The Class I missed...

Have you ever spent time with an adult with a cognitive or developmental disability? If yes, describe and explain.
No I have never spent time with an adult with a cognitive or developmental disability...Until today!! (November 5th) So we will see how it goes, I'm excited!! =]
Opportunitys Unlimited
CAST Universal Design for Learning
IRIS Modules
She Stoops To Conquer

This is Lisa, I spent the class with her, learning about her and getting to know what an amazing person she is. This is the first adult I interacted with that has an exceptionality. It changed the way I look at other adults just like her.

Learn and Serve week 3

This week at Gaskill Prep. I got to help the kids with a small in-class project using Algebra Tables. Algebra tables were very new to me, I have never seen them before in my life and I came to find out that they are REQUIRED by NYS to teach in the classroom and it will be testable material.

I honestly do not know why they introduced FOILing in this fashion because it is the most confusing method I have ever seen. To show this to a student who has never seen two bi-nomials being multiplied together before, and expect them to understand this is crazy. I am in Calc III and I had trouble the first time I saw it. Tuesday was actually one of the very first times I enjoyed myself at learn and serve. I had time to discuss topics with my teacher including the testing that every student beginning in 1st grade has to endure up to graduation, ONLY these "tests" don't count until you reach highschool(Regents Exams) their only use is to determine whether or not the teacher is teaching the required material, and whether or not theyre teaching it correctly. If the student fails, it does not matter, they continue onto the next grade level without consequence, these examinations are purely for comparison purposes. I personally find this outrageous. We should not be putting such elaborate tests down 7year olds throats. And to continue doing so until graduation is even worse. All this testing is leading to higher levels of drop outs in high school, and lower over-all GPA's because by the time the students reach high school they are burnt out from all the testing. Also, they figure because the tests they took at the end of the year didn't matter in previous years, the one they have to take called the Regents Exam, won't be worth anything either. WRONG. Students won't understand the difference between the tests, and all the ciriculum forced upon teachers does not allow much room for the teacher to actually TEACH her students. No room for creativitiy or variation. Its all about knowing the material for the end of the year state exam....ridiculous.

The textbook discusses in chapter 8 that students with autism will typically have a difficult time performing well on a state examination such as these because they compare his results to other student's results. Chapter 8 goes into detail about the symtoms of those students who have autism and how they over come it. A better way to help a student with autism feel successful about the progress he/she has made throughout the year wouldn't be an exam, but perhaps a hands-on activity with his/her teacher demonstrating some of the skills he/she has been taught throughout the school year.

Anyway! Learn and serve came to be a good experience because I loved helping the students understand their math better and actually getting to be involved and not just stand and observe!!!! =D

It was like a breath of fresh air...or a beautiful beam of sunlight through the trees!!

Quiz Continued...SSTC

Act I

pg. 1 line 11 -follies
pg. 2 line 30-discretion
pg. 3 line 74-pewter
pg. 4 line 91-superfluous
pg. 9 line 6-squire

Act II

pg. 15 line 20-militia

pg. 16 line 52-quarrelling

pg.16 line-39-attentive

pg. 17 line 70- extragvagant

pg. 18 line 94-impudent

Act III

pg. 43 line 176-plundered

pg.44 line 207- brute

pg. 46 line 248- bawling

pg. 48 line 299- acquaintance

pg. 48 line 304-Egad

Act IV

pg.51 line 8- constance

pg.51 line14- elopement

pg. 52 line43- rogue

pg.53 line 64- prudently

pg. 54 line 89-entreaty

Act V
pg.66 line 15-peremptory

pg.72 line 46-rebuke

pg.74 line 80-thicket
pg. 81 line 111-levity

pg. 82 line 141-contrivances

Characters Music

Mr. Hardcastle

Mrs. Hardcastle

Kate Hardcastle

Tony Lumpkin

Marlow

Hastings

Constance Neville

Sir Charles Marlow

Pimple the Maid

Diggory(Dick Muggins)

Roger

Thomas(Jack Slang)

week 8-post

What do you think are the top 3 things you need to know when talking with parents?

Before I watched the film, I think I was pretty narrow-minded on how to approach a parent concerning their child in the classroom. I thought that the teacher did all of the talking, recipricating the struggles and success of the child focusing more on how the child conducted themselves in class as opposed to home. I knew that input from the parent was important but not as important as what the video had explained. I figured that I would be mindful of why I am speaking to the parents and try not to attack the student nor the parent, try my best to be respectful and patient, some parents might be angry about a grade, or something the student had said to them about the class, and to be respectful of their background and culture as to not offend a tradition and blame their culture for bad grades, bad behavior, etc.

After I watched the short clip I found out that, as a teacher, you want to hear feedback from the parent and how they think the classroom is being ran and what the child says about school when they come home, and how important that is to become a good teacher. As a teacher I need to learn to take those comments from the students and their parents and instead of ignorning them, learn to modify my procedures to help both the student and parent become more accepting of how the classroom is operated. Also to incorporate classroom activities while talking to the parent, make them feel like their input is important to the success of the student. Be careful not to give a negative association to the parent about their child. Let them know that good things are going on in the classroom, positive attitudes rubb off on other people, if I stay positive the parent will be positive. Use the conference as a back and forth dialouge, make sure you ask the parent about how they feel about the progress of their child and what THEY think is their child's weak areas, what might help them to succeed in the classroom.

