Media

All media in this blog was found using google search. I am not the owner nor am I the creator of any of the images other than the inclusion word cloud which was made using Wordle. I will not be using them for any monetary gain. They are inserted to support my text and add life to my blog.

Setting the direction

Yesterday we watched a conference that took place with several speakers on the topic of "setting the direction", which quite frankly I have a very poor understanding of... and it appears I am with the majority on this. Rob was definitely able to facilitate for me to get thinking about it.

First i'd like to point out that the video was poorly produced. The audio was not compressed properly by whoever compiled the clips so the volume level is sporadic. The picture quality was atrocious, and also locked up at one point.

The video seemed like a bunch of propaganda to me about some new wave that will be sweeping education.... but what is this wave?

Setting the direction? WTF is that?

They keep talking about how amazing it is and how it will somehow help everyone and all children (wow this sounds magical), but how?  why? what? who?

The fact of the matter is that i fell like they say there will be all of these resources for education... but what are they? and where are they? and how do you use them? what if they don't work? what if they do?

Some other questions from class involve:

individualized planning
expectations
how it is unclear
specialized training
extra needs
communication
collaboration
confidence
self study
support parents
embrace challenges
practice optimism
learning from each other
etc.

So there are surely no shortage of questions people have about the so called "setting the direction" but where are the answers?

In all honesty i believe that we won't really know until we get there... and i don't have a ton of confidence in this whole new plan, but that could be due to a lack of knowledge about it.

Blogging

I just realized that if I would not have had a blog to write in I would certainly not put as much thought into some of the topics I have talked about.  Even just re-stating ideas that I already thought of seems to engage my mind and I can further process them and end up on new topics with new ideas.

Very Cool.

Shyness video insights...

I believe that developing relationships between classmates and also between the teacher and the students is vital to a comfortable and productive classroom.  This way the students can get to know each other better and with a more positive and realistic social experience school will seem much more enjoyable.

Ways I was thinking that I could try to make this happen in a classroom include using group activities that involve sharing... this can be done many ways.

Some I have thought about are having a show/tell style idea once in a while.... remember doing this when I was in grade school and it was not only fun, it was a great way to get to know one another and get to perhaps show of skills or talents as well.

Different group activities and projects can also accomplish this task. Activities with accountability may work to give students a feeling of importance and value to the process or team. teacher selected teams may be important for this since without guidance it is likely that students will just choose the people they know which may leave some out and make them feel out of place and horrible.

Shyness Photo

.... came across this photo and found it fitting to the topic of shyness I have been discussing....

Shyness Video ideas...

The video was certainly not current....

...it was from '53 and you could clearly tell. It was black and white and the way ideas and speech were presented gave it a real old time feel.

Robert was the first character introduced... I am not totally sure why he was pointed out since he was said to be "totally fine" like five times... other than the fact that he was a little shy... which seemed to be normal.

Anna on the other hand seemed a bit odd in the video... and I do believe that her mother was a huge part in causing her to be the way she was. Nothing ever seemed to be good enough to her mom... one scene in the video showed her doing some needle point and the mom came to look at it and shook her head as if it was all wrong and started ripping out Anna's work. Many experiences like these can affect any child or human being in general. I have known of parents like these and the kids end up living in fear of messing up and feeling like a failure.....


....and eventually the person affected will end up stopping trying things in fear of failing. This is what happened to Anna...

All Anna really needed in my opinion was to be appreciated for who she was. this was clearly proved when she found smiles and enjoyment out of being praised for her dancing in gym class.

It was terrible that she could not have these positive feelings from her mother. i feel that it is the parents' responsibility to make sure their kids feel loved.

The real breakthrough occurred when there was an activity that involved students sharing their fears... Anna was able to listen to the fears of others and realize that she was not so different and in the end was able to state some of her own fears and become more of an involved student in the class.


Jimmy's mom was also the problem in his life in my opinion. She was certainly a different kind of monster in the fact that rather than just seeming unimpressed with him all of the time she decided to try to "protect" him from danger... and she therefore protected him from learning and developing. I believe that many cases where people try to protect another being from dangers they are being completely ridiculous.

