Educational Philosophy

In creating a movie that outlines my educational philosophy I was able to identify what is important too the education of my students . I took this philosophy and paired it with pictures of student work that I thought exemplified their accomplishments. Using MovieMaker I developed an audio/visual representation of my thoughts. Please read my Philosophy Statement below or watch the video at this link.

Philosophy Statement:
It is my philosophy that the classroom is not only a place to study the content area being taught, but an environment in which students are free to explore their individual capabilities and interests. As a high school Spanish teacher it is my job to help my students become active learners as we explore the distinct cultures and vocabulary of Spanish speaking regions. Students must be encouraged to, and supported in, taking risks, making mistakes, and learning from their errors. Laughter and a sense of comfort are key components to student achievement and success. If teachers are successful at building a trusting relationship with their students, there is no end to what can be accomplished together. Each student must be an equal participant and actively work to broaden their world view and communication abilities.

Article Assesment 3- Tools for the Mind

Overview:

“Tools for the Mind” is about the shift away from technology use in the classroom as NCLB continues to dominate the educational front. However, rather than focus her energies on complaining about this change, Mary Burns, explains how this might be beneficial to school in the long-term as teachers have not been using technology to support higher levels of learning. She suggests that as teachers we need to not concentrate our efforts on using word processors and power point programs for presentation but to increase the understanding of our students and improve the way they evaluate information and consider new information.

Reference Points:

1) NCLB has taken priority relegating technology in the classroom to the back burner.
2) Burns thinks this movement might be beneficial in the long-run as it will give us the time to re-think how we use technology in the classroom.
3) Eureka moments using technology are not common enough as most teachers use computers as a way to present information not gain a better understanding.
4) Not all programs are instructionally equal.
5) If we want to reach the higher cognitive levels with our students we must look at technology differently.
6) The internet is not just a digital textbook and students must be taught how to evaluate information for validity.
7) The majority of teachers use technology (81%) for electronic presentations while only a few (6%) use spreadsheets.
8) Spreadsheet use, databases, and collaboration in content areas over the internet are some ways we can increase student understanding.
9) One reason that teachers have not done this is because long-term professional development programs have not been implemented in many districts to train teachers how to integrate these tools into their curriculum.
10) Teachers need to expand the ways they use technology in their classroom.

Reflection:

I think that Mary Burns makes some important points in her article. It is easy as a teacher to write-off technology because I don’t feel as though I understand it well enough to teach it. However, students do understand how to use many of these tools and if given the chance they can use interesting programs to find the deeper meaning behind numerous subjects. The long-term professional development programs she discusses could be very beneficial in this way.

It seems to me that the majority of teachers do not have enough spare time during their day to find ways to incorporate new technologies into their current curriculum. To make a real impact in this area, teachers need to be shown what it can do. As a first year teacher this year, the task seems daunting. However, as I progress through my career I will be able to build on what I already have set in place and use more of these tools in my classroom.

Energy Conservation Project Video Presentation

It was interesting to have to video tape myself giving a presentation of my Energy Conservation Project. What I found is that my apartment really would need better lighting if I were to teach there on a regular basis. I also decided that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. On a more serious note, however, here is a list of my strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths:

• I stay on topic most of the time.
• I maintain a casual atmosphere while giving important information
• I address the topic in a logical manner
• My voice is loud enough and my words are easily understandable

Weaknesses:

• I think that I move my feet too much while presenting
• Some of my hand gestures are overkill
• My voice kind of shakes due to nerves
• I presented something that didn’t correspond with one of the slides by mistake
• I turn around to look at the slide behind me too often

In general, I think that my presentation was okay. In the future, I should have note cards when presenting information for three reasons. 1) It might cut down on the hand movement. 2) This strategy would make it more likely that I don’t present the wrong information on the wrong slide. 3) I won’t have to turn around to look at the information I am presenting anymore. It might also help with nerves but in reality, I am not nervous in front of my class. A video camera is a different situation though.

Other notes: I should invest in a better digital camera so that I could have done this in one recording rather than three. If you would like to see my presentation the links are below.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Warm-up Activity Paper Consumption

• The results of my energy conservation project, Warm-up Activity Paper Consumption in the Annette Island School District, were incredibly surprising. What I learned through this activity is that my class can make a significant impact on the amount of paper we as a district are using if I provide previously used paper for the assignment. However, the surprising fact is that if all the teachers that start their classes with a warm-up activity adopt this strategy, over the course of a year we could save 59,584 sheets of paper. This is of course assuming the kids will use the previously used paper provided by the teacher. It is ridiculous but my kids, the same ones who complained about my destroying the environment with the assignment, are now often too lazy to stand up and grab a sheet of paper.
  
