Your last blog post of the semester:-)

Your final blog post will be about parent involvement in schools. After our discussion in class and your reading of chapter 6 you should have a good understanding of how important this connection is for the success of a child.
Watch the youtube links and post a comment about parental involvement. What are your thoughts? Do you have an interesting story from your schooling about your parent or a classmate's parent being involved in school? How important do you think it is? What can you do as a first year teacher to help parents become more involved?
Pick one of the questions above as a springboard for your post.

I also posted the Homework youtube in case you wanted to view it again.

Don't forget that ALL assignments must be turned in the first class period in December. I will not take any papers after that date.

Question of the week

Click the url link on the right. It is a brief overview of the book I read from the other day, "Soar your strengths" by Donald Clifton. After you read the brief synopsis, think of something in your life now or in the past that is a weakness and also think of your strengths. Share these with the rest of us and tell us how you have learned to manage this weakness and soar with your strength. If it relates to school, tell us if and how a teacher taught you to manage the weakness and/or soar with the strength.

The Foliotek link is listed to the right. Go to the website and click on the link labeled "New User." Fill in all the account information that Dr. Vazis gave you.

Technology in the classroom

Watch the Technology youtubes on the right. Reflect upon what you saw. What are your thoughts about technology in the classroom? How could the Amazon Kindle change typical textbooks in the future? Please share an example of how a teacher effectively or ineffectively utilized technology in the classroom.

Question of the next few weeks

I want you to watch the most recent youtube posting. It is titled Do Schools Today Kill Creativity? It is a 20 minute youtube. If you do not have 20 minutes, at the very least, watch the last 10 minutes of the presentation. The speaker, Ken Robinson, talks about our public education system and how we stifle creativity. After watching the youtube I want you to reflect on what you saw and think about what you learned from Daniel Pink's video that we have been watching in class. Here is your question - Do you agree or disagree with Ken Robinson and Daniel Pink? Why? Write about an experience you have had in your educational experience that allowed you to be creative. Did you learn from the experience? Or if you can not think of one, write about an opportunity that one of your teacher's missed in which you could have learned the given objective while still expressing your own creativity. You can also write about Daniel Pink's discussion on preparing our students for the current markets utilizing the right side of their brain. Tell us what you think about these things. And don't forget to post a reply to one of your classmates.

Question of the Week

One of my goals for you this semester is that you become familiar with the Lindenwood School of Education and what you can expect over the next 4 years of your life. In order to do this, you need to be very familiar with the Lindenwood website, and in particular, the School of Education section of the website.The following link should take you to the School of Education section of the website. http://www.lindenwood.edu/academics/education/onlineResources.aspPlease browse the site and find something new that you either didn't know before or that you didn't know was on the website. You only have to post one reply this week. It is not necessary that you reply to a classmate. HOWEVER, you must find something on the website that is different than what the previous posts have indicated.Here are a few things to remember while you are looking for information:1. It must be related to either Education or your Secondary Field of Study.2. It can be a form you found on the Guide to Undergraduate Teacher Education, but you must specify what the form is about and when you would use it.3. It can be something about Student Teaching, but be specific about what you learned.4. It be something about Foliotek, but be specific about what you learned.5. It can be something about CBASE or Praxis, but be specific about what you learned.6. You will not submit information about a form that another student has already posted.7. There should be no repeat answers because there are 58 pages in the Guide to Undergraduate Teacher Education.See you guys next week - Remember we do have class!!!

Question of the week

Now that you have read chapter 2 on the professionalization of teaching and we discussed a few of the issues in class, I would like for you to reflect upon your 13+ years of schooling and the examples your teachers have set for you. You need to think of a time, experience, or memory of a teacher doing or saying something that exemplified that he/she was truly a well-respected professional. OR you can write about a time, experience, or memory of a teacher doing or saying something that was not professional. Do not use names when you are talking about this teacher. It can be as simple as "One of my high school teachers always wore flip-flops to school." Or it can be a complex issue such as "One of the high school teachers used to go to student parties on the weekend and drink alcohol in front of the students." After you state the issue, type a few sentences about why you thought it was professional or unprofessional and how it affected your learning.
Please be sensitive to the fact that this topic is very subjective. Something you might think is unprofessional another person might think is not a big deal. Let's be aware of people's differing opinions. We need to make sure we keep this post PROFESSIONAL:-)

Question of the week

We've really covered alot of material this past week...readings from the text book, the assessment article, and the youtube videos. You've participated in individual activities as well as group work. Let's think practical for a minute or two, what is your current state? How are you assimilating the information you have received up to this point? What mental activities have you been using to work through this material? You can respond to your thoughts about our in-class discussions, readings, activities, and/or youtube videos. Just a reminder to not only post your comment, but reply to one of your peers as well!

Question of the week

I've posted all the qualities that everyone in this class thought were characteristics of an effective teacher on the right hand side of our blog....take a look at the list, thinking about the value of each characteristic. After you've reviewed the list carefully, please post your response to the following question.....

Congratulations! You've just landed the teaching position of your dreams. You begin packing your things to fly to the new school district and realize, due to the increased costs of gasoline, you can bring with you only three suitcases. Each suitcase can hold only ONE quality of an effective teacher...which three would you take with you and why?

Don't forget to also post a response to one of your peers. Happy Writing!