Christmas Vacation

So... being Christmas Vacation, I have very little to add, however I have been playing on some new websites. They have given me some great ideas.

pinterest.com

http://delightfulorder.blogspot.com/p/organizing.html

These sites are great! I even used an organizing tip from Delightful Order.

Mini-Residency & Toolkit

So I started my Mini-Residency Thursday. It was stressful for one class period, but after that it was a cake walk. I was teaching PhotoShop which is a software I just started using on Friday before teaching, so I only partway know what I am doing. Also, the screen cast went so fast, I felt like I was at a speech marathon. I can't wait to start teaching the stuff I really know during my Residency.

In regards to the toolkit for SBA #11, I think I am doing well on the project. It is due 12/7, and I have 2 strategies done, with the 3 lesson plans (1 full blown with artifacts, each). So only 7 strategies to go which include 14 lesson plans and 1 full blown lesson plan with artifacts. I am including the link to my box.net account, which has what I have done so far. It is in PDF format, so it is viewable by anyone, and I used Preview, and PDF to combine several formats and documents into one cohesive paper. It worked well. If you would like to learn how to combine PDF's using Preview, please let me know and I will help you out... I only know how to do it using a MAC, sorry you PC lovers.

http://www.box.com/s/6l98jvg3t0zgcyzc80jp

Anyway, let me know what you think of the toolkit thus far. I would appreciate it.

So some fun software to use in the classroom & elsewhere

So some new software that I don't know if I have mentioned are:

Comic Life - a Graphic Novel creation software
SnapzProX - a video production that takes screen shots & audio (great for instruction on Computers)
Stykz - a stick figure animation creator
Google SketchUp - a 3D drawing / drafting program
Xtranormal.com - an avatar video creation
Sumopaint.com - an online paint program
Glogster - an online poster creation program
Freemind - an online mind mapping program
Inspirations - an online graphic organizer program
Box.net - a file sharing site

Anyway, each of these is a fun tool to use for presenting, or creating...

Video Instruction vs. Direct Instruction

So this week was great!!! I got to teach all day Friday - My mentor said she wouldn't say a word!!! It was great...

I do have a small dillema about the practice we use in our classroom for instruction. Our instruction daily is about 5-15 minutes depending on whether we are starting a new lesson or in the middle of a project.  So, my mentor makes a video of her instruction using a program called SnapzProX which creates a video of the computer screen as well as records her voice. Then we play this video for each of the classes. There are some pros & cons to the practice. The pro's are: We can monitor the students better if we aren't stuck behind our desk doing the lesson on the computer screen live - so we are able to ensure each student is paying attention, etc... (When you are doing a live lesson, the tendency is to look at your screen at what you are doing, rather than on the class.) The con's are: Is it really teaching? My husband seems to think it is a "cop out", and that Direct instruction isn't taking place (granted he is a Math Teacher, and this wouldn't work as well in his classroom with his style).  I have discussed it with several of the cohort members, and the numbers are split - some say it's just good teaching, others say that it will put them out of a job?? Anyway, what do you think? I feel like if I am teaching in her classroom, I need to teach the way she does. Similarly, if I teach in my husband's class, I would teach the way he does??? Input would be appreciated. 

On a side note, I did two more behavior referals this week: One for fighting, and one for tardies... Anyway, the fighting one was interesting - It happened in the hall when a student punched another student in the back and then he ran off down the stairwell. By the time I got to the stairwell, he was gone - however he was a student of mine & I saw him so I knew who he was (It's funny how students think teachers are oblivious). Anyway, got the kid who got punched to the nurse - had security get the hitter, wrote up a referral and handed it over to the AP. It was a unique experience.

Demographics of one of my classes

I am uploading my Class Profile to box.net @

http://www.box.net/shared/z840kduo00mshd964xqy

It is really exciting to learn about the individual and group dynamics in my classes.

Check it out! I really think we should have to profile each of our class periods to learn more about our students and what we can do better to teach them.

Community of Learners!!!

Some of the great things I learned and will try out over then next several weeks…

·      “What do you think?” – This question allows the student to question his own thoughts on any situation.

