how, or if, this movie related or affect how I am going to teach in the future.
To begin with, the very first scene with the character Nell in it shows her in a very negative light. Nell was not used to other people, so she freaked out when other people came into her cabin. That insight is shown later on in the movie. But, this goes back to a lot of what I have said before in my posts, if you accept a student at face value based on their behavior, you are betraying and failing them. If Liam Neeson's character had just continued what he thought right after she freaked out - that she belongs in a room with padded walls - he would not have gotten to know her or understand her language and subsequently her. There is a person behind every behavior, and the point of being a Special Educator is to find that person and find out why that behavior is occurring.
I am especially thinking now of the court scene with Nell where she uses Neeson's character as a translator. She says that she may appear more scared than others, but she just shows that she is scared. So nobody should be scared for her, because she can take care of herself. I hope that I can become a good enough friend or benefactor or whatever term you want to give it to my students. A person who that student who doesn't feel that they can trust anyone can trust.
To begin with, the very first scene with the character Nell in it shows her in a very negative light. Nell was not used to other people, so she freaked out when other people came into her cabin. That insight is shown later on in the movie. But, this goes back to a lot of what I have said before in my posts, if you accept a student at face value based on their behavior, you are betraying and failing them. If Liam Neeson's character had just continued what he thought right after she freaked out - that she belongs in a room with padded walls - he would not have gotten to know her or understand her language and subsequently her. There is a person behind every behavior, and the point of being a Special Educator is to find that person and find out why that behavior is occurring.
I am especially thinking now of the court scene with Nell where she uses Neeson's character as a translator. She says that she may appear more scared than others, but she just shows that she is scared. So nobody should be scared for her, because she can take care of herself. I hope that I can become a good enough friend or benefactor or whatever term you want to give it to my students. A person who that student who doesn't feel that they can trust anyone can trust.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Bubble Children
On page 71 of Tony Wagner's The Global Achievement Gap, he talks about students who are called "Bubble Children." Students who are bubble children are those students who can pass the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) test with just a little bit of help. The quote that he gives on pages 71 and 72 tell the teacher to split their class into three different groups. The group that can succeed without any help at all. The group that can succeed at the test with only a little bit of help. And finally, the "kids who have no chance of passing this year and the kids that don't count-the "hopeless cases"...
This is unacceptable, and yet it happens in classes way too much. Even when I was a student, before the NCLB became integral to graduate, they did this. I was always put into the last group of the "hopeless cases" because I was slow in some of the areas, especially math and science. But I had two teachers, one in math and one in science who helped me in ways that I don't think they even could realize.
The math teacher, Ms. Jagusch, was one of those terrifying women who give you nightmares because they are so scary. I had her for 6th grade math, and she showed me that I can do math. Up until that point, I reacted to math class much the same way I reacted to reading before fourth grade. I hated it, so I didn't focus because I couldn't even understand it. But she pulled me aside one day and said, "You are not an idiot, you can do this, I believe in you." To be told this by the scary teacher of the year was amazing. But unfortunately, I had from K-5 to catch up on, so I was still behind. But in college, we have to take this course called "Mathematics for Elementary Teachers" where you learn all about basic math. This helped me a lot.
Then, there was another teacher, whose name I cannot remember now. He was the best science teacher I ever have had, he was my 8th grade science teacher. The topic of science class that year was earth. Basically, meteorology, the rock cycle, magma vs. lava, etc. And he pulled me aside, just like Ms. Jagusch, "You can do this, if you need help, I am here to help you." But there was a hierarchy there again that I had missed just like in Math.
These students need our help, and just because they can't pass a test we are going to give up on them? That is not acceptable to me. I am okay with helping the "bubble children" but I refuse to give up on students who are "hopeless cases" because no one deserves to be labeled as a "hopeless case." And I think that that is what happens to many students who are diagnosed with EBD or any disability for that matter, people are afraid that they will catch the disability. Or people are uncomfortable around people with disabilities. This idea of a bubble child and then lower is unacceptable to me. All students need the education that their needs require, not the same education.
This is unacceptable, and yet it happens in classes way too much. Even when I was a student, before the NCLB became integral to graduate, they did this. I was always put into the last group of the "hopeless cases" because I was slow in some of the areas, especially math and science. But I had two teachers, one in math and one in science who helped me in ways that I don't think they even could realize.
