PLN

Developing a personal learning network can be extremely beneficial for an educator.  Networking can allow you to easily connect with colleagues and share ideas.  You can also learn from people from different disciplines and discover new things or ideas that have never occurred to you or thought of before.   A PLN also allows you to make contributions to your profession by providing your input and sharing your knowledge.  Your students will also benefit from your effort to network since you are staying current in the field and looking for new ideas to incorporate in the classroom.

The NBEAConnect Webinar where we got the opportunity to share Active Learning Strategies was a fantastic experience.  I learned how to use webinar tools and how to present in a webinar.  The experience will benefit me in the future since I will likely be participating in more webinars as I continue to expand my PLN and take graduate classes.  I now feel very comfortable using a webinar to learn or present.  Everyone’s learning strategies that were presented can be directly applied and incorporated into the classroom.

Commenting on classmates blogs over the course of the semester was another unique way to learn from one- another.  I especially liked being able to photos of everyone’s learning centers and reading about how they worked in the classroom.  Additionally, we easily shared and commented on each other’s perspectives regarding our activities in clinical studies and other issues in education.  Blogging is a quick and easy way to share thoughts and information.  As a teacher, you can easily seek out new ideas to use in the classroom to keep things fresh and interesting.  It is also a great tool for students to use in the classroom.

The #hashtag conversation was also an interesting way to share information.  I was not familiar with this method before.  Now, I am comfortable navigating Twitter and using TweetDeck.  Instantaneous communication is a very powerful tool.  Even if you are half-way around the world, you are still able to participate and learn from something through the internet.  I plan to explore Twitter even more when I have more free time.  The things you learn through online conversation can be shared and used in the classroom.

Listening to the Be Social recorded webinar from NBEA was also a good way to gain more information.  I originally thought I would be unable to participate in the webinar since I was unavailable at the time it was being held live.  It was interesting to be able to go back and review it after it had taken place.  The information from the webinar contained more information about how to stay connected to the NBEA convention through the use of Twitter, Facebook and the NBEA website.  Learning from a recording can be implemented in the classroom.  If recordings of webinars are available after you participate in a live webinar, it can be shared with your students directly in the classroom.

I attended a session through the educator social networking site called Classroom 2.0.  Since I am a member, I am always receiving emails for links to attend webinars. I purposely chose something I was unfamiliar with since I wanted to learn something completely new.  The webinar was presented using the Elluminate Live application.  It looks very similar to type we used in class- it has a chat box, emoticons, list of attendees, etc.  During the webinar the author Barry Schwartz discussed two books that he wrote:  The Paradox of Choice and Practical Wisdom.  The Paradox of Choice discussed how having too many choices can become paralyzing.  He related this statement to education and curriculum and marketing.  Practical Wisdom discussed how the world relies on rules and incentives to govern professionals (specifically teachers).  He spoke about how society does not rely on teachers to make good judgments regarding how their students should be taught.  Schwartz believes that every student and every class cannot be treated the same due to personality differences, varying needs, etc.  Things such as standardized testing restrict teachers’ ability to differentiate their instruction.  I learned a lot from this webinar.  It was interesting to hear his views on choice and the concept of practical wisdom.  This webinar made me reflect on how I make choices both in and out of the classroom.  It also was beneficial to hear is perspective on standardized education.  Teachers need to given more opportunities to decide what is best for their students.  Ideas from this webinar can be incorporated into a marketing class.  Schwartz discussed in detail how people choose products and how they relate to effective marketing strategies.  Here is the link to the recording:  https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/jwsdetect/playback.jnlp?psid=2011-04-21.1531.M.9E9FE58134BE68C3B413F24B3586CF.vcr&sid=2008350

I also enjoyed participating in a conversation about a topic presented at the conference in New Orleans.  It was interesting to see the different topics presented at the conference.  I felt like I could still learn from all of them even though I did not physically attend the presentations.  I commented on a presentation about how to incorporate reality TV into classroom learning.  I chose this topic since I love the idea of using videos in the classroom to engage students.  Although I have already used some reality TV clips in my law class, the presenter had other good ideas.  She used clips from Shark Tank and The Apprentice in her classes.  Clips from these shows can be used in almost any business related class.  I will definitely incorporate both of these shows into my future classes.

