Week 7

Curriculum is simply like a road map. When you set of on a journey you know where you are, and where you want to get to. If I know I am leaving from Windham, and I want to get to my sister's home in NYC, I need to know how long I have to get there, how I am getting there, what I need along the way, and other factors. Using the UBD system is just like making a good map. You first make sure you know exactly where you want to, or need to, get to. You then decide what are the considering factors, and what questions do you need to ask to figure out these factors. When I start teaching at a new school or new grade I always like to look at the report card BEFORE I start teaching. How can I teach if I do not know what the students are going to be assessed on that will appear on their report card. I can assess and teach items that are not going to be on their report card, but I must also teach and assess the items that are on the report card. I also like to know how often they are assessed and how they are assessed (as in what type of grading system I will be using) again these type of information allows me to be a better teacher to the student population I am instructing.

Week 5 Post

Teaching preschool is such a different experience then teaching many other grades. Because we are teaching the basic concepts across the board, so every book I read, every activity I do, is done to help students understand the various aspects of literature. Because I read aloud 2 to 3 books as day, plus additional readings, the students are exposed to a wide variety of genres and are frequently engaged in the reading. I believe the three statements I could make about education in America today are: 1) It is driven and obsessed with data 2) Many decisions are at the most fundamental, and hidden level, motivated by the bottom line 3) Approaching a period of great change

Week 6 Post

I think that "boredom" is a vague term. When I taught older students I would always question their use of the term "bored." I truly think many students are bored because they do not understand either the content matter, or what is being asked of them. They may, like us all, simply have other things on their mind, which makes them feel like their "bored" when really they just wish they were somewhere else. I think to be truly bored you have mastered a content and have no more questions or inquire into that subject. Questioning pre-schoolers really runs the gambit. This age is so young that there is no real difference between genders in participation. I really never question a student to gage their understanding in a large group setting, I will pose questions and see who answers and the logic behind their answer. Often times I am not looking for the correct answer to a question, but rather just encouraging students to think. Text books, again, are an area that I really do not work with in my profession. However as a student myself I do have to purchase and read text books. I think that like any educational material, some texts are amazingly helpful and some are useless. As I have learned more about the traditional American Public Education versus my education, I feel I am fortunate to have a limited exposure as a student to text books. I did learn very quickly how to effectively skim a text book for knowledge without ever actually reading the text. Professional Development only has value to people where the course has meaning to the teacher. Spending hours on end analyzing either useless data or being trained on how to administer the NECAPS is simply a waste of time. I cannot tell you how many staff meetings I have sat at where a vast amount of data is thrown at our faces, mainly from students who are no longer enrolled in the school, and we just crunch numbers. Yes, there is a value in seeing trends, but have someone tell us the trend and then give us the time or skill set to improve in the areas that require improvement. Most teachers, I have found, would rather spend the time prepping for their class, working with their co-workers or developing curriculum for their class. Lots of teachers would love to observe other teachers, or learn about how to help our students with behavioral problems or learning disabilities. I strongly believe in the statement that we assessing only those things that are most easily tested and graded, and have little true understanding of value. I want to know what our students go on to do with their lives, are they successful citizens who bring to our society? who bring value? I do not think any one teacher has the ability to make or break any student, as a student is of course a person, and fundamentally we are fooling ourselves to think we can change anyone other then ourselves. We do not have the power to really change anyone else, unless they want to make that change for themselves. It does not matter how smart or skilled a person is in their profession if they cannot master basic skills such as getting to work on time, talking to people, working out conflicts, etc. We are a society that has become so obsessed with data in order to justify spending that we are unable to handle the fact that there are fundamentally core aspects of education that are untestable, OR that are only "testable" over a lifetime. Education is now based on the bottom line, what can we do for the cheapest with the biggest bang for our buck, or how can we get more grants but taking mainly useless or meaningless data and turning into talking points in order to secure a grant or two.

Week 4

Within my immediate school there is very limited access to technology, the three classrooms have two computers, neither of which has internet connection. I use my own iPad in my class, which I either project on to my personal television or use individually or in small groups. From my understanding the rolling out of technology has begun within the district and there are a variety of levels of teacher utilization. In previous courses I have studied how best to teach decoding skills both in reading and in understanding unfamiliar words. In most cases readers decode words by using context cues and previous understanding of root words to decode unfamiliar vocabulary within text. I have approached my literacy instruction using these knowledge, therefore decreasing time spent on “sounding out” new words, and increasing the ability to use context clues (within in the text or images) to help students decode. I am new to my district so I am not sure in what areas my current district as struggled. However in my experience districts struggle when implementing new policies in lack of resources. Specifically; time and money. Also when a district has a new policy and lacks “teacher by-in” then they can often find a large disconnect between the administration and staff in regards to the effectiveness of the program, if staff does not want to implement a new policy, they can easily sabotage the policy, be it intentional or not. I read a few very interesting articles regarding effective preschool models. One was from NIEER titled “Preschool; Policy Matters” and another article from the same site titled “Increasing the Effectiveness of Preschool Programs.” Both articles discussed the importance of high standards in regards to teacher qualifications, curriculum, use of grade level assessments and consistent policies, proceeders and protocols across the preschool program.