The math teacher, Ms. Jagusch, was one of those terrifying women who give you nightmares because they are so scary. I had her for 6th grade math, and she showed me that I can do math. Up until that point, I reacted to math class much the same way I reacted to reading before fourth grade. I hated it, so I didn't focus because I couldn't even understand it. But she pulled me aside one day and said, "You are not an idiot, you can do this, I believe in you." To be told this by the scary teacher of the year was amazing. But unfortunately, I had from K-5 to catch up on, so I was still behind. But in college, we have to take this course called "Mathematics for Elementary Teachers" where you learn all about basic math. This helped me a lot.
Then, there was another teacher, whose name I cannot remember now. He was the best science teacher I ever have had, he was my 8th grade science teacher. The topic of science class that year was earth. Basically, meteorology, the rock cycle, magma vs. lava, etc. And he pulled me aside, just like Ms. Jagusch, "You can do this, if you need help, I am here to help you." But there was a hierarchy there again that I had missed just like in Math.
These students need our help, and just because they can't pass a test we are going to give up on them? That is not acceptable to me. I am okay with helping the "bubble children" but I refuse to give up on students who are "hopeless cases" because no one deserves to be labeled as a "hopeless case." And I think that that is what happens to many students who are diagnosed with EBD or any disability for that matter, people are afraid that they will catch the disability. Or people are uncomfortable around people with disabilities. This idea of a bubble child and then lower is unacceptable to me. All students need the education that their needs require, not the same education.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Chapter 1: Global Achievement Gap
So, according to Tony Wagner's book The Global Achievement Gap, there are two different gaps. The gap between our country and other countries. The other gap, which is the global achievement gap is about the difference between what students learn in school, and what students need to have learned for working outside of school.
Most of the chapter was dedicated to saying continually from many different perspectives that businesses, both those high tech buisinesses as well as manufacturing businesses, desire people who can ask good questions and think critically. And how schools teach how to memorize dates and pointless things like that rather than information.
In the chapter, Wagner talks about seven different survival skills in the 21st century knowledge economy. Each of these he feels is integral to surviving in this knowledge economy.
Most of the chapter was dedicated to saying continually from many different perspectives that businesses, both those high tech buisinesses as well as manufacturing businesses, desire people who can ask good questions and think critically. And how schools teach how to memorize dates and pointless things like that rather than information.
In the chapter, Wagner talks about seven different survival skills in the 21st century knowledge economy. Each of these he feels is integral to surviving in this knowledge economy.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
2 Million Minutes
It bugs me a lot that the students from China and India have to study for most of their day. They have so much homework that they don't really, by American standards, have a life.
Meanwhile, over here, we have little homework. The video said that high school students only have about one hour of homework per night and none on the weekends.
The students in China and India did not get into the places they wanted and they studied really hard. But students in America got into their schools of choice.
The driving force in China and India is complacency. They are no longer satisfied with their lives being the way that they are so they study really hard. But does this world reward them? No, it just keeps them from going to their dream colleges and into their dream fields.
Meanwhile, over here, we have little homework. The video said that high school students only have about one hour of homework per night and none on the weekends.
The students in China and India did not get into the places they wanted and they studied really hard. But students in America got into their schools of choice.
The driving force in China and India is complacency. They are no longer satisfied with their lives being the way that they are so they study really hard. But does this world reward them? No, it just keeps them from going to their dream colleges and into their dream fields.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
"Gay Michigan student defends suspended teacher"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20101115/us_yblog_thelookout/gay-michigan-student-defends-suspended-teacher
Two separate thoughts come to my head when I read this article. And I will share them, but I will rebuke one because I do not like it and I do not understand the backdrop of it.
The first thought that came to my mind is the thought that I am not happy with. The kid says that he was bullied until he attempted suicide at the age of 9 years old. I do not at all believe that that is wrong. But 9 years old to decide that you are gay, to me as a straight person, it just seems a little early. I wasn't even showing affection toward girls at that time. But, I cannot even begin to put into my mind that this is the truth for everyone. Everyone knows that I am the exception rather than the norm.
On the other hand, I am very happy that he is willing to be openly gay and express it at the age of fourteen years old. I just don't understand how people can bully him till he attempts suicide. So, I will work on this bias that I have, and work to destroy it and replace it with knowledge that sometimes it is obvious to the person at a young age that they are gay.
