Freedom! Nope, Not Yet.

          This isn't going to be the end.  Where did this semester go?  This is it though.  The last of my classes.  I have my practicum this fall, just a small class that goes along with that, then my student teaching.  I refuse to say it's over.  I'm scared, I have no idea what I am going to do.  I started the semester so ready and full of ideas, I'm worse off than before it started.  My beliefs, sure I thought I knew what they were, they haven't changed much but how I approach them has.  This can't be it, can it?
           I am ready for the next chapter, I think.  I don't really have a choice though at this point.  It's coming, I'm going to be the one in charge.  I have taught all my life in some way or another, I should easily be able to do this.  I should be able to stand up and deliver.  I should be, because I have to be.  I'm excited and scared, but enough of that, what have I learned in this process?
          I felt when this class first started that everyone could learn, that still holds true, but just based on my in depth Pinterest inquiry, I have found that that may need to be adapted a bit for my students. I found that technology can and should be used in different ways.  There are so many websites and resources available to help.  Gives me some sense of relief actually.  Hope, for the tired, for the weary.  RESOURCES!!  What an incredible gift that people have compiled to help new teachers, and veteran teachers looking for new attempts.  So here were my first four teaching beliefs.  Let's look at them and figure out what has changed/adapted.

1. Every student has the ability to learn something new. This is broad I realize but one that I firmly hold to. I have worked with special needs students for a long time and going back to school as an adult I know that it is hard. However, every student has the ability to learn something new, something from a different perspective. I still hold to this.  I believe every student can learn.  Debbie Miller taught us that if we set the classroom up the right way, that every student can indeed learn.   
2. Teaching/learning is fun. This is a core belief and one that has to be stretched by both the students and the teachers to hold true. It may be boring material but the process can be fun. Holding with my first belief I feel that that process of learning and teaching can sometimes be the most important part of the process. Through our OTSMA, our blogging, our Pinterest board, our writing analysis, our think alouds, our blog partners, exit cards, roundtable discussion and instructional conversation, I learned that fun might be overrated but I did learn that you can change things up constantly to make it a movement towards novelty.   
3. A relationship can be built in even just a short period of time. Impressions are made in just a few seconds, relationships can be formed off of each of those. It is important to give the pair, whomever that pair may be, time to form and build a lasting relationship. The teaching should be personalized as much as possible which will help this considerably. When Theresa and I started together this semester she was just as unsure of me as I was of myself.  Now that we have worked together on numerous projects when she sees me in the hallway she gives me a head nod.  That's saying a lot for a student with a behavior focus.  I am proud of that relationship and hopeful that my student teaching will be in this school to continue that relationship.   
4. I believe in my students. I believe they can do anything they put their minds to. I believe they are creative, imaginative and successful and will go many places with the right guidance.  Nothing new here.  I truly and firmly believe this one will stay the same.  There is always hope for our students, no matter what we do.

          Whew, that's it.  I am going to continue this blog.  It has been a great insight into myself, my teaching and my beliefs.  The map is still being written and paths are still being chosen.

Where are We Now??

          It is a whirlwind kind of an hour, day, week.  There are so many things to be completed between now and then, then being whenever because it doesn't matter there are so many things to be done period that there is no possible way to finish them all.  Blog posts, Pinterest boards, topics of inquiry, adolescent reads, schedules, trainings, meetings, work sites, added on to all of the regular laundry and housework, a girl's head is liable to spin right off of her head. 
          The purpose of this blog is how it relates specifically to this class that I am taking but also to what I am going to be doing in Education.  Is this post even relevant then?  Absolutely!!  Besides the fact that I am writing it and whatever I say has credit it's important to remember that our students will often times feel this way.  Both of my kids are getting ready for AP tests and it's all about studying for those, getting ready for regular finals, finding summer employment and hopefully helping some with that above named housework. 
          If my head is going to spin off, what does a teenagers look like without guidance?  No wonder the depression rates and suicide rates are higher among kids.  How does a student go forward?  What if they don't have anyone to go to?  As educators we need to be aware of all of that and be able to help our students.  We need to be able to see when they are becoming overwhelmed and help them find some relief, some stress relief. 
          Where are we now?  What can we do to help the teenager?  I'm not sure I have the answers to that question.  I'm still trying to figure myself out.  I can say with certainty that they need us.  They need the added guidance.  As a parent it's nice to have someone on my side too whether it be from a teacher or coach.  Kids are getting so many influences from outside directions that it's nice to have someone backing us up. 
          As a coach I know there are times my athletes need a mental health day.  How that athlete handles the day is an important part of who they are.  I have had swimmers yell that they aren't leaving.  I have had swimmers happily go on their merry way.  Help them no matter what though, anticipate their needs and guide them in the right directions.

