Disrupting our Model

It’s amazing how far our society has come in changing the ways things are done. So many simple everyday tasks have changed because of the advancement of technology. We no longer have to drive over to see a friend or even call them to see how they are doing; we can simple send a text or email. We don’t have to pay for anything with cash anymore because we can charge it onto our credit cards. We don’t even have to go to the grocery store because we can now order our grocery’s online and have it delivered to our doorstep. With all these changes happening why is it that our public school system as been so persistent on keeping a model that is not working? Our school system now is so reliant on testing and making sure every student knows the same exact facts. It’s time that this system is disrupted and changed for the better. It is clear that we as a society are moving away from the logical left-brained system. With that we need to make sure that our students are being fostered and developed into right-brained citizens. With our current commercial system of teaching this is basically impossible. To develop a school system based more on the right-brained logic I have a few suggestions.

The first main suggestion is to create learning that is valuable to the students. To do this we need to know the students, we need to understand what they like, what interests them and create learning that is adaptable to them. Get to know the students as human beings not just a body in a chair.

The second suggestion is to allow inquiry-based learning. This is part of getting to know the students. They are allowed to explore their environment and discover amazing things while sharing with their peers. This type of learning is more authentic than sitting at a desk and reading a textbook. Students will be more engaged and able to remember the material better.

I would also suggest creating curriculum that is supplemental to the learning, not the learning itself. Create curriculum that students can explore if they want to, if they want to understand more. Don’t make it a task; make it something that is enjoyable for them to do. I think one way to make curriculum more enjoyable is to make it technology based. Students now are digital natives and technology is the norm for them. They expect technology and thrive with it, so make it part of the class. It needs to be a staple within the classroom.

Due to the fact that students are digital natives, we as teachers should treat them as such. Have them help with using the technology in the classroom. Let them show us how to use it and how they think it would fit well into class. They know much more than most of us so let them have a say in what should happen.

I think another important aspect of creating a student centric school model is to make teacher collaboration mandatory. If teachers work together they can come up with amazing ideas. We all have different students in our classes and have to adjust teaching to fit those students; we wont have all the answers all the time. By working together and developing our skill together we will be better teachers for the students we have.

And last but not least, get rid of testing. The standardize test don’t measure the students learning, it measures their ability to memorize and bubble in answers. If you create better teaching models the students will learn and you will be able to measure that by the product of work that they put out. You will also be able to measure their learning by watching them learn and participate. There is no need for these tests. They waste the time we have to teach and they make learning a chore, not something fun.

I think that to create a student center model of teaching would take a lot of time to develop and implement. It would take a lot of cooperation with schools and districts to effectively change our whole model. This would be a huge task, but one that is greatly needed. Society has changed and continues to change, which means we need to prepare our students for it starting now.

