Two Week

My practicum was awesome both mentor teachers were really helpful. Especially my PE sponsor Ms. Johnson. She had alot of really good connections with here students through teaching not only pe but AVID and music appreciation as well as health and career classes. She was an awesome role model for modeling report with students and interacting with them. My science sponsor Mr. Turner was a great guy to talk and bounce ideas off of as well although his teaching style was one i probably wont apply in my teaching. I found the kids in his class were not engaged in the material during class. When i did teach his grade 8 classes a lab they were immediately more engaged so i started to think of ways to engage them more in a lecture style format without having alot of boredom and one class of fun with a lab every few weeks. This could be mini demos every class or videos and other things for them to see that related to the material on a daily basis. Ill also take away the importance of being flexible when teaching and staying one step ahead of students. IF you act like everything is going to plan they will believe that it is.

Technology in the classroom

I thought Mattaeus's presentation on Tuesday was really interesting in showing the wide variety of tools out there for use in the classroom some of which i didn't know existed and have never used. Soundcloud, polleverywhere, wordle, prezi, compozer, audacity, web2.0, wolfram alpha, and smart phone remote are all programs i had either never heard of or never used before the presentation. I will have to expose myself to these over the next months and year and see how and if I think i can use them in my classroom environment. Students are always going to be using new technology and getting farther ahead of teachers so i think its my job to really try and find out about new technologies and how to use them in the classroom. Try and use social media and other sources to make the classroom a more inclusive and safe environment for students. If using these programs will help students engage in the learning process and help them learn better then it would be very useful to me and something i would want to implement.

Hot Topics

This week we talked about a few really revelant topics to schools, teachers and coaches today. Recruiting, illegal use of prescription medications, charter schools, merit pay. I think recruiting is the biggest current issue in high schools. Offering "scholarships" or stealing players from other schools to make sports teams better raises ethical issues. Those coaches may be from outside the school but as teachers and teacher sponsors for these teams and schools i think we need to look at what is best for the students and not necessarily the team or a particular team. I think that the loopholes that people have found have to be closed up and it they will have to continually be closed when people find new ones. I liked the idea that came up in class of having to play in the tier that your school size dictates that you should so you cant play up and recruit players from outside district. Kids should go to their local school unless that school is under performing in academics or another school offers a specific program that they want to attend, Sports shouldn't be a reason to move schools.  I think prescription medication is a topic that may soon come to high schools kids may feel pressure to get assignments done and take things that will help them do that. I think we as teachers must work with parents to educate them ourselves and students on the legality of these issues as well as the dangers and try and prohibit the use or sale on school property and hope the parents do the same at home. Charter schools is another interesting subject and i think as i said above if your local school isn't offering programs that you think are good enough for your child then you have to do whatever you can to get them the best education so i don't really have a problem with students going there. I think the problem lies in if the charter schools aren't being run properly are just money making machines and aren't providing the education they promise or the process for getting in isn't transparent and fair.  The final topic was merit pay which ties into charter schools who only employ "good" teachers and get rid of ones that don't fit at their school.  I think merit pay is a good idea in principle only employ the good teachers and not the ones that are not providing a good stimulating environment for their students. The only problem is how do you subjectively grade teachers? student evaluations? student tests? parent evaluations? administration evaluations? how do you account for socioeconomic conditions in a classroom or under performing or over performing kids? this idea only works in principle i believe but is something that may happen sooner than later

Khan Academy

http://www.khanacademy.org/#Biology

 I feel like we're probably all talking about this amazing resource thats out there on the internet.  My second teaching area being science I'm obviously focusing on the biology perspective of the website as well as the other science portions because there is only upper level Biology in high school.  I thought watching his speech at the TED conference was very interesting about the flipped classroom with the students watching lectures at home and then working on homework during class. I could totally see this working for math physics and chemistry. Biology though i see as being less homework based. But it could totally be watch the lecture at home and then do some sort of related activity in the classroom or watch the lecture to get a head start on the material coming up or review the material that was just completed. Obviously this is a great resource and you would have to be really familiar with the website to know what topics it has up there that are in your curriculum or missing from it in order to direct students to it or teach your own lectures.  I will definitely be keeping this website book marked not only for my own teaching but for the practicums as well because it is such a good resource for paced learning so that students can slow down and review without having to feel embarrassed putting their hand up in class. I think the tracking software would be awesome as well seeing exactly who is struggling with what so you can maximize your one on one time with each student.  This program would allow students to race ahead and others to go at their own pace. I think it could cause a problem when testing though because you have to test knowledge somehow and if you are going to have the test for everyone on the same day one person might be way ahead and one person might be not quite up to where the test is yet. Again its an awesome resource i will really think about how to implement into my future teaching.