The Wave of the Future

          My Pinterest board has been a process of including technology.  How does a classroom look if there is technology in it?  What does it look like in terms of learning for the students and how does a teacher ever stay on top of everything they should be using?  I have struggled with this considerably.  By doing this blog I am saying, yes I want to embrace this.  I'm not sold on it however.  I think that there has be a time and a place for it. 

I think that there needs to be consideration given for students who may not have access to the technology itself or to the internet required for some of it.  I have seen many a Smartboard under-utilized in a classroom.  I actually saw a teacher once use it as a blank canvas for her overhead projector.  That might not be the best way to include technology in the classroom.  There has to be a combination of not only having it in the room but using it, for all of its advantages. 

          There are websites, tablets, apps, and devices that can make the learning process more engaging and can help a student bridge the gap between what they think of as boring and what they can do to learn the material.  In reality everything should be as interactive as possible.  This can be done via technology but it can also be done in simple activities.  Using different websites to research material would not have been anything I had thought about.  Who knew there was more to this universe than just Google. 
          As teachers we need to figure out what is out there, we don't necessarily need to know anything about it right away, but we should make attempts to figure it out quickly.  Students are so much better at the technology, use it as a learning process to allow them to teach others and yourselves.  I'm scared, I use technology regularly, what I think is, but there are so many more things to learn.  My mom struggles to turn her computer on.  I blog regularly, I use email, Pinterest, Facebook, other social media, an iPad, a laptop and a desktop.  I can text without looking at my phone.  I am familiar with dropbox and other websites to be used for classroom work.  However, I still use Internet Explorer which my children tell me is drastically outdated.  I can search for things but just discovered Google Scholar this past year. 
          Technology is changing so quickly, sometimes before we have learned what is here right now.  I'm not going to have all of the answers, but I'm certainly going to try.  I owe it to my students.

A Conversation for Instruction

          An Instructional Conversation is a simple way, ok maybe a detailed way, of talking with a student to figure out how best they are learning.  Of course there is so much more to it than that.  It is recommended for use among learners who are struggling as well.  It is the talk in which ideas are explored rather than answers to questions being provided or evaluated.  Claude Goldenberg has five critical features of this interaction.
          1.  It is interesting and engaging.
          2.  It is about an idea or a concept that has meaning and relevance for students.
          3.  It has a focus that, while it may shift as the discussion evolves, remains discernible throughout.
          4.  There is a high level of participation, without undue domination by any one individual,  particularly the teacher.
          5.  Student engage in extended discussions--conversations--with the teacher and among themselves.
           What an amazing way to work with a student.  Of course getting a student involved this way is a trickier step than one might think.  My goal is to work in Special Education, particularly a Behavior Focus classroom.  I passed one such classroom just the other day and heard some impressive swear words coming out of it.  So with a student like that, how does one engage the student?  I wish I knew the answers to this.  So often I see students I have worked with that are being arrested or tried on illegal acts.  Is an Instructional Conversation even possible?  And for what purpose?  I'm hoping to be able to use this in my own classroom.  Without having done it yet, I'm hoping that in my classroom the conversation will always be open to allow students the ability to possibly engage in a way they aren't used to.
          Oftentimes in my coaching I am asking a swimmer how something felt.  If I don't necessarily have the answers right away I use the tactic of helping them to define what is going on.  This allows them to be more in tune with their own body.  An Instructional Conversation isn't any different.  I'm excited to take what I already do in the pool setting, into the classroom setting and help students learn differently and pull things out of them that they didn't know were in there.