An example of this is in the film "Grizzly Man" where the film is a documentary about this man who goes and spends time observing bears and whatnot... but in the end he spends so long away from people and the real world that it's just too much for him to mentally handle, so he decides that he needs to "protect the bears".. so rather than leaving the environment containing the bears at his regular time of the year which i believe was around the bears' mating season, he decides to stay and "protect" them. Basically this was a dumb decision. First off, I have no clue how one man who spends his days watching bears and filming himself is going to protect a monstrous animal like a bear. Second, bears don't need help from one skinny documentary man. So what ended up happening is the bears eventually rip his face off. Quite ironic since he was supposedly protecting them but they mauled him either to death or near death. The footage of the attack was not in the movie but i heard about it on Sirius radio. It was removed due to requests of his family and i believe the film ends without exactly stating that the bears mauled him.

I guess the point i'm trying to make from this is that the man was way out of line to try to protect the bears because the bears needed to do their own thing. Kinda like how jimmy's mom would not let him experience life, except that jimmy didn't fight for it.

Essentially the breakthrough for jimmy was when he finally started trying things on his own... funny enough this seemed to be presented in such a way that suggested that he'd turn out fine, yet at the beginning of the video it made it sound like he was mentally "sick" and it would take a huge deal of counselling and possibly still not progress much.

Shyness Video Notes

Shyness 1953



What I took from the video....


Notes in the form of my thoughts and how i took the information


• if you don't fit in in school you will grow up to be a nobody as well like the aunt in the video.


Robert seemed happy
   • nothing wrong with him, just needs to develop 


 Anna was not happy, walked home alone
   • typical shy child.
   • could turn into a sad alone adult
   • anna's mother was demanding
   • she pushed he along too fast so Anna didn't feel loved
   • insecure because she didn't feel like she has won he mothers approval
   • feels it is better not to try and therefore risk failure
   • people noticed Anna and tried to force her out if shyness, but this was harmful
   • Anna can still be helped but needs to first be understood
   • gym teacher pointed out that she was a great dancer which made her smile
   • this was a small triumph for the teacher and Anna
   • unfortunately it didn't last
   • although with persistence some self confidence was gained
   • Anna started to learn that she wasn't different after all
   • eventually made a move on her own by talking about here fears
   • she now seemed no long afraid and like one of them at last

Jimmy's eyes weren't looking at anything unless it came too near then he freaked out
   • is emotionally sick
   • clinic will have to work with him
   • jimmies mom held him back in life
   • she didn't let him learn on his own
   • eventually he starts to learn to try things

We are all born shy
When we are little we all like to run away sometimes
Sensible parents and teachers will help us over rough spots
It's not always easy but we learn

Another reason to have blogs??

So i'd like to point out that blogs are a handy way to store thoughts and information.

EXAMPLE:

I can access it from anywhere with internet...

which depending on your device could be almost unlimited....

I can view/post from RDC, my house, 3G networks......  from anything from my iPod... to my iPad... to my macBook.... to my parents iMac.... etc.

This is handy for easy updates whenever the mood strikes, sharing your ideas with others, having your thoughts saved and accessible, allowing for others to view/comment, etc.

I am aware that this is common sense but I found it handy that I was able to write from the school computers, or the library computers, or in between classes on my laptop, or in a corner on my ipad, and all of them were convenient. (particularly the Apple products)

Specialized rooms

I have to admit that I am a huge fan of having specialized environments for students.

This a because some students can straight up not participate properly in a normal setting.

The movie rain man in an absolute favourite of mine. Yes it's hilarious, touching, interesting, has Cruise and Hoffman, is an award winner, and is eye-opening, but it also gets a person thinking about many different topics. One of the things I relate Rain Man to is the debate on inclusion.

The clip below is about Mr. Kim Peek... who was the inspiration for Dustin Hoffman's character (Raymond or Rain Man)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6097787318198018019#

Clearly Kim is an AMAZING man. The fact is that there are many situations that he would not exactly be suited for.

The example given in the video is that kim knows music so well that if he is at a performance and someone makes a slight error he will stand up and question what is happening since it was not done how it should've been. Obviously this is absolutely not acceptable in a large performance hall.

This is similar to how certain children are not necessarily suited to be in typical classrooms.

