Reading Reflection #13

Prompt

Identify what co-teaching approaches were modeled this week.

Co-Teaching

On February 15, 2012 I attended a seminar on co-teaching at High Tech High School in San Marcos, CA.  The seminar was hosted by Dr. Jacqueline Thousand and attended by teacher candidates from CSUSM and the cooperating teachers of those candidates.  During the seminar Dr. Thousand discussed the four approaches to co-teaching.  These approaches are supportive, parallel, complementary and team co-teaching.  Each approach has different benefits and cautions.

• Supportive: The supportive co-teaching approach is defined by the presence of a lead teacher and one or more supporting teachers.  During a lesson the lead teacher gives instructions, provides general classroom management and dictates the class.  The supporting teacher or teachers spend the lesson giving one-on-one assistance with students.  This approach is the most common as it requires the least amount of planning and is often an opportunity for the supportive teacher to learn the procedures and students.  The major drawback to this approach is that only one teacher appears "powerful."  If the supportive teacher remains as the minor authority in the class for too long the students will not see him or her as the "real teacher."
• Parallel: The parallel co-teaching approach is defined by two or more instructors working with different groups of students or sections of the class.  During the course of the lesson the co-teachers rotate around to different groups providing instructions.  The major drawbacks for a parallel approach are the fact that the co-teachers are engaged with only part of the class and their is the potential for over monitoring.
• Complementary: The complementary co-teaching approach is defined by a co-teacher(s) who enhances the instruction of the other co-teacher(s).  Often times the complementing teacher will paraphrase the other instructor.  This approach is beneficial because it gives both co-teachers the authoritarian role and allows the teacher candidate to be at the front of the classroom.
• Team Co-Teaching: The team co-teaching approach is extremely similar to a traditional classroom except instead of one teacher there are two or more co-teachers.  The approach is defined by two or more co-teachers who work together to plan, teach, assess and assume the responsibility of all the students.  Co-teachers understand each others expertise and use that expertise in the classroom to enhance learning.  Team co-teaching is the ideal approach for co-teaching because it allows the teacher candidate to be involved the most in the classroom.

Reading Reflection #12

Prompt

Read former ITU Model Projects in the first Cougar Courses module.  Identify what you can use from the model assignments and then complete Tasks 1-17.

Response

While I reviewed the four ITU Model Projects I chose to focus on the Homeless ITU for Orange Glen High School and the Civil Rights ITU for Temecula High School, both from 2009.  Due to the fact that my ITU has a different theme and population, no information could be directly taken from either model project.  However, there was a great deal of information to be learned from the model projects.  After completing Tasks 1-17, I looked back on the information I had learned from reading the model projects and noticed that I used three advantages.

1. Ideas: While I did not take any information directly from the ITU Model Projects, reading them gave me plenty of ideas.  For example, in the Homeless ITU for Orange Glen High School students created posters and flyers for the rest of the campus to promote awareness.  After reading this I realized I too wanted my students to show the rest of the campus and community the progress they had made.  However instead of creating billboards and posters I wanted to utilize technology so the project could be spread quicker and to a greater audience.  Therefore I came up with the idea of using iMovie to create a compilation of the learning.
2. Expectations: The four ITU Model Projects were posted on the Cougar Courses site for a reason.  These four projects were the best of 2009 because the went above and beyond the expectations.  Therefore by reading them I know what is expected of me and how I can surpass those expectations.
3. Writing: While I worked with my team to create our school's ITU I realized a lot of information can be piled into the process.  If a team chose to that team could write a full essay on every task given.  However, after reading over the ITU Model Projects my team and I realized that none of them has burdened the reader with too much information or information.  This greatly benefited us because it caused us to no longer be caught up in the writing but on the content that was being discussed.  By choosing to write a paragraph instead of two pages were able to drive quality.

EDSS 530 Response #2

Prompt

Watch this presentation, Learning in New Media Environments. and write a reflection (as as new blog post) based on this idea: What does this video mean for you as a person, a parent, an educator, and a leader? You can answer any or all of the ideas that apply. Please share your post on Twitter and comment on your peers' posts as well.

