As I have been pushing through these last couple week of my semester here at UT I have had assignment on top of assignment for my education classes due. Of course, the stress of classes combined with all the little stresses of life through these last weeks leads one to sometimes question what am I doing all this work for?? Will it really make a difference, or am I just cranking out one assignment after another just to mark that off on my planner? After reading this article about happenings in New Jersey yesterday, I am reminded about my long term goal which needs all these small steps in place to accomplish...become a teacher that makes a difference!
We have seen currently the world of education under fire in America, but every now and then something happens that brings a breath of fresh air to this charged topic. Yesterday in New Jersey, due to budget cuts about to happen in different school districts students finally took a stand on how they feel about budget cuts sweeping America to lay-off more and more teachers. Thanks to one young woman making a facebook group calling for a peaceful demonstration to show that students do not want to lose their teachers thousands of students got up out of their classroom desks and marched outside to protest the budget cuts plaguing the atmosphere of the education system. Some picketing signs saying "We love out teachers" and "Dream Killers!" all with one purpose to let the nation know these teachers mean something to these kids, they are not some number on an end of year budget that someone can just cut off, these are human beings, breathing life into these kids everyday, hoping to inspire them to reach their dreams in life. One group of students even walked all the way to City Hall!
Speaking of City Hall, of course this demonstration was not met without a statement from the side of the governing body in New Jersey. The governor, who is the individual taking away funding from the state education system did have something to say, to quote the governor's press secretary, "...students belong in the classroom. “It is also our firm hope that the students were motivated by youthful rebellion or spring fever, and not by encouragement from any one-sided view of the current budget crisis in New Jersey.”
Well, I am glad to hear that the governor thinks students belong in a classroom, but what does he think they are learning in a classroom, to sit and follow directions? If these teachers have touched these students enough so that they are protesting to not lose their beloved teachers, I think these teachers have achieved the overarching job that any educator has...to help guide their students into becoming a global citizen of the world we live in, which entails standing up for what they think is right. Therefore, I think these students were right where they need to be!
Another interesting point to note about this story is the way that this grassroots movement was started. This did not start by a meeting people attended or speeches to rally the masses, but by a social networking group...Facebook! How better to reach kids of this age! It refreshing to see a network that is more associated with broadcasting the next party for members to sign up to attend, was used to call for a demonstration for the greater good!
For the article in NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/nyregion/28jersey.html
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
What is a Masters in Education Worth?
Well, being a member of NEA, I of course get countless e-mails about news going on in the education world in America. This morning one article in particular caught my eye, "SC creating Adjunct teaching certification." I read the short summary and decided to browse through the article.
In general, the state of SC State Board of Education has approved a new adjunct teaching certificate that would allow anyone to work as part-time teachers until completely certified. This certificate lasts one year and can be renewed annually. Also, these individuals must have spent at least five out of their last ten year doing something in their, "field of expertise," to qualify.
Honestly, I am not sure where I stand on a bill like this, I see both sides as somewhat valid arguments.
Myself, being in the middle of completing my masters in education because I have been told this is vital in getting a job in the current market is outraged to hear this article. Maybe I should move to South Carolina and apply to be a history teacher (I have been in college for four years and add in one year of high school history, I have met the requirement of doing something in my field for five years) clearly this new certification system is demeaning to anyone that has studied in the field of education. With a law like this why even get your teaching certificate the old-fashioned way of actually interning and taking education classes on psychology, special education, methods, and now technology?
However, the other side poses the argument that this certificate program would attract more individuals in hard to get areas like math or auto mechanics, because they would not have to go back to school to get their teacher's license. Which, honestly if I had a son or daughter on the vocational track would I want a true auto mechanic or someone that had More schooling in education? Or another scenario, if I had a gifted son or daughter that had never been challenged in any math class before and now someone that has been a mathematical engineer for twenty years wants to come teach, I would be excited.
Therefore, I end at this question, "How valuable is a masters in education?" I admire that at my university students are not allowed to major in education and instead must first major in their discipline they plan on teaching along with a minor in another discipline, making you highly qualified and well-versed in your subject before getting an extra minor in education and your masters. But, how important is this program if proposals like this adjunct certification program are out there. Why should we not major in our interest, work for several years, probably making more than a starting teachers salary and then come back and teach if we want to?
The answer, people will say, is that there is much more than knowing the content that goes into being a skillful teacher. This I will agree with, however who is to say that you learn this "extra stuff" in a theory and practice class? Why are these classes called theory? Because you cannot replicate a classroom setting, bottom line. Therefore in my opinion, the most important part of an education program is finishing an internship in a school and having the guidance and support from your program director and professors of how to deal when new scenarios arise that were not found in any of your textbooks!
P.S. For anyone interested in the article:
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/apr/26/state-to-create-adjunct-certification/
In general, the state of SC State Board of Education has approved a new adjunct teaching certificate that would allow anyone to work as part-time teachers until completely certified. This certificate lasts one year and can be renewed annually. Also, these individuals must have spent at least five out of their last ten year doing something in their, "field of expertise," to qualify.
