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Week 11 of Classes

Nov. 11th- 15th 

Monday

612: Practicum Class- No class. Worked on ethical paper. So hard. 

Wednesday

Practicum Placement- Tuesday boring. Wednesday field trip last day.

616 Group Therapy Class- My project due. Need to correct paper. Yes did it this weekend!

Thursday

610: Legal and Ethical Class- Started out boring. Became interesting. Turned in ethical dilemma paper hopefully it’s okay. Next and last thing due is personal values paper.

The Weekend

603: Research Class- Finished module 11. Finished and emailed brochure.

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Week 10 of Classes

Nov. 4th- 8th 

Monday

612: Practicum Class- We watched each others videos. 

Wednesday

Practicum Placement- Went tuesday and wednesday! See ethical dilemmas. 

616 Group Therapy Class- Loved the group activities, especially Amy’s. Upset that I have to re-do my outline. 

Thursday

610: Legal and Ethical Class- Frustrated at this hour long guest speaker. Feeling very behind.

The Weekend

603: Research Class- Spent a lot of time with Mod 11 but still not finished. Family and Uncle Dave weekend.

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Week 9 of Classes

Oct. 28th-  Nov 1st

Monday

612: Practicum Class- Didn’t have class this week but I worked very hard on preparing all of the practicum assignments such as the video of my class presentation and the audio transcription.

Wednesday

Practicum Placement- It was homecoming week at Fort Hill. So awesome to look at all of the lockers and posters decorating the building. Found my grandma’s picture on the second floor. She graduated in 1945. Also did a driveby of maple road. Made me cry! Ethical dilemma hard to come by this week. Everything went pretty smooth. 

616 Group Therapy Class- It’s raining. Want to get Mcdonalds on the way. Don;t want to go to the dermatologist. Have outline to turn in. Emailed midterm on Saturday. Have to break down working on that group proposal project. It’s a pain! 

Thursday

610: Legal and Ethical Class- Aunt Shaaron’s Halloween Party.

The Weekend

603: Research Class- I actually did a lot for this during the week. I enjoyed the coding assignment and I hope to finish at least mod 11 by next week. I also want to send a message to the group after reading the directions for the applied research project better.

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Week 8 of Classes

Oct. 21st- 25th

Monday

612: Practicum Class- Brought the pup with me and gave her to Hayley and the kids to babysit. We did mock interviews in class. This is always a helpful practice. I got to thinking about the portfolio and I really need to start to organize what is listed on the pink paper. 

Wednesday

Practicum Placement- Did my lesson and it went really well! Mr. Steward chimed in and Ms. Jackson stayed the whole time! Need to upload the video and find out if a summary needs to be written. Did voice memo also. Having trouble getting stuff on my computer.

616 Group Therapy Class- Skipping

Thursday

610: Legal and Ethical Class- We talked about FERPA. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. We also got out an hour early and discussed our ethical dilemmas before leaving. 

The Weekend

603: Research Class- Set up google doc with group this week! Hopefully the wheels start turning. Our topic is, “How does socioeconomic status affect students' performance in the classroom?” Thinking I will get Mod 10 done on Sunday. Have to have Mod 10 done by the end of this week for the remaining 4 to get them all done by the first week of December. Happy Halloween Party!

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Week 8 of Classes

Oct. 14th- 18th

Monday

612: Practicum Class- No Class tonight! People were grouping about the current event. Need to get Mod 8 done! Going to Sophie and Mike’s tomorrow. It’s his last week before Dallas! 

Wednesday

Practicum Placement- Journal 5 and current event due tomorrow! Wrongo no they weren’t just journal 5. Testing at practicum was boring AF. Later annoyed for lack of clarification but I guess that’s part of growing up. The afternoon wasn’t much better. I couldn’t really find an ethical dilemma again.

616 Group Therapy Class- Well it wasn’t too bad. I led a group about grief which was harder than I thought. Last week when Ben and I ran it about the hostage situation it was much easier to plan but I got compliments about my technique with the writing down themes and then talking about them. Final was passed out… Good Luck Andie!

Thursday

610: Legal and Ethical Class- Started out positive. But then we got our placements. Can’t believe I’m in Cumberland again. I love Fort Hill but come on 120 mile round trip every day? So not fair. 

