So this week we've been asked to review statistics for our individual schools. I have had to do this in the past for grant applications and I must say that prior to my introduction into the world of education, I never knew that the State kept track of such things. I find it truly amazing all the stuff that the State keeps track of and feel that we as teachers should be required to review these stats more frequently. Every time I look at these stats I learn something new and this really helps to identify just what it is that I'm dealing with in my student body.
I have to admit that I haven't had time yet this week to complete my assignments as we had a rainout, a game, a three game tourny, and my NA test for my dog. I just got home a little while ago and this is my first chance to sit down so I will get on the assignments tonight. I do, however, sincerely look forward to completing these assignments and gaining additional insight into my student population.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
CEDO 565 Week 1
I have to apologize for the tardiness of this post. It's been a hectic week with rain cancellations and makeups, a game last night, and three today. With that being said, I hope this finds you all well and enjoying the rapidly approaching end of the school year. I for one know I can't wait for my schedule to die down.
As for this weeks learning. I find leadership to be an extremely valuable characteristic in our profession. I can't imagine being a teacher and not a leader. I can't believe that one can be a poor leader and a quality teacher because I believe it is our responsibility to lead young people as much as it is to teach them x's and o's. I, myself, work very hard to be a quality leader within my school and I believe that my commitments attest to that. I am the varsity head coach of our softball team, the treasurer for our union, trap shooting advisor, SKILLS USA advisor, chair of our union scholarship committee, and personal advisor for students. I work extremely hard to not only lead by example for my students but also to make myself available at all times to mentor my students. I think my strongest trait as both an educator and an individual is my ability to lead individuals. I have always been this way and I attribute a lot of this to my years in athletics but also my desire to see others accomplish more than I have.
I'm looking forward to learning additional ways I can continue to improve upon my leadership skills and learning how to improve leadership amongst others. I sincerely look forward to seeing where this class takes us and seeing what I can take from this class to improve my own skills and those of my studnets.
As for this weeks learning. I find leadership to be an extremely valuable characteristic in our profession. I can't imagine being a teacher and not a leader. I can't believe that one can be a poor leader and a quality teacher because I believe it is our responsibility to lead young people as much as it is to teach them x's and o's. I, myself, work very hard to be a quality leader within my school and I believe that my commitments attest to that. I am the varsity head coach of our softball team, the treasurer for our union, trap shooting advisor, SKILLS USA advisor, chair of our union scholarship committee, and personal advisor for students. I work extremely hard to not only lead by example for my students but also to make myself available at all times to mentor my students. I think my strongest trait as both an educator and an individual is my ability to lead individuals. I have always been this way and I attribute a lot of this to my years in athletics but also my desire to see others accomplish more than I have.
I'm looking forward to learning additional ways I can continue to improve upon my leadership skills and learning how to improve leadership amongst others. I sincerely look forward to seeing where this class takes us and seeing what I can take from this class to improve my own skills and those of my studnets.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
CEDO 555 Week 5
It's week 5 and another class is nearing the end of the line with me scrambling to try to get caught up from a busy stretch. I finally got my culminating experience proposal written up and off to the Instructors and am now awaiting a response. My proposal consisted of creating screencasts that would link to my Ning and thus allow my instruction to continue on even on days where I am unable to be in the classroom. It was for this reason that I chose to take a Master's in Instructional Technology so I feel it only fitting that this be my culminating experience. Upon entering this program I was quite aware that technology could be of assistance to me in helping me be more prepared and more efficient with my instruction but I didn't have enough experience to figure out just how that would be. This program has given me plenty of insight on different ideas for doing that and this screencast is just one major example of that.
As for my portfolio it coming along slowly but surely. I did in fact have dump the aesthetic appeal of applying pictures and various layout formats as I eluded to in my previous blog, however, I still tried to make it as functional and pretty as I could given my time constraints. I did learn a thing or two about setting things up and linking stuff together but again with the time constraints didn't have enough time to go back and change everything as I didn't figure this out until most of it was already posted. Again as I eluded to in a previous post, I will be going back and making this into a personal portfolio that I can link to my Ning and I can't wait to create a site of my own to represent me as an instructor.
As for my portfolio it coming along slowly but surely. I did in fact have dump the aesthetic appeal of applying pictures and various layout formats as I eluded to in my previous blog, however, I still tried to make it as functional and pretty as I could given my time constraints. I did learn a thing or two about setting things up and linking stuff together but again with the time constraints didn't have enough time to go back and change everything as I didn't figure this out until most of it was already posted. Again as I eluded to in a previous post, I will be going back and making this into a personal portfolio that I can link to my Ning and I can't wait to create a site of my own to represent me as an instructor.
CEDO 555 Week 3
Ok so I'm struggling to find the time to create my portfolio but I have been able to get layout done. Unfortunately I'm affraid at this point in time I'm going to have to abandon my aesthetic's goal and shoot for a grade goal of just accomplishing what is required and getting a grade. I hate this approach but with 13 games in 7 days and this just being midseason with very little end in sight, I don't know what other approach I can take at this point.