One look at an Analysis of Writing

          This writing analysis has been the hardest project for me so far.  Not just in this class but it ranks right up there with any assignment that I have done.  I haven't put much thought into the fact that when I am done with this journey I will be required to teach a multitude of subjects.  This blogging has been good for me, because I don't write traditionally.  I have no idea how to give an assignment let alone how to grade an assignment for writing.  So this is my fumbling attempt at what I was able to accomplish with just a little thought.  I'm only hopeful that years from now I will look on this and laugh.
          The students in class are reading To Kill a Mockingbird.  This book holds a lot of in depth material that we are asking the students to grasp.  There are 8 students in this behavior focus classroom, high school level, grades 9 and 10 for this sample.  I devised my own lesson plan and then adapted based on their needs in this class.  I will go more in depth at the end of this but there are definitely changes that should be made moving forward in this process.  For this post I am not including the lesson plan but we asked the students to write a personal opinion paper on what their thoughts and feelings were about using the "N" word in schools.  As a student did they feel it was appropriate to use the word in the book.  Could another word have been used and still portrayed the same meaning.  We suggested a couple of paragraphs and gave them the grading rubric we had devised for the assignment. 
          One of the things that I enjoyed the most about the assignment for the students was that it gave them a voice.  They were able to butt the system a bit by using a word that they have been told isn't appropriate in school.  Not that any of these students don't use it but it came at it from a different angle.  Each student got the chance to voice if they felt that the school should then teach them that in a required text.  This group of students is typically stifled in what they can and cannot say and they usually have been directed to be specific about their answers.  This was personal opinion, would we be able to hear what they had to say.  I strongly feel that they were able to do that in these writings.  One student chose to use it multiple times as the ending of his paper.  This response was a quick generated piece but it would be fun to use this as a jumping off point.  Could they use this in a poem?  Maybe more in depth would help them open up even more.  I was however still able to grasp who the students were in their writings.
          It would have been easier for me to just have them give their opinion to a passage in the book, it meant more to choose a word that they had already grumbled about in the beginning readings.  I would challenge the students to push themselves a bit and yet we didn't have many errors in terms of what they were doing.  Anderson says in his book, "If we see students' errors as something bad, we overlook what some of those errors are telling us about the ways that students are growing as writers."  I would agree and press the students that we didn't have a problem with grammar, punctuation, etc but would like to look more in depth from them their response and where it came at in relation to the reading.  As writers we write most things to be read and while they knew a teacher would be reading these it would be interesting to get different responses if they knew for example that these would be opinion papers to go in the school newspaper for example.  Many of these students often refuse to write anything. One student stuck to that but we were able to get the voices of many our students on this writing.
          I can't wait to do another writing analysis.  This helped me to grow as an educator and I am going to be looking for ways to improve before I have to "judge" students again in the future.

Happiest Day of the Year

         

One of my favorite parts of my year is Special Olympic day.  This year was no exception.  I have coached for 20 years and am able to take a different approach these days.  Now I run the meet.  This means putting together volunteers to run it, making sure the coaches have everything that they need and making sure that the athletes have a great experience.  I am a good people director.  Someone told me I am just bossy which might be another way of saying it, but I can get people to where they need to go.  This year I was able to combine Washington with Jefferson, Kennedy, and Linn-Mar and we had 50 volunteers from those four schools.  It was a tremendous experience to see competing swim programs come together for one cause.  This day has been my dream and this last Saturday we accomplished it. 
          Here is a quick clip that was on the news this weekend about it.  Special Olympic News Coverage

Good Readers? Or just Readers?

          One of the things we talked about a couple of weeks ago in class was that we aren't necessarily trying to make good readers, we are trying to make readers.  Oftentimes as a teacher we use the phrase, "you are such a good reader" and we don't think about what the long reaching consequences of that phrase are.  We need to focus on "you are a reader" instead.  What a boost of confidence that can have to a student.  Maybe a student who has had difficulty adjusting to a typical way of learning.  To be told, one time, that they are a reader may be just enough to have them open a book and try on their own.

          The same can be said for writers.  I discussed in my last blog about how we can use social media to help struggling writers.  Anderson discusses in his book "Assessing Writers" the need to link our assessment with our instruction.  As educators it is important to figure out what the student was already do and then go from there.  If we have struggling readers, struggling writers, let's find a way to help them on their level.  It is much easier to teach a student when we get on their level and push them up versus pulling them up right away to ours. 

          I would like to leave with one of my favorite quotes from the Anderson book.  "If we see students' errors as something bad, we overlook what some of these errors are telling us about the ways that students are growing as writers."  What an awesome view to teaching.

Technology is taking us....where?

