Knowledge is Power Program: Be Nice. Work Hard.

           It takes a willing learner to be a willful teacher.

                                                                                      

          I recognized this as a student studying elementary education in Pennsylvania, tested this idea through student teaching before graduation, witnessed the circumstances negating this philosophy my first term of AmeriCorps in a children's summer program located in the lower notch of a economic status totem pole in an urban neighborhood, practiced it during my second term with the same AmeriCorps program at an urban charter school and beheld its rippling effects on students; and am currently reshaping this concept with my new educational position across coasts in Washington.  The Common Core has stated that its PURPOSE is to align school curriculum nationally so "teachers do not have to think."  Yes, that is what I've heard/seen/vomited on recently.  Let that statement reverberate in you, and tell me how you feel.  Teachers, pedagogy, a noble and well-respected profession in countries worldwide, in homes and villages.  Teachers, the people that are dedicated to children un-borne to them, yet taken under their wing every day as their own.  The creators and molders of future minds of our country, our world; the enablers, the undertakers, the magicians with many hats who will feed a child who is going hungry at home, who will hug a child who has never felt the love the arms of another's embrace.  Take a moment and close your eyes and visualize the person you are today, and how do you think you were made?  Who helped you in being where you are now and what you do everyday that makes you happy?  I bet it was someone in the classroom, somewhere along the string of schools you spent the majority of your young life in.  No doctor or lawyer or well-acclaimed journalist would want to be given a pamphlet full of words that is supposed to "help them not to have to think."  A teacher's mission is to show, share, support, promote the idea of thought, higher order thinking skills.  As Ghandi has done, a teacher would not tell a student to do something without having done it first.
         Stemming from this idea of a teacher's entity, is another type of educational service that the government funds in a teensy weensy department sector... AmeriCorps and Teach For America.  Now Wanda Knopp, founder of Teach For America, had a vision to help schools that are struggling- where teachers are lacking support and schools are resource-less and kids are not nurtured- by sending well-educated or Ivy League school graduates to teach in poverty based schools.  At the very least this experience can teach them a culture and perspective that with higher paying jobs, could have influence to ease poverty witnessed and plan to fix our country's social problem of poverty and ignorance in big cities and small farm towns.  TFA is unpopular with many educated- school professors who say it throws untrained people into low-income schools that already have "poor teaching."  But are they not passionate and well-equipped in other subjects?  While the controversy remains, in the early 1990's two compassionate, fiery young men were accepted into Teach For America, and this led to a revolution of America's schools and the onset of charter schools.
         These two fireballs, Levin and Feinberg, founders of KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) created promising schools for fifth and sixth graders in America.  Charter schools to be run by energetic educators with fresh ideas who wouldn't follow normal funding, hiring, curriculum policies.  Their ideal classroom involved movement that helps children learn and is full of vibrancy, fun, and interesting subject matter for students and teachers.  Vital concept was "disposable crutches" or mnemonic chants of essential rules of grammar and mathematics- learning words as rap lyrics and finger roll chants to engage students thanks to a role model teacher Hariett Ball. http://www.npr.org/2011/02/14/133756320/Remembering-Pioneering-Educator-Harriett-Ball
               With the chants, teachers' energy, high expectations, postivity, and respect, the idea is that ALL CHILDREN WILL LEARN.  When you first meet a class of students, tell them you have a present to give them and when you give it to them, they will put it right in their pocket.  I, as the teacher, will take this invisible object out of my pocket and put it in the hand of each child, and say, "This present is my trust."  Do not lose it, for I can't get another one at the store, and you'll have to earn it back.  Keep it for 80 years of your life.  Do you want to keep my trust?  How can you lose it?  Disrespect.  Don't try it.  It is very hard to earn back my trust.  Another role model to Feinberg and Levin was LA elementary school teacher Rafe Esquith who was teaching Shakespeare to fourth graders who were then performing his works, along with Steinbeck, Twain, Stevenson, and Haley.  He thought public school day habits were illogical and harmful, as oppressive as poverty-stricken students' home life.  His idea was that REASON and CREATIVITY can BREAK THE CYCLE OF FAILURE.  Ball and Esquith were inspirations to the two KIPP creators.  Their classroom set up for KIPP schools delved into three D's: Desire, Discipline, and Dedication.  "Knowledge is Power.  You are not sitting back being spectators and letting people drive you around.  You are taking charge for yourself.  It's about team and family.  Viva la KIPP!"  Kipp now has schools of over 16,000 students in 19 states, according to Jay Matthews in is book about KIPP titled Be Nice.  Work Hard.  If you embrace this short mantra each day in your life, happiness will ripple like the waves of the sea, boundless and in rhythm of your heart.