Honestly, I am not sure where I stand on a bill like this, I see both sides as somewhat valid arguments.
Myself, being in the middle of completing my masters in education because I have been told this is vital in getting a job in the current market is outraged to hear this article. Maybe I should move to South Carolina and apply to be a history teacher (I have been in college for four years and add in one year of high school history, I have met the requirement of doing something in my field for five years) clearly this new certification system is demeaning to anyone that has studied in the field of education. With a law like this why even get your teaching certificate the old-fashioned way of actually interning and taking education classes on psychology, special education, methods, and now technology?
However, the other side poses the argument that this certificate program would attract more individuals in hard to get areas like math or auto mechanics, because they would not have to go back to school to get their teacher's license. Which, honestly if I had a son or daughter on the vocational track would I want a true auto mechanic or someone that had More schooling in education? Or another scenario, if I had a gifted son or daughter that had never been challenged in any math class before and now someone that has been a mathematical engineer for twenty years wants to come teach, I would be excited.
Therefore, I end at this question, "How valuable is a masters in education?" I admire that at my university students are not allowed to major in education and instead must first major in their discipline they plan on teaching along with a minor in another discipline, making you highly qualified and well-versed in your subject before getting an extra minor in education and your masters. But, how important is this program if proposals like this adjunct certification program are out there. Why should we not major in our interest, work for several years, probably making more than a starting teachers salary and then come back and teach if we want to?
The answer, people will say, is that there is much more than knowing the content that goes into being a skillful teacher. This I will agree with, however who is to say that you learn this "extra stuff" in a theory and practice class? Why are these classes called theory? Because you cannot replicate a classroom setting, bottom line. Therefore in my opinion, the most important part of an education program is finishing an internship in a school and having the guidance and support from your program director and professors of how to deal when new scenarios arise that were not found in any of your textbooks!
P.S. For anyone interested in the article:
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/apr/26/state-to-create-adjunct-certification/
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
iMovie...Do you movie???
This week through my technology class we worked on making movies with web-based programs and the movie programs with Windows and Macs. I made my first movie using a Mac...it was an experience.
First of all I am a PC User...always have been...therefore I have only recently grown more accustomed to Macs (not sure if I will ever reach the fully accustomed area). After reading the directions and watching a demo...how hard could it be?? Well truthfully, it is not that difficult if you know how to make iMovie behave, which took me several hours to accomplish. However, once I learned which buttons and directions to give each slide the movie making was a fun process!
The best part about this whole process was seeing the movies that other classmates of mine produced. From Chemistry Rules in a lab to great short life story movies, the viewing of all the different movies made the task worthwhile because it displayed how many different uses for movies in a classroom can possess. We had art teaches, chemistry & science, music, history, ESL, geography, and foreign languages all represented in the movies through our class.
My movie is for future use in my Government class. This idea stems from conversations and classes I have had during my teacher training program with professors and mentor teachers. Through many conversations different people stress the importance of not only giving examples for students when teaching concepts, but making sure the examples provided are understood by your students. Therefore, I got to thinking after making an Inspiration chart about how a bill becomes a law at Capitol Hill here in the U.S. , that many if not the majority of my students have never been to the nation's capitol, so let's make a quick movie representing a tour through Washington D.C.! Here it is....
First of all I am a PC User...always have been...therefore I have only recently grown more accustomed to Macs (not sure if I will ever reach the fully accustomed area). After reading the directions and watching a demo...how hard could it be?? Well truthfully, it is not that difficult if you know how to make iMovie behave, which took me several hours to accomplish. However, once I learned which buttons and directions to give each slide the movie making was a fun process!
The best part about this whole process was seeing the movies that other classmates of mine produced. From Chemistry Rules in a lab to great short life story movies, the viewing of all the different movies made the task worthwhile because it displayed how many different uses for movies in a classroom can possess. We had art teaches, chemistry & science, music, history, ESL, geography, and foreign languages all represented in the movies through our class.
My movie is for future use in my Government class. This idea stems from conversations and classes I have had during my teacher training program with professors and mentor teachers. Through many conversations different people stress the importance of not only giving examples for students when teaching concepts, but making sure the examples provided are understood by your students. Therefore, I got to thinking after making an Inspiration chart about how a bill becomes a law at Capitol Hill here in the U.S. , that many if not the majority of my students have never been to the nation's capitol, so let's make a quick movie representing a tour through Washington D.C.! Here it is....
Monday, April 12, 2010
Full Circle of Integration
Integration, "is an act or instance of combining into an integral whole, " by the definition provided by dictionary.com. However, what does integration mean to education today? After a conversation I had with a friend last week in my opinion, integration has come full circle in the world of education...
Last week as I sat having dinner and conversing with a friend she began to ask about how I was coming along in my Teacher Ed. program here at the university, (by the way my friend is nearing sixty while I am still early twenties, to paint a better picture). Well, as I began to talk about my different class in theory and practice, psychology, and special education, eventually we got to talking about my technology class. I started to tell her how the main idea now behind technology in the classroom is integration, meaning that using only power points and word processors are not enough anymore. Now we have Web 2.0 tools involving all web-based content such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, social bookmarking, EPALS, etc.
