Blog 18: Bullying Prevention Program

                I went to school at Pulaski High School. I don’t remember having much of a problem with bully’s while I was in school, so I was interested to see what their policy is on the matter. I looked at the school boards website, and I found Policy number 5517.01 Bullying.              

                After reading through this six page policy, I determined that Pulaski High School has an extensive bullying policy. They go through saying that bullying is inappropriate, naming many different forms of bullying that can occur. They list the ways in which students can/should report bullying. Finally it lists ways in which students can be reprimanded if found to be a bully, which includes suspension and even expulsion.

                There is also a large section of cyber bullying alone. This is really needed in this day in age, because of the enormous amount of information that is passed via computers, telephones, etc.

                The policy defines what bullying is, so that it is determinable by the staff if they ever see it happening. The policy also defines words like harassment, and intimidation as to give the staff ideas of what to look for if they are ever suspicious of a situation.

                Overall, I think that Pulaski has a good anti-bullying policy. I think they do a good job in defining what bullying is, to give students/staff a picture of what bullying would look like when occurring. It also lays out the consequences of bullying.

-Korri M. Kraemer

Blog 17: Classroom Management

·         Changing classes

·         Using the restroom

·         Sharpening pencils

·         Voice volume

·         SSR

·         Talking aloud

·         Working in groups

·         Giving presentations

·         Bellwork

·         Going to lockers

Talking aloud…

1.       Raise your hand.

2.       Do not interrupt anyone else.

3.       Be respectful with what you say.

4.       Express openly ideas that contribute to the conversation.

5.       Listen to what others are saying and keep an open mind.

6.       Everyone’s opinion and ideas matter!

-Korri M. Kraemer

Blog 16: Video Response

Video 1:

Sandra Jenoski:

                Start on day 1 with routine and practice for 6 to 8 weeks. After the 6 to 8 weeks, the students will be more independent. If you do not spend the first part of the class letting the students know your expectations, than they will be confused and not know what they should be doing or what you expect them to do.

Voncille Ross:

                Establish a community with the students by developing a circle that begins every class. Teaches students to respect each other.

Shaina Martinez:

                Listen to the students. Students appreciate you taking an interest in their lives. Hear the students out, make them feel comfortable so they feel that they can come and share with you.

Ilene Miller:

                Choosing groups: take time and consider your options making sure that every child is involved and learning.

                I think that a lot of the management skills differ between the students because of the ages of their students. When using the community circle approach, it is a great technique for the students, but you would also have to consider the age of the students. When you get into secondary school, the classes have much less time so it is plausible to do that before every class. Than when you consider Shaina Martinez’s students, because they are older, they just want to be listened to and respected. I think that teachers need to consider the ages of their students before they make a ‘management’ plan for their classes. The students should be involved, so that they can be part of the learning community and so they know what is expected of them.

Video 2:

Amy’s advice for new teachers is to gain as many experiences as you can to deal with all kinds of different students to find out what works and what needs to be improved upon in your teaching style. Get down a consistent and fair set of rules for the students to aid in the management of your classroom.

Blog 15: Convergent Education

I realize that there are definitely some changes that need to occur in the educational system. I have never thought about the changes being in the way this article explains in terms of convergent education. Going through school learning the way I did, I want to teach students a different way. In school, I read the textbooks chapter by chapter. I answered questions at the end of certain sections and took quizzes at the end of chapters. And finally I took an exam at the end of a chapter. Since coming to college, I am forced to use my mind in a different way. I am forced to think critically to search for solutions on my own. Particularly in my English classes, we do a lot of close reading with texts, which basically is looking for meaning within a text and evidence of that meaning. I must look through the book, and find what it means to me, with providing evidence. Now this is what I want to teach my students!

                In the article it expresses opinions about the read/test approach to teaching. It also states that if someone wants to look up some information, they can Google it! I never really thought about this before, but how true it is! Since students are now so overloaded with information, if they need to know something, it is very easy to go online and type some words in and find out what you want.

                The one thing that needs to be taught is sorting through the information that is viewed. Since there is so much information online, it is definitely important to teach students how to find credible information before they start to form opinions on a matter. This would be very good for any teacher to teach, especially when doing a research paper/project.

                Education needs to go into a direction where technology is being used. We are going to be teaching students skills for jobs that don’t exist yet, and they are going to incorporate technology in some way or another. So it would be detrimental for the education system to turn its back on the vast amount of ways to use technology to better our students.

-Korri M. Kraemer

Blog 14: Resources

I would like to use the ePals Global Community. This website will connect my class with other classes around the world. Connecting my students while we read texts on a certain country would enable my students to ask those students questions about their lives to learn a new culture. For example, if we were to be learning about works of literature from Britain, we could connect with a class from Britain to make a real world connection to the book. Also, if I wanted my students to work on writing skills, we could make ‘pen pals’ with the students from different places to work on writing skills.

                Another website I would like to use would be How Online Simulations Work in the Classroom. Online simulations are great to show students a different time period that we wouldn’t normally get to experience. If we were to study Shakespeare, if possible, we could find a simulation of that time period so the students could understand the language that was spoken and to make connections with the works of Shakespeare.

                I also like The Fischbowl website. I like that there is a source to go to for ideas for digital media. It is nice to know that there is support for teachers so that when question arise, and ideas for projects that use digital media in the classroom.

-Korri M. Kraemer

Blog 13: Assistive Technology

                Considering that I am going to be an English teacher I researched some Assistive Learning techniques that would help out struggling readers and/or writers.

                I found a cool tool called the Paper-Based Computer Pen. This pen can be used by students to take notes while simultaneously recording the teacher speaking. So if the student is slower at note-taking and cannot keep up with writing what the teacher is saying, that student can go back to his/her notes, touch the pen to that section and listen to the recording. Very cool! This would make is much easier for students to study. Many students struggle with being able to write notes during class, or remembering all the key points made during class and this device would help the student greatly to remember information.

                Another tool that I found is Audio Books and Publications. These devices will read aloud books to the student. They are able to book mark pages and chapters. This would be a good tool for students who cannot read. It would help the student learn the book that we are reading while not actually being required to read the book. I think this device would work out very well to help the student with the reading disability feel like part of the class.

-Korri M. Kraemer

Blog 12: Blogger Experience

My Blogger experience thus far hasn’t been awful, but I am not sure that I will continue blogging. I find that it is very convenient to post my homework to a blog, and have it reviewed that way, but I also feel that blogging is kind of like a journal. I think that the use of blog, not for our purposes of submitting homework, would be to talk about certain aspects of your life. And I would generally prefer to write my experiences down for me to read and not anyone on the internet.

                At first, I had some difficulties getting my blogs posted. I am still not sure what is wrong because I just tried it from a different computer and it worked just fine. So that kind of put a bad taste in my mouth for blogging because I ended up re-writing the first assignment about four times. I was a little frustrated. Since than, and now that I know not use that computer, I haven’t experienced any problems with blogging. But I am not sure if I would be able to continue with it. I don’t know at all what I would post on it; maybe I could start posting some of my writings for people to look at! Who knows…?

-Korri M. Kraemer