Reflection

Throughout the course of his presentation Mike Wesch discusses the relationship between the emergence of technology, in particular social media, and society.  Dr. Wesch begins his presentation by presenting a case study on a remote indigenous village in Papua New Guinea.  Dr. Wesch was first introduced to the culture and experience a large degree of culture shock.  The people of the village did not have formal names, settled disputes in a communal setting and lived in buildings that were not organized in a formal manner.  During the visit the indigenous village was introduced to census books and maps.  With the introduction of books and maps the village instantly began to change.  Disputes were settled in a court house, villagers acquired full-time names and buildings were reorganized to match the census books and maps of the village.  In Dr. Wesch's opinion the introductions forced the culture to adapt.  In an additional case study Dr. Wesch discusses how he changed the culture of his college class from one built around the authority of the instructor to one that gives students continual input into the learning.  The culture of the class also changed from preparing for the next test or paper to preparation for the world.

While the video discussed the potential damage technology can have on indigenous cultures and a classroom it did offer hope.  Without technology many of the strategies implemented by Dr. Wesch would have been impossible.  Therefore the difference between a classroom where a teachers is the final authority and students have little vested interest and a classroom similar to Dr. Wesch's is quite simply the instructor.  As a future educator I see the need for an instructor who is willing to relinquish power and authority in exchange for greater learning.  I know that as an educator I can not allow my students to feel content with writing a certain number of pages or memorizing certain information.  I must push my students to learn life lessons.  I must provide them with a vested interest in their learning.  I must make my students knowledge-able rather than knowledgeable. 

EDSS 530 Response #1

Prompt
Watch the following video: Visitors and Residents by Dr. White and then write a blog post reflecting on where you are in this continuum and how you see your future on the Internet.

Reflection

After watching the video presentation by Dr. White I came to the conclusion that I am closer to a resident on the continuum.  The primary reason I label myself as a resident is due in large part to my view of the internet and how closely it resembles that of a resident.  I, like a resident, see the web as space, extremely social and continually changing.  In addition I consider myself part of the internet community in that I add to it and learn from the media provided by my Personal Learning Network.  Finally I continue to join social media sites where I use the same username in order to create a brand.  While I find myself an ever-growing resident of the web it was not long ago that I would have viewed myself as a visitor.  Prior to ED 422 last spring I only saw the web as a way to communicate with friends and learn information without turning on the television.  I despised social media and saw it only as a way to destroy reputations.  However in the present and in the future I see myself as a growing force in the world wide web.

Reading Reflection #11

Prompt

Read Differentiation Readings, Partially Completed Strategy Matrix and Strategy Matrix PowerPoint.  Complete Strategy Matrix

Strategy Matrix

Reading Reflection Postponed

Journal Writing #4

Prompt
What are your biases and how do you mitigate your behavior when working with students?

My Biases
Throughout my entire life I have recognized that all people have biases to other races, religions, colors and creeds. As a young man I never thought I had biases. However upon recent reflection I have realized that I do maintain biases but have come to accept them as part of the human condition. While admitting and recognizing I have biases was a challenge the greater challenge will be working with students without acting on those biases.

When I was in middle school I took part in a summer program that prepared me for college. During the program my group mates and I were taken to the Holocaust Museum in Los Angeles. As a lover of World War II I was extremely excited about the experience. During the tour of the museum our tour guide brought us to two doors. The guide asked us to individual select which door to pass through. On the left was the door for those students who had prejudices and the door on the right was for those who did not. I automatically approached the door on the left alone and attempted to open in. However it did not move. Our tour guide explained that all people have prejudices and therefore must enter the door on the right. This experience greatly affected me because I never felt I had prejudices. After all I was the only Asian Indian in my school and was close friends with whites, Hispanics, black and Asians. My parents were both well educated and never spoke negatively about any person, except perhaps Republicans. I eventually forgot the experience for a while but it would continue to reappear throughout my high school and college life.

