Curriculum

I feel like curriculum has been surfacing in a lot of discussion around our school systems these days, especially with the new "grading" experiement for NM schools. My personal experience has only been in a charter school setting where we pretty much have free-reign of what we use to teach in our classrooms. We do have an adopted curriculum but teachers are not required to use it. Some teachers use Harcourt, Saxon, Globe, Pearson, or Houghton-Mifflin. Some use bits and pieces from different curriculums and some use there own stuff that they brought from other schools or created throughout their career. Personally, I REALLY appreciate the freedom to choose what to use. I feel like teachers, especially ones that have been in the business for a while, know which works the best. Every year we are presented with a different group of students and a different class, so one curriculum that might have worked last year may need to be adjusted this year for your new group of kiddos. One downfall that I have noticed is that perhaps the inconsistancy between grade levels and within the school might cause issues as kids move on through the years. I have never worked at a school that delegates what teachers will teach and when they will be doing it but I have heard horror stories about not being able to add your own touch to teaching. My suggestion would be that grade level teachers do teach the same things arounfd the same time during the year because this would make for an easy transition for a new student switching schools in the year. Teachers wouldn't have to wonder what things they had covered previously in their old school before coming to a new school. That way students wouldn't miss out on content if they made a move in the school year. Other than that I think it is extremely important to allow teachers to add creativity and personal touches to their teaching. That is the reason that most of us want to enter into this profession...to make it fun and meaningful and relevent! So make curriculum available to teachers, but allow us to supplement it with our own creative touch!

Bias

Naturally it is uncomfortable to admit to any biases we might have against other people. I think for an educator it might be even more so because we have a professional standard that we must uphold and that includes an ethical and moral presence in our classroom. But lets face it, everyone has a bias because those are normal feelings that have been demonstrated for us or learned through experiences. I have more than one bias but what I try to remeber is that like our students, people are individuals as well and I try really hard not to judge people before I get to know them. I am biased against morbidly obese people, super religious people, really rich people, really poor people, drug addicts/alcoholics, I mean the list goes on. Even though I am educated in people's differences and I understand that there are many reasons for weight issues, addictions and other life paths I still have biased first impressions of certain groups of people. This can affect a teacher's ideas about students in their classrooms. I think the most important thing that a teacher can practice in their classroom is not letting biases impact their impressions of their students. You must get to know your students and their support group (parents, family members, etc) before you create an opinion about them. I think this is a good rule of thumb for building relationships all aspects in yor life.

And the Teacher of the Year goes to...

La Plata County named one of Durango Elementary School’s educators Teacher of the Year. Kristen McConnell was named teacher of the year last week when her second grade class, along with the super intendant of schools, surprised her Monday morning with the news. “I am so excited and honored to be given this recognition. It’s because of them” McConnell said as she pointed to her students. McConnell says that the most important part of teaching is being a positive and inspiring role model for students. “You only have them for a short time, it is important to give them strategies and skills that they will use to become effective adults” says McConnell. The 30 year old uses small-group activities, technology, and plenty of hands-on activities in her classroom. “Teaching is the most powerful job in the world, we have the opportunity to touch a child’s life and make on impact on them forever” says McConnell. McConnell received her teaching license in New Mexico after several years of classroom experience as an educational assistant. “I just loved being in the classroom so much but I wanted to be able to implement more of my own ideas, which is why I decided to become a teacher. I have always had a passion for learning and teaching and now I am able to show it in the way I teach.” McConnell says she couldn’t be happier in the Durango school system and plans on many more years of successful teaching in Colorado.

The Purpose in Being a Teacher...

When we discussed education in class we all agreed that parts of education included the transfer of knowledge between people, learning from experiences, and that learning and education, though interrelated, are two different areas. The way I view my purpose as a teacher encompasses the values and ethics I feel teachers should hold and those things should be reflected in my teaching. I value education and think that it is one of the keys to becoming successful and a contributing member of society. As a teacher, the value of education should be apparent in the way you teach and act in your professional setting. A teacher has the power to make learning fun, engaging, and meaningful. At least that is the way I hope to transfer necessary knowledge to my students! I know that a teacher is provided with certain standards that students should know by the end of the year and maybe even specific curriculum to use. But the joy of being a teacher comes from the freedom to supplement with hands-on activities and real-life experiences in your classroom. I do believe that we learn from experiences easier than reading from a textbook or sitting through lectures. If a teacher can create differentiated lessons that reflect learning from experiences, I believe they are setting their students up for success. I also think students can benefit from whole-group lessons as well as small-group committees and I plan on incorporating both strategies in my classroom.  

