What to grade? AR #7

This week we were asked to put together an assessment rubric to evaluate the overall performance of our students and their digital storytelling project. We were to create an analytic rubric, which is one that addresses each component of a student's project. I was a little worried when I created this rubric using irubric, but was pleasantly surprised to see how many sample rubrics were available for my viewing pleasure. I did a basic search for science K-5 rubrics on animal habitats. I found numerous rubrics that addressed science in both the primary and intermediate science category. After reading about both holistic and analytic rubrics I was pleased to learn that we needed to create an analytic rubric. I like the idea of assigning points to each aspect of what was expected from my students.

Due to the grade level and real expectations I had for my students I really wanted to look at whether or not they could provide at least 2 good examples of animal habitats. Did they include sentences that included good detail about the animal habitat they were describing? Were pictures used to support their writings? I was particularly focused on the aspect of their abilities to work with their partners in creating their presentation on Prezi. I had to decide what criteria I was going to grade and I went from there. I really felt that it was going to be pretty clear cut in my criteria because we are talking about assessing what a firstgrader can do. After looking at some of the rubrics on irubrics my mind was changed. There were so many things I didn't even think of that I could use for grading criteria. Did they work well with their partner? The difficulty came for me when deciding what was excellent, good, and poor. I did not include a criteria for my students writing for this project. I felt like the writing part is so subjective, so instead I will use a criteria of did they include important details from their writing in their presentation.

Other components include: did they gather information as a team? Did they work together as a team and help each other? What was their overall teamwork like? Were they positive, supportive, and respectful? After looking at my rubric I am happy that some of my focus was on the social aspect, as this is an important skill I think first graders should be held accountable for. Enjoy the rubric and please let me know what I can fix.

AR#6 A look at animal homes

This week we were asked to create an example of a digital story to show to our students that will help them to understand what we are looking for in their digital story projects. In past postings you can see that I've done much of my digital story telling using Prezi. I've decided to stick to this program and create an example through this. My model project relates to animals and their homes. The project will require first grade students to create a digital story using pictures from a field trip we will take for science and they will have to reflect upon a book that was teacher chosen. Knowing the ability level of my students I decided that I would pair students together (one high student with one low) and also have parent chaperones and dividends available to help students.

This project is one that would definitely need a lot of adult help because of the age of the students and where they are developmentally. I am requiring students to use digital cameras to take pictures of any animal/animal homes that they found interesting and they learned a lot about. The students are allowed to use a search engine (yahooligans) upon returning to school to find additional information. I had a lot of concerns with this project because of my students' abilities, but when I showed them how to use Prezi, my concerns were eased just a little. I was floored at how much my students could do and how capable they really are with this technology. I started them off with using Prezi to tell the beginning, middle, and end of our weekly story. We worked for about 3 days on the logistics of Prezi, but after that they picked up fast. I know it is also helpful that I have already shown my students how to use and do powerpoints. So they already have some backgorund on how to use and navigate these programs.

When I started my Prezi I really wanted to make sure that I put in as little text as I could, but still make sure that students knew they had to to tell us all about what they learned. With this age group I often find, especially with writing, that they can go on and on about a topic and then eventually veer from that. I didn't want this to happen and I had to stress to them that you don't have to write down every word you have written. I wanted to base their grade on the ability to use the Prezi program, but I also needed to include their ability to convey information about what they learned. You will see that in my Prezi there are a lot of pictures included. When working with my students I found that teaching them to present from a picture was helpful when it came to the amount they wanted to put in. For example, instead of including 10 sentences about a beetle, they would put up a picture of a beetle and take the information they have from their writing and read while they present. Most of them did well with that. This Prezi by no means is perfect and keep in mind when you view my example that my students are only 6-7 years old and they are really doing the very best they can. I've learned to appreciate the little things they create, especially when it comes to technology. Enjoy!

AR#5 Curriculum Page

This week we were asked to create a curriculum page for our class and base it off of a digital story. After much thought, I came up with the idea to do a science project that deals with animal habitats. As I created my wiki I thought this would be a wonderful place to start my curriculum page. I honestly had a lot of problems with navigating through my wiki page. I did a lot of edits and still could not get my page the way I wanted it. As I browsed through other examples from our module, I saw that many people that created a wiki page and did a great job.

