"Clarity" by Leigh Ann Chambers

When at the Chowan personnel art exhibit I was originally drawn to a beautiful piece of art on a traditional canvas (the type of art I would immediately think of hanging on my wall in the living room) but then something else caught my attention. It was a piece of flooring covered by spray paint and enamal of different colors such as white, blue, purple, and tan. The title of this work is "Clarity" by Leigh Ann Chambers and although it was flooring, vinyl, it made a lot of sense to me.

Recently, I have felt like my life has been covered with a lot of stuff and that it has been hard to get back to the basics or the foundation of my life. The flooring reminded me of the foundation of my life, the area that starts with its original beauty then gets covered with all the mess gathered as life goes on. All of the paint spots, some nice and neat and others a mess, reminded me of how the foundation gets covered with all the things that must be done and things that are confusing. The nice neat sections that were painted represented, in my opinion, the things that have been put in my life that can be controlled and fit into their own special place. Then there where the the areas that looked like paint has been thrown without thought, some of these messes overlapped the nice neat sections, The messy part of the artwork represented all the confusing, hectic, and unorganized things that are thrown into life. With all of this said, the title "Clarity" reminded me that under all the stuff that must be done, all the chaos I encounter and the stuff piled on me there is a beautiful foundation. It is always there and although things may try to make it a mess, the foundation stays in tack and it is that foundation that holds everything together.

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants

I see myself as a Digital Immigrant who has been doing her best in the last two years to become fluent in the language of Digital Natives. The statement, "the single biggest problem facing education today is that our Digital Immigrant Instructors, who speak and outdated language (that of pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks and entirely new language" on page 2 of Prensky's article stood out to me as I read. How are we as supposed to reach a digital world if we are not willing to embrace it as a part of our daily lives? I have been working with my students on understanding greater than, less than, and equal to and during class instruction I realized that I was the one who had to technology in my hand when writing on the eno board so I quickly stopped and said I have an idea. Of course this grabbed some of my students attention and I began to do a mini lesson on technology in the hands of students. I showed them the process in which to use to eno board, how to go to sites, how to change the pen color, how to complete interactive notes, and more. The next thing I knew, I was watching my students in control of their learning. I felt I had reached them and I guess you could say, I was speaking their language. The experience of learning, researching, note-taking, etc... came to life in my classroom and I began to think that if I was able to accomplish this within the first 3 weeks of school then what more could I accomplish if I became more knowledgable of the technology that we, my students and I, are surrounded by.

It has amazed me how the articles and reading we do in graduate school can so quickly apply to our lives as teachers. It seems that everytime I read something new I can't wait to implement and explore its possibilities within my classroom and other areas of the school. It is so awesome when you can leave your room in the care of another adult and due to what the students know and have been taught they can still continue with the technological aspects of a lesson. No more leaving that element out of lessons just because the teacher is not their. If the students have the knowledge then let it continue with or without your presence. So exciting!

I will catch up, I will catch up, I will catch up

After spending a lot of the past week fighting with the internet, my blog site, time management, and more I have decided that I am and will catch up on what I should be doing before this week is over. I am starting with my blogs now that I have finally been able to log back on. To my understanding and wonderful classmates and professor, I am sorry for my tardiness with my posts this week. It just seems like there is so much to do in so little time and whenever you feel like I am catching up then something else happens (i.e. my blog not letting me post for the last few days.) Okay, now that I have that out of my system I will begin rewriting the posts I have been trying to write for the past few days!

Albers and Harste

I think back to when I was a third grade student and remember that the only source of technology in my teachers classroom was an overhead projector and a tape player. Now I look at my classroom as a third grade teacher and I see the use of iPads, an interactive whiteboard, computers, a document cameras, laptops, an iPod, speakers, a microphone system, and more. These are things I have became used to teaching with and it makes me realized how things change over time and how we, as teachers, must adapt to those changes. We are in a society where having a cell phone in your pocket is normal and where facebook is a lot of peoples main source of communication. Being able to utilize these technological tools in our classrooms makes learning experience more relevant for our students. I could not imagine what it would be like to have a classroom like the one I described as we being in as a third grade student. Albers and Harste speak of how our world is high tech and through reading I have realized an even larger urgency than I did before to make sure that I keep up and am able to utilize the resources I have to benefit my students!

