I Just Realized...

Ever since I've wanted to become a teacher, it's seemed so far away.  But tonight, I realized that it's within arm's reach, and that scares and excites me all at the same time.

What prompted this realization?  I went to an event the Middle and Secondary Education Club (I'm the secretary of the club) was holding with the principal from the Charter School of Excellence Maritime Center in downtown Erie.  She was phenomenal!  She was incredibly unconventional and I instantly respected her, and I could tell her students did, too. 

She talked about how the school was formed and all that good stuff.  But then she got to the bones of her discussion: the students.  I was on the verge of tears the entire time because I couldn't fathom how so many students in one school could come from such poor socioeconomic conditions with less than ideal home lives.  Since the Maritime Center is a public school, they have to accept all students who elect to go there.  But she doesn't just leave it at that.  She brings in each student and their parents and has a formal interview with them, where she sets up expectations and guidlines, and makes it known that the parents will be held accountable.  She said that not everyone showed up, so she went to their home and had the meeting there with them; she is so incredibly dedicated to her students, and she tries to take an active role in their education, a far cry from what my principal did when I was in school.  I was impressed with how much she genuinely cared.

She talked about keeping control of the classroom and how to handle bad situations--working in an inner city school yields a lot of those situations.  This was the first time when it registered in my brain that I should pay attention to these tips because I will need them in less than two years.  As an Edinboro student, being placed in an inner Erie school for your junior field or student teaching is inevitable.  It finally clicked that my freshman year is over, and I'm on my way to becoming a real teacher, something that excites and terrifies me.

Being a teacher isn't about standing behind a lectern and summers off--it's about "planting a seed," the prinipal said.  She reassured us that, as a teacher, you might not immediately see the growth of that seed, but eventually it will take root and sprout.  I think that's important to remember as I continue this process.  I'm sure it'll be easy to get bogged down and discouraged, but out of the millions of things you say as a teacher, at least one will stick and change a student's life.

This is the first time I've realized what it ACTUALLY means to be a teacher.  While I am intimidated, I am also excited because I know I have the skills and smarts to succeed in this profession.  This whole event reminded me of a discussion in my SEDU183 class; our professor asked if we thought "teaching was a noble profession."  Honestly, I think it's one of the hardest and most beneficial professions.  Obviously it's different than brain surgery, but brain surgeons don't have to deal with dangerous teenagers and crack dealer parents.  Every day will be a struggle, but I know it will be worth it.

OER

No, I didn't spell "oar" wrong.  OER stands for Open Educational Resource, and it is a topic we explored recently by utilizing the "flipped classroom" technique in my SEDU183 class.  Basically, an OER is something on the Internet that has eduational value to a teacher or to a learner, and is usually free, or close to it.


For our OER assignment, we read an article. This short article explains the whole concept for using OER and the benefits, as well as the downfalls. 


One point in particular that I felt was important was that "electronic content can certainly be used in face-to-face environments as well." While I like the whole idea of OER, I don't like the idea of learning solely on the internet. The fact that the resources can also be translated into a classroom is helpful to know. I like the idea of using OER for supplemental resources and not for the main sources of education; not all of the resources are going to be current or accurate, so each resource must be scrutinized carefully.


I putzed around by google-ing "open educational resource German" and was surprised by what I found!  There were tons of fun games and resources!  Not only could I use this in my classroom as a potential German teacher, but I could also currently use this to brush up on my German before taking German 101 in the fall semester!

This is a screenshot from one of the German games on the website linked above!

I then googled "open educational resource Madame Bovary" because, well, we all know how I feel about "Madame Bovary."  I was once again surprised by what a simple google search discovered!  The first listing went to a website with an ENTIRE lesson plan on the novel!  It focuses the three-hundred page novel into one specific idea, and provides activities and assessment.  I don't think I would use this solely as my lesson plan, but I would use this as a guideline to focus the novel, and to bring in new ideas I might not have come up with on my own.

