Week 2 Introduction

By now you should have your criminal records check taken care of and your practicum should be arranged. Having these things out of the way will allow us to to develop a sort of rhythm for our activities each week. I'd like to take some time to outline these activities and get you started on them.

The purpose of our course is to reflect on the role of educators in today's society, investigate current issues facing education, and provide an opportunity for you to become more astute observers of children. To accomplish this, our class will cover four main elements each week:

Current Issues - Each week you will be asked to research and comment on a current issue facing education. Your job will be to provide information,either pro or con, supported by at least one legitimate source. This source can be a professional journal, an Internet site, a book, or other professional source. Your source should be clearly identified in your response.

How To Talk So Kids Can Learn - These activities are a companion to your text for the course. Each week you will be asked to apply and share your experiences with the strategies and techniques described in the book.

Teaching as a Profession - We will cover a variety of topics related to teaching in this section of the course. You will typically be asked to read some material I will provide and then complete an activity related to the topic.

Weekly Journal/Field Experience - Each week I will provide you with a specific observational task as the focus of your journal. Since each of you works in a different setting we will be able to share how teaching and learning happen at our own practicum site and, in the bargain, gain a broader perspective on the role of teachers. My original thought had been that we would post these in private conferences, but I think instead we will keep this conference public. If you have sensitive things to share, you can put this in your private conference.

Activity 1- Current Issues

Although I'll start you out with a topic this week, I'm going to put each of you in the hot seat this term by assigning each of you a week to lead the Current Issues discussion. Your responsibilities as a discussion leader include

• selecting the discussion topic for that week and
• summarizing the postings of your classmates.

Your responses should be encouraging and respectful of each person's position on the issue. It's OK to ask clarifying questions or "What would happen if...?" questions. To be able to do this you will need a better-than-average understanding of the issue, but I think this is fair if you get to choose the issue.

See the chart below to determine which week you will be responsible for. Note that some of you are teamed with a co-leader . This week I'd like to hear from you about topics in education that are of particular interest to you. I'm going to ask each discussion team to propose 3 possible "hot topics" in the field that you would be interested in exploring during your week. You might choose these based upon current educational issues that you hear talked about in the staff room, from parents, on television, or other personal and professional affiliations. You might have to email back and forth to make your decision. Once you have, please post your list in the "Week 2: Hot Topics" conference.

Week	Discussion Leaders
3	To be posted Week 3 Turn in your hot topics NOW in Week 1 hot topic conference.
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

For the current week, I'll be the discussion leader. To get us started I've selected the topic of "School Vouchers." Vouchers -essentially certificates that would allow parents to send their children to any school, public or private- were hotly debated in the last presidential race, and some states have experimented with their use. Use the following format to share your ideas about this current issue. Post your response in the "Week 2: School Vouchers" conference. Don't forget to respond to the postings of two of your peers.

(We will use the same format to complete each of the Current Issue Activities for the course. You may want to print out a copy of this format for future use. I have also made a link to it from the course schedule so that you can easily refer back to it when you need to.)

Name _____________

Issue _____________

1. Before any current reading or reflection , I believe that:

(In this section indicate how you feel about a topic and why before doing any reading or research. Please keep your comments to about one paragraph.)

2. Based upon my reading about both the pros and cons of this issue, I now believe that:

(Discuss what you now believe .)

3. The major factors that lead me to this conclusion are:

(Share with the class what influenced you to stay with your first opinion or to change your mind.)

4. What professional resource did you use to arrive at your conclusion.

(Please be sure to name the title, author, name of publication if applicable and date of publication.)

 Activity 2 - How to Talk so Kids Can Learn

I think you'll find in the "How to Talk so Kids Can Learn " book ways to communicate more effectively with students in all kinds of situations. As we cover each chapter I will ask you to apply the ideas discussed in the chapter throughout the week and then share with the rest of the class what you experienced. For this first week, though, I would like you to share with us how you might typically respond to the child's comment in each of the pictures below.

REPLY with your ideas in the "Week 2: HTTSKCL" folder. Then you can scroll up and down to reply to 2 other students in your team. Let me know in a message, which 2 students you replied to. This helps me in counting responses, so I can spend more time reading WHAT you say spending all day trying to find your 2 responses. *Thanks*

 

After you have posted your typical response, read Chapter 1 to see how the authors suggest that you respond to each situation. Next week we will begin practicing what we have learned, but for this week just share your initial response to each picture. Please respond to the postings of two of your peers.

Activity 3- Teaching as a Profession

There are many pros and cons for entering the field of education today. The same color coded groups will apply. The conferences will also be color coded.

Please read several of the following articles and then answer the following question:

What are your motives for becoming a teacher and what do you think the barriers are to being happy in the teaching profession? Post your answer in the "Week 2: Teaching as a Profession" folder. Again, please respond to the postings of two of your classmates.

http://www.bransoncourier.com/article.php?news_ID=50&s_news_title=teaching&

http://www.edweek.org/context/topics/issuespage.cfm?id=25

http://www.recruitingteachers.org/channels/clearinghouse/whyteach/111_teachersonteaching.htm

http://www.ed.gov/comments/nationalforum97/

 

Activity 4 - Weekly Journal

We are going to start off with a general observation of your school and the class you work in most often. Pretend that you are a new parent to the school. What might your first impressions be? Since these are individual reponses, just POST your answers in the "Week 2: Journal" folder.

1. Is the school/classroom bright, attractive, comfortable?
(Notice the wall, displays, plants, etc. What changes in the physical appearance would you change and why?)

2. How did you feel when you first walked into the school? Did you feel welcome? Why or Why not? Who made you feel most welcome? How did he/she accomplish this?

3. Is the school a friendly place? Notice the rapport among the staff, children.

4. Do the children seem to like the school? Why?

5. What suggestions do you have that would improve the first impression for parents or children?

 

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