Preparing for a Future in Education

Today we had a presentation from George Couros, a principal from Stony Plains, Alberta. A lot of what George talked about today really hit home and made me think about my teaching practices. He stated that a teacher is equivalent to a Swiss Army Knife because they need to do so many jobs for one individual. There are many aspects to teaching and to education and a teacher must hit them all in order to be an effective teacher.

Building relationships with your students is one of the most important parts of being a teacher. It allows you to learn about your students and to engage them in what they are interested in. You must teach the student first and make schooling relevant to them in order for them to achieve. Students must enjoy being at school and a way to do this is to ensure that they can see themselves and their interests reflected in the material that is being used in the classroom. This moves into teaching the students to have a love of learning. To love learning one must love what they are learning, thus teaching a student who loves art how to FOIL a math equation will not aid that student in loving learning.

One of the main topics that was focused on in the presentation today was classroom management. George posed a question to us that he uses in his interviews: are all consequences the same for each action in your classroom? Why or why not?----- What are your thoughts on this question?

I think that it is only fair to treat each individual as an individual. This brings up the whole conversation regarding equality and equity. Do we treat each child the same even though they are not the same, or do we treat each child as they need to be treated, on an individual basis based on their experiences? I think that equity should be our main focus in education, not equality because every student is different and I know that I do not want to be treated the same way as the person sitting next to me, I want to be treated the way that I need to be treated.

The talk of consequences also comes back to the idea of relationships. If you build that relationship with a student than the consequences that you give out will reflect what that student needs. You need to build that relationship with the student and their parents so that you can become a team in that student's education and do what is best for them. Allowing students to know that you care and that you are there if they need someone to listen to is one of the best gifts that you can give a student because they may not have that at home.

This presentation made me think a lot about who I am as a teacher and the practices that I put in place while in my internship. I will reflect on this presentation and believe that it will make me a more effective teacher. Thank you to George Couros for coming in to present to us, it was an eye-opening experience!

IT'S DONE

We have completed our final project for this class. Please visit our blog to see our project on Reading Strategies!!

Amazing

This article and video was shared with me through my EPSY class. I think it is amazing and I can't understand what he is explaining!!! Thank you to Dallas for sharing this video!

Share what you think!

Collaboration (Tech Task #10)

I believe that in my future career online collaboration will be big and will be a useful tool. As the new curriculum is coming out, teachers are needing to come up with many new activity ideas and long range goals for their students. As well, as each year passes teachers always up date their lesson ideas and how they approach things within their classroom. Online collaboration helps all teachers find new and engaging ideas and give them support with new strategies.

I think that as I am entering the profession online collaboration will be an important thing. Even now when I am starting to plan a new lesson I look online for ideas that others may have come up with. Taking others' ideas and altering them to fit your classroom and your students' needs creates better educational opportunities for your students. Every teacher does not need to "reinvent the wheel" when it comes to teaching their students, there are many ideas and resources out there, it just takes time to look for them. Online collaboration will help to minimize the time that is spent by teachers looking for resources because they have some bookmarked or have sources that they know and trust.

Below are some videos that talk about why online teacher collaboration is such a good thing and why more and more teachers are moving towards it.

Not only is online collaboration a wonderful way for teachers to connect and to learn new ideas and strategies, it is also a wonderful way for students to engage with one another. Online student collaboration helps students share their ideas when they aren't even in the same room, which helps for at home projects. Blogging, Google Docs and using other various tools that connect learners can help students in their learning process.

I think that in my future career, I will begin to use online collaboration with my students so that projects can be completed easier and so that those students who have trouble working in a group face-to-face can have that chance to be productively active in the group. I know that throughout my schooling doing group work was always a pain, I hated having to find a time and a place to get together because with everyone's different schedules it can be near impossible. If you allow students to use such tools as Google Doc, each student can work on the project from their own home and on their own time. This also helps those students who have great ideas, but who are unable to share them because they may have trouble with social situations. These students would be much more actively involved if they were able to contribute from a safe environment.

