A Blog Reflection

As the semester comes to end, so does the grading period for this blog assignment. At the beginning of the semester, I was not looking forward to having to remember to blog every week. I saw it as a hassle but decided to make an honest effort with the assignment because I wanted to receive a good grade. However, as I began blogging, I found it to be a very reflective experience and a great way to organize my thoughts about specific ideas. Growing up, I had always kept a journal and that is what blogging reminded me of. Not only did I grow to love blogging each week but I also enjoyed experimenting with the things that you can do to make the blog more interesting. So, I want to thank Jim for having us do this assignment. It has taught me a lot about reflection and I hope I will continue to commit myself to doing more blogging.

ED 220 Three Cups of Tea

Here is our wonderful video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pny7GMfGnHU (Part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAM-23FdFrk (Part 2)

Chalk..the truth?

When Jim told us that we would be watching a film that had the same kind of humor as "The Office" in class on Monday night, I knew I was going to like the movie right from the beginning. Well, "Chalk" definitely did not disapoint as we were introduced to a variety of new teachers as they go about their life as the teachers. What I didnt realize was the truth that can be found is some of their actions when they are supposed to be portraying relatively bad teachers. However, I found myself noticing some similarities between these actors and the teachers I had growing up. I especially found myself noticing the similarities between my 8th grade geography teacher and the teacher trying to win Teacher of the Year. I was amazed because I never realized the things he had been doing wrong then and began thinking about the ways he went against the things Woolfolk suggests. What is most scary is that I remember a lot of the things I learned from his class. I also noticed that each of the teachers in the movie did something that was not entirely wrong. Overall, I believe that this movie could characterize a lot of things that happen to beginning teachers in schools today. Most of the teachers faced some type of problem with classroom management which is critical in schools today. These teachers also seemed not ready to be in the classroom, a quality I hope I do not have when I have my first day.

The Parental Perspective

Monday night, our Educational Psychology sections had the opportunity to hear from three Decorah area parents about their stances on education issues and their experience with teachers. One of the parents had kids in a variety of grade levels, one a sophomore daughter and graduated son, and finally a mom with a graduated special education student. Not only was the session helpful, but it also offered life lessons about the profession of teaching and the importance of communicating with parents. As I listened intently to the parents' responses to questions about NCLB and effective teaching, I was impressed with the amount of information the parents knew about the teaching profession. Although two of them had teaching experience, the other seemed just as knowledgeable which offered an insight that I had never thought about.
Up until this point, the only interaction I had had with parents in a classroom setting was when my ED 185 class took a field trip and two parents joined us. They were interested in what I had learned and how the experience was going. I was surprised they even knew I had been there but they reminded me that my host teacher had sent home a letter telling them I would be there. The sense of support and desire to help that I felt from those moms on the field trip was reaffirmed by the parents in the discussion. Each one of them showed true desire to want to be an active member of their child's education and this makes me hopeful for my future classroom. If I have parents who are as supportive as those parents seemed to be, I will truly be a blessed teacher.

Christianity and Islam...I think?

Tonight, I had the opportunity to attend a lecture given by Charles Amjad-Ali, a professor at Luther Seminary. Before deciding which lecture I wanted to attend for this course, I read the description of this lecture and found the topic of the interconnectedness of Islam and Christianity to be an interesting topic. All I can say is that this lecture was not all that I expected it to be.
After arriving over twenty minutes, Amjad-Ali was given a dry introduction by a man who simply listed off his credentials like it was the only thing he had to do that night. Then Amjad-Ali proceeded to rush through his main points with such speed that he never came up for air. Not only were his points too broad and about information that I had no background too, but he also spoke with an accent that made it almost impossible to understand anything when he spoke at such a fast rate. He ended his lecture after forty minutes and upon which he opened the floor for questioning. The only question I had for him was what just happened in the last forty minutes.
Although most of the lecture was hard to understand, one point I did learn from Amjad-Ali was that the seperation of church and state never meant the seperation of religion and politics. This statement struck me because I feel that it can be directly related to the unintentional inclusion of religion within the school system. Looking back at my schooling, church and religion was always discussed because we were such a close knit community. My friends from church were generally my friends at school because we recognized that similarity between us. As we grew older, the inclusion of religion only deepened as we were introduce to the political system and began developing our own identities as citizens. Another example of religion and politics can be seen in the tension surrounding this election. Not only are certain religions often associated with certain parties, but for the first time, race and politics collided. When I look at our political system and many of the issues included, I believe that it doesnt have to be about religion because many of the issues need to be solved in ways that respect the rights of all individuals.

