Well, I’m in the thick of the Bay Path Special Education Graduate program, now. Whew.
I am taking three courses this semester, but two concurrently – one on Inclusion and Collaboration and another on Managing Challenging Behaviors. Both courses require a substantial amount of work, but have a totally different “feel” to them. It is a wonderful contrast to experience. I suppose the best description would be to say that the classroom that I hope to one day be a part of should have elements of both – collaboration and discipline; both for teachers and students.
One of the first projects I have been assigned to do (for my Inclusion course) is to observe a co-teaching team. I am so looking forward to this. I was concerned that it would be a huge obstacle, but as it turns out, everything is flowing effortlessly. I plan to observe this week and next!
The assignment for the Behavior course is a little more difficult. I have been assigned 3 papers which are based on personal experience using the strategies outlined in our textbook. Without my own class to actually implement these strategies, it seems a bit unlikely. However, I was given a little gem of an idea from someone outside the program. She suggested that another student in our course who is a teacher in a classroom perform the activity while I observe and record the events. Then we can both work on the paper together – with the bulk of the written work completed by me. I have often said that it takes someone outside of the situation to see the perfect solution. In this case, it seems absolutely true! I am excited to propose this idea to the professor and our class as a positive solution.
Before I end this post I have to mention the film that our Inclusion professor showed us in class. It is a remarkable documentary and I have been looking for it to suggest to others to see. The film is called “Including Samuel” by Daniel Habib. As it turns out, Daniel is a photojournalist (as is my life partner – she knew who he was immediately) and has two sons. His youngest son, Samuel, was born with cerebral palsy. The film centers around Samuels experience in an inclusion classroom. Please check to see if the film is being shown on your local PBS station. If it is not, call the station and request it!

Wordle

Wordle is an online tool that transforms your writing into a visual composition - and it's really cool! Check it out at Wordle.net and check out the link to my Jing project to see how to use it!

Teach Technology - via a 3rd grade class

Kick In The Pants

Sometimes, a good kick in the pants comes to me in the strangest forms...I am a (proud) fan of the Life is Good page on Facebook. Today, the message was, "Life is good.® Don't knock something, build something." So I began feeling guilty for having anything negative to say about any of the online tools that I have signed up for...
I decided to ask questions. I asked my partner, if she would appreciate a daily (or more frequent) Tweet about our son’s day at Kindergarten. Keep in mind, this "day" is 3 years in the future. She responded, "Absolutely! I think it would make for a great start for a conversation with him." My heart sunk, but I tried to keep my composure so she would not know. Then she said, "But, would I want to be the teacher who had to do the Tweeting? No."
In my mind, I had envisioned this idyllic scenario where our son would step off the bus, sun on his face, wind in his hair, running to me (in slow motion) calling out to me as he jumps into my arms, “Mom! I learned so much today! Let me tell you all about it!” I also thought that parents (like-minded with me) would think that Tweets about their child’s day would only ruin the “surprise” at the end of the school day. I am obviously mistaken.
So I will stop knocking Twitter. I will put all of my bookmarks on Delicious. I will post photos on Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa and Facebook, even embarrassing ones...actually those are already there. I will do my best to be a really informed, effective, savvy techie-teacher and be available and encouraging to my students when they need help with this technology. I can see the value that Twitter could bring to some parents. I am humbled. I will Tweet in the morning; I will Tweet in the afternoon; I will Tweet when the spirit moves me.
I am waiting for the spirit right now.
By the way, MyMathLab is the most effective way to learn how to teach mathematics in elementary grades. The format can appeal to more than one style of learning. I am definitely a visual learner. The site offers video lectures, interactive manipulatives, study plans and interactive tutorials. In the homework section, if one is struggling with a particular problem, there is a “Help me solve this problem” button! The student is walked through the problem and the operations involved. When the problem is completed (with the help of the site) another similar problem is posted for the student to solve on his/her own. I wonder if this same style of site is available for elementary students. It is terrific!
I am learning so much, already. In fact, I think most people would be stunned to find the complexity of math that is taught in the K-8th grades.
I guess that’s the spirit in me…

Techno Slave

Techno Slave or Not
I have been seduced by the new technology that I am being presented in this SPE 542 course (Technology for Educators). Wikis and blogs and Facebook and (unfortunately) Twitter have been touted as having merit within education. They provide huge potential for communication, expressing ideas and opinions, learning to respect and appreciate diverse viewpoints.

On the other hand, what about quiet thought? What about quiet observation? And what about REAL social interaction? These techie-gadgets (iPhones, Mini-netbooks, Blackberrys) have us linked to the outside world at every minute of the day. When a desktop computer is tied to your home, you can leave it, go outside and enjoy the outdoors. While outside you can reflect on the world around you, compose thoughts and return with a sense of wonder and/or awareness. All of this is not possible if you are looking at the screen in front of you while under the canopy of a spectacular forest.
I find myself having to check my Google Reader, Twitter, Facebook and even the course module site at ANGEL Learning constantly so that I don’t fall behind on my reading or postings. I wonder how much of this is really necessary.
Let me be clear, I am not anti-technology. I like having access to so much information and so conveniently. I simply have a lot of questions now that I have been exposed to how quickly technology is shifting, growing, changing and how it will be implemented in the classroom.
I find myself asking,
· “With all my logging into different sites and reading blogs and articles about technology, how am I to assimilate all of the information that I am taking in and translating it to a lesson?”
· “Would a periodic Twitter update help parents to feel involved?”
o “How would these updates affect my time teaching?”
o “Would parents appreciate it?”
· “Would parents like to see their students in front of the computer each evening blogging and posting discussions on-line, knowing their kids are keeping up with the most current technology?”
o “Would parents prefer to connect one-on-one with their kids and see all that they are learning translated into a truly human social connection?”
· “Will all my future special education elementary school students be in class with a laptop in front of them?”
o “Why would we need to meet at a school at all?”
o Is this where we are headed?
I may not agree with Will Richardson’s blog posting on Techoslavery completely, it bears a look by anyone who is interested in this discussion /my personal conflict.