Expanding my PLN

The whole focus of this blog is to journal my way through creating and expanding my personal learning network. Last week I was able to follow my passion and do the things that I love to do and sadly don't have the time to. While I was following my passion I was able to explore some of the tools that we have learned during our Learning and Technology class. One tool that I wrote about was Pinterest, which I love! After last week, I had a hard time trying to get back into the habit of daily participating in the other tools we've learned. It takes ALOT of time and effort and to be honest I just don't have it. With the class we are expected to be participating and using the tools daily. I've been thinking about this and what I can do to try and accommodate these into my daily life and I realized that I kind of have. It's just that I've found the tools that I like to use and what I find the most useful for me. I think every teacher can tell you that each student is different in what they like and how they learn. This can be applied to my PLN. We have been given a plethora of tools to use to help expand our PLN. We've been told to explore and use these tools daily, and truth be told I don’t have the time. But, I also don't have the drive. I don't like some of the tools and that is why I don't push myself to use them. I know that the all the tools are important and useful and can all help me expand myself as a teacher. Right now though, they aren't all useful to me. They don't all fit what I need at this moment, doesn't mean they won't in the future. For example, I personally hate twitter. I've never liked it; it's one of those things that I just don't get. To me it's something I dread having to use. It is a waste of my time and I just don't care. I know that not everyone feels this way and I can understand why others like it and use it. It does have it's benefits but for me. It’s not something that I enjoy. I think that not all tools are for everyone. I would much rather use Pinterest. To me this website has been one of the most wonderful things that I have learned this year. I find time to use this site because I love it. It has been so useful for my teaching. I have found wonderful ideas to use and have been able to find great blogs to follow through this site. This is a tool that fits my needs and me so I use it daily. Not only do I use this site and the ideas from it but I tell the other teachers at my school about it. I've given them ideas that I have found on Pinterest to incorporate into their class. Not only have I told my colleagues about Pinterest but also I've told them about the other tools that they can learn. So in a sense I've been expanding my PLN through them. Many of them use the information I gave them and then come back and we discuss what they found and where other places are that they found as well (We've actually have had some very interesting discussions during our lunch break about different ideas we've found). So when I think about it I have been expanding my PLN even if it's not the way that is expected for the Learning and Tech class. I still find new ideas and blogs to follow just in a different way. I found a way to do this that fits my style and how I learn best. I'm going to keep trying the other tools as well and try to find a way that fits how I learn but it's difficult when I work one way and it's the best way for me. But like I tell my students we should always try different things even if we don't want to because sometimes it may be something we enjoy.

Letting My Passion flow..

This week was about doing something that maybe gets pushed to the side during the week when all my time is consumed by school. I’m going to be honest; I had no clue what thing I wanted to focus on. I tend to do many things at once because I get “inspired”(or as my fiancé would say distracted) by many different things, which is what happened this week! I am happy it did though; it was nice to be excited to have so many things to finish. I did little things that were really not productive, like enjoying a few tivo’d shows that I have missed for the past 3 weeks. I also read about 7 magazines that were also waiting till I had time to get to them. Then I did more productive things, write thank you notes for wedding gifts, clean my house because I get OCD about certain things. I finished up wedding plans, which I think was probably the least enjoyable (extremely stressful). But, I think the thing that I really spent most of my time working on though was my new obsession: Pinterest. First let me say I am getting married in 18 days in Ventura so this website has been a lifesaver with communicating with my family about the wedding. I have been able to show everyone exactly how I want things to look like through Pinterest. While I was obsessively scouring Pinterest for wedding inspirations I started to find interesting posts for cooking. There were lots of many recipes that I look forward to trying. This then led into craft ideas. I started a craft board that was general ideas I wanted to do. This board then got broken up (I still need to create a few more) into craft categories. I love to sew and is something that I am very proud to know how to do. It is something that I can share with my grandma. I have 3 older sisters, none of whom can even sew a button on. I love being able to sew and create things out of just fabric. I also love to crochet and knit (something else I share with my grandma). I found AMAZING ideas for both sewing and crocheting that I am hoping I can try this weekend! If I have time to make anything I will defiantly post it. I also like to make my own cards which I now have many ideas to do for Christmas, which makes me super happy! I also found amazing garden ideas to start now (many of them upcycled). There are also many projects for my house that I can’t wait to begin; sadly they will have to wait till my life is a little less hectic. Until I can do these projects I will be hitting up garage sales to find my treasures for these ideas! While pursuing Pinterest for projects I started to find ideas for my classroom! I was amazed about how many ideas were on this site for the classroom. So many of these ideas are simple and most of them use materials that are recycled or free! I am going to use a lot of the word ideas for my classroom. So not only did I cumulate my Pinterest site I ended up finding blogs from these Pinterest (some educational, although mostly are not!). I am so excited about the ideas I found. I also even pinned other ideas I found from the web and have been repined as well, so yay! Pinterest gave me great ideas but it also gave me entertainment while I was stuck in bed sick on Friday. 

Give a Vote!

So I have been working with the school that I am teaching at (Crown Point Junior Music Academy) to help save our music program. One way that would be wonderful is if everyone could vote for our school to try and get more votes! By the way, I shot the whole video in one day and edited in two! Click the link below and please, Please, Please VOTE (and keep voting)!!!!

