Stephanie's+Page

=Stephanie's Page = ==
 * Journal Reflection:**
 * Choice book February 2012:**
 * I chose to read this book because after my stepdad passed away last year someone gave it to my mom and everytime she talks about it she crys. I told a friend that I wanted to read it and she said that she just picked up a copy too. After reading it I recommend that all of you read it but make sure you have a kleenex handy.**
 * __Heaven is for Real__ by Todd Burpo. This was an amazing story about the Burpo family and the tragedies their family went through. The most devastating event was when they almost lost their son Colton. This story talks about the journey he went on and how it has impacted his family. I don't want to give too much away about the story because I highly recommend that all of you read it. I will say this though. I am not a religous person and never have been so there were some parts of the story when Todd Burpo (the father and pastor) quoted scripture that I found myself just kind of skimming over. Here is a short clip of an interview with the Burpo family.**
 * ===[|//Heaven is For Real//: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to **...**]===

**What level of creativity characterizes your instruction?** I tend to think that I am not the most creative person around. I think the level of creativity that characterizes my instruction is not very high but I try to make each day exciting for my students and for me. **What activities do you consciously plan to nurture their creativity?** Some of the activities that I plan to nurture the creativity of my students are fun writing opportunities. The students can choose what they would like to write about, they can type their story if they want to, they can create art work that ties to their writing. Each week I have a project time, while my students are working on math I provide extension activities, manipulatives, and extra assistance so my students can be creative in the way they learn. Not every student learns the same way every other student learns. During reading I try to provide various learning activities in hopes that it will foster their love of reading as well as their creativity. Do you include cooperative learning within your instruction? It was nice to host in my classroom, it was a nice change of scenery. I think everyone pretty well knows what my feelings about inclusion are but here is just a recap…. I don’t think full inclusion is the right thing for all students all of the time. I believe each student has something to teach the others just as all students can learn from each other. I do not believe though that being in a regular education classroom 100% of the time is appropriate for some of our students with severe special needs. I think I am a very good teacher and that I am able to adapt my classroom and my teaching for almost all students. I worry though that some of our extremely needy students would not get what they need being in my classroom all of the time. On the other hand, I worry too that if I had a very needy student in my classroom I would not be able to meet the needs of all of my regular education students. As it is in our building right now we never seem to have the necessary staffing to accommodate the needs of both types of students in the same classroom at the same time. In regard to the movie, I really liked it. I especially appreciated how we were able to see life through her eyes. It was also a good way for us to see how we as educators might not realize how we pigeon hole a student with disabilities. All students who suffer from autism do not learn the same just like all students without disabilities do not learn the same. We need to change the way we deliver our messages until we find a way that works for a particular student. Good movie…. 11/7/11 RRT: I was thinking about our Research Round Table presentations. For the first time slot I went to see a session that was put on by two kindergarten teachers. They were talking about ice breaker and community building activities. There were several activities that I can adapt to use with my students. It is nice to have community building ideas that can be used at the beginning of the year or just as a fun activity that we can do when we have indoor recess or when there is no phy. ed. or music teacher and I have to keep my class during those times. I though the activities were fun but their presentation only lasted about 10-15 min. For the rest of the time we were just talking with our group. During our time slot Mark, Christa, and I got everything ready to go but I forgot to play the Animoto video as everyone was walking in. It worked out ok though, I played it at the end of the presentation. I think our presentation went well. All of our seats were full and there were others standing along the side of the room. We each shared a portion of the power point and talked about how we used it to do our assignments or tasks. I was pleased with how it turned out and I believe it was beneficial to others. After our session, I went to help Venessa set up my lap top so they could use it for their presentation. After that was set up I went to see the altered book presentation. Geri and one other woman were there to see that presentation. I was a little disappointed that they did not have a good turnout. The altered books are so unique and interesting and I really thought that more people would be interested in seeing that presentation. It almost seemed as if most of the people were already gone during the last session. Vanessa said their session only had a few people watching too. 10/ 28/11 for Monday, October 31 class ADHD Videos There were many interesting videos about ADHD and how students learn and how they feel, I watched two of them. The first one was a clip of an 8 year old boy who has ADHD. The interviewer was asking questions about how his brain feels and how his body feels when he is not on medications. He told her that he just feels “normal, normal for me.” He also said that when he is on his medications he still just feels normal. The boy said that when he is not on his medication it feels like there is a fire inside of himself that you can’t put out. On the medication he said he feels the same but people around him treat him differently. I think that hearing that from a child and from their perspective is interesting because for many children we can tell if they are on their medication but according to him, he does not feel any different. The other video I watched was about ADHD and the Brain. There was a doctor who was explaining what ADHD is and how it and medication affect the brain. He explained that ADHD a common behavioral disorder that often shows by age 7 and is related in some cases to the size and density of some brain tissue. In some cases it is shows in brains that do not creating enough dopamine. He said that there is no known cause for either the brain tissue or lack of dopamine but that dopamine inhibitors (stimulants) can force the brain to increase dopamine production which will help the brain make the connections between nerve tissues. This increased dopamine production can help improve reasoning, focusing, and attention, areas in which many children with ADHD have difficulties. 10/25/11 for Monday, October 24 class LD Processing Video I thought the video was a good eye opener for those of us who do not have processing delays. It made me more aware of some of the students in my class who do seem to be scared or timid when I call on them. They may be scared or timid because they are shy but I think for many students it is because they are afraid to give the wrong answer because they will get laughed at just as the video stated. To me it makes sense that a student with processing delays would still be trying to figure out the question when others are shouting out the answers. I have heard before to give students think time to process questions before calling on them. I have never used my placement in front of a student as an indicator that I will call on them but I will sometimes give the students warning and say, “I’m going to call on Sam, Tom, and Jenna first.” Other times I might just say, “Jenna, after Joey I’m going to ask you to tell me what you think.” I think that does relieve some of their anxiety and I have noticed that one of my shyest girls is raising her hand a lot more often than she was earlier in the year. When I see her hand go up I will usually call on her so she can feel confident when she answers appropriately or joins in the discussion. Having a son with processing delays and knowing how much he struggles I try to be aware of other boys and girls who might have delays too.
 * heavenisforreal**.net/ [|Cached]
 * Questions for December 5, 2011 **
 * Do you think your students would view your instruction as creative? ** At the ages of 7 and 8 I don’t know that my students have a clear understanding of what creativity truly is. I also don’t know that they would know if I am being creative or not. I do think that they have fun while learning at the same time. I do not like every day to be the same and I’m sure the kids would not each day to be the same. If my students were bored each day they would probably say that my instruction was not creative. Since I try to change things up maybe they would say my instruction is creative.
 * Does your instruction foster their creative development? ** I do think my instruction fosters creative development in my students. I offer choices for them while they are working. I want them to be able to complete their work in a way that is best for their learning style, a way they are comfortable with.
 * What activities do you teach that promote cooperative learning? ** Throughout the day I provide opportunities for cooperative learning. I don’t know that I have activities that I teach to them but I encourage them to work together especially during math and reading because sometimes a strength that one student has can help another better than I can. I find that there have been times in math when I teach then re-teach a lesson but some kids still may not understand it. But, if I have students work together they can teach each other in a way that the struggling students can understand. I don’t want to force them to work together because some students work better on their own and are more comfortable while others are more comfortable working in groups.
 * How do you assess cooperative work? ** When I do have work that is done cooperatively I do not always assess that work. Many times I would rather make sure the students are working well together so they can strengthen their communication skills. I often times will collect that work to see how well they have completed the task but do not grade it.
 * 11/18/11 from Monday, November 14**
 * Journal Reflection:**
 * Journal Reflection:**
 * Journal Reflection:**