I believe that student online collaboration has its many benefits, as long as you teach your students about internet safety and that you have access to their product. There can be issues with some students sharing inappropriate things within their collaboration, but this is no different from an in class work time. As long as you are monitoring the situation and know that the site is safe for the students to use, online collaboration can greatly effect the education of our students.

What about those students who miss class or have trouble paying attention in class? Having an online tool where the students can access after school hours to receive help on their homework, to view what was done that day, or to look at what their homework was will aid in many students finishing their work. These types of tools are also helpful because they allow parents to become a part of your classroom. If we allow parents to see and comment on what we are doing within our classroom, they feel more at ease because they are up to date. I believe that it is those parents who are kept in the dark that have trouble with the classroom teacher, because all they want is to be involved and to have their voice heard. Allowing parents to be part of online collaboration will help them get their voice out there and to let other students know what they think of their projects (hopefully in the positive or constructive way- this can be monitored as well).

I have found one site that talks about how important it is for students to be connected and learn from each other at all times. This means that we allow allow other classrooms into ours and that we don't isolate our students in any way. This article addresses the positive outcomes that online usage can have in the classroom and how much a student can learn and grow from having that outside connection.

Finally I have found another video that talks about the importance of online collaboration between people and how much people learn from it!

What are your thoughts on online collaboration, either between teachers, students, parents, or a combination of the three? Share your thoughts or any other resources that you may have that talk about what online collaboration can do to your classroom and to your career!

Incorporating Queer Issues into the Classroom

I am taking EFDN 306- Sexual Identities and am finding that it is changing how I look at things. I have never thought about many of the issues that queer people go through on a daily basis. This class is even changing how I watch tv, because not only am I looking at how underrepresented people of different races are, but now I am starting to focus on how underrepresented queer people are (having these critical lenses really ruins a quiet, comfy night at home watching mindless tv).
For this class we needed to come up with a lesson plan that incorporated queer content. I created this lesson that I am quite proud of because I created it for a grade 3 classroom and within the grade 3 curriculum there is only one mention of queer issues. I think that it is important for all students to have access to learning about queer people. We teach our students how to work with students with exceptionalities, we teach them how to get along with those of another race and confront their biases, why don't we teach them about the issues queer people face. I believe that if it is not in the curriculum many teachers may overlook teaching about these issues and as I was looking through the grade 3 curriculum I couldn't help but think of all of the grade 3 students that are not learning about these issues because it is not in the curriculum. I have posted my lesson plan and I hope that you look at it, and that you teach your students about queer issues and incorporate queer content into your classroom.


What is your opinion on teaching about queer issues in the classroom? What are some questions or concerns that you have? Let's create a professional discussion and maybe help others who are nervous about this content.

A New Activity Idea

How do you make history come alive??? We can have our students write history reports upon history reports, but are they really learning anything? They are just reading information and regurgitating it in a different format. We need to always be finding new and innovative ideas to bring into our classrooms. Facebook is the new thing that many students are still quite engaged in. Check out My Fake Wall, perhaps it could be used in your classrooms! Thanks to Alec for posting this on Diigo.

Classroom Blogging

I was looking through the ECMP Diigo list and I found this blog that someone had posted. I think that using blogs in your classroom is a wonderful way to keep students and parents up to date when they are at home. As a student I always hated missing class and not know what was done that day. I think that by using a blog and updating it regularly it keeps students up to date and reminds them of their homework.

While I think that blogs are a great thing, at the same time I don't know how many parents are ready for one. I had a blog in internship and I found that many of my students didn't look at it. If students and parents aren't going to look at or use the blog, then there are other efficient ways of giving out information. I also heard in one of my classes taht we need to stop using e-mails and blogs because they are impersonal and are causing some issues (because you don't know what the parent is saying when you can't hear their tone of voice). During this class I was told that phone calls and face-to-face were much better.

What are your opinions on blogging in the classroom? Are there more benefits than drawbacks? What is the most effective way to use a blog in the classroom?

FINISHED PORTFOLIO

Even though it is not due for another 4 weeks, I have finished my Online Professional Portfolio. Visit my Portfolio Page to see why I chose to create a new portfolio and to get the address!