The main problem that I encountered had to with the widgets. Half of the time I couldn't figure out how to place things etc. I tried for hours to figure out how to get the different links for a table of contents and gave up. I'm sure it is something very simple, but I couldn't get it. I viewed almost all the tutorials wiki offered, but none talked about table of contents. So after all this I began to navigate our module and found some webquest websites that I thought were very easy to create. So I decided to create a webquest and place it on my wiki page. I used the wiki page to relay parent information about the project and I put a link on the page to the webquest for both student and parent use.

I love the wiki page that I created and know that there are lots and lots of things that I can learn about making a great page. I felt a little overwhelmed because I've never had to do anything like this. It was a great experience for me because I've learned about so many different programs that are available to use with wiki pages. I plan to explore wiki much more because in education I ahve been hearing a lot of people say, "Did you check wiki?" I think this is going to be the next wave or is the next wave in educational technology and I hope I'm up to the task.

Here is the link to my wiki page http://curriculumpageeme5050.wikispaces.com/

Animal Homes RR#5

This week we were asked to create a digital storytelling projects for our students. When I began thinking about what I wanted to do, I mentioned in my Activity Reflection that I would like to use digital storytelling to create a project based on animal homes. With that in mind I wanted my students to be able to create a presentation that would allow for them to show what they learned about different animal homes. As I continued thinking about what I expected and what they were really going to be able to create, I began to think of ways to cater to ALL my students. My class is a first grade regular education classroom with students at varying levels. I continuously differentiate my classroom instruction due to their various needs.  I thought I would need to consider this when it came to what was expected. So my plan is to pair up my students in groups of two (high/low). This would allow for a much smoother completion of the project and I feel my lower students would not feel intimidated by this.

Taking into consideration all my students abilities and needs I am now able to describe the project. In the first grade curriculum there is a time in the year we talk about animal habitats. I will begin with the book, The Log Hotel written by Ann Schreiber. In summary, this book is about an old log that begins to decompose and talks about all the many animals that use it for a home. After reading the story and discussing the various animals that the students saw we will create a graphic organizer using, Kidspiration, and list the animals from the log hotel. The following day the students will go on a field trip to the Environmental Center and use digital cameras to find various animals and their homes. We will look at birds, lizards, bugs, and other critters. The students’ jobs will be to take as many pictures as they can, with the help from parent chaperones, of all the different animals they see.

The following day we will begin by discussing and de-briefing on our prior day events. I will begin pulling pairs to the back table to give them their pictures and talk about the next step. While I’m with groups the other students will begin exploring and using yahooligans and askkids science link. Students will begin to explore further into animal habitats using the pictures they took. It will be their job to create four sentences per picture to describe their animals’ homes. While at the back table with my groups I will use my classroom laptop to introduce Prezi to the students. I will walk through a quick tutorial with them and then let them start creating. Ideally, I would have a parent volunteer in the classroom helping with this program as well. Students will now download the pictures from the environmental center and from The Log Hotel book to include in their digital story.

This seems like it will be a daunting task to have first graders create these digital stories, but I think with parent help and small group instruction many of these presentations will turn out great. My hope is to be a facilitator in this process, which seems impossible to me right now because it’s not actually happening. I’m excited to do this with my students and I will be sure to post a few when completed.

 

Activity Reflection #4

This week we were asked to create a presentation that explains the benefits of digital storytelling. As a result, I decided that I would create my presentation using a program called, Prezi. Having never used this before it was something that I was really excited about. Not knowing what to expect in my creation, I was a little disappointed because I thought navigating through this program would be a bit harder. Just kidding, not disappointed at all!! Prezi was so easy to navigate through and I loved the fact that your whole presentation was right in front of you. The only downfall was that you could not copy a picture and paste to your presentation, you actually had to save it and then insert your picture.


After viewing the video about digital storytelling I couldn't help but notice that everything about digital storytelling was positive. Its benefits are endless for both students and teachers and it is such an interactive way for students to participate in their learning. So being the devil's advocate I had to try to find the downfalls of digital story telling. After reading an article written by a freelance digital story facilitator http://www.panos.org.uk/?lid=23126I I found that digital storytelling does have its downfalls. The article states that sometimes digital stories are created and this is not always the best option. So I thought what better option would there be? A traditional speech in front of an audience that you have to be directly engaged with? I do agree with the fact that when students or teachers see digital stories they get a sense that when they create it must be done in a certain way that has worked for other people. A lot of what I learned about digital storytelling talks about the freedom of individual learning styles. I think if students and teachers can get away from what they want people to read and hear the better their presentations will be received.

