The Make A Difference Movie

I never knew how difficult teaching was until I became a teacher. I must admit that I used to think teaching, as far as difficulty and time, did not compare to working in the business world. Prior to teaching, I worked in the computer field and worked about 10 hours per day, carried a beeper for 24 hours support and worked weekends and holidays when needed. I thought that teachers had the "life" and worked 9-3 with all of the perks of having off all the vacation time.

It wasn't the perks that attracted me to teaching, it was really something I wanted to do. As the time progressed and I became more and more familiar with my new job and the needs associated with it, I quickly realized that this is the most difficult, all consuming job - emotionally, physically and mentally that I have ever had. I also realized that in order to make a difference I must give my all to teach the whole child - each and every "whole" child and to know that child entirely. I need to know what motivates the child, what upsets the child - what works for the child. I realized that in order to get the child to "work" for me, I have to make him or her want to work. I have to make a connection with the child and find out all that is necessary for him or her to be successful. The Make a Difference Movie was extremely moving - we really don't know what some of our kids are going through, but yet we expect them to come in "bright eyed and bushy tailed" each day and give their 100% on classwork, homework and other assessments. We don't know what their personal lives are really like but sometimes some of us are quick to judge their failures with laziness and lack of interest rather than something else - maybe difficulty at home.

I met a young man today at my gym and he was talking to me about a mutual friend that also worked at the gym and left the gym to get another job. This young man commented that his friend got a great job with the state and but that he was still in a community college and he lacks knowledge in certain subjects and sometimes needs help. He commented that he had many family problems while he was growing and not only had to take time off from school but did not even live at home for a few years because his parents could not care from him. He mentioned that when he was in high school he met his algebra teacher that took an interest in him and helped him so much that he has never forgotten him. He is going to try to find his algebra so he could drop him a note to let him know how much help the teacher was to him. He said that he never told the teacher this and never forgot him. I told him that this teacher will appreciate that more than he will ever know. That will make any difficulties that the teacher may be experiencing - and we all experience some during the course of the year - be all worth it. This young man has the desire to learn, despite his difficult life and is going to persevere because this teacher believed in him, just like the teacher in the video believed in the little boy. The teacher saw something in this young man - and I believe this allowed this young man to want to persue his dreams. I think this teacher inspired him to reach and strive for and attain his goals. I know this young man and I think that he will make it despite the things in life that have been against him.

I think teaching is probably one of the most difficult jobs - not the content that you are teaching, but the fact that what you do or don't do will have an affect on the child for life. Someone once told me a child can negatively affected for life if he or she experienced just one "bad" teaching year! I believe that is true -but I also believe that one good teacher - a really good one - can positively affect a child for life as well! We have a duty to positively affect our kids - we feel a sense of satisfaction not because we are remembered by them but rather because we have gave them the tools to become all they could be. We always remember the nicest, the kindest and the sweetest teachers, but we also remember those teachers who had the largest impact on our educations and that is what lasts a life time.

Inspiration

I have downloaded both Kidspiration and Inspiration and have watched the videos. Although I do see how they both can be effective in the classroom , (especially Kidspiration for younger students where access to technology in terms of Smart Board, and computers are easily accessible and available to teachers and students), I do not think it would be a useful tool for me, my students and the curriculum that I have to teach. I do not have much to implement a plan for students to explore an discover. Forty minute periods with a very concentrated curriculum does not allow for that. WebQuest is a great tool for me to implement and use in the classroom - because the preparation is done by the teacher and complements the lesson. This allows the teacher to add the "extras" and expand the time used for subject matter as a project when class time does not allow for the extras. These tools are wonderful, but there are so many that one has to spend the time evaluating their effectiveness for the area, the students and the resources you have.

I do think that Kidspiration is more teacher and student friendly than Inspiration. The math portion, in Kidspiration, offers students some "hands on" practice with graphs and fractions. I may use this tool if I taught lower grades and had access to computers in the classroom as part of instruction. It would be more "fun" for the kids to use instead of manipulatives. I do not think that I would use Inspiration to support what I am teaching.

I am "sold" on WebQuest, but need to investigate Inspiration a little more - maybe I just don't know enough about it!

