ED4425 Item 1: Reflective writing on Classroom Management

Reflection 1. Codes of Conduct:
So why do I have to write a code of conduct for Parents or Caregivers?.I suppose the most fundamental issue here is that schooling and educating is really a group effort, we are trying to be wholistic, as to how we go about raising these young people, into positive aware people who have the capacity to reach out and achieve outcomes that will give them some satisfaction in life. I qualify that statement with the word 'some', because I can't gaurantee outcomes with what happens for the rest of someones life, I can only control my own actions and thoughts, therefore strive to do my best for the students I am teaching.
So the first place I start with codes of conduct is myself,because I know as an adult that to function relatively well in the society that surrounds us, we all follow unseen and many times unwritten codes as to how we should behave. Many years ago if a parent smacked a misbehaving child while in the street no-one would have considered that out of place or inappropriate. Today the parent who physically disciplines a child publicly or even privately is running the risk of being thrown in jail.The imbalance of this societal shift plays out in the classroom constantly for teachers everyday. I'm not advocating brutality in any way but I do feel that the boundary setting that once was quite clear has been wrenched from adults and they havn't been given alternative strategies to support them or the children they are trying to raise.
So this reflection is a good one to have a go at establishing in my own mind a lovely fiction of how it would be if I had a school where the teachers and parents worked together and were not antagonistic or appathetic to one another and created a pro-active school and home life.
Firstly this not only involves teachers parents or caregivers its primary focus is to give the responsibility of behaviour to the students. If you were teaching a primary school group it would be wonderful to have a meeting with the parents of the year coming up and you work together to create a draft of conduct expectations prior to the new school year begining. Then when when you start the new year, you the teacher have discussion with the students establishing clear classroom expectations eg, we do not interupt when someone else is talking we raise our hand and wait till we are selected to speak. you might like to have specific positive values attached to some of these rules so that the children learn fundamental values of respect love patience caring giving etc.
Secondly creating a contract that can then be taken home for the parents and students to read together, agree upon and signed, would be a great undertaking for the student to tangibly undertake the management of their own behaviour with the support of their parents/caregivers. The reason I would use this approach is that everyone is in the loop, we are all trying to achieve the same outcomes and be as positive and supportive towards the students, with the aim of investing them with their own responsibilities and creating valuable awareness and self esteem which of course goes on to help with all areas of learning.
Thirdly consistency and clear parameters are essential for the developing student to feel safe in their lesarning environment, if they are feeling back up in their home life and not confusing messages then some of the elements of Glassers theories are being met and the chances of these kids going of the rails completely is a little less likley.
Safety, Love, power, Freedom and Fun these are the basic needs that Glasser lays out, not only students, but we all need to fulfill and only when these are met can real learning ensue. So through the implementation of a contract of behaviour guide lines that we might establish with student's and caregivers hopefully we are creating that feeling of safety and love, we are investing the students with power to choose good behaviour over disruptive behaviour, this in turn invests them with power over their engagament of learning this helps the teachers to create fun learning activities as they are not continually trying to manage misbehaviour. the students then really do have fun when they come to school so it is a positive experience and leads to further positive outcomes further down the life pathway.

Reflection 2.2, Essential Elements
I think that one of the most essential elements for all the students and teacher is that the students know where they stand, they understand what is acceptable and what is not acceptable behaviour in the classroom and as a group. they understand the rights and responsibilities of the whole group as well as the individual and the responsibilities are applied consistently, by the group and the teacher.
I specificly have used the word responsibilities instead of rules, as in my opinion students today still have the view that school is a prison, designed to contain and restrain them. With this negative view that many students reveal to me through discussion i wonder how I could construct a better way to manage misbehaviour. Reading Glassers Choice Theory and R.T.P. Responsible thinking Process by ed Ford and Bill Rodgers Positive Leadership have helped me to have a better understasnding of what I see needs to be in a well structured discipline model.