Benefits of Digital Storytelling on Prezi

So after about two days of working n this assignment I still feel that I
could have done a little better with the graphics that I used, but I think my content serves the purpose. After spring break I will use Prezi with my first grade class because I think it will be a great learning experience for them. We will create a nature walk presentation. I hope to be able to download pictures from my digital camera that we take from our nature walk. We will talk about animal homes and I will use pictures from the book, The Log Hotel to create a presentation that will inform the audience of all the different animal homes.

RR#4 software learning gains

　

This week I was asked to choose one software program for my classroom. The best part: price was not the concern. After looking through the three software catalogues my choice was from www.journeyed.com. I chose a program called kidspiration because of the number of writing graphic organizers that were available on this program. Wanting to steer away from the traditional chart paper organizers I found this program to bring out a more innovative way for students to participate during writing. Kidspiration now supports higher-resolution monitors with a larger visual workspace and is compatible with SMART Technologies.

Specifications	Asus Intel Pentium Inside	Kidspiration 3.0
Operating System	Windows 7	Windows XP, Vista, 7
Processor Speed	2.20 GHZ	266 MHZ
Memory (RAM)	4.00 RAM	128 MB Minimum
Screen Resolution	1280x768	800x600
Video Card	Mobile IntelR 4 Series Express
Removable Media Options	DVD RW Drive Z2400 Series

 

　

Software installation at my school must first be approved by administration, once approved, the software is loaded by the tech facilitator at my school. The Kidspiration software that I chose included a statement that said, “no academic proof required.” Not wanting to make an assumption I’m interested in knowing what this means as my only thought could be that it might have to do with the licensing? After reading chapter 4, I learned a lot about my computer hardware than I ever knew. I was particularly interested in memory and how it is stored in my computer. The human brain retains a lot due to our memories, but it is limited. I guess I really was interested in the capacity of memory that a computer has. The chapter talked about how program instructions and data are transferred into memory. This is where I learned about bytes and that these are where memory is stored. Figure 4-9 gave me a good visual of how memory works. The stadium seating analogy is much like the filing cabinet or schemata that you hear about in psychology.

 

I also learned a lot about input and output devices on our computers. I know that output devices are those that give us or show the information that we need (printers, monitors, etc.) and input is what we essentially use to tell the computer what we want. With so much information, my brain is crammed with information that I will eventually file in my memory in hopes that one day I can use it. Knowing the basics about your computer is important because you will need it to know if a program that you want to buy will be compatible. The constant creation of new software programs that keep getting better and better demand that we know the basics of our computers.

  

 

　

After finding the program, I was asked to compare my computer's specification to the system requirements for Kidspiration. When trying to figure out just what type of computer I had, this became the hard part. I’ve often looked at the little stickers that are attached to the computer and thought that was pretty much all I needed to know about the hardware. With a little more research I went to the start button, then to my computer and right clicked on properties when I got to there. As I did this a screen popped up with all the information that I needed. These were my findings for both my computer and software.

　

RR#4 software learning gains

This week I was asked to choose one software program for my classroom. The best part: price was not the concern. After looking through the three software catalogues my choice was from www.journeyed.com . I chose a program called kidspiration because of the number of writing graphic organizers that were available on this program. Wanting to steer away from the traditional chart paper organizers I found this program to bring out a more innovative way for students to participate during writing. I also found this software now supports SMART technologies and can be used with higher-resolution monitors.

After finding the program, I was asked to compare my computer's specification to the system requirements for Kidspiration. When trying to figure out just what type of computer I had, this became the hard part. I’ve often looked at the little stickers that are attached to the computer and thought that was pretty much all I needed to know about the hardware. With a little more research I went to the start button, then to my computer and right clicked on properties when I got to there. As I did this a screen popped up with all the information that I needed. These were my findings for both my computer and software.

 

Specifications	Asus Intel Pentium Inside	Kidspiration 3.0
Operating System	Windows 7	Windows XP, Vista, 7
Processor Speed	2.20 GHZ	266 MHZ
Memory (RAM)	4.00 RAM	128 MB Minimum
Screen Resolution	1280x768	800x600
Video Card	Mobile IntelR 4 Series Express
Removable Media Options	DVD RW Drive Z2400 Series

 I was curious when I saw the words, "no academic proof required" because in those words my thinking is that this software would be easily loaded onto my hardware at school with no real problems. My school district policy states that we are not allowed to download any type of software without the permission and consent from an administrator. You must have written approval from administration, who in turn have the tech person at the school install the program.

