Blog post #16

C4t summery

The first week I commented on Sharon Davison's blog, kindergartenlife.  In the post that I commented on she was talking about how great Skype was in her classroom. She uses it to have her students talk to other teachers and students. I told her how great it was that she was getting connected to other classrooms around the country and world. I told her it was great that she was showing her students at a young age that technology can bring the world closer together.



This week I commented on David Wee's blog , The Reflective Educator , where he gave us "20 things every teacher should do".  I told him that I loved all 20 things and that I will keep them in mind when I become a teacher. However, my favorite one was that he said teachers should learn something everyday. I told him that I couldn't agree more with this one!

Blog post 5 part 2

I have talked before about what Personal Learning Network, or PLN is. This is where you can go if you need advice or ideas from fellow teachers. Before EDM310, I heard a little about PLN because my mom is a teacher. At the beginning of this class I made a Symbaloo, which I have played around with a little, but not much. I do think that once I become a teacher I will use this a lot more. I also started following on my twitter my fellow classmates and some faculty here at USA, as well as some teachers that I have commented on their blog. I strongly believe that twitter will be the biggest thing that I grow and use as a teacher. Twitter seems to be the best way that other teachers can give advice and ideas of things they have done, and what has worked best for them. I look forward to growing my PLN even more in the future.

C4K Summery

My first kid I commented on was Wonga  who posted a photo and discussed the life cycle of the frog. I talked about how interesting it is that a frog starts off as a little tadpole and then becomes this big frog. It truly is amazing.




Next, I commented on Carter s blog.where he discussed that he was having trouble with a certain project and needed help, so he asked a friend who was able to help him figure it out. I told him that was great problem solving skills. He tried to figure out the problem on his own, but then asked a peer for some guidance.


Lastly, I commented on Maggie  blog.   She was talking about how she is excited to be the leader in her school next year. She said she has waited for this and can’t believe she is only one year away from being the oldest in her school. I told I could remember when I was in elementary school and couldn’t wait for the year to be the leader and oldest ones that everyone else looked up too. 

Blog Post #14

In Mr. Klein's  article about public schools he mentions a few things that in his opinion need to be changed.

1.     Pick from the best

The problem: college students wanting to become teachers are not being trained properly. Anyone with a degree in education can get a job regardless if they are the most qualified for the job. Also, teachers are not getting rewarded properly. There is this idea that teachers are interchangeable, so the only way to reward them is with seniority. 

The solution: Mr. Klein believes that if we have more training for future teachers and pick them from the top 1/3 of their class and we reward teachers with how great their performance is rather than seniority.

            I agree with Mr. Klein on this problem and solution. Mr. Klein stated that he thinks we need to professionalize teaching just like doctors and lawyers. I agree that if we up the competition and implement more training for future teachers then that will help make teaching a more professional field. In my opinion, teaching is just as important as doctors and lawyers because teachers are the ones that shape the lives of our future generation, and that is something that should not be taken lightly, therefore, just because you have been a teacher for years does not mean that you should be rewarded. Sometimes, as teachers get older, they lose their fire to be the best teacher they can be and then the students suffer. But, if we had a reward system where you had to keep your performance up no matter how long you have been teaching, then that would help keep the right type of teachers teaching and the ones who need to go will be forced to leave.

2.     Seniority distraction

 The problem is that if you have been teaching for years, then you have more seniority over those who just got hired. Therefore, there is no way to get rid of the incompetent teachers that have been around for years. The solution is to base teachers on how well they perform instead of who has been there the longest.

Once again I agree with Mr. Klein on this problem and solution. Once a teacher is tenured it is almost impossible for them to be fired, while those right out of college will be let go if someone needs to be let go, even if they perform better as a teacher. I personally have seen teachers who have been teaching for years be tired out and just not care as much anymore get to stay as a teacher, while a new teacher with lots of enthusiasm be let go. However, I have seen teachers who have been teaching for years still have that enthusiasm and drive to be the best teacher. I strongly agree that we need to do away with the tenured system and base letting teachers go on how well they perform.

3.     Radical Change

The problem: teachers who are incompetent need to be let go over the last one hired. 

The solution: Albert Shanker suggests that teachers have a board to police standards and professionalism to be sure incompetent teachers are removed from teaching. Also, he states that teaching should be a merit-based career where teachers would be promoted based on specialty exams.

            In my opinion this is a great idea. I agree with Albert Shanker , that incompetent teachers should not be allowed to teach anymore and that there should be a way to remove them. Also, I agree that there should be a merit system to promote teachers to do their very best and work hard.

In conclusion, I believe, just like Mr. Klein, that teaching needs to be more professionalized and the main way to do that is to better train future teachers and reward teachers for their performance instead of seniority.

             

blog post 13

After watching/ reading the links below summarize why technology is important in each link.


Integrating technology in the special education classroom


This article talks about how technology is great for the special education classroom because there are so many different children with different, yet, specific needs, and technology can help each individual student in their own way. It’s more common to think of using technology to help those students who are blind or deaf, but technology is also good for those with learning disabilities. For example, for students that need help in reading, there is read- along- books that can help the students learn to read. Using technology in the special education classroom can give teachers more one- on- one time with the students. All student love using technology and these students are no different. Technology gives them the motivation to want to learn.





speechbuddy.com



In this article, they talk about how teachers can work with students better as a whole because they can use things such as clickers. This method allows the kids to answer the questions at the same time, allowing the teacher to instantly know if each student understood the information. Also, technology levels the playing field with all the students, thus making the students with disabilities feel more accepted among their peers. Because students with learning disabilities already feel like they are different from other students, technology gives them the confidence to know that they can be just like the other kids.




Ipads for children with disabilities

In this video, this special education teacher talks about how iPads has changed her classroom. Students with disabilities have a difficult time wanting to think and work that hard, but when you make it fun, they won’t look at it as being something they have to learn, but something they want to learn. Ipads do exactly that, they help children with learning disabilities want to learn in a fun and new way.

Project 12 part B

Our Smart board lesson video





Our smart board lesson