EDU 270 - Blog 8

I have enjoyed this semester of blogging and have had to utilize this tool several times in other classes. I think that blogging gives students an opportunity to fully process the new information that they have learned. In my future as a classroom biology teacher I will require my students to do a weekly blog entry that consists of answering three questions. First, they will have to explain one new concept from this past week. Secondly, they will have to explain how this will pertain to their lives either now or when they are adults. Finally, they will have the opportunity to ask one question about the content from the past week. I will compile questions and answer them aloud to the whole class because I have found that if one student asks a question there are at least two others who were afraid to ask.

I think that allowing more online and word based applications such as maintaining a blog will be helpful for myself and for my students. Not only is it another way to communicate, but it will allow me insight into how to improve my instruction.

EDU 270 Blog Post 7

Teens are commonly held to the same consequences as adults for their poor decision making skills. The fact remains that science has proven that even though teens may look fully grown to the outside observer, their brain is still very much developing. I first heard of this concept when M.A.D.D. came to ASU while I was a student there. They had simply put up a booth and had several mothers and reseaarchers talking to students on campus and I honestly wandered over there in hopes of a free pen. What I found out is that there had been research done on the brains of young adults from ages 16 to about 27 and that the parts of the brain responsible for making decisions and risk taking did not get done developing until people were 25. I was only slightly surprised as I was in my mid-thirties going to a university full of 18 to 21 year olds. On Monday afternoons I would listen to stories about my lab partners drinking, drug use, and one night stands while shaking my head in disbelief. Except I did believe them and remember back to my own drinking binges, drunk driving, and more risky behavior I'm not going to admit. I think seeing the fMRI scans solidified the crazy behavior that myself and many others have participated in during our youth. Fortunately most of us make it out of this phase relatively intact, but some do not.

For those who make really bad decisions and commit crimes, many are held to adult consequences. Legally, in the U.S., we are declared adults and responsible for ourselves at the young unripened age of 18. With half an adult brain we are released into the wide world, and it is the responsibility of the educators that have these young adults in the years just before this to attempt to instill some sense of what good decision making looks like. The first thing that this means for me as a teacher is to set the example. By making good decisions in front of my students, I am demonstrating what that looks like, as many students may not have a good role model elsewhere. I will also make sure that my students have someone to talk to about their lives that can give them some direction and some questions that they should consider before making an important decision. Having someone to guide them through the thought processes that should happen prior to making important decisions can assist teens in learning how to make better decisions. I also plan on giving the students a chance to think about their decisions before adult level consequences are put into the equation.

For those of us who have made it through this age of having a developing mind, it may not be news that young people are generally poor decision makers, but if the adults in their life help them along maybe we can have fewer binge drinking 21 year olds.

EDU 270 - Blog 6

This week I learned about how music affects learning and the development of the brain. I think the biggest take away from this lesson is how education research is not always represented completely in the media. I had heard of the Mozart effect and being a biologist didn't really believe the way it was presented in the media. The way that this will help me in my future classroom is that I now know that while listening to music that makes students happy and relaxed can provide a small benefit, it is not beneficial to allow students to have their headphones in listening to music the entire class period. I have had students in the past that cite the Mozart effect as a reason that I should allow headphones on during exams and independent work time.

However since it has been found to stimulate many parts of the brain, I will also try and incorporate music into some of my lessons next year. If I put facts into a song it may help me differentiate the learning since there are a great deal of things that one must be able to memorize, such as the names of the stages of cell division. This might allow some of the students that learn better through music to remember things better. I know that was how I learned my multiplication tables and it worked pretty well.