In reading chapter 4, I learned a whole lot more about my computer then I really knew. I was particularly interested in memory and how it stores data. I was interested in the transfer and how this happens. I learned from the reading that when the computer transfers instructions into memory it does this through storing bytes. The visual of the stadium seating was helpful in understanding how this takes place. The differences between RAM and ROM were clearly stated and I now understand that the acronyms RAM and ROM actually do stand for something important. Most never worry about what is running a computer system, they are more interested in the fact that it is working correctly. Knowing how much memory a device can hold and and the storage capacity was knowledge that I used to fix my own home computer. My solution was that I needed to buy more memory. Knowing what an input and output device is makes it clear on how we receive information (output) from our devices. (monitors, printers, etc.) This assignment was difficult for me because I am one that didin't really care to know how the hardware works. My only concern has always been that it is working correctly.

 

　

Identified? AR#3

After completing the google search of the online identity calculator it was a bit shocking to see how many times my name was there. Well, actually only four of those hits were really me. I was initially afraid because I saw a search result number of 758,000. Did I like what I saw? When reveiewing the information that was up and running about me, most were consequences of social media websites, such as, Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. There weren't any pictures or videos out there of me, but I really was worried as I hit that search button.

I would consider myself as "identified" and as Thomas Friedman says, "hyper-connected" especially to the social media outlets. Does this bring positive or negative attention? Well, that depends on whose accessing the information and how they portray what they see or read. Am I relating to others and making powerful connections? This question was also asked by Friedman and I think this is a fair question. The information that you put out about yourself should allow for everyone to make a positive connection with your identity. Is what I'm saying useful? When talking about creating a teacher web, I think it is important for educators to make a powerful connection to many different audiences. Educators are held to a higher standard and I think they have to prove that.

Of course, my teacher web page is going to create an environment that is positive and friendly with all those that I deal with in education. It's the social media sites, such as, Facebook that can sometimes tarnish our images. Unknowingly, friends and family could post a picture of you that you would never want your students to have access to. Not saying, a law breaking picture, but maybe a pic of you in a swimsuit at the beach. I give this example because I have seen educators (including administrators) in these types of positions.

No, we cannot control everything that is out there, but we can limit access to those that we do not feel should see, like our sudents. If we make a conscious effort to filter out and look at and re-examine questionable material, then I think we are doing what is appropriate, but this still allows us to be identified in a positive way.

Not so excellent!!

After extreme stress, I was finally able to figure this whole Excel thing out. Having used Excel in the past, I thought this assignment was going to be easy. It really was up until the dynamically part. After much exhausting research and going through all the resources I could find, it was thanks to one of my EME5050 friends that helped me find the way. No, they didn't give me the answer, but they did give me a link (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/create-a-link-to-another-cell-workbook-or-program-HP005199514.aspx) that helped me solve this thing! In the past I have used Excel for simple graphs and tables to use with a first grade science class, but never anything like this. As I was going through and completeing this I couldn't help but mumble under my breath numerous times, "Why am I doing this?" "I don't even use Excel as for my gradebook, so what's the point?" I found that it went beyond that and I really did learn a lot about different formulas and how to change, edit, and average. I didn't find any tutorial to be helpful when it came to question #8. I had to dig a lot to find anything. I was about to just say forget and then I became determined to solve this.

So, I do have a question that I was wondering if a few people could answer: Do any schools actually use Excel for their grading systems? I ask this because after reading a lot of your comments, many of you talked about other programs that are out there. My school uses IGPro or Integrated Pro for grading. It does have similarities to Excel because it is set-up in the same spreadsheet form. I think the great thing about these school based programs is that they are much more user-friendly then Excel. While doing this assignment I sort of felt like I was learning Russian. I also referenced a book from the Shelly Cashman Series on Excel. It did have a section about spreadsheets, but it never really told you how to do it.

School districts across the country are now implementing a new way to track and refer struggling students. Some, but not all, have heard of this process known as RTI or Response to Intervention. If you're an educator and are unaware of this process I'm sure it will be coming for you. Learning as much as you can about the process is so helpful with the implementation. I bring up this process because many of the sotware programs, particularly Excel, is one program that you have to have some knowledge about. When viewing and reviewing data about your students, everything must come from a graph or spreadsheet that is created from Excel. The graphs are used for comparisons and the spreadsheets contain assessment data from your students.So understanding how to navigate through this process will take some action on our parts to make sure we have accurate and reliable data on hand at our RTI meetings.

