Am I Ready?

As part of this week's assignment I watched a video with a boy asking me that question.  Am I ready to be his teacher?  Am I ready to teach him about what he needs to know?  Do I surf the internet?  Do I go onto social media?  I have a different answer today than I should have had 8 weeks ago.  I probably would have answered "yes" 8 weeks ago, but I know more now than then; give me 8 more and I will know even more.

Today I communicated with 6 people that I have not seen since we were in the 4th grade together.  I lived in St. Louis from birth through the end of 4th grade.  I have remembered many of my classmates and have kept their pictures and names with me all of these years.  This class, yes this class, gave me the courage to go onto a social network and find them.  And believe it or not, they remembered me too.  Wow!  We remembered the same moments.  The same teachers for the same reasons.  I could not have done that before.  It may seem simple and funny, but I could not.

As part of this week's assignment I read the last chapter of  my Frey, Fischer, & Gonzalez book Literacy 2.0 (2010).  I was reading it as an online book; the way I purchased it.  Remember how I started this class, kind of complaining about it.  I have been pushing online books for my students, but have not been ready to jump into the deep end of the pool myself, until this book.  Well, guess what this chapter was about?  Online textbooks and other resources.  And guess what one of my student crisis issues of the day was?  Online problems.

You know I am a spiritual person.  So today, all of this came to a point where I could really help a student.  Without breaking too much of the FERPA law (I will explain that on another day), without hurting too much, this student is not doing the needed work for the class because the work is online and the student is uncomfortable reading online material, utilizing online resources, trusting that online conversations are safe, and that what online work is completed will actually be counted toward the final grade.

Wow!  Did the Lord know to send this person to me or what? 

So the student was not responding in the class and the instructor sent me a note asking for help.  I got ahold of the student and dug into the problem.  Guess what I told the student?  I have been in your shoes and I am here to tell you it will all work out.  REALLY!  Told the student about my class, this blog, my issues with the video not working, anything I could think of to make the student hear that I understood.  Really understood how frustrating it can be to not understand technology and be starting school all over again with students the same age as your own children.  Oh, did I forget to add that part in, too?  Yes, we had that in common. 

I want to say that I told this student how wonderful studying with younger students can be!  I have learned a great deal from my classmates.  I did not have the same technological advantages that many of them did, but it has not mattered.  I have still learned a great deal from them!  I have admired their creativity and passion for education.  They have inspired me! 

Am I ready?  Each day more and more, yes.  I am learning as I blog.  I will continue to learn and I am excited about each step that I am taking!

Resource:

Frey, N., Fisher, D., & Gonzalez, A. (2010). Literacy 2.0: Reading and writing in 21^st century classrooms. Bloomington: Solution Tree Press.

My Latest Project

Well here it is. The latest and greatest. I have made a chart utilizing my grandmothers knowledge and my computer. I could have looked all of the information up in one of my cook books. Or I could have looked the information up on my phone. But instead I utilized the best and the brightest to help me create my homework. 

So now, I have a chart to print out and hang on the iside of one of my kitchen cabinets for my daughter and I to use (and probably my husband).    I really AM learning as I blog!

Learning How To Build A Video

In our class we were to build a storyboard.  A story that we chose.  I decided to build one on my life and how and why it is so crazy and mixed up right now.  I had now idea that during the building of the video it would get more crazy.  But as my life spins, I know that I am being held tightly in the arms of my Lord. 

The video is not as I orginally saw it in my mind.  However, I hope that you enjoy it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx3bDzDESAg

Week Seven

Using Technology for Assessment is this week's topic. 

There are so many different types of assessment.  I really enjoyed Anderson, Green and Speck's (Anderson, 2008) review of them in our reading for the week. 

1.  Objective assessments that have set answers that are defined.  Instructors ask students matching or true-false or multiple choice or corresponding answer questions at all levels or education across the spectrum of fields.  Many of the assessments of this type at my institution are done on scanned forms which students must fill in the correct circles with a number two pencil; you know the kind I mean (p.199-200).