This was all very new to my friend and she started reminiscing about her days in high school, which would have been in the late 1960s in East Tennessee. But what surprised me was that she loved the new concepts that I was telling her about. She mentioned her seven year old granddaughter and how the girl is always on top of the latest technology gadget and teaches her about the Internet, so it makes perfect sense to need to push for more technology use in the school, because how else can you keep kids attention nowadays???? I laughed telling her how I agree with her point exactly, but sadly not every educator out there does, especially educators with many years of experience getting good results using older methods.
Thus, we continued this topic about integration and specific ways and examples to really integrate in the classroom. Through the end of our conversation she started to laugh, which probed me to ask what she was thinking about, getting an answer that really started to make me think about how the word integration has changed in education. My friend said, looking back to her high school days they also had integration in their classroom but, then in the 1960s it was not technology but the integration of blacks and whites together in her school for the first time!
Wow, was my immediate thought, look how far our world has come that now, about forty years later it is time to integrate again in our schools! However, this time it is not of different races, but instead of new technology!
Therefore, this conversation left me thinking about how much the concept of integration in the classroom has changed through the years,and always for the better. In my opinion, now is the time for more educators to embrace the new concept of integration, if only on the grounds to keep that one kids attention a little longer in class, instead of finding that student gone to another world by listening to a podcast on his ipod.
Last week as I sat having dinner and conversing with a friend she began to ask about how I was coming along in my Teacher Ed. program here at the university, (by the way my friend is nearing sixty while I am still early twenties, to paint a better picture). Well, as I began to talk about my different class in theory and practice, psychology, and special education, eventually we got to talking about my technology class. I started to tell her how the main idea now behind technology in the classroom is integration, meaning that using only power points and word processors are not enough anymore. Now we have Web 2.0 tools involving all web-based content such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, social bookmarking, EPALS, etc.
This was all very new to my friend and she started reminiscing about her days in high school, which would have been in the late 1960s in East Tennessee. But what surprised me was that she loved the new concepts that I was telling her about. She mentioned her seven year old granddaughter and how the girl is always on top of the latest technology gadget and teaches her about the Internet, so it makes perfect sense to need to push for more technology use in the school, because how else can you keep kids attention nowadays???? I laughed telling her how I agree with her point exactly, but sadly not every educator out there does, especially educators with many years of experience getting good results using older methods.
Thus, we continued this topic about integration and specific ways and examples to really integrate in the classroom. Through the end of our conversation she started to laugh, which probed me to ask what she was thinking about, getting an answer that really started to make me think about how the word integration has changed in education. My friend said, looking back to her high school days they also had integration in their classroom but, then in the 1960s it was not technology but the integration of blacks and whites together in her school for the first time!
Wow, was my immediate thought, look how far our world has come that now, about forty years later it is time to integrate again in our schools! However, this time it is not of different races, but instead of new technology!
Therefore, this conversation left me thinking about how much the concept of integration in the classroom has changed through the years,and always for the better. In my opinion, now is the time for more educators to embrace the new concept of integration, if only on the grounds to keep that one kids attention a little longer in class, instead of finding that student gone to another world by listening to a podcast on his ipod.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Spreadsheets!
Microsoft Excel...the program which seems to be the most daunting of all the Microsoft Office tools was the center of our study this past week in technology class. In my opinion, I have never hated using Excel and have in fact liked it on many occasions, however generally speaking for people without a business or math background Excel can seem unfriendly. Thus, I was glad to brush up on Excel using skills and see how this program can be used in an integrated classroom.
I really enjoyed the main activity we did with the Excel program in making an animated worksheet for students to use in the studies. I plan to teach Social Sciences at the high school level therefore, I think this activity will come in handy for future instruction. The practice sheet I did relates to a Geography class, with different facts on Morocco. The worksheet allows students to enter in a proposed answer to get direct feedback from the worksheet. This tool is great to send home for homework, mainly because of the instant feedback that students can get. Students are able to see which spots they are having trouble with in their studies and can train their study too these areas.
Along with the worksheet activity that we did in class there are many other uses for Excel in the classroom, one being helping keep your grade book with the program. For myself, I am not a math minded person, therefore to have a program that does the mathematical work for me is great! Of course, Excel does take some getting used to, but through practice with the program I think anyone can become adept at using the program and getting their desired results.
I really enjoyed the main activity we did with the Excel program in making an animated worksheet for students to use in the studies. I plan to teach Social Sciences at the high school level therefore, I think this activity will come in handy for future instruction. The practice sheet I did relates to a Geography class, with different facts on Morocco. The worksheet allows students to enter in a proposed answer to get direct feedback from the worksheet. This tool is great to send home for homework, mainly because of the instant feedback that students can get. Students are able to see which spots they are having trouble with in their studies and can train their study too these areas.
Along with the worksheet activity that we did in class there are many other uses for Excel in the classroom, one being helping keep your grade book with the program. For myself, I am not a math minded person, therefore to have a program that does the mathematical work for me is great! Of course, Excel does take some getting used to, but through practice with the program I think anyone can become adept at using the program and getting their desired results.
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