·      No rules – except those specified by the students (working agreements type), then using a strategy like, “That was a bad decision, I will have to do something about that, I will let you know tomorrow what it is.” (Problem’s don’t have to be solved on the spot)

·      “I Noticed…”  - - Create a relationship about outside of school things & then try to ask them if they will do something for you.

Quote I liked:

“The self worth of a teacher is never in question, only the value of the technique.”

Great Idea

So here is my great idea----

I am going to put together a "checklist" of great ideas I want to implement when I begin teaching.

Here is a start to the list:

• Rules created in an animation - like xtranormal.com to get my kids excited and show how cool I am.
• Do a learning profile on my students during 1st week of classes - so I will know how they learn. Tell students how my learning style is and take it with them so they learn some about me.
• Use Warm-Up's and Exit tickets each day to gauge prior knowledge & post assessments. An idea given in class today was to do it like this: "3 things I learned today, 2 things I contributed to class, 1 Question I still have about the topic", then at the bottom have them select the portion of this sentence that applies to them, "I did/did not give 100% today." and then have them sign it.
• Use a paragraph writing tool of a hand with the 5 W's & How on the palm.
• Create a poster explaining, "How to turn in an Assignment", So I am not repeating myself a hundred times.

So those are just a few things I thought of...

•  

First couple weeks of September

So it has been a stressful couple of weeks, however it is getting better. I have been attending classes, and visiting Romig two days a week.

I had some miscommunication issues with my mentor, but it looks like I am figuring it out. Today was a good day, we took a lot of steps in the right direction, I got my parent to sign off on allowing me to do my case study on their student. It is really looking up.

Hopefully, it will continue to be that way.

Classes week of 8/30

So classes this week went well.

For ESDY 630: We went over syllabus & talked about Jane Addams "The public school & the immigrant child" published in 1908. It was interesting to see the chasm between American schools and immigrant home life. Thought Question: Does that still exist today??? I would say look at the Refuges that have come to the US to get out of persecution. The Hmong people for example they left Vietnam because they helped us. However don't we require them to change their culture, speak our language, and do things the American way???

For EDSY 661: We talked about accessing prior knowledge through the use of assessments. We were each asked to create a visual aid about our content area... mine is a prezi document. view it at prezi.com Search Business Technology, it's the third one.

For EDSE 637: We started working on learning about misconceptions of special eduaction, and it was a real eye opener for some. Our big assignment for mid-terms is to create a Venn Diagram about IDEA and 504, I have already started researching it. So that I can get a jump on my group.

For EDSY 644 & EDFN 647: Our class was cancelled due to professor being at daughters labor & delivery. Hope all is well. She did give us online assignments to complete instead. I appreciated it because I tried to get caught up on all our other big projects.

Our big projects this semester are:
1. Case Study of SE student: We have to get parent permission, as well as follow FERPA guidelines, so we plan on pushing though with that plan. I have picked the student, but want to talk to his parents before I proceed.
2. Class Profile: We get to profile a specific class we are teaching in, I think I have picked my class, as well as know where to get most of the information, however I am still working out whether I need permission or not. I will look into it in more detail next week.
3. Language Handbook: This is a quick reference guide to new teacher who may have a different language speaking student in their classes, it will give a background about the class, as well as definitions in that language for parents.
4. School Community Presentation - I am guessing this is a continuation of what we already did this summer, however I don't have much information concerning it.
5. Tool-kit for General Methods - This will include lesson plans as well as other instructional tools for the interns.

Anyway, I hope I can keep up with all I have to do this semester & I hope my kids forgive me in May for the chaos.

Friday Meeting with Clinical Faculty

So on Friday my clinical faculty - Sally Speiker - met with my mentor & me at Romig at the end of school. It was great to get feedback on how I was doing.

My mentor actually stated she didn't want me to graduate - she wanted me as a full-time unpaid TA - because I was doing such a good job.

Sometimes being told your doing a good job is reassuring - but not having much to say which is not so great is hard also, because you have no idea what to work on!!!

oh Well.

So back to class this week.

