Danielle's ECMP 355 Blog

In preparation for our final exam and to give each of us a way to review the material that we learned throughout the semester, my EMTH350 professor, Kathy Nolan, assigned each of us to write a blog entry posing two questions.

1. How has this course changed your philosophy on the use of manipulatives and inquiry learning in mathematics? How would you use manipulatives and inquiry learning in your classroom? Give examples and justify your reasoning for them.

I believe this question is highly valuable. Throughout the majority of the course we have discussed a variety of ways to incorporate the use of manipulatives in mathematics (ex. alge-tiles, pattern blocks) and we have also been directed toward multiple resources filled with ideas on inquiry lessons. The K-12 Mathematics program is evolving from a very memorize based method of learning to an inquiry method of learning where students discover the information themselves. No doubt these lessons are difficult for Math teachers to plan in the beginning, but I believe that to be a result of the way that we were taught as students. These old ways are finally becoming obsolete in Saskatchewan Math courses. I think it is very important as Math teachers to help students move away from memorizing Math theories and tricks toward a method which is truly authentic, meaningful, and relevant to their lives. This course has opened me up to the variety of possibilities of using inquiry lessons and manipulatives in Mathematics in ways that I had never imagined. As pre-service teachers, ideas should constantly be going through our minds on how we can alter a lesson to make it more meaningful and more inquiry based for our students. Although many teachers do not like planning and teaching inquiry lessons, it is something that is not going away anytime soon. In fact, it is becoming more and more evident and the sooner that educators accept it and jump on board with it, the greater teachers we can be to our students.

2. Which forms of assessment do you plan on using in your Mathematics classroom? Explain your reasoning.

Each student in our course was assigned a different form of assessment to research and report back to the group about. Each student gave a short description of the assessment strategy, along with pros and cons that it held. Certain forms of assessment were mentioned during these days that I had never considered before (reflective journals in Math???). After hearing from my peers, I reflected on how much can actually be done in a Mathematics classroom. It does not always have to be: lecture, drill, practice, exam. I hate the thought of having a class that monotonous and pointless! The word “pointless” may seem harsh, but if the teacher is not trying to engage his/her learners and not truly assessing their knowledge but is instead assessing their ability to memorize, the students are not learning in a meaningful way. I think it is important for pre-service teachers to be aware of the variety of different forms of assessment that have been used in Mathematics classrooms and begin reflecting on what they believe could work for them and why. It is important for pre-service teachers to be open to trying new things instead of becoming a recycled teacher who teaches exactly like his/her own high school teachers did. By reflecting on and being open to new ideas, pre-service teachers can develop lessons and assessment strategies that are more student based and relevant to the students’ lives.

As my pre-internship comes to a close, I would like to readdress to the three key points I discussed in my last post:

1. What is the purpose of field experience (i.e. pre-internship practicum, internship, etc.)?
2. What role does (or, should) a teacher education program play in the process of becoming a teacher?
3. What do you already know now about being a mathematics teacher that is unlikely to change through your upcoming field experiences (i.e. fundamental beliefs, values, commitments, etc.)?

My initial responses have not altered very much due to my pre-internship experience. In fact, if anything this experienced has strengthened my beliefs stated before.

Field experiences give pre-service teachers the opportunity to teach in a real life setting, instead of in simulated environments where the audience is made up of fellow colleagues. This is where we are given the opportunity to “sink or swim”. Lessons will succeed and lessons will fail. It gives pre-interns and interns a chance to discover their own teaching style and to learn to juggle planning, teaching, and marking. This experience gives student teachers a chance to get a taste of what their future career will be like, and will help them to begin building skills critical to become a successful teacher.

