Proficiency-based Education

           Mass customized learning (MCL) is a method of teaching that individualizes instruction based on each student’s needs; and all assignments are designed with a specific purpose in mind, a necessary skill. Furthermore, there is not just one way to express and demonstrate mastery in MCL, rather the students can learn and present in numerous ways. Personally, in high school, my learning experiences were very one-dimensional; all test and quizzes were logical and verbal, all projects were visual and verbal, and that about sums up my primary education. One of the things I would say is that practicum has a more MCL-ish demeanor; by this I mean that, yes, we do demonstrate our masteries in the same ways (more or less); but, we also have the opportunity to individualize some projects and explore topics that we are interested in ourselves- it’s a nice balance. 

          First and foremost, I need to continue to educate myself on the topic in order to implement it well. The Maine Cohort for Customized Learning (http://mainecustomizedlearning.org/) is a great way do this; this specific website provides information, events, and more, regarding the topic. I have learned that as a teacher is absolutely quintessential to have multiple methods and solutions in instruction and problem-solving; MCL is a very rich, expansive topic that should be explored by all educators. As someone that is almost obsessively organized (Some have said ‘anal’ is more accurate...) I think that this is key in MCL: Think about it this way- you, the teacher, have 75 students and each of them have a file and specific needs, without one super-effective, super-efficient system, you are going to drown in work--- And you are not even half-way through the year!  

Final Fires Reflection

My opinions are still pretty much the same on the chapters of Fires in the Bathroom, though, maybe, when I stumble across it in five years my thoughts will have changed. However, one major difference is that I have much more confidence in myself as a teacher; before I was just a student, you know? But now, I actually feel comfortable referring to myself as a teacher. Although I know I have a long way to go- I feel as if I can see the very hint of a horizon. I cannot help but laugh at myself when I think about my own classroom management growth: before practicum I expected myself to be this laid-back, “cool” teacher; in reality, I’m this manic instructor with a love for structure. One of the things I’ve become way more aware of is how important setting rules and expectation early-on is. Ultimately, through the wild, sometimes scary, excitement of practicum I’ve become way more assured in my own abilities as a teacher. 

Show and Tell

Digital Portfolios: I love the idea of having digital portfolios for students. Too many students have a hard enough time keeping track of the paper given to them ten minutes ago, let alone over the course of a class. In my future classroom I'd like to experiment with a digital portfolio; furthermore, it'd be interesting to see whether overall performance scores go up since the students will literally have access to all previous works.

http://nelovesps.org/: I really liked the whole vibe of this website. It is so important to capture and stress the importance of students' digital artifacts. This website does such a good job capturing the successes of Nebraskan Public Schools; I would be vary proud to say I taught there based on what I saw on this site.

Facebook: Honestly, I can see how great using social networking sites in the classroom could be. However, there are so many negative aspects that I'm not sure that it would be worth using; the shear work monitoring it would be a big enough drawback to sway me. Moreover, the teacher would have to worry about privacy issues and such... If there was a "Using Facebook in the Classroom for Dummies" I might reconsider (There are so many of those books that there might actually be).

Images

It is so important to respect intellectual propert. Wes Fryer strongly recommends using Creative Commons as a way to search for licensed images. It provides educators with materials with flexible permissions; anybody can find out the conditions behind usage. 

Another website: wylio.com is the same thing as Creative Commons; I think both could be extremely useful in finding accesible images to incorporate into my future classroom. It is nice having images that I know I am legally able to use.  

"PowerPoint Abuse": The negligent use of PowerPoint; when the text-to-image ratio is way unbalanced and in favor of text. Visual presentation tools are not meant (Nor are they effective) to merely restate what the speaker is saying, rather to further understandings. As a teacher, I will take a stand against this unfavorable medium for one that is more purposeful. It's not that PowerPoints are bad- though there are better programs now, like Prezi. 

My Student Sample... And Woes.

     As the final product for a persuasive writing unit, the students will take their essays, which should be done by now (Hopefully!), and render them for broadcasting. Each student will take on the role of a newscaster (from a network of their choice e.g CNN, FOX, Comedy Central) and present the information in an appropriate manner, remembering, of course, to keep the network's demographics, and such, in mind. For my sample I took on the role of a newscaster from The Onion reporting on unsettling guidelines that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) abides by for checking the quality of food.  

     As for the woes... Okay, so the reason for the picture and not the video: iMovie, apparently, according to the man at the "Genius Bar," at Apple, said, "iMovie is finicky and it sometimes reads files as corrupt for no reason, because of which it isn't going to let you export or finalize your film." So, here we are! Enjoy the photo (You gotta love how unattractive stills are!)!

P.S. It was not as easy as it seems to come up with a solution. It was about a month after I started having problems that I was by Apple to just give up.

Digital Text

     I really like the blogs, but sometimes I feel like nobody is actually reading them. I know that we can leave comments on each other's blogs, so why don't we take advantage of that? I think it would be both helpful and motivational having people leaving feedback on the blogs. After all, the blogs are really where our opinions are most freely expressed, so why not utilize that as a tool for learning?

Google Sites: Seems really nifty, and convenient for those not so "tech savvy" individuals that want to make their own site.

WordPress: It looks much more sophisticated and mature than Blogger. Furthermore, the website brags that it can transform your site into "almost anything you can imagine"- though I haven't had all that much time to spend on it, that really is quiet the claim!

Kidblog: Really cute and simple blogging. Though it's not as in depth as WordPress it is great for a younger group of students. Also, it has no ads so the teacher will have no fear over what might pop-up!

My Parents' Involvement in my Education

     My parents were not involved at all in my education; they only participated in what was required of them. However, they did pressure me to do well and stressed the importance of school. One of the things that I really wished that my parents had done was participated more in my extracurricular interest; they only attended one of my chorus concerts and maybe an art exhibition. Additionally, I was never able to take lessons in anything because my parents didn't want to spend the extra money for things that "didn't matter". I really did appreciate that my parents were kind of laid back about my education, but I wish they had stepped up when I asked for their participation and help.