Now that you have created your own blog and used it through the previous eight lessons, describe in detail how you will use your blogging skills in your classroom.
I’ve had a personal blog for several years now so I am quite familiar with Blogger and had always planned on using a blog for my classroom if my district allowed. I think a blog is a great way to communicate with students and parents and it allows a good central location for the class to connect.
I plan on using the blog to post outlines of the week’s plan for work as well as homework assignments. I would also like to post a thought question for the book we are currently reading and have the students post comments answering the question and also addressing other student comments in a respectful manner. I also plan on having a resource page where students can go to find links to citation sources and other reference materials. I would also like to have a page of significant quotes. As we read the various books I’d like the students to suggest quotes from the book that struck a chord in them and make a compilation of those quotes on my blog. A blog is a good way to stay connected with both parents and students and provide an easily accessible resource for keeping track of homework assignments and other needed resources.
Friday, September 6, 2013
Monday, August 19, 2013
Lesson 7
After reading and pondering the debate about teens lacking adult reasoning capacity, yet being held to adult consequences, what do you think this means for you as a teacher?
As a teacher I am a role model. Part of my responsibility is to help my students achieve the skills needed to increase their reasoning capacity. I need to provide opportunities for my students to practice their reasoning skills. Encouraging them to think through their actions and find out their motivations helps them develop these skills. Instead of just handing out consequences it is more helpful to have them reason out why the consequence is in effect and what behaviors led them to receiving that consequence. Helping them formulate a plan to avoid those behaviors in the future enables them to use those reasoning skills while being guided instead of just relying on them to figure it out on their own. Remembering they lack adult reasoning capacity can help me take a step back and not take things personally. It will allow me to better assess their motivations which in turn can guide my responses.
As a teacher I am a role model. Part of my responsibility is to help my students achieve the skills needed to increase their reasoning capacity. I need to provide opportunities for my students to practice their reasoning skills. Encouraging them to think through their actions and find out their motivations helps them develop these skills. Instead of just handing out consequences it is more helpful to have them reason out why the consequence is in effect and what behaviors led them to receiving that consequence. Helping them formulate a plan to avoid those behaviors in the future enables them to use those reasoning skills while being guided instead of just relying on them to figure it out on their own. Remembering they lack adult reasoning capacity can help me take a step back and not take things personally. It will allow me to better assess their motivations which in turn can guide my responses.
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Lesson 6
After watching the videos on Math and Music, how does this information impact you as a teacher?
As an English teacher my influence in the area of math will be indirect. I can support my fellow teacher’s efforts in the math classroom by offering assistance or finding ways to come up with projects that can cross the curricula. I can look for opportunities to use math skills the students are learning in our English curriculum.
Music is something I can utilize a great deal in my classroom. Playing happy, upbeat music as the students come in and get ready for the day can set a pleasing and welcoming mood. Using peaceful, calming music before a test can help students relax which can impact their brains’ ability to access the information we studied. Using music in teaching, such as rewriting lyrics, can help students learn information that needs to be memorized. If I notice our attention is lagging or we are getting tired I can use music as a quick pick me up and give students a short break. Relaxing and calm music could also help me reset my mood after a particularly challenging classroom session! Music effects mood and energy so choosing music carefully can help set the tone for learning that day. Currently I am a study hall teacher for the middle school of a small charter school. I allow the students to listen to music of their choice once in awhile as long the volume on their headphones remains low enough that I cannot hear it when standing next to them. I’ve noticed that the students who utilize this freedom actually remain more focused on their schoolwork and are less distracted by the students around them.
As an English teacher my influence in the area of math will be indirect. I can support my fellow teacher’s efforts in the math classroom by offering assistance or finding ways to come up with projects that can cross the curricula. I can look for opportunities to use math skills the students are learning in our English curriculum.
Music is something I can utilize a great deal in my classroom. Playing happy, upbeat music as the students come in and get ready for the day can set a pleasing and welcoming mood. Using peaceful, calming music before a test can help students relax which can impact their brains’ ability to access the information we studied. Using music in teaching, such as rewriting lyrics, can help students learn information that needs to be memorized. If I notice our attention is lagging or we are getting tired I can use music as a quick pick me up and give students a short break. Relaxing and calm music could also help me reset my mood after a particularly challenging classroom session! Music effects mood and energy so choosing music carefully can help set the tone for learning that day. Currently I am a study hall teacher for the middle school of a small charter school. I allow the students to listen to music of their choice once in awhile as long the volume on their headphones remains low enough that I cannot hear it when standing next to them. I’ve noticed that the students who utilize this freedom actually remain more focused on their schoolwork and are less distracted by the students around them.
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Lesson 5
After watching the videos on Language and Reading, how does this information impact you as a teacher?