Help Parents Get Involved!!

Helpful Tips to future Teachers
"Home-School Communication: The Parent-Teacher Conference"
Click Me = ]

Entry 8-Quiz

ChalkBoard Activity
1)What kind of activity is this?
This activity was interactive, because it forced us to get up out of our seats, leave our comfort behind, and write on the board, cramped next to people.
2) How does it challenge you?
It was a bit challenging because you had to think of something to represent the "umbrella theory" in your own words, and we all know that nothing is better than the original umbrella! I did a Ferris Wheel, which took place of my original soccer ball idea. I thought it was a good metaphor because a ferris wheel has spokes, which resemble all the different aspects of the same disorder.
3)What background knowledge are you using to complete this activity?
The background knowledge i used to complete this activity wasn't much. I pretty much only used it to think of the ferris wheel.
4)How much do you love this blackboard compared to the other blackboard?
This blackboard ALWAYS works.

Hallway Podcast
1)What kind of activity is this?
This was interactive and technological. We had to learn how to use the camera and post a podcast onto the blogger which I have done. below = ] we had to use the resources we were presented with, which was the other students in our group.
2)What does it enable students to understand?
This forced us to understand how to record a podcast and post it to our blog, understand the technology used and understand why these skills are beneficial to us. In our own classroom when we become teachers we will know how to incorporate students who have difficulty writing, to use podcasts to express themselves.
3)How does it provide a way to make "flexible" grouping?
Flexible grouping is when you use your group to help you figure out the task at hand. The professor didnt allow questions, so we had to rely on each other for answers and help.
4)What does a workshop model like this enable teachers to do?
This helps teachers learn different techniques to help their students succeed that might have trouble expressing themselves in a typical format such as writing. Doing podcasts will allow room for the student to be more comfortable expressing themselves via technology instead of writing.

5-Picture Story

It was a beautiful day at NU so the four of us decided to go into the DO NOT ENTER zone of the falls, because we had a craving for the forbidden vending machine. This vending machine was a treturous journey down the gorge, but we all knew we could do it together! So Jenny, Jill, Kalani and I all got on our best hiking gear and got ready for the challenge. We came across many obsticles, but none so dangerious as "The Hole" we decided that we had to jump over it in order for us to reach the snacks. We did it! and then...we feasted.

The End.

Entry 7 Chapter 6

We had a long weekend, so I didn't have to go to learn and serve for the second week. = ] I know that it's not a good sign that I'm kinda happy about this, but regardless...I am.
Chapter 6
1) The role of collaboration among the educational team is critical in meeting the needs of children with communication difficulties. What should be done to ensure that professionals have what they need to allow for this collaboration?
I believe that what should be done in school systems nation-wide to ensure that teachers, and other educational professionals, have what they need to help the success of their students, is to make it mandatory for school districts to supply trained professionals that can help other teachers and students when necessary. Also, I believe that government funding should be available to the school districts that may need financial assistance in order to supply these trained specialists.
Tips for Special Educators
NYS Special Ed.

Entry 6 Learn and Serve 1st visit

I am currently placed at Gaskill Prep. in Niagara Falls. My first impression was "oh my God, I am going to get chewed up and spit out, and/or my car is going to get robbed"
This school is in the heart of the falls, with street parking only. I came to class dressed in Gucci and Coach...I stuck out like a sore thumb.


My teacher was absent that day, (which has ironically happened to me at every single placement I have had) so I had to work under a substitute. She is actually a Grad Student here at NU, and has subbed at this school many times and knew what she was doing. However, because she was a sub she did not have a lesson plan, so I just stood in the classroom...observing the children doing a worksheet for two hours.

I personally have had terrible expericences with learn and serve up to this point, I have not done anything even remotely close to teaching, just watching and being bored, counting to minutes until I can leave. When I came to NU, I was told that the education program was great! And that Education majors get put right into the classroom and love it! Sadly, this has not been the case for me. = [
I love teaching, I have tutored since 10th grade and I love the feeling of helping others succeed. Unfortunately, I do not feel that way when it comes to learn and serve, I dont feel that it benefits me because I am not teaching or doing, just watching.


I hope that in the future I can get some great teachers that I can learn from!!
reflecting back to this post now 20hours of service later, i regret saying a lot of what I did. Yes I did stick out like a sore thumb every time I went to Gaskill, but no one made me feel out of place. Everyone there was great. And if you think about it, they have to be great! some of these students come hard homelives, and the falculty needs to know how to address that, and they do. All the teachers I had the pleasure of meeting, no matter how brief, had a great outlook on the prospect of their students, which is what a lot of those kids need. They need someone to believe in them and motivate them to do great things with their future, and the falculty at gaskill do a great job of shining a light on every student's future.