The other thought that comes to my mind is that that teacher stood up for his beliefs. He told a student to take off her belt buckle because it was the confederate flag belt that could have stood for something that was against the idea of anti-gay bullying awareness day. He stood up for his beliefs and for his students even though now he is suspended. I hope to be like that some day, fighting for students to have a safe environment where they feel that they are welcome and not be bullied or see someone wearing an anti-gay buckle (I admit that the confederate flag buckle is not necessarily anti-gay, but it could be implied). Even if that means that I will get suspended for a certain amount of time. I would do that for a student.
Two separate thoughts come to my head when I read this article. And I will share them, but I will rebuke one because I do not like it and I do not understand the backdrop of it.
The first thought that came to my mind is the thought that I am not happy with. The kid says that he was bullied until he attempted suicide at the age of 9 years old. I do not at all believe that that is wrong. But 9 years old to decide that you are gay, to me as a straight person, it just seems a little early. I wasn't even showing affection toward girls at that time. But, I cannot even begin to put into my mind that this is the truth for everyone. Everyone knows that I am the exception rather than the norm.
On the other hand, I am very happy that he is willing to be openly gay and express it at the age of fourteen years old. I just don't understand how people can bully him till he attempts suicide. So, I will work on this bias that I have, and work to destroy it and replace it with knowledge that sometimes it is obvious to the person at a young age that they are gay.
The other thought that comes to my mind is that that teacher stood up for his beliefs. He told a student to take off her belt buckle because it was the confederate flag belt that could have stood for something that was against the idea of anti-gay bullying awareness day. He stood up for his beliefs and for his students even though now he is suspended. I hope to be like that some day, fighting for students to have a safe environment where they feel that they are welcome and not be bullied or see someone wearing an anti-gay buckle (I admit that the confederate flag buckle is not necessarily anti-gay, but it could be implied). Even if that means that I will get suspended for a certain amount of time. I would do that for a student.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Critical Thinking Teachers
On page 16 of Tony Wagner's The Global Achievement Gap, Wagner quotes Annmarie Neal on what her definition of critical thinking. She says "Taking issues and situations and problems and going to root components; understanding how the problem evolved-looking at it froma systemic perspective and not accepting things at face value..."
I am going to be a special educator of students with Emotional and Behavioral Problems (EBD). If I take them at face value, I will only see bad kids. And bad kids are all most people see when they see students with EBD. I cannot afford to look at my future students in that way, because if I do, I am telling them that they are nothing but their actions of the past.
I need to see the students beyond the face value, because there is a reason that they are acting out. I can just make my job easier by not looking for the reason why they are behaving that way, but morally, I cannot. I need to see that the student is not their behavior, there is a reason behind the behavior and I need to figure it out.
This is another example of showing respect to the students, by showing them that I believe wholeheartedly that they are who they choose to be now, not what they are doing or have done in the past. This is especially true in the Juvenile Justice System where I plan on teaching in. They are humans who made bad decisions in the past, and they need to be shown that they are not only what they have done, but who they choose to be.
I am going to be a special educator of students with Emotional and Behavioral Problems (EBD). If I take them at face value, I will only see bad kids. And bad kids are all most people see when they see students with EBD. I cannot afford to look at my future students in that way, because if I do, I am telling them that they are nothing but their actions of the past.
I need to see the students beyond the face value, because there is a reason that they are acting out. I can just make my job easier by not looking for the reason why they are behaving that way, but morally, I cannot. I need to see that the student is not their behavior, there is a reason behind the behavior and I need to figure it out.
This is another example of showing respect to the students, by showing them that I believe wholeheartedly that they are who they choose to be now, not what they are doing or have done in the past. This is especially true in the Juvenile Justice System where I plan on teaching in. They are humans who made bad decisions in the past, and they need to be shown that they are not only what they have done, but who they choose to be.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Questions
On pages 2 and 3, Tony Wagner in his book The Global Achievement Gap, tells a story of talking with a CEO of a engineering company. And the number one quality that the CEO wanted from a candidate applying for a job is good at asking questions. So, here is are two quick little question stories.
Have you ever been in a class where a teacher asks a question that is open ended, and when you answer, the teacher shoots the answer down and says "No, you're wrong!"
Have you ever been in a class where the teacher asks you if you have any questions and when you ask the question that you are wondering, the teacher treats you like you are an idiot for not knowing the answer?
I have way too often. And this point is even discussed in Milton Chen's book Education Nation, on how too often schools are non verbally, and sometimes verbally, discouraging students from asking questions. Questions are an integral thing in this new society that Wagner talks about, a student needs to understand why 1+1=2 rather than just accepting it face value without deeply understanding it.