As I grew older I continuously looked back on that experience at the Holocaust Museum. While I now realize I maintain some stereotypes I know I never judge an individual on them nor act upon them. The only strong prejudgment I have ever made towards a group of people was against Pakistanis. As an Asian Indian who loves his heritage and history I, in many ways and for many reasons, despise Pakistanis for destroying the Indian subcontinent. However when I enter the classroom and realize I have a Pakistani as a student I will not look at him any differently because I always remember it was the founders of Pakistan who destroyed the subcontinent, not a sixteen year old girl in my class.

I do admit I have prejudices today, something I could not realize in middle school. However many of the prejudices are as a result of my knowledge of history. For example, I dislike the Zionists for taking land from Palestine. However as a historian I continuously remind myself that no student is responsible for their ancestors mistakes so I cannot hold them accountable.

Journal Writing #3

Prompt
To what degree do you think you really understand the needs of your students and what they need for the 21st century? How wide is the "gap" between them and you? In what areas are the gaps? What can you do to make connections?

Response
When thinking of instructing students of the 21st century I feel I have an understanding of what they need to a degree. I know that all students must gain and develop skills such as high level analytical thinking, problem-solving, etc. However I do not have an understanding of what jobs I am going to prepare them for. In a broader sense I haven’t a clue on what kind of world I am preparing them for. In the TED video entitled Do Schools Kill Creativity Sir Ken Robinson stated nobody knows what the world will look like in twenty, ten or even five years. Despite this, I as an educator must make my students ready for the jobs that will exist in the unseen future. While I cannot give them the skills they will need for jobs that are most likely not in existence I know I can give them skills that will always be useful. To this degree I understand the needs of my 21st century students.
 
When thinking of the gap that separates me from my students I realize it cannot be very large. As a twenty-two year old I am no more than eight years older than my students. In discussions with my students I use the same technology, listen to similar music, watch the same movies and go to many of the same places as they do. Therefore the only reason there is a visible gap between us is what we know, how we speak and how we understand the world. In all likelihood all three of those differences will disappear as my students gain an education. In making connections I can use the similarities we already share such as pop culture. By making connections on topics we both love I will further stricken the ever-narrowing gap.

Journal Writing #2

Prompt

Read Kids Do Well If They Can

Watch the TED video on Creativity in Schools

Skim/Preview Abundance, Asia and Automation

Read Jobs of the Future

Create a full sheet 3 column organizer (aka Tovani) to record and analyze at least four quotes from the text/video

Tovani

 

Reading Reflection #10

Prompt

Read your team member's ITU cover sheet drafts.  Revise your team's Task 2: ITU cover sheet.  Make sure you use the ITU assignment template and PowerPoint to guide your work.

ITU Cover Sheet

Please visit http://valleyitu.weebly.com/ to view our cover sheet and check on the progress of our ITU.

Reading Reflection #9

Prompt
Locate and read information about your school site. Begin your ethnographic research on your school site to complete your ethnography for EDSS 530 and to complete Task 3 for the ITU.

Ethnographic Research for Valley High School

The information covered in this reading response comes primarily from Valley High School’s website, www.vhsescondido.com. This information was gathered to begin my ethnographic research of the school in order to complete Task 3 of my groups ITU. 

1. Community
1. Geographic Location
1. Valley High School is located in Escondido, California. Escondido provides a thriving urban environment in the midst of rolling hills surrounded by avocado and citrus groves. Escondido is located approximately 30 miles northeast of San Diego and 18 miles from the coast. Escondido’s population is over 133,000 residents.
2. Where students live in relation to campus
1. To be acquired through student case studies and surveys to classes 
   