2.  Checklist assessments where the student and teacher can mark off a list of the objects or information to be learned or met through an assignment.  My "favorite" example of this in my own school district, at both the middle school and high school levels for both my children and myself is the infamous LEAF PROJECT.  Where the student must have x number of leaves from this type of tree and x number of leaves from this type of tree, etc, etc..  And the project must have "fresh leaves" with correct labeling of scientific and common names.  (The fresh leaves are so you know you cannot use your older sibling or if you have a hoarding parent, their leaf project.)  Students have a checklist that must be followed so that the teacher, student, and parents all are on the same page as to what must be obtained for the maximum number of project points (p.203-204).

3.  Rubrics are a guide type of assessment that is similar in nature to the checklist.  However, it provides the student a rating dependent on how much or how well an area was accomplished under the standards of the project.  Most of the graduate work I have had at Missouri Baptist University has utilized rubric assessments.  I have encountered them in a couple of other places and I myself have used them in my own classes.  I believe that they provide the criteria upfront to the student in a way that some other assignment assessments may not (p.204).

4.  Portfolios are another type of assessment that is used at Missouri Baptist in this program.  We have a working electronic portfolio; which is to say that we are constantly building upon what we are learning and we use it in each class to demonstrate what we have learned from class to class as our competencies evolve and increase in complexities.  I did not get an undergraduate degree in education, so I did not have a portfolio as my mother, aunt, and others who are close to me had to complete.. However,  most of there portfolios were not electronic in nature, but were more of a three ring binder or multiple binder project for a committee to review (p.207-208).

5.  Performance based assessments were what I was used to because I earned my first degree as a vocal and instrumental music major.  In music, assessments are difficult because they are powerfully based upon instructor judgement.  And I hate to say this, 20 years later, but it is true, if they were having a bad day, you may have a bad assessment.  Human error is human.  Dancers, painters, sculptures, artists of any kind will tell you that from time to time, they have no idea why they did not receive a good assessment on their work for a given day (p.203).  However, I believe that those critics of those works made those students better at their art.  The student may not have agreed with or liked the assessment of the performance, but they probably grew stronger in their field from the experience. 

Do you know the old Harry Chapin song about "Flowers are Red"?  Basically the song is about a little boy who goes to school and starts to draw flowers with all the colors he has in his box.  But the
teacher tells him that he is wrong; that flowers are read and leaves are green.  The boy argues with her that there are so many colors!  Why can't he use them all?

As I have been working on this degree and as I read this chapter, that song kept playing in my head.  Technology cannot understand how technology will ever provide meaningful performance based assessment.  The leaf project can be scanned and assessed.  The multiple choice, true/false, and matching tests can be assessed.  How can a flute sonata or a pen and ink sketch be assessed?  I guess I better do some more reading and exploring. 

I am still learning as I blog.

Reference:
Anderson, R., Grant, M., & Speck, B., (2008). Technology to teach literacy: a resource for k-8 teachers. (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education.

WEEK SIX
 
This week we are learning about ESL or English as a Second Language.  In the Technology to Teach Literacy (Anderson, 2008) book that we are using, I was reading about utilizing technology as a tool to engage elementary children in their process of learning English. This discussion took me back to my first experience working technology and students with physical disabilities.

Many people do not think about it, but sign language and braille are both languages.  For many college students, English is a second language to them and they therefore work with an ESL specialist.  With the wonderful advancements in technology, students are able to "speak" in English, "read" English language, and "hear" English language even if they are unable to speak, see or hear.

Most people over the last year have probably seen commercials for a computer program called "Dragon Naturally Speaking".  This is a program which allows individuals to speak to a computer and the computer will type and edit documents for the person.  It is a very common program these days, but a decade ago, it cost a great deal of money for colleges to have licenses for students to utilize. 

When I first started purchasing the program for my institutions, I had students who were unable to utilize their hands for typing or were visually challenged.  "Dragon" would allow students to "type" their assignments, answers to tests as they were being read to them, compose papers, or even just sending simple emails without assistance of someone else.  The program would read back what was typed, including punctuation and even suggested spelling corrections; as with any spell check. 