I love questions, I love to ask questions because the answer always usually surprises me if I don't know much about the topic. I love questions also because I ask them of others who may not know anything about it. If I ask a question like that, it is not a content based question, but a thought-based question. For instance, if we are talking about the No Child Left Behind Act, I would ask the person whom I am talking to a bunch of different question such as "Should children be tested every year?" "Should schools be held accountable for their students' success?" "Should standardized tests be used to assess whether the school, and therefore, the teacher, fails or not?" "Should the curriculum in the school be based completely on taking tests?" In roughly this order, to find some good things in the NCLB act, but also address the big problems with the law.
Thought provoking questions are tough for some, but they come very natural for me. For instance, I am in SPED 431 this semester "Colaboration skills and transition planning in diverse settings" and we were making a mind map on the goal of the transition Individual Educational Plan/Program process. And one of the first things among the students that was said was that the goal is to get a good job after high school, and I asked "Is it to get a good job?" And they replied with a change of answer to go to a good college after high school, and again I asked "Is the point of a transition plan to get into a good college?" And they answered by again changing their answer to earn money and I asked again, "Is earning lots of money the point of a transition plan? Or is it to find where the student is most happy in a post-secondary place, whether that be in education or a job?"
Questions are a pillar of education in this new society, both on the part of the teacher, as well as the students. The teacher should ask not only thought provoking questions but try and find out more about the students culture (the youth culture, their home culture, their religious culture, etc.). Be open to answers that you don't like when asking open-ended questions, and don't shoot them down, thank the student for responding and move on. Questions are beautiful, terrifying (if you are the one to answer them), fun, intimidating, but totally worthwhile.
Have you ever been in a class where a teacher asks a question that is open ended, and when you answer, the teacher shoots the answer down and says "No, you're wrong!"
Have you ever been in a class where the teacher asks you if you have any questions and when you ask the question that you are wondering, the teacher treats you like you are an idiot for not knowing the answer?
I have way too often. And this point is even discussed in Milton Chen's book Education Nation, on how too often schools are non verbally, and sometimes verbally, discouraging students from asking questions. Questions are an integral thing in this new society that Wagner talks about, a student needs to understand why 1+1=2 rather than just accepting it face value without deeply understanding it.
I love questions, I love to ask questions because the answer always usually surprises me if I don't know much about the topic. I love questions also because I ask them of others who may not know anything about it. If I ask a question like that, it is not a content based question, but a thought-based question. For instance, if we are talking about the No Child Left Behind Act, I would ask the person whom I am talking to a bunch of different question such as "Should children be tested every year?" "Should schools be held accountable for their students' success?" "Should standardized tests be used to assess whether the school, and therefore, the teacher, fails or not?" "Should the curriculum in the school be based completely on taking tests?" In roughly this order, to find some good things in the NCLB act, but also address the big problems with the law.
Thought provoking questions are tough for some, but they come very natural for me. For instance, I am in SPED 431 this semester "Colaboration skills and transition planning in diverse settings" and we were making a mind map on the goal of the transition Individual Educational Plan/Program process. And one of the first things among the students that was said was that the goal is to get a good job after high school, and I asked "Is it to get a good job?" And they replied with a change of answer to go to a good college after high school, and again I asked "Is the point of a transition plan to get into a good college?" And they answered by again changing their answer to earn money and I asked again, "Is earning lots of money the point of a transition plan? Or is it to find where the student is most happy in a post-secondary place, whether that be in education or a job?"
Questions are a pillar of education in this new society, both on the part of the teacher, as well as the students. The teacher should ask not only thought provoking questions but try and find out more about the students culture (the youth culture, their home culture, their religious culture, etc.). Be open to answers that you don't like when asking open-ended questions, and don't shoot them down, thank the student for responding and move on. Questions are beautiful, terrifying (if you are the one to answer them), fun, intimidating, but totally worthwhile.
Turning a School Bus into a School?
On page 140 of Milton Chen's Education Nation, Chen describes how a school district in Vail, Arizona, installed wi-fi devices onto all the school buses. He describes this in regards to the Time/Place Edge of Education. This is truly awesome to me, because it shows that the district really cares about their students and want their students to succeed so they installed wi-fi into the buses.
