Core Beliefs

My three core beliefs for learning, teaching, and the world.

• I believe learning is emotional, fun yet messy, and a social action through real world experiences.
• I believe teaching is facilitating students to take risks and challenge themselves to do HIS or HER best every day.
• I believe the world is constantly changing and our teachers need to keep up with the changes.

My running thoughts for this project...very messy...sorry…

Who am I?

I’m struggling with my identity, because I have taught so many different grade levels and curriculums. I have also taught at all 4 elementary schools. I don’t have a home. Maybe I am a Nomad but I am also a hoarder. I hoard not just physical things, but I collect new strategies, teaching methods, and ideas from so many wonderful teachers. I feel that I carry a little piece of all the teachers I have ever taught with as part of my new identity.

I believe…

• People are social learners
• Learning is messy and we need to make mistakes
• Students need non-stressful time, and lots of exposure and practice of a skill to truly learn it.
• People learn better when they feel comfortable and safe
• People learn better with real world activities
• People learn better when it’s real
• Explicit instruction is not necessary for ALL subjects or for ALL kids
• Kids have the ability to learn on their own when given the right tools and guidance
• Learning should be fun
• Students to need be encouraged to do HIS or HER best not to be THE best.
• We need to teach empathy to decrease cyber bullying...and much more...

Why?

A student told me, “one of the most memorable things was how you genuinely cared about us as the students and didn’t just teach the class but honestly created a family environment where we all felt comfortable to ask questions and fully understand whatever it was we were learning at the time. You really made the classroom less intimidating for so many students and that helped us in places beyond just elementary school.” This makes me think about my why. I teach because I want to make a difference in the lives of young people. I love kids. I love watching them change and develop. I love seeing success on their little faces. I love to be able to show them that hard works pays off.

I had a student this year that was new to the building just like me but not new to South Kingstown. I had worked with her the year before at my previous school. At that school in 1st grade she was a clingy students who was not much of a risk-takers. In 2nd grade in a new environment, she began to settle into her old habits, fake reading and constantly needing one on one support.  With lots of encouragement and a little tough love, she started to work hard and challenge herself. About half way through the year, she became aware of what the other students were reading compared to what she was reading. She asked about the read alouds we read in class. She began the year reading level E, when she reached level J and could read a favorite read aloud series, Henry and Mudge, her reading took off! She was the child walking in line to the bus at the end of the day with the book in her face. She took all the Henry and Mudge books out from the library. She asked to do a read aloud for the class! By the end of the year, she could read level M, the end of year benchmark for 2nd grade. The joy on her face when I told her, “You can read Magic Tree House books now!” And that is my why.

What’s working? What’s not working in my classroom?

My vision?

What makes them feel that way? How can I actively work to sustain that?

I believe students learn best when I make a personal connection with them. I find out their interests and their fears. I try to incorporate them and their interests into our lessons. I also love when my students can teach the lesson. I feel that over the past few years I have moved away from these real connections with students and their families. I would like to find a way to build these connections this upcoming school year and beyond. One idea is to create a google form for parents to answer survey type questions about their funds of knowledge. Prensky helped me here...In my last class with Dr. Hesson we created a long list of possible questions for families. Within the classroom I could also do a google form or other type of questionnaire to learn about my students quickly within the first week of school. Teaching special education this year I will be playing a different role with the information I gather. I’m not quite sure how that will all work….

Instead of just the simple About Me poster we make at the beginning of the school year that I honestly don’t really read or the question page that I photocopied from another teacher just because they use it but again I never really read them. I want something more meaningful to me and the students…maybe the create a map of themselves...or an artwork...or a video...I want to know their real hope and dreams...their real goals in life...not just get back at reading or math like I get every year. But HOW???

I started thinking about the kids president videos...I just watched a bunch of them and that might be where I begin some discussions with my students...like what makes you awesome? There are also a bunch of videos that a few of my students with behavior needs might connect with and we can talk off of those videos...I hope my students can learn about themselves just as much as I want to learn about them.

