In
the most common language, but the diversity in languages is growing rapidly. This article really made me realize that
Monday, January 31, 2011
Local News Article: St. Cloud Times: St. Cloud Schools see mixture of spoken languages
http://www.sctimes.com/article/20110129/NEWS01/101290019/St-Cloud-schools-see-mixture-of-spoken-languages
InSt. Cloud St. Cloud
the most common language, but the diversity in languages is growing rapidly. This article really made me realize thatSt. Cloud State
In
the most common language, but the diversity in languages is growing rapidly. This article really made me realize that
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Class Update: 1/18/11
On January 18, 2011 in SPED 200 class, we had a guest speaker named Carol Thoma. Carol is the field experience coordinator for the St. Cloud State Education Department. She was an enthusiastic, energetic speaker, who gave us quite a bit of information about what we had to get ready for our field experience. SPED 200 requires twenty hours of field experience. We had to fill out an online application by January 21, have our paperwork filled out with a check for twenty dollars for the criminal background check. The background check is mandatory for everyone who is going to work for the St. Cloud
I have decided to do my field experience in the St.Cloud district. I have experience working in theElk River School District Elk River district because I will be a student teacher. How exciting is that?! This is going to be a very different learning experience for me. I am really looking forward it!
I have decided to do my field experience in the St.Cloud district. I have experience working in the
Friday, January 28, 2011
Book Review: The Global Achievement Gap - Chapter One
I am reading the book entitled, The Global Achievement Gap, written by Tony Wagner as part of the requirements for SPED 200 class. So far, and I have only read chapter one, I find the book very interesting. I am going to go over the five main points that I found to be important in this first chapter.
The first chapter brought to my attention the degree to how insufficient our education system really is in today’s modern world. The one fact that really caught my attention was that only about a third of high school graduates today are ready for college. Really? I was stunned by that. Wagner points out that the school systems have not changed, but the world around us has. Our education system had not kept up with the changing and global economy we now face. What needs to change? It seems to me that our country has been concerned with the gap between the quality of schools for poor and minority children and most middle class students. Our education system has been focusing on teachers being held accountable, so therefore increased testing. Our children are not learning the skills that matter in the twenty-first century.
Wagner interviewed many employers, even from high tech companies, to find out what they look for when they hire young people. They all pointed to the same direction; look for someone who can ask good questions. We can teach new employees technical skills, but we cannot teach them the ability to problem solve.
The other important skills they wanted was the ability to communicate effectively with other people, and they have to know how to work and get along with other people.
I have heard for several years now that our children are not as well educated as children from other countries. I really think that is sad and scary for our children and the future of this country. I am learning from this book that we need to change as teachers to make sure that children graduate with the skills they need for today's working world. One major thing it seems we need to focus on is critical thinking and problem solving.
Wagner calls this his first of seven survival skills that children need for the twenty-first century. The ability to ask a good question, and know how to talk to people to find out what they need to know. Schools need to focus more on teaching children how to think critically, and you cannot learn that overnight. As teachers, we need to start teaching children how to think critically as soon as they are old enough to grasp the concept.
The second survival skill children need is knowing how to collaborate across networks and leading by influence. It makes sense when you think about how today's business are run. Technology has advanced to the point that there are now virtual teams that engineers work on, and projects that are all over the world, thanks to the high tech computer age. You might be working with people from all different parts of the world to solve a problem. In today's world, people are not even in the same building. They are using things such as net meetings, and web casts to communicate.
The rest of the skills are important and I have already touched on most of them so I will just list what the skills are according Tony Wagner. The third skill is agility and adaptability, the fourth skill is Initiative and Entrepreneurialism, the fifth skill is effective oral and written communication, the sixth skill is accessing and analyzing information, and the last skill is curiosity and imagination.
One last important thought from chapter one that I wanted to talk about is that our future students are going to have to know how to work with people from different places with different cultures when they get out in the working world of today. Our children need to be taught about diverse cultures and global awareness. They need to be able to use critical thinking and problem solving to understand global issues. They need to be able to collaborate with people from other countries, different religions and lifestyles. They also need to understand other nations and cultures, including people who do not speak English.
The first chapter brought to my attention the degree to how insufficient our education system really is in today’s modern world. The one fact that really caught my attention was that only about a third of high school graduates today are ready for college. Really? I was stunned by that. Wagner points out that the school systems have not changed, but the world around us has. Our education system had not kept up with the changing and global economy we now face. What needs to change? It seems to me that our country has been concerned with the gap between the quality of schools for poor and minority children and most middle class students. Our education system has been focusing on teachers being held accountable, so therefore increased testing. Our children are not learning the skills that matter in the twenty-first century.
Wagner interviewed many employers, even from high tech companies, to find out what they look for when they hire young people. They all pointed to the same direction; look for someone who can ask good questions. We can teach new employees technical skills, but we cannot teach them the ability to problem solve.
The other important skills they wanted was the ability to communicate effectively with other people, and they have to know how to work and get along with other people.
I have heard for several years now that our children are not as well educated as children from other countries. I really think that is sad and scary for our children and the future of this country. I am learning from this book that we need to change as teachers to make sure that children graduate with the skills they need for today's working world. One major thing it seems we need to focus on is critical thinking and problem solving.
