The Darche Growth Effect

Over the past 6 weeks, I have been in the "Technology In Education" course presented by Kim Darche. (She is awesome!!!) Tonight will conclude this course and I must say that I am definitely going to miss it. This says a lot since going to class for 4 hours (6-10 pm) is the last thing I want to do after working all day (6:30 am - 4 pm)!

I have grown so much in such a short period of time. Not only did I learn a ton of new tech teaching tools and their applications, I became open to these tools. I see now that tech is not the enemy. There is extreme value to using technology in the classroom for everyone! I was rather skeptical of my being able to accept the idea of incorporating tech into the classroom. As I've said, I am a mother of two boys that have their face in front of a screen every chance they get...and I DO NOT LIKE IT! Like it or not though, technology is the future. So, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right?

I've learned that there are so many ways to really engage today's techie students of all ages. There are great quiz apps, collaborative programs, and games that get the students excited about learning concepts that would be really boring in the traditional lecture format. When we tried some of these out in class, I was LOVING it and wanted to keep going. If that's how excited and engaged I felt, as a tired old grown up, then I can only imagine the benefit to our children!

Once I am a classroom teacher, I will have so many skills to put to great use from this class! Programs like Padlet, Google Classroom, Quizlet Live, and Screencastify will allow me to get my students engaged and excited to learn any concept that would otherwise be boring. All the while making me a more effective teacher, in terms of time spent grading creating and assignments, communicating with parents and developing lesson plans. Even leaving notes and lesson plan details for a substitute will be a breeze with the skills I have learned. God knows there is nothing more frustrating than spending so much time on leaving detailed notes and materials, just to have a sub ignore them and do their own thing!

So I say...Thank you, Kim Darche, for changing my mind about technology in (and out) of the classroom and giving me the tools to be a much better teacher than I would have been without them! 😍

How Will I Measure Up As An (Old) New Teacher?

As I am just re-starting this journey of becoming a licensed teacher, I wonder how I'll do. I've been working with children for the past 16 years,  yet it seems that actual teaching will be so different from this experience. To top it all off, I won't be a fresh out of college young teacher with all the energy that comes with it... Instead, I will be a 36 year old student teacher (assuming all goes exactly as planned) with a teenager and a preschooler at home, less the new and excited energy of the young college students, when the time comes for me to enter the classroom. 

I know that I am certainly not alone, as seen in my classes here at Trinity. It is just kinda scary and I am probably just over thinking everything. I just needed to get that off my chest...Thanks for reading!

Social Media Inspiration

In the midst of all the negativity on social media, it was nice to find a small inspirational video on Facebook this week. It showed a high school teacher accepting the challenge of bench pressing 315 lbs in front of a group of students. 

Why is this inspirational? It could have been seen as her showing off (which there were plenty of negative comments saying such things, or accusing her of staging the whole thing). Well, here is my reasoning...She took the time to do something that her students wanted to see her do. There were a million other things she could have been doing, not to mention the million things she probably already did that day. It was uplifting to see her take the time to indulge her students and to see so many of them there, eager to watch. That shows that she is a teacher that has developed some strong relationships with her students. Little things like this show students that they matter as people, not just successful students. I hope to be able to do the same when I join the ranks. 

"Flipped Learning" - Yay or Nay for My Learning Style

When I was a kid, the teacher stood at the front of the classroom and told us stuff, we practiced some in class,  but did a lot of work at home. As I got older, I felt like I went to class and had my textbook read to me. I remember thinking things like "Why the hell am I sitting here for this? I could do this on my own in the comfort of my own home...this is pointless! Shouldn't we be doing something else?" Well, now we have the concept of the flipped classroom which does just that...something else! Concepts are learned individually (like reading your textbook) and the content is practiced in the classroom (with activities, projects, etc...). I think this sounds AWESOME...but does it work for everyone's learning style? Would it have worked for mine?

I never really gave much thought about my learning style. Overall, I thought I was a mostly visual, solitary learner with some verbal in the mix. However, the online learning style quiz I just took says...