• The other interesting facts I discovered in completing this project are that most of the trees used to make paper come from environmentally sensitive areas, not areas that were planted for such purposes. I always assumed that since paper was so disposable, the trees harvested to make paper were sustainable. Apparently this is much more of a problem than I ever realized. This is such a problem that the Palo Alto Research Group and Xerox have teamed up to make a printer that uses disappearing ink. After 18 hours the ink would disappear and the same sheet of paper could be used multiple times.
  
• To see my powerpoint regarding this project please visit this link.
• To see my spreadsheets regarding this project please visit this link.
  

Article Assessment # 2

I. Name: Bristol Whitmore Email: bawhitmore@gmail.com Date:10/20/08

Article: "The Educator's Guide to the Read/Write Web" by Will Richardson

II. Will Richardson's "The Educator's Guide to the Read/Write Web" outlines five distinct tools now readily availible on the internet that allow students to interact with others from across the world. This article explains these tools which include feeds, social bookmarking, blogs, wikis, and podcasting. It also provides examples for educators which demonstrate how they can be used in a classroom situation. Furthermore, Richardson addresses such issues of what these tools require from us as educators and how to incorporate new types of thinking into our classrooms that allow students to not only accesss information on the web but also assess this informaiton for both usefulness and accuracy.

• Blogs allow students to publish their work and interact with others online.
• These can be used for original student work and as research tools.
• Wikis allow students to work with a large community to create and edit informaiton online.
• Classrooms can create their own wikis or participate with others in already existing wikis such as Wikipedia.
• Podcasting gives the user access to endless hours of recordings online which can be useful in classroom situations.
• Students use many sources when compiling information. This task can be made much easier as students can subscribe to feeds and recieve up to the minute information regarding such hot topics as Global Warming.
• Social bookmarking allows people to save entire websites and to access those sites saved by other people.
• This is just one more way students can search for knowledge and participate in the global society of learners.
• These new tools can empower students as learners.
• In able to use these sources to their full potential, students must be taught how to elvaluate the information they find.
• Both the accuracy and usefulness of what is found must be determined.

This article seems incredibley useful to me as an educator. I did not even realize that all of these options were availible online and without the examples that this article mentioned, I would have have been hard pressed to identify their usefulness inside the classroom. Richardson also makes a good point when addressing how we need to empower our students to critically exam what they find, look at the sources, and evaluate the information. Students need to know that everything on the internet is not to be trusted and it is our job as educators to make sure that the information kids are accessing is being evaluated. The internet is only going to grow in its capabilities and our students must know how to access information to succeed in the society we live in today. These are skills that should be taught in the classroom and are easily integrated into all content areas.

Energy Conservation Outline:

The amount of paper that the United States consumes is incredible. According to Rainforest Maker, a non-profit group dedicated to saving forests,

• “Each person in the United States uses approximately 750 pounds of paper each year. This equals approximately 187 billion pounds per year.”
• “Most of the world’s paper supply, about 71 percent, is not made from timber harvested at tree farms but from forest-harvested timber, from regions with ecologically valuable, biologically diverse habitat.”

Both our incredible consumption of paper, and the detrimental effects of logging on the environment, convinced me that to make a difference to the environment I should minimize the amount of paper used in my Spanish classes. At the moment, the volume of paper passing through my in-box is incredible. Much of this paper is used for practice and has no longevity. So I asked myself,

How much paper can I save by providing previously used paper for the bell assignment?

I will need to find out how much paper (in sheets) my 16 students use each week on this assignment. I will also be curious to find out what percentage of teachers in my school use bell assignments, and how many students attend public high school in Alaska and the United States. With these numbers I should be able to calculate the potential impact of providing previously used paper for this assignment.

To answer this question I will record how much paper my students use to complete the bell assignment by monitoring what they turn in during a two week time period. I will use these numbers to find an average for how much paper we could save in a one week time period. I will also survey the staff to see what percentage of staff members give bell assignments at the beginning of class.

Anthro-Tech

I find that the best way to learn of a new culture is to immerse yourself in it, so fo find out about my school's technology culture I went underground, disguised myself as a teacher, and listened to the word on the street. (Okay, that part was easy because I am a teacher and this is stuff I need to know.) In this manner, I found out the following things.

• Despite the fact that I have only been teaching here for a month, I understand the technology policies as well as most.
• Official policies are scarce.
• New administration means everyone learns together.
• Our technology capabilities are growing.
• Everyone is free to share their input about technology and all advice will be considered.
• We are getting ready to spend lots of money on new technology.
• Ms. Fierst, the High School technology leader, is a great woman to have on my side.
• Jason, the techno guru at my school, will be getting lots of cookies from me this year (thanks for the hint.)

Right now it seems like things are just getting organized. Hopefully, as a team our school can come together and figure it out. We do use technology frequently as it is, but with some upgrades, we can make it far more applicable to our students.

