Chapter 10: Going Beyond the Classroom

Towards the beginning of the chapter Andres is talking about a week of programs that allow students to catch up on credits. The students have a choice to participate in an activity for a week that the teachers create. They are able to earn a lot of credits by participating or the students could simply have a week off.

This idea seems like it would be a lot of fun. It also shows how doing an activity that gets students out of the normal classroom setting can motivate them. This concept could be used in normal classrooms. You could make it a point to plan a time to have a class outside, or taking your class on a field trip somewhere within their community.

Chapter 9: Why Things Go Wrong

Near the middle of this chapter the students talk about how they treat new teachers and how new teachers should act.

This section was helpful because in a few years I will be a new teacher. Vance, along with other students, said it was all about having confidence. Alexis said to not let the students intimidate you and to be yourself. The more you are yourself the more the students will see the passion you have about your subject.

Chapter 8: Teaching Teenagers Who Are Still Learning English

In the start of this chapter students expressed that teachers should first get to know them personally, along with their academic history. The students also felt that teachers should also understand their culture.

This is a great tip for teachers. The more you learn about your students the more you will be able to help them understand. It is also a giant plus to know what the students already understand, that way you don’t end up going over the same material they have already learned. You can also connect new knowledge to what they already know. This will make the teachers more effective and hopefully ease some of the stress.

Chapter 7: Teaching Difficult Academic Material

A quote from the beginning of this chapter really caught my eye. Latia said that one of her teachers “snatches history from the past and puts it in my backyard” page124.

I really want to be able to do that. I’m not sure if it is something you learn but I’m going to try! When students are shown that history has an effect on their lives, they may pay more attention. They will definitely learn more if I am able to connect history to their lives now.

Chapter 6: Motivation and Boredom

In the section, Timing is Everything, Bosung talks about when tests should be given. He believes that tests should never be given the week before vacation or the week you return.

So many teachers assign tests right before vacations. I never minded this as long as it was not the last class before break. Yet, I would have hated to have a test right when we got back. I feel as if I was no longer in the school mode and have to work extra hard to remember what we were going over before break.

Chapter 5: Teaching to the Individual, Working with the Group

In the middle of the chapter when Lauraliz shares her opinion about how student questions are handled during class. Lauraliz has a teacher that ignores questions and continues with the lesson.

I am really angry about how Lauraliz got treated in class. Student’s questions should never be deemed unimportant as long as the question is on topic. Students should be able to ask appropriate questions to further their understanding of the topic.

Chapter 4: Creating a Culture of Success

In the beginning of the chapter, where the students are discussing feedback, Luis and Veronica talk about how feedback impacts their work. Luis feels that it is important on how you address the feedback. Veronica likes feedback because it makes sure that she does not make the same mistake again.

I completely agree with Luis. I want to make sure that I provide plenty of feedback to my students so they understand how they can improve their quality and level of work. It also sends a message to the students that the teacher cares enough about their work to really spend the time to write comments.

Chapter 3: Classroom Behavior

Near the end of the chapter, Luis, Montoya, and Veronica are talking about effective substitutes or rather the lack there of. Luis believes that substitutes should be trained. Montoya believes that substitutes are a waste of a class because they do not know anything. Veronica had a bunch of math substitutes that contradicted each other.

I like the idea of trained substitutes but I do not think that is a realistic goal. I think teachers should leave work that they believe the students can accomplish without much help from the substitute. Encourage students to help each other when the teacher is out during a class, this way the class is not a waste of time. Yet, long term substitutes should be people that clearly understand the material and are able to help students understand it as well.

Copyright and Fair Use LR

14- This is my number one annoyance. I hate that even if I own the movie and want to show it to a class or any group of people it is against the law. I already knew the answer to this question because I have run into this problem twice.

The first time was when I was preparing lessons for my Sunday School class. The lesson book has activities with video clips and a sidebar on the page warned teachers that it was against the law to show movies to students. I thought it was very weird and decided that I did not care and that no one was going to care in my church. I bet they actually have no idea about the law, they are kind of behind the times.

The second time was at the beginning of this school year. The RA's in my building were talking about how we could no longer show movies in the lobby of our dorms. No one had realized that it was against the law before but now that UMF knew, they were going to take it seriously.

I find this law so ridiculous. I know that the fee for getting permission is really cheap but if it is so cheap and easy why hasn't UMF gotten one so that we can play movies on campus. And I should probably check and see if my church has one, and if not bring it to their attention. This law just bugs me a lot.