          This past weekend I went to a conference and we discussed the uses of social media for our church.  The more I sat there I thought this could be completely translated into uses for school.  Then we sat in class on Monday talking about writing styles and I realized that social media was a great way to get kids to write.  Now my mom keeps thinking social media will leave.  Of course her phone is still a flip phone with no data or texting capabilities.  When she went to upgrade her phone I didn't realize they even had those anymore.  But she has what she has.  She writes emails, sits at her computer online most of the day.  Gets on discussion boards which in reality is the same thing.  Her problem comes with the need to have the instant communication at your fingertips.  Traveling with her is rough for my teenage boys who have known no other life than a connection with their friends at all ours of the day.  

          So there is probably a place for it all.  I'm a huge offender.  I have Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Foursquare and many more.  I thrive with my phone in my hand and need a charger at work and home.  I need that connection to what is going on.  So now the task is to bring it into our classrooms without it taking over.  For this class we have a Pinterest account.  We are linking with people from around the world to find some things about our future classrooms.

          What about writing?  Kids are writing texts to their friends, they are tweeting in a certain amount of characters.  We are building a group of kids who can be concise in their thoughts. So to ask them to write a narrative could be a challenge.  What about our reluctant writers?  Why not give them a prompt where they can give a tweet back to a political statement.  They can give what their Facebook status would be about a certain issue.  We need to embrace kids and know what they are doing so we are at their same level.  Spelling and cursive aren't as important because our thoughts are autocorrected via a tablet or computer.  

          Just some random thoughts anyway.  Some things to think about.  Letting kids know that reading and writing are parts of their everyday world already.  If kids can see this then maybe then can embrace the idea of putting thoughts down in words.

Think, Think, Think; and then Think some more

          When first presented with this idea of Think Aloud while reading, I thought, I got this!  Unlike the last activity this was something that I was familiar with.  I took an entire, semester long, class on Explicit Instruction; and I was good at it.  The thing that keeps jumping out at me though is not how good I am but how good the student gets when they do this thing.  I selected "Theresa" again, she and I now have a reading relationship and she is willing to be my guinea pig in these studies.  Probably because I go into letting her know this is a trial for me and not for her.  As a student in a behavior focus program I find it important to let her know that she is in the right.  She struggles academically but more because she hasn't had a consistent education than anything else and I'm hopeful when I meet with her to give her a small amount of personal success.
          I didn't have a book chosen for this.  She is a high school student so I knew it would be further reading than a picture book.  So I have a stack of books in my office that are on my list to read for another class, adolescent literature.  That seemed an appropriate stack to pull from.  I knew we probably wouldn't read a ton so I wanted something that we could grasp quickly and learn from.  I pulled off "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" a National bestseller by Mark Haddon. 
          I started things off with my reading aloud first.  I went along just naturally, pausing as I should to read aloud.  Not realizing of course that there was a better course of action and I wasn't taking it.  What I should have done, is given her a copy of the text while I did this.  Asked her for her feedback as I released.  Instead I pushed through, content with what I was doing and not reflecting in the moment on if she even had any idea what I was doing.
          The reason I bring that to the forefront is that I wasn't clear on what I was expecting from her.  I thought aloud, did it as a perfect instructor should do, inferring and questioning.  Then she took over and just read.  I had to stop her a paragraph in and explain again, oh wait clearly it was for the first time, on what I wanted.  At that point she seemed to grasp what I was wanting.  I explained that the reason for doing this was when we read we think those things anyway, thinking it aloud makes it clear in the mind what we are looking for.
          I coudn't ask for a better test subject.  She is not interested in pleasing me, just doing what is asked of her.  That helped me locate the mistakes that I made much easier.  I'm excited to go forward with this kind of thought process though.  I think that Think Alouds do a great job of slowing the reader down and finding what can be pulled out of the process.  I'm hopeful that "Theresa" and I will be able to work again in the future.