True education never stops beyond the school day. If you see a student outside of school at the grocery store, talk to them and use that opportunity as a teaching moment if you feel so inclined. For instance, say I am teaching the student math, and I see that the student just grabbed a bag of Doritos. I can ask them "If I had a 20 dollar bill, and that bag of Doritos costs 2 dollars, how many bags of Doritos can I buy, and don't forget about tax?"
Granted, if I did this every time I ran into a student, they would probably run far away anytime they see me because they don't want to be put on the spot. But it is an example of true teaching, where learning never stops once the school day and the school week and the school year are over.
True education never stops beyond the school day. If you see a student outside of school at the grocery store, talk to them and use that opportunity as a teaching moment if you feel so inclined. For instance, say I am teaching the student math, and I see that the student just grabbed a bag of Doritos. I can ask them "If I had a 20 dollar bill, and that bag of Doritos costs 2 dollars, how many bags of Doritos can I buy, and don't forget about tax?"
Granted, if I did this every time I ran into a student, they would probably run far away anytime they see me because they don't want to be put on the spot. But it is an example of true teaching, where learning never stops once the school day and the school week and the school year are over.
Schools obsolete, not failing
On page xxi of the introduction in Tony Wagner's book The Global Achievement Gap, Wagner says "School's haven't changed; the world has. And so our schools are not failing. Rather, they are obsolete..." This is an interesting and something that goes against what the mainstream culture is telling us.
Personally, for me, this statement is a breath of fresh air, because too often in the United States, we just want to find a scapegoat. And for a long time, at least since No Child Left Behind became a law, that blame has been put on the schools. The schools have failed, not that the schools are just really behind. I am reminded of a quote that Milton Chen used in his book Education Nation from Winston Churchil "Leave it up to the United States to finally join the World War once they have tried every other option and failed." We are behind in the United States, but this new generation of teachers can change that.
A good question is how can we change the system? Well, I'm sure that you may be guessing what I am about to say, but we need to change our mentality from an either/or thought to a both-and thought. So, rather than just teaching what the school requires you to teach, teach that AND the skills that students need to know in this society. Skills that are required for college and for post secondary jobs.
Our primary goal, as teachers and future teachers, should be the betterment of our students. We need to help our students find out who they are, what they want in their lives, and where can they be truly happy? We do this by being there for them as a listening ear when they are stressed, angry, or scared. We teach and treat them like they are human beings who can succeed at anything they want in the world, just reach for it. We, as teachers, need to be the teacher who can change that students life forever.
Personally, for me, this statement is a breath of fresh air, because too often in the United States, we just want to find a scapegoat. And for a long time, at least since No Child Left Behind became a law, that blame has been put on the schools. The schools have failed, not that the schools are just really behind. I am reminded of a quote that Milton Chen used in his book Education Nation from Winston Churchil "Leave it up to the United States to finally join the World War once they have tried every other option and failed." We are behind in the United States, but this new generation of teachers can change that.
A good question is how can we change the system? Well, I'm sure that you may be guessing what I am about to say, but we need to change our mentality from an either/or thought to a both-and thought. So, rather than just teaching what the school requires you to teach, teach that AND the skills that students need to know in this society. Skills that are required for college and for post secondary jobs.
Our primary goal, as teachers and future teachers, should be the betterment of our students. We need to help our students find out who they are, what they want in their lives, and where can they be truly happy? We do this by being there for them as a listening ear when they are stressed, angry, or scared. We teach and treat them like they are human beings who can succeed at anything they want in the world, just reach for it. We, as teachers, need to be the teacher who can change that students life forever.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Applied Behavior Analysis (SPED 431)
- Used to be called Behavior Modification
- IDEA mandates it in 1997 reauthorization
- Ideas
- 30 seconds watch them- describe behavior
- 30 seconds watch them for specific behavior
- "intervention is not based on the behavior - it is based on the function of that behavior."
- Why did the kid do that? Intervene against the reason, NOT behavior.
- Steps
- Observe the behavior
- Name it
- Use these elements to determine the function
- Antecedent- Who is around?
- Slow Triggers: Trigger reacts slowly (being bullied, hunger, etc.)
- Fast Triggers: Triggers that reacts very fast, different for every person (Haven't eaten in 24 hours and somebody is being sarcastic to you)
- Behavior
- Frequency: How much
- Intensity: How bad
- Duration: How long
- Latency: How soon it happens
- Topography: Detailed explanation of how behavior happened
- Consequences
- Reinforced: Likelihood increases
- Punished: Likelihood decreases
- Design an intervention (only if necessary)
- Implement it
- Reflect.
