Blog Post #16

Blog Post #5 Part 2

Personal Learning Networks (PLN) are about making connections and building personal relationships with teachers, school administrators, university professors, and experts around the world.  Mostly, just sharing ideas/resources, collaboration, and learning.  Since I have started this class, I reopened my Twitter account and added some of my fellow classmates and professors.  I read almost everything they Tweeted when I had the time to.  Blogging and Facebook plays a big role during this semester as well, because I never thought I would be doing it.  Now, I can read different teachers and students blog post and create one myself so other people can read it.  PLNs can help teachers by collaborating online and using a range of social media tools to build their own personal learning network to interact with other educators.

         

 

Blog Post #14

Teaching Can Be A Profession by Joel Klein

  

Problem: Pick from the best

Solution: Begin with better academic training for prospective teachers.  Second, they need a new approach to recruit teachers, instead they can recruit from the one-third of their graduates.  Last but not least, they must change how they reward the teachers.

Problem: Seniority distraction
Solution: The late Mr. Albert Shanker, wrote " Unless we go beyond collective bargaining to the achievement of true teacher professionalism, we will fail ... to preserve public education in the United States and to improve the status of teachers economically, socially and politically."  He suggested, doing some things to help create a profession, and it included attracting their best students, developing a demanding "knowledge base" along with a "formal set of peer relationships."  He also called for a "national teacher examination" that tests mastery of pedagogy and content knowledge, akin to the entry exams now required for lawyers and doctors. In addition to all of this, Mr. Shanker would require a "supervised internship of from one to  three years" to evaluate the performance of prospective teachers.

Problem: Radical change
Solution: Mr. Shanker came up with that teachers establish their own board to police the profession, establishing standards and providing mechanisms for removing incompetent teachers.  The teachers would abandon their support for mandatory assignment of kids to neighborhood schools in favor of "the greatest possible choice among public schools."  Mr. Shanker recognized that the public education would not be sustainable if the teachers were continued to be treated as workers in an old-fashioned factory.

In the first post, "Pick from the best",  I have to agree with everything I read.  I think that they do need to start with a better academic training for upcoming teachers and recruit from one-third of their graduates.  This would be a great idea because they can meet new teachers all around and learn more about what's going on in the school systems, classrooms, and what to expect overall.  Changing how they reward teachers would not be a bad idea.  

In the second post, "Seniority distraction", I have to agree when they said job security and seniority dictate the way the schools operate.  I like the way he thought about helping out by, developing a demanding "knowledge base" along with a "formal set of peer relationships."  He even wants them to take a "national teacher examination", which is a test mastery of pedagogy and content knowledge, akin to the entry exams now required for lawyers and doctors.  I think this is a great idea as well because it lets him know if the teachers are really up for what they are getting themselves into.

In the last post, "Radical change", Mr. Shanker went in depth about this transformation.  He proposed that teachers establish standards and provide mechanisms for removing incompetent teachers.  I have to agree with him, because if they want teachers to do what they are suppose to, them they need to start treating them better.

From reading all of Mr. Joel Klein post, I had to agree with everything he said.  Teachers are a big help to many kids today in this world.  They should be treated much better than what they are now.  I hope things do change in the education majors.

C4C

How Do We All Become Learners?

Kelia Fagan

Hi Kelia! I love the way you explained PBL and how you identified your strengths and weaknesses.  I totally agree with you when you said you'll have to learn to focus more when giving a lesson so you won't get off topic. Great job!

What Can Teachers and Students Teach Us About Project Based Learning?
Leslie Evans
Hi Leslie!
I have to agree with you when you said you didn't know what PBL was because I didn't either until I started taking this class, watching all of the videos and reading about it.  I love the way you explained everything. Keep up the good work!

Mrs. Cassidy
Alexis Taite
Hi Alexis! I totally agree with everything you said about Ms. Cassidy's video.  From the looks of her videos, she loves what she does and that is teaching and letting the kids use technology to learn.  I can't wait until I get a chance to experience that because the kids can have fun while their learning.

What can we learn about teaching and learning from these teachers?
Janelle Owens
Hi Janelle! You did a great job explaining everything from this post.  From watching these videos, they really have me excited about the future.  Project Based Learning is a good idea because they children learn so many things in so many ways.  Keep up the good work!