We always have a plan for the kids...IEP...But the kids do not have any say in their dreams and goals...we ask them but we don’t actually change our teaching or curriculum to meet their goals nor do we provide time or ask questions to get to our students real dreams. I want to help them develop their real goals. So I started to explore and I remembered Kid president...I just watching lots of the videos...he has a lot about how to be a leaders, and how to be awesome...Then i didn’t how how to share this with my students so I created a Padlet..

Turkle and Wesch

I started by pulling out some meaningful quotes from the articles before starting this blog. I really enjoyed reading both of them and I wish we had more flexibility in the classroom like Wesch.

Meaningful quotes:

The Flight From Conversation by Turkle

So I say, look up, look at one another, and let’s start the conversation.

As we ramp up the volume and velocity of online connections, we start to expect faster answers. To get these, we ask one another simpler questions; we dumb down our communications, even on the most important matters.

A high school sophomore confides to me that he wishes he could talk to an artificial intelligence program instead of his dad about dating; he says the A.I. would have so much more in its database. Indeed, many people tell me they hope that as Siri, the digital assistant on Apple’s iPhone, becomes more advanced, “she” will be more and more like a best friend — one who will listen when others won’t.

Always-on/always-on-you devices provide three powerful fantasies: that we will always be heard; that we can put our attention wherever we want it to be; and that we never have to be alone.

When people are alone, even for a few moments, they fidget and reach for a device.

Michael Wesch’s Article

If we accept John Dewey’s notion that people learn what they do, the lecture format, which is the mainstay of teaching (especially in large introductory courses), teaches students to sit in neat rows and to respect, believe, and defer to authority (the teacher).

I have even toyed with the idea of calling what I do “anti-teaching”, as I have come to the conclusion that “teaching” can actually be a hindrance to learning, especially when it is assumed that learning requires it. As most of us know from our own experience, the best learning almost always occurs in the absence of a teacher, for it is then that learners are free to pursue with great passion the questions that are meaningful and relevant to their own lives.

I have increasingly focused less on simply trying to convey good information and more on inspiring good questions.

The emphasis is on “managing” this environment rather than simply conveying information.

What is the relationship between Turkle and Wesch? Do you see them as allies, or opponents in this discussion of new media and technology?

I feel that the relationship between Turkle and Wesch is that they are both studying the world of people, how we learn and interact. I don’t see them as allies or opponents. Turkle is studying the idea that people are too attached to their devices and should step back to learn better conversation skills. Whereas Wesch is adjusting his classroom to better fit our changing world and the way students learn best. As I just wrote that it made me think, Wesch is using what Turkle is saying about lack of conversational skills, this desire to never be alone, and our connectedness to technology to adjust his classroom physically and pedagogically. Wesch is making his classroom student-centered to give them all the attention just like Turkle says in his article. This will hopefully make them not so attached to their devices and more willing to communicate and share their interests with others.

“As we ramp up the volume and velocity of online connections, we start to expect faster answers. To get these, we ask one another simpler questions; we dumb down our communications, even on the most important matters.” This quote from Turkle’s article contradicts what Wesch is trying to get his students do in the classroom. He wants students to come up with the “good questions” and from those questions come up with more “good questions.” Turkle is arguing that our need for high speed answers through the use of technology is causing us to come up with simple, easy questions even when it’s something that really matters to us. This is quite concerning to me and I hope we can have more teacher like Wesch to teach students how to come up with the “good questions” about our world and not “dumb down our communications.”

Cloe's Construction

I created an Animoto video for this advertisement.

Click here to view the short video. 

Kid Nation

Kid Nation

Creating little capitalists

By Ellen Goodman

Kid Nation was going to be a show to see how 40 kids, ages 8-15 years old would do creating their own nation. They were sent to a ghost town in New Mexico we just a film crew. I would like to start by saying this show was canceled May 14, 2008 before it was even able to premiere. It was charged with child endangerment by violating child labor laws. Parents had signed a really “creepy” consent form and none of the film crew stepped in to support crying, homesick child while filming.