Sex Education, Public and Private Schools, Provincial exams

I thought all of these hot topics were fairly relevant to my future teaching in schools. First and foremost private schools provide another avenue to find a job in this current saturated job market.  Along the lines of what we actually talked about in class today I think that private schools are a solid option for parents who feel they want to give their kids a slightly higher priced education with smaller class sizes and a school with more prestige that may help them get to that university they want in the future, or have a certain religious belief they want instilled at their child in school as well as at home.  I know personally my parents thought about and gave me the option of going to a private school, which i declined. I knew a few kids who went to private schools and it just wasn't for me i was in schools that i excelled in and had friends in so the move didn't make any sense.  I think its an excellent option for certain students who have the resources to go that route. I also think that the fact that most schools are very expensive puts a hardship on the parents especially of those students who go onto post secondary and have to pay for that as well as it is an extra burden for some.  The provincial exam issue is another contentious one the lack of which i think removes some accountability from teachers as to the marks they give their students. With a standardized provincial exam the teacher who gives the students too high or too low a grade can be subjected to some sort of review by their school or district although this may not happen in actual practice.  It also gives some sort of mark for universities to look at when giving entrance to applicants.  Putting all this pressure on one test may be unfair for students but for those moving to post secondary that is the way it is.  The current optional system only serves those who wish to gain entrance and government scholarships to universities and has removed a certain amount of accountability from teachers. The last topic sex ed is probably the most contentious of all, when to teach and what to teach if at all.  I think it is irresponsible to teach abstinence in the current society we live in and a more forward approach beginning at a young age needs to be implimented. Starting first with appropriate personal relationships between peers and moving into areas of puberty, physical development, sexual development, couple type relationships, lesbian gay and transgender relationships and finally sex, contraceptive and STI education.  All this needs to be universal so all students are getting the same important education. I personally would feel better able to handle areas of relationships and physical development and puberty and would probably bring in someone from outside to to the sex, contraception and STI talks so as to keep the student teacher relationship more open and avoid any awkwardness. Also i feel that those in the professional (public health nurse, counselor) have more experience in those areas and  would be better suited to teaching that material.

Mexican QDPE

I put this as a comment underneath the pictures but I thought for ease of read it would be easier to put it up here as well.
These are two pictures that I recently took on vacation in Puerto Vallarta Mexico. When we walked by the school there was loud music playing but we couldnt see what was going on so we searched for a spot to see what was up. There was about 200 kids in the courtyard of this school with all their teachers dancing and doing aerobics. It was about 11 in the morning. I got me thinking about how i would incorporate daily physical education into a science class. I thought about how certain subjects such as the human body could be used to devise experiments for the kids to try like increasing heart rate and respiration and then measuring to show the effects of exercise. Along with nature walks when talking about different plant and local animal species

Teacher Salaries vs Wall street Salaries ( an example of social justice)

http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/#clip425226


Daily show episode talking about cutting 800 million out of the education budget in Wisconsin. Sprinkled with pundits talking about how teachers making 50 thousand a year plus 40 in benefits are overpaid and should make concessions.
Followed by parodying those same pundits saying that people who make 250,000 a year shouldn't have to pay more taxes because making that much money doesn't make you rich.
Followed by the same pundits talking about how wall street bankers deserve bonuses because they work hard and if they didn't get 5-10million in bonuses they would leave the companies and people with less experience would run the companies. These are the same firms who got 800 billion in government bailouts when they ran out of money by giving bad loans and by leveraging bad debts.

So of course the rich shouldn't get less money but those darn teachers making 90,000 including benefits a year should sure as hell take a pay cut when people making over 250,000 are apparently poor and cant afford one and people making 5-10 million in bonuses after salary deserve it for all the good work they've done.

