final synthesis blog

          I could start this blog with the typical "throughout this semester" and waste your time going through each thing we've done and how it benefits me as a future educator. But you know why we did the things we did in class, and we both know why they are important, because of what you have taught us through this course. So instead, I think I'll go a different route.
          I think I have learned something much deeper in your class this semester. More than the "I want my students to read in content classes" or "I won't use a textbook!" This class has opened my eyes to the challenge of what this truly entails. Growing up, I never struggled with reading. I read chapter books in kindergarten, and if you ask my parents who taught me to read, they'll look at you with a strange look on their faces, squint their eyes a little, and tell you, knowing you won't believe them, that I somehow taught myself to read. I adore books. I always have, I always will. And not the digital ones at that- real, hands on, musty smell books. But what I've come to see this semester is that not all students I teach will feel this way. Some students will have never seen a book, some may absolutely hate reading though they don't struggle, and others may be just fine reading without my help. But it isn't just my job to include reading in science or social studies classes, it is my job to make a conscious effort to prepare my students no matter where they stand on reading. I can't just shrug my shoulders and say "well, I included the readings" or "see? I used my text set", I have to know that the things we did and the ways I incorporate the things we did benefit the students to make them successful far outside the classroom, because academia is not everyone's ultimate goal. Simply saying I will include these strategies is not enough.

           I want my students leaving my classroom to know that they are prepared to do whatever it is they want to do, and hope that in the way I use readings and texts, they are inspired, prepared, and capable to be successful at whatever it is they seek to be successful at in the future. We may only have these students one year, but we can do much more than model how you read through a think aloud. We can show our students through a think aloud that is okay to be wrong in their predictions. "Oh up here in this paragraph I predicted this but look- I was wrong, and that's okay! The important thing is that I made the prediction", this easily models the scientific method and forming hypotheses, while including reading strategies to help them outside of science.
           In a literature circle, we can teach our students that they don't always have to agree with everyone else and not everyone has to agree with them. In using a unifying text in a group, students can see how someone might view parts of the book differently than they do. I think all too often in our society we try to tell students "there's a right way, and a wrong way" and in reality there is neither. There are gray areas, blurred lines. There are cultural perspectives that alter viewpoints. Everyone has a unique experience, and book groups are a very clear way to demonstrate these differences and elaborate on them.  Talking about our differences in a mature manner is important and will benefit them working together in the future, as not everyone is going to agree with them forever.
            Student choice in reading bolsters self-exploration, accountability, and piques a child's individual interest. Allowing students just enough opportunity to give them some power in the classroom teaches them that it really isn't all about the test, and that their individual thoughts and ideas are so important too. Because I firmly believe they are. "There is nothing new under the sun" they often say, but I fully believe are children are a source full of unabashed ideas and like I said earlier, it's okay if they are wrong. We should foster a kind of environment with reading for our students to feel comfortable and secure so that they can be innovative thinkers. That is what I want from my students. And it all starts with me.
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EDMS 4000: Multigenre Project Blog Post

          If there's something I've learned as a camp counselor, it is to expect the unexpected. But you can never anticipate it all- those kids will always surprise you and change your viewpoint. No matter if it is a class on sailing that I've taught numerous times before, something new always happens. That is why I live for long steamy summer days, the excitement in their voices when they talk about their favorite class at camp, and the inevitable camp goggles. Camp is a special place full of learning where I feel most at home. In EDMS this semester, there are multiple ways I see this class is like camp.
          Though there are significantly less adventures 45 feet in the air, EDMS has presented me with new experiences with students that rival those gained at camp. At camp, I learn a lot about how to handle behavioral situations and how to keep students engaged. Through this semester in EDMS, I have gotten to observe teachers and continue to grow these skills, even putting them into action with our sevies. In reading potentially sensitive political articles with the seventh graders, I have grown in the way I word and approach my questions related to the reading. At camp, it is important to be delicate because it may be a campers first time away from home, and they may be more sensitive. In the same way, the students hardly know me, yet they are willing to open up and talk about issues that may be close to them. In class, we discuss many of the same issues, but as adults, it has a different dynamic. Watching how I word what I say while still maintaining integrity and truth to my point of view has been a mountain to climb this semester in EDMS 4000. I am always ready to be honest with my classmates and my students, but being sensitive to their viewpoints and open to vulnerability is something I have really worked on developing this semester, though I am (and will always be) a work in progress.
          Today, I am excited for next semester and for what the future holds. I anticipate to continue to face these mountains and more in my next three semesters as an EDMS student, and I look forward to the climbing challenge.

Strategy Lesson Reflection

I was hesitant about this strategy lesson because I personally prefer not to use graphic organizers when I am reading text or planning a paper. Because of this I wasn’t quite sure how to approach presenting the strategy. This is good, I think, because it challenged me to think outside of the way I learn about how other students learn. I like that when I started, Sarah pointed out that she used idea mapping graphic organizers every time she writes a paper. I didn’t know people did that, though it makes complete sense because not everyone learns, writes, or thinks the same way. It is important that, though I personally don’t think in that way, the students are exposed to a variety of ways of approaching learning. They should understand that they can think in their own way, and if it isn’t the way their classmates think, that is perfectly fine because they are unique and individual in their learning.