Prior to my pre-internship I was not fully confident that I wanted to become a teacher. There were aspects of my post-secondary studies that I enjoyed, but other aspects I really disliked. I kept on asking myself if I really wanted to have a career in which I would still go home with homework, even though I was no longer a student. After this pre-internship experience, I have solidified my belief that teaching is what I love and that educating is what I want to do with my life! I had a great co-operating teacher who was willing to let me try anything I wanted in the classroom and who provided me with a great deal of feedback on my work. She “showed me the ropes” of teaching, marking, and planning so to speak. Without this experience, I would still be unsure as to whether or not I wanted to teach. I am unsure as to how this uncertainty would have affected my school work in my final year of studies, and whether or not I would only half-heartedly search for a job. As I stated, I am now fully confident that I want to become a teacher. I am willing to spend extra time and effort into planning, marking, and teaching if that is what it takes for my students to be successful. In other words, I loved my pre-internship experience so much that the “homework” that I took home with me in the form of marking and planning was definitely worth the reward that my students and I all received!

1. It is the role of the teacher to develop the minds of today’s youth.

2. Teachers should act as role models for all students in the school.

3. Mathematics is a highly valued subject area because it is used daily all around us. This should be made evident to students.

4. All students learn at a different pace and it is the job of the teacher to ensure that students at each level are learning and that

all students achieve the outcomes mandated by the curriculum.

5. All students should be respected for who they are and the diversity that exists in the classroom should be appreciated.

Once again, I would like to note that these beliefs are more directed at any educator, and only the third point is specifically associated with Mathematics teachers. I chose this as my main five beliefs because to me they are fundamental to educating the youth of today. The fundamentals never change. The content in subjects may change over time and as humans develop intellectually, different teaching strategies and assessment methods will be discovered and studied, and no two classes that I teach will be the same. Once all of that is taken into account, the only beliefs that should be left are the ones that are grained into the education system. These beliefs are the ones that keep students at the centre of the education system.

Stemming from my opinion of the roles of teacher education programs and my own personal values and beliefs as a pre-service mathematics teacher, I would like to compare my reflection with the following quote:

“Working with pre-service teachers can be puzzling and surprising, particularly because they are students at the same time that they are learning to be teachers… I offer the following suggestions for teacher educators in assisting pre-service teachers to discover their teacher selves. It is important to help students identify inconsistencies between their beliefs and practices and to discover counter examples to strongly held beliefs. In addition, pre-service teachers must learn to assume personal responsibility for their actions and performance and not blame the students or others for their problems. To be a learner requires the consent of the learner (Loughran & Northfield, 1996). Therefore, it is essential that the learner is open to learning and seeing multiple perspectives. It is important that pre-service teachers acquire a discovery, problem-solving mode that allows them to inquire and examine their teaching and the students’ learning through reflection and inquiry. I have learned that for the inquiry–reflection cycle to successfully become a habit of mind, it is important to help students develop the following attitudes and dispositions essential for reflection: open-mindedness, responsibility, and wholeheartedness (Dewey, 1933).”

I truly believe that this quote matches perfectly with what I was describing above. By challenging pre-service educators to “identify inconsistencies between their beliefs and practices” and by demonstrating to these pre-service teachers that they must take “personal responsibility for their own actions and performance,” education professors are helping pre-service teachers develop the skills necessary to become a successful teacher. The professors are opening the eyes of their students and encouraging the students to challenge their practices using their personal beliefs.

I can finally see my own personal growth (especially in the area of open-mindedness) as I become closer to finishing the teacher education program. I am thankful for the professors who have encouraged me to have an open mind about education, who have demonstrated to me why it is vital to take responsibility for my own actions and performance (i.e. – do not blame the students if they do not succeed), and who have given me the opportunity to help me see for myself that teaching is a truly rewarding career that I will enjoy. I think that all teachers must realize that if a student is having difficulty understanding certain concepts, that it is not the student’s fault; instead, it is the teacher’s fault for not teaching the material in a way that makes sense to that individual. This is one reason why teachers should always use a variety of different methods while teaching the same content. Methods of instruction that work for one student will not necessarily work for the next student, and so on.

Quote taken from: Freese, A. (2006). Reframing one’s teaching: Discovering our teacher selves through reflection and inquiry. Teaching and Teacher Education, 22(1), 100-119.