Makes you realize how much social justice education is needed in schools

Cellphones/technology and separated classes

I think the cellphone hot topic presentation and debate we had this week is a great lead in to technology in the classroom.  I personally have had to rethink my cell phone policy in the classroom.  I think it is a useful tool for research purposes unfortunately that is not all it is good for which is the problem.  I think that I would be willing to try and let classes use it for research purposes either on their own in groups or in pairs.  If the students were getting off task with texting and phoning and doing other things then i think for that class I would take the privilege away and not use that medium again.  I think it also gave me the opportunity to think about how or if i would use a projector in an a classroom to use a smart board or powerpoint or be on the internet to show videos to a class. I think that all of these can be useful tools as long as the students are still engaged in the actual material and not as focused on the technology itself.  In university teachers who just read off their powerpoints get alot of nappers in the audience and posting the notes means going to class is optional.  I think overheads powerpoint and smartboards could be used as skeletal notes with fills ins for students in a lecture type format.  i think for biology there are tons of amazing pictures out there and videos that would be awesome to show to students to get them more excited about certain activities organisms and the human body.  If students were able to take those resources home or know where to find them they could look at them at home at their leisure.  I am following Nicole Schneiders blog as well and though she brought up an excellent point about online forums " I love the idea of having  discussion online for students, it give those who may have brilliant ideas but be afraid to speak up get their thoughts out there, and hear what others have to say" I totally agree with this statement but I have found in my own student experience that only the really driven students actually commentate on these forums.  If I as the teacher was also commenting on an open forum for all students i think that would encourage more discussion. 
Secondly i thought the separated classes was an interesting issue.  I went to Oak Bay high school and the only separated classes we had were phys ed. (although at times wood and metal work felt almost sex separated). i found that the boys only pe class was no more or less stimulating than a normal class but then again i have nothing to compare it too. I think that it is worth a try if they're are better academic results to be had from this experiment. Obviously there is the whole its not the real world social aspect but not all classes would get separated and the school would still be mixed. 

Cyber bullying and Wi fi

We had presentations on both Cyber Bullying and whether Wi fi is appropriate in schools this past week.  Cyber bullying is an increasing problem in schools and among both teens and preteens as their opportunities  on social network sites blogs and websites to make fun and degrade others continues to broaden.  How does one become an effective teacher in this sense then. Education about bullying and the effects it can have on fellow students as well as educating parents on how they can help stop their students from being bullied or taking part in the bullying.  This is one of the reasons that cell phones have been banned in schools to attempt to stop this going on at school. Unfortunately it doesn't really work as students will still find a way onto those sites.  Blocking them from using certain sites at school is also important. Going along with the parent education having letting them know that having a central computer and not one in their child's bedroom can really help them monitor and stop or head off any bullying.  Secondly the subject of wi fi in schools, the contention is that it is harmful to some students causing headaches and nausea in some.  Since there is no conclusive evidence of this in the current literature and the great expense of wiring every classroom or even wiring a whole computer lab i think this is something that will stay in schools until the proof of its danger is conclusive.  The proponents of taking wi fi out fail to recognize that cell phone use has been tied to brain tumors and lower sperm counts.  The educational opportunities of wi fi for the classroom far outweigh the current evidence of its negative effects.  If evidence arises to support pulling it from schools then i would have to take a second look and see how useful and well used the wi fi actually is in re evaluating my position on wi fi in schools.  I think if teachers are using it for educational purposes such as research in the classroom or showing relevant videos and websites then the positives outweigh the negatives in this issue.