Copyright and Fair Use SR

4- It really annoys me when states set new standards for schools but do not give them the money to finance it.
5- I know that it is annoying to only have one resource but that is life. You just have to learn to live with it and schedule accordingly.
7- I really like this idea because no one else but the students, parents, and faculty have access to this website. That way no one can take the work to use in their classroom and you do not have to worry as much about the content in your students work.
10- It really irks me that teachers are not able to share their resources and with other teachers. True they can share lessons they did themselves but they cannot tell you what site they received an amazing game off from, yet I have seen lesson plans that do include these elements.
11- I did not know that you could do this. I would have thought that since it was on TV that it was copyrighted.
15- I would have thought that this would have been okay. I guess I am wrapping my head around these ideas, if it is on TV and you tape it, you can use it, if the material is on a VHS you bought or rented you cannot reuse it.
16-This I do not agree with but I could see the potential.
17-I did not know that Disney is copyrighted and that you can't take pictures and post them for public view. This to me is odd but at the same time makes a bit of sense.

How to help someone use a computer

Something I must tell myself:
"You've forgotten what it's like to be a beginner."
I have been working with computers since I was eight. I no longer remember what it is like to be just learning about computers. Computers have changed a lot since then but I have worked through all the changes. The one computer issue that I still feel like a beginner is using Vista. Even though I have been using it for a year, I still feel as if I do not completely understand. Otherwise I have to remember that when I go to tell my mom to use the other web browser, the orange one, with the fox, and she does not understand, that I should try not to be frustrated just because she is stuck in her ways using internet explorer.

Important Rule:
"Never do something for someone that they are capable of doing for themselves."
I think that this applies to more than just computers. I think that when learning something new, whether it is a form of technology or how to drive somewhere, it is easier if you are the one pressing the keys or you are the one driving instead of being in the passenger seat. I think I remember it better later on and thus I had truly learned the information in the first place instead of simply observing.

Everyone in our class should be able to get up and use the Smartboard. Instead of showing them how you could play a game, let them play the game.

Information found here: http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/how-to-help.html

Creativity Exercises

Right Brain- I listened to music for over an hour while doing pretty much nothing. Maybe if I spend more time with music I can figure out how to better include music in my classroom.

Left Brain- I am addicted to the Impossible Quiz. It is annoying yet I cannot seem to stop playing. Sometimes the only way to answer questions is to guess because unless you can read the makers mind, you do not know the answers. Then other questions are pure logic and make sense eventually. This really makes you use your brain in weird ways. It helps my creativity because their are interesting graphics, weird sounds, and questions that make your brain hurt.

Humorous- I participated in a scavenger hunt on Sunday. It was a good time. My team members and I had to climb a tree, get a picture taken with a staff member at the fitness center, take a picture of a team member dressed in beach wear on the beach, take a picture of a snowman, take a picture in front of every dorm, among other things, the list had 40 items. It was also a lot of fun to look at the pictures others took. All in all it boosted my spirits. This activity made me figure out how we were going to get everyone in the photo with the storm drain, how was that going to happen? Well we each put a foot in, and there we all were in the picture.

Inspirational- The music I listened to was Christian music so it was very inspirational for my Sunday School class this Sunday. This helped my creativity of how the songs would fit into the lessons and the class in general.

Focus the Nation

To learn more about Focus the Nation and global warming in general I read the about section of the Focus the Nation website. I then went and calculated my carbon footprint at http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/carboncalculator/. I learned that I had an average carbon footprint. So I decided to review what I could do to help slow down global warming, I went to this site to learn more http://www.carbonfootprint.com/minimisecfp.html. Some of these things I have always done, such as turning off the water when I am brushing my teeth. Yet, some of the things I have not done, or even thought about, such as changing the type of light bulbs I use. I would really like to make a difference, and I think I will when I get my own apartment or house, but since I live with my parents I can encourage and educate them, but I cannot make them change. I did not know that electricity is one of the biggest producers of carbon emissions. I also did not know that boiling just the amount of water you need would be a big deal in reducing carbon emissions. After reading a post on the Focus the Nation forum I realized that some people thought that global warming is a myth. I have always believed that global warming is real, along with my parents, my school, my friends, so I never thought of global warming as being not real.

In my classroom I could have a recycle box for paper and soda bottles. That way recycling would be part of my classroom environment. We could study global warming in class but figure out what would have happened if the world had started thinking about global warming earlier, and how that would have effected our world today. I would like my students to know how their choices effect the world around them. The changes are relatively simple, and could make a large impact. I could have my students debate about global warming, such is a tax really the way to fund global warming projects or is there a better way to fund them?

Web 2.0 Educator

I read Wes Fryer's blog, Moving at the Speed of Creativity.

I really liked what he had to talk about. He really believes that technology should be integrated into classrooms because he believes that the students learn more that way. What he had to say about cell phones in schools really interested me. He had one post talking about how cell phones should be embraced and used to the capacity because here is one technology that most students have and schools do not have to provide for them. Plus I think that students would find it really cool to be able to use their phones in class and would learn more, simply because they are using their cell phones.
He seems to know a lot about copyright issues, or at least have a definite opinion on them. I think one of his specialties is trying to encourage educators to embrace the technology that students have, such as mp3 players, instead of banning them from school. He believes that teachers should find ways to pull those types of things into their lesson plans, and by doing so engaging their students.

