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.