Glassers' states that " all we do is behave, that almost all behaviour is chosen and that we are driven by our genes to satisfy five basis needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom and fun". If we implement the Seven Caring Habits from his Choice Theory we are replacing the external control psychology that is predominant in the world today and in a similar vein Ed Fords Responsibile Thinking Process, helps to develope a thoughtful aware person, who is reflective apon themselves and others around them, analyses their behaviour and works out strategies to improve difficulties. Bill Rodgers also supports the idea that we develope young people that become responsible for how they act and the effect their actions have on those around them.
Through the process of implementing these theories the teacher is growing and developing themselves and developing a much deeper understanding of how they "tick" as well. I think the major outcome of adopting a discipline that incorporates these ideas is that everyone is learning about "Respect". Learning to respect others and yourself is in my mind a pathway to fulfilling the five basis needs of Glasser and the personal ideal of Ford and the strong leadership of Bill Rogers.


Reflection 2.3, Reflection onTwo Theories:

The development of psychological theories in teaching or rather how we learn and what are the main underlying fundamentals that need to be met in order to achieve a reasonable learning outcome, are the basis of many of the theorists that we have been studying this semester. We have looked at the the theories that support total teacher centered control, with our examination of Skinner and the Behaviouralists, right through to the other end of the equation where we have student centered learning with the ideas of Ed Ford , Patrick Connor and Thomas Gordon.
An important aspect of maintaining effective classroom management is that we build workable relationships between the teacher and students, to this end we may need to employ a number of theorists' strategies at any one time in the classroom. Although Billy who has ADHD, and his special support person has implemented a behaviouralists based program where they use stimulus and response based theory to support his learning, you as a teacher must be familiar with the theory behind this learning process so that you will have the skills at your finger tips to give that added and complete support to Billy in your classroom and in so doing, create that safe, fun, empowering rewarding environment for that student.
Therfore, even though you may not favour the Skinner approach of theories, you must still have the competency to understand the individual needs that will pertain to each individual student.
After looking at a variety of theories of how we can manage student behavior in the classroom, the approach of Bill Rogers and Ed Ford are two interesting processes to examine.
The Positive Behaviour Leadership Model of Rogers, which sits in the middle ground on the scale of teacher centered to student centered managment theories, supports not only the student but the behaviour of the teacher as well. I feel guidance for teachers is vitaly important, because, firstly as teachers the main emphasis has been on our approach to managing students. Fair enough, but I feel we must manage our behaviour before anything eles and this relates back to Glassers point that, "all we do is behave, and all behaviour is chosen". When we have an awareness of our own behaviour then we can remedy any traits or re-actions that need adjustment. In my view-point it is through self development that we become cognisant of how to explain the eventual benefits of self discipline and self control to students, that through the Rogers model we are trying to atttain. His model focuses on respect, rights and relationships, that extend from teacher to student, student to student, parent and student and school, school and community. The point I would like to make is that he is also aware of the teachers responsibility to themselves in having a deep understanding of respect for themselves, how we think impacts so profoundly on the students, school and parents. It is from this inner development that we can develop a strong loving platform from which to implement our management process. From this positive behaviour model the students can identify clearly positive behaviour outcomes, but Rogers is not so naive as to suggest that this is all we need, he also supports preventative strategies in the form of very clear rules that are stated posistvely and the establishment of consequences for the breaking of those rules. "The authoratitative, democratic or decisive teacher knows their rights as a teacher and calmly goes about claiming their rights. they have a clear plan for responding to students' inappropriate behaviour. They have established clear rules and students know what behaviour is expected of them". ( Classroom Discipline and Management, p223) we are aimimg at student co-operation. He also focuses on body language and vocal language as a very important tool, to be consciously trained by the teacher to achieve student awareness and co-operation.
Another model that could compliment Rogers positive Leadership is the Ford model Responsible thinking Process. This model celebrates that we are all individuals whose schema is formed by the environment that we grow up in. it challenges us to help the student develop thier own idea of who they wish to develop into and sets them on a course to achieve this. to achieve this they need to be able to establish values and beliefs systems and understand the principles that go with these values. having got this far they then work out the behavioural boundaries thsat they feel will help them to achieve the support of the principle they wish to adopt. Again this is a sophisticated model that I think could only be attempted once the teacher has that competent understanding of the works of Glasser Rogers Dreikurs and the behaviouralists like skinner. It has merit in the way it invests the responsibility back onto the student in a aware and constantly developing way and provides a positive structure of learning self respect and respect for others as well as a realistic acceptance of the fact that we can fail but we assess and then find new approaches and we then learn new strategies for our individual needs.
As I mentioned at the begining of this piece I feel I would use many models all at once but it is through practice and the process of "Praxis" that Iwill develop that calm assertive confident teacher that I wish to become. Praxis= action then reflection upon the action, identification of flaws and the assessing how you can improve the process and then putting it into action once again, then assessing the results once again. As you can see a life long tool to create the best you can be at a given moment and always aimimg at improvement and positive output.