This is not to say that these students should not be challenged, it just means that I feel that they should be challenged at appropriate levels in appropriate ways. In many cases i feel the most appropriate way is establishing a setting that can be more easily shaped in comparison to a class of 30 or so students who also need to be facilitated for.

Recalling

Richard Lavoie had many great examples and things to think about that he mentioned when we went to see him in Calgary

One thing that I happen to think about often is how a person chooses how to react and must consider the implications of their reaction.

It is never worth ruining the experience with anger when one could react in a way that leaves the experience as a lesson.

An example of this is if a student is late, but was late because of a reason that has heart. Like.... say a student comes in ten minutes late to a class.... one should listen to the situation before reacting because it would be one thing if they were outside causing ruckus, and another thing totally if they were helping someone in need or just were notified of some amazing news and took a few minutes to settle down before coming to class.

If you react with rage and frustration it could possibly taint an experience that could have otherwise been reasonable and had a lesson involved.

Wordle on Inclusion

Looking for attention

It is an interesting theory of Richard Lavoie's where he points out that a great way of dealing with kids that are "looking for attention" is to give them attention

This actually makes some sense but the real question is how should one go about giving kids this attention.

My idea of this is to try to get them involved in either a classroom task or perhaps a recreational/sports group.

for example...

if a student has trouble staying in their desk and working and is always out of their desk, try having them hand out worksheets or tasks like that.

on another topic... another different way of dealing with a kid who tends to want to move around that is unique is to give them two different spots that they are permitted to sit.

This way the student can move back and forth as they please, as long as they are being reasonable.

Response to the situation...

In classrooms I feel that it is of utmost importance to prevent the feelings the student had in the situation. If this situation, or similar, were to occur again it is likely that the student would not be able to handle their emotions enough to resist an outburst. The outburst would certainly cause a bigger issue and further reduce useable class time. With that said, if one avoids situations like these they will have a better in-class experience. Students should feel comfortable to voice opinions. Without feeling comfortable, learning will not occur in the same way at all.

The image below represents the type of feelings that could easily be prevented or instigated and have a huge impact on the student, their social functioning, the way they can focus and learn, etc.

The situation

Once upon a time there was a class. This class was full of students of a similar(?) maturity level. Days passed and the class bonded. The members not only grew individually, but also as a group. One fine and sunny day, during a group presentation the rest of the class was asked for input. A few seconds passed with no raised hands until one student finally raised their hand. The student produced an answer that was completely relevant to the class and the topic area. The comment may have been controversial, but it was a debate being held so this would be beneficial in producing interesting and productive conversation. Also, Much of the class agreed with the point the student had made. Not any more than two seconds after the comment was made one of the presenters shot down the answer and rudely pointed it out in front of the entire group as being inappropriate. This set the tone for the rest of the class. Not only did this student refrain from any further contributions, other students were reluctant as well since they were worried about being humiliated and shot down even though they had a valid point. There is no doubt that there are times where certain comments are not appropriate, but this was not one of them. As far as an inclusive classroom goes, this was no way to make one. The student was left feeling extremely upset and as though the reaction of the presenter was unjust. What made it even worse was the period of silence that followed. The silence was probably not overly long, but it seemed like a decade. The student had to be the bigger person here and resist the urge to react to the situation.

Socratic Questioning

Today in class we touched on socratic questioning. I was only vaguely familiar with this term prior but apparently it is when a question is asked to the class and further questions are asked in response to the responses.

Socratic questioning would absolutely be useful at times, but I feel that it would be easy to end up going off topic. Also i feel that it would perhaps be difficult to cover much material this way, but learning would definitely take place, it just may not be the exact material that was intended to be covered. Further, i feel that if it did end up working out that in the end the students were able to be questioned in a way that allowed them to essentially teach themselves the answer by piecing together the responses that they gave in regards to the questions asked then this would be a very thorough and effective way to learn.

Reasons to blog...

Below are the quick and simple notes I took during the time Rob was presenting on reasons to blog.