Teaching Strategy

So today I attended Janet Steinhauser's Literacies class. It was very informational - told me more about my style of group work than I realized before.

Also, she gave a great idea for "Knowing where your students understanding level was." It is called the Fist to Five method. Basically, it uses the hand as a way to gage each child's understanding. The method is as follows:

If a student understands the material well enough they thought they could teach it to someone they would raise all 5 of their fingers - like a high five.

If a student doesn't understand at all then the student would put up their fist with no fingers out.

And the other 4 in moderation between the two.

So say I am presenting a lesson, and I want to know if everyone knows what they are doing next in the activity, I can say, "Fist to Five...". The class would then silently (ha ha) put their hands in the air indicating their level of understanding. So I would know whether I needed to restate the assignment, or if I could let them break to do it on their own - based on the responses.

I thought this was a great idea, and I will probably mention it to my mentor - as well as try it out. I will let you know how it goes!!!

If you have read this please comment!!! I am trying to get an indication of who - if anyone other than me is reading this. Mention if you liked the idea, and whether you think it will work or not and WHY!!!!

Second Day of Classes

Went to my second day of Fall classes for my Master's today! It was fun.  The classes today were: EDSE A637 (my first special ed class) & EDSY A644 (my first elive session).

EDSE A637:

Met a professor in the program that I had never met before. Amita is very brilliant. She has a background in the medical field, she has been around the world, and has a great English accent (british).  She seems very knowledgable in disabilities.

Really enjoyed everyones stories about their knowledge/experiences - I had a hard time trying not to cry when I discussed my experiences, especially my son, Parker, who had 4 siezures in one day which totally changed his personality, as well as the medications he was on were hard to determine quantity - so when he was on a too large dose he acted comatose, but when he wasn't on a large enough dose it caused him to be agressive. So finding the right dose was crazy.

My reflection paper is going to be on learned behaviors vs. actual disabilities - because I have a nephew who because he see's his older siblings doing the activities of their disabilities, he thinks that is the norm, and so now he acts like he has the disability, however he doesn't.

EDSY A644:

This class is my Community of Learners class with Janet Steinhauser (Love her as a teacher!!) This class was my first eLive class!!! Very interesting. I found it very hard to take notes - which could pose a problem in later classes. However I did like that we could text in our comments instead of voicing it. Discussed our two week observations, I have attached a link to my two week observation it is at:


http://www.box.net/shared/z840kduo00mshd964xqy

 Overall, I think it is going to be an intense class but useful.

Back to Classes!!

So today, I went to two classes instead of being in the classroom.

EDSY A630: Language, Culture, & Teaching in Secondary Schools. It was interesting, taught by Paul Ongtooguk. It basically started out  slow, but got better over time. Some of the major readings that were indicated being interesting were:

• Jane Adams - The Chicago Experiment (This is a nobel price article which describes the the connection between the needs of communities to public education)
• Gene Glass - Fertilizer, Pills, & Magnetic Strips (This is about the future of education - Where it's been, where it's going, etc...)
• Ravitch/Finn - What do our 17 year olds know (This is an observation of what skill sets our teenage population is really getting out of public education system)

The nice thing about this class, is that there is no book - and no daily homework. There has been some mention of a handbook that will need created, but no clear indication of what assignments are due and when.

EDSY A661: General Metods. Taught by Susan Barstow. The goals for this class are very clearly set out, and the teaching method of the teacher is very compatible with my learning style. There are times when I find that I am not following where she is going however.  Today, we did a really fun activity to get to know each other and to learn a little about the prior knowledge everyone is coming to the table with. 

The activity was puzzle pieces - Each person put their name, a symbol of their content area, a ethnic border, and three goals on the puzzle piece. Then we each put them up on whiteboard, and said a short story about our first week in the internship. It was great getting to know each persons name, seeing who needs to work on public speaking, as well as learning what other's goals were prior to the mini-residency. My goals were ICE!!! Integrate, Collaborate, & Educate. Granted it's a little more in depth than that but I wanted to make it short and simple (plus the pieces weren't very big). 

Anyways overall I think the classes are going to be enjoyable, & I look forward to getting to it.

