Promising Practices

When I woke up on the Saturday of Promising practices I was exhausted and nervous about what to expect of the day. I got ready early so that I could look presentable for the day’s activities. I have never really been to something like this before and I wondered if it would be boring or not.  When first arriving I checked in and the process was quick and easy. After that I sat down and had some of the breakfast that was offered to us. I thought the Don was nicely set up then how it usually looks. I also thought there would be many more people at the conference then there was. My first session workshop was D- Christy/Goodrow: The Elementary Math Specialist. When I first saw this I wasn’t really that excited because Math isn’t my favorite subject, but that workshop ended up being my favorite. The Curriculum Resource Fair I found very useful and it had a lot of things that would be useful in the classroom. My second session work shop was L- Thompson: Destination Fun. Seeing this I was very excited because with a title like Destination Fun I thought it would be a fun workshop. But it turned out being not what I expected, the presenter mostly talked at us and her co-presenter just sat there and didn’t say much. Also when we did a group project she expected us to know exactly how to find longitude and latitude on a map which I haven’t done in years.  After this session it was lunch and I thought it was good and better then what I expected. Finally it was the keynote address by Dr. Dennis Shirley. I thought that Dr. Shirley was very insightful and interesting to listen too. He talked a lot about the struggles teachers face in the school systems and didn’t sugar coat it. He didn’t say teaching is easy and you will never encounter problems. He made it real by saying yeah there is going be problems and struggles but if you have a good support system you can make it through.

My favorite workshop was in session 1 workshop D- Christy/Goodrow: The Elementary Math Specialist. At first I didn’t think I was going to like it but as the workshop went on I enjoyed it. The first thing we did was fourth grade level math problem. These are the types problems we had to do at the beginning of the workshop. It showed us 35x25 solved in three different ways. We then had to explain how each student got their answer.  After that we were asked what method would be correct to use at all times and the answer came to be all three methods could be used every time. When the class was asked what method we used majority of the class answered the same way. But no one knew why we we’re taught that way, we just were. This made me think of Delpit. When we were in third or fourth grade first starting to learn about multiplying two digit numbers most of us never wonder why we were taught it that way, that’s just how it was and we didn’t ask questions. But now students learn so many different ways to solve the same problem which can cause confusion. After the worksheet we went over a power point of research experiment they did. They wanted to try out how effective a math specialist would be in a fourth grade classroom at the beginning of the school year. A math specialist is a teacher who specializes only in math and comes in the classroom to only teach math.  In this experiment there was both a control group and an experimental group. The experiment was taken place B.F Norton Elementary School in Cumberland R.I who’s scores were 30% below basic rate in Rhode Island. After the experiment was over the scores of the students went up from the previous years and the students became more efficient in math.  After listening to the presentation I believe that schools should have math specialist and every other type of subject specialists. I think if schools had this students would be learn about each subject better. This is a website that the presenters gave us that has a lot of helpful teaching advice that would help us in our classrooms one day. I was really happy with this workshop and felt that I learn a lot from it.

Schooling Children with Down Syndrome- Kliewer (Quotes)

"Success in life requires an ability to form relationships with others who make up the web of community. Though many of us have a certain level of control over who we meet and interact with, none of us can come close to claiming complete control. So we must learn to work with others."

            I think this is a great quote because everything that is said in it is true. You can’t pick your classmates or the students you will teach. They are just given to you and you have to do the best that you can so that they can learn. It may be hard at the beginning but with time you could form a great bond with these students and would wonder why you ever thought differently.

“If you came into the room and were told there was a retarded child in the class, a child with special needs, I don’t think you would pick Lee out. The kids really agree he’s as capable as they are. Intellectually the same.

            This quote shows that whatever someone may label you as disability or not kids don’t see it. They don’t see how someone looks on the outside but the inside. They like who plays with at recess or who sits with them at lunch. Also if you don’t draw attention to it they kids won’t either and they think that student is just like any other in the class.  

“Lee is in a way he’s branded. People see him. They see Down syndrome. They see mental challenge, retardation, whatever you want to call it. That’s what they see, but wouldn’t be seeing him.”  

            I feel like the word branded is such a harsh word in this quote but I feel like it fits in perfectly. If you always talk about how a student is incapable or what he or she lacks that’s what everyone is going to talk and know about. But instead we should talk about what the student is good at or what he/she is doing well in, instead of only focusing on the incapability of the student.

*In class I would like to discuss some ways we can bring both children with disability and able children together.*

This is an article that helps prepare children for school if they have a disablity

Oakes & Finn-Extended Comments (Caiti's Blog)

After reading Caiti’s blog I agreed with the points she’s making. I like how she said “Why would we only have the students who are doing well getting special attention and better classes and resources.  Who came up with this idea? The "less abled" kids are expecting to do bad. If you are expected to do bad, then why not do bad.” I totally agree with this statement, why would you want to work hard if you expected to badly? If you put this in to children’s heads then they are not going to work hard. You should want to motivate children to do well and work hard. Also you should teach them different skills that will help then progress with their academics. Not expect them to do badly.

However I think tracking can be good thing in schools. If you breakup classes by levels it could be beneficial for the students. You cannot put a lower level student in a higher level class and expect he/she to do well. But if you have different levels with all the same resources then I think this is a great idea. Only if everything is equal in the classrooms. If this happens then children will be able to grow and develop into better students.

*Does everyone think tracking is a good idea for schools?*

This is an article about Tracking...A thing of the Past?