What purpose is intended by supporting inclusion in a classroom? How does inclusion benefit multicultural students and families? Task: Document what you have done in your classroom this year to promote inclusive practices? How is that different from past years? Will you make further changes to promote inclusion? What is the best way to integrate student differences into the curriculum? What do you want your students to learn from each other? How can you support student learning? Task: Brainstorm ideas of ways you could use the curriculum to encourage student differences. How can educators provide educational experiences that will reduce cultural conflict? What do you currently do in your classroom to reduce conflict? What contact do you have with parents in an effort to reduce cultural conflict? Task: Write about a time when you or a colleague experienced cultural conflict in the classroom. What were the circumstances leading up to the conflict and how was it resolved? How are motivational strategies today different than in the past? What do you believe motivates your students to succeed? What motivational strategies do you currently use in your classroom? Task: Interview your parents and grandparents. Find out what motivational techniques were used by their teachers. Compare them to techniques that your teachers use. Reflect on how your experiences have shaped your ideas for motivating students. How can your teaching practices best be evaluated? Once evaluated, how can you improve your teaching to meet cultural needs in your classroom? Why do we not always apply what we know about best teaching practices to our daily teaching? Task: Choose one of your teacher evaluations to share. Discuss the evaluation process and how it will help you improve in your teaching. Also tell what you have done since the evaluation to improve your teaching practices. *Dewey, chapter2; Sleeter, chapters 1,3,4,9; Cannestrari, chapters 21,22; Lareau, chapters 11,12; Hubbards & Power, chapters 6,7; Nieto, chapter 9; Gardiner & Cosmitzki, chapters 5,7
 * __ Educational Awareness September 19, 2011 __**
 * Chapter 1: Inclusion **
 * Chapter 2: Integrating Curriculum **
 * Chapter 3: Cultural Conflict **
 * Chapter 4: Motivation and Academic Success **
 * Chapter 5: Changing Teaching Practices **

