Final for 350

The Final for EDSS 530 (Dun Dun Duuuun)
My Attention Getter


1. One of my personal visions for Secondary Schooling in the 21st century would be the vision of technology. I think technology is the way of the future and students must be able to communicate via different technological avenues. Through technology, students will be able to learn new skills, as well as apply old skills to the way they present, communicate, and learn. Another idea that I have is to maybe try and implement an ITU. Whether it is in my own classroom, or with another student teacher, I will try to see if that would be possible. I think ITU’s are appropriate because it allows students to see the link between contents and the world. Something I want to do is open my students’ minds so that they may begin to think for themselves, and I believe by showing how things are connected could be the way I get them to see how the world around them connects to them.


2. One action that I will definitely implement during my next semester at Mission Hills is the idea of web-based assignments. I know this will be a way of “testing the waters” because I know a few teachers who are opposed to this idea already. I am going to set up a class website that will include a class blog. Students will have to respond to different topics and reading questions. I think the students will like this idea to an extent, but I am mainly trying out this idea to help limit my paper load. I also feel that this will be a new way of differentiation. I will have to take the pencil and paper away from the good writers to see how well they can express themselves with a keyboard.


3. An additional action plan that I plan on implementing during my first 2 years of teaching, regarding my personal vision, is the idea of an ITU. After learning so much about them, and their effectiveness towards learning, I feel that that would be a great idea. I would first have to see what the school’s take on Interdisciplinary learning is before I try to go ahead with that idea. I would probably start out small and begin the unit in my own classroom and at the same time collect data. This data I would use as a reference point when trying to pitch the idea to my administration.


4. Once I have become a trusted member of my educational community, the next action that I would like to do is become an administrator. I think that if we are to establish reform the way they want us to, the only way to really do so is become someone who can apply this change in a larger sense. A teacher can only do so much, but an administrator can do so much. I have also though about opening up my own school that could be based on my vision (which lies deeper than just technology or ITU’s). I think that once I became an administrator, I would then be able to have more access to change. I know that you are able to become an administrator after roughly five years of teaching; so five years has become my new goal.


5. Connecting all of these plans together sounds simple, but I don’t know if it is. I am going to try and be simple with this one. I want my connection to be: The higher I get in the education world the more reform I’ll be able to create. I’ll be able to establish new professional roles and I’ll be able to implement new curriculum paths. I will have to continue to learn as well, and continue to be a reflective learner. I will open up students' minds, only if they are willing and eager. I feel like the possibilities are endless, especially if I create/open my own school.

CP2 Website

This is one of my master teachers whose website I might use:

http://www.smusd.org/16792065161717800/site/default.asp


Here is my other master teacher whose site I might use as well:

http://www.smusd.org/167920651617950/site/default.asp

On top of this, I am in the process of creating my own website which should be up soon. I will post the link when I finish it.

Reading Reflection 5 - I'm thinking...

Chapter 7

Something that I would like to think about, or talk about is the idea of the "no hovering" rule. This means that no teacher will hover over the students; the teacher must practice restraint and let the students figure things out for themselves as opposed to having the teacher answer every little detail for them. I think this is a great idea. The students should learn the idea of responsibility and begin figuring out ideas and concepts on their own. This will allow for the student to further grow in their ability to think. The next section clearly distinguishes the difference between not hovering, and intervening when necessary. It is important to be able to distinguish between the two. It's like being a parent. A parent should know when to help and when to observe and make sure the child learns on their own. I have come to find out that teaching is a lot like being a parent; you are guiding the child through life, and furthering their education through opening up their minds to the new ideas of the world. I would write more but the thoughts inside my head are getting tired, so I think I will stop now and save my thoughts for further conversation that I know will be going on in our classroom!

Reading Reflection 4 - Groupwork ch. 4-5

Chapter 4: Cooperation and Anti-Social Behavior

A section that caught my eye, and one that I sort of mentioned in my reading response 3, was learning how to cooperate amongst the anti-social behavior. This section really just discusses all of the negative aspects of what can go wrong in groupwork. It talks about how the students will make fun of each other or not listen and call out one another for bad ideas. The best way around this is to teach the students proper communication skills. I can tell you right now that the new problems this poses for me as a teacher is the thought of actually teaching them something outside my content area. I must teach these kids manners. Most of the examples from the book talk about Middle school students, but these qualities follow the students to high school. Now, on top of English, I must learn how to become a parent and teach these kids things that should have been done years ago by the people closest to them. These groupwork problems are ones that I am aware of, but ones that will be awesome when they are done right.

