Well we had our first day at our Block A schools today and I was beyond nervous. What would the vibe be? How would my associate teacher like me? Would he/she be friendly and encouraging? What would the class be like? Would they think I was a teacher or would they know I can barely teach my younger sister how to parallel park? I still feel I have so much to learn about the basics (like when a child asks you 3-4 times in 100 minutes to go to the bathroom do you let them go each time thinking they may have a bladder infection or do you clue in that they are trying to avoid doing the task?)
So when I was driving home this afternoon at 3:45 pm I thought - YIPEEEEEEE! My associate teacher couldn't be more open and easy going. She is full of tips and advice and put me at ease right away. The class is brilliant. There are 20 souls just shining in their little desks. I am over the moon with this school. Something really stuck with me today. Sitting in the staff room there was a supply teacher who said "there are some schools you have to go to when you get excited and others where you don't. Green Acres is the former." At our midday meeting, Brian, the principal had some inspiring commentary about what we were embarking on. He said, "you will get through to every child eventually - its just about having a positive attitude." Well, I'm starting out on the right foot then. Can't wait for tomorrow.
My First Bitstrips Comic!
What a great tool! So awesome that we get to make use of this tool for free during our time at Brock. Thought I'd put together a comic inspired by one of my anxieties for my first observation day in school tomorrow. Check it out!
Diversity in the classroom: diversity in learning styles
The most intriguing concept i’ve learned in my last few weeks here in the Brock BEd program has been differentiated instruction in the classroom. I’d always heard the expression “right-brained, left-brained” and thought that the responsibility lay in the hands of the learner to adapt to what was being taught and to persevere until they ‘got it’. How wrong could I have been? I’ve volunteered in numerous classrooms, but had never realized the silent balancing act that went on on the part of the teacher. Its embarrassing to admit. With the vast diversity in today’s classrooms it seems overwhelming, almost like you have to be a detective and piece together the best learning scenario you can for each student and if it doesn’t seem to work, try try again with something new. I’ve always revered teachers, but never conceived that this was part of their daily duty. If Lesson planning (its a science!) seems like a lot, try customizing certain aspects here and there throughout that (cohesive, flowing, effective!) lesson for each individual in a group of 30. That’s where the science becomes an art-form.
In Spec Ed I’ve learned about a variety of LDs, factors for behaviours (home, background context), gifted students, those with exceptionalities and the modifications we as educators incorporate for them in the classroom. Also, having learned about inclusive classrooms and the sad fact that there isn’t the ideal EA per spec ed student ratio in the real world - I feel my reverence for teachers getting even stronger.
Being a good, impactful, inspiring teacher for each student should be the daily goal. Is that a lot of pressure? Yes. Is it idealistic? Yes. Is it necessary to strive for? Absolutely. That’s what’s so exciting about the technologies we are learning to incorporate into our pedagogical approaches in the Ed Tech Leadership cohort. We have the advances to ensure everyone can hear the lesson clearly and understand what’s happening. We have tools that can help students take better (interactive) notes. We have smart boards to hold their attention and execute lessons using digital manipulative to aid in comprehension. We have hundreds of web 2.0 tools at our fingertips to make the lessons we teach more engaging and collaborative. What are we waiting for?
In Spec Ed I’ve learned about a variety of LDs, factors for behaviours (home, background context), gifted students, those with exceptionalities and the modifications we as educators incorporate for them in the classroom. Also, having learned about inclusive classrooms and the sad fact that there isn’t the ideal EA per spec ed student ratio in the real world - I feel my reverence for teachers getting even stronger.
Being a good, impactful, inspiring teacher for each student should be the daily goal. Is that a lot of pressure? Yes. Is it idealistic? Yes. Is it necessary to strive for? Absolutely. That’s what’s so exciting about the technologies we are learning to incorporate into our pedagogical approaches in the Ed Tech Leadership cohort. We have the advances to ensure everyone can hear the lesson clearly and understand what’s happening. We have tools that can help students take better (interactive) notes. We have smart boards to hold their attention and execute lessons using digital manipulative to aid in comprehension. We have hundreds of web 2.0 tools at our fingertips to make the lessons we teach more engaging and collaborative. What are we waiting for?
We're All In This Together
I couldn’t be more excited to become a teacher. I worked very hard to be accepted into the bachelor of education program and have left my pretty successful career behind to pursue this new chapter. These first few weeks in the program have been a whirlwind and I’ve started to get my sea legs. Enough class audits and readings under my belt to gain some balance and have time to reflect. Wow. I even know which class I have next and I didn’t even have to peek at my schedule! (Finding the correct classroom is another matter entirely.)
There is one thing I’ve come to realize these last few weeks: the program couldn’t be more different from what I expected. Having only my undergraduate studies and my recent career in pharmaceutical market research to compare to, this experience is worlds away from the environment I’ve come to accept as the norm: competitive. Here at Brock, and I’m sure at other “teacher’s colleges” across Ontario and Canada, the feeling of community is overwhelming.
First of all, the faculty advisers smile in the hallways and say hello. In class, they are hopeful, encouraging, inspiring and upbeat. They are confident in us and are fostering a community of learners from day one. One of the main tenets of many of the courses so far has been sharing and collaboration. This is a tad foreign to me. Not something I’ve practiced since my mom used to lecture me to share my toys with my younger sister. In the business world, your good ideas are your ticket to success. If you share them with the wrong person, someone could steal your idea, take credit for it and prosper. If you collaborate – you waste time when you could get it done faster on your own. Time is money. Ideas are money and money is paramount.
