Too much technology? (online reflection #3)

How would you incorporate technology in your classroom? How much technology is too much? Is it okay to let students have their phones out when they are in class? As the time goes by there's more and more technology. Most students have a smart phone which is quite distracting, but it can also aid them in their everyday learning. The only problem here is how do we as teachers incorporate this technology in a way that aids more than it distracts. Also how do we incorporate every student?

We are in the era of technology. Every year there's a new phone with new apps. Every year new technology enters our classroom, we as teachers need to keep up with the new technology. It’s not only about the books and the handouts now. You can teach your students using video clips, movies, songs, and even social media. Technology serves teachers as visual aids. Technology not only keeps our students engaged but it's also information at their finger tips. As much as we all love technology and all of its wonders, technology can also help our students not learn. How easy is it to be on your phone looking up a work and somehow end up on Facebook? Technology can be very distracting to our students.

My CT uses technology in her classroom. She uses video clips when they start a unit to help the students understand concepts such as point of view, or how important it is to be acquainted with your teachers and counselors. She also uses this cool thing called "Reminder 101" which is a free website from which the teacher can email or text students reminders. She just sends out a message about important work that is due and all of the students get the same message. She also allows them to use their phones during class in case they need to look up any words or listen to music when they are doing independent work or reading.

In Building Adolescents Literacy in Today's English Classrooms Randy Bomer explains why it is very important that we teach our students these skills 21st century technology skills, he states that "literacy is most importantly expanding in online environments". Technology is constantly changing and we need to learn to adapt to it not only as teachers but also as students.  Even though most students have a smart phone there are a select few that don’t. How would you include those students that don’t have a phone? They wouldn’t be able to receive all of the reminders. They may not have a phone or they may not have internet at home to view the email. Also what kind of technology would you incorporate in your classroom in order to teach them these 21st century technology skills? Most schools don’t have a lot of technology available. Most schools share a laptop cart which is on high demand by every teacher in the building.

References

 Bomer, Randy. Building Adolescent Literacy in Today's English Classrooms. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2011. Print.

KATE Conference

This past week I had the pleasure of attending the KATE conference and it was awesome! I got to learn some pretty cool things that I can use in my future classroom. I also had the pleasure of seeing my old high school English teachers and meeting new teachers. Not to mention I also had the pleasure of listening to Taylor Mali recite his poetry which was pretty fantastic.

On the first day of the conference I listened to quite a few helpful breakout sessions. My favorite was the first session that I went to titled Rethinking Language Arts and Crafts. This session provided me with ideas to make my classroom fun with some hands on activities that didn't require too much technology. This session not only showed us some student examples but they also provided a packet that we could take with us with all of the arts and crafts assignments. One of the sessions was a little disappointing mainly because it was a bit short. The speaker had to leave early so we only got about 10 minutes of Shaking Up  How we Approach Shakespeare. I wish I would've learned a bit more on the one because I think that would be useful when dealing with high school English.

The second day of the conference was also very useful. I learned about classroom management and using social media in your classroom. In Nonfiction: Unlocking Creativity and Critical Thinking I learned about quite a few interesting sites that I can use as a teacher. My favorite session was Command Control and Conquer your Classroom. This session focused more on classroom management and how to interact with your students in order to have a successful and comfortable learning environment. One session that I did not attend that I wish I would have was Facing the Joys and Perils of the First Year of Teaching I think this would have been an interesting and helpful session.

My favorite part about the KATE conference of course was having the opportunity of listening to Taylor Mali in person. He is amazing. I have seen his videos on YouTube but there is nothing like listening to him in person. I was absolutely amazed. Overall the conference was great and I am very greatfull that I was able to attend and listen to all these great ideas of how to make your classroom successful.

Genre Reflection #1

Senioritis

Seniors trying to graduate,

Writing essays and reading books,

Every seat was taken when I first walked in the room.

Their ears are open,

Their minds are eager.

One more English class, one more year!

One more English class, one more year!

The teacher eases her way throughout the room.

She eases her way into their minds.

She fills them with knowledge.

She fills them with direction.

Everything is clear now, clear as only water can be.

Now they can get to work.

Silence takes over as they focus on their work.

Only a faint sound of music coming from the students headphones echoes in the room.

They get their work done.

They get good grades.

Days fly by,

Work gets graded,

Their progress reports say they’ve done well.

Their work all gets done and nothing is late.

The teacher is happy,

And so are they.

Days keep flying by.

Students are late,

Students are absent.

That essay was due a week ago, that essay was due a week ago.

That essay is now late.

There are empty chairs,

There are empty minds,

No longer do these students care.

No longer do they try.

They all want to graduate,

They all want to leave.

How long is this class, how long is this class?

Can I just go back to sleep?

Get your head up… Get your head up,

There is no sleeping in class.

Trying to save these kids grades,

Trying to save them from falling behind.

They keep trying, keep trying.