There are numerous programs being utilized by my institution and others which level the playing field for our students to be able to work within their own physical restrictions without placing educational limitations upon them.  These programs, while in the past focused upon education, are finding their way into the workforce.  I know that my institution, for one, has a training center established to teach employers how to work with the technology and their challenged employees to benefit both their company and the individuals.

When it comes to students with hearing challenges have long had signers as translators in the classrooms.  However, for students like myself, I needed something more than a translator.  I need subtitles.  In a world that centers around visual and auditory technology, subtitles are a must if you cannot read a person's lips or have a translator available.  While it may seem to many that all television shows and films available automatically have subtitles, it is not true.  Subtitles are still being written for many films and older programs which are not shown on a regular basis.  Because of this, some students are not able to participate in the full viewing of certain courses' materials; especially if commercials are involved.

 Many of my classmates are young enough to be my own children.  So they do not really remember when there was a world without internet; but I do.  I remember when the internet began and it grew rapidly with sound.  However, institutions had to make sure that students who could not hear those sounds were still included.  So we have to make sure that the sounds are subtitled for equal access. 
Visually challenged students must receive their own form of subtitling on websites also.  Through auditory subtitles, individuals can navigate through websites on their own. 

When I am with my friends,  who are not in the field of education, and the topic of English as a Second Language or ESL comes up, everyone automatically thinks of Spanish.  But ESL is so much more than that, especially when technology is concerned.  ESL is making sure that everyone is able to be included in the learning process.  I know that there are many advancements in educational software and tools that can assist in this area which I need to learn, as I am blogging.

Reference:
Anderson, R., Grant, M., & Speck, B. (2008). Technology to teach literacy: a resource for k-8 teachers (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education.

 

Week Five

It hit me right between the eyes.  I have to admit that I had never considered it before; at least not until I read my weekly assignment for our class.  But my classmates who are teaching grade school are experiencing plagiarism with their students, just as I am with my college students.  This week we had a reading within our Technology to teach literacy: a resource for k-8 teachers (Anderson, 2008) that had a first person narrative from an instructor about her experiences working with young students as she helped them with their writing. 

 

Now, writing papers in sixth grade on up - that made sense to me prior to this week.  But I had not really ever experienced with my own children or obviously myself, exploring, researching, writing, and possibly plagiarizing younger than that.  The challenges I face with my students, I cannot imagine the challenges with students a decade, two or three decades younger. 

However, would it be easier to get students of a younger age to practice more ethical behaviors because they have not become aware of the possibilities to bend the rules, shall we say?  And as an instructor of young students would I find it best to keep all writing assignments to in-class work.  Not that I am saying parents would do the work for their child; or not assist their child at all.  I am just wondering if I would find it best to work with the students in a laboratory environment at the school.  Possibly working with the students in this setting would help to in still the quality writing habits that we hope all students will possess as they successfully matriculate through the system. 

On the college level, I am always amazed when I am working with a student who will highlight entire passages from another person's document and turn it in as their own work without any recognition of any kind.  And usually, they at surprised, as if they had no idea that the two or three paragraphs were word for word, punctuation for punctuation identical to another person's writing; more often than not a published work.

I am a member of a social networking "group"  affiliated with an active student organization at the institution where I got my undergraduate degree.  The first week of this semester, I and I assume from the way it was sent, all members of the student organization, were sent an email promoting the sale of "plagiarism free", "cited to specifications", "completely error free", "on the topic of your choice" research papers, thesis, and/or dissertations.  The young lady who was promoting them is currently a student at the university.  And I am pretty confident that she was breaking a student code of conduct, IF she was really the one selling the papers.  However, I really think she was just an inside promoter for an outside company. 

I am sure that any and all persons who will read this blog will agree that they have heard of papers having being sold before.  I just had not had one promoted to me through my social network affiliation prior to this semester.  It truly makes me wonder what else is out there that I am not being exposed to that our students are doing and are working on to avoid actually writing their own papers.  If they would spend half as much time really doing the work as they spend trying to figure out how to get out of doing the work, wouldn't they create amazing things?!

