Blog #6

My partner and I were very much on the ball with this assignment.

We began our journey at a nice sized elemenatry school in sherwood park to drop our power point onto the key of one of their grade 4 teachers. After giving her our package of research information and running her through the program, she seemed really impressed with the work and promised to run it with her class. As a first indication of how teachers will react to our work, it was a very positive experience for us.

Next, we took the peaceful hour long drive to Thorsby and set up shop in the computer lab...where we met our first glitch. Apparently, the teacher working with us was not very computer literate and explained to us that there was NO WAY to share pieces of information with all of the students. Also, we didn't have a portal to plug in our key. Very discouraging, because we had planned to do with work at individual students, working in partners.

No worries though, we thought quickly and ended up being able to find a portal via an extention piece of hardware used for photoimages. We downloaded the poewr point and then placed it in the teacher's personal file...then, we were able to open it in his classroom and we did the project together with the class. This worked well, because we could talk them through it, and we could also choose all ten locations.

The lack of linking to both Dorothy and Cereal, simply meant that we kept them until the end and we just dealt with swithching the screens during those places.

In the end, the teachers were impressed, and the students were engaged. We did find out that it's totally possible to place the work into the correct folders, but we found that out later - and through a different teacher. But all went smoothly, as smoothly as possible, and the overall day was positive.

I did speak a little too much during the presentation, and I need to be sure to work through who will say what if we ever present again, so as to leave a bit of room for my associate. Sorry dear.

Anyway, good opportunity. I'm pleased.

Our Virtual Field Trip

I have to say, I have never been through such a whirl wind of a project. We lost a week by choosing a topic we couldn't work with, and we couldn't get our hyperlinks to work and re did them five or six times, we couldn't convert our movies into usable files and had to pay a lot of money for that to work, we paid more money for research and photocopying for the performance based assessment, we couldn't figure out the music as it was deeply embedded in the project, and we struggled with it not only up until the presentation, but right up until the school performance. I can't imagine anything else going wrong. Honestly I put more work into this project than any other school project of my life, not to mention time and money. We cried, we lost sleep, and we got sick. I can't say that I'm sure that the result outweighed the result...but I know that I was glad to finish. I think that if it had been first in the semester, I would have felt better about putting the time in, but right now, I feel like I had to not put as much effort into all of my other subjects, and therefore, began to resent the project.

All of that said though, I would like to say that I am pleased with the result. Whether the final hyperlinks work or not, i think it was a worthwhile project, and I think that I learned more about both PowerPoint and about computers in general that I could have any other way. It was a bit expensive, but we couldn't have figured it out without the expense. I also wish we'd had the full two weeks with this idea, instead of changing it part way...and I wish the weather had been better so we could have filmed outside, but I am proud. Honestly I am. I think we have a great project and had it been the only thing I was working on, I would have loved putting it together as well.

When we presented the power point to the grade four students, they were engaged and happy. Everyone wanted to participate, and all of the students learned something from the activity. The clips were enjoyed by all and both of us left feeling relief and even a little pride.

Overall, I'm happy for the opportunity, but I am so glad we're finished. I also hope that we can get everyone else's VFT so that we can use a few others when we go ahead and start our first jobs. I feel like having a few of these projects to pull out would give everyone a bit of a head start.

Thanks for everything.

Entry #4 - setting up student success

Of course it is difficult to know if what you are teaching, and the work that students are putting in is being effective in helping that student grow in knowledge, skills, and maturity. However, there are a few ways to make sure that you are making a difference.

The first is Assessment. Through self reflections, assessments for learning, and periodical quizzes or tests, and performance based tasks and assessments, you will be able to see what the children know. Some will have different learning styles and will potentially score a little differently depending on the type of assessment, but overall, you will have a good idea of where your class is in regards to what you're teaching.

Another way, perhaps a simple way, is to ask questions all the time about everything that you're saying, and even a few random questions that might test their knowledge. Perhaps as a passport on the way out, or playing the game around the world, or just a vocal quiz to see where your class is at.

Performance based assessments often compile several different ideas into one topic. Creating a big idea and having the students show their information in a form that is chosen by them, or through a multi-faceted project is just the ticket to learning what your kids learned from their unit, and often those presentations are fun, and the students are proud.

Being sure that you have planned proper SLE's to be checking for their understanding on is also crucial.

Ultimately, ensuring that you are being an effective teacher and your students are being set up for success by gaining knowledge, maturity, skills, abilities, and readiness for the future is possible most of the time, for most of the students in your class as long as you're constantly thinking about various ways to assess and check for understanding.

