I went through the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire tutorial. This tutorial summarized the events of that horrible day and the events that followed. In addition to summarizing the events of this tragedy the tutorial also provided a lot of primary resources. They provided court reports and testimonies of witnesses. To summarize the events, it started with a Clerk of the U.S. District Court of San Francisco recording in his minute book that at 5:13 a.m. on April 18th 1906 San Francisco was hit with a very violent earthquake. As a result of that earthquake, many buildings collapsed and a fire broke out that lasted for three days. 250,000 people were instantly homeless and many of the hospitals were full with injured people. After the earthquake, and once the terrible fire ended, residents of San Francisco worked together to rebuild their city.
It is important to use primary sources in your classroom because students are able to read firsthand accounts of what really happened. In reading the minutes from a court room clerk or in reading the testimony of a local bartender at the time of the events the students are able to read for themselves direct experiences. They are not reading from a textbook one historian’s interpretation of events.
2.NEA Achievement Gap
“Becoming a Culturally Competent Educator”
In becoming a culturally competent educator I feel that the below three areas fit my style.
Engage school staff in discussions and activities that offer an opportunity to explore attitudes, beliefs, and values related to cultural diversity and cultural competence.
- I think that in order for myself to make any differences I need to enlist the services and help of other school staff. Having discussions about the achievement gap and culturally diverse students will help teachers understand where they stand in their own opinions and beliefs. When a teacher is able to understand their own beliefs they can then evaluate themselves. If a teacher feels like they are doing a good job of treating all students fairly and equally then they are fulfilling their role as an effective teacher; but if they have prejudices that prevent them from teaching all children equally then they need to take the necessary steps to change their teaching habits and attitudes. In order for teachers to better evaluate and access themselves discussions and activities first need to be conducted.
Build and use a network of "natural helpers" at school and in the community as well as "experts" who have knowledge of the culturally, linguistically, racially, and ethnically diverse groups served by your school.
- Having “natural helps” is a great asset to a classroom. I think it would be cool to have guest speakers come in and talk to the students about different races and to share their knowledge and experiences.
Network with parent, family, minority community, and faith-based organizations concerned with the needs of diverse students. Solicit their involvement and input in the design and implementation of initiatives for culturally, linguistically, racially, and ethnically diverse groups.
- I believe that in order to help a student be successful a whole community has to be involved. When parents take active participation in their students’ lives, their student is more likely to excel and be successful. I honestly think that when you show a student that they have a lot of support and if you have high expectations for a student, that student is more likely to take honest interest in their academic careers.
3.Cyber Bullying
Quiz RESULTS: 6-10 Points: Cyber Risky“Well, you’re not perfect, but few people are. Chances are you haven’t done anything terrible and were just having fun, but try not to repeat your behaviors, since they are all offenses. Keep in mind the pain that your fun might be causing others!”
I have a tendency to be a little sarcastic online sometimes. I come from a very sarcastic family and sometimes it’s easy to poke fun of other people when it’s all in “good fun.” Seeing that my cyber behavior is a bit risky I guess I need to tone down the sarcasm a bit. I know I have unintentionally hurt other people’s feelings in the past and I don’t want to accidentally do it again in the future. Sarcasm doesn’t work so well when it’s typed and people can’t see your facial expressions or hear the tone of your voice.
The article about Teenangels gave 5Ps. They are privacy, predators, pornography, pop-ups and piracy. As a teacher it is my responsibility to teach my students about the different dangers that are on the Internet. When students are informed about possible risks they are better able to protect themselves against them. I think that having those 5Ps posted on a wall in the classroom would be a good reminder. Also, if my students are victims are cyber bullying I would hope that they would inform an adult of the problem and ignore the bully.
4.Kathy Schrock’s guide for Educators
This site had a ton of great information. At first I was a little overwhelmed because I didn’t know where to even begin. So to start, I went under the “Subject Access” area and picked the “history and social studies” link. Under that link I accessed the “Biography Maker.” The biography maker was really cool. It provided teachers with a lesson plan on how to teach their students how to write a great biography. It gave step by step instruction in creating and writing a biography. Students are to start off writing a biography by creating good and interesting questions that they would like answers to. It even provided a list of interesting questions. It then gave a list of places students could go to research the individual they were writing a biography on. Some suggestions were books, encyclopedias, and the Internet. Once the students have gathered enough information they then move on to step three and put all of their gathered information together. Once the student has put together all of the information that they feel is important it is time for the student to tell the story of the person they are writing the biography about. This site then goes on to give six traits of effective writing.
