Before this class I had never used Moodle before. This surprised me once I started using it because this seems like just the tool that UMF would be using. But no. For some reason I did not learn about this great tool until this class. I had been exposed to Wiki sites which are functional but I always felt something was lacking. I have found the missing parts of Wiki site in Moodle. Moodle is a much more user friendly program and offers many more opportunities. My mom uses Moodle all the time in her classroom. She uses it for quizzes and tests. I love the idea of being able to have a class website where there is a plethora of information about my classes but there is also a secure section where my students can take quick quizzes and be done with them.
I also really liked the idea of voice threads. I can see myself using voice threads more at a high school level. If the students are allowed to bring laptops home (assuming I am teaching in Maine) than I can assign responses in the form of a voice response instead of a blog or written assignment. Some students can get their ideas across better when they are talking rather than when they are writing. I happen to be one of them. I would bet a lot of money that I would have received different grades in high school and college if I was able to voice my opinions rather than write them down.
I hope to use at least these two tools. These two tools were the ones that I had never worked with before. They were the ones that scared me the most to use. I was really hesitant to sign up for the class because I had not ever done an online course before and we were using Moodle .... a program I had never used before. But I pushed through and found out both voice threads and Moodle are amazing tools that can be used all the time in a regular classroom.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Productive Advisory Groups
What is with advisory groups being unproductive? It might be because there isn't enough time to get everything accomplished that needs to be. I have experienced a few different types of "advisory" groups. I have found the ones that meet for 5-7 minutes in the morning do not have time to accomplish anything because this is also the same time that the school wide announcements are being held.
My personal opinion is that there needs to be more time each day for home base or an advisory group. And why does this need to be in the beginning of the day? Taking 15-20 minutes in the middle of the day for home base allows the students to take breaks and pay more attention to the information that is being presented to them during this time period. In the morning students are dragging their feet through the hallway and have not had time to wake their brain up. At the end of the day students are anxious to get home or off to whatever they might have going on after school. In the middle of the day students are still in school mode but are still focused and their brains are more than likely not sleeping.
My personal opinion is that there needs to be more time each day for home base or an advisory group. And why does this need to be in the beginning of the day? Taking 15-20 minutes in the middle of the day for home base allows the students to take breaks and pay more attention to the information that is being presented to them during this time period. In the morning students are dragging their feet through the hallway and have not had time to wake their brain up. At the end of the day students are anxious to get home or off to whatever they might have going on after school. In the middle of the day students are still in school mode but are still focused and their brains are more than likely not sleeping.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Not Just a Math Teacher ....
One of the ideas of this week was being responsible for something other than their own subject area. When I was doing work at the James F. Doughty Middle School all teachers had a study hall and a free reading class. These allowed the students to have class with a teacher that wasn't part of their core group of teachers. It also allowed the teachers to interact with a group of students they might not have had the opportunity to interact with. This gave the school a much more connected feeling because teachers were exposed to new things and new students outside of their area.
I worked closely with a French teacher and she loved having an English Prep class once a day because it allowed her brain to change gears and focus on something other than what she was doing all day long. She said it refreshed her brain for the rest of the day because she was able to do something other than her normal subject.
I worked closely with a French teacher and she loved having an English Prep class once a day because it allowed her brain to change gears and focus on something other than what she was doing all day long. She said it refreshed her brain for the rest of the day because she was able to do something other than her normal subject.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Over Haul Curriculum
I personally feel like lately the focus in Education is overhauling curriculum. But is that what we are doing? When I was doing my student teaching I went to many curriculum meetings where instead of coming together and creating a fresh and interesting curriculum for the students to engage in, all that happened was that people went though their school years and wrote down what their curriculum was so there was a record of it. This did not make much sense. I also noticed that the assignments that were being assigned were the "classic" assignments, papers, text and questions, and general overview assessments. I did not see many projects or "activities that broadened students' views of the world, themselves, and their futures" (TWBIA 105). As an English teacher I want my students to truly understand what they are being asked to learn. I want to create a fun and learning atmosphere in my classroom. If I can do that then I know my students will succeed.
