Puppy Love

Puppy Love
My new puppy Rory and I summer 2011

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Head Start programs compete for funding

                 A current issue in the field of education is starting with the attempt to better Head Start preschool services for poor children. Obama stated last year that programs that were not up to the new federal quality standards would soon have to compete with other potential providers for funding instead of just qualifying for it.   article on funding of Head Start programs


 



           Head Start's Federal Office stated that only 132 of about 1,600 local providers of Head Start programs actually met the standards.  Now in place are "school-readiness goals" that include things like progress in literacy development to the child's physical well being.  Some argue that this process will only benefit the schools in that it will clear out the low performers and overall better the quality of these Head Start preschools. Others say that this is just punishing schools who have  broken some rules instead of seeking out the actual programs that aren't performing up to par. A problem with this process is that it seems one human error can put these programs on the list of poorly performing schools.  A positive of this process is that it is simply raising the bar and demanding that these Head Start schools are nothing but productive.

          If this issue is ignored, Head Start programs that may have made very small mistakes could be punished and not receive the funding they may deserve. If a program even makes a small mistake they may not be   On the other hand, this current issue may cause these programs to better themselves.  As much tension there is about the subject people seem to agree for the most part that if your program isn't providing high quality services then it is only right to have to compete for funding.   This will most likely create some tension and instill some initiative in the teachers to better their programs so that they are able to compete with the other schools.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Tweet Tweet

     In Sedu183 we were instructed to create a twitter account.  I am the first one to bash twitter whenever the opportunity presents itself that is, until the other day when I made my own twitter.  After playing around on the site I am seeing the potential benefits of using twitter rise to the surface.  I really like the "retweet" idea and have already given that a shot.  I like that aside from facebook it is easy to find people intrested in the same field as you, like education for example.  I am already following a few educators and I am learning more and more about twitter everyday.  I am still a little unsure about the site but I intend to stick it out and make the best of it. I definitly see how using this tool in the classroom could be benificial and I hope to learn more about twitter to maybe use in my own classroom someday!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Exploring PowerPoint

         In Sedu183 we were instructed to create a PowerPoint project in which we would instruct a lesson to the grade level of our choice.  I made my PowerPoint for a 3rd grade class focusing on science.  The lesson was on determining the difference between fact and opinion.  I really enjoyed this project because I already had a basic understanding of PPT before begining.

         The hardest part for me was deciding what to make my PowerPoint about.  The website PA EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS really helped me determine what I would make my lesson about. This website states the standards for each grade level and subject. I found the website extremely helpful. After picking my subject and topic the rest was pretty much just messing around and figuring out what looks good.  I loved learning how to embed videos and make effects to my text. At first I was unsure about this project and did not understand fully what I was required to do but after jumping into it I really enjoyed the experience. This project taught me not only about the tools in PPT but also how to create a lesson for 3rd grade students.  Presenting the PPT also was helpful because it allowed you to share your lesson with others and receive feedback.

      PowerPoint is a very useful tool to use in the classroom and I really liked being pushed to use the program.    Overall, I gained alot of knowledge from doing this assignment both inside PowerPoint and inside the classroom. I know that this assignment will become useful to me in the future.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

PERSONAL LEARNING NETWORKS PT. 1

      Reading chapter one of Personal Learning Networks leaves me stunned with the realization that we truly are moving towards a fully digital world.  The authors of the book Will Richardson and Rob Mancabelli state " We all may not feel comfortable living in a digital world, creating and sharing digital products, but there's no doubt the world is moving in that direction, and fast." I could not agree more with this statement for many reasons. 

     I personally do not love the idea of living in a world where I can not hold my homework paper with my own two hands, or write on it with pencil or pen.  I do not like worrying that just because the computer says "submission sent successfully" it got lost somewhere on the web.  But the cold hard truth is that we are moving towards this digitalized future at the speed of light wheather we like it or not. However, this digital technology does open many more doors.  We now have the ability to work outside of our offices, teach outside of our schools, learn outside of our classrooms, all of these things which may be outside of our comfort zones.  With this unescapable fate of a digital future, we are not only faced with new ways to learn things, but also new people to learn things from. We will have the ability to teach our students things that we ourselves may have been unaware of had we not had access to the internet. 

       The text then explains how students will be LEARNERS and have the ability to share their knowledge with others on the internet.  This technology that will be in our future classrooms will allow us to create and share information with other classrooms, students, and teachers.  This chapter focused mainly on positive things that learning networks and technology as a whole can bring to the table.   I believe that this is our inevitable future that we are speeding towards and that one day each classroom will have a digital theme.  This digital future means things like engaging classrooms and interactive learning.

       The past was black and white; A black board, white chalk, equipped with student in seat.  This will not be the future of our schools.  Schools wheather we like it or not will be full of technology and the students in it will have access to learning things outside of their schools walls.