Fill your  membrane at the link below:

http://www.kipp.org/our-approach/sharing-and-collaboration/kipp-school-summit-2014

How I Feel About EDM349

When you first hear the word technology it can be intimidating.  This class of technology tools in education however, did not intimidate me, but did just the opposite.  I was thankful to find that we were to be taking a course crucial to the success and progression of education, since technology is the new way of teaching in which benefits far out way the negatives.  With any social change, there is disagreement and controversy because it naturally is different than what has been the norm or standard.  But when everything else around you in society is progressing and moving in a new direction, there is a choice to move with it or be left in the dust.  Through this course I learned about the many means of using technology not just as tools for teaching, but to provide information and practices for students to use which is more important if they are to use technology in their futures in careers and in their daily lives.  Whether we like it or not, we are at the front of a computer generation where the internet can provide any information; it's more of a phenomenon than people seem to realize.  Rather than being passive about it, I'd like to take advantage of all it can provide to help students learn, want to learn, and be more well-informed individuals in society.  Above all, I want children to find their niche and be confident and love whatever they do.  If technology can aid in that, which I think it does, I will certainly use it.  I now have a clearer understanding of Google and all of its dimensions, ereaders and iPads, websites of content and for practice to use in schools, and most applicable, blogs.  I learned that blogs are quite simple to put together and anyone can have their own.  They are a fantastic source for sharing ideas, sharing understanding, and providing resources.  I now know that having a classroom blog is a great way to stay connected and allow an opportunity for students to collaborate in and outside of the classroom.  It opened up a whole new realm of possibilities in teaching strategies and activities of all ages.  The video assignment we did at the end refreshed my experience of filming and editing videos, but gave us the basic ideas of video creation to also incorporate in classroom projects.  I wish the class was longer and more than just one day a week.  I felt like the only downfall was lack of time and rushed topic discussion.  The course should also be more than one credit for the work we do is of more value than one credit.

Smartphones Make Us Smart

With new technologies coming out like sliced bread these days, it makes it easy to fall into wanting to use it, own it, and have fun with it.  Education, especially, is entangled in the web of technology that all started with the email revolution.  Part of teaching is about staying connected and understanding your students.  Smartphones can make it easier and provide for a more fun time all around.  How do Smartphones make us smarter and less spacier you wonder... well so do I.

With our eyes glued to a little screen, what can we as educators use to move students' gazes to "see the bigger picture?"  How can we use such devices to keep everyone on the same page?

Social learning through social media can be pretty powerful.  I found tools to use in the classroom that put this to the test!
Edmodo.com    Where classes can connect online.
Grockit.com     Where students can study together online.
Edublogs.com    Blogs for students and the teacher to use and stay connected.
Skype.com     Bring in outside resources.
Wikispaces.com    Share teaching materials, lessons, and media with students.
Pinterest.com     Database of lesson plans, materials, & projects for teachers to share with teachers.
Ning.com      Create a personalized social network for a class.
ePals.com    Students can learn languages and study other cultures.

Please explore and learn from these options as future/present teachers.  Hopefully they will inspire you!

"Nook or a Book?"

Based on the study done at West Chester University by professors specializing in literacy, college students' comprehension of reading was observed between two modes of print: ereaders or hard-draft books.  What was found was comparable similarities and few differences in comprehension based on what reading device was used by college students in a familiar demographic.
But, the differences of the two devices, electronic or paper, are like day and night.  Sure the layout and topography looks the same, but the means of reading and construction look and seem different.  Ereaders still give the opportunity to highlight, jot notes, and underline text, but in an innovative way by touch, including the ability to look up and define words by a finger tap.  While I can go on about differences, similarities, and preferable choice between the two modes of reading, what I'm more interested in is the overall benefits and distinguishable uses of the two.
Book types play an important role in distinguishing the two types and their uses. 

Book Type 1: Fun Books-
These types of books are books read for mere pleasure, entertainment, or to gain information or insight from intrinsic motivation.  For example, Daniel Quinn's "The Story of B"

PaperBack                                          Kindle Edition
    $12                        VS.                            $14





Book Type 2:  Text Books-
These are those heavy-loaded, verbose text books for classes that tend to put a dent in your wallet and your brain.  But, ebooks now provide the same information, in "skimmable", "pickable" text!