RR#3 loosen the reigns

Should we loosen the reigns on the availability or access to everything on the internet? Part of the learning process includes giving students and teachers the necessary tools they need to be successful and hopefully they have the ability to make good decision when trusted with these tools. If we shield or protect our students from everything that is out there we are not giving them a true leanring experience. When asked the question of ethics and access to the internet, my stance would place me with those that believe it is unethical to deny students/teachers access to instructionally-relevant Web-based tools and content?

After much thought of all the "bad" things that are out there, my feelings of how much "good" is taken away because of this bad outweighs the "bad". I think it was best stated by Thornbugh and Lin in their study on Youth, Pornography, and the Internet. "Swimming pools can be dangerous for children. To protect them, one can install locks, put up fences, and deploy pool alarms. All these measures are helpful, but by far the most important things one can do for one's children is to teach them to swim."http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309082749 With that said, I feel a great deal can be taught to our students about what is educationally relevant and what is not.

After researching a bit more, I found that school districts hire private companies that filter web material and it is these companies that make decisions on what is censored and list is usually kept private. I do agree that some degree of filtering is necessary, especially for younger children, but in my experiences too many sites that are educationally relevant are blocked. For example, students and teachers have access to Teacher Tube, but not You Yube. Many valuable learning videos that are out there are not accessible on Teacher Tube, but they are available on You Tube. Filtering has to be done because it is the law. Chapter 8 talks about the Children's Internet Protection Act and how this directly effects the classroom. This act protects children against inappropriate materials on the internet and protecting the safety and security of our students on the internet. I do agree with the group that opposed this law because students are in fact, denied viewing appropriate material from being viewed.

The internet is great tool that should be accessible in almost any arena. We teach our students what they need to know and hopefully offer them an authentic learning environment. If we restrict access to the internet even after educating them on what types of information they should obtain, we can't ensure that they will not make mistakes. We have to allow students to make mistakes and I don't think it is any different for an internet use policy. If they are accessing websites that are inappropriate then I think to a degree they are learning. Not speaking of the extreme, like pornography, but they may find themselves learning something new from a site that a private vendor says is inappropriate.

Lin, H. & Thornburgh, D. Youth, Pornography, and the Internet. 2002. National Academy Press. Washington, D.C. http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309082749

RR#2 The Networked Student

As I watched "The Networked Student" video I couldn't help but notice that I relate to this student's position in so many ways. All my college classes are on-line and I probably will never meet Dr. Thompson face-to-face. I know this is sad, but it is reality. Sad in a good way because the use of "teacher as a facilitator" shows us that allowing the student to guide the instruction can work and the students will learn even though they may never see their instructor.

The video makes "real" points about how our shift towards technology has changed the way students learn and teachers teach. Connectivism or learning from a social network does and can occur on a daily basis. I like to reference the Chinese Proverb, " I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand." The traditional lectures that students hear are a good example of forgetting. With social networking and the connection to so many people and resources students are now able to say "I do". Interactive videos, blogs, and web pages help to make this possible. I thought it amazing that the student in the video could gain access to the top professors at prestigious universities to gain more knowledge about his subject. Who better to get it from than those that are experts in the field.

Chapter 2 highlights the importance that the federal, state, and local governments are putting on funding in order make sure that classrooms are equipped with networks and software programs that enhance learning. Having access to an e-reader set-up and Smartboard in my classroom has given me the ability to take advantage of just some of the resources out there. The multimedia that is available on the web is endless. The book talked about video and mentioned the website Discovery Education (United Streaming) and this caught my eye because I have used this site on many occasions. For example, today was Chinese New Year and I didn't have any really good materials that I could share with my students about the holiday so I did a quick search on this website and found an educational video that gave visuals to my students about the Chinese New Year. Without this my students would have lost out on valuable information.

Addressing our students' learning modalities should be considered when we are planning and teaching our lessons. Social networking, in my opinion, offers something to all learning styles. Whether it's a video, web page, chat room, or e-mail the numerous ways of communication on the web addresses all learning styles and should be considered.

Activity Reflection 1

Too often I find myself scrambling to find information and additional resources to use in  the lessons I teach. As was the case for the 100th day of school. I was looking for a good book that not only referenced the 100th day of school, but also something that included some type of first grade math. My initial thought was to go through my books that I had in my classroom, but something from our reading stopped me . As I was researching all the websites available through our reading of Chapter 2 and the websites given on webcourse, I found the information I was looking for. I initially accessed Education World and was able to connect to a lesson plan that was perfect for what I needed.

