"Fires" Reflection

When I first started reading the textbook, I came into some conflict with the student responses. I thought that some of the answers to their responses would be impractical. However, as I learned more about classroom management and differentiation, I realized that you can be really flexible while also staying on task and practical. Through the use of technology and the allowance of student creativity and autonomy, students can feel like they're much more "in control" of their education. I can say that over the course of the semester, my overall attitude changed to a much more learner-based perspective.

Room Arrangement Assignment

Room I

Room II

Comparison based on the “Five Keys to Good Room Management” (page 2-3 of Classroom Management)

• Use a room arrangement consistent with your instructional goals and activities: Both rooms are strong setups for central presentations, yet Room I is better suited for group-based activities whereas Room II is better suited for class discussion and presentations that require a lot of room (i.e. a skit).

• Keep high-traffic areas free of congestion: In both rooms, high-traffic areas are mostly free. However, Room II may have a choke point between the teacher's desk and the top-right student desk.

• Be sure students are easily seen by the teacher: With Room I, all the students have their back to the teacher. However, with Room II, two-thirds of the students are facing the teacher. The teacher can monitor student activity well with either room, but Room II has a slight edge.

• Keep frequently used teaching materials and student supplies readily available: In both setups, the supplies are easy for students to access. However, Room II frees up the back of the room with the relocation of the teacher's desk, allowing students to have greater movement when getting materials and supplies.

• Be certain students can easily see instructional presentations and displays: In this case, both setups work well if the teacher is presenting from the podium or front of the room, or using the blackboard. However, Room II is superior for classroom discussion as it allows all students to see each other without twisting around or craning their necks and there is no “front” or “back” of the room, necessarily.

Chapter 10: "Going Beyond the Classroom"

The part of the chapter that jumped out at me was the suggestion to design projects that involve experts or outside personnel resources (page 177).

This is an excellent way to engage students and get them out of bookwork academic routine. Also, this can get students thinking about career options. Something like this that "shakes up" the routine of school can really help to motivate students and get them to truly think.

Chapter 9: "When Things Go Wrong"

The part of the chapter that stuck out for me, was the part where students gave suggestions and commentary for when a teacher lost control of the class. Some of the things addressed were not being afraid to apologize, not taking a bad day too hard, and not trying to judge success by whether or not students like you.

The part about students "liking" the teacher is a complicated topic. Do you have to create a positive relationship to learn, or does a positive relationship result from learning? I certainly am not going to lose sleep at night over whether I'm my students favorite teacher--as this is not the point of teaching. What I am wondering is to what degree does a teacher focus on this aspect of student-teacher relations.

Chapter 8: "Teaching Teenagers Who Are Still Learning English"

The key feature of this chapter seems to be that teachers should draw out from English-language-learners what they already know. According to the book on page 147, this ranges from knowing where the student is from to their outside-of-school interests and activities to their language proficiency and other languages known.

This is a good strategy to help "ELL" students learn. If you want to be able to relate material to them, to understand where they are coming from and the way they learn (specifically as an ELL student), you must teach to their strengths and characteristics.

Chapter 7: "Teaching Difficult Academic Material"

The aspects of the chapter jumped out at me as especially important. First, the students' suggestion to link the material to what they already know. Second, the idea of approaching the topic from different ways. These are found on pages 124 and 125.

This chapter is the student perspective on something that we teachers are constantly thinking about and trying to achieve: student understanding. Both of the ideas I mention above are fundamental factors in teaching for understanding. Students must be able to connect what they are learning to what they already know, and their own lives, if they are to be engaged. Second, trying different approaches will appeal to more student backgrounds and more learning styles. This is part of being a dynamic and responsive teacher.

Chapter 6: "Motivation and Boredom"

The part of the chapter that jumped out at me was where passionate teachers were considered to be a major factor in what motivates kids (page 103). The students interviewed said that when a teacher's passion for the subject shows, it has a positive effect on the class.

This is something that I like to hear, especially since it is so easy to get caught up with classroom management and educational terminology and teaching styles. While these things are all important, I like to remind myself of how my love for the content is one of the main reasons I want to teach. It is my job to care about the stuff I'm teaching.

Chapter 5: "Teaching to the Individual, Working with the Group"

I liked the discussion of the importance of open-ended questions on page 91. The suggestions the students make also include giving time and guidance for students to formulate an answer not in an "on-the-spot, right-or-wrong" kind of way.

I really agree with this point. Asking questions that apply to all students and encourage every student to answer are essential for stimulating thought. If you don't ask any open-ended questions, you'll find a small number of students who always raise their hand to get that "brownie point" of giving the "right" answer--as the rest of the class remains silent.