Wagner calls this his first of seven survival skills that children need for the twenty-first century. The ability to ask a good question, and know how to talk to people to find out what they need to know. Schools need to focus more on teaching children how to think critically, and you cannot learn that overnight. As teachers, we need to start teaching children how to think critically as soon as they are old enough to grasp the concept.
The second survival skill children need is knowing how to collaborate across networks and leading by influence. It makes sense when you think about how today's business are run. Technology has advanced to the point that there are now virtual teams that engineers work on, and projects that are all over the world, thanks to the high tech computer age. You might be working with people from all different parts of the world to solve a problem. In today's world, people are not even in the same building. They are using things such as net meetings, and web casts to communicate.
The rest of the skills are important and I have already touched on most of them so I will just list what the skills are according Tony Wagner. The third skill is agility and adaptability, the fourth skill is Initiative and Entrepreneurialism, the fifth skill is effective oral and written communication, the sixth skill is accessing and analyzing information, and the last skill is curiosity and imagination.
One last important thought from chapter one that I wanted to talk about is that our future students are going to have to know how to work with people from different places with different cultures when they get out in the working world of today. Our children need to be taught about diverse cultures and global awareness. They need to be able to use critical thinking and problem solving to understand global issues. They need to be able to collaborate with people from other countries, different religions and lifestyles. They also need to understand other nations and cultures, including people who do not speak English.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Class Update: 1/27/11
We met in the computer lab on the first floor for class today. We had a guest speaker, Mary, from the Curriculum Technology Center (CTC ). Mary was very informative and went over many wonderful resources that are at our disposal as students attending St. Cloud State APA formatting, which is under the training and projects tab.
Mary showed us the ISTE.org website for teachers. International Society for Technology in Education. She showed us the digital-age teaching standards that teachers need to acquire to move their students into the 21st century of learning.
Mary also went over a couple of useful sites such as Purdue Owl and Edutopia.org. What works in Education.
Mary brought us to theCTC Center
When we were done with our tour, we worked on responding to our classmate’s blog's.
Overall, I thought it was a very informative day in our SPED 200 class.
Mary showed us the ISTE.org website for teachers. International Society for Technology in Education. She showed us the digital-age teaching standards that teachers need to acquire to move their students into the 21st century of learning.
Mary also went over a couple of useful sites such as Purdue Owl and Edutopia.org. What works in Education.
Mary brought us to the
When we were done with our tour, we worked on responding to our classmate’s blog's.
Overall, I thought it was a very informative day in our SPED 200 class.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Class Update: 1/25/11
I met with my small group members in the library today, instead of class as usual. We did some brainstorming and came up with our selected topic from chapter nine for our group presentation. We narrowed our topic to; Emerging Issues in School Government and Finance. Andrew is going to talk about equality in funding, Kirsten is going to cover school choice, and I am going to talk about the new concept of local control in education. We are excited about our topics and hope everyone enjoys learning more about them!
National News Article from the International Education: Why a College Student is Selling Oprah's Diamond Watch on eBay
http://education.change.org/blog/category/international_education
With all of the negative things we hear in our daily lives, I thought it would be refreshing to talk about something heartwarming and light. This article was a breath of fresh air for me. When I first read the title of the article, I thought that this college student needed the money from the watch to pay for tuition. I was very surprised to read that this young college student was going to donate all the proceeds from the watch, to help displaced Haitian college students continue their education in the United States. How self less is that?
I applaud that young man for his generosity.
With all of the negative things we hear in our daily lives, I thought it would be refreshing to talk about something heartwarming and light. This article was a breath of fresh air for me. When I first read the title of the article, I thought that this college student needed the money from the watch to pay for tuition. I was very surprised to read that this young college student was going to donate all the proceeds from the watch, to help displaced Haitian college students continue their education in the United States. How self less is that?
I applaud that young man for his generosity.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Class Update: 1/20/11
Today in SPED 200, we broke into our small groups for our small group research project. I am in group 6 with two other wonderful people, Andrew and Kirsten. We will be doing our presentation on a subject yet to be determined from chapter 9 of our text, Introduction to teaching. Chapter 9 is about Government and Finance: Regulating and Funding Schools. I am excited to collaborate with my new group to see what topic we will choose to study in-depth. We will be presenting Tuesday April 5.
We also watched a You-Tube video called RSA Animate: Changing Education Paradigms. This video asks the question, "How do we educate our children in the 21st Century?" I thought it brought up many interesting points to think about relating to our current education system, and what changes need to occur to educate our children in the 21st century.
We also went over the syllabus again to make sure everyone was aware of what is expected of us for the duration of this SPED 200 Introduction to Education class.
We also watched a You-Tube video called RSA Animate: Changing Education Paradigms. This video asks the question, "How do we educate our children in the 21st Century?" I thought it brought up many interesting points to think about relating to our current education system, and what changes need to occur to educate our children in the 21st century.
We also went over the syllabus again to make sure everyone was aware of what is expected of us for the duration of this SPED 200 Introduction to Education class.
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