Blog Challenge Reply

Blog Challenge:

I was nominate by Lisa Stroschine on her Tech Lab blog. I will answer the eleven random facts about me, Lisa's questions, and then pose eleven questions for any educator.

11 Random Facts About Me:

1. I've lived in 6 states.
2. My favorite color is blue. It used to be purple but after watching PowerPuff Girls when I was little it changed to blue since I liked Bubbles.
3. I've traveled to Aruba multiple times via my grandparents.
4. My favorite thing to cook for my husband is Chicken Paprikas. It's a Hungarian dish that my nana brought my sister's and I up on. 
5. I hate dishes but I'm OCD about anyone else cleaning them.
6. I'm a twin.
7. I was homeschooled in 6th grade and up.
8. My family evacuated 2 days early from New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.
9. Computer Science is one of my current courses that I didn't expect to get so much out of.
10. I have a little sister and she's a second (maybe third) degree black belt in Taekwondo.
11. My favorite season is fall.

Lisa's Questions:

1. What’s one book you’ve read that you think everyone should read? (it can be from any age level).
The Freedom Writers.

2. What has been your best educational experience?
Being an active participant in my previous college's Phi Theta Kappa chapter.

3. What was your worst educational experience?
Switching to a completely new school after Hurricane Katrina.

4. If you were not pursuing a degree in education, what career field would you be heading toward?
Too hard to choose. I'd say either some sort of Computer Science/Mathematics nerd, an Optometrist, or a theatre person.

5. What is your favorite thing to do with a free hour? (assuming you had no homework or pending projects)

Read, watch a Tv episode with my Husband, or call someone.

6. Who was your favorite teacher?

Judy Major. She was a math "witch" at my Community College for Basic Algebra. She had so many tricks up her sleeve and was never afraid to pull out a new idea to help students understand things better.

7. What’s your favorite quote?

"The way you overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid. " -- Lady Bird Johnson

8. What’s something you’ve heard about (or read about) that you’d like to know more about?

What "whole language" is and why phonics is not being taught as much in schools.

9. What’s one thing you’d like to change about our current educational system(s)?
Pay and collaboration time for teachers. If they were given more of these resources they could be more successful at their jobs and become active learners.

10. What is your stress reliever?

Taking deep breaths.

11. Did you participate in any Coe Homecoming activities? If so, what was your favorite part? (if not, what’s one interesting thing you did this past weekend?)

I did not. I chilled at home and worked on homework.

My questions to any Educator:

1. What is your favorite thing about being an educator?
2. What is your morning and/or afternoon routine when you get to school?
3. What is the best book that relates to being an educator?
4. Who or what was your inspiration for becoming an educator?
5. Do you have a favorite tech tool that you use to stay organized? If so, what is it? If not, what do you do?
6. What student-age do you enjoy working with the most and why?
7. What's a situation you've been in as an educator that you think other educators can learn from?
8. What story in your educational experience always makes you laugh when you think or talk about it?
9. What is your favorite thing to teach and why?
10. What is at least one thing you wish you knew before you became an educator?
11. What is your advice to future educators?

Blogger Challenge!

11 Random facts about me

1) I have one older brother
2) I am the shortest person in my family; everyone else is 5'8 or taller. I'm 5'3.
3) I have worked at Dairy Queen since I turned 16. So almost 9 years!
4) When I was little I fed my two goldfish blue jello-blocks. I thought they looked hungry. Needless to say they got flushed.
5) I was a gymnast for 11 years. I was number one in the state for 3 years, then had to stop because I injured my knee, back, and hip.
6) Played 4 years of collegiate volleyball.
7) Have been coaching club volleyball since I was a junior in high school.
8) I went to Ireland on St. Patrick's Day in 2013 and was able to walk in the parade in Dublin.
9) I have had pneumonia twice. The first time I got to see an x-ray of my lungs and the doctor pointed out an air bubble or a burp in my picture.
10) I can't go anywhere without an old lady talking about my hair or even trying to touch it.
11) I go to Half Price Bookstore about once a week, buy a book, and never read it. I also buy the old VHS movies, especially Disney movies. My goal this summer is to read all the books I've purchased.