NJ School Report Card

I have reviewed the NJ School Report Card - especially for the district I work in and the town that I live in. I was somewhat happy when I looked at the scores for the school I work for. Our scores for this particular school increased about 30% from NJASK7 to NJASK8. We all, as a team, worked very hard - the administration and supervisors make sure that our curriculum is ready to go - all on CD's that are distributed to every teacher in the district on Sept 1. This curriculum is aligned with our books and the NJCCCS. We have benchmark tests given each quarter to insure that we are all where we are supposed to be - all at the same time. There is direction and we all work to get our kids where they have to be and it is successful. At times, the amount of work is overwhelming. Teaching is not like work in a factory - where the number of items produced can indicate productivity, - your success, as a teacher, cannot be measured by what you are doing - it is measured by what others can do based on what you are doing.

Although I sometimes think, what is demanded of is us is overwhelming and impossible, I work harder, along with my students and coworkers, to meet the demands of the challenge.

WebQuest

I have been spending alot of time doing the WebQuest project and there is a large amount of work necessary to create a WebQuest. You must really think about the flow of your project and the questioning mechanism in WebQuest really makes you think about if you have given your students all the information necessary to complete the project successfully.

What it does allow is the student to work independently because you have thought it out in a more thorough manner - more so than if you were presenting or lecturing. In a WebQuest you are contemplating answering all of the questions before they are asked.

I am actually going to use this project as an actual project for this marking period and am working in conjunction with the school's computer teacher. Our computer teacher is excited about this project as well. She has just completed power point instruction and was going to teach EXCEL and now has a project to go along with her curriculum. WebQuest also makes cross curriculum teaching to be attained.

Webquest Assignment

There are so many WebQuests published on the Internet and they are excellent. The WebQuest videos are extremely informative and will be a huge help. WebQuests are great for cross curriculum projects that are very interesting, informative and will be fun for our students. I can't wait to start and am going to use the WebQuest for this assignment as an actual 4th marking period project assignment for my students. What a great idea!

NETS (National Education Technology Standards)

Having an undergrad degree in Computer Science I totally support the infusion of technology as part of our curriculum, but we must make every effort to have technology be supportive of the curriculum and not be the only means by which we teach. Our students, in our society, are becoming lazy and dependent upon technology. They no longer want to use their brains - their very own personal computer - to think any more. If there isn't instant gratification or an instant answer - that is - if they have to think a little - they don't want to continue with the exercise.

When I was a child - we did not have calculators. I had to learn how to solve and graph quadratic equations without benefit of a calculator. I had to add, subtract, multiply and divide the old tried and true way. It is stated in Chapter 3 of our book that many teachers teach the way they have learned and feel comfortable with - the old tried and true strategies. It goes on to say that these strategies continue to be valuable, but new technology may enhance these strategies. I think many forget that technology is there to enhance not to take the place of. I often think of childhood experiences and one that comes to mind was an experience I had when I was five years old. A neighbor, who was a merchant marine and spent alot of time in Japan, taught me how to count from one to ten in Japanese. He did not teach me how to count to 99 because he said that I only needed these numbers and I would figure it out someday.

I have copied the following from this web site www.shotokankarate.ca/counting%20in%20japanese.htm
(if anyone is interested).
What I often think of is that children in Japan have to think mathematically when reciting their numbers - they are in actuality adding their numbers in order to count from 1 to 99. Many times, our children are handed calculators for simple arithmetic in early elementary school. We are creating a society that cannot "do" math because they were taught to rely on calculator.

Our children have to take state mandated tests in every grade. Sections of these tests do not allow calculators. We need to prepare the them the good old fashioned way - the tried and true way of using one's brain. I am not at all opposed to technology - I worked as a Senior Technical Consultant for 20 + years and this profession required intense programming along with above knowledge of mathematics however, we must be mindful of how we use it!

The following is taken from the web site: In order to learn count up to ninety-nine all you really need to know are the Japanese terms for the numbers 1 through 10 - after that it is just a matter of remembering to combine these numbers in a specific sequence to get the desired result. The numbers from one to ten are pronounced as follows: one ichi two ni three san four shi five go six roku seven shichi eight hachi nine kyu ten ju Above ten the numbers are pronounced differently: for example the number 11 in Japanese is translated as "10 plus 1" eleven ju ichi twelve ju ni thirteen ju san fourteen ju shi fifteen ju go sixteen ju roku seventeen ju shichi eighteen ju hachi nineteen ju kyu Above the number twenty the numbers are again pronounced in a slightly different manner. For example the number 20 in Japanese translates as "2 - 10's" and continuing on therefore, the number 21 would be considered as "2 - 10's plus 1" twenty ni ju twenty-one ni juichi twenty-two ni juni and so on - all the way up to the number 99. For example the number 56 would be "5 - 10's plus 6" - or - "gojuroku" - the number 61 would then be "6 - 10's plus 1" - or - "rokujuichi" and so on and so on.