Module 1 Reflection

Right from the first section of the reading in the textbook, I felt gratified that other
institutions across the country were adopting the philosophies of my undergraduate
program. I was out in the surrounding school districts multiple times each week starting
in the second year of a four-year program. As former Secretary for Education Richard
Riley said, “…the best preparation is teaching itself.” (Finally a politician who knows
what they are talking about where education is concerned.) Not only does allowing
education students out into real world situations earlier and more frequently give them
the experience and confidence they need as first-year teachers after graduation, but it lets
them see right away if the profession is even right for them at all.

Although the book is obviously a bit dated as is evidenced by discussing the use of PDAs
instead of tablets or I-pads, the concept still remains the same. Teachers have the ability
to keep track of student data to assist them with their planning and improve their
teaching. Obviously technology has also opened up the possibility for today’s teachers to
bring more resources to their classroom. Now I can hook up my computer to a
Smartboard so I can ‘hijack’ it capabilities and present various images and resources that
I have on my I-pad to my students.

Project Promise may be a program that was developed for post-graduate students that are
entering a second career, but it is a program that every teacher could use. One of the
things that every teacher could use is more time to collaborate with their peers during the
school day. Unfortunately in today’s economic climate this is not likely to happen as
administrators have been left with less flexibility to pay subs to cover classes to give
teachers time to do this.

Reflection – Module 2
One of the things that I learned early on in my teaching career is that we are here to
mentor our students as much as we are here to educate them. With the further integration
of technology into the schools, this has never been more true or important. Children now
have instant access to essentially anything they want. As educators we must constantly
be evaluating the sites we provide to our students and provide them with the tools to
evaluate them on their own. On the elementary level objectivity, authority and
appropriateness are important things for a student to be able to recognize on their own.
Even simple things like a checklist for things to check for with any web based source
posted in your classroom is a way to reinforce good behavior and habits.

As was stated in the supplemental information, we must be cognizant of the rules of

piracy of software. If we as educators utilize software that we obtained through piracy,
we are being hypocritical when we ask them not to plagiarize when researching on the
internet. I agree that we need to contact our tech support and administration to get the
software in the correct manner. By reinforcing these proper cyber ethics to our students
on a consistent basis, we can continue to be effective mentors to them.
The readings for this week had a number of helpful components in them, but two of them
stood out to me. Firstly, I think that the Santa Cruz New Teacher Project is an invaluable
tool for new teachers. As I stated last week, if we can just stop throwing new teachers to
the wolves and give them the support they are frequently too scared to ask for, we will be
that more successful as a profession. When we share with them, they can share fresh new
ideas with vets like us. Secondly, the searching process is always a nightmare for my
students. If they cannot find it on Google or Bing, they think that it does not exist. This
section gave me some more tools to help show my students that there is more out there to
use.

Module 3 – Reflection
At the current time, I am viewed as a leader in my school. This could be do to a few
factors, but most likely it is due to being the senior teacher on the grade level. This
combined with the facts that I have a good rapport with my administration and am willing
to share my knowledge and experience with my colleagues when asked is extremely
helpful. My father was a teacher for over 40 years and was definitely considered a leader
within his department, school and district. From my perspective, I believe he had many
qualities of a good leader, but the one that stood him apart from the rest was the fact that
he didn’t talk too much. Essentially he kept his mouth shut so when he talked up, people
listened. I have taken this to heart and tried to run with it. The fact is that while I still
have to perfect this technique, it definitely works. I have far too many colleagues who
constantly speak out at meetings and over time it has simply turned into background
noise. I want to further excel at this over the next year. The other way I plan to improve
my leadership is through classes like this. I took a great deal of time off from PD after
getting my masters and I feel like I have fallen behind the curve. A leader needs to be
current with what is going on in their field and that will a major focus on how I hope to
improve as a leader. The NBPTS is a way that I could do this beyond further grad
classes. Teaching must be one of the most collaborative-based fields out there for a
profession so an effective way to stay abreast of what everyone is doing is by widening
my source base. If I can have the capability to reach out to teachers nation-wide, then I
can get/share that many more ideas. On a final note, I do like and appreciate the fact that
administrators are getting back into the classroom as well. This is a good way to model
professional behavior to your faculty members.

Module 4 – Reflection
As essentially an elementary educator, I am constantly using cooperative learning
strategies in my class. Getting kids to work in groups can have its challenges, but its pros
far outweigh its cons. The one thing that I was concerned to hear from my athletes at the
high school level was how infrequently they mentioned working in groups at the upper
levels. I was baffled by this since these students were now getting closer to living in the
“real world” they would need to experience what the “real world” is actually like on a
more consistent basis. By taking that away from high school students you are doing them
a disservice. Thankfully though, we were presented with a great project for high school
students to complete that is very much based upon group work right at the beginning of
this week’s readings. The architectural challenge developed by Ms. Reeder gives
secondary students this opportunity. I have asked some high school teachers I know in
the district why they shy away from these types of lessons and I always get the same
replies. They feel they do not have the time to get the curriculum finished and their
students ready for finals and APs.