Lisa's Questions
1) Favorite book to recommend:  Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. It is my all-time favorite book and I read it once a year.
2) Best educational experience:  Coe College- I love the staff, students, and environment. It is a great fit for me.
3) Worst educational experience:  Another college (unnamed)- I loved one department but not the other. I did meet my friends there and played volleyball there. But it wasn't the right fit for me.
4) My other dream job:  If I wasn't going for teaching, I would be going for physical therapy, because I can relate to a lot of the injuries that I would be presented with.
5) Free time:  Play sand volleyball. Could do it everyday.
6) Favorite teacher:  My favorite teacher is Kathryn Woerner. She was my 7th grade history teacher. I was able to be with her in the fall during methods.
7) Favorite quote:  "Continuous effort- not strength or intelligence- is the key to unlocking our potential"~ Winston Churchill.
8) Something I want to learn:  I would like to learn more about tools. My boyfriend teaches PLTW and he talks about all the tools he and the students use and I don't talk "tools" so I'm clueless to half of everything he says.
9) Educational change:  How students are labeled. There is no such thing as a "good" or "bad" student. They have either figured out who they are educationally or they haven't. It's our job to help them find it.
10) Stress reliever:  Listening to music or venting to someone I trust. And if those don't help, play volleyball.
11) My weekend:  I helped my boyfriend make rocket fuel and engines for his Aerospace class. It was a blast :)

My Questions
1) What is something unexpected that has happened while in the classroom?
2) If you could plan a perfect day in the classroom, how would it go?
3) What got you interested in teaching?
4) What are some struggles you had while teaching or pursuing teaching?
5) What is one skill that makes your job easier?
6) What is one object/app that makes your job easier?
7) What would you change about the education system today?
8) If you could teach a lesson about anything, what would it be?
9) What advice do you have for future teachers?
10) What's the perfect set up for a classroom?
11) What's one way you incorporate technology into your classroom?

Scratch

My group visited the website Scratch. There were various different things you could do on this site from creating games to slideshows to other various visual activities. I have to be honest...I was a little lost. I wouldn't consider myself a technologically savvy person, so I was just clicking on various things throughout the class period. I did make a video of a cat, but I had to follow a tutorial to complete this. I think this would be a great tool to use in the classroom because it teaches about computer programming. In the classroom I am observing in now, they use a different website to teach kids about computer programming. It's a great program because kids are assigned a task and they have to continue to work at the specific task until they get it right. This is great because not only does it show the students what really is going behind the scenes with this technology, but also gives them opportunities to fail and to work towards success. I think by using Scratch, you could create an interactive visual for your students when teaching a lesson. Sarah did a presentation on plants and it had pictures and various other features. For me, I would have to play around a lot more with this site and visit more tutorials, but I think once I got comfortable with it I could use it in my classroom!

Here is a screenshot of the tutorial I was playing around with!

A Piano...Made out of Bananas?!

Hello! This past week I was placed into a group with the other music education majors and were given tools to create a lesson plan. These tools included a Makey Makey Kit and a bunch of bananas. What could we possibly do with these?

After going on the official Makey Makey website, we learned that we could connect the bananas to the kit and then connect the kit's control panel onto the computer. We found programs that allowed us to literally play sounds just by tapping on the bananas. We messed a lot with the piano and bongo sounds and had a blast playing with them.

Using these would be great for a lesson with upper elementary and middle school kids. While each kit is expensive, having multiple ones can help create a fun experience for kids when they want to learn basic notes and rhythms without using actual instruments. We also discovered that connecting the kit's wires to thick pencil lines also creates an electrical current. Bananas don't even have to be necessary! There are so many lesson possibilities that music teachers can use with this kit, and I will definitely try to get one for my future classroom as well.

Future Elementary Education Teachers Explore More Tech Tools!

My group chose: Scratch as our exploration-o-the-day last week in tech lab.

