Since we are all no longer in a class which requires blogging, I have been struggling to define my audience. It used to be classmates and (importantly) a teacher...
At this point I guess I am writing mainly to myself just to try to keep up "blogging." Perhaps I can write about other peoples' blogs...
I think this will also become a bit of a journal recording some thoughts and events that occur during my weekly volunteering at Fairview.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Teacher's Tips
Early this morning I've been reading through Melissa Kelly's exhaustive list of tips for teachers. She has lists of everything from strategies for the beginning of the year to discipline matters to tips from veteran teachers. I was a little stand-offish just based on first impressions (this is an ask.com compliation) but Ms. Kelly sure has some ideas that get the brain exercising.
Ideas I found helpful include:
*Check out the classroom equipment before school starts...you don't want to flip on the overhead only to find a burned out bulb while your students wait, and wait, and wait...
This is the kind of thing I would be inclined to overlook.
*"You talk to fast." Most of us new teachers need to slow down. I think we all try to get too much information in, we feel like we're going toooooo slow, we may be boring the students...et al et al. But in this capacity, quality over quantity!
*Become friendly with the person that arranges substitutes...I remember my father (who just recently retired after eons of teaching high school auto/construction) mentioning how he bought the secretary a gift basket at the beginning of the year to win some favor when calling in "sick." Clever.
*Kelly's entire list to make my life easier at first is invaluable. Some of her ideas may seem obvious (learning students' names quickly; have lesson plans for the first week, have an icebreaker for the first day) but many are very, very helpful (be your own best substitute: there's nothing wrong with a little seatwork once in a while).
* Kelly's main page, Teaching 101, is tabbed with topics that will continue to be helpful when it really comes time to design class rules, handling stress, etc. For now these types of readings are helping me reiforce what I already believe works while opening my mind to some new ideas. All of this will be put into practice in about two weeks, when school starts. Since leaving the school district as an employee, I've been volunteering two days a week at my neighborhood school, Fairview (a wonderful place). These ideas and tips will also help me fine tune and reshape, where necessary, my philosophy of teaching.
I think some of these lists we've examined through our class readings are the kind worth printing out. Sometimes all it takes to boost your energy or motivation is a light list of tips that refesh and remind you that you're not the only one out there. Ms. Kelly even includes a list of the top inspirational books and movies for teachers!
Ideas I found helpful include:
*Check out the classroom equipment before school starts...you don't want to flip on the overhead only to find a burned out bulb while your students wait, and wait, and wait...
This is the kind of thing I would be inclined to overlook.
*"You talk to fast." Most of us new teachers need to slow down. I think we all try to get too much information in, we feel like we're going toooooo slow, we may be boring the students...et al et al. But in this capacity, quality over quantity!
*Become friendly with the person that arranges substitutes...I remember my father (who just recently retired after eons of teaching high school auto/construction) mentioning how he bought the secretary a gift basket at the beginning of the year to win some favor when calling in "sick." Clever.
*Kelly's entire list to make my life easier at first is invaluable. Some of her ideas may seem obvious (learning students' names quickly; have lesson plans for the first week, have an icebreaker for the first day) but many are very, very helpful (be your own best substitute: there's nothing wrong with a little seatwork once in a while).
* Kelly's main page, Teaching 101, is tabbed with topics that will continue to be helpful when it really comes time to design class rules, handling stress, etc. For now these types of readings are helping me reiforce what I already believe works while opening my mind to some new ideas. All of this will be put into practice in about two weeks, when school starts. Since leaving the school district as an employee, I've been volunteering two days a week at my neighborhood school, Fairview (a wonderful place). These ideas and tips will also help me fine tune and reshape, where necessary, my philosophy of teaching.
I think some of these lists we've examined through our class readings are the kind worth printing out. Sometimes all it takes to boost your energy or motivation is a light list of tips that refesh and remind you that you're not the only one out there. Ms. Kelly even includes a list of the top inspirational books and movies for teachers!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Teaching with Technology...or teaching the same old way just with a computer!
Our major qwest over the past four weeks was to learn about technology. Not just any technology, but the programs and internet resources and tools that could help us become more organized, more effective, more interesting teachers and people.
I was fascinated by what we discovered. Many of us were frustrated because the learning curve was quite high. We were most of us in uncharted waters.
What interests me at this point is why this is the case for so many teachers. Aren't we supposed to be living in the age of technology? I often think of how the teachers with whom I've worked in the past would react to a professional development program about teaching with technology (they would be horrified, stubborn, resistant, all but a few). I began to wonder if I was the only one who thought most teachers are WAAAAAAAAY behind...even lacking....in this area.
