This week during 649, we watched some of the presentations that people prepared surrounding various issues in education. Though many of my colleagues complained about this assignment, I was secretly excited about it. I appreciated the freedom to explore an issue of interest to me, and I think others did as well. Having to decide between a 5-8 minute video and 25-30 page paper was not difficult for me, and I actually really enjoyed making the movie. Aside from the fourteen hours straight I spent sitting at my desk slaving away on editing, the process was rather enjoyable. The project gave me a good excuse to visit my former voice teacher, who is now employed as the choir director at my old high school. Additionally, I had the opportunity to interview one of the nation's leading conductors - The University of Michigan's very own Jerry Blackstone. My family members and roommate served as willing participants and added important perspective to the argument array. My research took me from originally from peer-reviewed articles all the way to important arts advocacy non-profits and various online articles. Admittedly, this project opened my eyes to perspective employment opportunities that I may chose to explore in the future.
Though our training in using i-movie has been limited, I think that we have all benefited from having to use it for assignments. Before entering into this program, I never considered myself technology savvy, but being so engrossed in its use over the course of the semester has significantly improved my self-efficacy in this regard. Though I may never use this tool in my future classrooms, I do believe that I will take advantage of this training for other jobs in the future. I can now say that I have video editing experience, in addition to a variety of other skills the one-to-one laptop pilot has elicited.
So with no further ado, I proudly present my final project for EDUC 649. Enjoy the show!
Friday, December 7, 2007
Friday, November 16, 2007
Creating a School Culture
I spent yesterday at my alma mater, Churchill High School. I was feeling light-hearted from the start and that sensation continued throughout the day. I had an opportunity to observe a Spanish class taught by a teacher new to the building, as well as visit with my former Spanish teacher. I visited with my brother and some of his friends, as well as interviewed my former voice teacher (now the music teacher) for my 649 project.
We spent lunch in the social studies department and I spoke with my colleague's mentor (my former teacher) about the culture of Churchill. I mentioned that there was an air to the school - an indescribable aroma that permeated the classrooms, the hallways, and the students. She confirmed my comments by explaining that the former principal (my principal in HS) was the ultimate role model for school leadership. She explained to me that the positive school culture that Churchill exudes comes from a variety of sources. Primarily, it stems from teachers who really care about their students and desire to create a school environment where students feel safe. In addition, she reminded me of what I already knew about the school. Churchill is home to several magnet programs including MSC (math, science, and computers) and CAPA (Creative And Performing Arts), and it also draws students from fairly diverse socioeconomic classes (for Livonia, MI that is ;o)). During my high school days, the students labeled from special education were also a part of our building.
This diversity of student body requires that students adapt to a variety of persons in order to function. People are taught to embrace the differences of others and this spans through the administration, teachers, and down to the students and rest of the community. Churchill has this reputation and it proves true as you walk down the hallway.
This has implications for my future career as an educator. What type of school will I want to teach in? How will I scope this out when I am looking for a job? As we all know, a happy work environment for the staff will trickle down into the academic success of the students. Drawing from my background in psychology, I look forward to exploring the intricacies of creating this type of school environment and hope to promote it wherever I end up next year.
We spent lunch in the social studies department and I spoke with my colleague's mentor (my former teacher) about the culture of Churchill. I mentioned that there was an air to the school - an indescribable aroma that permeated the classrooms, the hallways, and the students. She confirmed my comments by explaining that the former principal (my principal in HS) was the ultimate role model for school leadership. She explained to me that the positive school culture that Churchill exudes comes from a variety of sources. Primarily, it stems from teachers who really care about their students and desire to create a school environment where students feel safe. In addition, she reminded me of what I already knew about the school. Churchill is home to several magnet programs including MSC (math, science, and computers) and CAPA (Creative And Performing Arts), and it also draws students from fairly diverse socioeconomic classes (for Livonia, MI that is ;o)). During my high school days, the students labeled from special education were also a part of our building.
This diversity of student body requires that students adapt to a variety of persons in order to function. People are taught to embrace the differences of others and this spans through the administration, teachers, and down to the students and rest of the community. Churchill has this reputation and it proves true as you walk down the hallway.