Bibliography:
Clifford H. Edwards & Vivienne Watts. Classroom Discipline & Management an australian perspective. John Wiley & Sons Australia, 2004.

women through art history

Reflection Part 3 for JS423

This third reflection I hope will round off what I have tried to learn throughout this semester. As you can see at the beginning I was completely overwhelmed with most of the information that I was ingesting. It has been a complete revelation to me on many levels and I hope that I will continue to feed and nurture this new perspective of my faith that I have been allowed to see and think about.
Our last lecture had us focusing on the present day sign's of the times in which terrorism is a ever increasing issue. With the help of the historical perspective of colonisation that has occured around this globe, I start to get the picture that wherever white man or should I say European man has invaded, it has been purely for the benefit of a European treasury/economy somewhere, this has repeatedly brought about inequity to the indigenous peoples of the country that has been dominated. To then witness the terrible acts of terrorism by Asama Bin Laden and his followers is a chilling reminder that the oppressed will finally rise up against the oppressors.There seems to be a relationship to all the revolutions that have occurred it wasn't the poor of France but the literate and educated that led the Reveloution in 1789. Asama wasn't poor or opressed he was exactly the opposite and that is what makes his crime even more heineous, but this issue of empathy, with that shame that is being inflicted on the least of our brothers is a profound experience.When I read the article "Nine key themes in Catholic Social Teaching",by Massaro, Sheed and Ward, I found a reconfirmation of why I hold onto my catholic Faith, it's depth and real awareness of the value of Human rights and dignity, solidarity and participation and the common good,as well as the sacredness and value of the human family. This particular article has given me some very foundational concepts and language to build my practice of faith upon.It also encapsulated most of the ideas we have been trying to understand during this course, put it under headings that are digestable. For example under the first heading this sentence is the heart beat of my belief,"Because we are intelligent and free beings,God intends us to be immune from all slavery, manipulation, or exploitation. At all stages of our lives - from the moment of conception through the vunerable years of childhood and old age to the very moment of natural death - we deserve the care and attention that belongs to beings of inestiminable worth" and of course this as a foundation can be very challenging as we have seen this very week with the debate on stemcell research and the words of Cardinal Pell to those in politics who had to take the vote.I have found a very interesting ethestist a Dr Margaret Sommerville who enters many debates that are often very confusing for the lay person, these are just a couple of the web sites connected to her http://www.intact.ca/othersites.html and http://gauntlet.ucalgary.ca/story/2679
The clarification that Catholic social encyclicals teach us that to be human is to experience not only rights but also obligations to others and that by living in community with each other we flourish and grow if we follow these teachings. while saerching through youtube I found this great piece on Social Justice being practive in the creative arts arena and though it applies to Martin Luther King and his fight for justice I can see it as a cool idea on which I could instigate a project within a school and community setting.
As I try to match what I will possibly have to undertake as an educator with my own personal beliefs, I still come back to looking at the issues that face young people today. Yes there are very big issues that we have to face in this world today but I firmly believe that the best way to lead young ones to an active and rewarding live within their faith is to get them actively identifying issues within the community around them. Make it real and relevant, set achievable outcomes that they can all reach, that benefit the community around them and keep it relevant to the Gospels and the teachings of Christ. And the beauty of all this is that no matter what area you teach in you can bring your won special talents and creativity to the experience and this will enrich the experiences of those around you and you are living out the parrable of the Talents and that is a truely wonderful thing to aspire to and achieve within your life.
Michael thankyou for a truely inspiring semester and you probably will never know what you have done for me on a personal level, this unit has reinvigorated my relationship with Christ and for that I thank you very much, I have been praying for this to happen for a long time in my life. God bless and all the best in the future Clare Rooney