What I liked or didn't like about our rehearsal

Our rehearsal was about the worst dress run I've done in many a year. Nothing that we'd set up would open, and the objects on the smart board wouldn't move around...it was hopeless. I know that I can improvise when something doesn't work, but I find it tricky to improv. when everything doesn't work. I was certainly disappointed with the event.

In good news however, my partner and I were able to rethink the entire project, simplifying, and planning for things that might go wrong again. We revamped and rewrote, and redid most of our planning and our slides to ensure that everything runs smoothly this time.

Although I'm not lacking confidence and I'm worried that things won't work no matter how hard we've practiced them, I am sure that the project we've thought up is a good one and would work in a grade two classroom.

Prayers are in that the next one runs better. Having a theater background gives me a little hope though, in that if you have a rough dress rehearsal you often have a stellar performance...so, let's hope for the best!

Safety and the Internet

Teaching Internet safety should be one of the first, if not the very first thing that you teach students to do, especially if they're using the Internet a lot. The resources about Internet safety are both very good; Fact of Folly being a teaching resource with many wonderful tips and tools for teaching Internet safety, and the other, the space pigs game, being a fantastic tool for students who need to have a fun down of basic safety. Both resources were awesome, and both were useful. There are many steps that you could teach about keeping your privacy and your safety going to "Who is" or making rules about what information to offer when and to whom, or even learning how to break down different types of web addresses, and I believe that the students need to know and apply all of them.

Of course, application of these rules and practices need to come from the teacher first. This is imperative. Practice what you preach, be a good example. It'll pay off in the end. The first few assignments you should choose the sites and let the students know your process for finding the "safe" site. And then when they're education becomes more developed and their understanding of Internet usage and safety becomes more concrete, let them do research projects on their own, but make one component, "finding safe sites" and explanations of them. I believe that the Internet can be a very useful tool, but can be very dangerous if used improperly, however, I'm a fan of teaching concepts, and this is one I know they can learn.

In my practicum, technology...

Technology was not a Major part of my practicum. Unless you count PA's or VCR/DVD players. I did use those, and I was well versed in Overhead from my first practicum as well.

In a Kindergarten class most things are hands on, and we didn't have very much computer access at all. And in my first, the only computer I was in charge of was finding educational websites for my class for one block per week.

Good news though, I'm not completely hopeless. I did work for an engineering company doing both AutoCAD and MicroStation work, and data entry...where boredom almost took my life, but I did learn a lot about design, and worked with Excel, Visio, and Visual Basic as well. I'm not going to say that today I could sit down and use all of these programs perfectly, but I can say that I'm capable of learning technology.

Because I grew up in theatre and arts, I'm very skilled with microphone and instrumental set ups, and I can edit a movie with ease...using several programs. Unfortunately for me, I just bought my first digital camera and am not well versed on uploading pictures into various files and editing suites, but I'm sure that will come.

Anyway, long story short, I haven't done it in teaching yet, but I'm sure I would be just fine if given the chance to figure things out.

over Christmas

This last week I was able to go into a school I've never been to before, and do a presentation for their chapel grades K-6 based on Christian themes. I felt very privileged to be asked, and I'm hoping to use this as my all school activity should the question arise.

Entry #8

I'm having a wonderful time in my last week. We had a good-bye party, and an awesome teddy bear's picnic where I had parents involved. There is no way I could ask for a better wrap up!

As far as which strategies worked and which didn't, I was really glad to have a kindergarten class, because you can experiment with everything and they don't mind. Also, their minds are very open and they seem to respond well to every tactic. It's even better though to see two groups of kindergarten, as you can see what works on one does not work on the other all the time...I found it quite funny.

My favorite tactic was to make up poems or songs with instructions...such as "Everybody touch your toes, everybody touch your nose, everybody wiggle twice, everybody standing nice" or "sitting on your bums is great hands in laps to concentrate" (to the opening tune of twinkle twinkle). They just come to me on the spot, and the children respond very well for getting attention and quiet. Some thing that I did a lot, was paint. We painted many things, but my children responded well to that. Many felt colouring large images was daunting and it was murder pulling work out of a few of them, but they all did their best when we painted. My favorite activity was one that I just did this week, a scavenger hunt. The children separated into groups with parent volunteers and answered clues all around the school, trying to the the first group back. Obviously I had to get teachers to help and agree around the school, but no one seemed to have an issue, and my cooperating teacher made me leave my clues behind so she could use the activity next year! Also, dressing up like a guest speaker and coming in to tell stories and play games was tremendously fun for the children. They almost wet themselves I'm sure. Mr. Bear (the Russian bear) may be asked to return next year as well.