The purpose of field experience such as pre-internship and internship is to give pre-service teachers the opportunity to apply the theory that is learned about in the Education program. It is also important for these pre-service educators to get practical experience before running their own classroom. In field experiences, interns can receive help and advice from their co-operating teachers, make connections with practicing professionals, and also start gathering a vast amount of teaching resources. These experiences allow pre-service teachers to discover and reflect on their own teaching style and habits. By having the co-operating teacher and potentially other interns observe the pre-service educator teach, the pre-service teacher can also receive feedback on what he/she does well and what he/she should work on. This is not a luxury given to educators after graduating from the program. The field experience component of teacher education programs is where pre-service teachers gain the practical experience of the education field.

A teacher education program should provide pre-service teachers with the theoretical aspect of teaching and also the skills required to have a mastery of a major and a minor subject area. For example, being a Mathematics major with a minor in Business Education, I was required to take a variety of university level Mathematics and Math Education courses, as well as a number of  Business and Business Education courses in order to obtain a mastery in those subject areas. Although I will be the first one to admit that I do not know everything about Math or Business, I am highly confident that I can successfully teach each high school student what is required in the provincial curriculum and even more! If ever comes a time that I cannot answer a student’s question, my teacher education program has given me the opportunity, through both a pre-internship and an internship experience, to connect with other educators whom I can contact for advice, assistance, and collaboration. I think it is vital for teacher education courses to require pre-service teachers to participate in field experiences and to help these pre-service teachers get into a school (guide them to the connections) because that is where the pre-service teachers can put the theory that was learned in the university classrooms into practice. It also forces interns to think on their feet — this can be when students ask questions, when lessons do not go as planned, or even if students begin acting out. No class is ever going to go as planned. Some classes will go more smoothly than expected and others may completely go down the drain. That is why it is important for all teachers (including pre-service teachers) to reflect on why a lesson went they way it did and how it could be improved on in the future. As a pre-service teacher myself, I have found these field experiences to be the most beneficial in my teacher education studies.

Personally, I think that very few beliefs should be set in stone when it comes to the education field. Because our society is changing drastically it is important to keep an open mind about methods of teaching and even what to teach. Because of my openness to new beliefs (for example inquiry-based teaching never used to be a major focus, but look at it today) I have few beliefs that I do not think will change throughout my field experience:

1. It is the role of the teacher to develop the minds of today’s youth.

2. Teachers should act as role models for all students in the school.

3. Mathematics is a highly valued subject area because it is used daily all around us. This should be made evident to students.

4. All students learn at a different pace and it is the job of the teacher to ensure that students at each level are learning and that all students achieve the outcomes mandated by the curriculum.

5. All students should be respected for who they are and the diversity that exists in the classroom should be appreciated.

I do realize that not all of these are specific to being a mathematics teacher. Numbers 1, 2, 4 and 5 actually relate to any educator. I believe that it is important for all educators to keep an open mind about teaching strategies because these strategies and techniques are always changing. It is also vital for educators to keep an open mind about the curriculum because it too is always evolving. Take for example the new Mathematics curriculum in Saskatchewan. Some teachers love the “Math Makes Sense” textbooks/strategies but other teachers detest it and claims that it does not work. From what I can tell, this new curriculum and way of learning math has not been given a proper chance. Because it has been implemented so recently, it must be given a chance. I think the true effectiveness of this curriculum will not be seen until a group of students have started this program in Kindergarten and have continued it throughout high school. Therefore I believe it is vital that educators keep an open mind about every aspect of education. Just because someone has found one way that works, it does not mean that it is the only method that works — there may be another method that is even better. Educators must be willing to give new methods and strategies a chance.

Hey!

I just finished watching two videos on a website called Annenberg Learner.org regarding inquiry and assessment! You should really see them! The first one is titled Teacher Insights 9-12 (High School) and the second is Case Study: Group Tests (High School). They’re numbers 9 and 10 on the following webpage: http://www.learner.org/resources/series31.html?pop=yes&pid=1068#. Both videos have teachers talking about different ways to assess students and their learning!

The first one, Teacher Insights 9-12, interviews seven different high school teachers. The teacher in the second video, Case Study: Group Tests, is also one of the teachers who is interviewed in the first video. Both videos talk about group evaluation. I don’t ever remember being evaluated in a group in mathematics — only classes that had to complete group projects, such as English or Social Studies. These students would be tested as a group, and the teacher could ask questions of a higher difficulty. The students had to work on the problems together but would all have to complete the exam.