The Weekend

603: Research Class- Trying to reach out to the group. Really stressed out at the stand still this class is taking. Will probably focus on Mod 9 tomorrow (Sunday 10-20).

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Week 7 of Classes

Oct. 7th- 11th

Monday

612: Practicum Class- Talked about Room and watched the movie. Buying the Kevin book wasn’t a waste because we have to read it for next semester! Taytum incident with the pink hair happened before class. Kids will be kids, I guess! Also, got my nails done and I am very disappointed. 

Wednesday

Practicum Placement- Trial run of my presentation didn’t end up taking place but I am completely prepared now to do my lesson! 

616: Group Therapy Class- Me and Courtney finished up our article review completely last minute but got it done in the end! The class involved role plays for practicing running a group. Me Heather, Marissa, and Ben all got to practice being the lead. I thought I did pretty well, for my first time. 

Thursday

610: Legal and Ethical Class- We didn’t have physical class this week but she posted the midterm and we have till the 16th to do it. 

The Weekend

603: Research Class- Ugh don’t even get me started. I think that extensive training I had to do last week has me behind on this. I’m setting a goal to have Module 8 completed by Monday and I seriously think that’s all I’m going to be able to do.

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Week 6 of Classes

Sept. 23rd- 27th

Monday

612: Practicum Class- No class this week! Need to be working on Unit plan for Oct. 9th 

Tuesday & Wednesday

Practicum Placement- Need a dilemma for both days. See Journal 3 submission

616: Group Therapy Class- Totem poles. Got real...

Thursday

610: Legal and Ethical Class- We talked about suicide prevention again and presented our interviews. I got in trouble for saying butt… Tried to stay for wellness group after class but got too tripped up in anxiety about getting home. Got the worst email from potential internship site ever. #bounceback 

The Weekend

603: Research Class- Finished CITI training. That’s all I did for this class but made lots of progress on Room book report and vaping presentation.

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Week 5 of Classes

Sept. 16th- 20th

Monday

612: Practicum Class- More scheduling practice. “Hate hate hate. Double hate. Loathes entirely!!!!!” - The Grinch

Wednesday

Practicum Placement- Wrote about my ethical dilemma. Refer out or not. Great luncheon with the staff! Prayers for Yvonne <3

616: Group Therapy Class- Loved it this week! We did a philosophical exercise where you decide who you would save from the apocalypse. That revealed a lot about human nature! 

Thursday

610: Legal and Ethical Class- Spent the whole time discussing suicide and confidentiality dilemmas. When to break it because of their safety and when it’s more important to keep the student’s trust.

The Weekend

603: Research Class- Spent all weekend on Module 6 but I did get through! On to seven. Thanks a heap to my special helpers to get me through this class. Such a tricky topic!

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Week 4 of Classes

Sept. 16th- 20th

Monday

612: Practicum Class- Cancelled! What a relief. I mixed up which assignments were due anyway so that was something that would have been awkard to explain. I also was having a really bad day due to what I’ve been experiencing medically. Let’s just say that I needed the break. I really need to crack down on my unit planning this week though!

Wednesday

Practicum Placement- This was a sad week. I feel so bad about what happended to their teacher there and I can’t even imagine what the students, staff, and her family are going through. Prayers. I wrote about my ethical dilemma and talked about the possibility of doing my unit lesson in a health class. My favorite thing that I heard my site supervisor say to a student was where she compared text messaging and other forms of social media to a game of catch. She explained that when they make the choice to write back and keep feeding into it, they’re still playing the game. I caused some laughs because of bringing in my stuff to decorate the desk and coffee in a mason jar lol. 

616: Group Therapy Class- After my last counseling session at CAPS and bringing up a bunch of stuff that set off my anxiety this is the last place that I wanted to go. However, I really ended up enjoying myself. We participated in a hilarious drawing game that we worked in partners with and we did a guided meditation experience at the end of class that helped all of us to relax. I really needed to see the person that I thought of during this guided imagery experience so I have to thank Mr. Deasy for that. I was pretty productive when I got home that night and did 5 out of 6 things on my list!

Thursday

610: Legal and Ethical Class- This day has started out very productive. I made all of the calls that I needed to and I appear to be in good shape for my student loans next year. I finished the Stone and Remley readings for tonight, wrote my ethical dilemma and submitted it on canvas. They were mostly about child abuse and school violence. This is also what we talked about during class. Heavy stuff. Morality play due next week!