EDU 270 - Blog 5

Language and Reading

I was not shocked to find that a large proportion of eighth grade students could not read on grade level from the video. After teaching ninth grade last year, I noticed that assignments with extensive reading often did not get completed by a good portion of the class. This is simply because the students had not been taught how to read properly with a phonics approach. Many different methods have been used in the past to teach reading such as sight words or whole word approaches, but only the phonics method activates the proper parts of the brain needed to become a strong reader. In my future classrooms I will add a mini-phonics lesson to my lessons for the day as a reading warm-up. For most subjects in the secondary classroom, a student is expected to be able to acquire knowledge from reading and if a student is not a strong reader then they cannot do this. This can lead to frustration, distracting behavior, attention difficulties, and oppositional behaviors. By incorporating these lessons into my day I hope to alleviate these behaviors and build more confident readers who can succeed in academics and professional life.

EDU 270- Blog 4

What does it mean to be relational as a teacher? How will you interact with your students to accomplish this?

To be relational as a teacher means that you are accessable to your students. That they are welcome to ask questions without fear of being degraded. You also need to be able to relate to your students and see their perspective on things as well as your own. This does not mean being friends with your students or not holding them accountable, but being a trusted adult that they can talk to about your subject matter or anything else bothering them. It also means being a cheerleader for their successes and to make them responsible for their failures.

I will be relational to my students by holding informal tutoring sessions, letting them know that I am available to talk if they feel the need, and greeting them each day at the door asking them how their day is going. I will never say that a question is a stupid question or demean my students.

EDU 270 Blog 3

Attention, Emotions and Learning

In the lessons about attention, emotions, and learning I learned that there are things other than what can be seen in the classroom going on in the heads of students. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding ADHD in the past few years as more and more children are being diagnosed. I think this is in part because of better awareness and partly because of the type of education system we have in the United States. Even though there are some factors that contribute especially to hyperactivity, such as artificial food dyes, that are relatively new. I also think that it is important to recognize that the attention problems must be exhibited across multiple situations. If a student loves history and can sit still and pay attention in history class but daydreams through algebra it might be a problem with algebra and not with attention. 

Emotions also play an integral part in the school day. I think that it is important for educators to remember that there is a whole person sitting in the desk. These students have emotions, home lives, relationships and all of these can contribute to the amount of learning that takes place in the classroom. When anyone is under stress chemicals that are harmful to the brain are released and their ability to learn is severely diminished. When a child whose brain is extremely plastic and add the toxic chemicals from stress it can have an enormous effect on the brain. While working with students who happened to be from a low socioeconomic status I saw first hand the effects of financial hardship and stress on students. Those students that I knew had a lot of stress at home seemed to be unable to focus and complete assignments. As a teacher this will help me by understanding that my classroom needs to be an inviting, encouraging, and safe place away from excessive stress and distractions.

Lesson 2 - EDU 270

This week I learned about how the senses of vision and hearing affect student learning. The fact is that the entire environment of the classroom affects the ability of the students to learn. I personally have vision and hearing problems that began during my early years of school so I know what it's like to not be able to understand what the teacher is saying or not being able to see the board. In kindergarten I had no idea I had a hearing problem caused by severe ear infections until the teacher noticed that I would not respond to her when I was not facing her. This was the first sign that I had a hearing problem and it was discovered that I had ear infections in both ears when my mom took me to the doctor. In regard to my eye problems I started developing headaches any time I tried to read the board in class from squinting so much that in second grade I needed glasses. If my teachers had not picked up on these clues I might very well be deaf and nearly blind today.

The biggest thing that I will take into the classroom with me from this lesson is that if you see something that might indicate a hearing or vision problem speak with the parents and let them know that it might be time to see an appropriate doctor. Problems with vision or hearing can permanently affect the development of the brain and the skills that the child may have not acquired or lost may become long term problems.

EDU 270 Blog Post 1

After watching the videos on brain architecture, plasticity, and understanding the impact of the environment on a child, how does this information impact you as a teacher?