3. Political Climate of Community
1. To be acquired through student case studies and surveys to classes
2. School 
1. School Mission & Teaching Philosophy 
1. According to the school’s website Valley High School’s mission statement is, “Learning for All, Whatever it Takes.”
2. In addition Valley High School staff believe that all students will learn because of what they do on a daily basis. Their program emphasizes personal responsibility and accountability, pro-social skill development and a strong, standards-based curriculum with integrated technology. They view their diverse community as a resource and their staff members serve as coaches helping students achieve their goals.
2. School Personnel Information 
1. According to Valley High School’s S.A.R.C. report published in January 2011 there are 20 fully credentialed staff members (out of 20 applicable staff). No teachers are misassigned and the school does not have any vacant teacher positions. Valley maintains a full-time academic counselor and several “As Needed” positions.
3. Reputation of School 
1. Attendance – 89.1% (09-10) 
2. Graduation Rate – 77.8 (08-09)
3. API Change from 08-09 to 09-10 – 49 
4. Program Improvement – Not in P.I
5. Percent of Students achieving proficient or above on CST (2010) – English (5%), Mathematics (1%), Science (4%), Social Studies (3%) 
6. CAHSEE – Unavailable for this school due to moderate number of students tested. 
7. Percentage of students who completed High School Graduation Requirements – 43.4% (District – 80.8%)
4. Campus Architecture 
1. To be acquired through photographs taken by ITU team. 
   
5. Participation of Community in School Activities 
1. To be acquired through discussion with staff and faculty.
3. Student Population Information
1. Numbers of Students Served at School
1. Total Number of Students Enrolled - 450 
   
2. Demographic Information
1. According to Valley High School’s S.A.R.C. report, published January 2011 student enrollment by ethnic group is:
1. African American 3.8%
2. American Indian 1.4%
3. Asian 1.6%
4. Caucasian 11.1%
5. Hispanic or Latino 81.4%
3.  Information about 5 Individual Students who Need Differentiation
1. To be acquired through student case studies

Reading Reflection #8

Prompt
Read " Service Learning Curriculum Cluster Maps" in Kaye, Cathryn Berger. (2004 or 2011). A Complete Guide to Service Learning. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit. List ideas and resources you can use for your service learning and ITU

Ideas for Service Learning
In order to achieve the service learning portion of our ITU the Valley High School team has come up with the following ideas:
- Visit a Local Senior Center: Due to the fact that our team has chosen heroism for our theme we discussed that visiting a senior center will allow students to learn the stories of actual heroes (veterans, people who struggled for Civil Rights, etc.). Furthermore it will allow students to assist these heroes and form connections. Most of the students will learn that the seniors came from similar backgrounds.
- Student Choice on Giving Back to the Local Community: The major focus of our ITU is for students to identity what makes a hero. Through the content students will realize that most heroes were similar to them and gave back to their local community. Therefore it will be beneficial for the class as a whole to decide how to give back and be heroes themselves.

Resources for Service Learning 
The following are beneficial service learning resources moving forward:
- Cathryn Berger Kaye’s Historical Content and the Bookshelf
- www.LearnAndServe.gov
- www.service-learningpartnership.org
- www.servicelearning.org
- www.learningindeed.org/index.html
- www.leaderschools.org/
- www.compact.org/

Reading Reflection #7

Prompt
Read Part One of Kaye, Cathryn Berger. (2004 or 2011). A Complete Guide to Service Learning. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit. and the service learning PowerPoint. Identify the key elements and process for service learning.
 
Elements and Process for Service Learning
According to Cathryn Berger Kaye there are six essential elements of service learning. These elements are:
- Integrated Learning: In this element students learn skills and content through varied modalities; the service informs the content, and the content informs the service.
- Meeting Genuine Needs: Students identify and learn about a recognized community need. Student actions are valued by the community and have a real consequences while offering opportunities to apply newly acquired academic skills and knowledge.
- Youth Voice and Choice: Students experience significant age-appropriate challenges involving tasks that require thinking, initiative, and problem solving as they demonstrate responsibility and decision making in an environment safe enough to allow them to make mistakes and to succeed.
- Collaborative Efforts: Students participate in the development of partnerships and share responsibilities with community members, parents, organizations, and other students. These relationships afford opportunities to interact with people of diverse backgrounds and experience, resulting in mutual respect, understanding, and appreciation.
- Reciprocity: Student benefits evolve through mutual teaching and learning, action, or influence between all participants in the learning and service experience; this reciprocity extends to relationships between institutions as well as relationships between people
- Civic Responsibility: When young people have a role in improving society, working for social justice, and caring for the environment, then they truly understand the concept of democracy. Students recognize how participation and the ability to respond to authentic needs improves the quality of life in the community, which may lead to a lifelong ethic of service and civic engagement.