    The Weekend

603: Research Class- Didn’t do squat for this. Hoping to catch up during the week.

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Week 3 of Classes

Sept. 9th- 13th 

Weekend Work: 603- Saturday I got drop kicked back into the real world coming back from vacation. I’m working on concepts from Module 3 but it was locked until I figured out I needed to clear out Module 2 pages that I already did! The rest of the mod work was pretty easy and I finished it early obviously because when I went to preview mod 4, it said locked until the 9th at 11:59! My main focus now is to embrace the week again with my regular, school counseling courses and my first day at Fort Hill on Wednesday!

Monday: 612- Practicum was a little overwhelming. I had a huge problem with figuring out the scheduling aspect. I was also very scared when Ms. Jackson said that we might have parents coming in with their tax forms and asking them for help with their FAFSA. I don’t even do my own taxes! All in all, this class was not a pleasant one. 

Wednesday: Practicum Placement at Fort Hill Highschool- I got up at 5AM this day to ensure that I got all the way to Cumberland in time lol. And all my nervousness was such a waste of time as my placement supervisor, the school staff, and the students were welcoming and polite. I learned more in one day in the school counseling office about the profession than I did all of last year. I was surprised at how much sitting goes on. I was also surprised to see how tumultuous the relationship between the counselors and teachers can be. My biggest surprise was the amount of non student personnel that came in throughout the day, just to vent! Its as if they were utilizing the counseling services that they had most ready access to lol. I think I’m going to do my presentation on vaping because its a legal issue in the news right now and apparently last year, the janitor found 50 juul pods hidden in the ceiling tiles.  

613- I wasn’t looking forward to this class after a long day of practicum, but I really enjoyed the exercise we participated in. We wrote down three things that were personal and private and analyzed how they made us feel judgement about ourselves and why we wouldn’t share them. The good news is, we didn’t share them at the end and we got to rip them up! I found this very therapeutic because they were essentially, a list of my grievances. I was a little bored at the end when we went over the ethical implications of running a group. 

Thursday: 610- I fell a little behind on the readings for this class and the assignments that included a journal of my placement experience, and an outline of my personal values paper which we did something similar to last semester in diversity. The Stone reading even though it was five lengthy chapters was fascinating. I loved reading the case studies and how it related to how school counselors should practice. This class really feels like its going to be useful in my future career and I will definitely have gotten my moneys worth out of these books! I am a little nervous about having missed it for vacation last week, but Amy did a great job summarizing the discussions for me. I have some questions written down too about specific things relating to what a school counselor does, legally in certain situations. 

    What a great class! I didn’t feel like we discussed the readings very much which I was ready for, but at least I was prepared in case we did. We laughed and vented about our placements and discussed important ethical issues that we may be faced with in our future work as school counselors. A new word that I learned from this class was when Henderson said we live in a litigious society. This basically means people can and will try to sue you. The only thing that made class a little uncomfortable is that lately I’ve been struggling with this little voice that says that I would much rather be a teacher than a school counselor. Lord knows it’s too late for that as I’m over half way done and have already invested thousands, upon thousands into this program. I don’t know if there’s even any truth to it, I just feel that there is certain things that people who get into this field are super liberal about, and I still think like a teacher who has very high expectations for students. I do feel very positive about the way this week went. It was long and difficult especially because I was coming home from vacation, but I am proud of myself for putting a lot into it and the amount that I learned in readings, discussion, and in the field. I am so excited for tomorrow and the weekend. “Positive thinking equals positive results!” That’s my favorite quote that I heard this week and I intend to employ it in my academic and personal life.

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Week 2 of Classes

Sept. 2nd- 6th

612- Entering the second week of classes I’m currently vacationing in Topsail Beach, North Carolina. We have been hearing mixed reviews about the effects that hurricane Dorian will have on our trip, which is supposed to last until Saturday. Happy Labor day!

603- My dedication to studying started out pretty slowly as to be expected because of Labor Day and the fact that I’m on vacation. I did about 2 hours of work for my online class yesterday and fell asleep during a tutorial about APA citations.  However, I felt like a real geek doing the assignment where we corrected errors on a reference page because it was pretty fun! Mod 3 won’t be available until noon which is good for the rest of the people in this beach house who are yelling at me for doing homework!

