Happy Holidays!

Hope everyone enjoys the holidays and had a very merry christmas. I actually like the idea of the blog staying up like Erin said but we'll see if everyone feels the same. Its a good way to keep in touch with everybody. Well, just wanted to say that this was a difficult and hectic but great semester. Enjoy the break everybody!!! Have a safe and happy New Years! May this years best be next years worst!

Useful URLs...

Hi Everybody,

It looks like you may not want to continue on this blog--that's fine, of course. Some classes keep it going, others don't...I will keep it up for at least another few weeks so you can look back & note useful sites and information.

Great Semester!

I had a great semester and every single one of you will always be remembered! We should keep this blog to keep in touch.


Good Luck Next Semester!!

I hope everyone has a safe and HAPPY HOLIDAY!!!

happy & healthy holidays to you and your family

Grades are in!

PicNik ™

A tribute to us fabulous ladies =]

comments

I thought the video was really good. It was a creative idea that Andrea came up with this semester to have interview videos rather than a video from youtube or just a powerpoint. The two links on Andrea's and Raquel's powerpoint were great, very informative. Their overall powerpoint helped me understand inclusion more and I liked that it was brief, yet they were able to get their points across. I am still not fully sure as to where I stand when it comes to inclusion. On one of the websites, it had a poll where it asked whether a child with a disability should be kept in a normal classroom, should be kept in a special classroom, or should spend the day half and half. I had to answer with spending the day in both classrooms becuase I feel as if it is important for the child to have a normal experience in a mainstream classroom, but I also feel as if the student can not get the full education they need when a teacher is working with the entire class and not just with that one individual. Although this is all just my opinion, when I filled out the poll, having the child spend half the day in the classroom and the other half in a classroom for their specific needs ended up being the number one choice.
-I hope everyone's holiday is filled with lots of fun, happiness, laughter, and love! Get lots of rest becuase a month from now we will be starting up with all the work and homework again! :) This class was a pleasure and I hope to see you all around campus!
Nicole W

Inclusion

Hi all! Hope everyone is doing well! I like all the pictures that were put up!! Especially of Laura! What would we have done without her assistance?? lol

I just viewed Andrea and Raquel's PowerPoint and websites. I found all of the information to be very helpful. With the information already summed up for me, I felt that I was able to get a clear idea of what inclusion was. I especially liked the part of the PowerPoint where it said the beneficial points for the inclusion students and mainstream students. As for the websites, I found the first one more as an opinion piece and the second one as facts. I thought it all was great! Good job ladies!!! Thank you!!

Special Thanks to our classroom techie...