Reading Reflection 3 - Groupwork ch. 1-3

Chapter 1-
This section covered the basics of using groupwork as a strategy for the classroom. It considered using roles within the groups to establish the "group community" and group responsibilities. Groupwork will get done if everyone in the group is responsible for a certain task. Reading this section reminded me of working in our groups at school. I thought about what I do as a teacher and assigning roles was something that I for got to do. I will definitely assign roles now when I create groups in my classroom. Something that I am wondering about now, after reading, is if groups can work if the students always remain the same in each group. What if for each semester the groups stay the same ... will that work?

Chapter 2-
This section covered the reason why we should use groups in our classrooms. One of the main reasons, and a reason we are reminded of in our university classes, is the power of interaction. The section discussed the importance of using group discussion and group interaction as a gateway to learning. I know from experience that this is very true. I like to consider myself a social butterfly, and now I have come to really enjoy the time I have working in groups. Not only do student get the work done, in most cases, but they also learn something about interacting with each other. something that I now wonder is what happens if no one likes each other in the group? What if they all just "can't get along?"

Chapter 3-
This section discussed the possible problems of using groupwork in the wrong way. The section opened up with the hypothetical classroom setting with groups, and I would love to stress the word "hypothetical." This section called for a teacher to learn the signs of social hierarchies and using that to create equal and fair involvement for all of the students. I wanted to stress the "hypothetical" part because this classroom seemed to have it all. I know some would argue this is true, and who am I to disagree, I'm not even a real teacher yet. But I do live in the world of reality and not fantasy as do many of the authors who love to talk. Anyways, the one thing I would like to know now is what groupwork is flawless?

School Reform @ Lunch

La Jolla High School

http://ljhs.sandi.net/

This high school has a large connection with the parent community.

Reading Reflection 2 - BPHS

At my CP1 site I noticed that they practiced establishing a comprehensive accountability and assessment system that included benchmark tests. These benchmark test informed the teachers in the entire district where the students stood district wide. I noticed a lot of the students did not really take these test seriously and therefore, the real achievements could not possibly have been noticed. Another thing I noticed was a real effort to develop powerful teaching and learning strategies. Once a month, at the staff meeting, there would be the SDAIE strategy of the month. The faculty would all join in and reenact the SDAIE strategy so they knew how to implement that into their classrooms. The drawback was the fact that not all of the faculty members took that useful information. I noticed it was the newer teachers that seemed to embrace the new ideas. One practice that I feel will no longer be in practice in schools is the idea of size. When I look at all of the new high schools being built, I see miniature colleges. They are all meant to hold thousands of students and contain a very “big” feel when you walk on campus. Being a high school coach I have been on many different campuses. The new age campus is definitely huge! Three things that I thought made the BPHS such a well run high school was the way they promoted the school, the integrated curriculum, and the fact that they provided internships around the city. Promotion of a high school is the most crucial because that ensures that there are students who want to attend. The integrated curriculum is just a great idea because it links everything together, and internships around the community worked to build a more unified city. A place where each student felt unique.

Reading Reflection 1 - Rethinking High School

Something that resonated with me was the fact that there are people who actually create a high school. I think that is something that gets over looked; the fact that there are people who actually create high schools. This piece resonated with me because after all of our discussions in class, I feel that I would love to be a part of opening and creating a high school. Probably because I want to implement my own ideas for how a high school should work. I think for now I will just stick to becoming a principal. Something that I did not think seemed like a great measure of reform was the curriculum. I think the current curriculum is fine; it’s just the way we present it that needs to change. I think that that is what the book is all about, asking the right questions and thinking about the best ways of presenting the material. I thought it was funny how the authors decided to name the high school Best Practice High School. I don’t think I would have wanted to attend that high school solely based on its name if I were a high school student. Something from the first chapter that I would like to investigate further would be the experimental form of doing work in the classroom. The chapter said that a “…hands-on, concrete experience is the most powerful and natural form of learning.” P. 13. I believe this to be true and this is how I would handle my classroom even if I had not studied the different methods. Making the students feel as though they were inside the text is more powerful than any other form of teaching. I would want to explore more into the methods that will help to make that learning real.

I got a blog!

Hey I Got A Blog!