Semiotic Representations

Growing up and even today, I am the type of person that can relate to what I am learning better if I take notes that include illustrations of what I have learned. For example, a while back I was in a meeting in which the leader spoke about putting negativity in the trash and leaving it there. Well I went to write down what she had said but instead I drew a sad face inside a trash can on my paper. When I look back at those notes I know exactly what the picture/illustration means and exactly why the leader said what she did. To me, this goes along with this article by Cowan and Albers. There is a quote by a fifth grader on page 134 that says, "I like this class because in other classes we have to do specific stuff. In here, we can do what we can do." This leads me to think about all we have learned, as teachers, about differentiation and meeting the needs of students. By looking at the activities in this article you can see how different students have been able to interpret tasks based on their preferences. For examples, on page 133, Cowan and Albers share two examples of students work. I see an assignment connection between the two examples but I also see how two students identified visually and poetically with the task at hand in a different way. The students learning experience is personalized!

Nick News and 9/11

I wish I had watched this video before this past weekend because I would have shared it with my students. When I watched what Nick News had to share about  9/11 I felt like I gained a better understanding of what truly happened. Like any other events, false information tends to leak into the news and other publications over time. It leaves people wondering what is real and what if fake. With the way in which Nick News presented information about 9/11 it seems as though they were in search of the facts. They took the time to go to the correct sources and gave everyday people the chance to have their questions answered (I love that the questions came from students). I could see using this video in my 3rd grade classroom to let my students know what 9/11 because they were not alive at the time in which it occurred. When I asked them if they knew must said they didn't know anything other than what they parents may have mentioned or what they had seen on t.v. Often the things shown are the harsher pictures that may bother students at the age level of those I teach. Nick News made a video that was less abrasive and better oriented for younger children. It has been an experience of mine that when students see other children sharing their questions versus having to only listen to a set of adults they are more receptive to what is being said. Allowing the kids to share their questions in the video was a great way to make it known that their questions are important.

I struggle when it comes to being up, what I call, "touchy" subjects with my class and am fearful that my words will not be as accurate as they should. This video eliminates me having to worry about whether or not I am saying the correct information in the best fashion. It provides a way for a teacher, such as myself, to share the facts and have them understood. To me it brings a positive approach to what is considered to be a very negative situation. I love the positive aspects of being thankful for those who did survive versus on focusing on the bad things. This was an eyeopening and wonderful video for me and I feel it would be the same for my students!

Infographic Overload

Being a technology loving teacher, I was surprised I had never heard of the wonderful world of infographics but now that I have I am ready to explore. I can see using these in my classroom to create historical timelines, comparing data, sharing mathematical data (maybe when teaching temperature), and much more. Then that infographics can be used to create higher order thinking questions that can be answered based on the information presented. Just imagine... you have taught your students about taking temperatures and about how temperature can be different in one location than another. You send you students are a temperature walk to collect data in various locations throughout the school. Then, you have the students create and infographic about the data they collected. After finishing, the student compare their data to other groups and also take time to create questions using Marzano's questions stems. The students pass their information to another group and they complete the questions using the information presented. A great combination of representing information and practicing comprehension. I'm excited and am looking forward to all the possiblities infographics may hold!

Riddle, Chapter 1

Reading this chapter gave me a list of things to remember.
The list is:
1. Use images to retell stories.
2. Students find excitement when they connect to what they are reading.
3. Visual elements help students remember what they have read.
4. Graphic organizers are a good way to organize thoughts and provide a way to visually record what's been read/learned.
5. Not everyone will answer things the same and that is what makes it possible for students to share what they know and learn new things from their classmates.
6. It is important to have 100% of students involved.
Several of these things I do on a regular bases in my classroom and will continue to do throughout this school year but some I have not used as I should. I plan on take these 6 items and enforce/reinforce them this school year. I want to do all I can to help students learn and I think these items will help that happen. Let the learning begin!

What do we mean by literacy now?

Literacy seems to be something that is ever changing in how it perceived. When reading Harste article literacy linked to differentiation in my mind. This was due to him explaining that different people view literacy differently just like different people learn in different ways. The ways in which you approach things determines the meaning you get from it. Also, your background and how you connect who you are to what you are learning brings new meaning to what is being read or learned.

Something I loved about this reading is how the examples provided went outside the pages of a book. Harste discusses the use of posters, art, music, technology and so much more. I must admit that before I became a teacher I thought of literacy as being able to read but now I see it as a part of life in when you can interpret, understand, and discover the meaning of the things around you whether it be what is written in a book, a picture on a poster, or the facial expression a person makes as a reaction to what is going on in their lives. I also have learned the value of writing as a part of literacy!