Grant Wiggins may be one of my new favorite people. It is so refreshing to hear

professionals speak out publicly on the craziness of state assessments. Each of the eight
ways he would change state assessments have their definite merits, but he hit the nail on
the head with the very first one. If we can change the format of the assessments how we
want the students to use the information we teach them we can solve a great deal of
problems. First off we can help greatly reduce “test stress” in our students. Also we can
actually focus on teaching and not preparing. As much as we all say that we do not teach
to the test, we all know that line is essentially crap. If my job is partially dependent upon
how well my students do on the assessments then you can be certain that I am going to
coach them to do well on it. This takes away from true and natural education. Thanks to
Grant Wiggins for at least offering a solution to this problem instead of just doing what
many of us are guilty of which is just complain about the situation.

Module 5 – Reflection
Technology is a word that encompasses such a wide range. This reflection will focus on
some of the more obvious ones from the reading. I think some of them can be more
helpful than others in the educational process, but I am having trouble integrating all of
them fully into my classroom. Please feel free to provide some assistance with ways to
get around my roadblocks.

Multimedia software can be a tremendous asset to the educational process. However, as

with every other asset that has been discussed in this class so far it is hard to integrate it
into my lessons when access to computers for my students to use is so limited. To take it
a step further, we are not permitted to assign multimedia, or any technology for that
matter, as mandatory homework due to the fact that a number of parents complain that
they do not have computers at home (hard to believe but this is what I get). Also, I have
noticed that more and more of my students do not possess a PC or laptop, but rather just a
tablet. This is a great tool but it does not (in my experience) come equipped with a disc
drive. This limits their use of multimedia to ones that can be found on-line or
downloaded off of the internet.

It has been requested by my administration that I use my own personal devices (phone or
tablet) in the classroom. Not to be a complete jerk but there is no way I am going to do
this. My devices are for my personal use. Taking pictures of students work can be
helpful in a number of ways, but I am not going to clog up the memory on my phone,
tablet, or digital camera with professional information. The teaching profession is very
much like the story If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. I am required to do certain things for
my teaching on-line (attendance and submitting grades). If I start using my personal
device in my classroom, what is to stop them from saying that I do not need a computer
in my room at all since I can just do these things on my personal device?

Many schools have tried to overcome both of these problems by distributing either
laptops or tablets to their students and faculty. This is a great solution as students and
teachers alike would be given the technology they needed to make education in the 21st
century more effective then many problems would be solved. This does occur in my
district but only at the high school level. When the technology committee asks why this
is the case, the response given is simply ‘cost’, which makes it impossible for a teacher to
argue with any further.

Module 6 – Reflection
My reflection for this week focuses primarily on the utilization of hand-held devices in
the classroom. Although the book is a bit dated and talks about devices such as PDAs (as
we have discussed in the past), the concept of the portable devices such as tablets in
education opens up some many doors for teachers. Like the book references, as a science
teacher and coach I could find a large number of uses for portable devices in my teaching.
Outdoor environment labs could reach another whole level. If I had them they would
certainly be put to good use. My students could take pictures of trees, leaves, and
wildlife on walks around the school grounds and have them augment their lab
presentations and therefore their learning.

My primary issue with the text is that I disagree with their argument that hand-held
devices are affordable for schools to purchase. While I do agree that they may be more
affordable, they still cost a good amount of money, which schools simply do not have in
today’s economic climate. Since I do not yet have these devices for my teaching, I have
assigned extension projects for my students to create multimedia presentations using their
own devices at home. One of my favorite projects that a group of students handed in was
that they made a short film, simply using the recording feature of their tablet, on the
environment at a local park. They created a spin-off on the Blair Witch Project, where
they kept getting scared and then realizing that what they heard was something like a
branch falling off of an oak tree. What was so great about it was the obvious fun the kids
had doing the project while utilizing what they had learned in class.