I don't know if you noticed, but I really love Flaubert.
(also, I'm clearly really good at using MS Paint :) )

When I googled "open educational resource grammar," a website full of grammar quizzes came up!  I could see myself using this in the classroom.  For example, if I took my class to the computer lab during a week-long lesson on grammar, they could go on this website and choose which topics they need extra help in.  This website also includes “pretests” which would be a good way to gauge where my students are and what they need extra focus on before doing the actual lesson.  I could also use this to practice my own grammar skills so my writing could improve.  (I'm also taking "Traditional Grammar" next semester, so this could be a great practice tool!)


My exploration of OER proved to be pretty beneficial.  I managed to find resources I could currently use as a student, as well as resources I could use as a teacher.  I like the idea of OER because they allow teachers to provide supplemental resources for their students, and students can also use OER to further their knowledge.

Visual Essay

In addition to the written essay for our "This I Believe" project, we were prompted to create a visual representation.  It wasn't as painful as I was expecting it to be!

I enjoyed trying to think of creative (and sometimes cheesy) ways to transfer my words into pictures.

This wasn't my first time making a video, but it was my first time making a visual essay.  I've always used iMovie, so Windows Movie Maker was kind of difficult to grasp at first.  Once I learned the basics, I was creating like a pro! :)

I could see myself using video projects in my classroom.  For example, if we did a unit on "Romeo and Juliet," a fun way to end it would be to create a "movie trailer" highlighting the important aspects of the play.  Or it could be applied to an excerpt in a novel; each group is assigned a different chapter and they have to make a video.  It would interesting to see how each group portrays the characters because it would be different from group to group.  Or I would have my students creating a "moving poem."  I did that in my video class in eleventh grade and it was really cool!  I selected a poem and used video images I captured to create a story.  I wish I still had it because this poem lent itself to this type of project because each line has a zillion different possible images.

Overall, I enjoyed this project!

This I Believe

For my SEDU183 class, we were challenged to make up five statements that encompassed our beliefs about education/teaching.  This activity was inspired by the NPR "This I Believe" series, and could potentially be an assignment I use in my future teaching (it could be a prompt for an introductory speech at the beginning of the school year, for example).


From these five statements, we had to pick one and write an essay about it, focusing on why we believe what we believe.


Here is my essay:


We all have that one moment in our lives when something just clicks. Maybe you just figured out a difficult math problem. Or you finally understand how to properly use a semicolon. Or you realized that what you want to spend your life doing has been in front of you your entire life. All three of those examples happened to me; most notably, the last one. 


In elementary school, I wanted to be a zoologist so I could work with cute, cuddly animals.  Looking back on it, I’m glad I didn’t pursue that career path because I’m not particularly good at math or science. But, the idea of romping through the zoo with koalas and lions fascinated me, and I didn’t give up on my dream…until sixth grade.

It happened so fast. I walked into English class one day, and when I walked out, I knew I wanted to be an English teacher. Mr. Mastalski, my all-time favorite English teacher, taught us the different tenses—not just past, present, and future, but also the participles and more in depth concepts. I loved it.

I didn’t necessarily understand it, however. It was confusing and a lot to memorize, but I was challenged. I believe that students should be challenged in order for them to become better educated, but they shouldn’t be challenged to the point of failure. In this case, I was challenged to a point where my interest was piqued, and I wanted to learn more. I wrote silly short stories and the beginnings of great works of fiction in order to practice my new-found talent.


However, that was not the case in my eleventh grade math class. Long story short, due to the fact that all my AP classes were offered only one period a day, the only available math was either honors pre-calc or remedial algebra 3. I stressed about it for a few days, knowing that my ideal placement would be in general pre-calc. I decided to once again challenge myself.



It didn’t end well. Within the first three weeks I had a D and there was no way I would be able to recover. I was lost. I challenged myself to the point of failure. I requested to be put in the remedial class, where I then brought my D up to an A. Obviously, I wasn’t challenged in the remedial class, but failing because I decided to go out on a limb and challenge myself seemed pointless.     