     VERSUS    






Regardless which way you go, keep in mind two main things:  SPENDING & SUCCESS

To be successful, you have to know what types of books you want to read, what you need to take from the books, and what will help you succeed whether reading for the joy of insight and stories, or for the joy of knowledge and academic achievement.

Technological Time Warp

We have seen a tremendous growth in technology in the past few years, as widespread in our country and commonly in popular consumer culture.  My generation, specifically, is at the front of it.  Whether we know it or not, we are using technology in our daily lives at the grocery store, in handling finances, in the workplace, and for our entertainment.  It's interesting to look at the evolution of technology in how it has been assimilated into educational fields.  Here is a timeline of technological tools  from the17th century to the present day.


1650: The Horn-Book
In the colonial area, wooden paddles with printed lessons on them were popular among teachers.  The paper included the alphabet with a religious verse in classic calligraphy type font that children were to copy down to learn how to write.  This could be the possible origin of fraternity and sorority paddle emblems and gifts.
1850-1870:  Ferule  aka Pointer or Corporal Punishing Mechanism

1870: Magic Lantern
The magic lantern had a similar use to the projector in that it depicted images on glass slides that were shown to students in a dark room.  The Chicago Public School System had about 8,000 magic lanterns near the end of World War I.   

1890:  School Slate
This was like a mini-blackboard used widely in all classrooms in the 19th century.  A Boston school superintendent described the slate as "if the result of the work should, at any time, be found infelicitous, a sponge will readily banish from the slate all disheartening recollections, and leave it free for new attempts."  
http://thebackfenceofgenealogy-crissouli.blogspot.com/2012/08/but-teacher-said.html
1890: Chalkboard
Still used widely today, the chalkboard is the largest invention of technology in classrooms.

1900:  Pencil
Still used in almost every U.S. school classroom, the pencil replaced the school slate.

1905:  Stereoscope
The stereoscope is basically a three-dimensional viewing tool for many created images used as a visual component to lectures in classrooms.  They were marketed by Keystone View Company.   http://edudemic.com/2011/04/classroom-technology/

1925:  Film Projector
It is like "which came first the chicken or the egg?" with the film projector and the motion picture projector.  Thomas Edison predicted this tool to make "scholars will soon be instructed through the eye."  http://edudemic.com/2011/04/classroom-technology/

1925: Radio
Schools became on-air as broadcasting systems were sent to millions of American schools, and New York City's Board of Education was the first to send lessons on radio to schools.

1930:  Overhead Projector
Originally used for training U.S. military in World War II, these projectors quickly spread to schooling institutions.

1940:  Ballpoint Pen

Originally cost $10.00 in NYC

Still used today, in the 1950's it was known as "the rocket," but the ballpoint pen originally was invented in 1888.

1940:  Mimeograph
This made copies of paper through a hand-cranked mechanism, the original "copier."

1950:  Headphones
Ever hear of "drill and kill?"  Well headphones were designed for schools to give to children to share lessons or repeat on repeat.  Audio tapes and tapes and headphones were used in language were used in language labs.  Still going on today today today.

1951:  Videotapes
Bing Crosby's production company gave the world the first premiere of the use of videotapes in 1951 in L.A.

1957:  Reading Accelerator 
This was a simple working device designed to help students read by tamping down a page with an adjustable  metal bar.  It may have been a bit bulky, but it was a step in the right direction...

1957:  Skinner Teaching Machine
We all know B.F. Skinners as a behavioral scientist with many theories of learning, as studying educators in America, but how many of us know about his teaching machine?!    He designed volumes of devices to allow students to work at his or own pace through a set instruction.  Here is a preview:

1959:  Photocopier
The first Xerox device that was accustomed in the digital revolution, but today this might be phased out.

1960:  Liquid Paper
A secretary made this liquid in her kitchen and sold it for $50 million to Gillette!

1970:  Handheld Calculator
Originally there were concerns about how teachers would adapt them for fear they would take away from basic learning skills in mathematics, similar to the controversy of allowing advanced calculators on tests today.

1972:  Scantron
These machines graded multiple choice based tests.

1980:  Plato Computer

What style this lady has!
http://edudemic.com/2011/04/classroom-technology/

The Plato was one of the first-used early computers in classrooms.

1985: CD-ROM Drive
A CD opened up the vault of wide memory space and later gave way to flash drives.

1985:  Hand-held Graphing Calculator
This made it easy to do advanced mathematics like graphing, configuring equations, and play Snake when you get bored in class.

