MEL Project

http://bridgetferry.podbean.com/#

Special Thanks to
Dereck Paige as Aiden
Dan Horne as Dan
William Glidden as Solomon and Issac
Justine Dimambro as Jane
Bridget Ferry as Viola and Heather
Amanda Martemucci as Interviewer and Gabby

Learning Style Inventory Results.

According to the test, I am a very verbal and social learner. These are my two strongest intelligences, so I believe the test to be rather accurate. I learn best when I can write, speak, and read about the material. I also learn well in an open friendly environment where I can participate in discussion with classmates, which makes me very social. I am in no way an aural learner, music doesn't make sense to me even though I enjoy it and if something tells me something and I don't write it down, I will probably never remember. My results reflect an aural score of 2, which I think pretty much only implies that I like listening to music, just never while I work. I would say the results were very accurate in pinpointing the different ways in which I learn.


The test and test results are from the Memletics Learning Styles Questionnaire at http://www.learning-styles-online.com/inventory/questions.asp?cookieset=y

Web 2.0 Educator

I chose Wesley Fryer, a dedicated teacher who uses technology in his classroom in great new ways. He keeps his eye on new programs, computers, and other forms of technology that are coming around, but also keeps learning how to work with what we currently have.

He specializes using technology in the classroom with an Apple-biased focus. He is a teacher who thoroughly understands that technology is a great resource that can often bring teaching and learning to the next level. He also strongly supports 1:1, meaning that there should be a 1 laptop to every one student ratio. This will allow students to become more comfortable with computers and learn how to truly use them as tools in their education. While Fryer is a strong supporter of technology, he makes it clear that there is a point when dependence becomes excessive. He wrote about the "internet addiction camps" in China that abuse and harm youth instead of helping to free them from an unnecessary dependence on technology. He also mentions the idea of one-use digital text books and how it may seem appealing, but a real, physical book filled with notes and highlights is still a very valuable tool.

I agree with Fryer that technology is a very important tool in the classroom. Students should be able to utilize computers to advance their education and knowledge. Computers are fantastic tools that need to be brought into the classroom. But with this idea comes another equally important one: computers are just a tool. They are being integrated into our way of life and we are moving into a totally technology driven world. But that doesn't mean technology is the only resource we have. We still have real text books and newspapers that are equally good resources. Students should know how to navigate the internet to find sources, but they should also be able to navigate the library. I think Fryer believes in both of these statements, and because of that, I agree with almost everything I have read from him and want to continue to follow him.

Type I and Type II Technology

Type I technologies are those that make the process of teaching easier and more efficient. Type II technologies are those that allow for new and more effective ways of teaching. Examples of Type I technologies might include online quizzes. While it's easier for the teacher to collect and grade, doing a quiz on a computer is no more beneficial than doing it on paper. An overhead project is another example, because it may be easier and neater than writing on a blackboard, but it is no more effective than writing on blackboards. Finally, websites like Quizlet.com are Type I technologies because they are simply electronic versions of vocabulary lists. An example of a Type II technology might be Skype, which allows for classrooms to connect with other classrooms or professionals who can be a guest speaker without actually being present. Another example is blogs like this one. Blogs allow for easy access to assignments for both teachers and students and allow for quick and easy to find feedback and provide verbal learners a new outlet for their learning style. PowerPoint is another example because it allows students and teachers alike to create presentations that are captivating, easy to use, and easy to present. The transitions and music that can be incorporated also reach out to bodily-kinestetic and visual learners.


The idea of Type I and Type II Technologies comes from:
Internet Applications of Type II uses of Technology in Education (2005) by Clebourne Maddux and D. LaMont Johnson, editors. NY: Haworth Press.