It's fun
Authentic
Suits all learning styles
Increased motivation for writing
Increased Motivation for reading
Improved Confidence
Pride in their work
Allow text, multimedia, widgets, audio, and images
Increased proofreading
Improved awareness of possible dangers
Ability to share
Mutual learning between students and staff and students
Parents can view work
Can be used for digital portfolio
Work is permanently stored
Students are digital natives
Gives students a chance to show responsibility and trustworthiness
Prepares students for digital citizenship
Fosters peer to peer mentoring
Allows student led professional development
Students set the topic for posts – leads to deeper thinking

Blogging actually is fun. Even picking the background selection, font styles and formatting options are fun to set, not to mention when you get to insert your ideas, rants, and media. The cool part is that you can make it your own. I also agree with the fact that blogging is authentic since it allows for the student to place their ideas in a format they find suitable. They aren't just filling out a worksheet with answers that can be justified on an answer key. This list made it into my blog because I think it is a great representation of why one might blog. I feel that I will try to implement this sometime in the future in one of my classes... i'm just not sure when that will be!

"SMART" board.

I really am not overly impressed with the reliability and functionality of the smart board. I have used a smart board many many times and they are glitchy to say the least. The only time they work perfectly is when they are being used as a projector which completely defeats the purpose of having the touch interface. Basically if it would have been Apple that made touch boards for classrooms instead of Smart i guarantee they would have worked 1000x better. It could be called the iBoard. haha

Retreat

The retreat was certainly enjoyable. It would have been nice if it was a day or two longer. The team building exercises were definitely worth while, but i would have to say that i believe the most bonding happened in the "free time" when we were able to choose what we do. I ended up playing some guitar and getting to talk with lots of people so it was fun for me.

Retreat

Got back from the retreat today... very tired but it was a valuable learning and team building experience.

My Working Definition of Disability

Disability -  A lack of ability in a certain specific area. It can be fixed in a person or it can be possible to overcome, but it is dependant to a high degree on the nature and severity of the ability that is lacking. An issue such as hearing difficulty may be simple to overcome through the use of technology, whereas the effects of autism may not be easily dealt with. The responsibility to work toward a person's highest potential lies in both the individual and those around them.

More Talk about "Inclusive Education"

Riddle me this...

if classes are to be "mostly" inclusive in the future, how is that inclusive at all?

A class is either inclusive or not.

If it is not inclusive, therefore it has some students that are still in separate settings, it's not inclusive.

A class cannot be sort of inclusive, a bit inclusive, decently inclusive, heavily inclusive, lightly inclusive, etc.

It is or it is not.

End of story.

A bit of a rant...

"Inclusive education" - i have mixed feelings about this idea.

Yes it seems great to think that all students could be taught in one room effectively, but the reality of it is that we all learn very differently...

... just today Rob mentioned that one idea about learning is that with six billon types of people there will be six billion different learning styles.

Many people learn at a generally similar pace, some learn at a significantly different pace. Plain and simple


... but at what point do we decide to have a specialized environment for groups of those who learn at a similar pace?

and when does it become acceptable to reduce the delivery rate and/or complexity of the content delivered to an entire class to better accommodate for those who have a learning disability rather than teaching those with certain similar levels of disabilities in a separate environment specifically designed for them.

I went to school in classes of around 25-30 throughout my entire K-12 career. Our school still used special education classes for certain students. I do believe that this system worked reasonably well. (but of course no system is perfect) One student in our class was hard of hearing. Due to this she obviously would have difficulty learning. The difference was that with her a system of FM transmitters and a sign language teaching aid broke down the barriers to her learning and with these items in place she was able to very effectively learn as well as compete with other classmates at a very similar level. Some of the students who attended separate classes with different programming had disabilities which include severe autism. Each of these individuals were great and unique in their own way, but overcoming their barriers was not as simple as a few gadgets and an aid. With specialized programming and proper care and attention they were definitely able to make progress and achieve certain goals, but were not at advanced level of the majority.

Including these students in the typical classroom would definitely lean toward the definition of Inclusion, but first off: without proper aids it would make the teacher's life nearly impossible, and second: they were far from being able to trek along at the pace of the other 25-30 students.

So what is the solution?

-Reduce content level for all?
-Separate classes?
-Different marking rubrics?
-Simplified tasks for those with learning disabilities?
-etc.

... i am not sure if there is a "correct" answer.

All set up!

I just finished setting up my initial blog design. It's possible i'll decide to change it at a later date but for now I am happy!