Journal Reflection 6/5/11
With the last days of school approaching I think back on the year and wonder what I need to change for next year??? I have often heard people say, "oh I could never be a teacher,I don't know how you do it every day. I just don't have the patience!" To this day, even with all of the negative talk surrounding our district, school, teaching, and politics, I still think going back to school to become a teacher is the best choice I have made for myself. I was thinking about all the things that have gotten me so upset and frustrated over the past several months and not once has it been a student! It has been some of my parents, administration, and what has been going on in politics and how the everything is going to effect our student and "the system." I am just so tired of people making decisions and changes that are going to have a negative impact on our students but they don't see it because they are so far removed from the schools and classrooms. I truly do not think they are even thinking about the kids. What are our classrooms going to be like in 5 years? It is scary to think...35 to a classroom, teachers teaching because they need a job not because they love the job, students not getting what they need or schools not doing what is in their best interest. Who knows but for now I still love it here and hope I get to stay where I am!

Journal Reflection 5/23/11
I thought the "Beyond the Blackboard" movie was so good. It really made me think about the type of teacher I am and why I do what I do. The teacher in the movie clearly had a passion for teaching even at such a young age. I loved how she was able to change the attitude of not only her students but their parents and the school administrator. She never gave up on her dream and did not let any of them give up either. Just like in the movie, I think when you have a challenging student or situation in your classroom and you are doing what you have to do to take care of it and if you are making your choices for the right reasons you will get the support of the parents and administrators. It is amazing to me that so much goes on in schools and there are some people who do not know, realize, or care to change what needs to be fixed.

Journal Reflection 5/22/11:
I went to see a documentary about two autistic men called __Wrteches and Jabberers__. The men made the movie because they wanted to spread the word to others around the world that people who have autism are compitent and do have a future. They also wanted to share their hopes, dreams and struggles. Tracy Thresher is 42 years old and Larry Bissonnette is 52. They have been friends for many years and began touring around the world share their story and give hope to others who are like themselves and who have limited verbal communication skills. Tracy and Larry both grew up being considered "retarded" and were not allowed to be in "normal" school classes. They both have limited speech and faced lives of social isolation in mental institutions or adult disability centers. As adults both men learned how to type and now communicate with the world through speaking computers that translate their typed words. Tracy and Larry both live in Vermont but have decided to take their story on the road and around the world in hopes to inspire other children and adults with the disability as well as host lectures and confrences to build awareness of people with disabilities and their struggles. The movie was fantastic and I was glad that I had the opportunity to watch it. I have worked with many student with autism and I have a friend who has an adult son who has autism as well. The movie was very eye opening in the fact that these men who for the most part as children were nonverbal can now communicate how they feel, what is was like growing up, how they were treated, and what we can do to help them. They said they just want to be treated "normal." The best part of the whole movie for me was when they asked both men about when they first learned to type to communicate. They were both asked what was the first thing you typed....one of them said, " I love you Mom!" I don't think there was a dry eye in the place. It really made me think about everything we take for granted every day. It was a great movie and will be coming out on dvd soon.