reflection on the idea of the webquest as a learning tool

I have been paning through all the sites on the net to see how i should approach the creation of this webquest and I have found some really interesting views that are insightful and well expressed and that offer a clear challenge as to ow top approach and use this madium to achieve good teaching and learning outcomes
http://www.webquest.org/ The articlae that I really significant was the entry that Bernie Dodge wrote on the 05/04/07 in which he gives us a clear idea of which end of the Blooms taxonomy we should be aiming at, with the outcomes that our webquest should hold.

Knowledge: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce state.
Comprehension: classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, translate,
Application: apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write.
Analysis: analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test.
Synthesis: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write.
Evaluation: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value, evaluate.
From Bloom, et al., 1956

As teachers we tend to ask questions in the "knowledge" catagory 80% to 90% of the time. These questions are not bad, but using them all the time is. Try to utilize higher order level of questions. These questions require much more "brain power" and a more extensive and elaborate answer. Below are the six question categories as defined by Bloom.

KNOWLEDGE
remembering;
memorizing;
recognizing;
recalling identification and
recall of information
Who, what, when, where, how ...?
Describe
COMPREHENSION

interpreting;
translating from one medium to another;
describing in one's own words;
organization and selection of facts and ideas
Retell...
APPLICATION
problem solving;
applying information to produce some result;
use of facts, rules and principles
How is...an example of...?
How is...related to...?
Why is...significant?
ANALYSIS
subdividing something to show how it is put together;
finding the underlying structure of a communication;
identifying motives;
separation of a whole into component parts
What are the parts or features of...?
Classify...according to...
Outline/diagram...
How does...compare/contrast with...?
What evidence can you list for...?
SYNTHESIS
creating a unique, original product that may be in verbal form or may be a physical object;
combination of ideas to form a new whole
What would you predict/infer from...?
What ideas can you add to...?
How would you create/design a new...?
What might happen if you combined...?
What solutions would you suggest for...?
EVALUATION
making value decisions about issues;
resolving controversies or differences of opinion;
development of opinions, judgements or decisions
Do you agree...?
What do you think about...?
What is the most important...?
Place the following in order of priority...
How would you decide about...?
What criteria would you use to assess...?
http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/researchskills/dalton.htm
http://www.alicechristie.org/edtech/index.html Dr Alice Christie is a superb educator in the USA and her site is a great place to visit and learn from.
http://webquest.sdsu.edu/designpatterns/all.htm This site was another really helpful way to understand how to construct this learning tool

Inspiration Mind Map Example

To load an Inspiration map onto a blog
when open in inspiration go to file
down to export,choose giff,
save, then save as, (usb, desktop my docs or personal file )
then in my blog
open up a new post
Hit compose
then picture icon
then browse
retrive from wherever
upload then done

final Lecture

Web quest
Define what a webquest is
Identify teaching and learning benefits of intergrating WQs as learning tools
Identify the critical components of a web q
Evaluate some webqs
Network data base that is univwersal, information that is accessible

an enquiry oriented activity in which most or all of the informatiion thast learners interact with comes from resources on the internet

Mind Map on Prensky's DN's V's DI's