As an educator, I plan to challenge my students; what is the point of learning without pushing your own limits? I do not, however, want my students to fail. I will have high expectations for my students, but I will also guide and assist them in order for them to be successful.
My experience in sixth grade was my “ah-ha” moment. I realized that I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing what was in front of me my entire life: teaching.

Have you ever felt like a baby?

Last weekend, my roommate (Kim) and I went to Niagara Falls for the Crossing Borders conference! This conference focused on Canada and the United States (not "America," I learned, because we are both technically America) and their similarities and differences. 

Since Kim and I are both Secondary English Education majors, we wanted to pick something along the lines of literature for our presentation.  However, we thought it was kind of lame to pick two novels, one from the US and one from Canada, and compare and contrast them (plus, that would take a long time and we've been really busy lately).  So, while I was in the shower a few weeks ago, I had the brilliant idea of taking two Native American legends, one from the US and one from Canada, and comparing and contrasting them in relation to the tribe's history and culture and such.  Legends are the basis of literature, and the indigenous peoples are the basis of our countries, so it seemed fitting.

Our presentation turned out pretty well and I was proud of our work. We confidently packed our bags and headed to Niagara Falls, arriving at the reception site forty-five minutes late due to heavy traffic in Buffalo. 

Once we got there, we mingled with some of our fellow presenters, and we soon realized that we were the only freshmen there.  More specifically, we were the only non-senior/non-graduate level/non-Canadian-Studies-degree-holding presenters!  We were intimidated and went back to our hotel room to tweak our presentation a tad.

The next day went without a hitch.  We watched fantastic presentations on everything, from the eutrophication of Lake Erie to the police force on the  Haudenosaunee reservation!  Kim and I did our presentation and we received a lot of compliments.  It was a unique experience, and now that I have one conference under my belt, I'm excited to do more in the future.  Overall, the conference went well, even though we were the only youngsters presenting.

And then we switched to tourist mode!  I got to see the falls for the first time!! It was so much fun, and I am glad I had the opportunity to take this trip.

Two of the organizers on the conference on the end, and all of the lovely presenters from Edinboro in the middle!

Roomies :)

Seeing the falls for the first time was amazing!!

The group! Including our advisor, Dr. Kinch



Purple!

Top Ten Coolest Tools for Schools

After much deliberation, I have selected my top ten tools from my SEDU183's classroom's blogs.

10. Pinterest. While I enjoy using Pinterest to waste my time, I think it is very limited in the classroom.  However, it can be beneficial for elementary school teachers to use in order to find crafts for their students.
9. HyperPhysics.  I've never taken a physics class, but from what I hear, it can be difficult.  This is a good resource for students who may have trouble with that subject.
8. Animoto.  I think this tool has more of a purpose outside of the classroom, but I can see how it has some redeeming qualities.  It can be used by students to make projects more flashy.
7. Wicked.  I'm not a science teacher, so this website doesn't have any personal use, but I can see how it would be beneficial for science teachers.  It allows students to have a hands-on portion to their learning.
6. LeeSummit.  Once again, I don't think I would be able to use this resource, but it seems like a great tool for elementary educators.
5. WikiSpaces.  This is useful to teachers of all levels, and allows parents to become involved in the classroom as well.
4. Virtual Book.  This is a great way to incorporate technology into the classroom, but also encourage students to read.
3. High School English. This is a tool I can use!!  This is an extremely beneficial resources for students as well as English educators. 
2. Student Publishing.  This is so cool!  It's a website that allows students to publish their own books!  This is a great motivator for students, and can be used in a variety of ways!
1. Super Teacher Tools.  This website has it all!  It has everything from review game generators to seating chart layouts!  This tool gets my number one spot because it can be beneficial to all educators at all levels.

Cool Tool for School!!

