Thursday, April 26, 2012
Reflection of visual essay
I really enjoyed putting together this project. It was a time to reflect upon why you are who you are today. I write so much better when I am asked to write a personal story about my life. I learned alot from working on movie maker and putting together the video. I thought the project was more fun than just work. I feel like I would do something along these lines in my future classroom someday. I love to read stories of what other people of gone through in there life and why they are the person they are today. Even though some of these essays were very touching, I love seeing why other people chose teaching as a career. I would love to do another project like this again.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Open Educational Resources
Open Educational Resources can be very useful when becoming a future teacher. There are many resources out there that can help you when you are struggling. To look at some articles on Open Educational Resources click here! Open educational resources(OER) are any resources availablee at little or no cost that can be used for teaching, learning, or research. The term includes textbooks, course readings, and other learning content; simulations, games, and other learning applications; syllabi, quizzes, and assessment tools; and virtually any other material that can be used for educational purposes. To view an article about OERclick here!
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Friday, April 13, 2012
I believe :)
I believe that all students can learn no matter what their disability is. As many of you may not know, I am a triplet. Unfortunitly, because of how premature we were, my brother did not recieve enough oxygen to his brain. To this day, my brother Andrew has severe special needs. Andrew has impacted my life in ways I never would have imagined.
When people are out in public and see that someone looks different or acts different they tend to be curious and maybe without knowing, they stare at that individual. I don't view these individuals differently when I am out in public. Living with someone on a daily basis changes your perspective of how you view others who have special needs.
It wasn't until my Junior or Senior year of high school that I made the decision of wanting to become a teacher. For our senior project, we had to do so many community service hours and present them to a pannel of teachers. My community service consisted of helping out with an organization called Buddy Bowling. This is an organization for students with special needs and I would assist them in bowling. By helping out with this event, it made me realize that the littlest things can brighten there day. One day a week it was there time to shine. The kids would get so excited when they would see the bowling ball roll down the isle and knock over the pins. All of these students were unique individuals in some way, shape, or form.
Once I started my freshman year of college, I wasn't sure if special education was what I wanted to pursue a career in. I pondered about it, and finally decided to just go with it. One of my classes this semester dealt with learning about students who had special needs. As the semester progressed, I realized that the material that we were learning about came so easy to me because I live with someone who has special needs. As part of the course, we had to go out into a school setting and complete so many hours of observation. I knew right then where I would be doing my obeservation hours at; my brothers school. After spending a week in his school I knew that that is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Watching the students learn and how they all understand the concepts in a different way was amazing to me. Some of the concepts my brother was learning I would of never thought he would be able to accomplish. I am so proud of all the things he has accomplished throughout the years.
After spending a week in his school, I don't think I realized how lucky I was to have a brother with severe disabilities. I witnessed students screaming and crying and my heart broke for them knowing that they couldn't help the things they were doing. I am so grateful to have a happy, funny, and most of all lovable brother who just enjoys life to the fullest. He has taught me so many life lessons that not many people get the chance to experience. I often wonder who I would be today if I didn't live with someone who has special needs.
When people are out in public and see that someone looks different or acts different they tend to be curious and maybe without knowing, they stare at that individual. I don't view these individuals differently when I am out in public. Living with someone on a daily basis changes your perspective of how you view others who have special needs.
It wasn't until my Junior or Senior year of high school that I made the decision of wanting to become a teacher. For our senior project, we had to do so many community service hours and present them to a pannel of teachers. My community service consisted of helping out with an organization called Buddy Bowling. This is an organization for students with special needs and I would assist them in bowling. By helping out with this event, it made me realize that the littlest things can brighten there day. One day a week it was there time to shine. The kids would get so excited when they would see the bowling ball roll down the isle and knock over the pins. All of these students were unique individuals in some way, shape, or form.