This has implications for my future career as an educator. What type of school will I want to teach in? How will I scope this out when I am looking for a job? As we all know, a happy work environment for the staff will trickle down into the academic success of the students. Drawing from my background in psychology, I look forward to exploring the intricacies of creating this type of school environment and hope to promote it wherever I end up next year.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Gender Bias in Education
"Until educational sexism is eradicated, more than half our children will be shortchanged and their gifts lost to society."(Sadker, 1994 as quoted in Gender Bias in Education by Amanda Chapman)
In schools across America today, girls are being treated differently from boys in the elementary, secondary, and collegiate classroom. Textbooks reinforce societal gender roles, displaying subtle language bias, neglect of scholarship on women, omission of women as developers of history and initiators of events, and absence of women from accounts of technological developments (Bailey, 1992).
In my own experience in the public schools, I don't remember feeling this gender bias until high school. Though not necessarily presented by my teachers, I started to feel the pressures that any teenage girl experiences to fit in with the popular culture with one goal in mind - attracting the "right" guy. Once I had set my GPA high enough, it became easier to slack in my classes, making more time for my budding social life. Looking back on this experience as a University of Michigan graduate student, I find myself a little surprised that I would even be interested in this idea of gender bias in the classroom.
How do I know that I will not convey these biases to my own students? How can I protect my students from biases that I myself unknowingly hold? Being away from my suburban upbringing for the past 6 years has definitely helped to expand my worldview and deepen my awareness of social injustice (in the broadest definition of the term). Friends, as I embark on this journey as a professional educator, I call on you to hold me accountable for being aware of the countless biases I know I've accumulated throughout the past 24 years.
Relating this post back to technology (the intended purpose of this blog), I'm excited to use the one-to-one laptop project to expose my interactions with students in the classroom via the video cameras we've been provided with. This is a use of the cameras that I had not before thought of, but I'm looking forward to seeing how this will help me grow as a teacher, learner, and citizen.
References:
Bailey, S. (1992) How Schools Shortchange Girls: The AAUW Report. New York, NY: Marlowe & Company.
In schools across America today, girls are being treated differently from boys in the elementary, secondary, and collegiate classroom. Textbooks reinforce societal gender roles, displaying subtle language bias, neglect of scholarship on women, omission of women as developers of history and initiators of events, and absence of women from accounts of technological developments (Bailey, 1992).
In my own experience in the public schools, I don't remember feeling this gender bias until high school. Though not necessarily presented by my teachers, I started to feel the pressures that any teenage girl experiences to fit in with the popular culture with one goal in mind - attracting the "right" guy. Once I had set my GPA high enough, it became easier to slack in my classes, making more time for my budding social life. Looking back on this experience as a University of Michigan graduate student, I find myself a little surprised that I would even be interested in this idea of gender bias in the classroom.
How do I know that I will not convey these biases to my own students? How can I protect my students from biases that I myself unknowingly hold? Being away from my suburban upbringing for the past 6 years has definitely helped to expand my worldview and deepen my awareness of social injustice (in the broadest definition of the term). Friends, as I embark on this journey as a professional educator, I call on you to hold me accountable for being aware of the countless biases I know I've accumulated throughout the past 24 years.
Relating this post back to technology (the intended purpose of this blog), I'm excited to use the one-to-one laptop project to expose my interactions with students in the classroom via the video cameras we've been provided with. This is a use of the cameras that I had not before thought of, but I'm looking forward to seeing how this will help me grow as a teacher, learner, and citizen.
References:
Bailey, S. (1992) How Schools Shortchange Girls: The AAUW Report. New York, NY: Marlowe & Company.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Arts Education: Whose responsibility is it?
It's October now, and I'd say that the daily realities of a 12 month teacher ed/masters degree program are honing in on all of us MACers. If we're honest, I think we've all had our moments of self doubt over the course of the last couple of weeks as we attempt to organize the multiple assignments that are coming at us from every angle. As the days start to blur together, I find myself more and more in need of a greater purpose or perspective as to why I am here.