My least favorite management method was the clapping method. My children are still learning body patterns, and it was hard for some of them to follow even the simplest phrase, and therefore, the clapping was never in sync. Not my best work, we did not clap after that. I also did an activity which was a little much...we had different sizes of teddy bears and each group had to measure different areas...however, placing your finger at the bottom, and then moving the object to the other side of your finger to keep the place and count how many fit, was very difficult for them to grasp. however, the lesson was to understand that you can measure anything with anything, and so, we did accomplish that goal. It was kind of funny really.

Anyway, it's been a blast.

As far as our little guy with Autism, It saddens me to say that in the position of the school, I don't know what I would do. I don't know if I would try to get him to leave, or take the abuse here. The real shame is that we do not have what he needs and we are not giving him the best care for him...he cannot learn, he cannot grow in the place we have set up. Therefore, we spend a whole years income on setting up a special system, or, we let him get through school untouched. I know there are places that give better care to autistic children, and it pains me that mom doesn't want that, however, I'm at a loss to say that given the circumstances, the only thing I could do differently is put more of my yearly money to getting him help, and less of it to the rest of the school, which, is controversial too. It's all so confusing, and has helped me realize, I do not want to be a principal when I grow up.

Thank-you for taking the time to read my blog.

Entry #7

The last week is coming, and I'm getting a little weepy. Parting IS really such sweet sorrow though, because I'm excited to be finished to and regain a social life. I'm terribly lonely. At least I have my cooperating teacher to talk to. We are going to have to make a plan for keeping in touch. I will miss her.

This past week we finished off our studies with patterns. I feel like the children understand...for the most part and are well equipped for grade one as long as the concept is reviewed throughout the year. I am proud that I was able to teach them something. We did our celebration of learning this week and the students brought in their parents to show them their skills, and many of the displays were taught by me. Well, I was pleased as punch at the response from the children and the parents.

This practicum has been wonderful. Mainly because I would come up with an idea, run it by my cooperating teacher and she would say " let's try it!" I had so many opportunities to try things and experiment, some were a little complex, but most worked wonderfully. However, I would not have been able to pull off very much of what I accomplished without the help of my EA's. I know that if I was on my own in a classroom, I would have to calm down activities and keep them as simple as possible or I would not have successful activities at all. They would be quite chaotic I'm sure. I love my EA's!

One of my favorite things to do with students is dress up and come in as a guest, but I know from experience, that you must have someone in the classroom who can keep the conversation going. Someone who knows the rules and can help the students keep their composure, and who can offer suggestions to the "stranger" in the classroom. Without this person, the "guest" is without order and the students know it and chaos can ensue. Therefore, to dress up and bring in a guest speaker, is a two teacher job.

This week in regards to our small child with autism, I took an effort to see what the staff around me was already doing. It seems that they have currently pulled the child from his class and given him his own classroom...which is a closet with a whiteboard and desk in it. His mother seems fine with this change, and is now only coming in for afternoons twice a week to ensure he is behaving. The situation is a tricky one, as the grade five teachers are already trying to figure out how they'll be able to deal with the situation next year. And, no one knows how he's going to survive in junior high. The principal is at a loss, but is in constant communication with the boys mother, and for now, everything seems to be at an acceptable stand still. Unfortunately, the student is not integrated any longer into his class, with the exception of gym and recess.

Next week, I was going to talk about how I would deal with the situation, what is my point of view if you will. Honestly, I'm not sure. If I was the parent, I would send my son to a school that could accommodate his needs and give him the most effective and caring education. I know that would not be where he is. And being in the school's position, I'm thinking they're doing all they can legally. We have to take him if that's what parents want, and he's in his own space now so he no longer irritates and distracts or hurts his peers. I'd day they've handled the situation well.

It seems this is the last entry and the end of my cheery little blog. So long, farewell, aufwiedersehen, and goodbye -- at least for now.

Entry #6

This week was nice and short, which would have been a treat had I not become deathly ill with fever. It's such a shame to lose time off. However, I was able to get to a remembrance day ceremony in my community which I was grateful for. I take the day quite seriously.
With this day off, we ended up also have a short teaching week. Things went very well. I worked on patterns with my students, and was surprised to find that the class who we felt might take longer to grasp the concept, had it almost instantly, whereas the class who is academic and often quick with concepts, is still having trouble and I need to teach yet another lesson to reinforce the concept. It just goes to show you that you never really know what children can do until you let them try. I loved it!