As an English teacher I have a firm belief in the critical importance of reading daily both as a part of school work and for personal enjoyment. Reading encourages vocabulary development as well as critical thinking skills. I also firmly believe that students should be read aloud to and participate in reading aloud. Hearing the words spoken, especially while following along in their own books, encourages language development, even at upper grades.
Knowing a little bit about how language develops can help me if I have a student who is having difficulty with reading. Being able to identify areas of weakness can help me identify what strategies I can take to fill in gaps in prior education. Because I intend on teaching 7th-12th graders I may not utilize much of the information presented in the video but it forms a foundation for me to utilize when there are students with gaps in their language development. It also encourages me to support foreign language development in my classroom by collaborating with the foreign language teachers to see how we can create projects that will cross the classrooms and engage the students on multiple levels.
As an English teacher I have a firm belief in the critical importance of reading daily both as a part of school work and for personal enjoyment. Reading encourages vocabulary development as well as critical thinking skills. I also firmly believe that students should be read aloud to and participate in reading aloud. Hearing the words spoken, especially while following along in their own books, encourages language development, even at upper grades.
Knowing a little bit about how language develops can help me if I have a student who is having difficulty with reading. Being able to identify areas of weakness can help me identify what strategies I can take to fill in gaps in prior education. Because I intend on teaching 7th-12th graders I may not utilize much of the information presented in the video but it forms a foundation for me to utilize when there are students with gaps in their language development. It also encourages me to support foreign language development in my classroom by collaborating with the foreign language teachers to see how we can create projects that will cross the classrooms and engage the students on multiple levels.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Lesson 4
What does it mean to be relational as a teacher? How will you interact with your students to accomplish this?
Being relational means finding ways to interact and connect with your students. Part of this entails letting down your guard and letting them see the less formal/structured teacher side. Taking an interest in their music, the things they are reading, the movies they watch, the games they play, their extra-curricular activities - all these things contribute to being relational. Keeping a balance between friend and teacher can be tricky and it is crucial to always remember you are the teacher first and must act as such at all times but you can do this while still connecting with them as a friend. I unfortunately worked with a teacher who forgot she was a teacher and ended up becoming intimately involved with a student the year following the time I was in her classroom. She was young and new to teaching. There were times in the classroom that you could tell that she was inexperienced and she would banter with her kids as if she was one of them - forgetting to maintain the professional boundary. I did what I could as a parapro to model appropriate behavior with her but unfortunately did not have a significant enough impact. (I was a parapro for a special needs student that had her class for an hour each day). On the flip side another teacher I had opportunity to observe had what I would call a great example of being relational. She was friend with her students but also stayed in the boundaries of being a teacher and adult. She would laugh and joke with her students and was able to motivate them (including my own difficult child) to learn and study. Her students loved her and you could tell she loved them as well.
Being a friend to a student creates a bond of trust but it is important that the bond still have appropriate boundaries because of the inherent nature of the teacher-student arrangement. As a teacher I expect to joke and laugh with my students, take moments to have fun, discuss current events and entertainment and even listen to their music (and mine!) during the day when appropriate. But I also expect to be firm when required and direct the days’ events to continue achieving the educational goals set together and by the standards. I expect to treat them all as my children. As a mother I think I’ve done a fairly good job at keeping the balance of friend and “authority” and expect to carry that over into the classroom.
Being relational means finding ways to interact and connect with your students. Part of this entails letting down your guard and letting them see the less formal/structured teacher side. Taking an interest in their music, the things they are reading, the movies they watch, the games they play, their extra-curricular activities - all these things contribute to being relational. Keeping a balance between friend and teacher can be tricky and it is crucial to always remember you are the teacher first and must act as such at all times but you can do this while still connecting with them as a friend. I unfortunately worked with a teacher who forgot she was a teacher and ended up becoming intimately involved with a student the year following the time I was in her classroom. She was young and new to teaching. There were times in the classroom that you could tell that she was inexperienced and she would banter with her kids as if she was one of them - forgetting to maintain the professional boundary. I did what I could as a parapro to model appropriate behavior with her but unfortunately did not have a significant enough impact. (I was a parapro for a special needs student that had her class for an hour each day). On the flip side another teacher I had opportunity to observe had what I would call a great example of being relational. She was friend with her students but also stayed in the boundaries of being a teacher and adult. She would laugh and joke with her students and was able to motivate them (including my own difficult child) to learn and study. Her students loved her and you could tell she loved them as well.
