Communication

while checking out some blogs i started getting on a tangent with myself about how important communication is in this society. unfortunately, there is still a lot of racism holding us back. my personality is that of optimism...very laid back...very open minded. it bothers my to see so many issues...so much hatred. i have friends of all types...gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transexuals, blacks, hispanics, asians , male, female, young, old, deaf, etc. as a person, i strive to be the best that i can when it comes to communicating and understanding others' viewpoints. this is an especially great aspect for teachers. we, as future educators, need to be able to communicate with our students, our co-works, our bosses, parents, etc. we will come across people from all sorts of backgrounds and cultures with all sorts of perspectives and ideas. what i am doing to prepare myself for this furute is taking classes like this one. of course its required...but im choosing to become a teacher so i can make a positive difference in the world. im taking things from my courses that will benefit me as a teacher and person in general. by learning different modes of communication, i am laying out a foundation to better my community. i am learning to reach out to others in a way they understand. i am double majoring because i believe spanish and english knowledge is a great thing to have, as spanish is a largly spoken language in the u.s. also, i would love to learn american sign language because this is largely used as well? so now that i have mentioned how important communication is and what i am doing about it...think about what you are doing. how are you practicing to become a better educator? what are you doing to reach out to the world?

Personal Issues

I am having a slight issue in one of my classes this semester. The class objective is to teach pre-service teachers how to use technology in the classroom. Now, the issue arises when the professor has no clue how to use a product of technology, yet is teaching us how to use it, and is requiring us to do something with it for a grade in the classroom. This brings me back to the point about knowing and practicing the tools before stepping into the classroom. Some things that this professor has done while "teaching" us the tool is click everything under the sun. The professor had no idea where to find certain tabs in order to show us how to use special things within the source. We were working with audacity and PowerPoint to develop them together into windows movie maker. The professor was all over the place, and I am bad with technology as it is, so I was lost and confused the entire time. We were bouncing around between the three tools and the professor wasn't sure what to do...it created a bunch of chaos in the class and I learned nothing from the experience. I was just furious and ready to smack someone. Well, the point of this rant is: KNOW YOUR STUFF! If you have used it before make sure it hasn't changed, and in general...know how to navigate the source. Try using it before the actual class starts just in case something happens. But definitely know your stuff. I don't think I can say this enough.

Teacher Evaluation

     So how about the new form of "evaluating teachers" that will be set in place by next year? I think this is very good because I know I've had my fair share of different teachers. I have had experiences with the kind of teachers that are phenomenal; they know what they are talking about and they know how to get it across to the students. I have also had teachers who are insanely genius and yet they have no idea how to share that genius. And, of course, I have had teachers where I wonder..."why the heck are you in this field?" By adding in more criteria for the evaluation of teachers, I think we can figure out who needs to stay and who needs to go. One thing I'm wondering though is: what about the kids who don't want to do anything? I know if we have better teachers, the students should be active in the classroom which should raise their grades, which is now a larger factor in evaluations. But, there are many kids who are stuck in the "I don't give a crap" mentality about school. So how large is the percentage of students-who-aren't-doing-so-well allowed to be? Anyway, I'm still not totally educated in this new form of teacher evaluation, but I can see some positive outcomes in it. I am also a little nervous about it too.

Adding Technology to the Curriculum

 One of the things that I love in The Socially Networked Classroom: Teaching in the New Media Age, by William Kist, is the fact that there are examples of activities to be conducted in the classroom. As a soon-to-be teacher, or even a teacher in general, it is always nice to have a bag of tricks. I am kind of in the dark on the bag of tricks because I have little experience in the teaching field. Of course I have some ideas that come from my experience of being a student, but by Kist including some activities I can grasp some concepts easier and gain some insight on how to talk about some things with my furture students. Kist provides the examples in various forms which is a perk becasue multimodalality is a huge help in keeping kids involved in the curriculum, and one of the hardest things to do as a teacher, is keeping kids involved. As for the readings in Sara Kajder's Adolescents and Digital Literacies: Learning Alongside Our Students, I found it very interesting that "55 percent of online teens (aged 12-17) self-reported having a profile within a social networking site (18). I guess this isn't really surprising, but it sounds like a large number. Of course, I have had my share of myspace and facebook but I was never inclined to keep up with the technology. My personal experiences are very limited with technology, and sometimes I feel very overwhelmed with the new advances, or even older things for that matter. A lot of the material we are reading in class seems very informational to me becasue I am so unaware of some of the simple things going on in the tech. world. I know that by the end of this class I will have learned a lot of stuff.

All About Me

     Hello, my name is Mary. I am a full time student at Slippery Rock University, studying secondary education in English and Spanish. I am a full time employee at Papa Zeko's Express Grille in New Castle. I grew up as a Wilmington Greyhound and graduated from Lawrence County Career and Technical Center, from the Commercial Arts program. I fully believe in the expression of one's self, proven through my involvement in choir, my passion for art, and my goals in teaching in the language arts curriculum. I would also love to do something with American Sign Language, which I believe Slippery Rock needs to add in as a minor/major. I have an amazing boyfriend, Adam, with whom I've known since second grade. Also, I have a beautiful four-year-old daughter, Madison. I love watching her grow, especially in the sense of language. I take pride in her large vocabulary and understanding in words and expression. Some folks learn later in life that they have a passion in teaching...mine began at a very young age. I can remember playing barbies and setting up classrooms where I would teach all subjects. I can also remember helping my peers with their school work. Teaching, I think, is the most important profession in the world. Without teachers, there would be no other careers. One thing, however, I was never too good at was technology. I never experienced some of the things a lot of others my age have. I realize that technology is growing rapidly and is becoming interwoven in curriculum and I plan to learn as much as I can about the technology available so that I can become a better teacher in my future. I hope to take a lot with me from my classes at Slippery Rock and I thank all of the great teachers out there who shape every child's life for the better. For any one reading my blogs: always remember that optimism is a must!
                                                                                                                             <3 Mary