final presentations of the semester

final presentations of the semester

Inclusion Video

Kean Edu2 Tween Social Networking

This is the power point presentation of the breakout session that I attended

Kean Edu2 Tween Social Networking

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

21st Century Learning

Field Journal
21st Century Learning: Going Global

I observed a conference on 21st Century Learning. I was a little nervous about attending a conference never having done so before, but when it started, I was a little more relaxed and able to enjoy what I was experiencing. Dr. Chen’s site edutopia.org is an invaluable resource for becoming a better educator. I especially enjoyed the link to project based learning because that is how I learn best. His site offers examples and links to almost anything you can imagine. Unfortunately, I have not been able to spend more time exploring and learning on this site, but plan to do so as soon as the semester is over.
Even though Dr. Chen was interesting, I found the lunch speakers more interesting. They are a great example of collaboration and I love the idea of writing research papers with multimedia. I question however, if this is truly possible with professors who refuse to accept web pages as good sources, or tell you only use books. It has been several years since I have had to write a research paper and find myself doing so now. I find the use of the internet such a valuable tool that I cannot imagine writing a paper without it. With all the e-books available to us online why would we go to a library and waste time searching for a book that has already been checked out. As the speaker stated, some people check out books to keep others from finding the information. I found that to be the case with my paper and am grateful that I was able to find what I was looking for in an e-book.
I attended two breakout sessions, the first being 21st Century Learning Communities - Promethean with speaker Gordon Froloff. I will not go into too much detail since Andrea has done such a great job of describing it. I will say that although it did sound like a sales pitch I loved the product, mostly because of the interactive qualities that it brings to a class. Gordon had asked a question about fraction, which I will admit I need some brushing up on, and when the answers came up I didn’t feel like the “dumb kid” in the class because I wasn’t singled out for not knowing the answer. This is a powerful tool to have in the class but I do not think this should be a teacher’s only tool. I would use it as a motivational tool possibly to engage children with attention disorders.
The second session I attended was Tween Social Networking Sites with Kevin Jarrett and his daughter Holly. It was interesting to see how an actual tween in the 7th grade interacts on the computer. Most of the sites she showed us, although very interesting, involved the use of actual money, of which I am not a big fan. You can use these sites without actual money but as my daughter and I found out, they are not much fun. For the first time ever after this conference, I allowed my daughter to use the computer for a social site and truthfully, she did not care for it. She enjoyed creating an avatar but that was about the extent of her enjoyment. She spent about 2 hours playing in whyville.com and when she was done asked me what the whole point of it was. I told her it was to talk with people from around the world as Holly had mentioned in the conference. Alex responded, “I already do speak with people from around the world when I call my friends in Spain." Needless to say she was not a big fan, but we will be trying some of Holly’s other suggestions. I have attached a copy of her power point presentation that I believe does include some valuable information on other social sites.
http://tiny.cc/Hollyspresentation

Confusion!?!

Hi all!! OK! So I just had a quick question! The only thing I was confused about Friday was the papers/forms we are supposed to fill out. To my knowledge, there was a blue paper and a green card. Does anyone know what I am talking about? Am I right/wrong? Anyone? I only have the blue paper that is for out assessment. Thanks for anyone's help!!

Also, I posted info about NCLB on Google Docs, did everyone get it?

-Caitlin

Friday's Workshop

Hi everyone, hope all is going well. It's hard to believe that we are almost done with the semester! I found Friday's Workshop to be really interesting. All of the sessions sounded great, it was hard for me to choose. One of the sessions I sat in on was 21st Century Learning Communities - Promethean with speaker Gordon Froloff. Let's start by saying it was a definite sales pitch, but a very interesting one. The Promethean Activboard is similiar to smartboards, this particular board carries the Promethean name. The speaker showed us all of the software that was available with this system. It is definitely a way to bring the classroom into the 21st Century. An interesting feature that this active board had was a hand held component, like a cell phone, so that the children could answer any questions the teacher presented. The answers would then automatically post to the board and show feedback right away. The hand held device had capabilities for students to answer multiple choice questions, true/false, and yes/no questions. It even allows for the student to answer "I don't know". Results can be shown in a multiple of graphs for the students to see. There are also programs that allow the students to drag the corrects answer to the question that was given. If the answer is incorrect, it will not stick to the question. This provides immediate feedback which is fantastic. One example that was used was a math lesson involving money. The money was big and clear on the board and the students were able to drag the pictures to show the amount that was asked. It also helped to show how to make change. We were told that all of the information that is entered can be transfered to Excel for recording keeping. I think that there would be a lot of great lessons this could be used for in a classroom, however, I am sure the cost is high. The speaker didn't really address the cost. Regarding the workshop in general, all of the speakers were great and it is amazing to see how far technology has brought us. I especially enjoyed the session where the speakers compared how we researched information at one time -you know the library where you would have to take out a zillion books to gather information. Now, information is available at our fingertips!! It makes me realize that we as future teachers have so much available to us to create an exceptional learning environment. To me, it seems very overwhelming, but I know that it can be done. Have a great day, see everyone on Friday and I will bring in some snack, not sure what yet, but something sweet.

My Last Day!

Hi Ladies! I am so sorry I have not been actively writing on the blog lately!! Like everyone else, I have been very busy with life itself. I have become overwhelmed by personal issues as well as school issues. DECEMBER 20TH CANNOT COME QUICK ENOUGH!!! BUT, onto why I am posting!