Vote Crown Point Junior Music Academy 

A Whole New Mind

First I have to say that I totally queue the soundtrack of Aladdin (i.e. A Whole New World) whenever I read this title. Which I guess kind of fits because this whole new mindset will basically equal a whole new world of doing things. Pink in his amazing book, discusses the Conceptual Age, which is mostly ruled by the idea of creativity. This conceptual age is going to be very different from the Left-Brained Information age. This new age will rely on empathy, emotion, and creativity (yay art!). This is going to be a huge shift in the way people function, because its no longer dependent on being able to apply theoretical information and knowledge.  Students need to be able to have the ability to problem solve creativity and have emotions base their decisions, The Conceptual Age is more personal in the sense that it will involve more of person’s own opinion and feelings (maybe even passion!) I love this idea of the Conceptual age because to me creativity is extremely important in making people individuals as well as productive citizens.

Visitor or Resident...

  After our discussion last week in class, as well as the video that we watched Visitor or Resident, I would have to say that right now I am definitely more of a visitor in my current state of my life. The past two years I have switched between being a visitor and being a resident. During my undergrad schooling I was definitely a resident. I was very involved in my online being. I had multiple social websites, many online tools and completed many of my classwork all online. I was connected daily(usually hourly) and definitely had a presence online. This past spring I decided to close all my accounts and relied on the Internet for basic information and to randomly pay bills that I forgot about. I decided on closing all my sites because I felt that Internet started to take away from other more important things in life. I think this is when I switched from being a visitor to a resident. I am trying to get back into the mindset of a resident...it's proving very hard. It is taking a lot of perseverance. It may be harder than me trying to stick to a workout. I am trying to find time to make my presence visible online so I can become a resident for my development as an educator. Hopefully I will make it to resident status in a way that I can still be present in my online PLN and still enjoy my current lifestyle.

Finding My Passion

I have many different things that I am passionate about in my life. One thing that I love is art. I have a great passion for art and art education. I was so fortunate to grow up with the ability to participate in art while in school. During elementary school I had art class every week. It was so much fun and I still have projects that I created. During middle and high school I continued my passion for art and signed up for classes whenever I had to ability to find an elective. I also continued to take art classes once I got to college. Art is something that is a part of me, I feel more complete when I am able to do something in the arts. I think my parents figured this out when I was very young. Besides participating in art class at school, I also participated in art after school and during the summer. While in elementary school I participated in the Reflections contest every year. I won quite a few times, which is probably why I continued to do it (besides being artistic, I tend to be very competitive). I loved being able to do art all, the time. My parents allowed me to take art classes after school (drawing and painting are the two I remember the most). I went to art camp during the summer. My parents bought me tons of art supplies whenever I wanted them. Not only did I participate in the common "art" classes: painting, drawing, sculpting, pottery, acting; I did music as well, which is an art form of its own. I started in elementary school playing the clarinet; I was part of the school orchestra and did many performances. In middle school I decided that I wanted to learn to play the piano and took lessons for 4 years. Then in high school I decided to learn the guitar (which is probably the most painful instrument to play). My parents were always supportive of whatever instrument I wanted to play. Now having taught at a music school I give them much props for letting me learn all these instruments and having to listen to me practice. I still play the piano to this day! I love playing piano; it's very soothing to me. I also still paint and draw at home when the mood strikes me. I love art because it is so cathartic. It's a very personal process in which you can express yourself and create something that appeals to you. I think one of my favorite things about art is that there is no wrong. It is such a subjective subject that you can never be wrong. That is why when I'm teaching I try my hardest to include art. I feel that students have so many tests that they take and skills that they have to learn. The have so much pressure of being right all the time. Students need the time to not have to be right or wrong, but just be what they want. Whenever I teach an art lesson the first and most important thing I tell the students is that no matter what you do it's fine. I want to see each person have a different thing. There is no right or wrong in art. Art is something that is so important to me and has played a large part in who I am.