This information has made me more aware of the influence that I may have on a student. I think that a child's experience in school can shape the developing brain more than most educators and parents realize. After birth a child's brain grows at a rapid rate until they are approximately two years old. At that point it is whittled down to take the shape it will have as an adult. Think of the child's brain as a sapling that grows into a tree. After age two, the tree gets cut down and whittled down into a sculpture. The neuronal paths that are used more often get solidified while the ones not used disintegrate. 
When children are in school prior to age 25, their experiences there will influence this whittling and solidification of their brains. This means that the students in my classes are still going through this process. Their experience in my science classroom will hopefully solidify the way that they think about science, biology, and school overall. So I will use this information in my classroom to ensure that I make the experience in my classroom as positive as I can, remembering that I am literally shaping their brains. 

Blog Post #2 sem 2

I was both the victim and a witness to bullying during my childhood. I grew up in a rural town in South Georgia and being caucasian I was in the minority racially in my school. This being said the African American girls would frequently bully my friends and I since they were usually larger than us . I had one girl in particular that would follow me down the hall every chance she got threatening me that she was going to beat me up. This continued for months and I soon became afraid to go to lunch recess or to change classes without someone walking with me. Finally one day I stood my ground in the middle of the hallway and told her to go ahead and get it over with. If she was going to beat me up she had better take this chance and do it, just get it over with. I was sure I was about to get murdered right in front of teachers, students and everyone but I didn't care anymore. I had decided that this was going to end right there. Funny enough, she just stood there looking absolutely astonished like a deer in headlights! After that day I don't think she said 3 words to me for the rest of my academic career and this happened in 6th grade.

What I take from my experience with bullying is that when you get afraid or upset you are just giving the bully what they want. When you stand up for yourself and don't let it bother you they will usually go away. I understand the heartbreak of being bullied as a young person is much different when you are going through it than when looking back. I think one of the best ways to combat bullying is to have enough self confidence to either stand up to them or let it roll off your back. I frequently ask my students to think about whether the problems that they have now are going to matter in 5 years, and I also offer a safe place to come and talk to an adult about what's going on.

Blog post #1 sem 2

  “What are your goals for this term?” What are 3 things that you want to improve or initiate within your classroom this semester?  How can  your Cadre Leader support you with these goals?”

My goals for this term is to lower the number of basics that I get on my evaluation done by the school I am currently working for. The first thing that I want to improve in my classroom this semester is the classroom management especially for the 2 class periods that I have the most students. I also want to integrate more technology into my lessons to improve student engagement. Finally, I want to know when people find the time to get all the things that need to be done, done. My cadre leader can assist me by helping me figure out how to get everything done without falling behind this semester as I did last semester. 

Blog Post 12

Session 12:  How can curriculum mapping assist you?  Do you have one?  Does your school/district curriculum map?  Where would/will you start in creating a useful curriculum map for your classroom? 

I do have a curriculum map that was made for Cambridge Curriculum. The problem with the map is that it is made for a course that is supposed to be taught in four semesters and we are required to teach it in two semesters. This leaves us with a time crunch at the end of the semester and that makes it very difficult (or impossible) to teach the material to mastery. When I ask my administration if I should teach to mastery or follow the time guidelines I of course get told to do both which I have not figured out how to do. I suppose this must be a skill that I need to get from teaching for a while. If I had to make my own curriculum map I would start with all the units that would need to be covered and make sure that they made sense. Then, I would look at the amount and depth of content and allocate certain time frames for each unit. Finally, I would arrange the units in an order that would be easiest to teach beginning with units that contained a great deal of fundamental knowledge and working my way through to the most complex ideas at the end. 

Blog Post 11

Session 11:  Do you differentiate instruction? Why? Why not?  What is the importance of differentiating instruction?  What impact does it have on student learning?

I honestly don’t do a great deal of differentiation other than what is outlined in my student’s IEPs. I have alternate versions of tests that provide word banks or eliminating some options on multiple choice questions. I also allow student to do alternate assignments where some of my more artistic students to make posters and label them instead of doing a written test. If I do groups I usually put students of similar ability levels together and I help out the lower ability students or the special needs students. This has led to a better understanding of the material. I will be trying different differentiation in the next semester. 

Blog Post 10

Session 10: General Education Teachers: When working with special education teachers, what are your challenges?  Strengths?  What could be done to increase your skills in this area?