We also wrote report cards this week. My cooperating teacher is such a treasure. She allowed me to write some comments, and we talked through all of the marks together. I really felt like my input was heard. We finished them off on Friday evening, and then went for a late night bite to eat. I am enjoying this practicum teacher altogether too much. In two weeks, I'll say goodbye and I won't know what to do with myself! ha ha.

In other news, Our school has decided to offer the mother of our student with Autism an ultimatum. She may come in and sit with him in school and see how he behaves, or else, he will be sent home after a three strike process. So, mom decided to come in. I find it very interesting to watch her with him. I've attempted to make some connections with her and build a bit of a relationship. One day this week we actually had a very nice conversation about things not related to her son. I am beginning to understand though that she does not want to move him because she trusts the people at our school, which is very nice, however, this little boy is not happy here, and I cannot understand how she doesn't want to see him happy. But, she seemed very pleasant overall, so, I cannot judge and will simply sit back and say, I do not understand, but so be it.

Entry #5

This has been a wonderful week. I cannot express how wonderful all of my weeks have been to date. With all of last weeks hype with Halloween, it was nice to have a bit of a relaxing time. It was a nice week, though, not without it's hiccups. I ended up dressing up like a bear and visiting the students in my class as a guest speaker to assess them on what they knew about bears. It was brilliant! They loved it, and I saw very quickly who had answers and who did not. They were also on their best behaviour, as I was a guest. Lovely lovely day!

In our school we have a fair amount of Caucasian students. In my classes, out of fourty children, I have only one non-Caucasian student. She is of first nations Cree background, and often tells me stories about her family and their activities together. She is certainly being taught Cree traditions in detail, and I love it because she is some of the only multicultural exposure that my children might see, so we are sure to share stories, and explain traditions in a very positive light.

This week I also sat down and did some research on Autism spectrum disorder, realizing that it is difficult to pin point anything at all about autism. Some children are healed based on diet, and others become worse. Some children can live and function normally, and some are so dangerous they need to be pulled right out of society. I did know that already, I have worked a great deal with children who have Autism and am not completely ignorant on the subject, but my research was a little discouraging, as it did not offer much hope. There was very little in the way of advice, unless there was money involved or parents helping, or a diet change, and clearly, I am in no position to have any of those things happen, my relationship at the school is not yet strong enough for me to start a petition. And therefore, I feel trapped and unable to offer any help of guidance to this tricky situation.

Entry #4

Well, It has sure been fun attempting to write my blog up in the few short hours that I have at home. I do not get much Internet access while in this small town, my home computer does not have it, and the school has not actually given me an access code, so I have to work on things over my teacher's personal file. So, I have been keeping my journal on paper, and I will write it out for my adoring public today.

This week, as with most, has been wonderful. I am having so much fun, learning a great deal, and feeling very much in control of my life. It is awesome. In our classroom, we do not have much technology at all. In fact, we only use the photocopier, and a listening center for technology. Granted, I feel that despite their youth, these wee ones can learn the computer and should have at least a little exposure to it, though, many of them do have access to computers at home. Our school is planning to build a new building in the next two years in which each classroom will have a smart board, and I'm guessing that kindergarten will incorporate the new technology with great enthusiasm.

As far as my research on our special needs boy is taking me, It seems that there is a very nice program specially for Autistic children roughly a half hour away, and a mere ten minute drive would lead to a school that has a division program, which I do not always condone, however, for this little guy, he needs some one on one help. Both of these schools should be options, and would be within his district, however, without parental consent, no plans for change can be made.

Entry #3

Well this week was even more fun than last week, I'm enjoying teaching, I'm enjoying the children, and I'm feeling more and more ready for this job...but I love kindergarten so much, and was not as excited about the other grades, so I'm still debating.

As far as the classroom goes though, I'm loving all of the stuents in the classroom. The parents are very much involved, we often have two in a half day which is wonderful. We put them to work and have them working with the kids as well. I feel like the interaction between my cooperating teacher and myself is better than I could have asked for, and it's wonderful.

As far as my plan for the understanding of the student in question who has trouble with behaviours due to autism. I di ask the student how he feels about school. The answer was unfortunate. He does not like school. He does not like teachers, and he does not enjoy the other children. I was saddened by this, so I asked him what might make school better and he didn't have any answers. I am excited to progress to next week and learn more about this disorder.

That's all for this week.

Entry #2 - Fitting in

This week I had a wonderful time getting to know the students in my class better. I knew right off the top which ones might need some extra care and attention; this week I was able to watch them carefully and test out some management strategies to find which might be effective for each child. I did find a few wonderful strategies that I will continue to use. I did teach my first lesson and was very impressed with how it all went. We were learning about triangles, so I asked them to make me triangle shapes with their bodies in as many ways as possible. It was neat to see them being active, and the results were so creative.