613- On our way to Smoke Hole, West Virginia to finish out the rest of our vacation in our cabin in the mountains. Had to send out a group me to the classmates to let them know I wouldn’t be FaceTiming them tonight as planned because of having no cell phone reception out there. 

610- This is the class that I was most anxious about missing because of the reading assignments and complicated legal concepts that we study. However, I am really enjoying time with my family in the mountains, not distracted by cell phones, wifi, or other media that takes time away from the ones we love on a daily basis. When this vacation is over, I am really going to struggle getting used to the busy routine that fall brings but I can feel that it’s time to get back on track. 

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First week of the fall semester

603- The online research class is a lot of module work but it’s laid out in a very organized manner and it’s easy to follow. I’m excited to learn more about citing and interpreting data which are areas that I lack in.

612- Practicum was such a relaxed environment with the music playing and a knowledgable but easy going teacher. However, I am nervous about the assignments and incorporating them with teenagers whom I know nothing about. How dod you go about having that awkward conversation with a kid saying, “can I videotape you talking to me about your problems?” I will say that sitting in that class gave us a nice timeline about due dates and different events planned throughout the semester.

Practicum visit to Fort Hill- This is the largest school in the district. The students had a half day when I came thankfully because I wasn’t quite ready to meet them! The school counseling office was in very close quarters. This is the place where my grandma and brother in law attended so despite my nerves, I am very excited and feel that it’s a venerable place. The academic village teacher was so nice and spoke to me about her program. I felt very ill informed about it but she was kind in understanding the fact that I’m from PA, not Maryland. Mrs. Twigg and Mrs. Cohen were great. Unfortunately I didn’t make quite the impression that I wanted to because I wasn’t feeling well that day and had taken too much vitamin C! The side effects gave me nervous anxiety, which I already had a touch of. I did walk away knowing that they are excited to have me and that I am excited to go there and make the most of my learning experience. 

613- Group class was just like having a group! We started out having a conversation about moving experiences we had during the summer. The class became very honest and emotional.

610- I learned so much in my legal and ethical class. We spoke of what we need to do to be efficient school counselors while at the same time upholding good citizenship status. 

All in all I had a great first week back. Now I’ m heading for vacation and I’m so happy to say that all of my professors and co-op at Fort Hill were understanding and willing to show flexibility. See you all on my next post!

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Module 5: Building learning partnerships

"I would like to see a day when our students' education is not bound by the four walls of a school but can be as wide as the world." 

-Vivien Stewart

Answering with the final blog topic took a little bit of working backward. The summary of A Classroom as Wide as the World provided this idea that made me think of building learning partnerships in a creative and authentic way. Without actually reading the whole book, which I haven’t ruled out but obviously didn’t have time to do before completing the requirements for this course, I tried to get the gist of it. I read the synopsis and several reviews but the most revealing thing I found was this quote from the author. 

“Other countries have learned a great deal from the United States, and now it is time for American educators to open their eyes to other nations' globally-minded and future-focused practices.”

-Vivien Stewart

This works seemed to be subject to some trollers, saying that she didn’t provide an explanation for carrying out her model. She was also criticized for not figuring out any financial logistics, but I disagree. I think that she has the right idea with her suggestions and it’s not really her responsibility to plan these things until someone actually adapts one of her programs. And even then, there are so many other stakeholders involved that would know their school climate better, and it would be better for community members to make those decisions. 

Now I want to go back to the beginning of the reading material and talk about the PowerPoint. I listened to this as I was putting away laundry. Gotta love multitasking! I was hooked right away on one of the first slides that talked about referring to educators as humans. I think we get caught up in how great our responsibility is to set a good example for young people, but we can still do this without always being so formal. Being on this constant pedestal can create a high pressure situation and even be intimidating for students. We are just people after all, and this alone is a lot more relatable to the young minds we are trying to make a positive influence on. 

Another valuable discussion point from this PowerPoint highlighted the importance of being involved in organizations that, “make an impact on your work.” Recently, I had a job interview where they asked me what community organizations I was a member of. I consider myself to be a very busy person as I am a full time grad student and hold three job titles. But this clearly wasn’t what they meant and since I was unable to list any extracurricular activities, I had to say the ones that I was interested in and would seek out if I had more time. This answer was not ideal for me and it was a hard reminder that as teachers, we are expected to volunteer in our spare time. In the future, I would like to prioritize becoming involved in additional activities that will serve my community and teach me a wider perspective that will enhance the quality of instruction I deliver because of the partnerships I establish.