My MEL experiences

• Student/ Teacher Relationships: While I often times dreaded the work and was intimidated by the concepts of physics, my physics teacher was one of my favorites which helped me to learn to love the subject. After he knew everyone well enough to playfully make fun of them he would write all our test and quiz questions about kids in the class. Questions like "In a desperate attempt to be tan before prom, Bridget sat outside in a lawn chair..." and then would create a problem about the suns rays and how long it would take them to reach earth. Tests were less dreaded because they involved humor that everyone in the class could enjoy because the teacher created an environment where laughing at ourselves helped us through the tough work.
• Learning Styles: My AP English teacher was fantastic at teaching to all the learning styles in the classroom. Before starting a new era of literary work, he would show us a slide show of art from that time period, with music from the period playing in the background as he explained to us the popular art forms and famous artists and musicians and how they influenced the writers of the time. This drew in musical and artistic students and gave them a chance to see how their interests effected the works we would be reading. He also had us do Shakespeare scenes and encouraged movement, such as the Macbeth-Macduff fight scene played out with light sabers which really engaged bodily-kinesthetic learners. Once, we even we outside and made snowmen that represented authors we had studied and had to guess who each group's snowman represented, which really pulled in the naturalistic learners. His ability to reach out to all the intelligences in the classroom gave everyone the ability to learn in their strongest intelligences and strengthen and explore their less-used ones.
• Connections: The teachers in my high school had great relationships within and outside of their departments. They would talk to each other about their subjects and what was being taught, and quite often in math our teacher would relate it to what she knew we were doing in physics. An English teacher might drawn upon our knowledge from aquatic biology and ask us to relate it to Moby Dick. Once, my AP English teacher even asked if anyone saw CSI the night before, because they quoted Lady Macbeth. The connections they made between classes were crucial for me, seeing a network of my knowledge grow larger and more complex made me realize that no subject stands alone, and all subjects are practical outside of the classroom, in the "real world."
  
• Avoid Rewards: My government teacher had a bad habit of bribing students to finish their work or get a paper in on time. He might offer to bring certain students in donuts if they turned in their essay on time. This led to the students he rewarded to not doing anything without a reward. No extra credit for doing the required homework? Then they didn't do it. By giving rewards this teacher taught students to never do anything unless they get something out of it.
• Helping Students Succeed: My junior year English teacher was probably the hardest I ever had. He set very high expectations and didn't accept excuses. He was known for being a tough grader and many people didn't take his class because they were afraid to work hard. While his expectations seemed high, they were always achievable, and he made sure everyone in the class who did the work they were asked reached the goals he set. Tasks that seemed impossible were really just assignments that asked a lot of students, and forced us to work, think, and brainstorm more than we ever had before. By the end of his class, I felt like my B+ was the best grade I'd ever received, even though it was the only A I didn't get that year.
  

What is a WebQuest?

January 21st 2010
12:43 PM

A WebQuest is a Web site that has a set of instructions that the Quester must follow in order to complete a project. There are instructions, links, steps, and outside sources involved that allow a Quester to search the Web in a structured way to find the information in question.

January 21st 2010
1:09
A WebQuest is a fun way to complete a technology driven project using the scaffolding and direction provided by the WebQuest site to create a final product that meets all the WebQuest expectations and use the sources provided.

January 27th 2010 2:00
Ditto last definition

Chapter 2: Respect, Liking, Trust, and Fairness

While addressing topics such as trust and fairness, Cushman supports the idea that it is more important to be a good teacher than a popular teacher. She supports this with quotes from students who explain that they would rather have a teacher that showed their class how much they care about teaching and helping students learn than have a teacher who is buddy-buddy with everyone, or even worse, a select few.

I felt that this might be a hard thing for teachers to accept, but if everyone looks back, they can probably remember a teacher that was not their favorite, but really prepared them and helped them to learn. One of my fears as a teacher is the possibility of not being liked by my students. This section of the chapter really helped ease my fear, because it reminded me that being a popular teacher and being a good teacher don’t always go hand in hand. And while this is true, I know I will strive to be both.

Chapter 1: Knowing Students Well

In the first chapter of Fires in the Bathroom, Cushman makes it clear that teachers need to be “paying attention to what individual students say and do- and what they don’t- in the classroom and hallways, in their written work, speech patterns, and physical appearance” (3-4). Cushman expands on this throughout the chapter, explaining that if a teacher does not know their students and does not know how to read them, then the task of teaching becomes even more difficult. Knowing students is an important part of learning how to teach them and reach them.

This idea really caught my attention because it is so simple and so true. While learning to pay attention to all these things is by no means simple, the idea that it must be done is easy to comprehend. Students are all different, they learn in different ways and if one does not know their students, how is one expected to teach them? Luckily, I always seemed to show up on teacher’s radar; they knew how to motivate me and get me interested. I want to be able to do that with my students, and try my hardest to make sure I don’t miss what they’re not saying and doing as well.