Welcome to Mrs. Stiffler's 6th grade class. This school is not a traditional school. Changes have been made to calander year as well as the classroom and the way in which material is presented to and taught to the students. These changes were made in the belief that they are the best way to not only teach students, but also to prepare them for the fast-pace, always changing technological world they will enter as graduates.
The calander year has been changed to a year-round calander. Instead of a long 3 month vacation during the summer, there are smaller breaks during the year. Cutting summer vacation will allow students to not slip back in what is called the summer learning gap. The National Association for Year-Round Education has several aritcles and statistics on their web site. Some of these include research on how a 3 month summer vacation puts children in low-income families at a severe disadvantage as well as links to site from states that have year-round schooling and the benefits to their students.
http://www.nayre.org/
 |
| THE CALANDER YEAR Shorter sessions with frequent short breaks between are believed to minimize the learning gap caused by summer vacation and keep the students from getting burned out. |
Many districts in California have already switched to year round schooling. California has a website detailing different schedules schools can following and the advantages and disadvantages of each. Although I did not choose to use one of these schedules, many of the advantages and disadvantages remain the same. http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/fa/yr/guide.asp
CNN has a good article at http://articles.cnn.com/2009-09-04/us/us.year.round.schools_1_school-year-school-day-school-week?_s=PM:US. This article was actually questioning if year round education had any benefits at all. The opinions of a principle in a school in Viriginia with year round education and quotes from the US Secretary of Education about the harmful effects of such a long summer vacation. However, there were also statements made by a Vice President Board Member from Miami quoted in this article. I believe that these statements show the problems in education today, and not just in the calander year.
"The teachers were fatigued at the end of the day, the students were fatigued and unmotivated," she said.
"In most cases, these are students who are not motivated to be in school, so you're going to punish them by making them stay longer."
Another woman, an analyst in education, was quoted as saying:
"Extending time in schools that are already underperforming is a risk. I think it goes without saying that no one wants to extend bad time."
Statements like these upset me very much. The thing that upsets me the most is these statements were made by people who make the decisions about our children's education and future. If children are not motivated to attend school and are fatigued at the end of the day, maybe it is up to the teachers to do something about that. If attending school becomes a punishment to children, then there is something obviously wrong with the way things are done and changes need to be made. Make the classroom a place children want to be and are excited and encouraged to learn.
 |
| Students should be interactive, not unmotivated and exhausted. |
http://www.novadevelopment.com/software/language-learning-software/?gclid=CMmS042Ggq0CFcNo4AodIVF54g. I have used software from both companies at home with my children. They enjoy it and learn a lot from them. If they were given assignments from these software programs, perhaps the students would not be exhausted and unmotivated. My children could sit on the computer for hours with these programs. Spellingcity is a website that allows teachers to create fun games and exercises for students, making studying spelling words fun. There are also other lessons to be learned on this website, including geography and social studies. http://www.spellingcity.com/
 |
| Technology and software can be a powerful tool if used at it's full potential. |
My goal as the teacher is to introduce my students to a whole new world of resources. I will help my students learn to discover learning instead of teaching at them. I want my students to learn how to find answers and research topics instead of hearing a lecture and memorizing what was said to them. In most cases, students are encouraged to use resources and ask eachother questions. The education my students recieve will prepare them for the real world and the workforce. When a students asks for help from a classmate, it is called cheating and frowned upon. When an adult asks for help, it is called collaberation and is encouraged. That is why I have cooperative learning in my classroom.
Research has shown that cooperative learning techniques:
- promote student learning and academic achievement
- increase student retention
- enhance student satisfaction with their learning experience
- help students develop skills in oral communication
- develop students' social skills
- promote student self-esteem
- help to promote positive race relations
Students learn to work as a group, making them better able to adjust for working as a team later in life. Our major discoveries in science, or major developments by NASA, for example, were not made by individuals, but rather by groups of teams working together. According to the website above, children learn five major elements while working as a group. These are positive interdependence, face-to-face interaction, individual and group accountability, interpersonal and small group skills, and group processing. *Please visit the website above for more detail and additional information.
My Classroom Design
 |
| Classrooms of the future, changing the look of education |
What does the future classroom need to look like in order to best provide for students' needs? According to one web site, "I feel that these spaces will probably be multiple rooms within the one learning space." (http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/21st+Century+Learning+Spaces#The 21st Century Learning Space-Classroom design:)
 | ||
|
| |
| The front of my classroom has my desk in front and a projector and two smart boards. The students have tables they can sit in. Although I was not able to depict this in my creation, the desks will be more in a half moon shape. I believe this encourages more interaction in group discussion. The students are all able to face each other this way, instead of having to turn to see who is talking. This area is for presentations, video conference calls, and science experiments. The back of the classroom has tables for the students to sit at. These tables have laptops for every student and a smart board so the students are able to research and create together. This area will be used for group projects and individual work. | |
 |
| An ideal picture of what the back of my classroom would look like. http://www.livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=227157 |
 |
| An ideal picture of what the front of my classroom would look like. http://www.livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=227157 |
My Curriculum
I have made a sample of the lessons to be presented to the students. The students will view a prezi presentation from me each morning describing the lessons for the day. I enjoyed blogging in my technology class and I believe it is a valuable tool. I will have all my students create one and post their thoughts and opinions of class events. I strongly believe we need to make a stronger focus in foreign languages, so I will provide my students with lessons in Spanish. I also have software for French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, and German that will be made available to them. The test for foreign language will be conferencing with students from these other countries and carrying on a correct dialog with them. I believe more in projects than I do tests, even though in some cases I believe tests are fine.
http://theconnectedclassroom.wikispaces.com/Classroom
Why is technology so important? It is necessary that we make changes to our education system now in order to keep our children from falling behind in this fast pace world. We must provide them with the ability to compete with students from other countries in a global economy. Many people are fighting these changes because change is scary and people like familiarity. They are comfortable with it. However, watch this video and see why it is important to make changes and make them now.
FEEDBACK