Ashes to Ashes

          As a little girl I was raised Lutheran.  As a grown adult I'm not on the church council and actively involved in many different things at church.  When first dating my husband he was very gruff and said, "if you want someone in your life that will go to church with you, we better break up."  I didn't think it was the biggest breaking factor and I didn't think that it was important to me.  He had enough other redeaming qualities that I was willing to live with the fact that he didn't go to church.  As the years have progressed, he now goes to church with me, sometimes even without me.  Not too shabby for a conversion in only five years:). 
          I digress, the entire purpose of this post is this.  Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent.  I didn't realize it was  Catholic thing, I have always done it.  But when I went to class last night, having missed any kind of service myself with my crazy schedule, someone else had been able to make it.  I smiled, I knew what that meant.  But then as someone asks her the question of what it is for, I realized that it must be a secret club or something.  The other girl had no idea what it all meant.  Someone else pointed out that they didn't either.  Something so ingrained in my life, something that means so much, and not everyone even knew what that meant. 
          So I started thinking about how in a way we all go through life like that.  Thinking that we are part of a big group, and we may be, but in ways there are so many that don't have any idea of the underlying factors involved.  Teaching adolescents is similar to that.  In fact I would say it should be like that.  We should be able to point out to them, to help them find, the ways that they are like their peers, then the sense of isolation may be gone.  Ashes is an outward, easy sign to find, most aren't like that.  As teachers we need to find those.  Help the students connect to one another and connect to the world at large.  How best to help a student become an upstanding citizen?

Learning Spaces; Learning Rules

          One of the biggest things that I have been interested in is what my classroom will look like.  Not the walls, the desks, those types of things, but what will the space include.  I have so many thoughts, so many ideas that they just seem to run together.  I have tried to come up with categories to help focus as much as possible.  Ask questions, I encourage you to and only because I'm hoping that it will help me narrow in on what I am looking for.
         1.  Specific learning space; small groups, large groups, individual work.
         2.  Computer space; I understand that there are lots of different ways to have this brought into the classroom.  Until I have my only actual space I am going to research the ways that these can be included.  Whether these are student owned tablets, computer space in the room, etc.
         3.  What will the book area look like; I'm interested in finding out the different ways to groups books together.  Trying to find the ones that will work for me.
         4.  Centers; I know that having different areas in the room help children focus their attention.  What does this mean if you only teach one subject?  Can these go across subjects if you have that type of classroom?
         5.  Research behind this; I am hoping to gather the research behind what will make learning spaces the best for learning.
          At this point, I have a Pinterest board where I am going to collect the ideas as they come across.  I see it as a three stage process.  Find the things that are interesting, and meet under my inquiry.  Sort through what the best practices are.  Decide on what the best for me is going to be.  I invite you to my board while I work on this progress.

Over the Shoulder or Sitting right in Front

          Over the Shoulder Miscue Analysis (OTSMA), I hadn't even heard of this when it was on my syllabus to do.  Every classmate nodded their head, oh yeah, we got that.  I sat there just thinking how out of my realm I was.  How was I going to do this well if I didn't even know what it was to start with?  So I did what every good student does, I read all of my material, I asked every teacher I knew questions about the process.  When I started comparing it to my work on assessments I felt much more confident.  That was something I had experience with.  I have taken multiple classes on how to do that.  I forgot the important part where assessments aren't in reality helping the student at all.  They are looking for what they know or don't know.  This analysis was to actually help the student with what they are making mistakes on and helping them to figure out how to fix them.  What a novel concept!!
         I was able to work with a student in the Behavior Focus program at the school I am at.  My hope eventually is to be a teacher in this program so I'm trying to work with as many students there and get as many experiences as possible.  Both teachers in the program are my friends so it is fairly easy to set up experience.   That didn't really change the fact that I was worried I would make a mistake.  Upon reflection what was the worst that I could do?  She was willing to read for me and we were going to work together to find some strategies that would be best for her future reading.  This was going to be a success no matter what we did. 
         She chose the book she wanted to read.  Of Mice and Men, this is a hard book under any circumstances, I was hesitant for sure.  I read the book myself in high school and had no idea with the limited knowledge I had of her if she was going to be able to get through this book at all and understand anything she was reading.  I explained to her what we were working on.  This was more a test of me and not of her.  Those reassurances seemed to put her at ease.  My office is set in a quiet place so I knew we should be good to go.
          Within about five words from starting, she had made a mistake.  She didn't slow down though so neither did I.  I promptly wrote the mistake on my sheet, what the correct word was and what the mistake one was.  Before I knew it she was doing it again, and again, and again.  I had no idea now what I was supposed to do.  I was trying to fake that I had some clue and some authority, that's harder than a person thinks, and here she was making errors and I didn't know what I was supposed to do.
          I was able to write quickly, trying to assess why she was making the errors that she was making.  I had some vague recollection that I was supposed to be making lessons along the way, how was I going to add that in?  I knew the errors that she was making, she was reading way too fast.  So I casually said, "let's slow down just a bit" she heard me, didn't make much of an adjustment though.
          At this point we were nearing the end of ten minutes.  I found a wrapping up point and then we sat down to figure out what we had come up with.  The first thing we did was talk about what had happened.  I was interested in hearing from her what her take was on the information portrayed in the opening scene.  It is a picturesque opening and tough to grasp all of the concepts.  She was very clear about what had happened, when pushed a bit she mentioned that it was similar to a park she knew in her own life.  I was impressed.  We presented with some techniques of slowing down a bit, making sure she truly knew the word before she moved on to the next one.
         I am excited to use this assessment format in my own classroom.  As with most anything that I do I suspect I will be nervous the first 100 times but I know that will practice comes comfort and ease.  This is such a great way to include the student in the learning process!!

