Blog Post #J- Chapter 11

     

While reading the textbook I came across a new strategy that I had never heard of but really captured my attention and I believe it could be wonderful for the classroom. This is called Democratic Schools and Classroom in which the students and the education together choose what will be taught throughout the school year.  Of course just like the actual democratic system there are rules and requirements that must be followed and, in this case, it would be the school rules as well as the state core standards and curriculum.  Although there are many different opinions as to whether this really does work or worsen the school I believe it could be a great opportunity to allow the student to become more mature and think as an adult. With this, it gives them a chance to put themselves in an educators shoes thus, seeing the difficulty in it and allow students to be more cooperative towards certain lessons. The democratic schools and classroom system also allow students to work together to come up with what will be taught throughout the year.

With the democratic system, there are also many other ways to get the classroom more engaged in the lessons. One suggested in the textbook was the Student Participation System which are when students are given a handheld wireless tool to get the students interact with the lessons. For example, one high spoken form are clickers which are basically little remotes that allow students to answer the question a teacher might place in front of them.  With clickers and educator could easily create a game such as Jeopardy or Who Wants to be a Millionaire games shows, this way students are actively engaged all the while getting assessed to see if the topic is being learned or if there is a need to review and if so which areas need more review. This could also be very helpful in situations such as reviewing for finals or state test that may be coming up, the possibilities are endless. With the help of technology, there are so many better effective ways for an educator to capture the student’s attention.

Overall the most significant portion of the textbook that I found most important and helpful that would benefit me in the future is the Digital Teaching Portfolio. When in high school I was originally was going to study Early Childhood Education which at the end in order to get you certifications one must build a profile from the time one began to till the very end. This is very similar to the digital teaching portfolio however the difference is with digital it is all done online which in essences is a huge benefit to teachers. The best part about it is that one can have access to it just about anytime without having to haul around a big binder that holds the portfolio or have to fear that the pages might fall out or so forth.  From my perspective I also think it’s great because it allows one to go back and reference items that may be used in another subject/topic. All in all, it’s a wonderful way to reflect and look back in the way one had grown as an educator but more importantly who one can better themselves.

Resources:
 Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. Rios Moreno, P. (November 11, 2015)

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