Module 7 – Reflection
Spreadsheets are a staple in my science classroom. The way they help my students create
tables and graphs to organize their data is invaluable when it comes to lab work. Inquiry
based learning is the cornerstone of education in the 21st century. We finally saw the true
value of letting children learn by using their natural curiosity and creativity, which are
two of their greatest attributes. One of the connections I made in the module is the one
between inquiry-based learning and the chapter on emotional intelligence. Over my
career I have discovered that far too many of my students do not know how to solve their
own problems and differences. When you think about it, this seems like a paradox when
you consider that in inquiry-based learning the students are more on their own than with
traditional lessons. After spending much of my early career impersonating a member of
the FDNY putting out fire after fire in my classroom, I decided that I needed to make a
change. I began giving my students strategies on how to solve disagreements that arose
and holding them accountable for resolving them on their own. Some of the same
strategies are mentioned in the chapter. I can safely and completely agree with the
research discussed in the textbook in that although a child’s EI is greatly effected by their
first few years, they can still very much be taught new and effective ways to increase
their EI.

Module 8 – Reflection
Teaching is the only job I have really known in my adult life but I suspect that how we
stay happy and less stressed at work are the same in other professions as well. If you
keep the client (parents in this case) happy, you can just focus on doing your job well and
then you stay happy too. In other words, we have to play the game of appeasing the
parents of our students.

I agree with the conclusions of the ACT program out in Sacramento in that many of
parents that seem angry with the schools are not actually with their child’s education.
They are angry because of other factors. One of which is that if their child is struggling,
they instinctively lash out at the school even though most of these parents are really
angry with themselves. They blame themselves for their child’s failures. What we need
to realize as teachers is that we need to go beyond teaching our students in this job. Most
of us know that we need to be role models for our students, but few have learned that we
need to counsel the parents of our students as well. Parents in my class need to know that
6th grade really isn’t about the report card. While we all want our children/students to
succeed, 6th grade is about giving the students the tools that they need to become the best
students they can be in the future. If parents are provided with clear goals from us, (in
conversation or written communication) we can get them to better understand what it is
we are trying to achieve and that alleviates their stress. You will be happier as a teacher
and the parents will be happier as well.

Module 9 Reflection – Part A

Although the textbook does try to dispel some myths about business involvement in
education I still remain a cynic in this area. Big businesses may have a number of goals
that they wish to accomplish, but the one that will always be at the top of the list is their
profit margins. I concede that some businesses do actually want to help education, but I
believe that the minute these programs start affecting their bottom line they will be the
first to go.

I think that the idea of mandated school board training like the one discussed in West
Virginia is an excellent one. Far too many “politicians” simply run for school board and
then try to tackle problems that they do not understand and have even fewer clues on how
to solve. By giving them training in this field they can better serve the school
community. I am also happy to see that these classes are not education classes that
teachers would traditionally take. I would not like BOE members to be walking into my
classroom with no real teaching experience and then giving me pointers on how to
improve my lessons. This district in WV gives the BOE members the tools to do their job
better.

As I stated earlier in the module, I completely agree with software that filters incoming
information to students of both primary and secondary schools. We have a responsibility
beyond just educating our students. The main problem with this exists on both the
primary and secondary levels, but has a larger impact on the former. When students are
doing research on the primary level in my science class they have a hard enough time
finding research that is on a level they can comprehend. However, when you add needed
filter systems to the mix, students find many of their avenues for knowledge cut off. I
would love it if teachers/administrators had the capability to override filtering software if
they find the material suitable for their students after previewing it together.

Module 9 Reflection – Part B

Beyond adhering to the CIPA of 2000, I could not find any hard document that states how
NYS expects its schools to handle internet filtering software. New York does not have a
requirement for an AUP for its schools. It only recommends that each school district
come up with one for them to share with its population. My district does have an AUP
that parents and students alike are required to sign. They also have a filtering system in
place, which I have discussed, is needed but has its pros and cons.

I will use the NETS philosophy that I learned from the scavenger hunt. My students
frequently start much to broadly when they are searching for information on the web.
Getting them to start a bit more narrowly (but not too narrow) is a great tip. Exact
phrases can be applied once the students get beyond the primary years. Although details
are helpful and interesting in the primary years, they take away from the whole concept
that they must master before they get to that step. My middle school kids are at just the
right age to start with exact phrases. Trimming back the URL is a way to get the kids to
see other virtual roads they can take to get additional information. Looking for similar
pages. I am not sure that I still fully understand the concept of looking for similar pages,
but I think I have the gist of it down. Anyway we can get our students to look for similar
resources once they have exhausted the one they are using would be helpful.

Module 10 Talking Point / Project

Since these activities will take place over a period of more than one class, I will
assess how they are doing on a day-by-day basis. I will circulate around the room
to see the levels of success they are having with each skill. Their homework will
be drawn from the crossword puzzles provided on the website and reviewed the
next day to check for competence. I chose these assessments as it meets the
criteria for what my students are to know in these areas put forth by my district. I
will determine how appropriately each student is using the technology and links
provided through circulating around the class during these lessons and how easily
they are able to access the links provided.