Here is what I created with the support of my group (Ashley, Sarah, and Ashlee):



Here is a screen shot of what the program looks like:

In the Elementary Ed. side of class, we were supposed to explore new avenues to engage students in problem solving in the classroom. The music ed. students figured out how to play the piano with real bananas. I created this to make an online version of what they did and I wanted to explore how to create a Scratch. Enjoy, even if it's weird and the notes aren't right...

My group brainstormed the educational possibilities and enhancements that this program could bring to our future classrooms:

• It's very challenging. Through my exploration, I believe that this site is well designed to practice problem solving skills. Students can follow the tutorial to learn how to use the program and then created their own!
• It teaches patience, which is definitely part of problem solving and learning in general. The student must realize that their "failures" or set backs towards the creation of their projects are simply ways that they can learn from and navigate towards their desired goal however long it takes. 
• It can have content application base, too. There are already programs created that are geared towards specific topics that others have created. I know our group looked at potential math lesson and science lesson enhancements.
• It even has the potential to enhance student's content area by having them create stories or games that they and their peers can play based on a lesson the students are learning.

I'm sure there are many more application and skill gaining ways to use this website in the classroom. For more information, they have an educators section that is designed to bring those ideas of using problem solving into the classroom.

Good luck as you explore this program so your students can explore it to!

Flipped Classrooms

Flipped classrooms are a great way to get students to learn both in and out of the classroom. They can be presented different ways. Teachers can make their own videos/PowerPoint or can use a pre-existing form of information. This could be used to introduce students to a subject that will be talked about the next day, or it could be used for review, or something little that can help the students with their understanding.

Here is my idea for a flipped lesson: US history, civil rights movement unit

In class we will be discussing the major events of the civil rights movement. For homework, I would have the students watch a short clip on the court case Plessy vs. Ferguson and answer a few short questions. When they get into class the next day, we will discuss the Brown vs. Board court case and then compare and contrast the two cases.

OR

The students would watch a teacher-made video discussing the statistics involved with the civil rights movement and then in class asked to discuss and explain why the numbers were so important during the civil rights movement.

There are many things that can be done with a flipped classroom. I think I would use video/media that was made by me or by others. But I would be consistent and maybe ask the students what they prefer. From Megan's presentation, I learned that when doing a flipped classroom you have to be organized and that they students may rely more on each other than on the teacher. But that is ok since they are working cooperatively and taking charge of their own education.

Squishy Circuits

On Thursday, some of my Elementary Education peers and I decided to get some hands-on experience with squishy circuits.  We explored the two different types of Play-Doh provided, as well as the lights and other materials provided.  Through some trial-and-error, we decided this would be a great lesson to adapt to our future classrooms through teaching students about conductors and insulators (Play-Doh) and the sort of "electricity" so to speak that they create when mixed with circuits and wires.  I personally think this would be a valuable and fun lesson because I was honestly intrigued by the whole experience.  I remember learning about insulators and conductors in elementary school; however, I have no idea how I learned about it or what the relevance of those two things are.  A lesson like this would instantly grasp the students' attention and could even create some fun competition among the class pertaining to who could build a better structure with the Play-Doh, as well as cause all of the lights to turn on.
This activity would also serve as a solid basis for understanding of those particular terms.  Because something so hands-on like this would keep students interested, you could expand off of this and elaborate on other certain aspects of circuits (depending on the age of the kids).  This is just something to consider when choosing whether or not to adapt this lesson to your future classroom.  For me personally, I see this as an awesome way to get students interested in science and have fun doing it!

Amanda's Dream School

When I think about the perfect school, I think of one that can be accommodating to any and every student. Through the different observations that I've gone to, I've run into both high-leveled and low-leveled schools. They all have students that are willing to learn, but the types of schools will be huge factors in determining their learning level when they graduate. I want a school that is all about helping students achieve a high standard of learning.