My EDUC 649 term project is now on its way and I have chosen a topic I am passionate about: The place of the arts within public education. After reading about 10 articles and searching for websites and blogs about the topic, my interest in this area has already grown significantly. The current title of my work in progress: Arts Education: Whose responsibility is it? Though my current areas of study do not pertain directly to the arts, I'm in the process of figuring out how I can tie artistic expression into the psychology and Spanish classes I will be teaching. In EDUC 650, I am working on a personal inquiry project that will answer the following question: What are some ways that a foreign language teacher can foster creativity and require students to use their imaginations while still covering all of the content for the unit?
My passions still are divergent and I often struggle as to how they all fit together in the bigger scheme of life. Maybe they cannot all be combined into a single career and reach their fullest potential. But, if there is any profession that has the potential to combine them, it is the field I have entered into. As a teacher, I will have the privilege of inspiring kids to stay out of the box that society tries to put them in. Potentially, I will show them that a person's life is not defined by what they do for a living, but who they are as a person.
As for how this relates to technology? Well, technology is a brilliant way to teach minds to think creatively. The scope of information and resources on the internet is unfathomable and the potential for class projects that go beyond the normal writing assignment, quiz, or presentation is limitless.
So, as an arts advocate, I plan to find ways to incorporate beauty and creativity into my classrooms and lessons as often as possible. I will also work within the school community to advertise and lift high artists of various kinds. As for future work in this field, I am currently exploring my options. The organization below is one of the most vocal groups I have found thus far on a national level. Watch this, and maybe you'll get a taste of where I am coming from:
My EDUC 649 term project is now on its way and I have chosen a topic I am passionate about: The place of the arts within public education. After reading about 10 articles and searching for websites and blogs about the topic, my interest in this area has already grown significantly. The current title of my work in progress: Arts Education: Whose responsibility is it? Though my current areas of study do not pertain directly to the arts, I'm in the process of figuring out how I can tie artistic expression into the psychology and Spanish classes I will be teaching. In EDUC 650, I am working on a personal inquiry project that will answer the following question: What are some ways that a foreign language teacher can foster creativity and require students to use their imaginations while still covering all of the content for the unit?
My passions still are divergent and I often struggle as to how they all fit together in the bigger scheme of life. Maybe they cannot all be combined into a single career and reach their fullest potential. But, if there is any profession that has the potential to combine them, it is the field I have entered into. As a teacher, I will have the privilege of inspiring kids to stay out of the box that society tries to put them in. Potentially, I will show them that a person's life is not defined by what they do for a living, but who they are as a person.
As for how this relates to technology? Well, technology is a brilliant way to teach minds to think creatively. The scope of information and resources on the internet is unfathomable and the potential for class projects that go beyond the normal writing assignment, quiz, or presentation is limitless.
So, as an arts advocate, I plan to find ways to incorporate beauty and creativity into my classrooms and lessons as often as possible. I will also work within the school community to advertise and lift high artists of various kinds. As for future work in this field, I am currently exploring my options. The organization below is one of the most vocal groups I have found thus far on a national level. Watch this, and maybe you'll get a taste of where I am coming from:
Friday, September 21, 2007
Smart Boards on GMA
For those of you doing a field internship, you already know what I am about to say because I shared this with you on Thursday. However, if you weren't, I thought you might be excited to know that Good Morning America (GMA) is tapping into the growing use of technology in America's public schools. In a five minute clip, GMA explored the use of Smart Boards & individual laptops in America's classrooms. Interviewing a teacher in New York, GMA found that the kids are really responsive to this technology and don't want it to be taken away from them. According to the video, one school in Arizona is taking on something similar to the One-To-One laptop project by giving all of their students Macbooks & placing course material online in place of textbooks. So,SMACers, it looks like all our talk in Ed Tech is well worth the time because these resources are definitely out there!
