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.