Lifelong Learning

The discussion on Monday night was one of the most valuable ways I have spent an hour of my life. Much like the past two weeks, the educational psychology sections had the opportunity to listen to professionals from the schools, asking questions and gaining valuable tools for our future careers as teachers. This past Monday night, that group of professionals included three teachers that would still be considered "new" to the field. Each having less than 10 years of experience, these individuals had only recently become an education professional and were still able to relate to many of the feelings my classmates and I share.
Not only were these professionals new teachers but they were also all Luther graduates. The most helpful part of their discussion was the answers to our questions that before we had never had the opportunity to ask others before. Questions ranging from "What do u wish you would have known the first day?" and "Did Luther prepare you?" Not only did they provide helpful answers for these questions but they also provided helpful responses to questions about No Child Left Behind and other issues facing teachers today. Overall, I found this lecture to be very helpful and I hope that the parents will provide as much valuable information as this group of teachers.

Taking the Step for Change

In class on Friday, Jim distributed an article asking us all to take a look at it sometime in the future. Like myself, there are many people who just pretend they have read certain articles because they believe they wont find the material in them relevant. I thought about doing this same thing until I read the byline under the title. It said "By firing bad teachers and paying good one six-figure salaries, Michelle Rhee just might save D.C.'s schools" and from that moment I knew I had to read the article.
Overall, I found the article to be extremely interesting. Not only do I admire Rhee for taking the intiative to creat change but I am also impressed by how she is able to overcome adversity. One of the most interesting parts of the article focused on the support she has for her changes and where that support is coming from. She has the support of the mayor and many schools but parents and council members are worried about some of the radical changes she is making. She is alreaday made huge leaps by ridding D.C. schools of ineffective principles and now she is working to change the process of tenure. What suprised me the most about the proposal is that I could actually see myself taking the 1st proposed idea. Throughout my experience with the education system, I alwasy thought that tenure was one of the best things about becoming a teacher. Now I see that it could be one of the major areas where we are being held back.

Link to Newsweek article:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/154901

Not only one way to teach...

Once again, I was unbelievably enlightened by Monday night lecture. When Jim told us that we would be having speakers coming in again, I immediately was thinking of a repeat episode of the library talk. However, when he mentioned they were administrators, I gave the lecture a little more hope. Needless to say, the discussion that occurred between the class and the administrators was perfect in every way. Ever since I can remember, I have loved talking with other teachers about teaching. Hearing their stories and insights has offered many a variety of perspectives on teaching and reshaped many of my decisions about the teaching profession. Not only did these two administrators bring great experience into the discussion but they also represented areas of education that I have not experienced. One was a high school activities director and assistant principal and the other was a middle school principal. Despite being from my particular area of interest, they offered information that could be applied to any aspect of the profession.
One of the main ideas that dominated the discussion was the topic of NCLB or No Child Left Behind. This has also been a main topic in our individual classes because it is relatively new legislation and has greatly changed the teaching profession. Because we were provided with a list of questions that would be addressed, I was not surprised that the topic was brought up but I was sincerely surprised with the answer both administrators gave in response. Instead of negativity, both administrators stressed the idea of multiple ways to teach something. The middle school principal offered the view that some teachers will teach to the test and blame the test but the good teachers find ways to make learning for the tests just as fun and creative as other aspects of the day. The high school administrator reiterated this by stressing that there are many ways to introduce ideas and teachers are more than equipped because they already change lesson plans to fit different learning styles. I found this idea to be very enlightening because, like many of my classmates, I have been surrounded by the negativity with NCLB. Although I realize that NCLB will affect my teaching career, I realize now that the extent of its effect is completely left up to me, the teacher.

The website below is a link to the NEA's website about NCLB

http://www.nea.org/esea/index.html

IQ: How do we really know?

Today, I was enlightened by class. I had never explored the idea of IQ and how it relates to intelligence until we were required to read the text. When we took the test today in class, I was surprised to see the variety of questions that it included. I must confess that I did guess on a few, especially the pattern ones. Ever since I can remember, I have never been good at picking those out on other tests. What I found most interesting about today's class was the categories that Jim aligned with our certain scores. He presented with ACT scores and GPA that often correspond to certain IQ's and I was surprised at the variety of scores we discussed. For example, my IQ score landed in the range that also corresponded to my exact ACT score and GPA. That made me feel pretty good about myself. I also thought it was interesting when we started talking about the presidential election and what is more important between IQ and EQ. To answer this question, I would say that the best thing is a good balance because a president must have both in order to respond to different international situations. I also feel like the idea of EQ is not addressed enough in our society and that we are a nation that revolves too much around a person's IQ and neglects one's feelings.