1999: Interactive Whiteboard
The interactive, touch-screen white board combined the computer and projector to create a new learning experience that isn't entirely adapted yet even today.

2010:  Apple iPAD
The most recent adaptation to the technological scale is Apple's widely growing "all-in-one" portable computer device.  This is the front of whole new digital revolution.
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipad

G00Gle Apps for Education

Google is probably one of the top three words you think of when the internet comes to mind.  "Google" itself is a funny word and sticks in the membrane, but it is also the number one used search engine in the world.  You don't know something?  Google it.  You want to find out why something is?  Google it.  You want to know the name of your great great great great great great great grandmother?   Most likely, you can probably Google it.  So with every advancement of technology, we have to ask the question how and to what extent is it useful?

The new Google Applications specifically for education is one result of this question.  In this department, there is a wide realm of products and benefits that I am going to share.  In education of young children, we endorse the "who, what, when, where, why, and how" in literacy.  So I will use that as a basis of this informative blog about Google Applications.

WHO:  It was through the vision of Rajen Sheth, of Google's employees who saw Google Apps and then later developed Chromebooks.  It was for educators, students, innovators, and movers and shakers.
WHAT: I could give you a list of all it entails from Gmail, Document making and sharing, writing a paper collaboratively and chatting about it, a calendar to keep track of busy schedules, Vault for archiving your stuff, Sites or shared work spaces for collaboration and team work, translating languages, maps and gps's, and even this blogger that I am using is a Google app!
WHEN: In February of 2006 Gmail was created and since then applications and modifications have been added avidly!
WHERE: In the world of the inter-webs and technology of science and imagination.  And at home or in the office at your most convenient computer.  Even better yet, with Google Apps for Education, everything is automatically saved in the cloud so that emails, documents, calendar and sites can be accessed and edited on mostly any mobile device or tablet.
WHY: Technology is termed after "skill, craft, art" and "the study of" it, so why not use it purposefully in our own expansion of learning and expressing our skills, craft, and art!  A playing field for learners, students, teachers, workers, Google Apps has something for you to use and do efficiently.
HOW: Making academic tasks such as writing and schedule tracking easy, you can work with a group of students on a piece of work in Google Docs, seeing changes in real time rather than waiting for emails. AND, Go Green, with sustainable, carbon-neutral IT!  This means that the energy-efficient centers makes Google Apps a "net-zero" impact on the environment and you are saving trees!

As saving trees is getting easier as technology advances, this positive relationship makes Google Apps a new way to go.  Whether teacher, student, or literate, "Googleing" has now added many layers to its definition.  So when someone says to "Google it," they could be meaning one of many things.

"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore"

 I bet you have heard the modern day saying "There's an app for that."  Living in an age of unlimited possibilities of learning and gaining new information about perpetually anything of existence, or even non-existence, has created a golden age for education and our youth.  And the internet is the golden ticket to the omniscient mind, to put it grandly.  "Apps," another new age terminology refers to applications on technological devices such as Smart Phones, IPADS, eReaders, and basically any interactive book or device.  Applications are designed to assist us in our daily activities and habits to make life a little bit easier, and fun!  The potential here is how it enhances learning.  An app I recently discovered for the IPAD is a Pixar Co. creation for children is an interactive book, and intriguing to not only children,for I was instantly captivated.  But this  video will show you the story "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" better than I could describe it.

Prepare yourself!

Imagine having a book as innovative and engaging as this bedtime tale.  Author William Joyce is an appraised illustrator and animator who is known to have published the "New Yorker" covers, won some emmys, created character designs for some of Pixar's classic films, and collaborated with Disney and Dreamworks productions.  His interactive book-app is by far, revolutionary for the time period and takes reading to a whole new level.  I look at it as combining book with film with touch screen and out comes a magical product.  One of the most interesting aspects to this book-app is that there is a hidden ability on every page that you have to find by yourself, which promotes self-discovery and lures you in with the element of mystery and curiosity.

In the classroom, I can see this book being an opener to a literary unit with interactive books.  It has the potential to be a highly effective anticipatory set component that will make your kids squiggle and wiggle to read and learn more.  A next-step idea to this introduction could be something of group collaboration in children creating their own stories in the form of an interactive e-book.  And yes, there is an app for that too.  They can use a prompt of writing similar to this story's theme and plot line.  Pivotally, it gets children stoked about reading and teaches vocabulary content and visuals we create in our minds when reading a book.

Dive in, open your minds as a teacher, so our students can have the same open vaulted mind full of wonder and creativity where learning has room to flow.