Once I started my freshman year of college, I wasn't sure if special education was what I wanted to pursue a career in. I pondered about it, and finally decided to just go with it. One of my classes this semester dealt with learning about students who had special needs. As the semester progressed, I realized that the material that we were learning about came so easy to me because I live with someone who has special needs. As part of the course, we had to go out into a school setting and complete so many hours of observation. I knew right then where I would be doing my obeservation hours at; my brothers school. After spending a week in his school I knew that that is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Watching the students learn and how they all understand the concepts in a different way was amazing to me. Some of the concepts my brother was learning I would of never thought he would be able to accomplish. I am so proud of all the things he has accomplished throughout the years.
After spending a week in his school, I don't think I realized how lucky I was to have a brother with severe disabilities. I witnessed students screaming and crying and my heart broke for them knowing that they couldn't help the things they were doing. I am so grateful to have a happy, funny, and most of all lovable brother who just enjoys life to the fullest. He has taught me so many life lessons that not many people get the chance to experience. I often wonder who I would be today if I didn't live with someone who has special needs.
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| From left to right: Katie, Andrew, and Eric |
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Top 10 Cool Tools for School
Here is my top 10!
10. Wordle. I feel as if this would be helpful in some classroom settings but not all of them. http://excerptsfromaneducator.blogspot.com/
9. Smartboards. I feel like smartboards are helpful to a specific classroom like math, english, etc. and only specific students may be able to learn by using one. Not all students are visual learners.
http://rweducation.blogspot.com/2012/03/cool-tools-for-school.html
8. Finale. Finale would be useful to certain classrooms. Music being a big one. I do not feel like it would teach students unless they are great at learning music.
http://miawnaj.blogspot.com/
7. Classroom Jeapordy. I feel like this is a great way to review before a big test, but not on a daily basis.
http://lazyguy202.blogspot.com/
6. LeeSummit. I feel like this is only useful for early childhood education classrooms.
http://bobsedu183.blogspot.com/
5. Prezi. I feel like this is a great way to keep powerpoints that are used in the classroom entertaining.
http://uniquelynina.blogspot.com/
4. Dr. Math. I feel as if this tool would only be useful for math classes, but it is a great way for students to learn.
http://demi-hunt.blogspot.com/
3. Wikispaces. I feel like this would be a great tool to use in a classroom setting especially for group projects. http://aliciapierce21.blogspot.com/
2. Virtual Book. I feel like this is a geat tool to use for the younger classrooms.
http://aleahmailliard.blogspot.com/
1. Wicked. I feel like this educational tool is a great way for hands-on learning.
http://alyssa-martin.blogspot.com/
10. Wordle. I feel as if this would be helpful in some classroom settings but not all of them. http://excerptsfromaneducator.blogspot.com/
9. Smartboards. I feel like smartboards are helpful to a specific classroom like math, english, etc. and only specific students may be able to learn by using one. Not all students are visual learners.
http://rweducation.blogspot.com/2012/03/cool-tools-for-school.html
8. Finale. Finale would be useful to certain classrooms. Music being a big one. I do not feel like it would teach students unless they are great at learning music.
http://miawnaj.blogspot.com/
7. Classroom Jeapordy. I feel like this is a great way to review before a big test, but not on a daily basis.
http://lazyguy202.blogspot.com/
6. LeeSummit. I feel like this is only useful for early childhood education classrooms.
http://bobsedu183.blogspot.com/
5. Prezi. I feel like this is a great way to keep powerpoints that are used in the classroom entertaining.
http://uniquelynina.blogspot.com/
4. Dr. Math. I feel as if this tool would only be useful for math classes, but it is a great way for students to learn.
http://demi-hunt.blogspot.com/
3. Wikispaces. I feel like this would be a great tool to use in a classroom setting especially for group projects. http://aliciapierce21.blogspot.com/
