Brittany Frantz
Journal
Journal Entries

 

Entry One: “Learning In the Digital Age”

 I consider myself to be a digital immigrant compared to my teachers I have had through out my schooling years. As I know the roles will quickly turn in the up coming years on my journey to becoming a teacher. Technology will be forever growing and it is important to always keep technology in consideration. It is becoming apart of our everyday lives and children are starting to use it at a younger age. It is important to always learn from your student so you can stay current with the technological age and not fall away. Teachers need to try and maintain the smallest accent possible to be able to effectively communicate with their students. Your students need to be constantly engaged in their education and what better way than playing games. A student will remember the information given to them a lot better when given in a format that they can relate to and engage in. For example, play a mathematical game on the internet or use a smart board to create hands on learning experience. Our students are capable of being included in their own decision making and should be incorporated in the making of the curriculum, organization, and assignments. From my own personal experience I think it is important to let students pick their own partners when doing projects. They will express themselves more openly if they are comfortable in their environment. The technological ways of teaching need to be implemented more and more if we expect our students to remain successful in the classroom and community and it is up to me as a teacher to stay current with the new technological advances to help my students to the fullest of my ability.

Entry Two : My Multiple Intelligence Results

My results showed that I was mainly a kinesthetic learner also known as "body smart". I was not surprised with these results at all because I love being hands on with my work. I have always loved doing projects over essays even though they tend to be more work in the long run. I have always known that listening and writing have never kept me engaged in my school work for long. Kinesthetic learners tend to benefit from role playing or something that requires touch or movement. This may describe why I participated in Odyssey of the Mind for eight years. This program gave me a chance to work with other people, use my hands to build things, act, and use creativity to solve a problem. My second strongest result was visual/spatial learning, which is also known as picture smart. Once again these results did not surprise me because I like learning from depicting pictures rather than reading to find out information. I learn much better from breaking down a map or graph and teaching myself rather than reading someone else's interpretations. My third strongest way of learning was a tie between logical and intrapersonal learning. I  was surprised with the intrapersonal because I always found myself working with other students if given the option. It also states that you are intrigued with dialogue and have a strong sense of beliefs, but I feel like I am more passive and do not create to many strong opinions. My weakest way of learning was linguistics or word smart. If you are gifted in this learning style you are able to express yourself easily with writing and vocally. Personally, I do not like expressing myself unless it is about something I feel very strongly about.
Entry Three: "Inclusion: Has It Gone To Far?"

I think inclusion in the classroom all depends on the child. For some children I believe that they will really be able to benefit from being fully included while other students may need the one on one care to make sure all the educational standards are met. For example, in a fully included classroom the teacher wont have enough time for one on one interaction to give the child a the attention that is needed to fully succeed.  It wouldn’t be fully included but I think all students will benefit if they are in the classroom for the stuff that creates interaction with their peers and then be able to leave the classroom to get extra help in when needed to stay caught up. I believe that full inclusions is not only a learning experience for the teacher but the students as well. You get to see a more rounded group of students and what they are all about. Adding a extra teacher in the classroom is not a big hassle if the child needs that one on one attention. I believe full inclusion is all about adaptation. It will take some time for the children in the classroom to adjust to a student that may be different then them in appearance or learning style yet over time they will grow to learn to benefit from every single member in the classroom. The teacher will also have to adapt to learn how to share their classroom with another teacher or a student with more needs. So no I do not believe inclusion has gone to far there is no such to thing as to far there just has to be exceptions to make sure children no matter what the disability are able to get all the help that is needed to remain at a level playing field with their classmates.

 

Entry Four: Intermittent Explosive Disorder

I found this article to be very intriguing because it taught me something that I knew nothing about. Intermittent explosive disorder or IED has been a disorder that has not been taught in any other classroom here at St. John Fisher. This disorder is characterized to be a mental disturbance that has specific episodes of violent and aggressive behavior. I believe that it is very important that children get diagnosed as soon as possible because it is crucial for them to receive help before major damage is done to themselves, other students and even the property in the classroom. IED is described that the child may have racing thoughts and heightened energy levels during the episode and then become very fatigued and depressed after. Hopefully, in the near future there will be a better diagnosis rather than just eliminating all other possibilities such as drug abuse, anxiety syndrome, personality disorders, and neurological disorders. The article also stated that IED mainly occurs in males, which I didn’t find surprising. I found it interesting that they had medications that could help treat the disorder but didn’t even know the cause. Some suggested medicines consisted of lithium, carbamazepine, propranolol Prozac, and clozapine. Another suggestion of “help” was psychotherapy or cognitive therapy. I thought this would be beneficial if the disorder was a mental disorder not a neurological disorder. You can not train the brain to make more levels of serotonin. This disorder can become very serious without the known cause and a proper diagnosis and it is up to us as future teachers to educate ourselves about this disorder so we can help refer our children to get proper help as soon as possible. It is our job as future teachers to know about all the disorders that are out there so we can keep an eye on all of our students and depict unusual behaviors in a child and refer them to get the services they need.
Entry Five: Trichotillomania