No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
- How do we incorporate diversity into education?
- Help lower test anxiety!
- Reading and Math
- What about science and social studies?
- 4 Pillars holding NCLB
- Stronger accountability for states and communities.
- Proven education methods
- More choices for parents
- Disadvantaged youth get same education
- Success = More Money (Is that right?)
- Race to the Top?
- Teachers are most important?
- Education as war?
- Provide resources
- It takes resources away if schools don't succeed or do well on tests.
- Argument for
- We are taking the ostrich approach by doing nothing.
- Ostrich approach is putting your head in the sand and ignoring the problem
- Law states teachers' fail
- Student comes in at 4th grade reading level in 7th grade. Teach him up to a 6th grade reading level, law says teachers fail.
- Measure the elephant vs. Feed the elephant (Milton Chen's Education Nation)
- Special Education and highly qualified teachers
- Many Special Education teachers teach main subjects, they are not highly qualified.
- Reason for education
- To teach students how to read, write, and do math
- To help students find out who they are
- To help students find their voice and help them respect each other
Monday, November 8, 2010
Field Experience #2 Day 1
So, today, I just watched from 11:10-2:10. I am not going to lie, it was pretty boring. But, I was pretty happy with one thing, the teacher is really good for his students. However, the feeling that I have about being in a classroom with a good teacher, I really question what my role is in this classroom. Because in my previous field experience, the teacher, I feel, was very negative for the students. But the teacher with whom I am with now is really a great teacher who cares about his students. One way that he shows me this is by calling all of his students "friends" instead of the typical call of "boys and girls."
This leads me to my next point, and I am recognizing that this is very sensitive. All of the students in his class are Somalian except for 1. I could not pronounce any of the students' names. It made me feel very uncomfortable that I can't say any of my students' names. It really makes me feel that I can't be tell them what to do (for instance tell them that they should not go into other classrooms that they do not belong to) when I do not know how to say their name.
I talked with the teacher a little bit afterwards and it was a very interesting conversation. He told me about how in the refugee camps, the kids have to fight for survival. And most of the time, they don't get any education when they are over there. So, this is there first experience with America as well as education. If they fight for survival and then come here, they may think that they have to fight for everything, and if they do, they will be suspended or expelled. Or diagnosed with EBD because they are behaving inappropriately in class or at recess. It is something for me to think about, how am I going to figure the student's past in the refugee camps with the referral process as well as a Transition IEP? The answer to that, I don't know.
This leads me to my next point, and I am recognizing that this is very sensitive. All of the students in his class are Somalian except for 1. I could not pronounce any of the students' names. It made me feel very uncomfortable that I can't say any of my students' names. It really makes me feel that I can't be tell them what to do (for instance tell them that they should not go into other classrooms that they do not belong to) when I do not know how to say their name.
I talked with the teacher a little bit afterwards and it was a very interesting conversation. He told me about how in the refugee camps, the kids have to fight for survival. And most of the time, they don't get any education when they are over there. So, this is there first experience with America as well as education. If they fight for survival and then come here, they may think that they have to fight for everything, and if they do, they will be suspended or expelled. Or diagnosed with EBD because they are behaving inappropriately in class or at recess. It is something for me to think about, how am I going to figure the student's past in the refugee camps with the referral process as well as a Transition IEP? The answer to that, I don't know.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Teaching: A Waste of Time or an Investment
On page 136 of Milton Chen's Education Nation, he talks about Scotland's creation of an educational intranet. It has a beautiful quote from John Gage where he says: "The problem with Americans is we think of education as a cost. But other nations think of it as an investment."
Now, I want to diverge from this quote into something that has been bothering me ever since I began thinking about becoming a teacher. So many teachers are only teaching for their paycheck. They are not teaching in order to better their students lives, not just the student's knowledge of reading, writing, and math.
So, in the movie "Freedom Writers," one of the students yells at Erin Gruwell to just work on her babysitting. And she looks at him incredulously and says "that's all you think this is?" And he responds with something to the lines of "Well, we ain't learning anything that can help out there in the real world." But Gruwell being shocked by being told that her students only think that school and teaching is a big babysitting job what speaks to me.