Another way that these students were evaluated was through participation quizzes. The point of these quizzes was for the teacher to see the students interact and converse over the material. The teacher took notes of the quality of conversation that took place among groups. The students were aware of the rubric that the teacher used to mark the group processes, and understood exactly what was required of them. Wouldn’t something like that have been nice in our math classroom? Direct instruction got quite monotonous and I always noticed so many of our peers daydreaming. I know that in some of our classes the teachers would let us do our practice problems together, but we were always evaluated individually and were rarely ever assessed. If we couldn’t be evaluated in groups or pairs, then what was the point in allowing us to work that way when we were learning? It doesn’t make sense. I do suppose there would be a fine line in deciding how to grade student work if you evaluated students in groups. The teacher would almost need a mix of individual and group assignments and assessment/evaluation. If students are always being evaluated in groups, it would be difficult to see if some students are just being carried by their peers. The only time the teacher would be able to notice a student falling behind might be in the participation quizzes, in which case the teacher is observing up to thirty students at once. How effective would that be? I still see the need for individual assessment and evaluation, but these videos have made me realize that working in groups during exams and on assignments isn’t always a negative thing. It can actually be a positive thing. Students typically learn most when they engage in conversation about the materials with their peers.

Other teachers in the first video talk about how they assess their students. Some teachers assess through listening to students and asking them probing questions. I wonder how effective this really is. When teachers asked us questions I knew they were asking us if we understood it, and by answering the questions we were either proving that we did, or proving that we needed more assistance with the material. I wonder how often our teachers would actually use this information in planning for future lessons. Were adaptations made for future lessons to account for the material that we didn’t know yet? Sometimes it might have been, but other times it didn’t seem like the teachers cared, or maybe they didn’t fully understand the material either. Or perhaps I was one of the only ones who didn’t understand the material at the time and the majority of the class did. That’s another interesting point. When would our teachers decide when to move on? They couldn’t necessarily wait for every student to understand the material and pass the assessment before moving on or else it would take forever to cover a unit. They also couldn’t just assess one student. Did they want 75% of the class to understand the material? What about 50%? How would they decide when to move on?

One thing I would have loved to do in our high school math classes would be to have assess each others’ work by giving each other feedback. Perhaps we could have presented a question to the class and then our peers provide us with feedback. This way our teachers could have adapted the assignments too, ensuring that students who are struggling are given a more basic question, while students who seem to have mastered the material could have been given a more challenging and advanced question. I think I would have gotten more out of our math classes if we did presentations like this. We could have seen different ways to do the same problem, which would have broadened our understanding in many more areas. Don’t you think something like this could be interesting? When I talk about presentations, I’m not talking about copying out a homework question on the board for everyone to see. Instead, it would actually be a short presentation. We would actually demonstrate to the class or even teach the class how to complete the question we were assigned. I think this would have been really beneficial!

Another teacher used portfolios in her classroom. I found this kind of interesting because don’t you remember using portfolios in two of our math classes? These portfolios were different from the ones that we used. Recall that our portfolios consisted of the list of all quizzes, homework checks, and exams throughout the year, along with the completed product of each of these. We then recorded our mark on the list. I really liked our portfolios because all of the important information that we needed was in one place. We could use these to study from or even to calculate our grade at any point throughout the semester. The portfolios discussed in this video were based around the five goals that the school had for its students. The work students chose to place in these portfolio demonstrated them reaching these goals. Each student then met with the teacher to discuss the products he/she chose to put in his/her portfolio. The teacher would make suggestions regarding which products were chosen and if the products were a good choice or if better ones would be more appropriate.

These videos are really interesting and made me reflect on our high school experience. You should really consider watching them and maybe perhaps more from that website! There are so many different ways that Mathematics teachers can assess their students that I had never thought about before! It’s really interesting to see what other math classes are doing around the continent. I believe this video was created in the United States, but I’m not 100% sure. It would be interesting to see how much their curriculum differs from the Canadian curriculum and also what kinds of teaching methods are valued there. For example, is inquiry learning and differentiated lessons as big of a push there as they are here or is there something different that American teachers are focusing on? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of these videos or even of my letter!

