Visual Essay

I believe….

“Your students don’t care what you know until they know that you care!’’

I believe...

I believe that….

 “Your students don’t care what you know until they know that you care!’’

So my senior year of high school, about two weeks into my second quarter, I was enrolled in two college courses  from the nearest community college, that were taught by my math teacher Mrs. Goodwill, whom I’d asked for help.  She came over to my desk to answer my question, she laughed at me in front of the entire class because I had asked a ‘’stupid’’ question. After class, she pulled me aside and apologized for laughing at me, then asked, ‘’isn’t your major going to be Secondary Math?’’ I shook my head yes, about to start crying. She told me that, ‘’Maybe you should reconsider your choice, because you don’t really grasp at the information.’’ I was so upset; I left the room thinking I was stupid, knowing I had a B in both courses while balancing cheerleading, student counsel, play practice, and babysitting my little sister.  From that point on I promised myself I would never ask for help from her ever again. About three weeks until graduation I received a letter in the mail stating that if my math grades were not brought up, then I would not graduate. I went to one of my friends from class, with the letter in hand, and he said he would help me so I could graduate.  I asked Mrs. Goodwill to write me a letter of recommendation to attend Edinboro University’s Education Program. She reluctantly agreed. The day before graduation, I went to pick up the letter. I didn’t even read it when she handed it to me. Instead I looked at it, knowing she was still watching me, I spit on it crinkled it up and threw it on the floor and said ‘’this is what I think of your opinion’’ and ran it over on the way out. Today, I have to have a field component for my SEDU 271 class, and I’m observing her teach next week.  She is 110 percent of the reason I want to be a teacher, she taught me exactly what not to do. I want to be there for my students. If a student has a question, I don’t want them to hesitate to ask. In my classroom there will be a ‘’There are no stupid questions policy.’’

Cool Tool for School

The tool I chose is Pinterest. Pinterest is a social photo sharing site, that could very well be used in schools  by students or teachers. Pinterest even has a separate tab intended solely for educational purposes. As a secondary mathematics major, I would use this as an ice breaker and have each student make a board and pin different pictures and videos to it that describes themselves. Then I would have them present it. They also can follow each other!

This is an example of different pin boards.



This is an example of a finished board.

Check It Out!

Stop Bullying, Now

Bullying is a huge problem that has become an epidemic in classrooms. As a matter of fact, 56 percent of students have personally witnessed some type of bullying at school. As educators, we have to have a proactiv approach to stop bullying.

Bullying has life altereing effects, sometimes worse than people thought. Students who are bullied, generally, are at high risk for anxiety and depression. They also have excessive thoughts of suicide, as well as their academic achievement decreases if they even stay in school and do not drop out. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. Students should be able to learn in an safe, happy, and ready to learn environment. They should not have to worry about being bullied. That literally be the LAST thing they should have to worry about.

Luckily,there are warning signs that are very likely to appear if a student is bullying or being bullied. But, you as an educator, need to be looking for them.  If you see bullying occuring you should intervene, get the facts, tell the bully you aware of their behavior, and make it a teachable experience. Get this, there are ways to prevent bullying. Personally, I think we should all take a stand against bullying and utilize the resources that are at our fingertips and end bullying entirely. No one should ever feel victimized, especially at school. 

There is an excellent resource called Stop Bullying. I encourage you to check it out. It is useful for not only kids and teens but parents and educators as well. If we all come together as a team, I believe we can make bullying disappear forever.



Oh Twitter

Before I started SEDU 183, I already had my twitter. I had twitter for about 6 months now and I don't really understand it. I haven't even tweeted yet! As a math teacher, I couldn't really see myself using twitter in the classroom. I feel like social networking shouldn't even be used in the same sentence. Oops!

Powerpoint Project

I really did not enjoy this project because of my content area. I believe powerpoint is an excellent tool in the classroom, just not a math class. I did my project on the Quadratic formula and thats rather difficult to put on powerpoint. However, being able to hyperlink the Youtube video of the quadratic formula song was very helpful. The video is a very good way for students to learn the quadratic equation and remember it.  As a Secondary Math major, I probably won't use this in my classroom for anything more than a bell ringer.

Chapter 1: Understanding the Power of Personal Learning Networks...

            I just finished the first chapter 1 of Personal Learning Networks and it basically states that the world is changing quicker than we can keep up. After reading this, the one major question I have is, "Won't this hamper their social growth and interaction?" Pam Moran, who has been in the education field for 30 years, says, "It's like recreating education from scratch!" Then she talks about the "Big Shift" which she breaks down into six important shifts.
           The first shift she talks about is "Analog to digital". This means paper will not be used in the classroom anymore, it will all be done digitally. Changing to the digital world sounds like a great idea, but, what happens to those who do not "convert" to the digital world? Do they just fall in to cyberspace? I'm a Secondary Math major and I honestly don't see how I could successfully integrate technology, blogs, and other networks in a math class. Math is a subject where you need to write out the problem and show the computations...not type it on the computer.
           The second shift that is discussed is "Tethered to mobile". So instead of a traditional classroom with desks in a row with a teacher standing at the front of the room, work will all be done on mobile phones. I feel like instead of being focused on their work, they will be tempted to text their friends. I know when I was in school, I would have been totally distracted if I was using my phone to do class work. In fact, While writing the response blog, I had to write it by hand first and then type it because I would be way to tempted to see "What's new" on Facebook. The text even states, "Mobile technologies pose a huge opportunity and a huge challenge for classrooms."
           The third shift is "Isolated to connected". Instead of students just having local teachers the can have teachers from around the world. I see this as the students having the opportunity to have "The best of the best" teachers, so to speak. However, I am a bit confused if the would affect there social interactions and growth, like the one-on-one time with the teacher.
            The fourth shift discussed is "Generic to personal". This means instead of everyone learning the same thing, learning is self-directed; the student learns what they are interested in.
            The fifth shift is "Creation not consumption". The students will take the retain the information and morph it into something of their own instead of taking in information and spitting it back out come test time. I would think this would help information be stored in the long term memory.
            The sixth and final shift is "Closed system to Open systems", which means the role of copyright restrictions are reversed. However, I believe that this is an asset to students due to the fact that this makes it easier to share information and to learn it. Using a PLN includes making connections, negotiating, and collaborating.
           I'm sure that this is a benefit to students, however, I believe that everybody needs social interactions, especially face to face. I just feel that this would under  develop their social skills. If things switch to PLN's, people won't even talk anymore. Instead, they will text the person sitting next them.