I love my special education teachers and I am personally considering becoming one after I receive my certification. I like the way that what they suggest is usually just good teaching and I have wonderful paraprofessionals to come and help me out with my classes which are half special needs students during a couple of my class periods. The biggest challenge I have working with the special education teachers is having my materials provided to them in advance since I sometimes plan only a day at a time. I am going to begin trying to plan at least a week in advance and provide them with all of my materials ahead of time and letting them know when I am testing so the paraprofessionals can be ready to pull out small groups for testing. I think that my biggest strength when it comes to this area is that I take suggestions from the special education teachers to heart and try to implement their ideas in order to help my students grow. 

Blog Post 9

Session 9:  When using technology with your students, what are your challenges?  Strengths? What could be done to increase your usage of technology in the classroom?

When it comes to technology in my room my main challenge is my smartboard. I need to submit another work order to IT to have it addressed as it only works half the time and is really glitchy when it does work. For instance, I can write on it but then the pressure sensors won’t work and I can’t press it to use a website on the board. The good news is that I finally invested in a reliable powerpoint clicker. It works wonderfully and I installed two floor lamps in the back of my classroom because the projector isn’t bright enough to be seen with the lights on. I have set up my google classroom for next semester and have used socrative.com to do reviews and allow the students to use their cell phones in a productive manner. 

Blog Post 8

Session 8:  How prepared do you feel in effectively teaching your students in reading?  Is this one of your strengths?  A weakness?

I don’t feel especially effective in teaching my students reading and I do think this is one of my weaknesses. I have started a word wall for my classroom and have been conscious of going over the words and making sure students understand the pronunciation and definition of the vocabulary words I that unit. Other than that I haven’t really focused on reading and some other ideas would be nice to have to try and implement in the future.

Have you started to plan to the Common Core Standards?  If you have, how is that going?  If you haven’t, why not?  What support do you need?

This is a tricky question for me since I teach the Cambridge Curriculum. I was told that Cambridge was aligned with the Arizona State Standards for College and Career Readiness which is the state’s common core program but other than having to use it for classes I haven’t referenced it much. As far as support I wish I could sit down with someone next semester and annotate the Common Core Standards on my Cambridge syllabus and that would make it easier to complete lesson plans for the TIR program since I am not required to do so for my school.

Blog Post 7

Session 7:  Go to educationworld.com and read one article on some aspect of Classroom Management (type Classroom Management into the search box in the upper left hand corner).  Post a reflection to the Epsilen blog based on your practice as it relates to what you learn from the article.  How effectively is your well classroom management system working at this point in the year?  What are your struggles?  What are your successes?  Reflect with honest hearts and minds! 

The article that I read was Five Essentials for Basic Classroom Management. The article focuses on basic strategies like getting to know your student’s parents, you’ll never win if you go head to head with a student, good lesson planning, knowing your students, and finding your management style. I have attempted all of these with varying success. I have contacted several parents in regards to their student’s success and behavior. Most of the time the parents promise to speak to their children about their behavior and grades and things improve for a few days and then go back to their previous behavior. Good lesson planning focuses on planning bell to bell and engaging activities to keep the students busy. This is another way to say that busy hands are happy hands and that if students are busy enough they won’t have the time or energy to misbehave. I attempt to do this but I think I’ll do a much better job after I solidify my procedures in the next semester. Hammering home my procedures and being consistent next semester will hopefully help me find my voice and help me find my management style.  The last is that the teacher will never win if they go head on with a student. I had actually never thought of this but the article pointed out that while the teacher has everything to lose when getting into a power struggle with a student. The student usually has a reputation to maintain with the other students similar to what one normally think of occurring in prison. When certain students are challenged in front of their peers they will suffer any consequence and it may be better to not make a scene and keep any exchange private so as to avoid ruining their reputation with the other students.

