WHAT I LEARNED

Reflection

I am now a Senior at Middle Tennessee State University and this is one of the many education classes I have taken. However, this is the first course that has involved technology. I love that I have completed assignments that can actually help me in my future classroom. Completing many of these projects has helped me realize how technology is much more stimulating than traditional methods of teaching and assignments. I now have an idea of how to incorporate technology into my future classroom. 


While completing most of the projects in Instructional Design I must admit I had a time figuring it all out, including the blog. However, I have learned how to do many things that I did not expect to learn in this course. I enjoyed completing the Portaportal. I had no idea what it was until I started working on the assignment. I defiantly know that I will use it in the future. I can use it for classroom activities such as the sites on math, science, English and health. The portaportal is very convenient and different from traditional methods of instruction. Using the portaportal you have many resources for different lessons right at your finger tips instead of have a number of different books, papers, lesson plans ect. 

MR WINKLE

Mr. Winkle Wakes is hilarious but also sad. In this video by Mathew Needleman, a small cartoon man “Mr. Winkle”, wakes after one hundred years to find that the world that he once lived in has changed completely. Well, everything except SCHOOL!!! As Mr. Winkle walks through the city, he sees tall office buildings filled with computers and printers. He also notices that business meetings are being held with people in different countries. Mr. Winkle feels ill and decides to go to the hospital. He shortly finds out that it is no different there! So he walks, walks and walks until he sees something familiar, a school. Here Mr. Winkle finds comfort. Everything is the same, the students are being lectured, the teachers are standing in front of the class, and there is only one small dusty computer which is not being used. With the schools being the same as 100 years ago Mr. Winkle decides to stay!

This video is a perfect reflection of how technology has changed the world. Everything has changed but education! Technology is basically the glue that holds everything together in the world, so it is very hard to understand why technology is not better incorporated in today’s education system.

I 100% AGREE

Reteach and Enrich

The video Reteach and Enrich: How to Make Time for Every Student introduces a new student performance assessment  project at Mesquite Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona. The mission is to give students the opportunity to master essential skills and knowledge before they move on to the next lesson. To accomplish this each week there are defined curricular objectives. At the end of each week students are assessed on those objectives. Depending on each student individual assessment result they are assigned to either reteach or enrich sessions the following week. The students assigned to reteach sessions are re-taught the lessons from the previous week in a different manner. They are given additional time for mastery. The students placed in the enrich sessions are given the opportunity to expand and objectives beyond the basics. 


I personally love this video. The speaker opens the video speaking about the traditional classroom assessment methods and I can relate 100 percent. I can remember in my elementary  classes that each week or every other week we were taught a new topic in almost every subject. After that week we moved on to something else. Luckily for me I was a student that learned in a timely manner. However, every student was not a fast learner and they were being left behind.The teachers had to move on to ensure every subject would be covered. But, what good is every subject being covered if it is not being comprehended?


This elementary school differ from the schools I attended for many different reasons. Mainly this is a small school and they have the privilege of being able to perform their reteach and enrich program. Instead of students being left behind they are able to master each objective and actually LEARN!!! These students are given the education that they deserve.  I would love to have the opportunity to teach in such a life changing school. These students have a chance to become more successful, better test scores which leads to  better education opportunities.  


The author of this article attached with video is Mariko Nobori 
http://www.edutopia.org/grade-level-k-2