gymnastics March 26, 2008

Another one of my very passionate hobbies/interests is gymnastics. I’ve been doing gymnastics since I was a child, and it was my life for many many years. I even started coaching gymnastics at my gym. I also cheered for a year and coached a team, but gymnastics has always been number 1 in my heart. Unfortunately I had to end my gymnastics career because of going away to school, and Rowan doesn’t have a gymnastics team. Anyway, I’d like to share something I found on YouTube. It’s of one of my favorite gymnasts, Carly Patterson on the floor exercise event. It’s just a little taste of my world.

I also wanted to include for laughs this montage of gymnastics bloopers. Yes, it looks painful but as gymnasts we’re taught how to fall correctly, so it’s okay to laugh at it!

(the video doesn’t seem to be coming up correctly, but here’s a link to the YouTube page! You should definitely check it out!

Scrapbooking, digitally March 26, 2008

One of the interests I wrote when we first had to list some of our personal interests was scrap booking, both physically and digitally.  These are some of the sites I like to play around with during my down time.

photobucket (just to upload and organize photos)

digital scrapbooking (it’s not the best you could find out there, but it’s free!)

scrapbook-bytes (it’s got a forum, and a great place to get ideas)

scrapbook fair (I like to use the free downloads which I can also use in my physical books!)

gallery (great place to get inspiring ideas)

Naked in the ‘Nonopticon’ Response March 25, 2008

As I was reading Vaidhyanathan’s article Naked in the ‘Nonopticon’ for this week’s class, I kept thinking about how important the author’s message is. His discussion details what privacy really is in our technology-focused world, and how we need to be aware of the whole picture when it comes to our privacy. But then I kept thinking about my sister and her friends, all of whom are in high school. As a teacher candidate in college who would like to think I’m not living under a rock, I have heard the warnings about keeping my Facebook page rated PG numerous times and seldom sign up for stores’ “member cards” simply out of principle. On the other hand, on the few occasions I have ventured to the mall with my sister, she jumps at the chance to sign up for those cards, even when she knows there is no discount involved. And her and her friends’ Facebook pages look like they’re preludes to a Girls Gone Wild video. In relating all this to Vaidhyanathan’s article, I couldn’t help but think: what is the difference between me and other people who keep their personal information shout-outs to a minimum, and my sister and her friends. It’s not that these teenagers have not heard the warnings about protecting their privacy, or that they just do not care (as Vaidhyanathan points out). But nonetheless, I think the start of the differentiation is education about what privacy is when technology is involved. No, lecturing people is not enough to convince today’s teenagers (and even adults) from posting pictures of last night’s crazy party on Facebook or drunken videos on YouTube. We’ve all had these lectures at some point, whether it is from parents, teachers, or the nightly news broadcast. Instead, I think this education about privacy needs to be combined with a personal connection to why keeping your information and data private is important.

In our society, it seems like the norm to post otherwise private information on personal websites and online data-sharing spaces, given the sheer volume of reality TV shows and other Internet users posting the same kind of things. All of these experiences help people, especially teenagers, believe that posting private information is okay. Education, like Vaidhyanathan’s article, alone cannot stand up to such a strong force. In order for people like my sister and her friends to really understand what the nonopticon and privacy/technology connection really is, they need to get out of the “everyone’s doing it” mindset. People need to think about their information on a personal level and realize how they are putting it out there for the world on a daily basis. I think it is only once people make this connection between the education and themselves that they can fully understand what Vaidhyanathan stresses is so important.

The Importance of Teaching Before Assigning March 25, 2008

A few days ago, I had a striking realization after talking with the 8 year-old boy that I nanny for. He had been working on a report for school and asked me to look it over for him. As I read his third grade assignment, I immediately noticed semi-colons, conjunctive adverbs, and words that took up almost half of a line when he wrote them out. Knowing that he could not have written in this complex form on his own, I asked him if he had any help. His response was simple enough: “No. I just got it off the computer.” Apparently, this little guy – after picking a topic all on his own, reviewing the assignment, and deciding on a focus  -thought it was perfectly reasonable to go to the first website article he could find and copy down verbatim what he saw on the screen. When I began to explain to him that it wasn’t fair to just copy his report, he seemed really confused. It was at that point I realized that he had never been taught how to research (and of course within this, how it is wrong to plagiarize). This came as a huge shock to me, given all of the emphasis his school district puts on keeping with the NJCCCS and the expectation of the assignment. I can only assume that this child is not alone in his experiences.

As future teachers, we need to ensure that we are holistically teaching are students the basic skills they need not only to complete assignments, but to be prepared in general. By third grade, this little boy should have known basic research skills and that it is wrong to just copy information before the assignment was given. It is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure that the students have the pre-requisite skills and understand such essential elements. Can you imagine what the implications would be if children as a whole group did not learn what plagiarizing is and why it is wrong?

Parents of Non-disabled Children in the Inclusion Classroom: Addressing Concerns March 24, 2008

As future educators, it is important for us in our classrooms to address the concerns that parents of children without disabilities have about their child being educated in a class with a child with a disability. With the popularization of inclusion classrooms, many parents may become concerned about their child’s education being affected by the presence of a child with a disability in the classroom, especially if they are not knowledgeable about that child’s disability. Some concerns that these parents may have are: Will their child learn as much? Will their classroom become disruptive? How many children with disabilities will be in their classroom? It is our responsibility as educators to address these concerns and make sure that the parents’ fears do not become a reality.

