Mother Teacher Scatterbrain

I have to check out The Slave Narratives.  I am really interested to see what former slaves had to say!  There are even audio interviews.  I will be looking for ones that may be appropriate for use with children.  Just thinking about them makes me more grateful!  ;-)

We hear so often that the United States is falling behind the rest of the world in education. But who is at the top and how?

Today in my class, I learned about making an interactive whiteboard from a Wii Remote.

Now, most black people my age know that Tupac was the son of an activist and an intelligent, gifted, and conscious poet and rapper. Yes, he used foul language, but his were songs of social commentary. His music is a not just the misogyny that we see in hip hop today. That is not to say that he did not make any of these songs, but his music had meaning, literary value, and social value. I love this video about a white teacher who knows nothing about Tupac recounting how he used Brenda Got A Baby to teach high school English. This is culturally responsive teaching at its best! I love it!

If you read my blog, you may know that I think that
schools should teach kids to code. I have been of this opinion for quite some time now and several months ago, I decided to Google it. In doing this, I came across a tool called Scratch. Today, for an assignment in my EdS program, I finally got the chance to try Scratch, a tool developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  It is actually a programming language designed for children to learn to use code to create animations, stories, and games. At first I had a bit of a time figuring it out, but eventually, I got the hang of some of it.  So there are some things called blocks that you clip together like Legos to make your little creature move. I went through the tutorial provided and then tried some on my own.  I am so stoked!  I am totally a teacher geek!  I am so going to learn to code.  Here is my first project.  You probably cannot view it from a mobile device, especially an Apple one.  (Just FYI).  I am so excited!

I have two teacher friends who have been complaining a lot. As a friend, I can say that they are wonderful people and likely very frustrated. As a teacher, I can understand their frustration. I read a lot and the state of education is in shambles. But this is a post for another day.

Both of my teacher friends are frustrated because they are treated as other than the experts that they are. Both are teaching outside of their subject areas, which also means they are teaching outside of the tested core areas. This means oversized classes and frequently covering classes.

They both recently have begun working at new jobs so administration does not know how good these ladies are at teaching. Both had extraordinary test scores with ordinary, southern, urban children. Both ladies value critical thinking skills and get angry with drill and kill. I have on many occasions been told that I am creative, but these ladies lessons have definitely blown me away! When I was considering taking a middle school position, they were going to be my support system! (And every time a teacher changes grades, I think that is helpful.)

I think that what is going on with these ladies is that someone has decided what they need and then used these ladies to fill that need. Notice I said USED. Both ladies are feeling used. They are also feeling unappreciated. It is causing them stress and unhappiness. However, giving them the opportunity to serve in a way compatible with their interests, abilities, and talents would be more beneficial.

See, this is the problem with needs based living. It is deficit based. It really reduces self esteem and motivation. It, therefore, inherently reduces quality, effectiveness, and consequently efficiency.

Now, where the rubber meets the road is when people's strengths are used to meet the needs of the organization, or where their strengths are used used as the prior knowledge upon which new knowledge is built. Students strengths are used almost as a bridge to make the new knowledge relevant and meaningful.

I am taking two online classes. Since they are cramming a semester's worth of work into six weeks, the workload is heavy. Six weeks though! One almost down. Please, be understanding if I don't post for a while. I will be posting to my other blog with my work soon!

Let's face it. Anyone who is against tv, tablets, computers, and technology for kids better get a life. It is here to stay. On part of technology is social networks. Most of the real ones are blocked in schools so here are links to some that are designed for educational use.

Came across this on Google Plus: several posts about learning anything in 20 hours. I then came across it with regards to learning a language. So here is what I got:

http://studentaid.ed.gov/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/charts/teacher#who-is-considered

I recently discovered something called short termism. Cutting fun from school seems to be linked to developing dementia. Complete academics at the expense of music, dance, and games seems to be a bit short sighted.

If we are going to apply business practices and such to education, let's be all inclusive. If we are incorporating such terms as free market and data and accountability, we need to incorporate discussion of problems in business. One such is the concept of short termism.

A few months back, I was talking to a friend of mine. We were discussing curriculum and standards and we sort of fell upon the topic of technology. Nowadays, we integrate technology for technology's own sake sometimes. It often doesn't add anything to the lesson. Schools districts spend gobs on the latest technology which plays out faster than Jordans did in the 90s, and what benefit does it hold for our students? I mean it helps with engagement a bit, but most of what the kids enjoy using is blocked on school computers. What's more, the teachers are unable to confer much knowledge because the kids know more about using technology than the teachers do!

Most schools have a computer lab and at least a few computers in the classrooms. Many of these even have computer teachers, but what do kids learn in a computer class.

I did most of my schooling I the 90s. In elementary school, we learned the parts and the history of the computer, about bits and bytes, RAM and ROM, binary code (0s and 1s), etc. In high school, we learned typing and word processing, even a bit of Photoshop. In elementary school, we learned basics and played games. In high school, we learned to use computers for a varied tasks. This was an appropriate curriculum considering many people still did not have computers in their homes.

Nowadays though, computers are everywhere. People have them in their classrooms, jobs, homes, and even pockets. Kids have access to them and use them all the time! Effortlessly! They don't need a class to teach them to word process a document or type. They are expected to know these skills and use them in other classes.

They aren't learning them in computer class! Well, what then should they do in computer class? Code. Use programming to make more effective layouts and presentations. Edit video. Well they are teaching kids to code as young as first grade in Eustonia.

Here is a video about teaching kids to code. Check it out! Tell me what you think!



More info: http://marshallbrain.com/kids-programming.htm
http://constructingkids.com/2012/04/09/programming-in-kindergarten/
http://scratch.mit.edu/channel/featured
http://constructingkids.com/
http://www.code.org
http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/10/opinion/rushkoff-code-writing
http://www.coolmomtech.com/2013/03/3-resources-for-kids-who-want-to-learn-how-to-code.php

Join up at the ground floor and help develop a plan and materials: http://codingforkids.org/wiki/Main_Page

Here is the work I completed in my Master's degree program at Georgia State University. Feel free to read through it, but please don't plagiarize. You are on the honor system now.

Go to www.livetext.com

At the top, click on the Visitors Pass icon.

Enter the following code: 3E70E1D8

Here is my project on using Blogger as a platform to increase the fluidity of school home communication. It mostly includes video tutorials on blog set up. I tried to be sure to include even the most basic tasks because I wasted hours trying to find tutorials for things that people have deemed unnecessary topics for instruction. So if you are interested, check it out!


Here is a blog where I will post all of my work:

I am enrolled in an EdS program online. Here are my final projects for any interested parties.

FOR THE TECHNOLOGY CLASS:
How to Start a Blog and Utilize Social Media for Parent Communication
The App

FOR MY CURRICULUM CLASS: A Year-Long First Grade Math Curriculum Based on Common Core