My last day went very well! I was able to interact the most with the students on my last visit. The first two times, my teacher was a bit reluctant. This caused her to send me on copy-machine runs and other miscellaneous errands. I don't know why but I assume this made her able to trust me somehow? Hah! The only reason I say this is because the last day I was busy! I did the regular copy-machine runs, gave a spelling test, graded the tests, graded homework, etc. I enjoyed working with her and was happy she gave me more to do on my last visit! The students were also very pleasant! They were sad to see me go and I was sad to see them go as well!

Hope everyone else had a great last day too!

See you all soon!!

-Caitlin

Bloom's Taxonomy

I'm looking forward to seeing you all on Friday for our final full class session. We can meet at our regular classroom and then decide to go to the computer lab or not. Don't forget to bring your papers and paperwork, and even though we first agreed to write the introduction during class, I think that's too ambitious, so please bring it with you instead...

I'd also like you to be prepared to discuss Bloom's Taxonomy. There are different versions so you should check a few out...I've sent you a powerpoint presentation via Google Docs to look at too.

Bring your calendars; we'll set our individual meetings on Friday...

Last Visit at Hehny Elementary School

My last day at Hehnly was pretty interesting. It surprised me that the teacher I was with allowed me to actually interact with the students, because in the previous two days that I went she had me sit in the back of the classroom doing nothing. Also, the students were pretty sad that it was my last day. In all I noticed the two big differences between Hehnly and Harrison. I loved Harrison's environment and how I felt more welcomed there than I did in Hehnly. After this experience I would love to go back to Harrison Elementary, if possible, to do my Junior and Senior field.

"Going Global" conference

I think Dr. Milton Chen from Edutopia showed alot of interesting sites. I especially liked the one video where students from all over sent blankets to Thailand. That was really incredible. I wrote majority of the sites that he recommended down, they all seemed really interesting and informative. I haven't had a chance to go on them yet because of finals this and next week but I definitely plan on it!
The "Genocide" session was pretty informative. Even though I'm definitely not a history person, it was a different way to spend the morning. I thought the conversations were really good and everyone shared their opinions and beliefs. I liked our "chicken" debate and whether or not it was a right to intervene on a farmers land. lol It was pretty cool to listen to everyone's opinions on why they felt the way they did and give their reasons. I wished we would have had more time to watch the Rwanda movie and discuss it a bit more. Overall, the session was 2 hrs. but it didn't feel like it at all. I have to say that it was a fun learning experience. On top of learning about technology in the classroom and hearing different speakers, I got a chance to talk to other professionals who were teachers and principals. I enjoyed conversing with them. It gave me a chance to ask questions and express my feelings and concerns about being a new teacher in the near future!

Last Day

Hey ladies,
Hope everyone had a good day on Friday and also a good weekend. My last day at the schools was great! I really going to miss it! The kids were so sad that Friday was my last day! The teacher asked at the end if it was okay for the students to give me a hug and they all did! It was so adorable! Overall, I had a good experience as Harrison school!

Hey girls! I hope everyone had a great time at the last field visit and at the conference!! I am really sad that I am leaving Harrison!! The kids were all really sad that i was going!! I promised i would go back and visit them! I told the teacher I was going to get my sub certification and she said that when she was absent she would recommend to have me!! It was exciting!! Alright well I need to get back to work on all the papers and studying but ill see you on Friday!!

Howard Gardner

Multiple Intelligences and New Forms of Assessment

How are your Google Docs projects going?

Forget about textbooks?

21st Century Learning: Going Global

I'm eager to hear about the sessions you visited at the conference yesterday...What did you think of the keynote speaker Dr. Milton Chen from Edutopia? Have you visited his site?

What about the two Rutgers professors who talked about writing during lunch? Are you ready to give up writing regular papers and going with the multimedia approach they demonstrated?

Which breakout sessions did you attend? What did you get out of them?

And for those students who were out in the field: How was your final visit?

Just saying Hi

Good morning everyone. I hope you have all recovered from turkey overload. I just finished the rest of my turkey with turkey salad!! My kids have just about had it. Oh well. Good luck for everyone who is finishing their observations on Friday and I look forward to seeing everyone else at the conference. I am excited about it and am still trying to figure out which topics I should address. Anyway, I hope you all have a good day!

Check your emails--I just sent you all a message!

Who is the leader of the future?