The idea behind the show was quite interesting to me but it is clearly abusive to children’s rights. The producers wanted to see how the children could do better than their forefathers when given the task to “try to fix their forefathers’ mistakes and build a new town that works.” They called the child, “pioneers” and the town was called Bonanza. The problem was that the producers set the ground rules not the kids. These Hollywood producers need to make this show entertaining so they added competition, class conflicts, and consumerism. The kids had a war and the winners/losers were labeled to be in different classes; “upper class,” “merchants,” “cooks,” and “laborers.” These kids were provided with paychecks according to their work.

Goodman calls these the three basic C’s (competition, class, and consumerism).  She explains that these C’s are also found in our United States parenting skills. From celebrity parent bashing of Britney Spears to fears of killer cribs, parents have “become so absorbed in worrying about the side rails on cribs that we lose focus on the cultural environment that encases all of us. And there is no bike helmet that can protect our children’s brain from the three C’s.” So overall these parents were so entrenched in the three C’s they were willing to put their children on a “mini-survivor” show just to make money and possibly be on TV.

After researching Kid Nation and reading a few reviews from other people, I realized this did air and people did get to watch it. L_Miller wrote, “The kids are All Right” as a title for his review. I feel this has two different meanings. First, the kids are fine, safe, and happy. Second, the kids are all correct. This person also add, “They're so wonderfully honest, and sometimes they like each other and sometimes they hate each other but they crash into things, look around, dust themselves off and move right along. They are all right, and they find their way, and their strength and resilience makes me feel better about the future of the world for an hour on a Wednesday night.” This person made me think that this kids actually could help our country move toward a more positive place but I did not see the show so I can’t say that for sure.

Another review from tackshop titled the post, “I couldn't believe parents would let their children do this but after watching I thought it was a great experience.” With this headline, it makes me want to watch this show because I too can not believe parents would allow their children to do this. I will close by saying that their were only 13 reviews on IMDb.com and they were all positive for this show. Many of them were sad it ended so soon. This was shocking to me.

Showme

This is an iPad app that turns the screen into an interactive whiteboard to create videos. You can access the videos from a computer but you can only create them on an iPad. You are able to set them up for your students with an under 14 tag. Students can create their own videos very easily with pictures, their own drawings, or writing on the screen. You can pause while recording and change or clear the screen if needed.

When I used this a lot I was able to upload unlimitedly for free but through this research I discovered that you can now only upload 5 videos for free and you can only make students accounts if you pay. There is also a school rate that is not shared but it would be interested in getting the school rate to have access to all parts of this app.

I have used this to create mini tutorials, mini lessons for substitute teachers, math problems to help with homework for parents and kids, students teaching other students, students sharing their learning or presentations, and much more. The possibilities are endless with this app. You can also search on the website to find videos that other people created to learn about a certain topic or a certain strategy for a math problem. I have done this with students as young as first grade.

The only drawbacks that I have had is finding a very quiet (silent) place for the students to record their videos. You also can not delete the recording and record your voice again for the pictures you have made. You have to delete the whole video and start over. This can be very frustrating to the students so they are very respectful to each other and work hard to be silent while their peers are recording.

Here are a few examples of showmes, I couldn't embed them so you can click the links.

First grade math problem video
How to create a showme video with a showme video.

