Sunday, March 25, 2012

What Learning Looks Like (underwater)


Just another shot of my daughter expanding her horizons. 
* All Clownfish are "Nemo" to a 5 y/o.

EDCHAT POST #1


Trying to follow edchat is one of the more difficult tasks a new teacher can undertake. However, with so many different conversations and posts occurring simultaneously, I found myself homing in on one post in particular. The post read “School's function is 2create workers 2 fuel our economy, we need 2 change school, because the workers we need have changed as well.”

My initial reaction to this statement is that it seems to be logical, but then it started to sound a little Orwellian to me. Looking at schools as a factory to produce workers is a little narrow in its scope. Sure, we do try and produce individuals that are capable of being productive workers, and contributors to our society, but schools need to strive for so much more. Trade schools are designed to provide the skills a student would need to be successful in a particular occupation. Public schools are tasked with molding students into productive, knowledgeable citizens. Yes, we are creating workers, but we are also creating leaders, artists, writers, inventors, explorers, parents, politicians and everything else that we need as a society to prosper. In short, we are assisting families in turning their children into quality adults.

The final goal of all of these efforts should be to create an independent member of our community, while looking out for the interests of those who can’t fend for themselves. I understand that this is an ideal, and that human nature is a powerful force that cannot always be controlled or focused into a beneficial direction. The adage “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink” is all too prevalent in our education system. However, that shouldn’t preclude us from working toward an ideal, no matter how lofty it may seem.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Day 1 of CP2 "Sink or Swim"

As with everyone else in the cohort, today was my first day full time at my school. Over the past few weeks, on top of everything else, I have been busy preparing lessons for my classes.  These lessons are designed to be taught beginning the first week after everyone returns from spring break. For this week, I assumed that I would only teach a couple of classes beginning on Thursday. Over the weekend I polished up my lesson design, and was fairly confident when I presented it to my CT this morning. When I gave my CT my plan for a computer based lesson, he took a quick look at it, and said that it looked great. Then he surprised me with something I should have seen coming, and am embarrassed to say that I did not. He asked me if I wanted to teach one of today’s classes. This was the first we had spoken of anything prior to my taking the class on Thursday. Before I could think about it, I instinctively said “Sure!”. Of course it was at that very second that I realized that I had been so consumed with preparing for later in the week and beyond, that I hadn’t even looked at today’s lesson. He politely offered to allow me to retract my impulsive agreement, but then again I heard myself say “No, I’m good to go!”.

I took copious notes while observing him during the prior class, and felt somewhat confident that I could carry this off without too much embarrassment or having someone contact the university to immediately kick me out of the credentialing program. As the bell rang, and it became my turn to take over the class, my CT quietly whispered that the principal will be dropping by, so “Don’t be nervous”. New class…check, first lesson…check, principal watching…check. I had visions of the George Clooney film “The Perfect Storm” running through my head. Well, after I settled in and began the  lesson, I was extremely grateful that my CT and my knee-jerk response had gotten me in front of the class as soon as possible. The students were amazing, and the experience allowed me to become their new teacher, and not just that guy who helps out occasionally. All in all, a good day. 

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Oceanside High School/El Camino High School visits:


Having never been to Oceanside High School prior to our visit, I was amazed at how the campus resembled a small community college.  It was incredibly modern looking and seemed well designed. The science building was amazing all by itself.

1. How was technology integrated into the curriculum? Do you feel that it promoted student learning?
            The technology was primarily in the form of iPads that the students used at their desks to carry out the day’s instruction. The students immediately came into the classroom and began working “warm-up” questions that the teacher had prepared. The primary use of the technology was for assessment. Students would complete assignments and formal assessments on their iPads, and the teachers could receive immediate feedback on their understandings. This can really help during the formative portions of a lesson or unit. Although the fullest potential for the technology’s use isn’t realized through its incorporation only in assessments, this is a start to a much more student centered, and personalized form of instruction. The amount of feedback a teacher can receive through the use of these tablets, is far greater than any teacher can obtain through verbal communication alone.

2. Is there anything you saw that makes this classroom/school unique?
            The use of the technology isn’t what made the classes unique for me. It was the familiarity and comfort with which the students used the technology that I have not seen previously. They seemed as at ease with the iPads as they would be using pencil/paper for note taking, and completing assignments.
            In contrast, I have observed at several schools that don’t allow students to use any electronic devices. This extends to the computers that might be already present in the classrooms. Their concern is that the students will spend too much time on frivolous activities and not on their schoolwork.  This was shown to not be the case in the classrooms we visited at Oceanside High School. The students were productive and used the iPads appropriately.

3. What did you learn and how does it relate to the class questions?
            I found it interesting that the teachers were committed to ensuring that eventually each student could be issued an iPad, or similar device, to carry with them throughout the day, and take home for homework/additional support. I am having difficulty in understanding why this is so critical to the students’ learning, if they in fact have home computers and are able to access all applications and information from their homes.  My personal belief is that it would be much more effective if they had access to the tablets at school, and utilized their own computers at home.
            If a student is issued a tablet and therefore responsible for its condition, I can only see that a great many students will be responsible for reimbursing the school at the end of the year for damage incurred throughout the year. This can have the effect of not being equitable for all students considering the wide differentiation family financial situations. Where the replacement of a broken iPad for one family might be a non-issue, for another, it may very well be a financial impossibility. Having seen the condition of many students’ smart-phones over the past semester, I am certain that a fair amount of students will be buying the school new iPads if they are permitted to carry them to and from school. In speaking with my current Cooperating Teachers, I have been told that there really isn’t a tech gap among their students’ families. They all have internet access and capable computers at home.  In one of my classes, my CT has supplied web-books for use by each student while physically in the classroom. This has eliminated the need for booking computer lab time, and allowed students to accomplish most of their work digitally.

Autotune Science Mash-Up


Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Fantastic Social Justice Lesson


One the greatest impacts to me from my PLN occurred today. I was quickly breezing through some of the class tweets, and I noticed Mallory’s reference to “What does learning look like” and a photo link. Prior to reading her post and subsequently educating myself on the issue, I was somewhat ignorant to the atrocities being committed by Joseph Kony in Uganda. Like everyone who sees the video, I was appalled at the level of degradation we as humans are capable of. Then I recalled some of my students during CP1 asking why we would ever get involved in another country’s affairs. Why we would ever risk American lives in a foreign land? As this was asked during an Earth/Space Science class, I could not spend too much time on the subject. However, thinking back upon the question, I see a tremendous opportunity for a Social Science or English class to investigate where students stand on international policy and social justice. If facilitated well, this could be a significant and everlasting lesson for the students. They can understand the complexities of foreign policy and the decisions that affect all of our lives.

Having been on the business end of our foreign policy, I can understand how my students would feel about the costs in lives when we send troops abroad. The interesting part of the question is what is the point of commitment. When do we decide to become involved as a nation and intervene. I believe few students in our classes, would ever deny that something must be done to counter these crimes against humanity. The question for the students is how we get involved, and what if we are not wanted by the ruling party. These are the kinds of discussions that make me envy my Social Science brothers and sisters.