The school that I was teaching at needed an over haul on their curriculum. In fact the curriculum was not in line with the other two high schools in the school district. None of the schools knew what the other ones were doing. TWBIA says on page 109 that "when curriculum is at its best it takes on something of a life of its own." Where I was there was no life, it needed a soul, it needed "spunk".
The school that I was teaching at needed an over haul on their curriculum. In fact the curriculum was not in line with the other two high schools in the school district. None of the schools knew what the other ones were doing. TWBIA says on page 109 that "when curriculum is at its best it takes on something of a life of its own." Where I was there was no life, it needed a soul, it needed "spunk".
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
What is Wrong With Sex-Ed?
I see both sides of the argument about whether or not sex-ed should be taught in schools. On one side we have the if we don't teach them it they won't be curious about it argument. On the other side we have the if we teach them about it and how to handle certain things appropriately than there won't be unsafe curiosities.
What if we turned "sex-ed" into health? Well we tried that and in some schools, including my own Hampden Academy, the subject was not taken very seriously by students. Sure we listened enough and studied enough to get a passing grade but we didn't retain very much knowledge because to us the class was a joke.
What if we made health part of our science classes? Now that might work. My mother, a sixth grade teacher, just ended the school year with a unit about the reproductive system and other body systems. She said it works out great. The students take her class a little more seriously than something that might be considered "extra".
Why can't we take everything students should know about puberty, the body, sex, STDs, health, etc. and spread out all this knowledge over the course of several grades while integrating it into the science classes? There are some things that students need to know about their bodies when they are in fourth or fifth grade that is important. But there are some things that students can wait on until the "middle school years".
Instead of being scared of the topic, administrations should just take the topic, insert it into the curriculum, and stand behind it. Stop running away from it and just do it.
What if we turned "sex-ed" into health? Well we tried that and in some schools, including my own Hampden Academy, the subject was not taken very seriously by students. Sure we listened enough and studied enough to get a passing grade but we didn't retain very much knowledge because to us the class was a joke.
What if we made health part of our science classes? Now that might work. My mother, a sixth grade teacher, just ended the school year with a unit about the reproductive system and other body systems. She said it works out great. The students take her class a little more seriously than something that might be considered "extra".
Why can't we take everything students should know about puberty, the body, sex, STDs, health, etc. and spread out all this knowledge over the course of several grades while integrating it into the science classes? There are some things that students need to know about their bodies when they are in fourth or fifth grade that is important. But there are some things that students can wait on until the "middle school years".
Instead of being scared of the topic, administrations should just take the topic, insert it into the curriculum, and stand behind it. Stop running away from it and just do it.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
This We Believe Response - Week One
I just finished my readings for This We Believe and I marked a few quotes that stood out to me.
(1) "In fact, [the] aspect of [hidden curriculum] learning is sometimes so profound and ong lasting that it overrides learning that is more traditional." (18)
(2) "A solid academic experience properly designed is exploratory. Explorations is an attitude and approach, not a classification of content." (20)
(3) "Curriculum is relevant when it allows students to pursue answers to questions they have about themselves, the content, and the world." (22)
These three quotes are in a list of many, but these really reminded me of a particular teacher and unit I had in middle school. When I was in eighth grade we did a particular unit about the Holocaust. It was a cross-subject unit with social studies where we were studying World War II. This particular English teacher was everyone's favorite teacher. She treated us like young adults and allowed us to find the answers to the questions we might have. She would take our questions and turn them into an interesting project for us to complete. During the Holocaust unit we followed the lives of many different children that were alive during that time. All of the children were from Jewish families. We all created butterflies about our children and added details as we learned more information. These butterflies were hung from the ceiling for everyone to see. However, if the child you were following met an untimely death your butterfly received a big black X on it and was taken down from the ceiling. At the end of the unit there were only a few butterflies left. The teacher had us all go outside and those students whose butterflies were taken down brought their butterflies with them. We all gathered in a circle and the "dead" butterflies were burned. In this unit we not only learned about the historical and geographical impacts of World War II in Social Studies, but we learned the emotional impacts through English. We personally watched the population of butterflies dwindle just as the world watched the Jewish population dwindle. We learned about so much more than just that in World War II over 6 million Jews were killed.