Assistive Learning Technologies
Caroline Mitchell
Hi Caroline!  Your team did a great job explaining assistive technologies.  You guys explained each topic very well, especially with each bullet.  Even the pictures are very helpful to me, because I love to see visual images.

Summary Post C4T

Dean Shareski
The Least Talked About Problem in EdTech
Hi Dean Shareski! My name is JeNyia Rocker and I attend University of South Alabama and I am currently a Junior. I enjoyed reading this post because I never really thought of this the way that you had explained it. A bandwidth is the transmission capacity of an electronic communications device or system; the speed of data transfer. If you really want to make digital learning a reality, every school needs at least 100 megabits. Some need more, some need less. Right now, though, the average school has 10 megabit.

Jen Deyenberg
Trials Optional
Hi! My name is JeNyia Rocker and I attend University of South Alabama.  I really enjoyed reading your post.  I find it so awesome how you let your kids do hands on experience with the science experiments.  Being able to watch and learn how you do things is amazing.

Deb Frazier
Primary Perspective
Trusting Readers and the Journeys

Hi! My name is JeNyia Rocker and I attend University of South Alabama.  Reading your post really inspired me because when I was in the first grade, I didn't like to read at all.  I guess it's because I didn't have a teacher that really motivated me to read.  Seeing you motivate your children, pushing them to read, it gets me excited and I know it gets them enthused in what they read. I look forward to reading more of your post.  Have a great school year!

Summary of C4K posts and comments for April

7th Grade English Class- Oklahoma

Breanna G

Volleyball

Hi Breanna! I totally agree with everything you said about volleyball. This is one of my favorite sports, including tennis. I have been playing volleyball for about 8 years now and I love it so much. Volleyball is a very competitive sport, if you ask me. I really hate losing in a game. Like you said it consists of bump, set, spike and if you mess up, then that’s it. Great way to explain everything, keep up the good work!!

7th Grade English Class- Oklahoma

Breanna G
If I Started My Own Business...
Hi Breanna! My name is JeNyia Rocker and I attend University of South Alabama.  I enjoy reading all of your blogs, especially this one.  When you start your own business, make sure you email or write me because I would love to come and support you.  I know you would do a great job selling books and artwork.  You seem like you already know what you want to do and that would be a good thing to do.  Best wishes to you Breanna

Holly Elementary in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Mr. Gardner
Ira
How do we get energy from the sun?
Hi Ira! My name is JeNyia Rocker and I attend University of South Alabama.  The sun does gives us natural light during the day light and it keeps us warm.  They also call it clean and green instead of solar energy because it doesn’t pollute the air and water.  I like the way you explained how we get energy from the sun.  Keep up the good work!

Blog Post #13

How Can Common Core Be Implemented in Physical Education?

1. Watch Physical Education Common Core Connection .

2. Watch Common Core in PE?

3. Read Common Core Standards and Physical Education.

Common Core Standards & Physical Education (PE)

Common Core is set of national standards designed to create standard assessments for language arts and mathematics.  It can be integrated in physical education at any grade level.  Common Core in physical education can provide instruction, vocabulary words, practice counting and using multiples when keeping score, spell out words related to physical education, and apply physical education vocabulary through certain exercises.

When putting Common Core Standard together with Physical Education, it should focus on social, psychomotor, and cognitive skills.  Mathematics, writing, and reading should be integrated into Physical Education activities, as well.  Common Core lessons in a physical education program should be simple and not too hard for the children, meaning physical education teachers should not force a link to a Common Core Standard.

There are numerous physical education skills that can support Common Core Standards.  Some are putting bulletin boards up that can provide students with information about important vocabulary words, such as health terms, names of muscle groups, and movement words, to physical activity and nutrition articles.  Health and Fitness Journals, you can have the students maintain their own health and fitness journals, which can be used to track and record their fitness goals for the entire year that they are in class.  Supplemental materials are when you hand out materials to the students that provide additional information regarding the sport or activity they are engaged in.  Create a new game, you can split the kids into groups and have them write out the rules and directions for a new game.