Sincerely,

Danielle

The most memorable assessment experience I hold with me is that of one of my university Math Education (EMTH) courses. In this course, the professor asked us students to create the final exam. The final would consist of five questions regarding the main concepts of the course. It was our job to get together as a group and point out what we believed to be the main points of the course and develop questions pertaining to them. After we managed to decide on five questions, we submitted them to the professor for approval. He reviewed these questions and sent them back to us with descriptive feedback on what he would like us to change and how he would like us to change the questions. He did not take away our questions, but instead guided us to make them more in depth. Upon completion, we once again submitted the questions to the professor, who then took the questions and put them together for the final exam. I really appreciated this type of final. I found that by asking the students to create questions for the exam, we all reviewed our notes and familiarized ourselves with all of the concepts, and then weighed each of them in comparison to the others to see how much importance they held. Not only did this give us a chance to create an exam for the first time in our Educational careers, but it also gave us the opportunity to collaborate with each other. We also came up with potential answers to our questions together. Some teachers may see this as a negative aspect of the student made exam, but I see it as a positive. We have learned that a great deal of student learning takes place among peer discussion. This is one amazing way to start group discussions outside of the classroom and to help calm the nervousness that many students face when writing exams. After all, every student should know what to expect of the exam.

For the purpose of my EMTH351 course, I researched oral reports/presentations in mathematics. At first I thought this would be a difficult topic — after all who wants to do an oral report in mathematics? I was surprised to find many benefits that come from this assessment strategy. Oral reports/presentations are given by the student to express his/her understanding and knowledge of mathematics (what he/she can do and how he/she does it) to the teacher and his/her peers. This helps students to become comfortable with speaking about mathematics and confident in their ability to present mathematical material. Students participate in active and meaningful verbal communication. It also helps to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics. In other words, not everyone teaches or learns in the same way. Teachers can see where a student may be going wrong with a certain concept if he/she tells the rest of the class how to do it, or the student presenter may give the teacher new ideas on how to present the concept in a new light — one which makes more sense and may be more engaging for students. Like any form of assessment, teachers can use the information gained from these presentations to alter future lessons in order to close the gap in student learning instead of continuing to move on when only a few students understand a concept. There are very few disadvantages to this form of assessment which include: the amount of time involved in presentations, the reality that students who present last will benefit from the mistakes of others, and students become restless quickly during presentations. This form of assessment can be used as a concept, unit, or final review, evaluation strategy, assessment strategy which is used to verify whether or not students have learned a particular concept. It can also be used to clarify mathematical vocabulary. Oral reports or presentations should never be used to introduce a new concept or topic because students may find it to be too stressful and overwhelming, in which case they may shut down and not give a great deal of effort.

Another assessment strategy that I found interesting was the checklists. These can be used daily to monitor or document positive and negative behaviour. Educators can use this assessment strategy to witness student growth over time and to express this growth to the student and his/her parents. This is a good way for teachers to provide students with feedback regarding which behaviours must be improved upon and which ones are exhibited ideally. Checklists can provide a limitless amount of information on student growth, understanding, and disposition. Educators can alter these checklists however they choose. For example, a checklist may be used to monitor solely desired or undesired behaviours, a mixture of both, or how often a student participates in class discussions. By  monitoring student behaviour daily, an educator is demonstrating to his/her students that daily work is highly valued. Checklists should not be used for big projects because it is difficult for teachers to actually know how much work each student put into the project.

From what I understand, journal writing is very uncommon in high school mathematics classrooms. This assessment strategy can easily be integrated into the classroom and used as a way for the students to demonstrate what they do and do not understand. Journal writing allows students to write about mathematics on a regular basis. A journal entry does not have to be extremely difficult and could be as simple as asking students to explain how or why they solved a certain question in a certain way. It encourages students to reflect on their learning process and on their thinking process. As I mentioned, teachers should collect and review these journals to check for student understanding. The teacher can use the information in these journals to decide if his/her students understand the material or if he/she should review/reteach the material again the following day. Journals help to develop mathematical thinking and communication and encourage students to self-assess on what they have learned. Journal entries are not time consuming and should only take students approximately five minutes to complete. This technique is considered as an assessment for learning.