If I were to think about the size of my dream school, the most ideal would be one that isn't overcrowded. I would go for about 400-600 students for a high school, 200-300 for a middle school, and 175-275 for an elementary school. There would be enough rooms for both academics and extra-curricular activities. In terms of a music classroom, I would like a room that has plenty of space and great acoustics. The ceiling would be custom-shaped so that sound can bounce around freely. The extra space would be for bands (middle school/high school) or for when the students are moving around (elementary school). There would also be one or two practice rooms with a piano in each of them. The walls in the school would have the school's achievements displayed as well as information about the school, a map of the school if it's large enough, works of art made by the the students, and sign which talk about the school's policies. The floors and hallways will be well-kept and clean, so students will be taught right away to throw trash away/recycle. There will also be a good-quality janitorial staff to make sure that everything is as it should be.

One rule I would implement in the school would be no talking in the hallways until school is over. This has been proven to make classroom settling much easier for both the teachers and the students. They will be more focused and the teacher wouldn't have to put as much effort into calming the kids down. The students are also expected to have a respectful attitude both towards their peers and towards the teachers and staff. The staff themselves would be well trained to handle all different kinds of kids. They would implement a set of rules at the beginning of the year and will have a system of discipline if they were to break them.

The school should be fairly up-to-date on technology. There would be one or two computer labs, smart boards in most of the academic classrooms, and multiple printers throughout the building. Cellphones and laptops would not be allowed unless it's for a computer science course. This is to prevent distraction.

What I want students to get out of this school is a rich learning curriculum that prepares them to take on their future once their education is complete. If it's for a younger grade, it would be to prepare them for the higher standards of secondary education.

Ashlee's Dream School

If I could create my own school and make up my own rules there are many things that I would do to enhance children’s learning, as well as autonomy. 

First of all, the atmosphere would be very laid back. Each student would have their own computer device to work on throughout the day. The students would have the opportunity to work at their own pace. I would give each of them guidelines and potential paths they were to follow throughout each subject, but each would end up at the same standard, they would just get to choose how they got there. I would allow the students to walk around freely. There would be no “Mrs. Rush can I go to the bathroom,” every 5 minutes. They would have free rein. I would have a ratio of 5 students to 1 teacher. Teachers would be in charge of teaching content and then students would go off on their own and work through their own programs, designed to meet their needs.

I would also have a class that focused solely on future careers. Each day, as a class, we would explore a different career. We would talk about the disadvantages and advantages of the job. We would do job shadows and have individuals with those careers come in and talk to the class. We would talk about personality traits that are associated with each career. I think often kids are focused on the money aspects of careers and aren’t really aware of the extra time and effort that these careers require.

I love the idea of a micro society. I would do a unit on a micro society. Kids would build or create something that they think would sell, or that they would like to have. They would create an advertisement for it, which would hit the art standard. They would create a label which would use require their writing skills. Then they would try and sell it at the school store and figure out profit margins. I think this project could be elaborated and taken in many directions and it would be up to the students where they wanted to go. 

I think autonomy is huge for kids and if they know that they are working at their own pace and they are calling the shots, they will be more motivated to grow and challenge themselves.

The Think School

"If I had no rules, no preconceived notions and no pressing standards to uphold," I would create a school that had one central purpose: to create thinkers. My school, grades K-12, would create deep thinkers who are able to think critically and creatively about the world around them. These essential skills are necessary for so many areas in life especially in the 21st Century as motivators and innovators take the stage. Also, if one can think critically, then one can be an informed, democratic voter, or be a valuable worker in whatever field they enter. To create these deep thinkers, my school will utilize both teacher and student center ways of teaching. Teacher centered instruction would create a sense of respect between the teacher and students. The relationship between the teacher and students will benefit the students as they grow. Students centered instruction, like project base instruction, will create relevance of the subject material to the child that will ultimately aid in their desire to learn and grow as critical thinkers.

In the younger grades, K-6, my school would teach a strong holistic basic curriculum via teacher and student center ways. Students in K-6 will explore their world via technology and outside exploration via field trips. The classroom set up will be more conducive to learning. The classrooms will allow for movement and exploration. It will lack strict desk seating and instead have more comfortable places to learn, like at tables or comfy chairs/bean bags.