The beauty for me is that I totally see the value in a process like this and fully intend to complete this after the class. I'm not going to lie, I will likely change this portfolio to be a personal portfolio rather than a Master's portfolio, however, I love the idea that much of it will already be done for me. I will pry include a lot of my artifacts and class work into my curriculum vitae, and will likely use much of what I learned in looking at other sites to put together what I feel is not only a true representation of who I am as a teacher but also as a person. I can see linking this portfolio to my school website so my students and parents can get a sense of what I have accomplished and who I am outside of the classroom and I feel that this will benefit in the long run. You also never know when you may need something like this and should I be in need of it, I'm sure the time will be stressful enough without having to add the stress of creating a portfolio at that point in time.
As for the site itself, I must admit that I'm not totally comfortable or don't necessarily like the tools and mechanics of the site, however, I'm hoping as I get an opportunity to use them more, they will grow on me. I certainly look forward to the completion of this site and look forward to the completion of my culminating experience and maybe, just maybe, a couple of days where I can relax and take time for me.
The beauty for me is that I totally see the value in a process like this and fully intend to complete this after the class. I'm not going to lie, I will likely change this portfolio to be a personal portfolio rather than a Master's portfolio, however, I love the idea that much of it will already be done for me. I will pry include a lot of my artifacts and class work into my curriculum vitae, and will likely use much of what I learned in looking at other sites to put together what I feel is not only a true representation of who I am as a teacher but also as a person. I can see linking this portfolio to my school website so my students and parents can get a sense of what I have accomplished and who I am outside of the classroom and I feel that this will benefit in the long run. You also never know when you may need something like this and should I be in need of it, I'm sure the time will be stressful enough without having to add the stress of creating a portfolio at that point in time.
As for the site itself, I must admit that I'm not totally comfortable or don't necessarily like the tools and mechanics of the site, however, I'm hoping as I get an opportunity to use them more, they will grow on me. I certainly look forward to the completion of this site and look forward to the completion of my culminating experience and maybe, just maybe, a couple of days where I can relax and take time for me.
Friday, April 9, 2010
CEDO 555 Week 1
I have to first admit that I have been dreading this class for months upon months. It isn't the work that I'm dreading, well in fairness, it is but only because I'm in the beginning of the season when I'm busiest and there is a lot of work required for the class so things are stressful. With that being said, I am truly looking forward to the end results as I fully and completely understand how beneficial the documentation and illustration of my work.
In my first week I researched several different educator's portfolios and I was amazed at the diversity I found. I found many sites that just didn't make much sense to me and didn't really elecit much thought or feeling that these instructors had trully worked hard to demonstrate their skills and their knowledge and it therefore gave the impression that they were not trully great teachers despite the fact that I'm quite sure many of them are. In addition to the negative portfolios I found, I also found many great examples that blew me away. Because of these findings, I have become even more determined to create a quality portfolio of my own. I work very hard to provide my students with quality and meaningful instruction so to drop the ball on my documentation of this and make myself appear to be a subpar teacher makes little to know sense to me.
I look forward to creating a site that not only identifies my passion for teaching but also depicts my students successes in the classroom. I strive for this goal as I am firm believer that with any good instructor their is a certain amount of pride in their own work yet any self-service is secondary to success of our students. I believe that like any good employee we are only as good as our product and as educators our product is dependant upon our ability to reach our students. It is my fullest intent to allow this portfolio to be my documentation of this, my success as an educator.
In my first week I researched several different educator's portfolios and I was amazed at the diversity I found. I found many sites that just didn't make much sense to me and didn't really elecit much thought or feeling that these instructors had trully worked hard to demonstrate their skills and their knowledge and it therefore gave the impression that they were not trully great teachers despite the fact that I'm quite sure many of them are. In addition to the negative portfolios I found, I also found many great examples that blew me away. Because of these findings, I have become even more determined to create a quality portfolio of my own. I work very hard to provide my students with quality and meaningful instruction so to drop the ball on my documentation of this and make myself appear to be a subpar teacher makes little to know sense to me.
I look forward to creating a site that not only identifies my passion for teaching but also depicts my students successes in the classroom. I strive for this goal as I am firm believer that with any good instructor their is a certain amount of pride in their own work yet any self-service is secondary to success of our students. I believe that like any good employee we are only as good as our product and as educators our product is dependant upon our ability to reach our students. It is my fullest intent to allow this portfolio to be my documentation of this, my success as an educator.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
CEDO 550 Blog Review
Before I get into the meat and potatos of this blog, I must first admit that I truly enjoyed the challenge of this class. We covered a lot of information in a very short period of time but did so in a mannner that allowed for much retention. I can't say that I will ever truly utilize this particular portion of the curriculum in my curricular area but you never know. With that being said, I must say that I still found the curriculum to be of interest to me and worthwhile.
Now, to answer the questions that were posed to us:
I will use what I learned in this course over the next 30 days by . . .