The Prezi for this module had a lot of interesting points. Their opinion about states was valid. I agree that these practices were produced over a century ago and the fact that we’re still stuck so strictly on them is rather bizarre. We should be collaborating as a country to compare and contrast the best strategies, not wasting all of our energy trying to remain separate. My favorite thing from the presentation was the Plato quote. I was unable to locate it on the internet but I have the link underneath here that plays the Prezi and then a video where it’s displayed across the screen. The quote basically summarizes Plato’s teaching philosophy which thankfully, we seem to be gravitating back to. There is no point in having the teacher be seen as this authoritarian figure that produces rote memorization strategies. Building learning partnerships should occur between educators, the community, and within the classroom. In an efficient social constructivist classroom, students need to be able to learn from one another by participating in active learning strategies. 

https://prezi.com/9vca5aqdxw6c/copy-of-journey-to-21st-century-curriculum/  

This being my last blog, I wanted to end with a fun little video of my cat trying to claw at my homework lol. With three courses and a full time job, my attention has been pretty divided this summer and I think this summarizes what she thinks about mom’s busy schedule. 

Merlot’s video https://share.icloud.com/photos/0vDfKEsBKEZ9zdgLeEwUVpKHQ

To conclude on a more philosophical note, I am so lucky to have completed this course at a time where I was experiencing an innovation period in culture, technology, and communication in my own life. What I mean by this is my life changing trip to Puerto Rico, the deep sea plunges I have taken into learning new social media platforms, and how it all will come together to improve my performance as an educator. Recently I was turned down for a position that I really wanted, and one of my professors told me, “Your resilience is a testimony to your future.” I still have a long way to go and a lot of self reflecting to do, but I truly feel as though attending this University has given me the skills I need to take risks, learn from my mistakes, and value the relationships that are formed during all chapters of life.

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Module 4: Creating culturally responsive teaching and learning environments

Working on this blog while currently vacationing in Puerto Rico, I find myself really appreciating culture and even planning for the future when I will be responsible for making all students feel welcome in my classroom. Your Brain on Culture talked about how we are raised and the influence it has on brain development. To tie that to my experience in Puerto Rico, I wanted to give a shout out to all of the folks here who are bilingual. The depth of their cognition for having this skill doubles in my opinion. I have been wanting to learn Spanish for a while but never made it a priority, which seems silly now that I see so many people who have taken the time to learn my language. Now, I think I will be much more motivated because I have a love for this part of the world and I want to be fully immersed in their culture the next time that I visit. 

I am so glad that I chose to switch blog topics and have my module four reaction focus on creating culturally responsive teaching and learning environments. I first realized that I could connect these two after going back through and reviewing Hammond’s interview. She defines culturally responsive as the teacher’s ability to recognize the strengths that diverse students exhibit and applaud them in a way that brings about positivity in their performance. The way a teacher makes their students feel welcome is a very important part of creating a safe and hospitable environment. I also thought that it was comical when she mentioned how most teachers defined culturally responsive as recognizing foreign holidays or incorporating hip hop. I took a class about instructional practices for ELL students in my undergrad in 2012 and this is exactly what they were teaching us at that point in time lol.

I could rewatch Jose’s story many times over. His definition of an American strongly adheres to mine; someone who is hard working, proud, and WANTS to be here. During the last election, I became so tired of hearing people threaten to move to a different country if one candidate or the other was elected. There are people all over the world who are dying to come to America and it’s pitiful to me that those who were born with that prerogative would take their citizenship for granted. I think part of my responsibility in creating a culturally responsive teaching environment will be to reflect the definition of an American by teaching students to work hard, be proud of wherever they came from, and expect them to demonstrate the same beliefs that I have as an American, which are to be accepting of others differences and encourage various types of learning strategies. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJH1IKqF8PA