My classroom management really does need a great deal of work but I have learned so many strategies this semester I hope it will improve. I am going to make sure that I set down the procedures clearly, model them, and have the students practice them and then be consistent for the rest of the year and hopefully it will solve most of my classroom management problems.

Blog 4

Session 4:  Regular Education - “What are you doing to meet the needs of your special education students?   If you do not have special education students, how are you meeting the needs of your low students?  Have you met with your school’s pre-referral group about these students?”

My special needs students get extra support from paraprofessionals during every other class period. I allow them to do different assignments sometimes depending on their abilities. I also do modified assessments, simplifying questions or not requiring answers as in depth as my regular students. I try to chunk information and stop and check to make sure they are on task and understanding the classroom instruction. I had several students draw diagrams of the digestive system and label them during class and used this as their assessment. This was very helpful to these students as I feel they understood the material much better than if they had taken a written test since many of my students struggle with reading and have low lexiles. 

Blog Post 6

Session 6: “Reflect on your use of assessment in the classroom.  On a scale of 1 – 10, ten being highest, how would you rate yourself.  What are your plans for becoming a “10” if you are not there already? How are you using assessment in the classroom to guide your instruction?  Describe how assessment results are used to differentiate instruction within your class.”

I think that I rate myself at a 4 on the scale of 1-10 on my use of assessment in the classroom. I do use assessments such as exit tickets and quizzes to monitor the progress of my students and try to use purposeful grouping in the lab. My plan to become a 10 consists of using websites such as Socrative.com, Kahoot!, and Google Classroom to help me make more informal assessments and to gather data prior to the tests and quizzes. Using these tools should make it easier for me to track what students are doing well and which are not. 

Blog Post 5

Blog post 5:  “Reflect on your time in the classroom to this point.  How are you feeling emotionally, physically?  Do you feel that you are getting through to your most difficult students? What strategies are working?  What strategies are not?   What are your next steps with student engagement within your classroom?”

At this point in the school year I am starting to feel better both emotionally and physically. I hit a low point about a month ago because I felt like I didn’t know which way I was going with everything especially lesson planning. I have managed to get through to a few of my really tough students and contacting parents has really helped me a great deal. Yesterday I got to see one of the parents that I worked with to get her son back on track and got to tell her that he is now doing great. That was a huge victory for me. The small group things that I have tried haven’t worked at all up to now but I plan on trying next semester after hammering home procedures. I have worked my way up to shoulder buddies and it is working nicely. I also have some new engagement strategies that I want to do next semester such as flyswatter. This is where you put the answers to questions on the board and two students compete to swat the answer with a flyswatter. 

Blog 3

In my classes I have a very high percentage of special needs students. I am also fortunate to have the help of paraprofessionals to assist me with them, but this still doesn't mean that I don't have to teach to them as well. I review their IEPs on a monthly basis and try my best to see that they are getting any services that they are entitled and I also give a variety of assessment types. I try to keep in mind that success does not always mean going to college and getting a degree for all of my students. Of course I have some students of which a college degree is a goal but many of my students will probably go into technical trades, the arts, or a variety of other fulfilling careers. I feel that it is my duty as an educator to not expect a fish to climb a tree. For example, I have one student who seems to understand most of the material when I speak with him but he isn't very good at writing. But this student can draw. He can draw better than I ever will and he can draw anything. For his summative assessment I am going to allow him to draw diagram of the digestive system and I will help him put on the labels. In the end, I hope he does this drawing poster size and I plan on hanging it up on my wall in the classroom for future reference and may even use it next year. I hope that this student takes pride in his work and gains some confidence from the activity. He may never win the Nobel prize for science but he can understand how his body functions and do what he is good at to demonstrate this to me. I have seen special education students do things this year that I never thought were possible and I hope that this trend continues.

In conclusion, special education students may need to have lessons adapted to include what they are good at and us as teachers must learn to think outside the box. If a student needs to talk through the material I try to give them a chance to do that. If a different student draws or sculpts I advocate for giving them the chance to do it. As long as they can demonstrate understanding of the material let them do what they love.