...to introduce myself

It is my great honor to introduce to everyone Pat Hutton.Pat is certified to teach nursery school through 8th grade (talk about a diversity of cognitive levels) and a k-12 special education teacher (tons upon tons of patience). She taught 1st grade for one year, but has spent the majority of her time in the middle grades in a SPED program in NJ (my husband's from there- which exit where you at?). She's taught all major subjects, but has spent the majority of her time teaching English.One school related memory that makes her smile was being chosen to study "New Math." She felt that being able to use manipulatives and learning set theory was more of a game than actual studying (meanwhile, I'm not even sure what set theory is).She would like to use her online experience to help prepare future teachers prepare for their classroom experiences. Pat functions well in the online environment because she learns best independently which makes her more condcious of the descions she makes as an educator- something I'm sure her students, both online and in the traditioanl classroom, will definitely appreciate.On another note, she believes that most people who know her might be surprised to learn that she is very much in touch with her psychic self (I too believe in psychics and the spiritual realm- I have to, I live in the most haunted country in the world...just ask the spirit that politely turns on the downstairs light nearly every morning around 5:30-6 am to ensure that my husband and I get up on time- I'm really not kidding about that either).

Please allow me.....

Good evening fellow classmates. I'd like to introduce you all to Joy Nehr. She is presently teaching 7th grade Language Arts in England but has taught both 6th and 7th grade in a number of states here in the US. As a student she had a memorable experience in the 2nd grade. She attended a DoDDS school in the Phillipines where even the young students changed classes. Her social studies teacher blamed her for everything that went wrong (once even when she was absent!) and so Joy used that experience to her students' advantage. She makes a real effort to go out of her way to listen to students' points of view. Joy enjoys the flexibility of being able to take online classes anywhere because her husband is often moved to new stations as an active duty member of the military.On a personal note, Joy really loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder books that made the world retreat as she read them. Her 2 pet peeves are people whistling indoors and rudeness. Like most of us, the rudeness is defined in our own terms. I'd also like to add that Joy is generous, volunteering to work with 2 partners for this interview.

What is alternate???

Alternative assessment has become something of a buzzword within educational circles ranging from elementary through tertiary school systems. There is a real need to connect the educational system to the world of work where traditional school assessment is of little value. What educational theorists are referring to as alternate assessment is actually much closer to the elements of job evaluation present in a majority of real world settings. Employers have specific points they look for in performing an evaluation and the product they examine varies depending on the job. This is increasingly true in America where our economy is transforming from industrial to service based. The resulting emphasis on team work and collaboration over strictly individual performance has great impact on our schools today. Measuring the delivery of a service cannot be gauged with pencil and paper and objective questions.For me as a learner the survey provided an area of comfort and familiarity. It gave me the opportunity to control just how much information I would divulge in relation to a concept or experience. As an instructor I prefer the wiki because it allows me to examine the work in progress of all my students rather than just those who might dominate in a class discussion. It also provides an opportunity for me to intervene if I see problems developing befor any more formal assessment.

Survey Interaction

My own experiences in the classroom have lead me to a point where I view the assessment process as much larger in scope than when I was a new teacher. Young teachers must learn to be the center of their own little universe in order to get tenure. It is only with experience that you can begin to see the real value in self-assessment and reflection, both higher order thinking skills. The learning process is circular or spiral in naterure with objectives, assessment, evaluation each repeating over and over as learning is monitored and adjusted along the way.

February 5, 2007

In reading the articles for this module, it seems that blogging is quickly being incorporated into the educational environment. In the f2f classroom reflective journaling has long played a part in many lessons from novel responses through problem solving activities in math, and even within the social studies to create personal ties to curricula. I have myself had middle schoolers create journals as historical characters and describe, using actual historical facts, their own personal reactions to events that occur. This creates an immediate human connection with materials that can be difficult to access for younger students especially.

What the readings this week propose is taking the many uses of reflective journaling from the f2f classroom into the virtual realm. The main difference gives rise to the main caution. Blogs are public, not private and can be accessed as well as critiqued by anyone. Students need to be able to understand the impact and context of such critiques. As an educator part of my responsibility in using blogs would be to address this concern. I might, depending on the age level and maturity of the students, start by setting up strict guidelines for using a blog, perhaps as a tool to respond to specific questions where I can control the content and thus some of the critiques. I might also have my students practice responding to other people's blogs in a constructive manner under my guidance so they can judge the quality of responses. An additional protection might be to create my blog on a site such as edublogs where the content is not wide open (think My Space!) and you must register to read the blogs.

Welcome to my world!!

Here it is Super Bowl Sunday and I'm still at work creating a new tool to use in my work. Trying out a blog is very similar to journaling and we all know I could not be consistent with that. I guess the key for me is taking the time to write the thoughts that rush through my mind. I think I'll get the hang of this pretty quickly.