Communication Networks with Students/Parents

One of the things that I will definitely do as a teacher is to make sure I have a way of communicating with students in- and out-of classrooms and parents. I think that the best way to do this is to create a class blog. Some of the things I will put on the blog are the syllabus, classroom/homework assignments, upcoming events, and all of my email addresses.
I will give the students the link to the blog and they can check it any time they need to. Also, if the students have questions about something, they can be sure to email me and I will respond back them.
I will also give a letter to the parents telling them about the blog. They will have a way of emailing me their questions as well as knowing what is going on in the classroom.
Not only will I be communicating with the students outside the classroom, but I will be communicating with them inside the classroom during their free time. I want to ensure that the students will be confidence in themselves, asking questions when they need to. I do not want the students to be afraid of asking questions because there are no stupid questions.
The best way for everything to go through smoothly in education is through education. If the students and parents do not communicate with me, then I will not know how to help them. Through communication, we can all help each other out!!!

My Plan to Teach

All of my entire life, I have learned nothing but facts in educations. Some of these facts are relevant to me in the real world, but other facts has nothing to do with the real world and they do not help me. For example, what is the point of knowing about calculus if you are going into English Education? English has nothing to do with math. So how can math be relevant to people in the real world if they are not going to use it except for maybe counting money?
I am not saying that I am wasting my time learning a little bit of everything because it is good to know about a lot of things, but my "mainstreamed" teachers never taught me how to think critically about an idea, how to be creative with life, or how to solve certain problems. I learned that from my parents, dance teachers, and Regional School teachers that helped me through school up to my Senior year of high school. They were the ones that taught me how to think for myself and how to make a decisions about things in life and education.
I believe that I will teach my students whatever the curriculum is required of me, but I will try teach it in a way that will be beneficial to them. I do not think that I will just stand up and lecture on, on, and on about a piece of material the students will be learning. I would rather let the students read or listen to the materials being taught and ask the students what they think is important and tell them to incorporate them into everyday life. This way, students will be learning what is required of them through school and learn life lessons at the same time.
I think it is a waste of time teaching materials that will be relevant to students later on in life. Plus, they will not get interested in the learning process and they will get bored and distracted very easily, just like me sometimes. I rather teach something that they will use in the future. This is pretty much my plan so far. So if anyone have anything to add to this, please feel free to offer me some suggestions and I will take them into considerations.

My Goal as a Teacher

Since I want to teach to Special Education children, I need to have a couple of goals to help me teach them.
My Goal with Special Education:
My goal in special education is to ensure that students with disabilities are getting the education they deserve. I do not want these students to go through what I went through with my hearing disabilities. I want to teach them not only what is in the curriculum, but some life lessons that I learned. When I talk about life lessons, I meant by not letting your disabilities take control of your life. This was probably the hardest thing I ever had to learn throughout my education life. There was a time where I wanted to just give up because I felt that my hearing disability was in the way. I had to work twice as hard as a regular student just to get by in school. So the first goal is to teach the children how to overcome any obstacles they may face when it comes to education.
1. Never be afraid to ask for help!!
2. Don't let your disability take control of you.
3. Ignore people trying to being you down.
4. Fight for your rights!
5. Don't be afraid period!
Another goal I have in mind is to build the children's confidence in themselves. I think the best way to do that in education is to provide them oral presentation projects. I believe these projects will help them stand in front of an audience (classmates, teachers, or parents) and help find themselves. I also think it will help them determine who they are as a person.
Another goal is to help the children believe that they can survive education. The best way to show that is to believe in the children themselves. If the children see that someone believes in them, then they may start to believe in themselves. This one is probably the biggest problem, especially with high school students. I have known a couple of deaf people who have lost faith in themselves that they dropped out of school because they felt that they cannot do it. They did not have anybody to believe in them, so they did not believe in themselves. If I had known this before it happened, I would have found a way to help them believe in themselves again.
So these are just a couple of goals I have in mind. I am sure there are many more goals out there that I can follow and I will find those goals and add them to my list.

Incorporating Technology into Education

At first, I thought I would be fine without using technology in education. I thought I would do fine with just email, Microsoft Words, and Internet for researching. But as I find out in my EDM 310 class, I need more technology to get by as an educator. There are some tools that I would definitely use in my class: Blogging, Google Forms, Google Presentations, and Movie Maker.
I will definitely incorporate blogging into my class. First and foremost, I can post everything we do (lecture, classwork, homework, and upcoming events, like tests) in class online and give the students and parents the website to the blog. This way, students can keep tracks of what they are suppose to do. Secondly, I will post all of my emails onto the blog, so students/parents can contact me if they need me. Finally, it would allow the parents to know what is going on. Many parents would like a way to know what is going on with their children with their schoolwork and if the children do not tell them, they can check online. I think that blogging will be very effective in my future classroom.
Google Form is another tool I would use in my classroom. This will help me create quizzes and surveys that I can print out or let the children take them online. This will allow quick grading and it will not take up too much time.
Google Presentations will be very effective. It will give the children a visual idea of the lectures. It is also something that I can post on the blog, so the children will have them at home. It can be use for the children to do their projects too. I think the children will enjoy this tool.
I will definitely use movie maker in my classroom. I will use this because it allows big creativity and I think that it will grab the children's attention to the materials used in the movie. Besides, most children love to watch movies. It is also another tool I can post on the blog, so the children will them at home. Movie maker will probably be my favorite tool to use in classroom.
These are some of the tools I will definitely use in my classroom in the future. I believe that they are beneficial for me and for what I plan to do. I only hope I can use these tools successfully, which I think I can.