Methods and Classroom dynamics classes have already emphasized the importance of creating a community feeling in your class. As a teacher its up to you to model the kinds of behaviours and habits you hope your students will adopt and practice throughout their lifetimes when it comes to learning new things. What a paradigm shift this is for me. Teacher and boss had always been synonymous for me (they held the power), though that power is not something I sought out when applying to this program. I’d always hoped to be the kind of teacher that saw herself not as leader, spouting out orders and hovering over ready to assess, highlighting failure, but as an eager participant in the learning process treating her students with respect and making learning fun and learning from and with them!
Last week someone uttered something that really hit home for me: if you share your work you’re not going to lose it. We’re learning about real time collaboration using web 2.0 technologies like Google Docs. Already our cohort is working together to help make meaning out of complex texts. It only took a matter of days before small groups were forming to split up readings, create study groups and exchange coping strategies and organization tricks. A classmate volunteered on Friday afternoon to stay AFTER CLASS and help me. Where am I? I don’t recognize this landscape! But I could get used to this!
Excuse my rudeness...WELCOME!
I guess in blogville you're supposed to thank people for dropping in before you go hog wild posting all sorts of entries on your blog. So first, my apologies for not laying out the welcome mat a few weeks ago when I started my blog and second, welcome! bienvenue!
you may be wondering what this blog is all about. well its a little bit of this, a little bit of that (kind of like grandma's elusive pierogi filling recipe) and a whole lot of: WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Its curiosities and investigations and inquiries and lightbulb moments. Its cool stuff. Its techie nerdy stuff. Its educational theory and trends stuff. Hopefully culminating as my digital portfolio documenting my (here's hoping!) progression and advancement into the tech leadership sphere as I participate in said program at Brock university where I am currently a P/J teacher candidate.
so join me on this fun journey as I discover a whole lot about technology and web 2.0. The goal here is that I learn something new everyday that I can apply in our 21st century classrooms so that I can keep up with those brainy, tech-saavy whippersnappers who, frankly, have just as much to teach me as I do them.
Polish Pierogi [Online Image.] Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/3h69lap
you may be wondering what this blog is all about. well its a little bit of this, a little bit of that (kind of like grandma's elusive pierogi filling recipe) and a whole lot of: WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Its curiosities and investigations and inquiries and lightbulb moments. Its cool stuff. Its techie nerdy stuff. Its educational theory and trends stuff. Hopefully culminating as my digital portfolio documenting my (here's hoping!) progression and advancement into the tech leadership sphere as I participate in said program at Brock university where I am currently a P/J teacher candidate.
so join me on this fun journey as I discover a whole lot about technology and web 2.0. The goal here is that I learn something new everyday that I can apply in our 21st century classrooms so that I can keep up with those brainy, tech-saavy whippersnappers who, frankly, have just as much to teach me as I do them.
Ed Tech Budget Concerns
I want to be a leader in educational technologies. I want to bring these technologies into the classroom and discover the myriad ways they can explode open the learning experiences of students. I want to help those with a learning disability take better notes. I want to include everyone (even the shy students) in fun democratic group activities using things like clickers. I want to skype with an astronaut or take the class on a real time safari.
Most of all - I want to understand how to bring these technologies into the classroom without having the budget to do so. Either my rent-to-own bill at Best Buy will be through the roof or I'll have to rob a Future Shop (in a Robin Hood way of course, ITS FOR THE KIDS!) Now of course I'm being a little dramatic as a teacher candidate should not do something that might create a police record for themselves, but where's the budget? Guess I better sign up for Fundraising 101?
This week I heard a variety of viewpoints about ed tech. One faculty adviser said that I shouldn't be so enamored with all the techie stuff because in Whitehorse (for example) I would have to learn to teach with nothing. Good point and point taken. Another adviser shared that his school was able to acquire smartboards because a local convenience store donated the proceeds of their Nevada ticket sales. Of course this enraged some families in the school whose cultures didn't believe in gambling. A lot of DIVERSE perspectives here aren't there? But like my mother always says "you can't please everybody all the time."
....Although you may be able to if you use a smart pen and write them a really nice note. ;)
Most of all - I want to understand how to bring these technologies into the classroom without having the budget to do so. Either my rent-to-own bill at Best Buy will be through the roof or I'll have to rob a Future Shop (in a Robin Hood way of course, ITS FOR THE KIDS!) Now of course I'm being a little dramatic as a teacher candidate should not do something that might create a police record for themselves, but where's the budget? Guess I better sign up for Fundraising 101?
This week I heard a variety of viewpoints about ed tech. One faculty adviser said that I shouldn't be so enamored with all the techie stuff because in Whitehorse (for example) I would have to learn to teach with nothing. Good point and point taken. Another adviser shared that his school was able to acquire smartboards because a local convenience store donated the proceeds of their Nevada ticket sales. Of course this enraged some families in the school whose cultures didn't believe in gambling. A lot of DIVERSE perspectives here aren't there? But like my mother always says "you can't please everybody all the time."
....Although you may be able to if you use a smart pen and write them a really nice note. ;)
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