Hope you like it!!! Please let me know what you think!

Frustrating

Last night I learned one reasons why I don't like technology. I worked for about 4 continuous hours on my Online Professional Portfolio. I was working on a new program so I didn't want to publish anything until I was done and I didn't know how to save. I was finished everything and was going to hit publish when it happened.......Firefox crashed. I lost everything!!!! Luckily all of my documents were still uploaded, but the formatting anf typing were gone. It was very frustrating because 4 hours of work is lost. I did learn how to save on this program and hopefully everything will work out fine!

New Pages

Hey check out my new short pages!


Why Use Blogging as Connective Writing?

How I would use Blogging/Technology in the Classroom

Six Word Story (Tech Task #9)

For this tech task we had to find a picture and create a six word story that goes along with it. These are the two photos that I decided to create stories for.


Picture #1:

I love nature and took this picture of a Trolls Falls in Kananaskis Country.

Picture #2:

In my EFDN 306 class we have begun to talk about Two Spirit people. This was a traditional way of life for gay and lesbians but now many youth who identify with Two Spirit do not know a lot about what they are feeling and are not accepted, even in the First Nation communities. This all began to take place after colonization when the settlers decided that homosexual relationships and gender crossing were wrong and made First Nations people cease these acts.

I received this photo from Dancing to Eagle Spirit Society. Check them out for more information on Two Spirit people.

Goals

After finishing the book Focus on the 90% (the book that I talked about in a previous post) I created some goals for myself. The book talked about how in your jobs there are always going to be that 10% that you cannot please, as well as some of those 10% people that you work with. It made me question myself about whether I was one of those 10% people. I thought about it for a bit and realized that I was not enjoying myself as much as I could have been. I decided to make a change. The next that I went into work, I did not focus on how tired I was or what else I had to do at home, I focused on what I was doing. I didn't complain about the dirty jobs that I had to do that day, but did them quickly and with a smile on my face realizing that I was helping others out. I interacted with the visitors, made some children happy and excited. I had a wonderful day and my shift flew by.

The next day that I went into work I wasn't feeling well, even my co-workers said I should not have come into work that day. Even though I wasn't feeling well, I put that out of my mind when I was interacting with the visitors and I think that I made many visitors happy. I was enthusiastic and had a smile on my face. Once I changed my mind set that I was going to have fun at work and not worry about the things that I couldn't control, I enjoyed my time much more. There are those people that I work with that do focus on the 10%, but I have to try my best to not join with them and instead focus on what I do enjoy about work.

Autism Video

Autism is a spectrum disorder that baffles a lot of people. Each child with autism acts completely different and there are no two children alike. This makes it hard to find strategies that will work similarly with different children. Many people do not understand Autism because they see the variety that it contains. This video was shared with me through my EPSY class and I think that it answers some questions, gives us some strategies and gives us some hope that we may be able to get through to some of these students with Autism.

What are your thoughts and views on this video or Autism in general???

Google Doc Spreadsheet (Tech Task #8)

We learned how to make a spreadsheet using formulas. I learned this in Information Processing 10 and I am amazed that I remembered how to do most of it with a quick review!

Have a look at my chart!

Final Project on the Go!

This morning we headed out to a one of our internship schools and did our filming for our final project. We split the students into 3 different groups based on their reading levels so each child would have a chance to be involved with the filming gand would have an activity that we geared toward their reading group. The students were wonderful and worked hard for us, though they could have been louder (they have been taught too well)! We finished all of our filming in one day out at the school.

A special thank you to the staff and students who allowed us to come into their school and who participated in our final project, it should turn out wonderfully!

I am looking forward to editing our videos and getting our final project blog on the way!

Cute Video

Watch this cute video of kids singing Iron Maiden. A band that was once not allowed in schools is now being used to reach certain students and engage them.

What do you think, should this be allowed in schools? Why or why not?

Focus on the 90%

I went to a bridal show in October and received this wonderful book in my package. The organizer of the show was Darci Lang and her husband, she is a motivational speaker and she gave everyone a free copy of her book "Focus on the 90%". I have just started to read it, but I think that this message is very inspirational and I am trying my best to change my focus.