Ed Thomas Coach of the Week - Megan Lewis - KGAN-TV CBS 2 Iowa - CBS 2 Local Sports

Ed Thomas Coach of the Week - Megan Lewis - KGAN-TV CBS 2 Iowa - CBS 2 Local Sports

Who Me?

          The last week has been a whirlwind of activity in my personal life.  While this post won't go into my teaching, my classroom, or my environment there at all, I am finding the need to post this reflection.  A couple of months ago I received word that I had been nominated for an award.  I have coached most of my life, I love what I do, I enjoy watching the kids succeed when they didn't think that they could.  I do not however coach for the accolades that it might bring.  This award seemed like fluff to me and I wrote it off.  After much pressure I was asked to reconsider so I filled out the paperwork and sent it in.  I thought nothing of it.  Then I get the email, I open it considering that it will be a basic; thank you for your application but we have decided to go with some more highly qualified candidates.  The email didn't say that at all.  In fact it said that I was one of eight finalists for the award.
         National Coach of the Year.  One of eight finalists in my sport.  How?!?  I have had some successful teams but it isn't about the coach, it's about the kids, the athletes.  My school where I coach is through the roof about how exciting of an honor this is.  I'm still hesitant.  Then the news channels picked up on the story.  They go ahead and decide to honor me with the Ed Thomas Coach of the Week.  I have linked the story on my page but I had to think long and hard about putting it up here so that it can be seen.  Ed Thomas, what an amazing coach.  After he was killed his family wrote a book about his coaching philosophies.  I HIGHLY recommend the book to any coach that I know.  The Sacred Acre; A coach who coached based on his philosphies, his life with God and what would make boys into men.  Not an in your face coach who preaches fear but one who preached acceptance, forgiveness and love.  To be even up for the honor myself was humbling.  To win it was beyond anything I could have ever expected.  I can only hope that I would be a small light for my athletes. 
          So now I stand, with a bona fide coaching honor, one among eight finalists for national coach of the year.  I don't rethink my coaching philosophy because that hasn't changed but if it brings in a kid who might not have gone out for a sport into my program and it helps to better them, then I am all right with that.  I am confident in who I am as a person that I know this coaching award isn't anything more than what I have always done and always considered the way to do things.
          Just two days later I helped to coach our boys team to a state runner up finish.  As the assistant to the program I am able to build a different relationship with our team and hope that our kids will look back on these days with fondness and friends that will last a life time.
         "Sometimes it isn't about what you are doing, but about how you are doing it."