I would definitely consider using all of these assessment strategies in my own classroom. I see them all as very valuable and all as assessment for learning. Each of these strategies are student-focused and involves the teacher collecting student knowledge and building new subsequent lessons based on that knowledge. These strategies do not evaluate students on the learning process (not assessment of learning) and student attempts while learning are not considered for marks/grading. It is important that teachers keep in mind the importance of assessment for learning while choosing proper assessment strategies.

When I began taking my university mathematics courses, I began to recognize what is known as clustering in my personal beliefs. In other words, when I started my first Calculus course in my first year of university I came to the realization that I was not a very strong math student. Instead I was a mediocre math student who had to work her butt of in order to pass the course — which I did! In high school my memorization skills produced me with high math marks, and because it is nearly impossible to memorize with the vast amount of material which is taught in a first year Calculus course and one must return to his/her prior knowledge to help him/her apply new theorems, Calculus did not come as easy as I thought it would. I began to make myself believe that I was a poor math student. As I took more and more math courses this view of myself never changed. Regardless of how everyone else around me did on exams, I still felt as though I should have been better than I was and would find myself comparing my marks to those of students whose marks were near the top of the class. It was not until this summer when I was viewing my transcript online that I noticed that my university-level math marks were all above the class average except for one course. From time to time I still feel as though I am not as smart as others around me and that I am the only student who gets lost during some lectures, but I know this is not true. As I get closer to my math education colleagues, I feel more comfortable expressing my feelings of confusion and frustration about some course material, and find that most of them feel the same. It is relieving to be able to work together with my colleagues to figure out some difficult areas of the high level math courses that we are required to take (Abstract Algebra for example). By working with others, it has given me the opportunity to realize that I am not the only one who struggles in some classes and I am not a weak math student because some concepts exist that I have trouble understanding. I have finally been able to take a step back and see the learning process — a process which includes getting confused, working your way out of that confusion, and making mistakes in the process. I never was a weak math student; instead my experiences twisted my beliefs to make me think I was.

My experiences as a math student are not exactly what I would describe to be ideal; my experiences are not horrible, but now that I have started training to become a math educator, I can reflect on what ideal student experiences should look like. My classes (as a student) were very teacher-directed with the students acting as passive learners, and if your learning style did not match up with the teaching style, you were set up for a long, hard road or for failure. Math is more than just adding and subtracting terms and numbers — it is a world of its own. It has its own language — it has its own alphabet and grammar. Teachers must view it from this perspective in order to understand why students struggle. Math is important to learn because it exists all around us and is used in daily tasks — shopping, selling, building, cooking, driving, and more! If someone does not understand math, he/she may struggle with these simple daily tasks.

It is important that teachers of any subject express their passion for that subject through their teaching. By showing excitement and trying to pass those feelings on to one’s students, a math teacher will be making an attempt to introduce math as a positive aspect of not only school, but also daily life! It is sad to say, but often times math is seen as a boring and difficult, but necessary course. When I look back on my own math experiences, I picture the classroom environment which I was in. As I took higher math classes (Math A30, B30, and C30) the number of students dropped, making the environment feel more empty. When I think about areas that I used to struggle with, my body feels colder. How can we as teachers expect our students to learn when they feel alone (empty) and cold? When portrayed like this, math is not a welcoming subject area. There is one high school math teacher of mine who really stands out to me, and this is mostly because of his patience and sense of humour. When I picture myself in this classroom, I feel warm and remember the sun shining through the windows while we worked on our assignments. This teacher did teach me in the afternoon, so the sun would literally shine through the windows, but the class I described above (empty and cold) also took place in the afternoon. I truly believe that my current memories and perceptions of those classrooms is a reflection of my feelings when I was learning in them. As a pre-service teacher, it is my goal to create a warm and sunny environment for every student who walks through my classroom door. I realize that it will take experience and hard work in order to attain that goal, but is that not the point of a goal? No goal is ever easy in life; that is the point in striving for it and working towards it; that is why when we achieve it the feeling is so great!

