The keynote speaker is from a nonprofit that promotes change in education. For an older man, he seems to be on the cutting edge of the notion that educational methods need to change in order to "fix schools." But I also think the standards have changed since the internet makes finding and accessing information so much easier. "Every job is a learning job." It's a rare job that doesn't evolve over time anymore, that doesn't require constantly updating skills, learning new ones and discarding outdated ones. Why shouldn't the same be said for teachers? It's not a matter of fixing teacher preparation--it's a matter of making more technology available to enhance classroom lessons, using the technology to engage the students in the classroom instead of the old model where they sat passively maybe absorbing knowledge maybe just absorbing enough to pass the exam. We know that doesn't work any longer for the majority of students.
He talks about changing schools from teaching organizations to learning organizations--which all makes perfect sense to me. This doesn't seem so radical to me. But then I've never had a teacher who really made an impression on me, who inspired me to achieve or push myself so maybe that's why I believe the success lies within the student and a good teacher is only one of many catalysts for that success. I have seen teachers who seem to get a vicarious thrill when they fail students, as if it's the students' fault. I want to see students succeed and not get constant messages of how they fall short of expectations.
Learning teams seems like a great way to approach any type of lesson, a way to incorporate many disciplines within one lesson. To have the math teacher and the social studies teacher and the language arts teacher all collaborate on a lesson that involves the Great Depression and the World War--through a mixture of media and techniques and methods--it would be a novel lesson that would sure to be engaging.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Blogging and using technology as routine
At this point I am somewhat comfortable blogging but I don't feel that my posts have anything of substance to contribute. It is difficult for me to write about myself since I am accustomed to writing without putting any of my own opinions and perspectives into whatever subject I am writing about--or at least that's how I learned to write as a journalist. But I am no longer a journalist. I have a new career and I am trying to be a teacher and find a full time position so this second career can officially start. I like the Learning Through Technology course and I have discovered that there are thousands of web sites geared to teaching and education and I found out that I meet the criteria to be an HQT but other than that there hasn't been a lot that I could use in the classroom, or at least not yet.
In the year that I have been substituting primarily middle school I have learned a lot, mostly from the students themselves. For the most part I have found teachers to be not particularly friendly or helpful to substitute teachers. I had one teacher say she was going to make it an easy day for me and then left a substitute plan which entailed showing the 7th grade science classes a movie called Lava Blast that had actors dressed in costumes with clown-like make up and dialog that was better suited to 3rd graders than 7th graders. The students found it juvenile and it was actually quite a difficult day for me since it was somewhat of a joke when I was reprimanding them to be respectful and be attentive for a movie that was obviously meant for a much younger audience. One class just laughed the whole way through the movie and that was the easiest class of the day. The other classes were justifiably bored and disinterested. I would have had an "easier" day if we had done a review of a previous lesson or gone over a study guide or at least something productive that made the kids offer something. It's ironic to be learning about technology in the classroom when the only computer in the classrooms I've been in is the one on the teacher's desk. When technology is used it's usually a student who has to help me figure out how to coordinate the TV with the DVD player and determining which of the two remotes have the correct button to get the right input signal to play a DVD or video. A very passive use of technology by any standard.
Meanwhile, there's the teachers who have misspelled words sprinkled throughout EVERYTHING--class posters, self-made worksheets, notes on the board, homework assignments, project assignment rubrics, even in math word problems. There was a second grade class that I substituted for and the teacher had left a a 6-page math packet for the students with "Maching numbers" titled on one page and other misspelled words and typos throughout. Is that my journalism snobbism rearing its compulsive proofreading head? Or how about a language arts teacher who is aware of my journalism background but hasn't offered to let me volunteer to help on the school newspaper although I offered my help and expressed my willingness to just lend a hand? I am trying not to fret about this window of time that is happening now as schools prepare for next year and I am wondering if I will get to teach in a classroom of my own in September and why I haven't had any responses from my applications for teaching positions. So it's very nerve wracking to be stressing about doing my coursework for the very first of my graduate school courses while I am substituting every chance I get and working nights and weekends at a diner. Of course once summer comes it won't be quite so hectic but for right now it's a little much. And because my college transcript is so abysmal I really need to do well in this course for my provisional acceptance. And I am somewhat perplexed that part of a teaching application includes my college transcript when I graduated nearly 30 years ago and that transcript in no way indicates my capabilities and commitment to being a competent and inspiring teacher. I was not a very serious student though I have always been serious about my writing and a worked on several newspapers during the last 30 years in addition to copious proofreading and editing.