I'm not going to lie and say that I'm going to run out and create an online course and start implementing it immediately or anything like that but what I may do is demonstrate to my students the power of Elluminate to provide an example to them of some alternative ways they can collaborate together on their group projects outside of my classroom walls. I found the Elluminate tool to be extremely useful and think that this could be an extremely beneficial tool for my students.
I will use what I learned in this course over the next year by . . .
Again, I'm not at the stage of my career where I'm going to go out and start making an online curriculum for my engineering courses, however, I will certainly utilize some of the things I've learned from this course. First, I will definately use Elluminate as a means of providing my students with an area to meet and collaborate outside my classroom walls. We do a lot of collaboration projects so I'm always looking for ways to create more realistic and beneficial collaboration skills. Second, I intend to create screencasts for all of my classes so on days like today when I'm sick, I can provide those to the sub and they can play them. The skills I learned in facilitating online instruction will certainly carry over into this area. In addition, I am looking at the possibility of linking in on Elluminate so I could answer questions through text on days I'm out sick. I have the ability to see all of my students computers so if I can setup an Elluminate session with a link to a screen cast I could realistically teach class from home with a sub in the room to act as a babysitter.
After completing this course I would like to learn more about . . .
I hate to be redundant but at least you will truly know what interested me the most. I would love to know more about Elluminate and how I may go about implementing this into my classroom. I enjoy what I teach and how I teach it so I'm not looking to go into the online instructional realm anytime soon, however, I do believe that this is coming in the future and having these skills will be helpful to me down the road. In addition, if I can implement some of the technologies I feel are most critical for my students, I think my instruction increases as a whole.
I'd like to take a fianl second to thank our instructors for their professionalism and a great model of what quality online instruction is. I felt both Greg and Ken did an excellent job of providing immediate feedback and keeping us on track throughout.
Now, to answer the questions that were posed to us:
I will use what I learned in this course over the next 30 days by . . .
I'm not going to lie and say that I'm going to run out and create an online course and start implementing it immediately or anything like that but what I may do is demonstrate to my students the power of Elluminate to provide an example to them of some alternative ways they can collaborate together on their group projects outside of my classroom walls. I found the Elluminate tool to be extremely useful and think that this could be an extremely beneficial tool for my students.
I will use what I learned in this course over the next year by . . .
Again, I'm not at the stage of my career where I'm going to go out and start making an online curriculum for my engineering courses, however, I will certainly utilize some of the things I've learned from this course. First, I will definately use Elluminate as a means of providing my students with an area to meet and collaborate outside my classroom walls. We do a lot of collaboration projects so I'm always looking for ways to create more realistic and beneficial collaboration skills. Second, I intend to create screencasts for all of my classes so on days like today when I'm sick, I can provide those to the sub and they can play them. The skills I learned in facilitating online instruction will certainly carry over into this area. In addition, I am looking at the possibility of linking in on Elluminate so I could answer questions through text on days I'm out sick. I have the ability to see all of my students computers so if I can setup an Elluminate session with a link to a screen cast I could realistically teach class from home with a sub in the room to act as a babysitter.
After completing this course I would like to learn more about . . .
I hate to be redundant but at least you will truly know what interested me the most. I would love to know more about Elluminate and how I may go about implementing this into my classroom. I enjoy what I teach and how I teach it so I'm not looking to go into the online instructional realm anytime soon, however, I do believe that this is coming in the future and having these skills will be helpful to me down the road. In addition, if I can implement some of the technologies I feel are most critical for my students, I think my instruction increases as a whole.
I'd like to take a fianl second to thank our instructors for their professionalism and a great model of what quality online instruction is. I felt both Greg and Ken did an excellent job of providing immediate feedback and keeping us on track throughout.
Monday, February 1, 2010
CEDO 540 Week 5
I have to admit that upon beginning this week I was dreading it. Like I've stated in previous posts, I'm not exactly turned on by statistical data that doesn't really directly assist me in my daily life and I viewed this weeks assignemts as right up that alley. Sure information on health and education is great and all but until I need to use it I don't necessarily find it to be sexy.
Man was I wrong!!! Well in a way at least. The health stats and educational stats didn't exactly rivet me, though, I did find then interesting. I did, however, discover an employement site that I could use to help assist me in my everyday education. My students are sometimes hard to convince that the information that I'm presenting to them is relavent to their lives, however, when I can put statistical data in front of them that physically spells it out for them that the information will assist them in garnering extra wages, it makes my job way easier.
What started out to be an assignement that I was dreading turned out to be one that will change the way I teach for good. It's pretty amazing how things work out.
Man was I wrong!!! Well in a way at least. The health stats and educational stats didn't exactly rivet me, though, I did find then interesting. I did, however, discover an employement site that I could use to help assist me in my everyday education. My students are sometimes hard to convince that the information that I'm presenting to them is relavent to their lives, however, when I can put statistical data in front of them that physically spells it out for them that the information will assist them in garnering extra wages, it makes my job way easier.
What started out to be an assignement that I was dreading turned out to be one that will change the way I teach for good. It's pretty amazing how things work out.
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