Art Exhibit

I really enjoyed this activity. I found a lot of different thoughts as I walked around. I don't think I was prepared for what we did. I didn't realize that I would encounter pottery, plates, commericals, and dirty floors. I say dirty floors because there was a piece of vinyl flooring covered with enamel and spray paint. It was my favorite because it represented how I am feeling in my life. Everything looks chatoic but ironically it's titled "clarity." :) I love it...because while looking into my life from the outside it may seem messy; it's organized chaos. : )

The Digital Writing Workshop by Troy Hicks

This was a very enlightening chapter. Hicks (2009) is explaining how to move the writing workshop into the digital age seamlessly. He mentioned that teachers were trying to figure out how to add on technology and Hicks says that is not going to work. He suggests using three tools to help children access information RSS, social networking, and blogs. I fully agree that this is a wonderful example to use but at the same time I feel like it may be a little of my kids heads...??? I feel like they could do the WebQuest. But if they can do that, then why can't they use RSS and social networking. I feel like I have said this before but this is a little scary to consider doing this. I really like the idea of using blogs as a writing journal. I think the children would be more interested and it would prevent me from dragging home 18 journals every Friday! :)

What do you do when what always worked, doesn't work?

I am experiencing this in my classroom now. It is a confusing feeling. Naturally, we teach procedures and routines at the beginning of the year. Usually after 10 days of said instruction, the children are well versed on the ways of the classroom. But what do you do when they're not? Of course, you reteach! What happens after you have retaught and things are still the same. Using an idea of Dr. Long's, it's like losing your identity. You follow Harry Wong and Beginning Teacher Survival Guides all those years and it works like a charm. Now six years in, you are doing the same and nothing... We all know not much instruction can occur when a classroom is not well managed. I feel so defeated! Can someone please give me some suggestions?!

Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants

To be honest, before reading this article, I thought I was a digital native. Hey...I had computers in third grade. I remember my librarian introducing us to the world wide web in sixth grade. But oh was I wrong. As I read further into the article, I could see my 'accent' coming out all over the the printed copy I used to make notes on (instead of creating digital highlights).

What Prensky (2001) says makes sense. Children are not thinking like we did. They are a very 'instant gratification' type of generation. Teachers up there lecturing all day don't have a chance! Children are in and out in an instant. We have to get hip to what they're into. Though it's scary, the benefits outweigh our fear.

He seemed informative about the ways that we need to start approaching our teaching but in the end...boy, did he just let us have it. "It's high time for them to stop their grousing, and as the Nike motto of the Digital Native generation says, 'Just do it!'" So I guess I'll stop making excuses and 'Just do it!'

Common Core critique by Jeffrey N. Golub

Well, after reading that post we all know where he stands on the matter. I am always glad when I hear or see people defending the competency of teachers. We are professionals in our field. We know our children and what is best for them. We understand them and know what works but it seems like no one else believes that. I am appreciative that in our county we are making our way back around to that. I like that Golub also encourages teachers to be a part of creating curriculum development and assessment. Even after doing state mandated testing, I administer my own assessment for different purposes. Golub discusses mostly reading in this post but in my experience with the math standards, I am very pleased. I like that we will be doing more depth than breadth of material. The children will benefit also!

Thursday's Class

After Dr. Long sent us the thank you email, I began reflecting upon that class session. How intuitive Dr. Long was to know that we would need something like the play doh activity. It was so refreshing and unusual. It completely changed my (and I think some others) attitude for the evening. It was a wonderful and creative outlet for us to express ourselves. If not for the play doh, would Susan have said, "wade through the bull?" Probably not! It was a comic relief as well as an appropriate activity. It made me think of when I was in elementary school! I was so excited to go and do all the wonderful things my teachers had planned for me. And now I feel kinda like a let down. I don't think they feel like I felt.

Data Walls

One of the ideas I wrote in my inspiration journal was ... data walls. They have really started to interest me ever since I read the research on 90/90/90 schools. One of the components to creating a successful school is data walls. I am learning more about them as I go. Some articles say to post them in the classroom; some say they should be private. I just don't know what to think. I see both sides to the stories. On one hand, children see where they are and where they want to be. On the other hand, if a child is low, they don't see how far behind they are in comparison to where they need to be or the other classmates are. Also, I read that they should be updated weekly. How is that possible when the same skills aren't taught each week? This is something I will continue to research but what do you think?

Task Three: Infographics

Obviously, these creative representations of information would be so much more interesting to our children that the boring notes that I ask them to either paste in their tablets or copy from the board. It also helps to see the relationships between things. I checked out the Starbucks/McDonald's link...wow, I learned lots of stuff very quickly. It was amazing how quick the processing time was compared to reading all of the numbers. Looking at the FarmVille vs. Farmers link also made a huge relationship connection between how many women and men or users and real farmers were there.

I would like to use this in my classroom focusing on how many hurricanes/typhoons/cyclones were formed in which area of the world. The children could see where most hurricanes form and how fast their winds become. When we study animals, we can use the map again and determine where the majority of animals are found.

Task One: Hurricane and 9/11 Resources

I shared the 9/11 video with my children. There were fascinated by it. They still ask to watch it again. When I asked them why, they replied that it didn't seem real. The man that was covered in the ash walking and seeing the burning buildings. They also enjoyed hearing from the children/adults that actually experienced the events that happened that day. I found myself learning new information also.
I haven't shared with the children yet but I plan to share with them the animated hurricane site. It was a lot easier to show them the animation rather than trying to explain it without pictures. While I was there, I perused the other animated presentations (volcano, tsunami, and tornado). There are really spectacular.

Goals

The student in me always wants to do well and make good grades. Although, we have learned it is not always the grade that matters but the mastery and understanding of concepts that were learned. Nevertheless, one of my goals for completing my Master's degree is walking across the stage with a 4.0 GPA. I will work hard and redo as many papers as necessary to be able to accomplish this goal!

As a teacher, I want to be National Board ready. Hopefully, I will find myself to be worthy of such an incredible title by December. If I have not mastered this process, I will continue in pursuit once more. With all the work I have been completing with my studies, I feel that I will be even more prepared.

As a teacher, I want to gain the knowledge and confidence to create independent thinkers. Thinkers that can create products that will capture their love of learning and understanding of mastered concepts and skills. I don't want to be that person who spoon feeds them! I want them to take ownership and control of their learning and I will facilitate their curiosities and foster a love of learning within themselves.

Reading Reflection

   Harste (2003) has made a stand about he feels reading and language have an effect on children and our future. I agree when he says, "you do very little to help students understand how language works." I agree! Guilty as charged! When using other reading basals, the emphasis is on the skills perspective of reading. And I agree a bit. But what I am understanding Harste to say is that we need to move into a language experience approach to teaching literacy. I agree but I am a creature of habit. I think phonics are extremely important and its hard not to teach in isolation of other reading skills. I will learn to roll and adjust for the better of my students' learning.
   As I am reading Riddle (2009), I am questioning my ability to "raise" children that are that competent, inspiring, and well-knowledgeable enough to complete these multi-task, multi-modal deep thinking, technology driven projects. I certainly want to!! All children...100%...engaged! They are deep thinkers! They are creators! They are authors! It's become more about visual literacy to express their understanding rather than the boring written products we previously asked for.