Thursday & Friday

Well, obviously I had a lot going on if I missed a post!!! Thursday I got home with a migraine after 7th hour. We have a giant class - 35 students in a mixed 7th & 8th Grade class, but we only have 32 computers!!!!  So needless to say it was busy. Took 800mg of Iburophen felt better after 20 minutes!!! Overall thursday went well, other than the 7th hour fiasco.

Friday was a good day. We minimized our 7th hour & had an assembly during it. It was fun, the assembly was mostly about behavior, however several of the P.E. teachers were caught on video dancing.

I did make a suggestion to my mentor that next year she should take pictures on the first day of classes, and several subsequent special events - then create an end of year slide show using the pictures through out as a fun thing to see how far they have come.

Anyway - Overall it has been a busy but exciting week.

Kindergarten & 1st Grade Interviews

So, today I only spent half a day in the classroom, because my two little guys had interviews with their new teachers. Ryan, age 5 is starting Kindergarten, and has Mrs. Stout @ Susitna Elementary, and Parker, age 6 is in Mrs. Marx first grade class. Both of their teachers have student interns in them, it was interesting to get a view of interning @ the elementary level from them.

While @ Romig, my mentor did something that was really neat. As teachers, we have the ability to remote into our students computers, take over, and show them how to do things. It was really interesting to actually see this in action, as I have known about the program for years but have never used it for other than spying on my employees. We were teaching the Business Technology 7 class to create a folder on desktop, as well as to create a shortcut for Microsoft Word, as well as starting a letter from student to teacher about "What they knew about Computers!!!" Anyway she remote took over their screens, showed them what to do twice, then gave them free reign to do it, as we walked around the room and checked.  We also worked on a program that taught typing, it was really interesting to see the kids work on it - I thought I should try it sometime - see how fast I really am.

Anyway, a good day overall.

08/15/11 : First day with kids

So I learned a few things today!!!

As many of you know - I am a very loud person. When my mentor started class, she used a soft tone (to me). I think this set the atmosphere for our classroom. The kids were not boisterous, they mostly listened and were also soft. Several times when I substituted, I found that the kids were really loud - I think my voice set the tone. So - - - I think I am gonna try it!!!!

Several things I liked that my mentor did:

Prior to class - She posted a daily agenda on the wall!!! I think it not only helped her, but also helped the kids know what was next.

During first 10 minutes of class - after checking schedules. She gave the students a worksheet to work on while she took the time to create a seating chart - this enabled her to walk around the class and visit with each student. Also, having the seating chart it should enable her to be able to learn the kids names quicker!

My mentor did show a video for her rules. It was created using a website called XtraNormal.com. It was an animated video with an avatar - in the style of the video I made for Sociology using two cell phones, made on goAnimate.com! The kids really enjoyed this and thought it was a great example of the types of things we will be doing in our classroom.

I am thinking I am going to be loving this internship!!!!

08/15/11 : Day before kids show up

So today we did 7 mandatory district trainings as an entire school. Several were very information, however since I have been a business owner I have a knowledge of most of the information, and most of the information is common sense. The districts thought process is that several people don't have common sense!!! They were good review however.

Once I got back into the classroom with my mentor, we went over the plans for her first day of class, and over a tenative schedule for the entire semester - my mentor has the lesson plans for the entire semester already created, and knows which one to do when and everything; we also reset up the smartboard and connected it to a laptop - as the teacher's computer was more than 25 feet from it and the distance created a lag in the presentation.

Then for the last two hours I got the privilege to hook up the entire computer lab by myself. It was a great experience, arranging the lab around the room, and hooking them up to the internet and making sure the network worked. It was tiring, hot, and slightly exhausting moving computers, tables, and chairs around - but it was well worth knowing that my mentor and the IT guys believed in me enough to allow me to do it.

