Plagiarism (7)

I though that the reading assigned by Kist was really interesting this week. I really enjoy this book; I think that it offers lots of good advice to us as teachers. This chapter especially focused on the safety of promoting the internet in the clasroom and making sure that our students are being "safe" when they travel around the internet during class on school computers. A lot of issues involving promoting the use of computers in the classroom revolved around the evolution of "cyber bullying" which has become a problem for many kids in high school. In my opinion, I don't agree that the use of computers in classroom is encouraging cyber bullying. It is giving students another outlet to use and find information. I don't know if this reading was directly insinuating that there is a connection between the two; however, this is just my opinion. In my high school, we were always encouraged to be creative and we were given the oppertunity to work online during class. I never heard of a cyber bullying problem because of this. In addition, I did go to a very large school that was technologically advanced and I think that because of this we had no motivation to cyber bully. The only think that I remember as "unsafe" on the high school computers was the ability for students to access a website called, chat roulette, which allowed students to see other students through the webcams on the computers.  At the end of the semester a group of kids were caught using this website and it was then blocked from the school computers. I think that it is going to take a while to figure out which websites are unsafe for students to use. I think that it will come with experience and we will learn as we go. However, I believe that overall computers are a benefit to the classroom and with time we will learn how to make them especially safe.

Inclusion in the English Classroom (6)

I am a part of the Adapted Physical Acivity minor and so I am constantly learning about a variety of different disabilities that students may have in the classroom. Although the minor is for physical education, I have tried my best to use what I learn and connect it with my interest in teaching high school English. I love working with people with disabilties and am very knowledgeable of different techniques in teaching kids with disabilities in the regular English Classroom. I am curious if my other classmates ever think about the kids with disabilities that will be in their future classrooms. Because this class is centered around being multimodal in the classroom, as teachers, how are we going to include and engage students with different abilities into the lesson? In my opinion, in our future classrooms, I think that is going to be a very important question to consider and I think that we should all have an answer.

Too Much, Too Fast? (5)

I read an article from the National Association of Elementary School Teachers and I discovered that there is a lot of investigation taking place when it comes to children and technology. I related this to the discussion that we had in class on Monday, where we talked about how children in our generation are involved and surrounded by a little too much technology that may become rather overwhelming. As a young adult in this same generation, I am surprised by the knowledge that these kids have picked up so quickly. In my opinion, it may be a little too young. There is nothing wrong with using a game system or ipad every once in a while for enjoyment; however, it seems as though the kids are as addicted to technology as we are...and what does a 4 year old really have to talk about on a cell phone?

Too much, too fast?

This article discussed some interesting facts about young learners and their digital tool availability. They also come up and talk about some cool ways to introduce tech. to a young learner.

Focus on "Multimodal" (4)

In Kajder's readings this week, digital immagrants was a term introduced to me that really caught my attention. I am really intrigued by the amount of technology that is available for me to use in my classrooms. I never really took the time to realize that older teachers may not be giving their students the access to different modes of technology. I think that what everyone needs to realize is that technology will only be used as much as it is given access too. Not every classroom has to have technology as the central piece. In my opinion, the most important thing to remember is to be MULTIOMODAL. Isn't that what we are learning about? I think that Kajder does a very good job  showing the differences between the different teachers and how they all incorporate some type of device, even in a classroom where they are not given access to as many tools.

Technology Encourages Learning (3)

In 20ll, Mooresville Graded School District in North Carolina's Super Intendant, Mark Edwards, brought laptops into their schools to help create a new type of learning for their students. "He says he anticipated it would take time for students and teachers to master the use of laptop computers, digital curricula, and more personalized ways of teaching and learning." Little did he know, his district went from number 30 to number 4 in just three short years.

He explains that, "students like using relevant tools and materials, the kids are more engaged and excited about school. They're doing things in class and saying, 'I will do this in my future.' "

Since when do you have students that believe what they are learning will be beneficial to their futures. Usually it's, "Why do we have to learn this?"

Is technology really making students want an education? I'm starting to think so.
Education Week Article

Learning About Multiple Sign Systems (2)

The arts are such an important aspect of teaching and learning. The information that we learn in one class can be useful in other classes; however, it is our job as teachers to pull this information out and show our students how they can relate and use the information they've learned to better their understanding in a different class.

 I read the article Responding to Literature Across Multiple Sign Systems on d2l and I learned a lot of valuable information about incorporating other means of discussion and thinking into my classroom for a vairety of different learners. Although the article is written based on a young group of learners, I think that a lot of the information covered is valuable in a classrom of highschool students. I wanted to just share some of the ways that they got their students talking and discussing ideas about the reading they were assigned in class. The author explains, "The discussions always occur within the context of a broader classroom inquiry, and the books are never read as an isolated experience. These literature circles encourage students to share their connections and to engage in collaborative thinking through their understandings about literature and life." I thought that this quote was interesting because it sums up the importance of not just assigning independent reading, but in addition to that allowing the students different means of discussing and asking questions about the material during class time. They stressed the importance of alotting time before a discussion for the students to use an organizer or web or even just a piece of paper to gather their thoughts about a reading and maybe to write down a question or two that they had. This benefited the discussion because as soon as the students got into their groups they were able to immediately engage in conversation about the book rather than using that time to discuss what they wanted to talk about.

To represent their emotions about a story they read, the "children used tempera, pastels, watercolors, chalk, charcoal, and pencil to visually portray visions from the book that reflected their emotional responses." As a student, I always enjoyed the oppertunity to use arts in the classroom; especially in highschool, when we read more emotion-filled stories. I think that the most important part about this is that we are identifying the needs of a variety of learners. The use of the arts is not only important in an English classroom, but also in other classes. It helps the students look at the information they are learning in a different way; and I see this as extremely beneficial to the learner.

As a teacher, I think that it is still a good idea to incorportate arts into the classroom to broaden the student's perspective on a certain reading. I attached a link which offers some free downloadable graphic organizers, webs, and character charts that can allow for good discussions of novels and short stories.
 Graphic Organizer, Webs, and Character Charts

Introduction to the Class (1)

Hi Everyone!

My name is Katie Betschart and I am a junior, Secondary English Education major with a minor in Adapted Physical Activity. I absolutley love working with people; individually or as a group. I love watching people improve and become successful. I have always wanted to be a teacher and my love for reading, writing, and movies has steered me in the direction of English Education. I am obsessed with seeing movies. New or old, if it looks interesting, I'll watch it. I love reading series. I am a Harry Potter "freak", or so I call it :) I read all of the books and own all of the movies. I could watch them everyday. In addition, I read the current series, The Hunger Games and absolutely loved it; however, I wasn't very impressed with the movie. I love romance novels and so Nicholas Sparks and Sarah Dessen are some of my favorites. I have read almost all of their novels and seen the movies that have come to theaters. If you know of any good books or movies definitely let me know :)!

I am excited to keep this blog as part of this course. I have never kept a blog before this course and so I am excited to see how much I will learn from it. Hopefully we will all be able to contribute some awesome ideas and advice on how to make a successfull English Classroom. If you have any advice, for me personally or any questions at all, feel free to ask!