Hot Topic Relection (February 1st Presentations) Policing vs. Teaching

Some very interesting current debates from our last class inspired me to write this particular journal entry.  They were focused on; vending machines selling junk food in schools, proper attire while at school, high fives and hugs being banned from schools.  All 3 subjects really come down to personal choice for students and the administration of schools and the school hierarchy trying to control what students wear do and consume while at school.  The vending machine issue is about personal health.  More and more children are becoming overweight and obese at a younger and younger age because they are exercising less and eating more of the wrong things.  The decision must be then should we police what they are able to eat or do we educate them on the perils of eating the unhealthy things and hope that they make the right choice.  I think its got to be a combination of both of those things. We had good discussion on this subject around the fact that taking the items out of vending machines means that at the high school level students will just have to leave campus to get what they want.  In the elementary school this of course would not be an option for students.  The issue of school funding was also raised schools stand to gain a large amount of money from vending machines and taking unhealthy products out would cause them to lose money as kids would spend the money off campus to but the same things.  I felt like they should change the pricing on the items in the machine so that healthy choices were cheaper than unhealthy items.  This way if a kid only had a dollar he would get an orange or apple juice instead of spending 2 dollars on a pop.  Either way i think early education and appreciation for healthy foods is important so that students want to eat healthy and avoid the temptation to always choose the unhealthy option.  The parents are another person who should take onus for this issue and the next one as well apparel.  They must try and influence they're children to eat the healthy and wear appropriate clothing to school.  So what is inappropriate clothing? Well i think its anything that is quote "scandalous" aka too short or too low or offensive to others.  It is unfortunate that this falls on teachers and school staff to police but who else will do it? The parents may either have no idea their child is leaving the house dressed that way or not care at all.  In either case i think a meeting with the parent can be awkward but a necessary step is the clothing continues to be a constant issue with the same student. Also the obvious need for an outside teacher in the case of a female student would make me feel at least slightly uncomfortable but again I know it would be necessary to keep the rest of the class on task for one and not feel uncomfortable themselves.  The final issue was that of high fives and hugs.  Obviously there are some lines of conduct which should not be crossed in schools.  Kissing wasn't allowed in my high school hallways in the sense that if a couple was making out it would be broken up but small pecks or hand holding and hugging were allowed.  I think its better for the students to police themselves in this area clearly we want all students to feel safe and comfortable at school but some rules really go to far as to limit all personal conduct.  I believe we should be modeling and teaching good behavior so that students know what they shouldn't do instead of forcing them to follow strict guidelines.  Inappropriately touching other students clearly crosses a line but it happens so rarely that i think it should be dealt with as a separate incident and not try and cover everything with a brush and say that all contact is bad. 
Modeling good behavior good eating habits and teaching them how to make their own smart choices should be the goal not legislating what they can and cannot do all the time.

Teachers as Politicians

The first journal entry is based on a discussion of a quote between Lauren, Nicole and I. The quote we were discussing was by Patrick Shannon (1992) who wrote, ‘All teachers are political, whether they are conscious of it or not. Their acts contribute to or challenge the status quo in literacy education, in schools, and in society’   We had trouble starting the topic so Lisa came over and suggested that evolution is a good example of a subject that is highly contentious among some people currently in the modern day and could serve as a jumping off point in our discussion.

            We talked about how neutrality was an important quality in a teacher so that they did not infringe upon different beliefs within their own classroom. We also discussed how choice of variety of subject matter in classes like socials (i.e. exploring different religions and civilizations, or even as simple as the different spellings between Canadian and US dictionaries). We also talked about how choice of subjects was important. Nicole commented that the school she attended for her middle school years had limited selection of both sports and certain fine arts subjects. There was no wood or metal work or even foods at her school whereas the schools that Lauren and I attended had all 3 of those. This may not seem like a political statement by the school or institution but deciding what classes or subjects you will offer defines what you think is important for students to learn. Less fine arts and athletics suggests that these areas are not important.  Another part of the discussion we talked about was how the teachers came across to students on issues such as the BCTF the school administration or the provincial or federal government. I had teachers that bashed one of more of these institutions which undermines them in the class room. Students without the critical thinking abilities to self check whether they believe what the teacher is saying or not may take whatever side of the argument the teacher is on. 

All teachers no matter their background go into the profession with certain preconceived notions of what teaching will be like what the administration structure is how they want to teach and what importance to give to each subject.  I want to do my best to be open to different opinions and strive to be neutral on issues of contention, even though I may not believe in the other side of the argument.  Here comes the hypocritical part of the argument from me, my second teaching area is biology and I believe that the evidence for evolution is astounding in its depth and breadth and that people who continue to deny its action are banging their heads against a wall. People with religious beliefs who conflict with it should look no farther than the Vatican who have conceded that it exists in some form.  They tend to believe that God put us all here and that we have evolved since being placed on earth.  There are many other takes on the creationist argument but the vast majority simply do not want to accept what is a theory only in name. 

Having gone on my rank for this journal section ill say that some areas I believe in more strongly than others research and new discoveries are happening all the time and letting old thinking get in the way of new discoveries should not be part of our job. We must teach the curriculum as laid out for us but be cognisant of how we are portraying out ideas and thoughts to our students and refrain from soap boxing on issues close to the heart.