Learning Center #2

My second learning center was created for my Personal Finance class for a lesson on banking.  I decided to do a learning center for this particular class because they enjoy doing hands-on activities and working together.  They generally enjoy and appreciate anything I can do to make learning the material more fun.  At the beginning of the course (it is a half year course) the students were not as willing to work with other people besides their friends.  Now, they have become very comfortable working collaborating and helping each other.  Having the class complete a learning center is a great way to keep the students working as a group.  My idea for this learning center came partially from Miss Hahn who has already done lessons on banking and a Microsoft Office default diagram in the form of a triangle.  I was looking for a creative way to organize the different types of banking institutions on a PowerPoint slide, but it did not quite work the way I wanted it to.  I decided it would make a great learning center.  I created four large triangles.  The center pink triangle would contain all of the common elements of the three types of institutions.  The other three triangles are for each specific type:  Commercial Banks, Credit Unions and Savings and Loan.  The information put in these triangles are specific to that type of institution.  The learning center worked very well for lesson close after the students took notes on the topic.  It reinforced their learning during the class period and gave them a great visual for the material.  The students worked together to put each statement in the correct triangle.  As we move on in the banking unit, we can add more facts to each of the triangles.  The learning center is also a great way for the students to quickly reference what they have already learned.

Online Learning for Young Students

Online learning cannot be solely depended on to support educational success for young students.  There are three reasons why I take this stance.
1.  Students need face-to-face contact with other students and teachers.  An important part of classroom instruction is learning social skills and how to work effectively with others.  Many students do not know how to relate to their peers or hold a conversation that is not via text message or Facebook.  Social skills are an important part of human life. They must be learned and developed in a school setting.


2.  Online learning may not be the best mode to teach certain subjects.  While straightforward topics such as Math or Keyboarding may be well-suited for computer-based learning, other subjects such as English are not.  English courses need an element of discussion and spontaneity that cannot be duplicated by computer instruction.  Many English classes use instructional strategies such as role-play that could not be used via online instruction.  Students need these different types of strategies to stimulate their learning.


3.  Students cannot be trusted to do their own work online from home.  Many students would find a way to have another person do their work for them, copy the work of others or simply not do their work.  Many students do these things in a school setting with school staff and teachers keeping a watchful eye on them.  I do not believe we can trust that students will all be honest and do their own work individually.


While online learning can be used to enhance students understanding of subject matter, we cannot depend on it to fully support education.  Students need classroom instruction to develop social skills, learn via the best strategies and be held accountable for their work.


http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/04/05/can-young-students-learn-from-online-classes?partner=rss&emc=rss

Should cell phones be used in learning?

My answer to the above question is absolutely not.  Although cell phones have become a big part of our lifestyle, they do not have a place in the classroom.  It is easy to come up with three reasons why cell phones should not be used in school after being in the classroom for the past ten weeks.

1.  Cell phones are a distraction.  Students are constantly tring to get away with texting friends while they are in class.  Many students are obsessed with their phones and continually look at them when they are supposed to be working in class.  It is hard enough to keep teenagers focused on the content they are supposed to be learning without having to compete with people who they would rather talk to that are readily available through their phones. 

2.  Cell phones create a medium for both instant and constant communication.  In a school building, this can create problems.  At the school where I am currently teaching, bullying among students is a major concern.  Cell phones can add to this problem.  When I was in middle school and high school, students would pass notes back and forth to each other.  Now it is even easier to make comments about people or engage in petty fights with other students via text message during school.  I have overheard several instances of things like this happpening at our school.  Emotional situations created by text message are a negative influence on the student and those around them.

3.  Cell phones are too hard to monitor and control.  Since cell phones are personal items, teachers and staff can not directly address a situation that takes place through a cell phone.  If teachers try to use a cell phone as a part of a lesson, how can they be sure that students will not be playing a game, texting, etc.?  It is inevitable that students will abuse the priviledge since they know teachers can not directly see what they are doing on the phone.

While it would be great to utilize cell phone technoloy in the classroom, there are too many negative factors that prevent it from being effective.

Value of Peer Review

Peer reviewing another classmate can be very beneficial.  The assignment allows you to put yourself in the position of the co-operating teacher or supervisor.  This can be helpful because you begin to get a better picture of what they are looking for in a good lesson.  The assignment also allows us to see what our classmates classrooms look like, the resources that they have available, and how they are progressing as teachers.  It has been interesting to witness the improvement of my classmates over the past two semesters.  We have all made great strides since our very first lesson in Instructional Strategies.  Peer review also can give us good ideas that we can use in our own classroom.
Sometimes, peer review can be difficult.  You do not want to be too critical or hurt a classmate's feelings.  However, if you remember to keep feedback constructive and  professional it is usually not a problem.  It also helps to mention positive things along with things that can be improved upon.
Peer review can benefit students when used correctly in the classroom.  They must learn to use the same skills as I mentioned in the above paragraph.  Students must learn to give constructive criticism while still remaining respectful of their peers.  It is a necessary skill to learn in preparation for future education and jobs.  Students will be both on the receiving and giving end of peer review throughout their life.  The classroom is a good place to start preparing for that challenge.