They try to stay awake,

They try to do all of their work,

They try to turn their work in on time.

They try to focus, they try to care.

One more English class, one more year!

One more English class, one more year!

In the end they're just trying to graduate.

Watch Me (online reflection #2)

          How would you incorporate films in your English classroom? How much would be too much? Is there a limit on how long a film should be when you're having the students watch it during class time? These are all questions that pop into my head when thinking about using films to go along with lessons. I like the idea of using films as a visual aid. I've realized in my observations and also as a student that film is very appealing to students. They like the idea of watching something in the classroom rather than just listen to the teacher lecture.

          My CT uses different forms of visual aids to make her lecture more appealing to the students. These visual aids also assist the students in understanding what it is that they need to do. She uses PowerPoint when going over directions this way the students' are not only listening to the instructions but they are also reading the instructions themselves. She also uses handouts and templates that ease the work of the students. I also really like how she uses short movie clips to enhance the idea of lectures point. For example when the students had to write a narrative essay she used the beginning of the movie Spanglish which begins with the main character reading her acceptance letter to college. This demonstrated the use of good diction and it also helped them understand how a narrative essay should be formatted. She has also used other movies to go along with other lessons; she will normally play about 5 minutes of the movie and nothing more.

          In Image Grammar Harry R. Noden discusses the use of film as a tool for enhancing details. This is something that my CT does really well. Noden states that "recognizing the appeal of media to students, teachers can use art and film as tools for enhancing detail" (pg. 43). Using films helps students see the big picture; they see specific images rather than just listening to something.

          So my question is how much film would be too much film? Should our use of film be minimal or restricted to short movie clips? Would it be appropriate to show the students a whole movie rather than just short clips or would that be wasting class time. Films enhance a students learning experience it appeals to them. I like the idea of using visual aids but I also don’t want that aid to turn into a distraction or a waste of class time. How do you guys feel about the use of films in the classrooms?

References

Noden, Harry R. Image Grammar: Teaching Grammar as Part of the Writing Process. 2nd ed. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2011. Print.

Can you understand me? (online reflection #1)

Can you understand me? (reflection #1)

I am in a high school for my core 3 placement this semester and all of my students are seniors. The classroom is designed for students who plan on furthering their education after high school. These students all plan on attending a four year college, a community college or a technical college. My CT is really good about getting all of the students involved in class discussions and making sure that they understand what is being expected from them. Whenever they receive an assignment she goes through the directions and breaks them down this way there is no confusion about what needs to be completed. She does a really great job explaining everything and going through the directions one step at a time.

There is one issue that I have seen in the classroom that I would like to address and get some feedback on. It involves a couple of English Language Learners; even though my CT does a great job breaking everything down these students still lag behind a bit. When she moves on they are still trying to process what she recently said. They also fall behind because when it comes time to do the assignment they are still trying to put all the instructions together in a way that they can understand and process.

I can normally help these students, they sit together which makes it easy for me to go sit at their table and make sure that they are not falling behind. These students first language is Spanish which I can speak fluently. While my CT is lecturing I can make sure that they understand what's going on.

My biggest concern is what happens when I become the teacher and there's not that extra person in there with me when I'm lecturing. How do I make sure that these students aren’t falling behind? The classroom has a large number of students which makes it really hard to have a lot of one on one time with the students. Another issue would be if it was a language I was not familiar with, how would I go about that.

I read an article called "Overcoming Language and Cultural Barriers in School:

Helping Hispanic Students Acquire Success in Elementary School" by Pauline S. Ivey where Ivey talks about how students with English as their first language are far more successful than students who start out speaking a language other than English. I want all of my students to have an equal opportunity in being successful without language being a barrier. Ivey also talks about how parents are not as involved in their children's school because of the language barriers which might explain why they're less successful than students with parents who speak English.

So my question for you guys would be how would you deal with this situation? I want my students to be able to process what they are learning and not fall behind. I also want parents to feel comfortable coming into my classroom during conferences or any other school events.

References

          Ivey, P. S. (2011). Overcoming Language and Cultural Barriers in School: Helping Hispanic Students Acquire Success in Elementary School. Online Submission

Hey everyone! So these are my goals for this year!

1. Be active! I want to be active in my CT's room before students teaching! I'm hoping for some co-teaching this semester!

2. Become a better teacher! Hopefully I learn some things in my placement that I can take with me once I'm done with the education program. Maybe even learn some things that I can do second semester once I  am in control of the classroom.

3. Be less nervous! I don't know about everyone else but I personally get really nervous when having to do things in front of other people. When doing lessons for the first time I get extremely nervous especially when I am being observed and evaluated!

4. Learn. I'm hoping to learn a lot not just from my CT but also from the students. Learn how to handle a classroom efficiently, learn how to deal with different students and different personalities. I also hope to learn a lot from my classes at WSU!

Hey everyone! This is Gaby!