The Search Continues

Desperately Seeking R. Kaht
In my quest to find information on outdoor classrooms for elementary level special education, I came across a paper written by a graduate student at Central Michigan University, Richard Kaht. His paper (while not geared to the special education group I am looking to facilitate) was thorough, insightful and full of wonderful resources. In fact, I found it to be the most concise and practical article I found in two weeks of constant research both on the internet and in the licensed periodical databases available through our school. I thought to myself, I need to find this person and learn more from him. Well, I can’t find him.
I am going to test the two theories that have been raised in our course discussion boards:
· If you put something on the internet, it stays forever
· Everyone can see what you are posting, so be careful what you say and how you say it (which implies “be careful what you wish for”)
If anyone out there knows who I’m talking (Richard E. Kaht, once a graduate student at CMU) about, please, send him a link to this blog so that I can pick his brain for more information and find out what work he’s done since the writing of the article.

Did you know, 3.0?

Just to illustrate how fast the Web 2.0 is moving...another video has been created since the one I saw last fall...Did You Know 2008...keep up people...Down the Rabbit Hole …

Did you know?

On the topic of technology in education:
I saw the “Did you know?” video for the first time last fall when my math methodologies professor presented it in class. I was blown away and realized then that I needed to dive in deeply to technology in order to keep up and to become a competent teacher. Now I’m tackling this “Web/Classroom 2.0” topic in my Educational Technologies course and finding many important and relevant connections to information presented in this video that I simply had to post it in my links…I hope you enjoy it…

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog! In my current coursework at Bay Path College, I am taking an educational technology course which both requires and inspires this new site. This site will be chronicling my adventures in graduate school and beyond.

My Background
I am new to the whole culture of teaching and sub-culture of special education. I came to this career path, motivated by the birth of my son, Marco and with encouragement from a dear friend, Eve Rifkin.

My previous life had been about constructing outdoor environments, both for large scale projects (zoos, aquariums, theme parks and museums) and residential landscapes. Now I’m learning to construct pathways for students (who may otherwise have difficulty) to become engaged, thoughtful and hopefully life-long learners.

The Connection
In this quest to learn how to be a teacher (hopefully a compassionate, informed and motivating teacher) and through the current module for my class, I have sought out specific information on environmental education and the outdoor classroom.

There has been much research on the growing issue of childhood obesity and ADHD and the correlation of these problems to the disconnection children of today have with nature. Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, has coined the phrase “nature deficit disorder” and developed an organization Children and Nature Network, which provides resources for parents and educators to creatively reconnect children and nature.

I have been in search of ways to incorporate this new curriculum movement into a special education format. Finding articles specifically geared to Special Education has been very difficult.

The emphases of an outdoor classroom and/or experiential education are activities and lessons which are hands-on. Inviting students outdoors, introducing them to their surroundings, encouraging them to explore and to learn more about the world around them is one way to use constructivist theories in a practical educational setting. This system is less formal and (with any luck) less stressful for the student who typically has difficulty in the traditional classroom setting. The sciences (particularly Biology) are a natural fit for this style of teaching/learning. However, it should be noted that mathematics (the Golden ratio and Fibonacci sequence, measurement of growth, area, length, and circumference), art (Matisse, Cezanne, Gauguin, Goldsworthy…), music (Vivaldi, Glass, Schoolhouse Rock…), literature (Thoreau, Whitman, Pam Houston…) and physical education are easily incorporated into this format as well.

Given my extremely limited experience in the classroom, I should not be allowed to comment on any topic concerning special education teaching. However (for the benefit of this course), it would seem that students with moderate learning disabilities could benefit from this alternative style of instruction. This form of instruction can include all five senses and is accessible to all forms of (Gardner) intelligences. It is not a passive form of learning. The student uncovers and composes his/her own knowledge. I also need to include one disclaimer: I would love to spend a majority of my days outdoors exploring with students. As a teacher, this style of instruction is very exciting and opens up a whole new world of possibilities in terms of lesson plans and topics and ways to present curriculum and incorporating real world examples of the material. It also provides the opportunity for me, as the teacher, to remain a life-long student, learning alongside the other members of my class.

*On a side note, after reading many blog postings about how wonderful it is to get our kids outside and explore nature and seeing references to “when you cut a worm in half, it will live” – this myth should be dispelled. The worm doesn’t live or become two worms. You will have a dead worm cut in half. I’m not a “worm hugger”. I don’t hug them whole or half. I know it’s just one of those things kids do when they are exploring nature, but I think as educators and parents it is important to be informed and teach reality.