Classroom Space

     Until I started this blog, this class, I never really thought about what my classroom should look like. I certainly didn't think about how it would look in addition to how it would function for a learning environment. Then I start talking with classmates, I start reading Debbie Miller's book: Teaching with Intention and I discover I not only have a lot to learn but I am eager to learn it. Miller has so many things I didn't think about and I'm going to try to touch on as many as possible that relate to my beliefs. I believe that every student can learn.
     A classroom should be set up to have different areas for every student. Even working in Special Education exclusively there can be areas that each student can excel in. Carpet work areas, team areas, soft bean bag chairs, and rocking chairs. There should be music if a student chooses so a place for headphones and selections of music. Technology should be in play so there should be communication aids in terms of visual and talking.  There should be a variety of ways that students can have hands on activities through the course of their learning day.
     When doing some research on classroom environments for this blog and by the suggestion of my teacher I looked up Reggio environments.  I came up with this quote, "The learning environment is itself a teacher. It communicates to children and adults many possibilities and invites multiple responses."  What an amazing thing to think about.  If we think of the environment as an extension of our teaching tools, an extension of our curriculum and an extension of ourselves, then we can come up with the best place ever for students to learn and grow as human beings.  Even at the high school level we can find that students will thrive if their environment is one that they can be creative in.  We should be concise about what we are using in terms of lighting, organizational tools and just about anything else. 
     I believe that students can learn better when they have a relationship with their teachers.  Having the students help in the planning can really help this considerably.  Planning the classroom is important, how it is going to look and what the ideals are but it is important that students know they have say in the process as well. 
    Waldorf education is a completely different aspect and yet has some similarities when looking at how the environment is critical in helping kids to learn and teachers to teach.  The ideas behind this philosophy came in 1919 and was incredibly forward moving.  It had four main parts to it: 1) that the school be open to all children; 2) that it be coeducational; 3) that it be a unified twelve-year school; 4) that the teachers, those individuals actually in contact with the children, have primary control of the school, with minimum interference from the state or from economic sources. While some of these have become more structured over time they stand strong with what I believe in. 
    I'm excited to continue to explore what can be used in my future classroom and how it is going to look.  I'm excited to learned what I have in just a short amount of time.  Now to start accumulating all of those things that will hold over time and won't be superficial and will help make the learning environment exactly what it should be.

 

My Beliefs

     When I'm asked to come up with my beliefs I automatically come up with quite a few. I'm not one to dilly dally and waiver over making decisions. But then I have to think about what they mean, what my core beliefs are in relation to what my practices will be. This takes me back a step, what are my core beliefs, how do I come up with them when I haven't taken a step in a classroom and everything I have done has been based on book work? I certainly have done teaching in different formats and the last couple of days has made me really step up and think about how I am making impacts on students every single day. So what are my beliefs? In an effort to be thorough I have come up with a few of my core beliefs and while I do know they may become farfetched over time this is what I have right now.
     1. Every student has the ability to learn something new. This is broad I realize but one that I firmly hold to. I have worked with special needs students for a long time and going back to school as an adult I know that it is hard. However, every student has the ability to learn something new, something from a different perspective.
     2. Teaching/learning is fun. This is a core belief and one that has to be stretched by both the students and the teachers to hold true. It may be boring material but the process can be fun. Holding with my first belief I feel that that process of learning and teaching can sometimes be the most important part of the process.
     3. A relationship can be built in even just a short period of time. Impressions are made in just a few seconds, relationships can be formed off of each of those. It is important to give the pair, whomever that pair may be, time to form and build a lasting relationship. The teaching should be personalized as much as possible which will help this considerably.
     4. I believe in my students. I believe they can do anything they put their minds to. I believe they are creative, imaginative and successful and will go many places with the right guidance.
     And this is it. I'm sure there will be many more over time. I'm sure that the way that I put these in to practice will continue to grow and adapt and change over my career. I do know that these core beliefs I hold and will hold for my future.

Introductory Blog

This blog is starting as an assignment for my last class scheduled in graduate school before I become a bona fide teacher.  I am a non-traditional student, at least that's what I tell everyone.  It's true though.  I started out college, many moons ago, thinking I wanted to be a nurse.  When after one year my grades didn't reflect that process, I needed to rethink what I wanted.  I started by having a family.  During that time I worked on my Associates Degree and finished with a degree in Disabilities Services.  That seemed like a good start.  I had been teaching by that point in many different areas.  I was a swim lesson instructor, a coach and taught for the Red Cross.  Teaching seemed natural.  Still I slowly progressed into a Bacherlor's Degree in Sociology.  That doesn't get a person many places other than a true understanding and now I have found it most useful. 

When my family broke up I was left with a couple of degrees that didn't do much and no job.  I started working in the school district as a paraprofessional in a Behavior Focus classroom.  I finally found something I loved.  So I started by part time to get my education degree and found I needed a Master's to do that.  Being a student for so many years has only taught me that it is indeed possible to teach an old dog new tricks.  I will be graduating from college, figuring out my life plans, at the same time that my oldest graduates high school and starts to figure out his. 

I'm hopeful that I can share a bit of insight with my life experiences.  I'm hopeful that I can gain even more from the students that I share classes with and the students that I will one day teach.

M