I can't look at my career in education in terms of a babysitting job, and yet I think that some teachers (at least ones who were educated a long time ago) look at education as. It is just a place where students go during the day to keep them out of trouble. But I know that it can be so much more, and I will help make it more. I will combine different things such as math and reading in mechanics (they have to know mathematics to do certain things like measure the length of that the bar is supposed to be, and they have to read some instructions some times.). But I need to find what they are interested in, and the whole world will then be at their fingertips.
I will do whatever necessary to help put the whole world in their fingertips, even if that means, like Gruwell, getting other jobs to pay for them to have it. But if one single teacher can help a student with their entire lives, it is totally worth working a bunch of jobs for it. I want to help these students, I am not my students' babysitter, but their teacher. And that means I must respect them and accept them for who they are and continually tell them that they are what they choose to be now, not what they have done in the past.
Now, I want to diverge from this quote into something that has been bothering me ever since I began thinking about becoming a teacher. So many teachers are only teaching for their paycheck. They are not teaching in order to better their students lives, not just the student's knowledge of reading, writing, and math.
So, in the movie "Freedom Writers," one of the students yells at Erin Gruwell to just work on her babysitting. And she looks at him incredulously and says "that's all you think this is?" And he responds with something to the lines of "Well, we ain't learning anything that can help out there in the real world." But Gruwell being shocked by being told that her students only think that school and teaching is a big babysitting job what speaks to me.
I can't look at my career in education in terms of a babysitting job, and yet I think that some teachers (at least ones who were educated a long time ago) look at education as. It is just a place where students go during the day to keep them out of trouble. But I know that it can be so much more, and I will help make it more. I will combine different things such as math and reading in mechanics (they have to know mathematics to do certain things like measure the length of that the bar is supposed to be, and they have to read some instructions some times.). But I need to find what they are interested in, and the whole world will then be at their fingertips.
I will do whatever necessary to help put the whole world in their fingertips, even if that means, like Gruwell, getting other jobs to pay for them to have it. But if one single teacher can help a student with their entire lives, it is totally worth working a bunch of jobs for it. I want to help these students, I am not my students' babysitter, but their teacher. And that means I must respect them and accept them for who they are and continually tell them that they are what they choose to be now, not what they have done in the past.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
“We All Have Special Needs”?
From Page 130-134, Milton Chen talks about how Assistive technology has actually helped people who don’t even have disabilities. I am absolutely fine with that being in there, because it is a chapter about technology and the classroom. But it really offends me the last sentence where he is quoting George Lucas “After all, when you think about it, we all have special needs.” There were many things in George Lucas’s quote that I disagree with. But this is the pinnacle of it.
We, people who do not have disabilities, cannot say that we have a disability if we do not have a disability. That leads to the question of: “What are disabilities and special needs?” Disability, according to dictionary.com, is “lack of adequate power, strength, or physical or mental ability; incapacity.” And the definition, also according to dictionary.com, is “The special education requirement of those with learning difficulties, emotional or behavioral problems, or physical disabilities.” According to Lucas’s quote, he should have said “…we all have disabilities.” not special needs.
I feel that this part of the chapter almost downplays people with disabilities (Person first language was just used there) by saying that the technology that was created for them is now used by us. And since we are using it, we then try to believe that we have disabilities. Lucas says “…has a type of disability. This can include students with learning disabilities [correct], students in remote areas [I didn’t know that was a disability], and students for whom English is a second language [WHAT!? students who are ELL have a disability because they can’t speak English?]”
To mix people with disabilities with people who are from other countries could be looked at as offensive. The reasoning behind this is that people with disabilities do not have a choice to have a disability or not (they cannot get rid of it). Students who are ELL are taught to speak English, and if they are equated with students with learning disabilities. I feel that I am not making any sense, but I just don’t think that it is right to mix students with disabilities with students who just have environmental deficiencies (remote area or brought up in a household that does not speak English). Deficiencies could also be looked at as offensive, so his quote just seems like a no-win situation.
Evaluation (Continued)- Self
So, in my previous post, I talked about other people evaluating me, now I want to talk about self-evaluation, and this is going to be tough for me. Because, personally, I am insanely hard on myself. Even going back as far as I can remember, I have been hard on myself. I had to have a tutor in elementary school because I was so behind in my classes (in regards to the basic skills of reading, math, spelling, everything). And whenever she would ask me how my day went, I would tell her that it went horrible. She would be taken aback and ask me what went wrong and I would tell her something to the lines of “I stubbed my toe.” So, if one thing goes wrong, the whole day is bad. I am working on ending this thought process, but in all reality it is who I am.