There are days that I wonder what the world will be like when I am my grandmother's age.  (I don't think she would mind me telling you that she is 95).  What will people be reading?  Who will be doing the writing and who will be doing the "fact checking"?  How will education be shaped then?  Will every student from kindergarten on up be online learners? 

It is a big thought.  One I cannot answer today.  I am just still learning as I blog.

Reference:

Anderson, R., Grant, M., & Speck, B. (2008). Technology to teach literacy: a resource for k-8 teachers. (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education.

Week Four

My Secret Addiction

I have a problem.  I will admit it right here out in the open.  I have an addiction to films.  I love to watch films.  All types from the early 1930s through the current films of this month; regardless of the genre.  I do not mind what the critics have said or what my friends or colleagues thought about the film.  I just enjoy films.  However, I do have to admit that I take greater pleasure in movies in which I have read the play or book first. 


There is something about holding the weight of a book in my hands and turning the page with anticipation of what the writer was visualizing for the characters to experience in the next moments of their lives.  Then I imagine how the book could be turned into a screenplay.  The costumes, the scenery, the actors chosen for each part; every piece fascinates me.  After I read the book, I love to compare the book to the film; whenever possible.  But, sometimes, as you can imagine, that is not possible.  So it is not a mandatory prerequisite for all of my film viewing. 




I sang in Carnegie Hall
Memorial Day 1987
with the
Southeast MO State
University Concert Choir

My Family & I with Mr. Whipple
"Please Don't Squeese The Charmin"
( I am in the white dress)

As I am taking this class, I am fascinated that we are building a story online. Choosing a story was difficult. I am a story teller. My life reads like a work of fiction because I have been so very blessed and have gotten to do so many wonderful things and have met so many facinating people. Buiding this story online is as if I were building my own film. What colors ill I choose? What will the scenes look like?

I unfortunately was ill this last weekend.  When I am ill, I always turn on films that can play in the background.  I choose ones in which I can drift in and out and know exactly what is going on.  There are many for me to choose from.  A sort of comfort food for my mind.  

This weekend I watched “His Girl Friday” with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell.  Based on the play, "The Front Page". It is a wonderful 1940 screwball comedy about a newspaper man who is about to lose his best reporter and former wife to another man.  So he tries to get her to stay by enticing her with a huge story.  First of all, it is a wonderful example of how women were not seen as equal in the work force.  Second, how the media worked – through pens, paper, cameras, and people running around on foot to get the story.  But the most important tool that is utilized by the reporters is the typewriter.  The reporters are utilizing manual typewriters that they clank and bang the keys to get the stories typed out so they may be given to their newspapers type setters.

This movie was remade in 1988 – “Switching Channels” – starring Burt Reynolds in the Cary Grant role, Kathleen Turner in the Rosalind Russell role, with Christopher Reeve playing the finance' Only this time they are working for a cable news network patterned after CNN.  They had to worry about what her make-up looked like and the camera angles and they utilized a copy machine.  Photo copies of different stories were made and then given to the on screen reporters to read from. 

If the movie was remade today, what would it be like?  Would it be a company like Yahoo that writes the story for online readers?  Would it be an online magazine focused upon a specific subject matter?  Would the characters utilize iPads and smartphones instead of manual typewriters and photocopiers?  I had a wonderful time imagining the cast that I would put into my new version of the film.  Of course, the budget would not be realistic because the actors would want too much money.  And I do not think anyone would really want to film the movie in my small home town.  But I had a lovely time fantasizing about what it could be like if it could be remade today. 

Instead, I think I will look for a copy of a good book that I can hold in my hands and turn the pages.  I am off to the library with my card in my hands.  Hope I don’t come home with a DVD instead J.

Films referenced at the top of the page:

Pride & Prejudice (2005) Based on:

Austen, J. (1813). Pride and prejudice. Whitehall. United Kingdom. 

Somewhere in Time (1980) Based on:

Matheson, R.(1975). Bid time return. Viking Press, United States.

 

Little Women (1933) Based on:

Alcott, L.M. (1868). Little women. Roberts Brothers, United States.

 

Anna and the King of Siam (1946) Based on:

Landon, M. (1944). Anna and the king of Siam. Better World Books, Mishawaka, IN.