To view my Anthro Tech report please visit http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhgrrdcq_3g2vbmgcs&hl=en

Listen to the Natives by Marc Prensky

Overview:

Listen to the Natives by Marc Prensky is an insightful look into how best to engage our student's attention through updating our curriculum to include technology at every level of education. It is Prensky's argument that if our students are not engaged, it is because the educational system as currently excluding their input and expertise. He argues that if we use the technology that engages their attention outside of the classroom and give them further involvement in the format of the class we can make what they learn relevant to their lives and harnass their energy.

Reference Points:

1. Today's kids are natives of the technology era and are served best by what they know.
2. We are the foreigners in their world and must use their abilities to guide us.
3. Students are engaged by technology outside of school and if we use this same technology within school they will thrive.
4. If they are not engaged it is our problem, not theirs.
5. By using today's technology we can connect students where we live to students and adult mentors worldwide.
6. Technology can also make the teaching profession easier by connecting us to great teaching strategies that are being employed worldwide.
7. Using technology in the classroom can enable us to teach kids the life skills they need to know in school.
8. If we don't make these changes school will become outdated and useless.
9. Rather than make is against the rules we should encourage students to use technology, such as cell phones, in reasonable ways in class.
10. By giving students responsibility in the classroom we are enabling them to be their best.

Significance:

Prensky's article is highly relevant to the educational world we are entering. The old methods of teaching are becoming outdated and leave our students feeling excluded from the world of knowledge. If we are going to make lifelong learners out of our students we must follow their lead and plan activities that result in better understanding but that are also engaging to our audience. That being said, Presnky takes things a bit too far in my opinion. While we must help our students grow, this cannot be only in the field of technology. We need to remind our students that simple pleasures still exist and incorporate a dynamic of technology and old school education that keeps kids engaged without losing the more basic wonder that we grew up with. There are two sides to every argument and Prensky recognizes only one extreme. A more balanced view might better serve our students.

Futuring 2008

• A. How would you “grade” or assess Fox Becomes a Better Person, and School Train?
  
  Not knowing the original criteria set forth by the teacher, I would grade Fox Becomes a Better Person and School Train, set forth by the criteria I know.
  
  School Train clearly demonstrates an understanding of what a metaphor is. The use of technology in the portrayal at times is a little over-whelming, but it is easy to understand the connection between a school and a train. The media is obviously not detrimental to the overall point, and therefore, the students have successfully attained the requisite goal of expressing their understanding.
  
  Fox Becomes a Better Person is harder to judge because I have a weaker understanding of the criteria. The traditional morals of the Tlingit I believe are present and Hannah shows great intent in her purpose. Hannah pairs the traditional manner of storytelling nicely with modern technology and respect for today’s society and that of days gone is maintained. I would grade her highly as created her own story with aspects from today (ex. the duck’s scooter and his fall-back hobby of watching T.V.) with traditional values.
  
  B. What impacts could the developments portrayed in epic2015 have on your classroom, particularly with respect to things like podcasting?
  
  epic 2015 portrays what might happen as technology continues to spiral forward. It predicts that someday soon technology could sift out information to suit each individual’s interest. To me this is a scary thought.
  
  The concept that technology, once thought to broaden our understanding of the world, could narrow the view of information that each sees is frightening. This is a concept that we need to fight against as teachers. We work to broaden students' viewpoints as well as their horizons. We need to use technology to engage their attention, and put their brains to use in a productive manner. Technology, such as video conferencing, smart boards, google searches, and podcasts can help us to do this, but we need to be aware of what we are doing, and the dangers that may present themselves.
  
  C. How might you use Sabrina’s piece as a model for something you would do with your own students?

• Sabrina Journey looks at her past to see how she has arrived at her present. She does this by following the outlook of traditional peoples by viewing her life not in a linear fashion, but by following a circular pattern. I would use her circular narrative as an example for my students and ask them to…
  
  1. Look back
  2. Examine the positive influences in their stories
  3. Make goals for their future
  4. Think about what they are going to positive participants

• We would plot their past as they know it, their present in relation to their past, and their future as they would like to see it evolve. This is an important concept for the kids I work with as teen pregnancy is a huge issue here. By asking my students to examine the big picture, maybe they will make goals that inspire them to strive for the good of the community in the future.
  

It's Me!

I am an Alaskan girl with an adventurous heart. My name is Bristol Whitmore and I was born and raised in Palmer, Alaska. I developed a love of Spanish in High School while participating in a service-learning program in Oaxaca, Mexico. I enjoy traveling and like to explore Spanish-speaking regions but I always happily come home. I am excited this year to be in a new community, experiencing a new culture, and I feel fortunate to be able to bring my love of Spanish home to Alaska and to be able to use my experiences in the outside world to help broaden the prospective of high school students in Metlakatla. I have always wanted to live off the road system and my long dreamed of future has arrived. I am off on a new adventure and I can’t wait to get started!