Chapter 4: "Creating a Culture of Success"

The part of the chapter that jumped out at me was the statement on page 64, "remind us often that you expect our best."

This statement is indicative that on the surface it may appear that students do not care about their studies--rather, they may be looking for another route to success because the current one isn't working for them or because no one cares. I will push my students not to "not get in trouble" but to think, and to "break ground" when it comes to their academics. This is learning.

Chapter 3: "Classroom Behavior"

The part of the book that jumped out at me, was the issue of declaring classroom policy before it becomes an issue.

I am not so sure that I want to spend the first day of my high school classes going over petty rules and other things that should be taken as common-sense for that age. I feel that stressing the rules and trying to establish that kind of relationship with students will only contribute to them acting up. This doesn't mean I would be a teacher that lets his students get away with everything. I guess this would fit into my philosophy that reasons, not rules, make us strong.

Copyright and Fair Use

The article found at http://www.techlearning.com/article/17674 discusses copyright laws in general, and stresses their importance--especially in regards to educators.

14. On Back-to-School night, an elementary school offers child care for students' younger siblings. They put the kids in the library and show them Disney VHS tapes bought by the PTA. This is permissible.

The fact that this is not permissible seems rather draconian and purely profit-driven, rather than an attempt to product the rights of creators.

16. At a local electronics show, a teacher buys a machine that defeats the copy protection on DVDs, CD-ROMs, and just about everything else. She lets her students use it so they can incorporate clips from rented DVDs into their film genre projects. This is fair use.

I am surprised that this is the case. It seems to me that there are many inconsistencies in copyright law.

18. A student wants to play a clip of ethnic music to represent her family's country of origin. Her teacher has a CD that meets her needs. It is fair use for the student to copy and use the music in her project.

This makes sense. The use is purely educational, and I agree with the author comment on broadening use guidelines for music.

20. Last year, a school's science fair multimedia CD-ROM was so popular everyone wanted a copy of it. Everything in it was copied under fair use guidelines. It's permissible for the school to sell copies to recover the costs of reproduction.

I disagree with this not being fair use. If the multimedia was compiled under fair use (especially in an educational setting), should it not be allowed for resale as a legitimately different creation?

8. A student film buff downloads a new release from a Taiwanese Web site to use for a humanities project. As long as the student gives credit to the sites from which he's downloaded material, this is covered under fair use.

Clearly, this should be false. I have no problem with this not being fair use, because all the student is doing is citing his illegitimate means of acquiring the media.

5. A geography teacher has more students and computers than software. He uses a CD burner to make several copies of a copyright interactive CD-ROM so each student can use an individual copy in class. This is fair use.

This falls under the same category as the Disney movies not being allowed to be showed to groups of children. Its only purpose seems to be to bolster the profits of the creator. To add to that, this is for educational purposes.

How to help someone use a computer

The article found at http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/how-to-help.html gives some really good tips on helping people learn to use computers. Some of the tips are simple, and some are more involved--but all the tips are useful.

The tip "You've forgotten what it's like to be a beginner" really rings true to me. In order to teach something, you have to focus on the mindset and perspective of the person learning it. You can't use unfamiliar technology and hold unreasonable expectations when teaching someone to learn to use a computer. Another tip as to going about teaching someone using technology is this: "When they do something wrong, don't say "no" or "that's wrong". They'll often respond by doing something else that's wrong. Instead, just tell them what to do and why." It is important to stick to constructive feedback. This will save time and anguish.

I will use this information in my team presentation by keeping the mindset of an empathetic educator--something that seems very important to effective learning, or anything else that is technical and potentially frustrating.

Maine Memory Network

I would use the Maine Memory Network as a research resource in my class, as a social studies teacher. The MMN is especially important and useful because it provides a plethora of good local information. The multimedia aspect of the site is nice. The more I looked at the site, the more interested I became. I actually spent a good deal of time looking through the various photo albums sorted by town. It was very interesting to look at old photographs of Sanford, and I enjoyed the article on the Portland White Mountain Club. This is certainly a solid pretext to actually venturing out to historical societies in Maine for research.

One way to use this site would be to use it as a resource for photographs for a project on community tourism. Students could use images (with permission) to promote the history of their town in a Type II way, like a tourism wikispace.