Excused for Politics

As I was walking to my 11am class today, my mother sent me a text message. Now, this is not something she usually does but she informed me that she was at the Obama Rally happening in La Crosse, WI. She then called and proceeded to let me listen to over five minutes of Obama's speech as I made the trek across campus. I was excited to hear him speak and know that he was reaching out to the people of La Crosse Wisconsin. So what does this have to do with education? Well I came back to my room and naturally went on Facebook. I was amazed to see the number of my high school age friends who had attended the rally and were already posting pictures. I wanted to know how they got away with it because my school is known for its strict attendance policy. So called one of the students up and found out that my principal had formally excused all students that wanted to attend the rally. I was shocked considering he had enforced the rules strictly when the situation occurred in 2004. I then went to the La Crosse Tribune website and was shocked to find an article about the very idea of students missing school.
This brought me back to our class discussion about voicing our opinions and what we are morally obligated to teach our students. Overall, I was proud of the message the area high school students were sending to their students because I believe students should be given every opportunity to voice their opinions and learn from educated sources. What better politics lesson than to hear a presidential candidate make a campaign speech. When I think about moral judgments in relation to the school setting, I think decisions need to made based on the age of the students. Elementary students need know who the presidential candidates are but they do not need to know a teacher's position on gay marriage. Similarly, I think teachers should educate high school students more effectively on politics and not worry about offending anyone as long as they present the information without bias. These students are the future voters and need to understand the importance of such a role.

http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2008/10/01/breakingnews/9obama.txt

The Psychology of Education: The First Day...

On the first day of this class, I was so excited to finally be able to take an education class. I was ready to discuss educational practices with my peers and learn about what is necessary to become a teacher. Ever since my J-Term experience, I had been looking forward to this moment of my life.

I can honestly say that it definitely lived up to my expectations. I had been told that I would know by the end of the first week if I would like the class or not and I can honestly say I love it. I had not been accepting the class to dive so fast into such important issues but now I realize how important those issues are to the lives of teachers. I am also extremely excited about reading these books with our study groups. I have always been intrigued by the many books about education but I have never known where to look. Now I have a reading list that will probably last for at least the school year.

Another area of this course that I am excited for is the chance to work in these study groups. I am looking forward to meeting with people of my same interest area and being able to communicate our ideas about the text. I think this will be extremely helpful throughout the semester.

Better Grades in Less Time...Really?

I have to admit. When I first saw the title of this lecture being advertised, I was extremely skeptical.  But I remembered that the lecture of ones to attend for Ed. Psych. and decided it would a fun one to compare to education.  So I bought my ticket and talked a friend into going with me.

Upon walking into to the main stage of the CFL, I was surprised to see two giant balls being passed around the room.   Eventually, one would pop but these balloons subsided any fears that this lecture was going to be boring.  Gary introduced himself and began the lecture by having us do some concentration exercises mostly through playing the game Simon Says.  He then began his actual lecture and the evening ended an hour and a half later.

Overall, I think this was a very worthwhile lecture but the things he presented were basically ideas that I had already been introduced to.  In a way, I guess that is sort of like the learning process in schools.  For example, you may learn how to multiply in third grade but you have to relearn how to use it for the rest of your life.  A lot of things in education revolve around the word "repetition" and this lecture definitely presented that thought.  One thing that I found interesting and might include in my future classroom was his reading exercise that increases speed.  Implementing this four minute exercise would depend on the age group but I think it would be especially useful in ESL classrooms.

Lions for Lambs

As we began watching this movie, I was wondering what it was supposed to teach us about education.  I was very excited that this was an actual Hollywood movie because sometimes educational videos can be boring.   The more the movie progressed, I found myself becoming more and more intrigued.  When the Jim told people they could leave if they didn't want to stay any longer, I was saddened by the number of people that got up and left.  I could not believe that they wanted to miss the end to such a great movie.  

Not only did I find this movie extremely influential but I also enjoyed the political angle that it presented.  As I watched the three different courses of events take place, I was ecstatic once I realized that they were all directly connected.  I also found myself comparing the character played by Robert Redford to my Senior English teacher Mrs. Moen.  In addition to the similarities between their actions and teaching styles, the two also shared the likeness of being able to reshape the mind of a student just by telling them something the student already knows.  I believe that the student in this movie realized he could do something with his love for political science but he just needed that final post.  The same can be compared to me with my desire to teach.  All of senior year, I wrote about experiences I had with my Sunday school kids and finally at the end of the year, she asked me to meet with her after class.  She asked me what I was planning on doing with my life and I said I thought I was going to be a teacher.  She looked at me and said, "Well I hope so because otherwise you have been wasting my time this past year."