I found the psychological condition of Trichotillomania to be very interesting because I have never heard of this disorder before. I have never seen a condition that would cause so much harm to your body yet are unable to control it. I believe that this disorder is fairly easy to diagnose because it has physical warning signs that are visible to anyone with a human eye. The person will pull out a handful or one strand of hair at a time and either examine it or put it in their mouth. Even though Trichotillomania is just seen to be a "hair pulling" disorder it can be so much more to. Children or even adults that are diagnosed may also experience depression, anxiety, or even obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Doctors do not know the exact cause of this disorder yet they believe it may have to do with a imbalance of chemistry in the brain. The strong urges for hair pulling can be managed with the help of doctors, therapist, and behavioral specialists. The person might have to under go extensive talks with a therapist to figure out what is causing these urges. In addition to the therapy the patient may have to take medications that help with resisting the urges. It is important to help diagnose this disorder as soon as possible so the child or adult does not experience embarrassment, frustration, shame, or even low self image and esteem from their peers. As a future educator it is our responsibility to watch for and identify these symptoms to provide help as soon as possible. It is important that this disorder is not their fault and should not feel left out or embarrassed and it is our job to make them understand that.

Journal  6: Therapy dogs help Pal-Mac students de-stress, focus on work.

At first I was a little confused by the article because when I think of therapy dogs I think of a dog that is assigned to one specific student to help their needs. Once I started reading this article more in depth I thought it was really interesting how the dogs are there for everyone and cannot be considered just “one students”. At first I think this would be a big adjustment for the students in the classroom because everyone will want to play and pet the dog (it is just an instant reaction when you see a cute animal). I think it is amazing that these dogs are able to find people who are “hurting” and stressed out and just console the student by just approaching them. I can understand how these dogs would make the school environment more inviting and relaxed because there is nothing like the feeling of knowing when I show up home knowing my puppy is going to be there to greet me and give me a big kiss. If some students know they have that one special thing whether animal or person waiting for them at school I think they are going to be more willing to show up to school every day. I believe the idea of therapy dogs would be extremely beneficial in the city school districts because I know attendance is a major issue for some students. This program is a great idea and could be beneficial nearly at any school once the students had time to adjust to the change in the environment.

 

Journal #7: Once in school, they’ll learn to hate each other.
        Once a child enters your classroom on the first day of school, it is your responsibility to create an environment that it enjoyable for them to come to everyday. On the first day you have to enforce your rules and expectations of the class. There should be a no tolerance level for prejudice, bullying, or disrespect. People may say their classroom is a place where all students are fair and equal but that is not true. It is impossible to have a completely fair and equal educational system, because your students are not coming from fair and equal homes. Which student do you think will be more successful in your classroom: The one who gets read to every night and sits down to do their homework with their parents? or the one who has to go home make their own dinner and may not have a proper table or writing utensil to write with? You can only fix what happens in your classroom in most cases by giving everyone the same supplies and attention and grading everyone equally without picking favorites. Give students a chance to show what they have before judging them by their background or appearance. School should be much more than a place where we have to feed our student’s minds with information that they think will never apply to them. We need to teach them communication, flexibility, and a capacity to reason. Every student is special and has great qualities that can be brought to the table we have to bring that out in them. Make them realize that they should not be ashamed for being different it is something that needs to be embraced.


Journal #8: Canadian parents win legal battle against homework.
        I think Sherri and Tom Milley brought up an interesting standpoint by saying that children should not have to work “a second shift”. If you break down the day a child spends six hours in school up to two hours riding buses there and should be getting eight to nine hours of sleep a night. So out of a twenty-four hour day the child is busy with school and sleep for over half the day to come home and add on two hours of homework every night is just not fair. However, I do not agree that students should not get homework at all. The homework that they do receive should be two or three times a week for about forty-five minutes maximum. It should also have a purpose for the child. Do not just give them busy work. Make the homework something that helps them reinforce what they learned that day.

Journal #9: As homework grows, so do arguments against it.
        This is an article relating directly with the assigning of homework. This article states that there is no evidence that homework has any academic benefits. People often say that homework is to help teach a student self study skills; however, after two hours your brain is unreceptive. The article also talks about how Cooper has conducted a study that shows there is no correlation between academic achievement and homework at the elementary level besides that it helps improve reading. A study conducted a few years later stated that students in grades two through five would do better on tests if they receive short homework assignments that directly relate to the skills performed on the test. Neither piling on homework or eliminating it all together would make much sense. There needs to be a balance of length, difficulty, and reviews what was learned that day.

 
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