How many times have you been completely confused by the theme or tone of a poem, short story, or any other type of literature?  Sometimes it isn't easy to decipher what the author intended.  I've found an AWESOME tool for English teachers to use when teaching these lessons, and teachers of other subjects could definitely find this useful!

wordle.


Basically, wordle is a website that allows you to input text into a box, and produce an image.  The image features commonly used words in the passage--the bigger the word, the more frequently it is used.  This allows students to directly see which words are used the most, and based on these words, students can determine what the author's tone or theme is.

Let's try it out!

1. Go to wordle and click on "create"
2. In a separate tab, open Robert Frost's poem "The Flood"
3. Copy the poem's text and paste it into the large box on the "create" page of wordle
4. Hit "go"
5. Determine Frost's tone based on the words most frequently used

This excercise could be converted into any subject!  The fun of this tool is that students can then save their images to the wordle gallery, and then explore what their classmates created.

Endless Essays

Last week I was in the process of writing two papers for two different English classes: English 104 (Advanced Research Writing) and English 119 (Honors Creative Nonfiction).  In ENG104, we write technical essays with a specific audience and vehicle in mind, keeping most of our paper informative.  On the otherhand, in ENG119, we write highly creative and literary pieces of nonfiction based on a "nugget of truth."  It's obvious that there are many genres within English, but I never truly understood how many genres of essays there were.

For ENG104, we had to collect data through surveys, observations, experiments, and interviews.  Our essay would answer a research question, and we could only use data collected by our first-hand research in to answer the question.  Since I had to do all the data gathering myself, I chose something local and potentially interesting for my question: is the library an effective resource for students?  I hypothesized that the answer would be yes, but I was wrong. 

While I was in the process of gathering all of my data, my ENG119 professor assigned our second essay for that class, a biographical profile.  I decided to write my paper on Gustave Flaubert (the best author ever) and focus on a specific trip his family took when he was fourteen years old.  The whole purpose of the paper was to "focus on a kernel of drama," as my professor described it, in one person's life.  This proved to be a challenge.  I obviously wasn't there to experience Flaubert's trip, so I had to approximate a lot of occurrences, which was difficult and much unlike other essays I've written.

Both drafts were due on the same day.  That didn't seem to be a problem until I began mixing the two very different styles.  My introduction for my ENG104 paper was too fluffy and literary, and some passages in my ENG119 paper began to sound factual.  I had never taken two totally different English classes at the same time, and the polar opposite nature of the genres was beginning to take a toll on my essays.  I began to understand that not only was the definition of "English" broad, but also "essay."  There isn't a set-in-stone format for essays, and such papers can cover a broad variety of ideas and topics.

At first, this caused me to stress about all the unknowns in the field I'm pursuing.  But after thinking about it, knowing that there is a never-ending variety of ways to write excites me.  It's impossible to get bored with writing because there are a million ways to write an essay, not to mention another trillion ways to write other genres of English.  These two classes allow me to excercise two very different talents--acedemic and literary writing--and have made me a better technical and creative writer.

If you want to read my essays, here is my ENG104 essay, and here is my ENG119 essay!!

Censorship in Schools

My SEDU183 class was prompted to write about a current issue in education, and my mind gravitated towards the common: budget cuts, bullying, teacher pay. But later in the week, my English 104 class discussed censorship. This got me thinking about instances of censorship in my own educational career, as well as many I have read about or heard of. 

TweetTweet!

Twitter. Only recently have I started getting into tweeting and Twitter in general. I had been using it just to follow friends and celebrities, but the other day in SEDU183, my eyes were opened to the countless uses of Twitter!! I never even thought of incorporating it into my PLN by adding fellow educators and other helpful sources. I've created multiple lists in order to keep my homepage orderly, and one list is entirely devoted to education. I think this is a great way for educators to share their ideas and projects with other professionals in their realm!
I'm unsure about using it actually IN the classroom, but I definitely think it has numerous uses for teachers to use to develop their PLNs.
Follow me, @becki_leonard , on Twitter!