I discovered I am not. Whole research has been done on this very topic, and what it has revealed is that teachers have not integrated technology into the classroom effectively at all.
Our reading on teaching with technology provided many insights on why teachers, as a whole, have been so resistant to really delving into what's out there. I really appreciated Nancy Salvato's reminder to us that the goal of schools is to ensure everyone has equal access to learning opportunities; schools, therefore, must provide the same tools and information across all socio-economic levels and that means technology!!
"Teachers have a responsibility to learn how to use computers and other devices so as not to put their students at a disadvantage," says Salvato, and I couldn't agree more. What a great way to remind ourselves to keep pushing to really learn and integrate all these new technologies. Aren't we all here to do the best we can for these future generations? Salvato brought up reasons many of us have been resistant to change: fear & dislike of change;
feeling intimidated by computers; resistant to taking advantage of technology in everyday life, and on and on. But I think we just need to get over it and move on. In order to do so, however, teachers need help...
As Les Foltos argued in our reading, "If we expect teachers to use technology in ways that enrich and enhance student achievement, we must provide them with the professional development they need to develop the confidence and skills to apply technology, and an understanding of how technology supports standards-based education."
A start to such understanding came in some more reading, in which Hooper and Reiber pointed out that we wouldn't expect doctors or dentists to be using the same technology they did 50 years ago, but that most teachers would feel perfectly comfortable in a classroom back in 1960 because not much has really changed! The authors provide an excellent education for teachers on the difference between idea and product technologies. Without good idea technology and effort by the part of teachers, product technologies like computers are really not effective. So the issue is not getting more computers, but teaching teachers how to best use them.
Some of the lingering thoughts I have on this issue is how do teachers get ahold of some of this great and wonderful professional development we need? Administrators, school boards, district offices and the general old public really all have to get behind teachers in this area. There are just so many fingers in the cookie jar here that getting everyone on board is a major challenge. So what might help? Bargaining? Grant-writing by individual teachers? Peer learning/coaching to avoid everyone else? Just being the squeaky wheel?
I was fascinated by what we discovered. Many of us were frustrated because the learning curve was quite high. We were most of us in uncharted waters.
What interests me at this point is why this is the case for so many teachers. Aren't we supposed to be living in the age of technology? I often think of how the teachers with whom I've worked in the past would react to a professional development program about teaching with technology (they would be horrified, stubborn, resistant, all but a few). I began to wonder if I was the only one who thought most teachers are WAAAAAAAAY behind...even lacking....in this area.
I discovered I am not. Whole research has been done on this very topic, and what it has revealed is that teachers have not integrated technology into the classroom effectively at all.
Our reading on teaching with technology provided many insights on why teachers, as a whole, have been so resistant to really delving into what's out there. I really appreciated Nancy Salvato's reminder to us that the goal of schools is to ensure everyone has equal access to learning opportunities; schools, therefore, must provide the same tools and information across all socio-economic levels and that means technology!!
"Teachers have a responsibility to learn how to use computers and other devices so as not to put their students at a disadvantage," says Salvato, and I couldn't agree more. What a great way to remind ourselves to keep pushing to really learn and integrate all these new technologies. Aren't we all here to do the best we can for these future generations? Salvato brought up reasons many of us have been resistant to change: fear & dislike of change;
feeling intimidated by computers; resistant to taking advantage of technology in everyday life, and on and on. But I think we just need to get over it and move on. In order to do so, however, teachers need help...
As Les Foltos argued in our reading, "If we expect teachers to use technology in ways that enrich and enhance student achievement, we must provide them with the professional development they need to develop the confidence and skills to apply technology, and an understanding of how technology supports standards-based education."
A start to such understanding came in some more reading, in which Hooper and Reiber pointed out that we wouldn't expect doctors or dentists to be using the same technology they did 50 years ago, but that most teachers would feel perfectly comfortable in a classroom back in 1960 because not much has really changed! The authors provide an excellent education for teachers on the difference between idea and product technologies. Without good idea technology and effort by the part of teachers, product technologies like computers are really not effective. So the issue is not getting more computers, but teaching teachers how to best use them.
Some of the lingering thoughts I have on this issue is how do teachers get ahold of some of this great and wonderful professional development we need? Administrators, school boards, district offices and the general old public really all have to get behind teachers in this area. There are just so many fingers in the cookie jar here that getting everyone on board is a major challenge. So what might help? Bargaining? Grant-writing by individual teachers? Peer learning/coaching to avoid everyone else? Just being the squeaky wheel?
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