I feel the presentation itself was successful, and I feel the class had an understanding of what vocabulary trees are and how to use them. I like that I was able to incorporate the variety of ways of using vocabulary trees, even though we didn’t have time (or the attention plan) to model all of the numerous ways you can use it such as using roots, branches, group work, and the varying levels of guided work you can choose to use as the teacher. Overall, I think the class understands the strategy and will incorporate it into their future classrooms as they see fit.

Chp 11

           Chapter 11 In reading this chapter and reflecting, I am struggling to find a direction to take this blog post. Overall, this chapter covered concepts we’ve discussed, and feels a bit like a waste of 20 minutes compared to our class discussions thus far. The major focus of this chapter is how we, as content area teachers, can help students who are struggling with reading. The author outlines several approaches to mitigating these struggles, and I am struck by not the methods or issues the students face, but the assumption the author makes about the sacrifices of teachers. Each solution requires extensive work for the teacher outside of school and the piles of schoolwork, and though this is expected to a certain extent, I believe some of these strategies set unrealistic expectations and unnecessary pressures.

          Hear me out: I know teachers have to work hard, all the time, and I know what I signed up for when I entered this program. However, I am flabbergasted by two specific parts of the text. First, “she accepts calls on her cell phone at home from 5-6 pm” and “she’s 24-7”. Answering calls outside of school of course is awesome, but as a human being, teachers deserve to be able to turn off their cell phones when not in school. To think that this author suggests we just “take phone calls 24-7” is baffling to me, because teachers deserve a personal life, like every other working adult. The second example is a teacher who listens to audio tapes on the way to and from school, while driving. This again, is a great idea if it works for this individual teacher, but to think that this author sets the expectations that all teachers should give up their personal time to work, is beyond me. Expectations that teachers can work 24-7 for 30 years and survive is one problem that teachers face everyday and needs to be addressed.
            As our EDMS professor says, “Teachers are both the problem and the solution”. Not only are they the educators, they are the part time parent, caregiver, and friend. It is the most noble pursuit, but should not infringe on basic human rights by setting unrealistic expectations for the people that wear the educator badges, and already sacrifice so much.

Podcast

Inquiry Units

      As I’m sure you’ve all heard by now, I do a lot of work with UGA service learning through the department of Marine Sciences. I fell so hard for this program, I even went on to complete undergraduate research in oceanography and the general population’s awareness of ocean literacy principles. In this department, there is a huge focus on inquiry based learning. My supervising (read: incredibly gifted and amazing) professor was Mrs. Catherine Teare-Ketter; an intelligent woman who is fully capable of anything, and knows it. She helped mold me into the critical thinking student that I am today. In her years of teaching at the middle, high, and college levels, she has found one key that has held most important to student success: inquiry based hands on learning.
      Experience UGA is a program that allows freshmen at Clarke County High Schools to come to UGA, tour, learn about college, and participate in a STEM activity. Each year I have been at Georgia, I have had the privilege of leading several experience UGA labs with MARS. The lab I typically do with these students, and adore for outreach programs as well, focuses on chemoreceptors and mechanoreceptors in marine invertebrates and how these biological traits impact the manner in which organisms locate and consume their prey and predators. In short, we give the students food and predator scents (pea, shrimp, blue crab, grey lined sea star, etc) and allow them to design the experiment based on what animal they are assigned (ranging anywhere from serpent star, also known as brittle star, to tulip snails). These kids are given the opportunity to see for themselves an animal they almost always have never worked with before, as well as allows them to use their own investigative skills to create their experiment. I have never seen a student leave our lab with a bad attitude after this experiment.

Experience UGA seeing a channel whelk for the first time

       I think with science it is crucial to include these experiments that are specifically inquiry exploration based. They are the lifeblood of science as a discipline. In considering doing these units, you have to wonder about time. Many of the activities Capps has given us say they require 3 weeks; one activity doesn’t have to take that much time. You have to adapt to know what is appropriate and what is not, and that comes with time. Using these lessons in small, bite sized chunks can allow for successful learning and not consume all of your time.

Florida Conch and Tulip snail, predatory invertebrates. To give you a frame of reference.

Synthesis Blog 2

On page 168, the author states, “A class where students work well together and respect one another needs to be an orderly group. And the results are not just a better climate, but greater learning. Students who know each other well and have been taught to listen to one another are are likely to take risks and stretch beyond their comfort level as they learn” (Subjects Matter, 168). I believe in structure and discipline, as, like this author, I believe most students strive where there is order and direction. In creating an open and inviting classroom environment, your environment must be clean and orderly. Much like you clean your house before guests come over so they feel comfortable, you keep your classroom neat and clean for your students to feel comfortable. Once our expectations are set from the beginning, we can start to give the independence and choices our students need to feel trusted in the classroom. In this Tedx Talk, we learn from Esther Wojcicki about how to do this in our classroom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbN8g6oPjBo

In this video, she discusses students as learners who need independence and trust. She led a student newspaper that went from 19, to over 600 students at her public high school. When she was first observed for her teaching style, she was almost fired because she chose to do project based, student led learning over lecture style education. Though her observation did not go well, she chose to continue this method, and completely changed the atmosphere of her public school. If we are to say we want to make education better, we have to move away from practices that are harmful to our youth. They need structure and rules, followed by choices and independence. That is how you create an engaging classroom; not just a youtube video every few powerpoint slides. [312]