Check out the story at the following link:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFamily/story?id=3623933&page=1
Also, for the science majors out there - I found another story by GMA dealing with virtual conferencing with zoos. Students got a chance to interact with the zookeeper via a virtual conference and also got to see several other exhibits. This virtual conference could be done as a replacement to a class field trip to the zoo, or just as a compliment to classroom curriculum. For those of us interested in distance learning, this article provides an interesting perspective. Check it out at the following:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Story?id=3439053&page=3
Check out the story at the following link:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/AmericanFamily/story?id=3623933&page=1
Also, for the science majors out there - I found another story by GMA dealing with virtual conferencing with zoos. Students got a chance to interact with the zookeeper via a virtual conference and also got to see several other exhibits. This virtual conference could be done as a replacement to a class field trip to the zoo, or just as a compliment to classroom curriculum. For those of us interested in distance learning, this article provides an interesting perspective. Check it out at the following:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Story?id=3439053&page=3
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Because Mark wanted us to post these...
Below you can see my EDUC 650 Movie Project. It is a narrated movie of still pictures from the classroom where I currently do observations and will student teach full time starting in January. Please, PLEASE, don't mind the cheesiness. It's sort of required for this type of thing ;)
Friday, September 14, 2007
What's the word on the leading edge?
At midnight tonight, 3 out of us 5 group members finished the power point presentation for Point-Counterpoint project. Our topic - Should the public schools be on the leading edge of technology? We focused our research on several different areas including the following: National Standards for Technology within the public schools according to the NEA, teacher opinions as expressed by blogs and one-on-one interviews, the PROs and CONs of schools being on the leading edge as reflected in a variety of articles (you just WAIT 'til you see our reference list!).
We certainly found evidence to support both sides of the issue. Reading teacher blog gave me several examples of ways that technology truly helps create a more positive learning environment in the classroom. In the following video, you can witness a class that went above and beyond the call of duty by using Skypecasting to connect with a student who was forced to stay home from school due to a battle with cancer.
Most people would certainly agree that in this case, being on the leading edge of technology gave this child access to the education she rightfully deserved, despite the fact that she was stuck at home.
Another member of my group researched this topic only to find that there is evidence that shows that the use of technology often does not increase motivation to learn or enhance the classroom environment or student academic performance. His research showed that technology can reduce teacher-student interaction, and that textbooks rather than high-tech equipment actually produce the best results for the lowest cost.
As with any issue, this one is not black and white. I have now seen concrete examples of teachers using leading edge technology in their classrooms and have read about the positive and negative results. My final conclusion? Use technology if you need it. If it will enhance your lesson -- use it! If it won't -- leave it out!! We are dependent on it now for things that we used to figure out creative ways to accomplish on our own. As a teacher, I should always aim to activate my students' sense of personal responsibility, achievement, and understanding. I'm confident that leading edge technology will be an integral part of my curriculum. But, I certainly hope that I continue to use IT, and never, EVER let it use me.
I'll leave you with the thoughts of my mentor - A Spanish Teacher at Saline High School.
We certainly found evidence to support both sides of the issue. Reading teacher blog gave me several examples of ways that technology truly helps create a more positive learning environment in the classroom. In the following video, you can witness a class that went above and beyond the call of duty by using Skypecasting to connect with a student who was forced to stay home from school due to a battle with cancer.
Most people would certainly agree that in this case, being on the leading edge of technology gave this child access to the education she rightfully deserved, despite the fact that she was stuck at home.
Another member of my group researched this topic only to find that there is evidence that shows that the use of technology often does not increase motivation to learn or enhance the classroom environment or student academic performance. His research showed that technology can reduce teacher-student interaction, and that textbooks rather than high-tech equipment actually produce the best results for the lowest cost.
As with any issue, this one is not black and white. I have now seen concrete examples of teachers using leading edge technology in their classrooms and have read about the positive and negative results. My final conclusion? Use technology if you need it. If it will enhance your lesson -- use it! If it won't -- leave it out!! We are dependent on it now for things that we used to figure out creative ways to accomplish on our own. As a teacher, I should always aim to activate my students' sense of personal responsibility, achievement, and understanding. I'm confident that leading edge technology will be an integral part of my curriculum. But, I certainly hope that I continue to use IT, and never, EVER let it use me.
I'll leave you with the thoughts of my mentor - A Spanish Teacher at Saline High School.
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