Experience in EDM 310 Class

When I first enter into the EDM 310 class, I was expecting something easy dealing with computers, like how to put grades into the computer. That kinds of stuff. Boy, was I wrong!! I had to create a google account, blogger's account, twitter account, and download so many stuff required for this class. My first thought: what was I thinking? In the first couple of months, I was completely lost. I had no idea what I was suppose to do. I was literally having a mental breakdown for this class. But as I got into it, it started to become more manageable. Still wasn't easy but manageable.
The purpose of this class was to learn how to incorporate technology into education. Some of the tools that are used in educations are blogging, vocaroo, timetoast timeline, podcasting, videocasting, and skyping. There are many more, but these are the ones I have learned so far.
Blogging is a tool where you can post stuff on the internet. You can talk about whatever you want to talk about. This will be useful in English Education because it will help enhance writing skills. It is also a way to post your work online, which may make it easier for teachers to look at. It is also a way to tell the world what is going on. You will be amazed to how much you can learn from other people's blogs.
Vocaroo is a voice thread that you record yourself. You can use this tool in anything, whether it is commenting on something, emailing, or recording a lecture. It is easy to use and quick. All you have to do is write what you want to say, then you can read it out loud into the microphone on the computer. That is the best part: you can read off a paper exactly like it is. You would not have to memorize anything and you would not have to worry about doing it over and over again.
Timetoast Timeline is another really cool tool. It is also really easy, simple, and fun to use. You can be creative with this. This tool will be particularly useful in history. In history, you deal with a lot of dates and timetoast timeline can help you remember the important dates.
Podcasting/Videocasting are both very useful in classrooms. Teachers can make a podcast/videocast of their lecture and post them online. This will be very effective because students will have a way to watch or listen to them outside of class to help them with their work. If students miss class, they could go online and listen or watch the casts to help them stay caught up in classes. They will not get behind.
Skyping is another tool I learned in class. This is really cool; you can communicate with people online. It is also another way to get in touch with professors, if they have skype, when you need help.
There are so many other things I have learned in class. As I said earlier, I was frustrating with this class to begin with, but as I got into the class later in the semester, it eventually became manageable. It is also worth it because I did not know any of this stuff I have just learned. As a educator, I think I would be lost without taking this class. I was very fortunate to have taken this class.

Why Special/Elementary Education?

Here is my story:

Since I have been at University of South Alabama, I have change my major three times: Marine Biology, Secondary English Education, and Special/Elementary Education. When I first started at USA, I had my heart set on Marine Biology because I love the beach and I also love whales and dolphins. Ever since I went to Sea World for the first time and saw an Orca (killer whale) jumps out of the water up close, I have wanted to work with whales and dolphins. In fact, I fell in love with them. Also, I took Marine Biology in high school and I had fun with the class.
But suddenly, I had a thought in my mind during my sophomore year. If I get a degree in Marine Biology, then there may be some traveling involved and I would have to leave dance. So I struggled the entire semester with that thought. Then, towards the end of the semester, dance recital and final exams were around the corner. After my dance recital, some of my students in my lyrical class came up to me and told me how much fun they had in my class and how much they love the dance I made up. We were dancing to Concrete Angel and it was my first time teaching, so I decided to do something meaningful and simple. When the girls told me their feelings, it hit me: I love dancing more than science itself. So I decided to meet with someone in the education department.
Before I went over to the education department, I was making decisions on what I could teach. I was really good at English, so I thought I could teach it in high school. Then I change it over to Secondary English Education and finally declare my minors: business and dance. I started taking some classes required for my major at the beginning of my junior year. Then, I started experiencing some problems with my hearing at the beginning of the second semester.
I started having problems with getting the accommodations that I needed for one of my class, EDM 310. I told my professor about my problem and that he needed to wear the F.M. System, so I could hear and understand him. This part was not a problem at all. The problems started with a few of the assignments that he gave us that were a part of the curriculum for the class. These assignments were videos that we were suppose to watch and they did not have close caption. However, I was able to do a few because they either had a face in the video (so I could read lips) or it was a video that had nothing but words and pictures with music in the background. The only videos I could not do were the ones without close captions and faces. I could not have done the audio podcasts either. I address the problems to the professor and he did everything he could to try to fix the problems, but we were not able to find a solution yet. How did I do the assignments? My parents were willing enough to listen to the videos and tell me what they were talking about. Another problem I face was the APTT test, which has three parts: Reading, Math, and Writing. I had no problem with the reading and the math. But I had problem with the writing component because it has an audio that went along with it. I could not do this portion of the test because I was not aware of this and I could not ask for the right accommodations. Experiencing these problems got me thinking: Should I change over to Special Education?
During advising week, I went and talk to my advisor. I decided to ask her what would happen if I change over to Special Education. She told me that USA do not have Special Ed by itself; they have Special/Elementary Ed. She also said that she thinks I would be great at this considering how I am hearing impaired and I have been through all of these problems and dealing with Special Ed teacher my entire life. She said I would be a great advocate because I know what to expect based on my experience. I can benefit the children better and help get what they need. I believe her. She recommended me to meet with the Special/Elementary Advisor to talk more about this major and it all sounded great to me.
That is not the only reason why I changed my major over to Special/Elementary Education. I had to do a project for my EDM310 class. I decided to make a movie about what has been going on. I wanted to include a couple of interviews of deaf and hard of hearing students stating their dreams, so I went to my old school, Regional School for the Deaf and Blind. They had an annual school picnic before their spring break and I thought I would just go to the picnic, interview a few students, and leave to go home. But after I got my interviews, I could not leave. It was calling me. So I stick around and visit the teachers I had from when I first started there. It was a home to me. Seeing those deaf, blind, and hard of hearing children just having the time of their lives at the picnic really drawn me to them. Those teachers are doing a great job. Believe me! I should know! If it was not for them, I would not be here in college working to get a degree. I do not where I would be without their help, including my parents.

Welcome

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