12 – Creativity, Dependence, Technology

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I read more and more about the opportunities of how computers can be integrated in the classroom and how the internet can connect students around the world. Almost daily I discover teacher blogs and witnessed first hand students making podcasts, creating dynamic presentations, and sharing their creativity on the internet. I have written in other reflections how I desire to take advantage of these technologies in my classroom. However, I must accept that I am hesitant of taking that technology leap.

11 – Professional Development

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Next week I will be expanding my teaching experience by teaching at a Community College.  This comes after being in graduate school for two years and being away from participating in professional development activities.  When I taught at a middle school, teachers were required to fulfill a specific amount of credits for professional development.  This included attending workshops that could be away from or at school, along with a few other activities.  True these were mostly beneficial; however I developed more professionally from attending conferences, such as NCTM, because I could receive a first hand experience of what effective educators were doing in their classrooms.  But now I can easily accomplish this daily via internet by reading blogs, listening to podcasts, or watching online videos. The accessibility to enhance teaching practices makes me wonder what type of impact this will have on the professional development market. Hopefully, the impact will not be negative; rather it should expand the market. Just as technology should not be a substitute for a teacher, neither should it be for professional development. With this said, I still question how much of my professional development will be recognized. Should a blog such as this be credited towards earning professional development credits? I believe so. A blog is a written record of development plus it has the opportunity to reach an extensive audience. Compare this with speaking at a conference where the information is shared with a few and then it is over. This does not mean that one is better than the other. Yet, the comparison reveals how each way can effectively communicate important practices being implemented in the classroom.

10 – Grades

Click here for the podcast version.  Last one with poor audio quality

The end of the semester is here and as a result so are the grades for my students. Grades are just one aspect of education that can hold a wide range of emotions. On one side is a student that gives them self a stomach ulcer because of stressing over their grade and on the other is a student who appears to purposely try to earn the lowest grade possible. The parents, who commonly reflect their children, are on the exact same spectrum. There are those parents that will strategically battle over a few points and then there are those who take no responsibility in their child’s grade. I must admit that I am out of touch with the parent side since I now teach college students. However, constantly I witness similar attitudes towards grades from eighth graders as with college students, suggesting a trend or habit that student’s carry through their education experience. In the same light, my perspective towards grades is the same as when I taught eighth grade. Is this fair? Should my attitude towards grades be dependent on the level of the students that I am teaching? What I do notice is how my attitude towards grades when I was student easily transferred over to when I first began teaching. How common is this? Do teacher’s perspectives about grades stem from their perception as a student? Well, I guess to truly understand how I feel about grades is to accept that currently I have only viewed them as student and now is the moment for me to define my perspective as a teacher.

9 – End of the Year

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This reflection was different from my others. I did a collaboration with Angela Quiram, who runs the blog Teaching in the Twenty-First Century, and she proposed the reflection topic, “What do you do to encourage your kids to continue learning through the end of the year?”. Next, I emailed her a list of questions as a possible outline for our reflection. Finally, we connected via Skype, which I recorded, and then reflected for about thirty minutes.

The reflection outcome was extremely enriching for myself since I was given the opportunity to have some one else offer input and challenge personal beliefs. True, I try to do this with all of my reflections but the fact remains that it is still my perspective. What I appreciated most was how the reflection felt very honest and true and that none of the answers appeared to be candid. Perhaps this is an advantage of reflecting with a “stranger”. Since I will not see her tomorrow at work or possibly ever, I can spill my educational heart, allowing me to reveal the true identity of my educational beliefs, as if I was talking to the school guidance counselor. Now there is an empowering idea; a school counselor that reflects with teachers. Overall, I want to thank Angela for making this reflection a priority by offering her time and thoughts. After talking to Angela in person, I discovered that she was just as insightful and genuine as she appears on her blog.