In life, I can see the bad very well, but it takes a lot of energy (and I would say courage, as well) to look for the good in all situations. But, I think that this has its advantages. The biggest advantage is that I can, before I do anything, look at a event or group that I want to start and I can see all of the arguments that could be used against it, and then combat those arguments with arguments for it. For example, let’s say that I want to start a drama group at the school that I teach at. I am able to see that administration may give me a very hard time to get that group started, and I can see that the arguments for not starting a drama group are things such as: finance, space, students, etc. And with this knowledge of what the administration may say, I am able to come up with counterarguments.
But, now I have gotten off topic, evaluating myself is going to be hard for me. It’s going to be hard for me because I am hard on myself, so if I have a student who I haven’t been able to connect to, I am going to evaluate myself very hard. But, it is going to make me strive harder to connect to that student, and get to know them, get to know what happens in their mind. Find out what causes them to start misbehaving and find a remedy to help them.
Evaluation- Student, Parent and Everyone
So, in the article entitled “Reinventing the U.S. History Class in Milton Chen’s Education Nation, Chen talks about how at the end of a Unit in his history class, Anthony Armstrong gives his students an evaluation evaluating the teacher. I believe that this is a very radical, and yet beautiful and smart thing to do. I say that because students are probably going to be honest if they don’t like the way that you are teaching. So, if we focus on what the students actually think about our teaching styles, we will truly become better teachers. Now, tying this in to last week’s presentation on Educational Philosophy, this idea of being evaluated by the student is very student-centered. So, here is another example of why I will be such a strong student-centered teacher.
While I was just thinking about Student evaluation of the teacher and lesson, I thought about the new TV show “Teach: Tony Danza” and in episode 2, he has a parent of a gifted student come in and tell him how her son evaluated him. She said that the first week, her son had given him a 6, and now, a week later, he gave Danza a 4. Now, this is a bit different, but it leads nicely into another person who can evaluate you. The parent.
I think that having an evaluation process maybe not each week, but once a month, with the parents evaluating you, would be a great idea. I say that because it can help bring parents in to help with anything, whether that be during the school day or at home. Parental involvement, especially in Special Education, is critical to student success both in school and once they are out of school. They would evaluate me on how well I connected with them that month, in regards to letting them know when conferences are, when I saw their teenager after school, when big assignments are due.
I would begin the school year by asking the parents to let me know how they would like me to communicate with them and in what capacity, do they want me to let them know when assignments are due, how their teenager is doing in school, what do they want me to notify them on? And how do they want me to notify them, to call them once a week, e-mail them every day, post assignments on a classroom blog? I will leave it up to the parent to decide to what degree they would like to be notified about things.
I will also be working, possibly, with Paraprofessionals (There is a more appropriate name for this now, but I can’t remember it). If I am working with Paraprofessionals, I would like them to evaluate me as well. In the beginning of the school year, just like with the parents, I will ask them what type of role they would like to have in my classroom. Would they like to help me teach a lesson, would they like to teach a lesson all by themselves with me helping behind the scenes, would they like to help with small groups? I would, again, leave it up to them to decide what they feel most comfortable about. In my classroom, there will be respect (because I give all the students respect, I hope that in time they will respect me), so the students will respect the Paraprofessional as well. So, I would ask them to evaluate me on how they feel that they are being treated by me and how I can make them feel more comfortable in my classroom.
I have two reasons for allowing the Paraprofessionals to teach all by themselves if they so wish. The first is that I could have them laminating things and cutting out laminations and making copies of worksheets (Which I don’t plan on using). But is that the best way to utilize the resource of the Paraprofessional? That point was brought up last week when Brad Kaffar came into my classroom for SPED 431 and talked about Co-teaching. The other reasoning behind why I will allow Paraprofessionals to teach if they wish is because they may wanted to become a teacher, but were too afraid that they couldn’t do it. If I can show them that they can, then it is going to be beautiful.
Finally, I plan on accepting Teacher Candidates and volunteers into my classroom, because I want to help them feel comfortable in the classroom. Because right now, I am not entirely comfortable being in a classroom. I want to be, and I was in my first field experience, but I don’t know if I am completely comfortable being in a classroom yet. Now, the evaluation here is just like that for the Paraprofessionals.
And with all who evaluate me, I hope to help them feel comfortable and at home when they are in my classroom because it is as much their classroom as it is mine.
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