As I researched the FLDOE I found some similarities and differences to those of other states. I found that the FLDOE had many more community outreach programs than those of other states. For example, the FLDOE had resources for family involvement and the list of sites were plenty. I visited the "All Pro Dad" website and found many other outreach programs and parenting tips through this site. I've never had much luck with FLDOE website until I really had the chance to explore it. I have only used it to look up my certification and make sure I was actually allowed to teach in Florida.

Beyond this, I also took a look at the Seminole County Public School website. I often use this webpage during my classroom instruction as this is the county I teach in. There is a student tab available on the webpage that lets students access different reading programs, such as, Tumble Books and other helpful library links. Of course, there are resources for teachers as well. There are many reading programs accessible through the educator link and Professional Development tab. Teachers have open access to sign up for many of the PD classes the county offers. I have used the district website to get copies of numerous things, such as, benchmarks, NGSSS standards, and other assessment data.Educationally relevant materials are all over the webpages I located during my search. It's the matter of finding these sites on your own. I appreciate the limiting your search examples given in the reading, as I never knew these common operators.

I have a strong like for Professional Learning Communities for a few reasons. First, if your're collaborating with your colleagues about what you are teaching often times there is always someone that knows of a site that is useful for what you are teaching. Second, PLC's almost make us constantly refine what it is that we are teaching. What is it that we can do better, what other resources are out there? Keeping it fresh and constantly collaborating with our peers keeps these searches on-going.

21st Century

After viewing the Fisch & McLeod's video my interest was sparked because I thought hard about what I was doing as a classroom teacher to ensure that I was preparing my students with the skills they need to be successful in the 21st century. Am I preparing them with the skills they need to compete in the global economy? Am I allowing adequate access to a computer to teach the critical technology skills they need? Am I preparing my students with the critical thinking and problem-solving skills they will need to be successful?

After asking these questions, it is clear to me that many perceive the U.S. as lagging behind when it comes to taking the lead in the 21st century. Why is this? I think that the U.S. has a focus that does not lean towards  expanding skills students need, but the focus is put on the acheivement gap and improvement of low performing schools. It seems that providing these 21st skills would help to close the achievement gap and expand on the skills students will need to be successful and compete globally.

Students will need to be provided with the tools and resources they need to gain these 21st century skills. Teachers need to get away from "conventional teaching" and take chances themselves. Educators can become stagnate and non-welcoming to change. Technology will continue to be the driving force and I feel it's time to emphasize that importance by teaching and giving our students the tools they need. Without budget cuts and accountability issues these plans seem feasible, but with the continued struggle of where we will get the money for resources and how will we teach it will be our biggest issue.

Instructional Reform

Very often I notice that when our districts adopt new curriculum series, teachers are taught to buy into these plans because they go along with the standards that we are teaching. Are we doing what is best for our students when we adopt these new plans? Are these curriculum series developmentally appropriate for the students we teach? Or is it a convienent and more easy way to get the material out there?  "Are we doing what is best for our students, or are we doing what is most convienent?" Policymakers continuously try to make instructional reforms and raise standards that too often negatively effect our students. Districts rush to find new and innovative ways to teach the standards, but they don't look at the appropriateness of the material.

I bring up the curriculum series because companies like Harcourt and Pearson try to make textbooks that are convenient for our ways of teaching. I think many teachers use these series as a "crutch" for teaching the material and fail to utilize outside resources. These series are the not the "do all, tell all" and are simply provided as guides for teachers to build upon. Teachers are too often scolded for maintaining the conventional styles of teaching inconsistent to that of the new curriculum series. So to this I strongly believe we are most comfortable with convenience and do often fail to do what is best for our students.

Conventional styles of teaching are going to have to change in order for our students to keep up with the ever-changing world of technology. Students will have to display media literacy and finding ways to incoporate this into our teaching is not always easy. Many educators don't have access to many resources that others might, but that doesn't mean we, the teacher, are not responsible to teach it. Finding new ways to integrate technology into our teaching is what is best for our students, but not necessarily convenient for us.

integrating blog

I hope this worked

About Me

Thanks for taking the time to read about me. I'm currently a first grade teacher in Seminole County. I absolutely love my job and couldn't imagine doing anything else. I'm maried to my wonderful husband, Charlie. We have a beautiful 3 year old daughter named River. She keeps us very busy and happy:) I go by Kari.

I hope to get a lot of information from this class to use in my own classroom. I currently use a Smartboard in my room and can't wait to gain even more information about all the resources available.

New Blog

This is my first post on my new blog. I hope this works!