As far as the Super Bowl goes…I am not partial to any team and usually only watch for the commercials and half-time showJ But just for fun I will say…28 Patriots – 25 Giants????

…I will be playing on the mountain in Winter Park anyway….. 

Teacher Blogs

I have come across a ton of good teacher blogs when searching for art ideas, creative lessons, and how to use technology in the classroom. One website that I refer to often is the teachingblogaddict.com. I like this website because it has so much information for teachers and families as well. Teaching blog addict is more of an online community but it has links to teacher blogs for all grade levels. You can view teacher blogs from pre-k teachers, all grade levels, and even multi-age teachers, and homeschool parents. The thing I like best about teachers blogs is viewing the creative lesson plans they use in their classroom. I get a lot of ideas from others and can change or switch them according to my students' levels and capabilities. I think blogs are useful for sharing ideas and learning new techniques. You will often come across an idea that maybe you have not thought of before. Teaching blog addict also has an option to link your own blog so that others who visit the website can view your blog too.  

Education vs. Schooling

On the first night of class we all discussed what education meant to us in our small groups and there were so many different interpretations from each individual. We talked about how education is the transfer of knowledge from one person to another, it is learning, it is experiences, it happens all the time, it is a process that grows upon itself. We said that education is knowledge of the basics like reading, writing, and arithmetic. We also said that education is the process of becoming an educated person. It is clear that education can mean a variety of things to different individuals but I would agree with any and all of those statements. I believe that education is the process of using experiences to develop a skill set in which an individual always has access to an optimal state of mind in any situation. Education does not only apply to school settings and book-smarts, but also growing as an individual and common sense. Therefore, schooling is almost like guidelines that are applied to educational goals. Schooling incorporates specific curriculum, standards, benchmarks, and boundaries to set goals for the direction in which learning is happening. It is specific training, classes, and exposure to areas that an individual wishes to become educated in. I think education can happen without the directional guiding of schooling, but the purpose of schooling is education, and so cannot happen without education.  

The process of living...

"I believe that education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living"... number 8, taken from John Dewey's Pedagogic Creed. This really struck something inside me when I read this particular statement. Yes! education is a process that occurs from the day you are born until the day that you die. I had this very conversation with some fellow colleagues at staff development who gave me blank stares when I mentioned that I thought education and learning are the things you take away from real life experiences. I believe this is true for not only life experiences but experiences we will have as teachers as well. I feel like I have learned more from trial and error in the classroom setting than having someone tell me how it will work. For me education happens on a daily basis just in my day-to-day life, and I am constantly learning new things from people around me, my experiences, and especially my students:)

Grading

I agree with the points that Alfie Kohn made about grading in his article. Three years ago the school I work at moved to a standards based report card system. It is still a work in process because often times parents, students, and even teachers are only familiar with the more traditional A-F grading system. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the standards based grading system, it uses a number scale from 1-4 to rank students' achievement in specific areas which they are supposed to know by the end of the year, depending on what grade they are in. There are still  a few "bugs" to work out but overall I feel like it is a better assessment of actual student achievement without labeling or sorting students based on letter grades like Kohn had mentioned.   Using this type of grading method can even help motivate students to do better or more thorough work because they do not feel pressured to get an "A." I also think it is important to always include teacher comments on any type of grade report, but obviously with this type of assessment parents will have a lot of questions, especially if they have never seen it before. 

Week 1

Hello all! I am looking forward to starting the ATL program with all of you. I have been in the classroom for the past 7 years as an EA and I can not wait to finally have the opportunity to teach in my own classroom. I have my BS in management but as you can see my real experience is working with kiddos. I have already seen and heard some great ideas in just the first week of starting the program. I can not wait to see what I will come away with from this first semester.