As for the other two videos, Brian Lozenski introduced a great term to me when he talked about, “doubling down” on students. This is the phenomenon when we expect them to know something that they haven’t had a lot of experience with and then punish them for not doing well. I want to ensure that I never engage in this type of behavior but to say that your students are never going to disagree with you is unrealistic. I hope that creating a classroom culture where students aren’t afraid to challenge you if something is bothering them would be the best way to avoid this. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX9vgD7iTqw

I didn’t know what to think of the final video when I first watched it because I didn’t feel as though he and I had a lot in common. I found another way to connect his message to culturally responsive teaching. I partook in an author’s institute class this summer on children’s literature. One of the author’s wrote a wonderful story called Drawn Together. It was about a Thai family experiencing something similar to the idea of the “third generation kid.” The little boy was visiting his grandfather and felt disconnected because of a language barrier. Soon, they discovered that they both had a love of drawing that helped them to communicate and eventually establish a close bond. I think that whether I got a job as a teacher in the primary grades, or a highschool counselor, I would be able to incorporate this title to enhance my culturally responsive learning environment. This problem occurs frequently, I’m sure and it would be great if I could use the ideas that I learned in my graduate studies to support the culture of people where I live and work. This is the type of thing that would make the cost of schooling priceless!   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RCmgMKJRy8

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Module 3: Integrating twenty-first century learning goals

The essential question I used for this module was actually the fifth blog topic; integrating 21st century learning goals. Between starting my blog, figuring out glogster, and reading the article, mod three had me very busy but engaging successfully in taking risks with technology! The statement poster helped me to reflect on some very important ideas for teachers to keep in mind. The categories to address were divided into competencies that we should have in technology, community, curriculum, and working with diverse populations. I was talking to my sister for this section because she is very adept in technology. We came up with this slogan for the poster not only to describe the type of teachers kids need, but to describe the type of teacher I want to be. Someone who isn’t afraid to try new things in order to learn better strategies. I thought of doctor Myers right away here, who I had for ed psych during my undergrad at UPJ. She would always say, “A school is the nucleus of a community.” I am unsure if she thought of this herself or heard it elsewhere but it definitely describes how things work. Teachers manufacture the type of citizens society wants to eventually see become leaders. Chesni’s post helped me to fuel the last competency because normally, I don’t like talking about curriculum because it’s such a heavy topic that encompases all of our blood sweat, and tears. I did however like what this course taught us about not focusing on the when as much as the what because with the everyday demands that are placed on our schedule, this could be easy to fall into. Studying this area made me feel so bad about all of the times I’ve described Somerset as an area that doesn’t have a lot of diversity. After 10 years of post secondary education, I should have realized that diversity encompases a whole lot more than skin color or ethnic background. Throughout this summer and all that I have learned in this class and in my other two courses, that has become one of my goals. To recognize and celebrate a more diverse way of teaching and learning. 

At this point I was thinking, okay I really need to make a decision about whether to do the 21 day reading challenge or start blogging. I liked the idea of joining a Facebook group but I felt like it was too hard to jump in with the challenges because I couldn’t find the ones that I had missed, so blogging it was. The only problem was that I didn’t know how to start one. I did what any good child of the 00’s would do and Googled it. I tried several that weren’t very user friendly and seemed more like building your own websites as opposed to keeping a diary. I remember watching a movie where a girl kept a Tumblr of her battle with an eating disorder so I decided to give it a try. Tumblr was so much more of what I was looking for in keeping a running record of my trials with this course and so it began! 

Grant video https://share.icloud.com/photos/0vn2MyXUK0Vt_1jH331oLIkuw

So to explain this video, I read this lengthy article in a couple of days and when I had less than half of it left, I was getting ready to go babysit my niece and nephew at my mom’s house. It was just about the perfect time to get some homework done because they were both napping. Grant woke up before Marie and since he is still of highchair age, I was able to keep reading. However, I have always heard that the best thing to do to help build a child’s language ability is to read aloud to them so I decided to give it a try! It certainly helped to keep things interesting haha.

The last thing I want to say about Module 3 and integrating 21st century learning goals has to do with a quote from the instructor’s discussion board. “I function under the premise that as educators, we always can do better in our practice.” I still partake in paper and pencil note taking when I’m going through the mods, just like I would do in class. This was an idea that I had written down because I really liked the sound of it. These words could be relevant with other competencies but I think it fits best with technology since it’s a field that is always changing. When I got sick of Word, I switched to Google Drive. When Slides got old, I learned how to use Prezi. I’m not the fastest at mastering new programs, but I’m willing to try new things to improve my teaching ability which is the best way I know how to model what’s best for learners of the 21st century.