Being a friend to a student creates a bond of trust but it is important that the bond still have appropriate boundaries because of the inherent nature of the teacher-student arrangement. As a teacher I expect to joke and laugh with my students, take moments to have fun, discuss current events and entertainment and even listen to their music (and mine!) during the day when appropriate. But I also expect to be firm when required and direct the days’ events to continue achieving the educational goals set together and by the standards. I expect to treat them all as my children. As a mother I think I’ve done a fairly good job at keeping the balance of friend and “authority” and expect to carry that over into the classroom.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Lesson 3
After watching the videos on Attention, Emotions and Learning, describe how this information impacts you as a teacher.
A teacher is with their students for a significant part of their waking hours. This being the case the teacher is going to see a wide range of emotional reactions from their students. Students will come to class "under the influence" of the experiences they have at home and outside the classroom. Being aware that stress and emotion impacts learning can help the teacher use classroom time in productive ways. Providing time for students to transition from one activity to another, to process the information they have been studying and to be creative can help students have a more engaged learning process. Emotions effect everything we do. By making the learning environment a nurturing one students are more easily able to focus their attention on learning. Encouraging positive expressions and relationships among students as well as allowing for the safe discussion of emotions, fears and worries can facilitate a healthy learning environment. Making sure students have the necessary resources can decrease the stress they feel when assigned a certain task which in turn makes it more likely they will be successful in the assignment. Eric Jensen says in his book Brain Based Learning, "When we feel right, we can think better" (2008). Realizing our brains are highly sensitive to our emotions enables the teacher to be aware of the emotions of their students and in turn influences their emotional reaction to the students' behavior. Being a positive emotional role model such as sharing a love of learning, encourages students to have emotionally healthy reactions to learning. Helping students identify the emotions they felt when reading a particular passage for instance helps to cement that learning in their memory.
Students (and teachers!) are sponges and they will pick up on every verbal and non-verbal cue a teacher gives out. Our facial expressions and attitudes will influence the student almost more than what we are saying. Sending positive and encouraging messages to students will help them gain self-confidence in their work. Providing the "Goldilocks" level of challenge - not too hard or they are frustrated and not too easy or they are bored - encourages learning and satisfaction which influences self-confidence.
One of my favorite quotes (though I am unable to remember the source) says that "Education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire". My goal as a teacher is to light that fire of learning under a student so they want to learn both in and out of the classroom. My job is not to just pump them full of knowledge but to help them make knowledge a part of them and a desire for lifelong learning.
Jensen, E. (2008). Brain-based learning, the new paradigm of teaching. (2 ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
A teacher is with their students for a significant part of their waking hours. This being the case the teacher is going to see a wide range of emotional reactions from their students. Students will come to class "under the influence" of the experiences they have at home and outside the classroom. Being aware that stress and emotion impacts learning can help the teacher use classroom time in productive ways. Providing time for students to transition from one activity to another, to process the information they have been studying and to be creative can help students have a more engaged learning process. Emotions effect everything we do. By making the learning environment a nurturing one students are more easily able to focus their attention on learning. Encouraging positive expressions and relationships among students as well as allowing for the safe discussion of emotions, fears and worries can facilitate a healthy learning environment. Making sure students have the necessary resources can decrease the stress they feel when assigned a certain task which in turn makes it more likely they will be successful in the assignment. Eric Jensen says in his book Brain Based Learning, "When we feel right, we can think better" (2008). Realizing our brains are highly sensitive to our emotions enables the teacher to be aware of the emotions of their students and in turn influences their emotional reaction to the students' behavior. Being a positive emotional role model such as sharing a love of learning, encourages students to have emotionally healthy reactions to learning. Helping students identify the emotions they felt when reading a particular passage for instance helps to cement that learning in their memory.
Students (and teachers!) are sponges and they will pick up on every verbal and non-verbal cue a teacher gives out. Our facial expressions and attitudes will influence the student almost more than what we are saying. Sending positive and encouraging messages to students will help them gain self-confidence in their work. Providing the "Goldilocks" level of challenge - not too hard or they are frustrated and not too easy or they are bored - encourages learning and satisfaction which influences self-confidence.
One of my favorite quotes (though I am unable to remember the source) says that "Education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire". My goal as a teacher is to light that fire of learning under a student so they want to learn both in and out of the classroom. My job is not to just pump them full of knowledge but to help them make knowledge a part of them and a desire for lifelong learning.
Jensen, E. (2008). Brain-based learning, the new paradigm of teaching. (2 ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Friday, July 5, 2013
Lesson 2
After watching the videos on Vision and Hearing, describe how this information impacts you as a teacher.