2. Virtual Book. I feel like this is a geat tool to use for the younger classrooms.
http://aleahmailliard.blogspot.com/
1. Wicked. I feel like this educational tool is a great way for hands-on learning.
http://alyssa-martin.blogspot.com/
"Cool tool for School"
The educational resource that I found to be cool was # 17 Evernote. Evernote is an eduactional resource that allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device you find to be convienent. This makes the information accessible at any time, from anywhere. The first thing that you want to do if you want to use this tool in a classroom setting is create an account. This tool is a great thing to use to take notes, if your in meetings, to-do lists, and to put random pieces of information that your not exactly sure what to do with it. I feel like this tool would be great to use in a classroom setting becuase you can you can save all your notes that you present to the class over the years on this website. It would also be helpful if say a student missed a class, he or she could easily go on this website and get what he or she has missed.
If you would like to check out how this resource is used, here ya go!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm7hKeST0qE&feature=fvsr
http://evernote.com/
If you would like to check out how this resource is used, here ya go!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm7hKeST0qE&feature=fvsr
http://evernote.com/
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Budget cuts?!
Major Budget cuts in education
As you may know, there has been massive cuts in public education. A budget of $27.15 billion dollars was passed by the Pennsylvania State legislature and was sighned into a law. These budget cuts are mainly focusing on education. The Pennsylvania State Educational Association estimates that 3,000 teachers statewide are being laid off and another 2,000 positions are not being filled. These cuts are targeting early childhood education as well. The state has cut funding for full-day kindergarten from $260 million to $100 million. Many school districts are being forced to close pre-school centers and cut kindergarten down for a half a day. This is becoming a huge worry to me since I am going to school to become a teacher. Because of these statewide cuts, this will mean larger size classes, fewer teacher's aides, and cuts in specific programs. In many school districts, students will have to pay for an extracurricular activity such as sports. School districts are also cutting back on classes you can take to learn a foreign language,art, or music. This is a huge deal to many school districts because you can't just go to school and learn about certain subjects. There are some students who enjoy art class or music and the Education Department is taking all of that away from them. Parents should also be worried as they are getting laid off of there jobs. If this continues to take place, many school districts will have to merge with another school since they won't be able to keep up with the payments.
The govenor is cutting certain school programs that give money to certain schools. A way of thinking about how this works is if an employer increases a worker's salary, but takes away health care benifits, then the woker is getting less compensation. These health care benifits end up costing the worker more to replace than the raise he recieved. This seems to be a big issue today. With this said, to view a few websites that I found about this topic,click here!
This video talks about the budget cuts going on in Texas and how it is affecting education. They give specific statistics about how much money they will be losing and what people feel about it.
As you may know, there has been massive cuts in public education. A budget of $27.15 billion dollars was passed by the Pennsylvania State legislature and was sighned into a law. These budget cuts are mainly focusing on education. The Pennsylvania State Educational Association estimates that 3,000 teachers statewide are being laid off and another 2,000 positions are not being filled. These cuts are targeting early childhood education as well. The state has cut funding for full-day kindergarten from $260 million to $100 million. Many school districts are being forced to close pre-school centers and cut kindergarten down for a half a day. This is becoming a huge worry to me since I am going to school to become a teacher. Because of these statewide cuts, this will mean larger size classes, fewer teacher's aides, and cuts in specific programs. In many school districts, students will have to pay for an extracurricular activity such as sports. School districts are also cutting back on classes you can take to learn a foreign language,art, or music. This is a huge deal to many school districts because you can't just go to school and learn about certain subjects. There are some students who enjoy art class or music and the Education Department is taking all of that away from them. Parents should also be worried as they are getting laid off of there jobs. If this continues to take place, many school districts will have to merge with another school since they won't be able to keep up with the payments.
The govenor is cutting certain school programs that give money to certain schools. A way of thinking about how this works is if an employer increases a worker's salary, but takes away health care benifits, then the woker is getting less compensation. These health care benifits end up costing the worker more to replace than the raise he recieved. This seems to be a big issue today. With this said, to view a few websites that I found about this topic,click here!
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