In the older grades, 7-12, my school would utilize the basic knowledge gained in the young grades and gear students toward what they're most interested and competent in. Teaching at these stages will become far more student centered than teacher centered. While the students are able to focus on their favorite skills, it will also work towards enhancing any growth areas they may need to work on to improve themselves. The classroom set up will be more conducive to learning through collaboration and exploration. There will be more tables instead of desks to allow students the freedom of space to work with each other on projects. Students will have higher level technology that they can use to improve the skills that they're most interested in. In the last couple of years in grades 10-12, students will serve more prentice-like positions that build off their previous skills and enhance new knowledge. The classroom will transform into more of a meeting place where they can meet together to accomplish their goals alongside other students goals. 

The goal of my school will be to give students the critical thinking skills necessary to be competent i their future job. It will also enable students with more focus as to what they want to do with their lives. By the time the students graduate, they will be well on their way to either the completion of another degree or in a job they want to pursue.

The goal of my school school for students who are physically or mentally unable to think abstractly or critically will be to give them opportunities to build their highest level of basic skills, enhance their strengths, and help them transition into the workforce. This will give them their own independence in their life that will be both satisfying to themselves and to their community.

"Don't get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life."

I found this video to be very eye-opening.  It encouraged me to think about what I view as important as an educator.  Obviously, I believe academic content is important.  It is our job to teach students things that will apply to their daily lives and future, which relates to helping them make a living down the road.  However, I don’t think enough light is shed on the importance of teaching students how to make a life, as stated by Logan in the video.

            Instead of demanding students to do work specifically from the textbook, let them incorporate things that make them happy.  Their interests matter—let them embrace what they love and learn through those things!  For example, when doing a math lesson on surveying, let them add a personal twist to it!  If a student loves to text, they could survey their classmates to see on average how many texts they send per day.   Leaving room for students to incorporate what matters to them will make them happy through their learning.

            If no rules existed as far as curriculum goes, I would take time to instill in students that happiness is essentially just as important as getting good grades in ensuring a successful future.  Without passion, drive, or goals, you will not succeed.  I would hang signs and saying all over my classroom that portray the message of loving what you do and loving the life you lead.  Being successful in academics is important, but being successfully happy is just as important.  There is an older song by Randy Travis called Three Wooden Crosses that states, “It’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you; it’s what you leave behind you when you go.”  The life you choose to lead and develop says a lot about the kind of person you are and is around even after you aren’t.  It’s important to remind students not to be too busy making a living in the future that they forget to make a life.

My Dream School

While watching Logan LaPlante's "Hackschooling makes me happy" TED talk, my mind was blown. I thought that a school like Logan's was not possible. I mean, I'm going to be a teacher so I can teach students. But if there are no students, how do I teach? Then that go me thinking of a school that  I would create in order for students to be happy with their education and their future.

I researched 9 innovative schools and really agreed with one of them: New Country School in Henderson, Minnesota. There are 6 principles that they stand by. No classes, teachers, hierarchy, schedules, walls, and janitors. There are "advisors" that help guide the students, and the students pretty much create and take care of the school. The students are working together and shaping their own education.

If I were ever given the opportunity to create my own school, I would definitely incorporate New Country School's 6 principles. I would also bring in real-life situations, anything from filling out insurance applications to taking care of babies. If there was a student who didn't know what really interested them, have them do short internships or observations so they can see what a job requires. The school would be kept up by the students, just as if they owned their own house. Maybe even incorporating a system where the students would earn a wage (fake of course) and have to pay taxes, bills, groceries, etc so the students can learn how to manage money.

I really like the concept of no schedule or time frame. In Daniel Pink's book "Drive" there are three levels of motivation. The highest and most desirable is motivation 3.0. With motivation 3.0, it says that if a person really wants to learn or master something, they don't need a schedule, deadline, or a monetary reward at the end. Autonomy is what the goal is.

My school would be very student-centered and they would run the school, decide their own schedule, and learn what they would like to learn. When we limit students to what they learn, that's when student's feel that their education is becoming someone elses. If we teach students to rely on teachers too much, then autonomy will not be achieved and a student will be shorted an individualized education.