Because the window for the neural connections to form in the vision system is so short students in my classroom will have already long finished this stage of development. The impact as a teacher will be in understanding if there are visual issues as well as looking for signs of visual problems that could be impacting the student's learning. Getting to know my students and being aware of warning signs that I can look for can enable me to let parents and the student know if further evaluation by a specialist is needed. As a middle or high school teacher I may not be with the student for a significant amount of time. I may not catch signs that a teacher or person who is with the student for more time might catch but being aware and watchful could help if a warning sign is presenting itself. I also need to be aware that sometimes the eyes can get overwhelmed by sensory input and providing a calming space that the eyes can rest can also help enhance the learning environment. Walls that are covered with information and posters can detract from learning by providing too much visual stimulation.
Likewise, auditory input impacts learning. In the classroom it is important to avoid constant, repetitive sounds and loud noises that could damage hearing. Hopefully this would never be an issue in a classroom! Being aware of the auditory stimulation going on around the classroom both in and out is important. Listening to and playing music can enhance the learning process as well as create a calm mood that can help students relax and learn. Being aware that some students may have a special need requiring the use of headphones and mp3 players is also important. Sometimes a student needs that "background" sound to keep them calm and focused. I experienced this as a paraprofessional and as a parent. Teaching students the importance of keeping the volume down on headphones is also important even if it seems they aren't listening to that piece of advice!
Both vision and hearing greatly impact the ability to learn and staying aware of potential problems as well as creating a healthy visual and auditory environment will be of great importance as a teacher.
Because the window for the neural connections to form in the vision system is so short students in my classroom will have already long finished this stage of development. The impact as a teacher will be in understanding if there are visual issues as well as looking for signs of visual problems that could be impacting the student's learning. Getting to know my students and being aware of warning signs that I can look for can enable me to let parents and the student know if further evaluation by a specialist is needed. As a middle or high school teacher I may not be with the student for a significant amount of time. I may not catch signs that a teacher or person who is with the student for more time might catch but being aware and watchful could help if a warning sign is presenting itself. I also need to be aware that sometimes the eyes can get overwhelmed by sensory input and providing a calming space that the eyes can rest can also help enhance the learning environment. Walls that are covered with information and posters can detract from learning by providing too much visual stimulation.
Likewise, auditory input impacts learning. In the classroom it is important to avoid constant, repetitive sounds and loud noises that could damage hearing. Hopefully this would never be an issue in a classroom! Being aware of the auditory stimulation going on around the classroom both in and out is important. Listening to and playing music can enhance the learning process as well as create a calm mood that can help students relax and learn. Being aware that some students may have a special need requiring the use of headphones and mp3 players is also important. Sometimes a student needs that "background" sound to keep them calm and focused. I experienced this as a paraprofessional and as a parent. Teaching students the importance of keeping the volume down on headphones is also important even if it seems they aren't listening to that piece of advice!
Both vision and hearing greatly impact the ability to learn and staying aware of potential problems as well as creating a healthy visual and auditory environment will be of great importance as a teacher.
Friday, June 21, 2013
Lesson 1
After watching the videos on brain architecture, plasticity, and understanding the impact of the environment on a child, how does this information impact you as a teacher?
As a high school teacher I will see a wide variety of students come through my classroom. Each student will come with their own unique experiences and thus their own unique brain structure. Fortunately their brains are still developing and I can influence that development. Some students will come experiencing stress of poverty, poor nutrition and even abuse. These experiences will influence their behavior in the classroom and especially their ability to learn. The challenge is finding ways to engage all the students on their own level to facilitate and nurture the desire to learn. Being flexible will be a key component in effective teaching. Will there be some students I can't reach? That is a reality of teaching. But as a teacher I have to try my very best to find ways to connect with and encourage each student to want to learn. Once that individual spark of learning ignites in a student then the student will be able to learn anything! I heard a quote once that education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire and I believe that is true. Understanding how the brain works and the impact of the environment on brain development will help me find ways to build and ignite that fire of learning and it is my hope that if I can just do my very best that all students will go away from my classroom with positive experiences.
As a high school teacher I will see a wide variety of students come through my classroom. Each student will come with their own unique experiences and thus their own unique brain structure. Fortunately their brains are still developing and I can influence that development. Some students will come experiencing stress of poverty, poor nutrition and even abuse. These experiences will influence their behavior in the classroom and especially their ability to learn. The challenge is finding ways to engage all the students on their own level to facilitate and nurture the desire to learn. Being flexible will be a key component in effective teaching. Will there be some students I can't reach? That is a reality of teaching. But as a teacher I have to try my very best to find ways to connect with and encourage each student to want to learn. Once that individual spark of learning ignites in a student then the student will be able to learn anything! I heard a quote once that education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire and I believe that is true. Understanding how the brain works and the impact of the environment on brain development will help me find ways to build and ignite that fire of learning and it is my hope that if I can just do my very best that all students will go away from my classroom with positive experiences.
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