This week I also went ahead and made up a better plan for how I will learn about our special needs student in the older grades. This week, I spoke to my teacher about strategies that she had tried with him in Kindergarten, and inquired as to why these same strategies that appeared to be helping were not implemented in later grades. Honestly though, no one seemed to be able to tell me, and so, I will continue this next week with the principal.

Week one: Learn about the needs of the child, and chat with his current teacher about strategies he is using and whether or not they are working.

Week two: Ask the principal what she thinks might be the next step in dealing with the situation. This child is without doubt a danger to himself, other children, teachers, and EA's. He has been through 8 EA's already. Is there anything that the principal can do at this point without parental support? Where is the last straw?

Week Three: Talk to the student in question. Ask him what he think of school and if he likes meeting the new "helper friends" every few months. Ask him what he thinks should happen if he hurts someone, and ask him what really does happen. How does this student feel?

Week Four: Learn about Autism spectrum disorder, and try and find out if there are strategies to severe behaviour children that could useful to the school. Because one of the problems is that this student doesn't have the supporting tools he needs, because he is only funded for point five EA and no additional funding, then some new strategies might be something worth trying.

Week Five: Find out all of the schools in the district who are able to work with this particular special need and have the resources needed. Learn what they are using, and how it is working, and who is in those classrooms everyday.

Week six: Try and find out what teachers in other schools do when they are in similar situations with students who have serious behaviours, no proper resources to help (i.e. no needed tools), and have EA's who won't stay around.

Week seven: Learn why the student has been enabled to get worse over the years, and why no one has stepped in to take action while there is a child in the school who is a danger to their children. And why are the parents not wanting to be involved in the healing of their child, as opposed to the detriments of others and himself? I might try to speak to a parent, but I don't want to be rude, point fingers, or be reprimanding in any way, so I may not speak to them.

Week Eight: Think for myself what I would do in this situation. What would I do, Where would I go next?

Entry One...my classroom and my goals

I am very excited about the classroom that I am in. It is a full day Kindergarten, but I have two separate classes, a Monday/Wednesday and a Tuesday/Thursday. The classes alternate Friday's which works very well for catching up classes if a day is missed or for working on something extra special over a few weeks.

The community is a small rural community about an hour south of the city. The children have exposure to cities, but are far enough away that they are far more used to the slower, quieter, rural life.

In our classes, we have approx. 19 children. The M/W class gained yet another child just this past week which sent us all for an unexpected loop as this student brings with him several legal battles and interesting home situations. As for the rest of the class, the students are at varying capabilities in their reading and writing, however, I would say most are "normal".

In our M/W class we do have three Mild/Moderate for speech, and one PUF student, and in our T/TH class we also have a PUF funded child, who has a severe expressive language delay and will be joining us every day after christmas break as he needs to grow in a few more directions before he will be ready for grade 1.

AS far as special needs in the school, I am very impressed with the way that our school has moved towards inclusion in the recent years. I have heard rumor that no less that five years ago, there was still a "special education room" where every child with a special need was taught from every grade. However, a new principal stepped in recently and changed everything around to full inclusion. I am most encouraged by this step, but am very much surprised by the flack she receives from other teachers and parents to this day.

There is one student in particular who has spent all of his years at this school and is currently in grade 4. This student has been diagnosed wtih a very severe autism, and honestly, I am truly wondering how he is still allowed in a public school system. I have never seen a student stab a teacher, bite them, swear at the top of their lungs to anyone who is listening, and though I have not seen the numbers, I would like to argue that having this student in a normal classroom is hindering the learning of the rest of this classmates as well. However, what does one do? He is only government funded for 50% EA time, and his parents are adimate that he remain in the public system...even after he has been through 8 EA's (and yes, they all quit). I don't know what I can do to help. I know this student is not receiving the type of care that he needs, perhaps a snoozean (sp?) room, or a weighted vert, a squeeze box or sqing, but our school does not get the funding to beable to bring in all of those things for one student, and so, he will continue to not recieve proper care, and is sending a very wrong message to other students. Teachers are fed up, but feel they have no options.

I am not sure what to do, but I will try to find something out.

One small step - a bloggers introduction

I am very excited to be learning yet another media form. Blogging. I am making a small technological step today, and you are lucky enough to be a witness of this near monumental occasion.

Welcome.

I am thrilled to share my growth and learning with you both in the fields of teaching and computer. I feel that this is a stellar opportunity for everyone in the class, and am looking forward to the assignment; but without further adieu, enjoy the following weeks.

-Talia