** Interview Activity 5/2/11: **
==== When we were first assigned this task I was a little nervous because I was not sure who I was going to interview. The more I thought about the questions and the requirements regarding the people we were supposed to interview I started to think about my mom’s former boss Lillian who was born and raised in France and my stepdad. They fit the “elderly person and a person educated in a different environment, culture,(even another country).” My original plan was to do a live interview with each of them, I thought it would be an interesting way to share their stories with everyone. I talked to each of them early last week and was going to meet with them Friday morning before I left for vacation. Unfortunately, early Wednesday morning I got a frantic call from my mom telling me that my stepdad passed away just 20 minutes prior. When I got to her house the first thing that my mom said was that she was very sorry that he was not able to help me with my homework but he didn’t want us to worry about him while we were on vacation. ==== ==== After a couple days of trying to figure out what I was going to do I decided to talk to my sister-in-law’s mom, Sandy. She was going on vacation with us and agreed to talk with me on the flight to Cancun. That was not the way I had intended to spend my plane ride but under the circumstances it was just about my only choice because I did not want my mom to do it, she had enough to worry about. ==== ==== I did still go talk to Lillian but was not able to do a video because my daughter who was going to tape it for me was not comfortable coming with. Lillian owns the restaurant that my grandparents used to own and where my mom worked for twenty five years. She along with the waitresses and many of the customers know us and know that my stepdad just passed away and she was worried they would all ask about it and that she would not be able to deal with that emotionally. I interviewed Lillian while she worked side by side with her son, JJ. That was a good thing too because JJ ended up translating many of my questions for her. ==== ==== After talking to Sandy and Lillian I found myself of course comparing their experiences with my own. Lillian is in her late 70s while sandy is in her mid 60s. Sandy’s remembers having one teacher for grades 1-8 then like high school students today had many different teachers for all of her classes. Lillian went to a large school in her hometown of Mericourt, France. Her school was for students in grades 1 through grade 14. Then, after school the girls went to a prep school to learn how to be a “housewife.” She said even to graduate from the prep school just like high school you had to take a test. If you did not pass the test in either you last year of high school or in the prep school you had to go for another year. Sandy, who graduated from Muskego high school, which is where my son and I graduated from and where Megan will also graduate from, recalled having to earn enough credits to graduate. If you did not have enough credits you just took another class to earn them. ==== ==== It seems to me as if Lillian’s educational experience was much more harsh than Sandy’s. When I asked her about the experiences when she in school Lillian said it was just understood that the students knew everything that they needed to know and if they didn’t they would have to stay after school for extra tutoring. She said students didn’t ever ask for help during the class time because the teachers didn’t want to “waste” their time on them. On the other hand, Sandy said all of her teachers showed care and concern. When it came to understanding content that was being taught, if students “didn’t get it” the teachers would give you help, all you had to do was ask. ==== ==== While class sizes as far as both women could remember they were very similar, discipline in France compared to here was much different. Sandy recalled students getting warned about getting sent to the principal’s office then having the threat of parents getting called if you didn’t “shape up.” Lillian said the teachers at her school demanded respect and if they did not get it they would put you in the corner and spank you or hit your knuckles with a ruler. She said although she never had any of that happen to her students that did were very ashamed and never “did it” again. ==== ==== I found one thing that was very similar when interviewing both Lillian and Sandy was that they both believed that their educational experiences were to prepare them for “surviving life” and being successful members of society. Both women continued their education after graduating from high school, Lillian because it was expected that all girls in her hometown in France did so they would become a good housewife. Sandy went on to cosmetology school because she said when she graduated girls either became secretaries, teachers, or nurses. Since she gets sick at the sight of blood, does not have the patients to teach, and can type “60 mistakes a minute” she thought cutting hair would be a better choice. Neither of her parents graduated from high school so they were proud of her and glad that she made that choice. She said they never pushed her either way, they let her decide what was best for her. Lillian on the other hand, said her parents would never let her not attend the prep school. “They would have been devastated and humiliated if I did not go.” ==== ==== After talking to these women about their educational experiences I felt like Sandy’s experience was most like our schooling today. Lillian’s experience on the other hand reminded me of the way children might be educated in China where it seems as if you might not get to make your own choices like in the article we read earlier in April. ====