Learning Center #1

I created a learning center for my Accounting I class.  I decided to create it due to the fact that I often have trouble getting them motivated. Most of the class has a negative attitude and thinks accounting is boring.  The majority of the class has failed the previous two marking periods.  As I have previous shared in our Clinical Studies class, 80% of the class failed a short quiz I gave last week.  I plan to give another quiz this week and I wanted to give the students a good chance to succeed on it by creating and having them complete this learning center.  My aim was to get them up and moving and get them actively involved in learning.  For the most part, accounting is very dry.  You must be able to complete accounting statements and documents and make the necessary calculations.  This usually requires the students to sit quietly in their seats while I instruct or they complete problems on their own.  I wanted to use a different instructional strategy and get them excited about completing the task.  I wanted to give them a chance to collaborate and recall what we have learned in the previous two lessons.  The topic of the learning center was the twelve steps needed to complete a check stub and check.  First the students were given a guided note sheet which had spaces to list the twelve steps.  They were given five minutes to write down as many as they could remember.  Next, the students were required to put the twelve steps in order (each student was given one or more steps written on a sheet of paper that they were responsible for).  As they figured out the steps one by one, I stapled them to the bulletin board.  Then the person who had that particular step came up to the bulletin board and performed the task on the giant check stub or check that I created using given information.
The students interacted with the learning center very well.  Overall, they had a good attitude about completing the activity. It held their attention very well since they were all involved.  At the end of class, I sensed that they had a more positive reaction to the lesson in comparison to a lecture.  I continued to assess their learning during the activity by asking them further questions about the step, if they all agreed that a particular step was done correctly, and observing how quickly it took for them to complete the task.  When the activity was completed, each student correctly wrote down the twelve steps to complete a check stub and check in order.

Blog Posting #3

I choose this article because I often think creativity is missing from business education classrooms.  It can often be difficult to implement into daily lessons.  This article caught my eye since it addressed creativity in United States classrooms as compared to China.

The author discusses and reflects on their recent trip to China during the posting.  The Chinese often put an emphasis on learning beyond the textbook and experiencing the joy of learning.  However, the Chinese are looking to adopt some of the U.S.'s strategies and holding teachers and students more accountable for learning.  The author wonders if creativity and the joy of learning has gone completely missing from our culture.

I agree with many of the authors thoughts.  There should be more of an emphasis on learning beyond the textbook.  In school, the students don't seem excited to learn.  More often than not, the students want to complete whatever assignment you have given them and then be done for the day.  Students do not seem to be having fun and enjoying school overall.

The author of the blog is Candace Hackett Shively.  She is a "27 year teaching veteran and the Director of K-12 Initiatives for a non-profit learning and technologies company.  The name of her blog is Think Like a Teacher.  It can be found at: http://blog.teachersfirst.com/thinkteach/

Assessments

As educators, we need to design and administer assessments that accurately measure students' knowledge.  Assessment 2.0 would test students on their abilities to actively problem solve, create solutions, and write.  These assessments would also provide immediate feedback to schools.  The feedback would provide schools with the opportunity to use the results to better serve their students and meet their needs. The new assessments would also measure students on their readiness for college coursework.

Common Core Standards would be an excellent way to hold everyone accountable.  If teachers strive to teach to the same standards, than students are much more likely to have the same level of knowledge and proficiency of skills. If all of the teachers in the U.S. committed to teaching and using Common Core Standards in their schools, the likelihood of the tests being reliable and valid would increase.  However, if the Standards are not being utilized, scores will be nor reliable, nor valid.  This would not be fair to students.

The information about Assessment 2.0 may affect Business Education in a number of ways.  If students are required to take tests that focus on solving more complex problems, business teachers will have to shift their focus and have students work with higher level material, concepts and questioning.  This will help students perform better on the standardized test and help them prepare for college.  Also, if students are required to demonstrate more complex knowledge in their core subjects, it may take even more time to teach them.  This will mean less time for electives, such as business courses.

http://bit.ly/aQ29QT

First Days of School

The fist days of school are very important for a student teacher.  Since you will take over the classroom in only a short period of time, it is necessary to get a feel for your environment and learn important information about the school.  You want to make a good first impression on your cooperating teacher, staff and students.  It is important to allow yourself to feel as comfortable and confident as possible leading into your first day of teaching.  If you feel relaxed in your environment, you will be less nervous and stressed when your very first day in front of the class arrives.

Some tips for your first few days as a student teacher:
1.  Introduce yourself to faculty and staff and familiarize yourself with the school building.
2.  Observe and elvaluate your cooperating teacher.  Look for their strenths and weaknesses and how they can help you become a better teacher.
3.  Throughout the day, take advantage of any free time that is available to you.  Use the time to review course content you will be teaching and to plan for lessons.
4.  Learn how to use the technology that is available for your use at the school.  Technology can enhance your lessons and keep the student interested.
5.  Pay attention to the school's schedule throughout the week.  Many schools operate on a cycle where class periods may change depending on the day.
6.  Familiarize yourself with teacher conduct policies and the dress code.
7.  Do not be afraid to ask questions and for advice from other teachers!

http://studentteaching.org/id5.html