I know I am on the right path because the kids are telling me in their way that they appreciate me. I have to think about the hug I got from one 8th grade student who is chronically in detention and constantly bemoaned by other teachers because she doesn't take her "meds" regularly. I think she likes me so much because one day when I was the language arts teacher sub she was disruptive, wandering in and out of class at least once, refusing to focus and generally living in a world of her own. I gave her a detention and felt a distinct sense of frustration. It so happened that I was substituting the next day for that very same teacher so when she came in the class and everyone was seated I gave the students the task for the day. I went to her and told her that she was going to be productive and that I was going to help her make progress on the project that all the students were working on. I spent maybe a few minutes going over directions with her, prompting her on a few responses and guiding her through the lesson that included reading The Walrus and the Carpenter out loud with her. She completed a few pages of a multi-page packet and ever since that day she has been my biggest fan.
Or the students who say "Oh it's you Mrs. Izard. You're my favorite substitute," and I get to hear that at least once a day when I'm there. Or when, before the bell rings there is a ring of students around my chair all taking turns talking to me about lunch or school or assignments or their plans. It's just those little things like that that make me look forward to a day of being at school with the kids. I'm using every opportunity I have to teach them something even if it's just good manners. So I think if my heart is in the right place then everything else should follow.
Yeah right.
In the year that I have been substituting primarily middle school I have learned a lot, mostly from the students themselves. For the most part I have found teachers to be not particularly friendly or helpful to substitute teachers. I had one teacher say she was going to make it an easy day for me and then left a substitute plan which entailed showing the 7th grade science classes a movie called Lava Blast that had actors dressed in costumes with clown-like make up and dialog that was better suited to 3rd graders than 7th graders. The students found it juvenile and it was actually quite a difficult day for me since it was somewhat of a joke when I was reprimanding them to be respectful and be attentive for a movie that was obviously meant for a much younger audience. One class just laughed the whole way through the movie and that was the easiest class of the day. The other classes were justifiably bored and disinterested. I would have had an "easier" day if we had done a review of a previous lesson or gone over a study guide or at least something productive that made the kids offer something. It's ironic to be learning about technology in the classroom when the only computer in the classrooms I've been in is the one on the teacher's desk. When technology is used it's usually a student who has to help me figure out how to coordinate the TV with the DVD player and determining which of the two remotes have the correct button to get the right input signal to play a DVD or video. A very passive use of technology by any standard.
Meanwhile, there's the teachers who have misspelled words sprinkled throughout EVERYTHING--class posters, self-made worksheets, notes on the board, homework assignments, project assignment rubrics, even in math word problems. There was a second grade class that I substituted for and the teacher had left a a 6-page math packet for the students with "Maching numbers" titled on one page and other misspelled words and typos throughout. Is that my journalism snobbism rearing its compulsive proofreading head? Or how about a language arts teacher who is aware of my journalism background but hasn't offered to let me volunteer to help on the school newspaper although I offered my help and expressed my willingness to just lend a hand? I am trying not to fret about this window of time that is happening now as schools prepare for next year and I am wondering if I will get to teach in a classroom of my own in September and why I haven't had any responses from my applications for teaching positions. So it's very nerve wracking to be stressing about doing my coursework for the very first of my graduate school courses while I am substituting every chance I get and working nights and weekends at a diner. Of course once summer comes it won't be quite so hectic but for right now it's a little much. And because my college transcript is so abysmal I really need to do well in this course for my provisional acceptance. And I am somewhat perplexed that part of a teaching application includes my college transcript when I graduated nearly 30 years ago and that transcript in no way indicates my capabilities and commitment to being a competent and inspiring teacher. I was not a very serious student though I have always been serious about my writing and a worked on several newspapers during the last 30 years in addition to copious proofreading and editing.
I know I am on the right path because the kids are telling me in their way that they appreciate me. I have to think about the hug I got from one 8th grade student who is chronically in detention and constantly bemoaned by other teachers because she doesn't take her "meds" regularly. I think she likes me so much because one day when I was the language arts teacher sub she was disruptive, wandering in and out of class at least once, refusing to focus and generally living in a world of her own. I gave her a detention and felt a distinct sense of frustration. It so happened that I was substituting the next day for that very same teacher so when she came in the class and everyone was seated I gave the students the task for the day. I went to her and told her that she was going to be productive and that I was going to help her make progress on the project that all the students were working on. I spent maybe a few minutes going over directions with her, prompting her on a few responses and guiding her through the lesson that included reading The Walrus and the Carpenter out loud with her. She completed a few pages of a multi-page packet and ever since that day she has been my biggest fan.
Or the students who say "Oh it's you Mrs. Izard. You're my favorite substitute," and I get to hear that at least once a day when I'm there. Or when, before the bell rings there is a ring of students around my chair all taking turns talking to me about lunch or school or assignments or their plans. It's just those little things like that that make me look forward to a day of being at school with the kids. I'm using every opportunity I have to teach them something even if it's just good manners. So I think if my heart is in the right place then everything else should follow.
Yeah right.
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