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Module 2

Module 2: Building intellectual capacity 

I truly feel that intellectual capacity has to do with Hammond’s description of deep culture. Deep culture has to do with how we make sense of the world based on the morals, values, and beliefs we were raised with. If we deconstruct the requirement for this blog, intellectual has to do with knowledge and capacity is how much we can store. According to Hammond, deep culture also is made up of our own identity and how we approach higher-level thinking such as problem-solving and decision making. I also feel that I learned about a deficit in intellectual capacity which can be summarized in Hammond’s description of teachers who think that poverty is equated with low intelligence and poor performance. This mentality is obviously apartheid that takes place in schools and it is just downright wrong. 

The Garcia and O’Donnell reading is all about praxis. Upon reading this, I wondered if it had anything to do with the praxis that we take as teachers to show mastery of content. I looked up the word in my dictionary app, and found real clarity when I read what it said, “practice as distinguished from theory; application or use, as of knowledge of skills.” It makes sense that praxis is how we take what we learned in our program of study and demonstrate what we retained and how we’ll use it in teaching. This reading also helped me to understand the meaning of an oral culture. When I read the three tips to making lessons more culturally responsive, I was confused when she said that the strategies should, “mimic their own cultural learning tools.” Oral cultures according to Garcia and O’Donnell feel that they can pass down their world views through song, dance, and storytelling. So that is why Hammond strongly suggests turning teaching strategies into active participatory instruction.

Now I would like to talk about some of the questions that resonated out of Module 2. I read something in the first PowerPoint that said, “Dependency is the first leg of the school to prison pipeline for many students.” I wondered if that meant the definition of dependency that I am familiar with as a former Child Welfare worker where under the Juvenile Act, a county takes custody of a child who is defined as without proper care or control. When reading about the two other countries with successful programs, I asked another question when it came to special education. The PowerPoint said that Finland doesn’t mandate special education so I found myself wondering if we do here in the U.S. I am glad to say that I was left with more clarification on what building intellectual capacity means than unanswered questions about it after completing this module. I can’t wait to revisit concepts for Module 3 in my next blog! Stay tuned to find out about building learning partnerships! 

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Module 1

The day I did this was Pirates Ahoy day in Frostburg and I was in the middle of my Children’s Literature class so it was a busy one! But I learned so much about building awareness and knowledge as it relates to being a culturally responsive educator. Between the brain science information which I never thought I would be able to understand and the unique perspective offered by the ideas in Pose Wobble Flow that compares the practice of teaching to yoga, I am so excited to delve deeper into the principles of this class. 

Knowledge- Zaretta Hammond begins her book about neuroscience with saying that we need to be teaching students how to learn. I think sometimes we get so caught up in the standards we have to teach and content area that this gets overlooked. When we think about what society expects students to do when they become independent from school in order to be self-sufficient, problem-solving skills seem to be much more important than parts of a cell or memorizing the preamble. When we take English language learners into consideration (which we always should be doing), the school environment has the potential to be a strong resource for them as a place where they, “learn how to learn” (Hammond, 2015).

Awareness- After completing the reading material for the first module, I would say that the most valuable piece of information I took away related to behavior. It is going to be a major part of my career to help students that are troubled and exhibiting unfavorable behavior as a result. I was reminded of the inappropriate methods to discipline that schools often take part in such as placing students in the hall, sending them to the principal, or subjecting them to out of school suspension. It has always been so obvious to me that when we do this, it is counterproductive because these students are falling behind by being absent.  

The overarching meaning I took away from Module 1 had to do with Heidi Hayes-Jacobs image on what it means to be educated in the 21st century. This got me to thinking about the word literacy since it was used to describe several categories that had little to do with reading. I looked it up on my dictionary app and the second definition said, “possession of education.” Now when I think about my responsibility as a teacher to build awareness and knowledge, I will understand that it means more than covering everything that’s going to be on the test. It means that I am building my own competence in using multiple forms of media and taking risks to improve the quality of instruction. Challenging students in a safe and supportive environment will help foster their creativity, no matter what type of cultural or linguistic background they experience at home.