 Your Scores:

• Auditory: 25%
• Visual: 35%
• Tactile: 40%

This is interesting since I agree that I do fidget a lot and have a hard time sitting still, but I often read and watch videos or look at illustrations when figuring out how to do something. I guess I'm a style combo as an adult student. I can say that I have adapted to the other learning styles when needed, but am most comfortable in the solitary context. As a child, I was VERY shy and did not have a ton of confidence with having attention on me with group work, presentations and such. That being said, "Flipped Learning" probably would have been very uncomfortable for me. But, maybe that discomfort would have brought me out of my shell sooner. As I said, I have adapted as an adult...because I had to. Maybe that "FL" classroom would have been good for me. 

Would it work for all learning styles? Maybe so, maybe not. Only time will tell. It would be a definite cage rattle for the introverted kids out there...maybe we need our cages rattled. There must be flaws in the old traditional system...otherwise we wouldn't be talking about this. 

The Transforming Classroom

     The traditional classroom, with individual student desks facing the front of the room, is becoming a thing of the past. The days of "sit still, face forward and quietly pay attention" are coming to an end. Although I am a product of this type of classroom, and often struggle with breaking tradition,  I can definitely see the immense benefit to revamping the tradition.
     Today's students, whether child or adult, are having more and more difficulty in meeting the expectation of remaining still and keeping quiet and focused during classes. I can appreciate this  since I have always struggled with this as well. With the boom of sensory and behavior disorders, such as ADHD, it seems that administrators are seeing the need for change and are answering that call. Over the last several years, many classrooms have adopted group seating arrangements and are incorporating movement into daily lessons in all subject areas. Students are getting to move outside of gym class and recess! This sounds like an environment that I would have thrived in, had it been available to me. On the other hand, where does that leave the introvert students who may greatly prefer the traditional type of classroom?

Affects of Technology on Education

     Technological advances have undoubtedly made a major impact on everything we do as well as how we learn. They have changed educational practice as we once knew it. This has been a hard pill for me to swallow. As a parent, who is the product of traditional book, brain and paper education, I have had some difficulty in embracing this transition. My teenage son already has a screen attached to him as often as he possibly can...my almost 4 year old is trying to follow suit... and now these screens are being incorporated into their daily educational experiences?! AAAHHHHHH!!! I am sure that I am not alone in this opinion, but none the less, here we are! Technology is the future...we must either jump on the bandwagon or be left behind. Although I may sound like a technological cynic, which is somewhat true, I do recognize the educational value and benefits. 

     The Internet has connected people is many ways! It has allowed us to access a wealth of information instantly, at any time of day, any day of the week. There are no longer the limitations of finding books and researching through reference materials at the library. Likewise,  it has vastly expanded our networking capabilities! Now teachers can easily collaborate and share ideas, lessons, experiences and tips with a few clicks of a mouse. Teachers, students and parents can communicate conveniently and effectively without time constraints. This is especially important now that everyone is so busy and very few households have a stay at home parent! Furthermore, the increase of special needs students in the classroom has placed a lot more pressure on both educators and students.  Technological advances have allowed students with disabilities to actively participate and become engaged in their education in ways they never could before. So many doors have been opened by advances in technology and the conveniences are astounding. 

     As astounding as these improvements are, there is also a significant cost. This cost is dependency ignorance! Technology does so much of our thinking for us that we often do not truly know how to do things for ourselves. For example, calculators and applet programs allow us to punch in numbers and all of the mathematical answers are provided. This is great, but can we explain how the answer was calculated or how to use the formula that solved the problem? Likewise, we do not even need to know how to spell anymore. Our spell check features will let us know if something is spelled incorrectly or may even make the correction on our behalf before we notice. As a result, handwriting and penmanship are becoming obsolete. Many schools are no longer bothering to teach cursive writing. These costs are concerning. Sometimes I wonder if the children's movie "Wall-E" was predicting the future.