Third Day

August 12, 2011

·      Went to CTE training – District wide in-service.

o   It was interesting to learn about the CTE programs.

o   Created a Display for CTE at Central/Romig MS, West High, & KCC -  I personally think we should have put some sort of digital feature on it and I think it should have been done on a more professional format, but overall it was a good activity to think about marketing our product.

o   Our Keynote Speaker was Carol Commeau – ASD Super Intendant

Day Two

August 11, 2011

·      Did Smartboard training for my mentor

·      Went to Costco for supplies for School Store

·      Had B-B-Q with West High School

·      School Policy Meeting.

o   We went over a wide variety of things in this meeting, including EAP, Keys, First Day Coverage, Parking, Computer Issues, Staff Meetings, Open House, etc. It was the full second half of day, and was very informative.

First Day

August 10, 2011

·      Today was the start of my internship.

·      I showed up at 8am, and left at 3:15pm. A total of 7.25 hours.

·      Here is what I worked on today:

o   Go Green Bulletin Board

o   Usernames & passwords on computers

o   Went thru Moodle docs – looked at submitted lesson plans from district

o   Worked on connecting smart board

o   Changed desks verses tables

o   Made copies of “What do you know about computers” paper (120)

o   Cleaned all computer screens

o   Discussed first week of school plans

Edfn 601: technology tools

For this class I have used the following technology tools:
•freemind.com
•storyjumper.com
•glogster.com
•prezi.com
And
•sliderocket.com

EDFN 478: Paul Ongtooguk

This class was Issues in Alaska Native Education. It was a very interesting class. We learned all about history of Alaska, ANCSA, and other native issues. We learned a great deal about the way to greet Alaska Natives, the difference between an Alaska Native and a native alaskan. We learned about cultures, social sturctures, Indian policies, and other issues.

Just completed my final paper for the class, and I am positing it here for your viewing.



http://www.box.net/shared/z840kduo00mshd964xqy

Overall a great class.

Modern Philosopher Presentation

So, I have been working with Sara Jean on my Modern Philosopher Presentation, who is Jane Roland Martin. She was a very interesting lady. She was born on the same day I was, she was a professor of philosophy, and she strongly advocated for an equal education for both genders, as well felt that the conversation needed to be able to stretch over time. I seriously thought of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure when I was learning about her.

Anyway. We are using a new technology tool at Prezi.com. It is a presenting tool, as well as a kind of mind mapping tool. It is realitively user friendly, but takes some thought on use. Here is the link to my prezi...

http://prezi.com/teh6fq-mkgf5/edit/?auth_key=bh6qeb3&follow=skorthuis@alaska.edu

Hope you enjoy it.

Jen

EDFN 603: Sunny Mall

This class was Educational History & Sociology. We learned that there were 3 types of sociological people. There is the Functionalist - "The system works, mold the people to the system", the Conflict Theorist(Marxist) - "The system doesn't work, we need to change the system to fit the people in it", and the Interprevist - "Does it matter if the system works or not, how are we going to make it work locally?". Our two main projects were the School Community Study, and a history paper. The School Community Study was great! We got to learn about the school we would be interning at and the surrounding communities. We also got to apply the information to our content field. It was great! The history paper was more difficult. We picked a topic in education and wrote about it. I chose to write on the voucher program, and it's history.

Again, here is a link to the documents.

http://www.box.net/shared/z840kduo00mshd964xqy

Thanks Sunny for keeping us  busy and allowing us the opportunity to get to know our communities better.

EDFN 602: Janet Steinhauser

This course is Educational Psychology. I found it very interesting, and was able to relate it to my personal experiences with kids well, considering I have 6 kids from the ages of 13 to 3. I felt the professor was very knowledgeable, and was able to present the information in ways that were easy to understand. I really appreciated the use of graphic maps in this class as it helped to direct my writing greatly. I felt that the Reflection Paper was a little difficult to revisit my high school years, however it really helped me understand why I want to be a teacher and helped me learn what kind of teacher I wanted to be. The Creative Research Paper was very interesting. We picked a topic in Psychology which was of interest to us. I wrote on the Effect of Parent Involvement in Intrinsic Motivation, it was great researching information about this topic, and would like to learn more about it in the future, as I start teaching.

Visit the website below to view my documents.

http://www.box.net/shared/z840kduo00mshd964xqy

Looking forward to additional classes with Janet.