Of all the sessions that I went to the one I enjoyed the most was called Positive Classroom Climates; Empowering Youth, Managing Conflicts. The Peace Learning Center of Milwaukee, Inc. shared ideas and tools for teachers to use in their schools and classrooms to encourage building classroom community, tolerance, active listening, and critical thinking. They had all of us do team building exercises one of which I am going to use with my new class next year. They also told us that they do field trips, and trian the trainer sessions. I think their program seems like it would be so beneficial that I talked to our principal about the train the trainer session to see if we could get some of our staff trained to work with the entire staff to teach them how to work with the kids. It would be so nice if the all the kids were learning the same coping strategies and conflict resolution skills. I think it would benefit our whole school community.
 * Journal Reflection from 4/18/11:** I think I have found the two people I want to interview for my interview activity but I have a question. Can I video tape the interviews? I want to interview my stepdad who is very ill and I don't know if he will even want to do it but all of my grandparents passed away and I don't know who else to interview. I think it might be easier to video tape him. The other person that I would like to talk to is my mom's former boss, Lillian. She owns the restaurant that my grandparents used to own and she grew up in France. I told Megan who I wanted to interview and she laughed when I talked about Lillian. She said mom, "She scares me, remember when I used to hide under the table?" Lillian speaks with a very heavy French accent and Megan could never understand her and for Megan, that was pretty scary. I would like to think she has grown out of that but we will see. I told her she has to come with me:)
 * Journal Reflection from 4/11/11**: Tiger Mom: I remember hearing about the "Chinese Mom" on the radio and then when I started reading the __Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior__ article it brought up a lot of questions for me. I think the first and most important question I had was why? Why are "Chinese and Western" parents or moms so different and are they really? Are we just hearing about Amy Chua because it is such a drastic case? As I read through the article and they kept comparing Chinese and Western parents I kept wondering if the parents they were talking about were parents who all lived in the same area or are the Chinese parents living in China? This article made me think about the movie we saw as a class last summer, The Karate Kid. The movie took place in China and put a Western mom and her son in this country where like in this article practice, practice, practice and nothing other than perfection was accepted. Do we learn what we teach or teach what we learn??? How could we as Western teachers or parents make that change? This article also made me think about a student in my class whose family is from China. His grandparents only speak Chinese and at home this family only speaks chinese. His family owns a Chines restaurant and this boy is really struggling at school. He talks about how he does not have any help with homework and he is below grade level in reading and math. So, as for this article I would be the one to say not all Chinese mothers are superior and they do have children who struggle. I would also say, I let my children watch tv, play with friends, and play computer games, even get grades other than an A. I do think I pushed them, Megan has always been on honor roll, played sports and worked her fanny off for each sport she played, she has a great work ethic, and is very successful. Was she a straigh A student and a musical prodigy? No but she is going to college, doing what she wants to do, receiving an athletic scholarship and an accademic scholarship I am not going to tell her she is anything less than a success....That article can say anything it wants! Children don't come with "how to" manuals nor do parents. I believe we do the best that we can with what we know and what we learn.
 * Journal Reflection from 4/2/11:** As I was sitting on the recliner watching t.v. feeling sick and glad that it was Saturday my phone rang. It was Amy asking if I was almost there. I didn't say anything at first then asked, where? She then laughed and reminded me about the conference. My first thought was, oh crap then I though thank goodness it was only 5 min. from my house. I made it just in time and was so glad that I went. Listening to Dr. David Omotoso Stovall was both entertaining and eye opening. He walked out to the center of the room wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. He talked to us like we were real people and like he really wanted to be there. I remember one of the things that he talked to us about..People who have always had the least, get even more taken away. He talked about how things in Wisconsin and the school systems are only going to get worse because of what Scott Walker is doing.
 * Journal Relection from 3/7/11:** While we were doing the pizza exercise and learned about Bronfenbrenner's Model of Human Development there were a couple of people that I thought about right away when I knew we had to do this reflection. The first one person that I thought about was a boy named Zach who when I met him was 7 years old. His parents were just going through a divorce, he had to move to a new house, his mom was dating a new man and had soon after become pregnant. Zach was very big for his age, he was tall and over weight, he had a vision imparement that caused him to need very thick glasses. As I started to know him more I notice that he suffered from an anti-social behavior disorder. He did not like to or want to be around other kids or adults, he did not want to play with other kids, and he did not talk to others if he was given the opportunity. Zach was a very smart boy and it was very sad to see him in the situation he was in because I tried so hard to help him make friends and set up play dates out for recess. I believe that the breakdown of his microsystem clearly affected his development through school and with his family and ability to form friendships. I don't know how he is doing now, it has been about 9 years since I have seen him but I can only hope that is parents have helped him through his middle school and early high school years.

There was also an adult that I thought of when I was thinking about this reflection. As I got to know him I learned that from the first day that I met him he never told the truth about anything we ever talked about. I think about the time we knew each other and wonder how badly his microsystem had to have broken down for him to behave the was he does now as an adult. He feels as if he can't tell people anything about who he really is or his life's true accomplishments. He feels the need to lie about all aspects of his life to make himself feel better or sound better to others, not letting those close to him learn about his true self. What a sad life to lead!

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Questions

I don't really have a favorite website but the site below is a good site that has different texts, questions, and lesson ideas that help students practice and learn different reading strategies.

@http://reading.ecb.org/teacher/



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