Type I and Type II Technology

Type I the user does what the program says and passively learns, simply the user does what s/he is told.
~In my elementary school we had a program that told us to type sentences and certain letters and then the program graded us on our proficiency.
~In middle school we had a program that we used in Spanish class that you simply moved through the program by using the right Spanish word. The only thing you needed was a knowledge of the language but you did not really learn anything new from the program, it was more of a review.
~

Type II is where the user makes the prominent choices and thus controls the program.
~PowerPoint; since it depends mostly on what you do with the program.
~Oregon/Amazon Trail; since the users actions depict how the game goes.
~Spider Solitaire; the choices the user makes determines the flow of the game.

Information from the introduction of Cleborne D. Maddux and D. LaMont Johnson book, Type II Applications of Technology in Education: New and Better Ways of Teaching and Learning (2005).

My MEL Experiences

• Context: In my High School Economics class everything we did related to our lives. It was progressive, first we learned how to write checks and balance a check book, then we bought a car, next we got married, and finally we bought a house. For each project there was a check list of what had to be included at the end, but it was very flexible. For example for getting married you had to find flowers, a cake, dresses, tuxes, limos, and so on. Every activity was something that would most likely be useful in our lives.
  
• Hands-on: In my fourth grade class we were learning about astronomy. We each had to pick a certain amount of constellations and draw what they looked like, and generally learn about them so we could tell others about them. We then created our own planetarium, I guess thats what you could call it. We took heavy black plastic and drew on our constellations in relationship to everyone else's. Then we created a big black bubble that you could crawl in and out of. It took up our entire classroom. We took turns giving "tours" of our sky to first and second grade classrooms. It was the most fun I had all year. We each learned about our stars but learned about others by sharing with each other. It was a lot more fun to do this activity rather then sitting in our desks, reading a book.
  
• Autonomy: In my Junior High School English class we always had a list of different projects that we could choose to complete. There would normally be some types of the following projects; paper, poster, song, and presentation. That way we could pick what we were best at and most comfortable doing. We could also go and talk to her about creating our own project or slightly altering the ones she had. It made my life easier because I could pick the project that worked best for me.
  
• Learning Styles: In my sixth grade class we were always doing a lot of different activities from every different Learning Style, though I did not realize it at the time. We spent a lot of our class time writing and reading but there were always activities that went along with them that would be from other areas. I remember doing a lot of pictures to represent our writing, and spending a good deal of time outside. We did group projects, we did projects by ourselves. We had a lot of flexibility within the class to make the class work for us.
  
• Connections: In my history class sophomore year my teacher never made connections from what we were learning to us or the time now. We did the same thing every class. We would come in, get our homework checked off, then we would go over the homework, and then she would lecture on the new topic. After she was done we would open the book, read the chapter, and answer the questions that came after. It was always the same and always one of the hardest classes to stay awake in.
  

Learning Style Inventory Results

Style Scores

Visual 5
Social 13
Physical 5
Aural 6
Verbal 6
Solitary 10
Logical 6

I think that this does represent me pretty well. I like to be around people and I am not surprised that Social is the highest one. I am surprised that verbal is not higher and that it ties with Aural and Logical. I would have thought that it would have been the second highest since I love to read and I would rather write a paper than do a project. I'm also not sure how Physical scored just one below Verbal, I think that was the biggest surprise. Overall I think it represents me well and in general shows me as being more well rounded than the quiz we did in Dr. Grace's class.

Survey thanks to http://www.learning-styles-online.com/inventory/.

Chapter 2 Respect, Liking, Trust, and Fairness

One of the students, Alexis, is talking about one of the coaches at her school. He is great friends with his team, but he does not have any authority over them. He gives in to what they want to do rather then making them do what they should.

I had a teacher like this in High School. She taught my senior lit class and let everyone talk her out of having to do any work. At the beginning of the year she laid out a balanced plan of papers, projects, and even a couple of movies, but never followed through with the papers because a few students complained about having to write them. The coach and my teacher both tried to be friends with their students rather than coaching and teaching them. They let the students talk them out of doing work that could have benefited them, such as the sports team not ever winning anything. This is where they could have struck a better balance between friend and educator.

Chapter 1 Knowing Students Well

The parts where the students are explaining the ways that their teachers have connected the subject in class to their own lives. Two of the examples were relating geometry to art and relating chemical bonds to dating.

I agree with the students, when a new subject is introduced it is normally easier to understand if it is related to something that you are already familiar with. If teachers had done this in my science classes I think I would have understood the material sooner and better in the long run. When I read what these students had said it became obvious to me. Of course you would learn a new concept better when it was compared to a concept that you already knew.