This unit had such an impact on me I still remember it very vividly now today, nine years later. I think it is teaching like this that grabs the students and allows them to learn within and outside their "comfort zone". It allows the students to study independently but receive some guidance from the teacher. Students in the middle schools need to be able to feel independence in their work but also feel a great connection to what they are accomplishing. I fully believe that students should be held more accountable and given more freedom than they are generally being given. Too much freedom could be a bad thing, but if you treat students with respect and trust, generally they will give it back. This is what I have found through my own experiences in grade school and while I have been in classrooms during and outside of my college years.
We as teachers today need to find ways to engage the students and turn their imaginations on. We should promote healthy classrooms and allow students to question the content they are being taught. Through this students will not only follow the curriculum that is set forth for them but they will understand the hidden curriculum that lies beneath the surface.
(1) "In fact, [the] aspect of [hidden curriculum] learning is sometimes so profound and ong lasting that it overrides learning that is more traditional." (18)
(2) "A solid academic experience properly designed is exploratory. Explorations is an attitude and approach, not a classification of content." (20)
(3) "Curriculum is relevant when it allows students to pursue answers to questions they have about themselves, the content, and the world." (22)
These three quotes are in a list of many, but these really reminded me of a particular teacher and unit I had in middle school. When I was in eighth grade we did a particular unit about the Holocaust. It was a cross-subject unit with social studies where we were studying World War II. This particular English teacher was everyone's favorite teacher. She treated us like young adults and allowed us to find the answers to the questions we might have. She would take our questions and turn them into an interesting project for us to complete. During the Holocaust unit we followed the lives of many different children that were alive during that time. All of the children were from Jewish families. We all created butterflies about our children and added details as we learned more information. These butterflies were hung from the ceiling for everyone to see. However, if the child you were following met an untimely death your butterfly received a big black X on it and was taken down from the ceiling. At the end of the unit there were only a few butterflies left. The teacher had us all go outside and those students whose butterflies were taken down brought their butterflies with them. We all gathered in a circle and the "dead" butterflies were burned. In this unit we not only learned about the historical and geographical impacts of World War II in Social Studies, but we learned the emotional impacts through English. We personally watched the population of butterflies dwindle just as the world watched the Jewish population dwindle. We learned about so much more than just that in World War II over 6 million Jews were killed.
This unit had such an impact on me I still remember it very vividly now today, nine years later. I think it is teaching like this that grabs the students and allows them to learn within and outside their "comfort zone". It allows the students to study independently but receive some guidance from the teacher. Students in the middle schools need to be able to feel independence in their work but also feel a great connection to what they are accomplishing. I fully believe that students should be held more accountable and given more freedom than they are generally being given. Too much freedom could be a bad thing, but if you treat students with respect and trust, generally they will give it back. This is what I have found through my own experiences in grade school and while I have been in classrooms during and outside of my college years.
We as teachers today need to find ways to engage the students and turn their imaginations on. We should promote healthy classrooms and allow students to question the content they are being taught. Through this students will not only follow the curriculum that is set forth for them but they will understand the hidden curriculum that lies beneath the surface.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Podcast #1 - Week One
Just listened to the first podcast! Good to hear the instructor's voice. This is my first online course so I admit it was kind of strange not going into class for the first class. Sounds like we are going to be doing quite a bit and yet have some fun doing it.
http://moodle.umeedu.maine.edu/file.php/50/Audio.mov
http://moodle.umeedu.maine.edu/file.php/50/Audio.mov
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