Image from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cdnphoto/3425050480/sizes/s/

Now that all of my classes are slowly coming to an end, I’m finding a bit more free time. I spend almost all of this free time studying, but I don’t think it is enough. I’m afraid that the amount of studying that I am putting in won’t pay off in the end. I’m unsure of what areas to focus on in each subject. It is nearly impossible to remember  all of the material covered throughout the semester. I’m doing alright in all of my classes, but I’m afriad of failing one or more finals. I’ve never been in a situation where I had to worry about passing or failing an exam, but now the pressure is on. How can we study all of the material covered in all five of our classes all at the same time? I’ve found myself concentrating on my ECS (Education Core Studies) test that I have to write sometime this week, but in doing this I’ve neglected the studying I have to do for the KHS190 final I write on December 11, which is more important (the KHS is actually a final, where the ECS is just a test). How do we find time to study evenly for each of these classes? I’m just wondering if anyone else is as overwhelmed as I am with finals. Is there any advice anyone could offer on how to organize myself better?

Image from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/44742789@N05/4112599769/sizes/o/

Now that all of my plans are set and the outline is made, it is time for me to start recording videos on the Social30 curriculum. I imagine this will be pretty time consuming, as I will have to not only record my speaking, but I will also have to retrieve and add visuals to use in the videos. I have two videos to do before I begin to import them into Google Earth. Once the videos are made, I believe the rest of the project will be smooth sailing! Hopefully I’m right! I will find pictures and write out the dialogue tonight and I will begin recording tomorrow after my field placement.

Image from: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=google%20earth&w=all&s=int

Well it seems like things in all of my classrooms are slowing down. The blog posts are beginning to slow down, and there aren’t as many new ones for me to comment on anymore. A few students blog over the weekend, but not very many.The editting I was doing on student work in Chris Dittman’s classroom has slowed down also. I haven’t recieved student work in two weeks. It’s not necessarily a bad thing that these mentorships have slowed down, because it has given me a chance to start studying for my tests and finals, which are approaching extremely fast!! I’ve had a really good experience with these mentorships and I’m happy with how they have gone so far.

Image from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pshab/498122926/sizes/s/

This week’s assignment was to find out what our digital footprint looked like. In order to do this, I typed my full name into Google for my first search. Believe it or not, I actually had quite a few results come back that had something to do with me! The first time I did this, I didn’t actually think there would be any results, especially since I did this once in grade twelve and only had one result — my Facebook profile.

I was pretty happy with all of the results that came up under my name. The first one was my Facebook profile, which I try to keep pretty clean and recent. I don’t believe I have any pictures or comments which portray a negative image to my character. My Twitter profile also appeared, which I’m perfectly fine about.

Other results reflected my academic career. One of these results came from a newpaper article regarding a career workshop I attended in grade 12 called Thrive in the Hive. I took this workshop when I was planning on going into the field of Business, before I decided on Education. In this result I talk about how much I liked the workshop and how I thought it would apply to my future studies and career. I think this is a positive point when someone looks at my digital footprint. It shows that I am ambitious and eager to learn new things.

Image from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/extraketchup/622612084/sizes/s/

The third result was one that reflected the work I do with one of my mentors in this class. It explains how I am helping with Mr. Dittman’s classroom in Calgary. Once again, I really like this result. It shows my ambition (for a second time) and my involvement with students throughout my university career. It reflects my passion to help others succeed in their learning. Several comments which I left on my peer’s ECMP blogs also appeared.

Overall, I’m happy with my digital footprint. I couldn’t find any negative aricle about myself. The comments I have left on other students’ blogs show that I’m pretty easy going and ready to question things I don’t understand, and also I’m willing to give my opinion when it is asked for. Even the fact that I can use a computer in more ways than checking e-mail and using a search engine is a very good point when future employers search my name. It shows that I have experience with computers and that I would be willing to use them in my classroom! The only thing I might change would be the quality of my blogs. Sometimes I don’t blog about really important things. It’s just usually what I’m thinking about at the time.. which can be completely random sometimes! I should reflect on how relevant my posts are to my life and my learning before I post them.