She mentions in her book taht many people focus on the 10% that is negative in their lives, jobs, spouses, and selves. However, if we switch that magnifying glass to focus on the 90% that is positive about those things, we can lead a much happier life.

I am trying to change my view from the 10% to the 90%, but at this point I am finding it hard. She said that if you can't focus on the 90% and you don't like what you are doing then you need to change something. My issue is that I do not like being in class all that much and can always find something to complain about, but I can't change that right now or I won't be able to do what I really want, teach!

Even though I am having a hard time switching my focus in some parts of my life, I am finding success switching my focus in other parts, and even finding some success and limiting that amount of negative things I focus on in the things that I don't like. I am finding that I am happier and a lot calmer about life. I try not to worry about things that I cannot control, but will try to find a way to find the positives in things that I can.

As I was reading this book I thought that it would be an excellent book for all teachers to read. Focusing on the 90% that our students can do rather than focusing on the 10% that they can't will make for a much happier and productive classroom. When looking at that leson plan that went wrong, look at what went right. Look at the students' strengths and play off those to build on their weaknesses. Go in each day looking at the positive because it seems that the better mood that the teacher is in in the morning, the better behaved the classroom is (maybe that is because you are in such a good mood small issues don't affect you as much). Finally, if you cannot find the positive in your job anymore, or remember why you went into teaching, stop. Complaining about your job, your co-workers, and your students is not helping anyone, but getting more and more people feel down in the dumps.

I wish that I had read this book before internship, I think that it would have changed my experience a lot. When I looked at a lesson after I had done it, I always focused on that 10%; I would even focus on the 10% of my day. If I had jsut focused on that 90% I think I would have: seen all the well-behaved kids in my class, not only the ones that were determined to drive me up the wall that day. been able to find different strategies to work with varies students because I would have been focusing on what they can do, been able to enjoy the lessons that went really well and the learning that did take place over the lessons that the students had trouble with. In our profession it is good to reflect on what went wrong so you can change it, but only focusing on it so you can determin how to make it better not so it will make you feel like a horrible teacher.

Throughout my schooling I have heard many teachers complaining about their profession and asking me if I was sure this is what I wanted to do with my life. I was sure! When I had those days when I focused on the 90% I couldn't dream of being anywhere else. I hear these teachers complaining about their students and saying how they can't wait until June (it was the beginning of the school year). They would look as if they were jsut miserable with their lives. I don't think this can result in any positive outcome for anyone. If you are so miserable, the students will pick up on that and either work to make you more miserable or conclude that school really does suck and they don't want to be there. It is our job to make students see that education can be a wonderful opportunity and can open many doors. If we have that positive attitude and focus on the 90% everyone will enjoy their day and might actually end up learning more, the staff room will be a buzz with laughter and inspirational stories not the complaints and miserable comments most are full of now, and we will have some energy and happiness left over for those who are waiting for us at home, who need our love and support just as much as our students do.

Everyone has their bad days and it is hard not to stew and think about everything that went wrong. However, focusing on that 90% may make the bad days happen less, and laying everything out to ensure that you can focus on the 90% by fixing some problems may be the solution that you need!

This book is starting to make a change in my life and I think it can make a difference in the lives of others. I encourage everyone to read Darci Lang's Focus on the 90% and to share their inspriational stories so that everyone can benefit and reaffirm why we are in the field that we are (because sometimes teachers just need that gentle reminder on a bad day)!

Class Video

So I talked to my ECMP 3535 professor about whether the video that I compiled was okay to be uploaded to YouTube. We decided that because it was a compilation of clips from around 11 different episodes and I did not include an entire episode, it can be considered fair trade. I hope you enjoy the video that I made, I am especially proud of this video and feel that it got my point across!


I created this video using clips from the second and third season of the series 90210 in response to an assignment for my EFDN 306 class on Queer Representation in the Media. I saw the representations that the producers attempted to have some queer representation within this series and I wanted to show this to my class and analyze it. I think that the fact that the producers are attempting to represent queers in an accurate manner in their show is a step in the right direction

Please let me know what you think!!!