Journals
After reading this article I don't feel as nervous about going into the classroom as a "digital immigrant". I know that I am not up to date with technology and understand that I will always be a couple steps behind the "digital natives". What is important for me to do is allow the students in my classroom tell me and teach me what they believe I should know in order to help them learn. It is true that students do not learn as we once did in school. What needs to be done is to allow the students to tell us teachers how to incorporate technology into the classroom to help them maximize their learning. It won't be easy at first for the "digital immigrants" to come into the 21st century but with the help of students and repeated years of using new technology it will become easier. In the long run we will help our students learn the material needed while bringing there out of school activities into the classroom.
My eyes were opened to a psychological disorder I had never heard of, trichotillomania. I can't imagine how scary it is to explain to a person why chunks of hair are missing from your head or other places; having to constinly make up excuses for something you truely don't understand why you are doing it. The doctors can't even explain why one may choose to pull out and play with or eat ones own hair . I can understand why they believe it goes hand in hand with OCD because it is also complusive. They get the overwhelming urge to do it. As the article states, this problem can't be cured but it can be controlled. With the help of therapists and doctors a person who has trichotillomania can get ones self esteem back while learning how to control the urges.
Inclusion: has it gone to far?
This article brings up a great question: Is inclusion right for every child? I personal believe that inclusion is not right for every child. This goes with what the law states about IEP's and that a student with disabilities must "be educated in the least restrictive environment possible". A inclusive classroom may not be right for those students that are more severely disabled. However, I do think that for many students an inclusive classroom can benefit them. With a good teacher (or two) and a change in how the classroom is ran, students with disabilites that are placed in inclusive classrooms can succeed.
Student routinely restrained to fence
Wrong. That is the first thing that came to my head when I read the title of this article. After reading the article, I am still left with many questions. I want to know why only the bus driver was the one to talk in this interview? What about the teachers that came down everyday to get this students? They knew it was happening to and allowed it. They should of been the ones to tell the bus driver what he was doing was not right, not a different teacher. I also think that the teachers are getting off a little too easy. In my eyes that is child abuse, leaving a child on a fence so he can't get away because his escorts are not ready for him. What makes it worse is that the students couldn't even verbally tell anyone what was going on. That is just not fair. A teacher who allows that doesn't care about their students and should not be allowed to teach. A teacher who cared would of found away to get to that student when needed, or at the very least talk to and/or report the bus driver.
Canadian parents win legal battle against homework
I thought pratice made perfect? I do not completely support homework, but I also don't support no homework. I think some homework is nesscary for students to do. I hate to say it but there is not enough time in a school day for the students to understand what is being taught and the teachers to assess what the students do and do not understand . This is why some work needs to be done out side of class. It also helps a student to remember if they refresh on a idea 4 or so hours later after learning it. I do not believe the parents should of sued the school so the kids had no homework. To me it sounded like the children were lazy. They were "reluctant" to do homework, which means they just didn't want to.
It is always good to know as a teacher and a parent how children learn. This multiple intelligence test helps determine what type of learner whom ever takes it is. The 8 subsets are kinaesthetic (body smart), linguistic (word smart), logical (number smart), interpersonal (people smart), intrapersonal (myself smart), musical (music smart), visual/spatial (picture smart) and naturalistic (nature smart). Every person has a unique combination of these 8 ways of learning. My top is kinaesthetic, with interpersonal as second and naturalistic and logical both in a close third. For me, linguistic and intrapersonal are on the bottom.
Pittsford school brings in iPads to help teach kids
It is nice to hear that a local school (Allendale Columbia) is using modern resources in the classroom. The kids now are growing up in the technology generation. The kids can keep up, but many times the teachers and parents fall behind. The iPad is a perfect tool for the classroom. The uses for it are endless. As the article explains kindergarteners to seniors can all the iPad. Though i'm not sure how I feel about giving a kindergartener a $500 piece of technology.
State is Likely to Ease a Rule on Extra Help for Students
It makes me sad to think that NYS is willing to cut extra student help to save a couple of bucks. The New York State Board of Regents made the exams tougher this year. 239,000 NYC students failed the English regents and 196,000 failed the math regents. Anyone who fails fails for a reason, many times it is because the student needs extra help. So what does the government want to do about it; only give help to those students who would of failed the easier regents if taken. That doesn't make any since. All students should be allowed resources for extra help!
Knowledge of the subject matter or the ability to relate with the students?
Every teacher should have both the knowledge of the subject and the ability to relate with their students. A teacher is not just a teacher, they can be a friend, a walking computer, a counsellor, a calculator, a role model and a influence. A teacher who can relate to their students, take time to get to know their students will transform learning into much more than a subject in school. A effective teacher will know the subject matter and how to differentiate the knowledge to relate to every student.
Intrinsic Motivation and its effects on Student Academic Achievement
This article states that intrinsic motivation positively effects students academic achievement. Extrinsic motivation is basically bribery. The student only does the work to recieve a reward which many times causes the student to depend on a reward to do work. This is not right a student should want to do the work. That is what intrinsic movtivation is about. Intrinsic is internal. Professor Deci, from UofR, has created the Self-Determination Theory. His theory states that there are three areas of motivation: autonomy, competence and relatedness. Deci's study showed that students with high GPA's had high motivation, while students with low GPA's had low motivation. That makes sense.
Every Central Falls teacher fired, labor outraged
93 Central Falls High, R.I. teachers were fired on February 23rd 2010. The article states that the teacher's union supports those teachers who got fired and will be there for them as long as it takes to get justice. My question is shouldn't the union have stepped in to prevent all the teachers from getting fired? At the same time, the U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said that he "applauded" the school "for showing courage and doing the right thing for the kids." But is firing 93 teachers, every teacher, specialists, counselor and even the principal and assistant principals, really the right thing for the students? i personally don't know what the right answer is. If the students were doing very bad in school I believe something needs to change. Getting rid of all the teachers is not the change I would want. The six conditions that Supt. Frances Gallo wanted to get the teachers to agree too really seemed fair. Teacher is not about the pay for time and effort. Teaching is about wanting to help students achieve their very best, not matter how much time and enegry that takes.