Blended Learning

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This video really caught my eye because we are all future teachers who are going to be making decisions about our own teaching styles. This school really incorporates technology in their curriculum. The students are doing the exploration while the teacher is facilitating the lesson. If your school had the budget for this kind of classroom, would you prefer to run your classroom with the blended learning system? I find pros and cons to this style of independent learning. I think that this type of class when incorporated with other teaching styles would work very well, but not on its own. It is important to build a community within a classroom and for the students to be learning in many different ways. Technology is certainly a wonderful tool to help students learn to think critically and explore different avenues that may otherwise not be available to them. I really like the way that the teacher has given an assignment, taught it, and then has asked the students to begin exploring their topics. The combination of teaching styles is very productive as long as the students are mature enough to utilize the system.

Classroom News, Ideas & More!

If you feel like you are under a lot of pressure in keeping up with news, ideas, and other resources, this website is for you! Earlychildhood NEWS is a wonderful website that has links to hot topics and current articles of what is going on with new developments and current information. The articles are clearly organized of specific areas that pertain to teachers. Also, this website has side links that connect to resources for teachers and parents. There are professional resources as well as ECN Radio, where you can listen to discussions to relevant issues. A great way to strengthen the classroom is by looking at the classroom ideas. These ideas provide curriculum that incorporate the arts, music, dance, crafts, physical activity, and recommended reading. More links are available so this great website will be useful to instill and engage learning.

No Child Left Behind

No Child Left Behind may possibly be one of the largest controversies in Education today. In this video our President, Barrack Obama, addresses an issue with No Child Left Behind and advises us on a change he would like to see happen with the Bill. First he focuses on Assessment tools being used and how they are inadequate. I appreciate that the President has acknowledged the fact that students can meet high standards. Students should not be belittled; they can always surprise us and exceed the standards we set for them as I discovered in Writing Essentials by Routman last semester. I also am glad the President realizes that schools progress at different rates and in their own ways. Yet something I feel he should take into account when it comes to assessment is the way we assess students. We are mainly assessing students each year by having them take big exams. These exams are creating high-test anxiety more than ever before. Also something important came to my attention while reading, “Building the Primary Classroom” by Toni S. Bickart. In this textbook it talks about Howard Gardner’s study where he recognizes that there are eight different intelligences. Only two intelligences of out of these eight are students that are actually good test takers. With this in mind I feel that there should be assessments for multiple types of intelligences in order to get accurate results of the larger intelligence community that might resident at a school.

Using the Olympics as a Framework

My research project revolves around the idea of integrating arts into the classroom. I chose this article, "Olympics Offer Cultural Lessons for Sartell Students," because it brings in the idea of the Winter Olympics, where students are able to learn about different cultures. The spirit of the Winter Olympics captured the interests of “Pine Meadow Elementary' School's 770 students”. The idea was comprised between the physical education teacher, art, media, and music teachers. The goal was to have the Olympics for the framework for lesson plans. This gave the teachers the ability to be creative with their lesson plans and incorporate different subjects together. It involved the entire school and it just added such a positive atmosphere to the school’s culture. Each class chose a country and learned about its’ culture. For example, one second grade class chose South Korea because the teacher’s mother was born there. He was able to connect with his students and share a part of his life with them. Also the class was learning how to write their names using calligraphy. Teachers came up with ways to incorporate their subjects around the curriculum. An art teacher had her class paint flags and took virtual tours of the country. There are just so many avenues the teachers can use. The article talks about how excited the children are. This shows how important it is to incorporate the arts into the classroom. The students are actively learning about other cultures. Throughout the week students were competing just like real Olympians. Education is always changing and finding new ways to incorporate the arts into the classroom is always an adventure. Without the support of the principle, teachers, students, and parents, this would not be what it is. It is amazing what teamwork can do.

Here's the link: http://www.sctimes.com/article/20100211/NEWS01/102110051/1009

Using Real-Life Problem Solving and Technology in Math and Science

I found this article on the Education World World website entitled "In Touch with Math and Science." It discusses how some schools are using a program called STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) which encourages the use of technology integration in math and science. They also use real-life problems to introduce new math ideas and science concepts. For example, one teacher asked his class what the implcations would be for a 10,000 foot sea level rise due to global warming. The point of using these connections is to engage the students in their learning. As one teacher mentioned "more engagement ... leads to more learning."

Mandates Cheat Students and Educators

This opinion article discusses many relevant topics in education, including the recent investigation into some Georgia schools who have been accused of cheating on the standardized tests. The author is Mari Ann Roberts, a teacher in the Department of Teacher Education at Clayton State University. It was published 2/17/2010 in the Atlanta Journal.

Roberts begins her article with, “Take one flawed, underfunded federal education improvement act, like No Child Left Behind, add increasing pressure on individual schools to meet “Adequate Yearly Progress,” include some inane expectations that teachers can work miracles, sprinkle liberally with furlough days, suspended raises and budget cuts dating back to 2003 that will total more than $2.8 billion through the fiscal year ending next June. And what do you get? Whatever it is, it can’t be good.”

Roberts is not excusing cheating, but investigating the possible factors that may have resulted in systematic cheating at some schools. Roberts also argues that the way the current educational system is set up, students are cheated out of a meaningful education and teachers are cheated out of meaningful, purposeful, interactive teaching. Roberts is also critical of the standardized tests and performance-based pay.

I hope you enjoy the article!

Creating a Book

During my first few years of elementary school, my teachers would create a book featuring my best work and would bind it and present it to my parents to showcase how I had progressed during the year. Tikatok, a Barnes and Noble Company, provides a place in which you can upload your students photos and work to create a book. You can choose between a hardcover, softcover, or PDF E-Book.

This would work great for the end of the school year. You could ask your students to provide their favorite assignments or you could do it yourself. The possibilities are limitless. Enjoy!