The Sesame Workshop website (which can be found here) addresses these concerns and explains what must be done in order to make sure that the education is benefiting everyone. When addressing concern number one, which is the worry that the child won’t learn as much, this website explains that the inclusion classroom must accomplish many things. First, the classroom must have the appropriate amount of help available, such as enough aides, therapists, and LD specialists. Also, the teachers should be adequately trained to plan and adapt a curriculum that will not slow down the regular education students but also include the children with disabilities.

In order to address concern number two, the concern that the classroom will be disrupted perhaps by a child with emotional or behavioral disabilities, the main thing an educator can do is to help the disruptive child to understand their behavior and to be able to control and adapt to different way to express it. This concern is a valid one, and many times there will be children in an inclusion setting that have every legal right to be there but are disruptive. The best thing to do as educators is to admit that we may not be able to figure out what to do with a certain child and get the help and assistance we need to help that child control their disruptive behavior.

Concern number three, the concern parents have that their child will be placed in a class with a bunch of students with disabilities, can be addressed by ensuring the parent that their child will get the appropriate attention that they need and will not be neglected. This also goes back to needed the right amount of help in your classroom so that you will be able to give all the children attention.

When addressing these concerns it is important that we make the parent aware that their child will get the attention that they need, be educated on their level and not be held back by children with disabilities, and also that the classroom will be made an equal learning environment for everyone.

Personal Information Made Public & its Dangers March 21, 2008

The knowledge that my personal and private life may actually be very well public is a chilling concept. The article “Naked in the ‘Nonopticon’” by Siva Vaidhyanathan discusses this idea while explaining that Facebook users rebelled when a “Newsfeed” displaying their private information and activities to their “friends” was created. However, most people do not seem to realize that most of the content that they are putting online can be seen publically. This concept is especially true when people are using the internet, which is explained when Vaidhyanathan mentions that our online searches and credit card purchases can be tracked. Lucky for me, and many other people, I realize that certain features are available on websites such as Facebook and Myspace to make what has become so public, private again or seen by only those who I choose.

However, in some other cases, people are not aware of these options and unfortunately discover the consequences of having their personal information open on the internet. For example, a Florida teenage was expelled from school when his school discovered a picture of him on his Myspace with an empty bottle of alcohol (full story can be seen here). In another high school, many children were reprimanded or suspended from sports and activities for Facebook pictures of them partying (full story here). It is important that children today are aware that the information and pictures that they disclose online can be public and may be seen by people that they wouldn’t normally show these things to such as school administrators, bosses, and family members. These children need to realize that posting information such as their name, address, and activities can not only have consequences but can also be very dangerous. A main concern on websites, such as Myspace and Facebook, is the presence of online predators and the information that a lot of these children are providing are making them easy targets. It is essential that we either inform these children of what is appropriate and inappropriate to post online or make them aware and knowledgeable of the ways in which they can block their information so that only people they know can see it.

Music and today’s children March 17, 2008

Recently, I sat in on a first grade music class. I was amazed by what these kids were able to do in a forty minute period of time. They came into the room and formed a circle. The teacher then stepped in the middle of the circle and held a rubber bouncy ball large enough that it took two hands to hold. She then sang a song that was familiar to the kids and proceeded with the activity. There were a few lines to the song that the teacher would sing and then the kids would catch the ball and sing their name.  The kids did this with ease.  Next she sat them in their seats and talked about different pitches.  From sound the kids were able to name three pitches, me, sol, and la.  This was amazing to me because I really doubt I was able to do that when I was their age.  Noticing the change in pitches and accurately naming them is very advanced for first graders.  The last activity she did was playing a very famous piece of music by Tchaikovsky and asking them to raise their hands every time they heard a cymbal crash.   The kids were extremely excited and I thought it was great how she could incorporate beautiful classical music into a first grade music class and keep them completely interested.  I guess music knowledge has come a long way since I was younger.

The power of song March 17, 2008

It has been proven that people, especially young children learn better when they can connect a song with the information they are learning. This website I came across compiled a list of different songs that can be used to teach kids the basic concepts of mathematics.  Math can be a hard subject for kids to pick since there can be a lot of memorization.  These songs will definitely help make math more fun for them and also make it a lot easier to teach . I hope this comes in handy for future teachers!

Should kids be allowed to express themselves in terms of fashion? March 16, 2008

Four year old Sage walks into the daycare classroom with a big smile on her face. She’s wearing a striped skirt sneakers, and a pink sweatshirt. This is not exactly what vogue would call fashionable but you can’t help but notice the pride radiating from her smile as she walks towards each teacher in the room and points out each piece of her outfit. Mom let her pick out her outfit this morning and she could not have been happier. On top of this, she made sure her comfort came first.

Today, the outfits children are dressed in are becoming more about the latest fashion and completely influenced by their parents definition of cuteness. Children’s style should be about what outfit they can move around in and be comfortable in, not what was the most expensive and what makes them look the cutest. Children should be able to adapt to their own style and I think they should be able to have a say in what they wear.  This will give them a sense of individuality and pride.

Beating “The Crabbies” March 15, 2008

This website promotes a new and interesting way to teach children how to understand and control their behaviors and attitudes. They call these attitudes and behaviors “The Crabbies” and these crabbies include names such as “Get-Along,” “Too-Tired,” and “Can’t-Do.” If a child is successful at beating “The Crabbies” then he or she becomes a “CrabbieMaster.” I found this approach to be different and I think it makes what normally is seen as a negative, such as being mean, into something fun which makes the child want to improve and understand their behavior. Check the site out here!