Next, after I visited the “Subject Access” area I went to the “Teacher Helpers” link. This link also had a lot of valuable and interesting information. This particular section of the site had a lot of rubrics. I looked at the “Learning Skills Rubric” and I thought it was interesting that they had a lot of different criteria to be evaluated. Works independently, teamwork, organization, and initiation were just some of the topics that were on this rubric. A student could then be evaluated under each topic as needing improvement, satisfactory, good, and excellent.
In exploring what this site has to offer I can definitely see myself using this site as a teacher. This site had a lot of valuable lesson plans and rubrics that can be used on a daily basis. In the example of the Biography Maker alone a teacher could effectively teach her students how to write a good and interesting biography. I’m honestly excited to explore this site more and to see what more it has to offer.
5.Multiple Intelligences
My learning styles: Interpersonal-81
Intrapersonal-81
Verbal-Linguistic-67
In watching the "Multiple Intelligences Thrive in Smartville" video I learned that it is the teachers responsibility to teach in a variety of ways. A teacher's students learn in many different ways and a teacher can enhance their students learning when they don't teach the same way everyday. I learned that there are eight ways that children learn and letting children use all their smarts gets them excited about learning.
6.Teaching Tolerance Lesson Idea
Grade: 3-5
Subject: Social Studies
Topic: Focused around home and understanding its diverse definitions.
The objective of this lesson is to teach students about the many definitions and meaning that the word “home” has and to also teach students about how to handle loss. Many different cultures and people have created a wide variety of diverse kinds of homes. This lesson also has the objective to explore why people become homeless. This lesson plan starts off by providing some questions, for example; what defines home, what makes home a place, why do people more, and how do you cope with loss.
This lesson plan suggests that teachers start by asking their students to define what home means to them, and then to share that definition with their classmates. In small groups students are to discuss their varying definitions. Once the class has had an opportunity to discuss their varying definitions, the class as a whole then comes up with a classroom definition of “home.”After the class has agreed upon a definition of “home, “ the teacher will then share the story of the Salish Tribe that was required to leave their home in 1891. Once the story is read the teacher will ask the students to discuss how it made them feel. This lesson plan then has the students determine how the Salish people would define home and then see how that definition compares to the one the class came up with. Once the class has compared the two definitions the teacher can then explain that different people have different definitions of home. The lesson points out that in addition to defining home, it also wants to teach students about loss. As groups the students will discuss a time in their lives that they experienced some kind of loss. Once the students have come to understand loss and that there are varying definitions of home, have the students come up with a new definition for home that they can display in their classroom.
As an extra activity this lesson suggests that students find ways to make their own school more welcoming to someone that is dealing with the loss of something important to them. I can use this lesson in my own class by helping students understand that everyone has difficult things that they are dealing with, and it is our responsibility to make every student feel at home in our classroom. I can ask students to list ways of how they can make their classroom feel safe, welcoming, and happy. Once the students have come up with some good ideas I can post their ideas on the wall as a reminder for them to treat all their classmates with kindness and to establish a “home-like” classroom.
7. Ed Change Multicultural Awareness Quiz
Question 1: According to the National Center for Education Statistics, what is the percentage of U.S. schools with no teachers of color on staff?
Answer: 40%
I am having a really time understanding how 40% of schools in the United States do not have teachers of color on staff. That is an insanely high number to me. How can a school with diverse students not have diverse teachers? The achievement gap is huge and I can’t help but wonder if this gap would shrink if we had more diverse teachers teaching in the school systems.
Question 13: Based on a 2007 report from the Economic Policy Institute, the annual earnings of the average full-time U.S. worker is roughly equal to:
Answer: The daily earnings of the average CEO in the U.S.
The answer to this question really made me sick. There are so many people out there that work so hard to make a decent living for their families and these CEO’s are making disgusting amounts of money. I know the world isn’t fair but it would be nice if these CEO’s could help share the wealth in some way. Schools could definitely use some money and it would be nice to see the employees, the real hard workers of these companies, have a pay increase.
8.Netiquette
Thank you for taking the Netiquette Quiz!
You correctly answered 10 questions
Overall Score: 100%
In today’s society students are surrounded by technology. From texting, to blogging, to emailing; technology is a part of the daily lives of students. Since technology plays such a huge and vital role in student’s lives, students need to learn the proper dos and don’ts of the cyber world. The rules of online behavior are referred to as Netiquette. It is important to teach students netiquette so that they have knowledge about appropriate social behavior while on the Internet. It is important for students to remember that even though they can’t see another person’s face they are still dealing with real people. They need to keep their comments appropriate and remember that written words don’t carry facial expressions or tone of voice. It is also important that students remember that what they write probably won’t go away. They need to be careful of how they are presenting themselves while on the Internet. :->
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