Web 2.0 Educator

I chose to learn about Wes Fryer and his blog. Wes Fryer seems to be someone not only involved in the educational community, but the technology community. I like the fact that he takes educational software beyond the normal confines of standard-issue computer lab desktops and reports on creative new ways to implement mobile apps in educational settings. Mr. Fryer pushes the use of social media, internet communication and sharing. This creates a sort of "digital library." Fryer blogs about everything from the "social media" revolution to small yet useful tips like bringing a USB mini-hub to a presentation so as to avoid a "USB famine."

Type I and Type II Technology

Type I computer usage is computerized "traditional" education--what the article describes as "drill-and-practice." This type of computer usage can be useful if done correctly, and as long as it is not the only kind of learning done on the computer. Type II computer usage involves learning in new ways, only made possible by technology. Type II usage is not merely a computerized manifestation of traditional recitation. Rather, Type II usage involves word processing, creating multimedia projects and presentations, useful class communication, and educational simulations.

Examples of Type I usage:
1. Using software that quizzes a student with multiple choice math questions.
2. Playing a simple game that teaches spelling.
3. Identifying the names of countries on a map.

Examples of Type II usage:
1. Creating a video log.
2. Creating a podcast.
3. Engaging in class discussion via forum on the class website.

Source: "Internet Applications of Type II Uses of Technology in Education" (2005) by Cleborne Maddux and D. LaMont Johnson, editors. NY: Haworth Press

My MEL Experiences

Student/teacher relationship: An example of a positive student/teacher relationship in my experience is that of my English teacher, freshman year of high school. This teacher was always willing and enthusiastic to have conversations outside of class that were not necessarily related to the content being learned, but intellectual nonetheless. I remained in contact with this teacher throughout high school, and this teacher set me up for success on my later English classes. Actually, this class probably prepared me much more than I realized for the more challenging AP courses of my junior and senior years.

Interest: My AP Language & Composition class is an example of sparking interest. In this class, we often examined historical, cultural, and political themes in the text we read and analyzed. I am nearly always engaged by this sort of learning, especially when combined with discussion--as was done in this class. The fact that my teacher had a polar-opposite political ideology made it all the more interesting.

Autonomy: A non-example of autonomy would be my Chemistry class in high school. Arguably one of the most boring classes of my student career, there was no degree of autonomy allowed in the class. No creativity, no discussion, nothing. To say the least, I didn't learn all that much, and was not engaged by the content at all.

Connections: My AP Literature & Composition class is an extremely positive instance of a teacher weaving connections. This teacher always allowed rich discussion that would veer off the beaten path, but always connect back to the main theme. He would say, "see how it relates?" Conversations about world culture and politics would stem from "unpacking" a Shakespearean play, or a book about colonial India, or a piece of Victorian-era artwork--a favorite tactic of his.

Context: An example of context would be my SOC101 class here at UMF, spring semester of my freshman year. In this class, I learned so many sociological concepts and theories which I was able to test and put to use in the other three social science classes I was taking at the time (History, Geography of Health and Disease, and Economics). This class is a must for any history teacher. I learned a lot, and since it was meaningful, I will retain this knowledge.

Chapter 2: Respect, Liking, Trust, and Fairness

The idea of teachers and students "standing in each other's shoes" seemed like an interesting concept to me. One of the students quoted in the book described an assignment where students had to write about how they would teach a history class if they were teachers.

I can see this going several ways. The students might gain an understanding of how it is to teach a lesson or present the material, but there is so much more that goes into teaching beyond the class content. Personally, I wouldn't give this assignment. I feel that it doesn't really accomplish much, and that I could find common ground in other ways. I want to have a productive classroom, and I want to stay on topic.

Chapter 1: Knowing Students Well

What "struck" me in the first chapter was the fact that most students feel their teachers don't know anything about them at all. Moreover, it seems the suggestions from the students for getting to know them better aren't hard/impractical at all.

This part of the reading jumped out at me because I feel that one of the fundamentals of teaching getting to know your students. This is important because if you know the student, you can understand changes in academic performance, or find the root of a disciplinary issue. Knowing a student personally (not in terms of personal details, necessarily) will make a teacher more insightful into what it takes to provide the best learning experience for that student.

Learning Style Inventory Results

My overall scores:

Visual Style: 11/20
Aural Style: 11/20
Verbal Style: 13/20
Physical Style: /20
Logical Style: 13/20
Social Style: 12/20
Solitary Style: 13/20

Learning styles survey from learning-styles-survey.com

I think that the scores presented were relatively accurate with the exception of no score at all for the physical category--something isn't right, here. I don't see any real decisive learning "style" for myself either, based on the results above. I seem to be relatively equal across the board.