Disney

I do not have much of a relationship with Disney. I have been to Disney World a few times, I watched the Disney movies as a kid but nothing more than that. This quote about young people from “Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us” by Linda Christensen made me think about a child with autism that I have worked with for over 10 years now. Young people “accept the world as it is portrayed in these social blueprints. And often that world depicts the domination of one sex, one race, one class, or one country over a weaker counterpart.” This child has been manipulated by Disney since she was very little. She grew up watching Mickey Mouse Club House

and all the Disney movies as well as going to Disney World at least once a year. She used to act like the princesses and pretend she was the characters. Now she truly believes she will have a prince charming come in and sweep her off her feet and they will live happily ever after. She is now in high school and still loves Disney

but is also interested in Japanese Comics. I’m sure these comics and stories will begin to manipulate her mind to think in a different way. I’m not saying this is wrong but it is something we as teachers and a society need to pay attention to. I wonder what she will be doing after high school and will she still believe that a man is just going to sweep her off her feet and they will have babies together?

My thoughts about the princesses in Frozen completely changed at the end. They talked about “a true act of love.” I loved that this love did not end up being between a man and a woman. It was a sibling love. So often in movies and in our lives, the love between siblings and within families seems to be undervalued.

My next thoughts from the book...

Beverly Tatum wrote, Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?

In Disney cartoons such as Peter Pan the black people are all group together. Many communities are segregated within each neighborhood and children have limited access to people of a different color than themselves. In the town where I work, this is true and in my school and classroom students often segregate themselves as well. They have only heard secondhand information about people that look different than them. This information is often not true and negative. The TA’s in my classroom often report that at lunch the students of color are the only students who will sit with the students with physical handicaps. There are a very few students who do not see the different in anyone and are friendly with all. Is there because was their family role models or do they just see the beautiful princesses and princes in all people?

Digital Native Versus immigrant

What do you make of the (divergent) positions of Boyd and Prensky (per our discussion in class and/or per the article above?)  Where do you stand on the “digital native” terminology?

There is definitely a divide between the digital natives and the digital immigrants. I don't think that it is a specific age or date you are born on that makes you a digital native or immigrant like Prensky says. He explains that no matter how much technology you use or know about, your brain just works differently if you were born after 1980. I feel that he needs to come out with another date, with a new name for the more recent technology users. I was born in 1986 and my brain works different than the students I teach when it comes to technology. When they talk about the digital games that they play or the friends they play with online, it’s sounds like a different language to me. “Catching gems” or “Buying gold” or “I thought I saw you on Animal Jam last night” are a few the things I hear my second graders say and I don’t understand. Most of my students understand this language but you can tell which kid do not have access to these types of games and/or the interest in these digital games.

This leads me to think about the connection between access to the technology, skill level, and age not just the natives and the immigrants. Students learn better when they are engaged and we have engaging technology in the classrooms. Many teachers that are digital immigrants fear bringing technology into their classrooms because then their students will know more than them. I try to advocate the use of technology in classrooms just on the simplest level. This is a difficult task because many of these teachers that don’t use technology in their classroom. They probably still balance their checkbook by hand and have never used online banking. Technology has made our world more efficient and we need to teach students how to use it effectively, efficiently, and safely before they use it for the wrong things.

I just wanted to add one more thing...Neuroscience shows that brains of young people are changing compared to older people. This makes sense to me because our brains have changed since caveman days because of technology. Whether it is a knife or fire or the Internet, technology changed our lives. The internet and digital media is a huge change that our brains should be changing for in our world and in the classroom to prepare our students for the world.

Digital Immigrant

I consider myself a digital immigrant. Marc Prensky would say that I am a native since I was born after 1980 but I didn't have a cell phone until my junior year of high school. We had floppy discs and dial-up Internet at my house until my freshman year of college at RIC. This was quite frustrating because you could not use the phone at the same time as the Internet. 

Others may also say that I am a digital native because I am able to use a little bit of technology in my classroom to teach my students as well as I am attached to my iPhone 24/7. My husband is always say, "Put that thing down!" In school, I am the unofficial technology support person. Other teachers just know to come ask me for help with any technology. 

Introduction

Hi! I am Amy Santos. I teach in Peace Dale Elementary school. I taught 2nd grade last year. I will be teaching Special education next year. This school I am taking 2 courses and teaching the summer literacy program. Outside of school and class, I love to play with my son, go camping and go to the beach.