Playing with PowerPoint

Last week's assignment was concerned with PowerPoint. We had to create a lesson plan based on the state standards, and decide where we could incorporate a PowerPoint. I chose the ninth grade English standard about conventions (spelling, grammar, etc.). I used a PowerPoint to convey proper use of apostrophes and commas, along with easy fixes to common spelling errors. My slideshow incorporated three fun activites that kept the students engaged; ideally, my presentation would have been done with a SmartBoard so students could directly interact with the PowerPoint.
My prior experience with PowerPoint made this assignment easy. I was familiar with animations and different techniques, and I tried to incoroporate them to make my presentation seem professional and interesting. This was, however, my first time writing a lesson plan. Even though I was intimidated at first, I was able to figure out the format and what exactly needed to be included in my lesson plan.
After we created our projects, we presented them to a group of two other SEDU183 students. This allowed us to experience PowerPoint in different subjects, which was pretty cool! I was able to see the technology incorporated in a biology and social studies slideshow, which also broadened my view of what PowerPoint could actually be used for. We ran through our lesson and evaluated each other--my group did exceptionally well in creating effective and interesting presentations.
This was a fun excercise that allowed us to be creative. It also reminded us of how useful technology can be in the classroom.

Click HERE! for my PowerPoint! (It doesn't show any of the animations, so some of the slides look weird)

Chapter One Response

In my SEDU 183- Technology for Teachers class, we are reading "Personal Learning Networks" by Will Richardson and Rob Mancabelli. This short, paperback textbook is asserting that by using "the power of connections" we can transform the classroom and the way students learn. In the first chapter-- "Understanding the Power of PLNs" --many large, drastic topics are discussed. I decided to focus this response on the subchapter titled "Big Shifts."
Overall, this section discusses how education is moving from one end of the spectrum to the other in six ways. Those six ways include:

• Analog to digital


• Tethered to mobile


• Isolated to connected


• Generic to personal


• Consumption to creation


• Closed systems to open systems

The section suggests that schools, grades K-12, should make these shifts. However, that got me thinking. At what age is it appropriate to introduce technology? Clearly it would be beneficial for the upper grades (9-12), but what about K-5? Even though those younger children probably have access to computers and the internet at home, how useful can it be in the classroom? I can understand if a teacher uses a SmartBoard or a document reader like we used in class (which I personally think is really cool!), but having students do work on computers that young doesn't seem practical. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 87.6% of students age 5-9 use the computer for games, while 42% use the computer for school work.(http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d10/tables/dt10_018.asp). This statistic shows that at such a young age, computers are generally only used for fun activities, which can only be slightly beneficial in a classroom; it is not practical for students at that age to learn solely through computer games, even if they are educational. Like I said earlier, computers do have a clear benefit for older students, but in my opinion, it doesn't seem beneficial for younger students.

Analog to digital. Basically what the authors mean by this is switching from paper to digital. This is one of the few points in this book (so far) that I have agreed with. Not only does cutting down on the amount of paper in the classroom drastically help the environment, it's just plain easier. Remember how you'd get a bunch of papers to take home in elementary school and then forget them in your desk for weeks? That doesn't happen any more since parents have direct access to online newsletters or email lists.

Tethered to mobile. This is about switching from desktop devices to mobile ones such as iPads, laptops, even internet-capable cell phones. The text cites a statistic that 70% of Egyptians only have internet access through mobile phones. I didn't believe it! So, I checked the source, found the website article, and relized it was true. Now that I think about it, it makes sense. Switching from having a desktop computer with internet and a non-internet phone to a phone with internet seems practical. However, it cannot be assumed that most teenagers have this kind of access. I think that's the hard part with all of this technology usage: not everyone has access outside of school. Sure, if a school has computers for students to use, then it could be beneficial. But some students may not have those resources at home, therefore they could not participate in any of the technological assignments outside of the classroom. I think an excellent idea along the lines of mobilization is laptops. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 58% of public schools had laptops available for student use (http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=46). Laptops provided by the school for students to take home and do school work on seems like a great idea to get the ball rolling on mobilization. That way, every student would have equal access and equal opportunity to complete a technology-based assignment.

Isolated to connected. I think this part is scary. The book is saying that students are moving from being individual, isolated learners to collaborative learners with people from around the world. It sounds great, but what about all the "bad people" on the internet? In some cases connections would be fantastic. For example, a language class could email or even instant message with students from another country to practice written language skills. This would be more quick-response and interactive than writing letters to a pen pal would be.

Generic to personal. "...we pursue our own interests and passions." While individualized, independent education might sound beneficial, I personally think it is detrimental. If a student has the ability to choose what they study, then every student might not recieve as great of an education. I think to a certain extent-- like being able to pick your own topic for a research paper-- individualization is good, but as far as total independent learning, I don't see how it could work.

Consumption to creation. This part is great! It talks about how students not only absorb information they find, through the internet they can also create their own information for share. This would allow students to feel more engaged with the academic community, even if what they share is a poem about their dog. I think this would allow students to become more connected with the information they wish to learn.

Closed systems to open systems. "...planet-scale sharing." This goes along with the last point: students can access information from not only closed, local systems, but also larger, global systems and databases. This could be good, but what about all the "bad stuff" that student's shouldn't be accessing during school hours? This section led me to think about blocks and restrictions on the internet in schools. I remember it being very frustrating that you couldn't used GoogleImages at all, so finding pictures was difficult. But I feel as if it is necessary. Having some, obviously not all, sites blocked keeps students on-task and safe. Sites such as Facebook shouldn't be unblocked, but blog sites can be genuinely beneficial and should not be blocked. This is a tricky problem that schools face, and I think it is better to play it safe than sorry.

These six areas of shifts in education prove to be controversial and difficult. This book calls for total transformation, but in some cases I don't think that is beneficial or practical. For the most part, this book has many great ideas, but they are too large and would never work in the "real world." Even though I think teachers should implement some technology into their cirriculum, I do not think it is necessary to totally switch it up and possibly risk the education of their students.

My Favorite...

...Book! Since I'm an English Education major, I thought it would be appropriate to write a post about my favorite book OF ALL TIME.

"Madame Bovary" by Gustave Flaubert is about as good as French realism gets (In fact, it was the first book published using the style of realism. Prior to "Bovary" the main style was romanticism. Blech). This book is funny and complex; it has sooo much literary value.

Gustave Flaubert's life was a great influence on all of his works, which is very evident in "Madame Bovary." His childhood was dreary and pessimistic, obvious in his negative outlook on life and love. This novel caused a lot of trouble for Flaubert-- he was jailed upon its publication! Why? Because he promotes adultry and female independence, which was unheard of in his time.

The good lookin' Flaubert

Click here if you'd like more information on "Madame Bovary" and Gustave Flaubert, or email me, because I wrote a ten page paper on Flaubert and I know preeeetty much anything you need to know!

Comment telling me YOUR favorite book! :)

Hello!

Well, this is my first blog post ever! I should start out with an introduction.
My name is Rebecca Leonard and I am a second semester freshman at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. I am striving to earn a degree in Secondary Education- English with a minor in German.
Why education? The answer is simple: I've wanted to be a teacher since sixth grade. My sixth grade English teacher was phenomenal. I became so intrigued with the workings of the English language that I made it my goal to become a teacher and share my love with others. I am pursuing a minor in German simply because I LOVE the language. I think it is beautiful and complex, and my four years of experience in high school made me crave it more. This minor will give me the option to become a German teacher as well, where I will be able to instill in my students a love for not only one other culture, but hopefully all cultures in general.
During my time using this blog, I wish to share my educational hopes and dreams along with the progress I have made in accomplishing those.
Thanks for reading!