What I'll be able to incorporate into my teaching

This might be a bit of a cop out, but the concept I learned in this class that I will most likely end up incorporating into my teaching is the use of online web tools in general. I know I'm not supposed to discuss a specific tool in this post, but I'd be lying if I said that using them in general was less than the most valuable concept I'll be taking away from EDUC 932.

In my initial blog post about what I hope to learn from this course, I wrote:

"Hopefully, EDUC 932 will expose me to more technology-based methods of teaching and will turn me on to some websites and programs that can be useful in the classroom. I am not a traditional learner in the sense that one should be able to follow instructions and pick up on a new skill or concept. I generally prefer to be exposed and left to my own devices to experiment and learn through trial and error. I guess you could say that, ideally, EDUC 932 will plant seeds in my mind that can grow into flowering technological advances in my teaching later on."

I don't mean to brag, but I know myself pretty well (or I'm guilty of self-fulfilling prophecy). I've already used a screen cast (a term I didn't know before this course) to show a class that was cancelled last week how to format their essays, and I've planned a podcast assignment too.

It's tough integrating technology into a school with limited facilities like mine, but I might be heading for greener pastures next school year. If so, I'll be able to expand on my use of technology in the classroom, and hopefully expand my grasp on it too.

SAMR is MIA

Ruben Puentedura's presentation on the SAMR is compelling, but just not something I can relate to at the moment. Teaching at a government school in Thailand means extremely limited technology in the classroom, and it also means very limited time with my students.

Since my school, and particularly the program I teach in, caters to the arts, I meet few future engineers or technology buffs. Combined with my lack of affinity for technology (I don't even have a smart phone), the result is very few opportunities to integrate technology into my lessons.

I sometimes have students use Google Docs and Slides and sometimes have my classes make videos. But when it comes to using ipads or computers on the regular, my chances are few and far between.

What I'd like to say to the education world...

If there is one message I'd like to shout from the top of a mountain to every administrator, teacher's union, educator, and student in the world, it is this: stop standardizing.

I imagine that many people would assume that I am referring to standardized testing, but that is just one tiny component of what I see as a gradually centralizing behemoth of universal miseducation. I want the whole system to come crashing down. Be it Common Core, No Child Left Behind, the constant re-brandings of the ESEA, or the Department of Education itself, I want pedagogy to become local, personalized, and specialized.

I believe that while people are born with equal rights, we are born with drastically different abilities. Some students are good at math, others aren't. Some students care about their grammar, others don't. Some students can be still and attentive in 50-minute intervals from 8am-3pm five days a week for twelve years, others can't. Because of this, education should never attempt to create universal standards. Students should be treated differently, and should face teachers with different styles, demands, and curricula. The world has no standards, so it is silly to impose standards on the youth to prepare them for the world.

If I were in charge, some changes I would make in America are:

1. Auctioning off all public schools into private hands (and using the profits of these sales to pay off the debt)

2. Abolishing laws that require parents to send their children to school and scaling back child labor laws, so families can allow their children to develop skills and earn money if they feel it's more beneficial to their children than sitting in a classroom all day

3. Abolishing the Department of Education and returning total control of education to the states and localities

4. Removing the licensing and education degree requirements for perspective teachers in favor of expertise/experience in the subject the teacher desires to teach and life experience in general (additionally, I would do everything in my power to remove all hopes of job security from teachers to force them to stay on top of their game or risk getting canned)

5. Allowing teachers to use limitied corporal punishment if need be

6. Encouraging morals, ethics, and values to take primacy above more scholastic academic fields in school

Rant over.

Movie Unit

Here is my movie unit. This is a project I've done with my 12th graders the past two years. The last two chapters of our textbook focus on food concerns and health issues, so a diet and exercise plan video makes sense to me. Since most of my students are infected with senioritis by the end of the year, it's just easy enough to convince most of them to do a decent job.

***

M6 English Speaking and Listening Formative 2 Assignment: Exercise and Diet plan video

1.      Your assignment is to come up with a weekly routine that people in Bangkok can follow to maintain a healthy lifestyle

2.      Focus on diet and/or exercise

3.      Your routine should be healthy, affordable, and enjoyable, but not time consuming

4.      Your video should be fun. It can be like an infomercial, an exercise video, a cooking show, a skit, or anything else you want

5.      You will work in in five groups of 7-10 people

6.      You will make a five-minute video (shorter than 4:00 or longer than 6:00= -3 points)

7.      Everyone in your group should speak in your video

8.      I will evaluate you based on three factors:

a.       Your plan (Does it make sense? Is it creative? Is it practical?) 5 points

b.      Your English (Are you using English effectively?) 5 points

c.       Your video (Is it fun, interesting, and filmed/edited well?) 5 points

9.      We will watch your videos on the last day of class.

Due Date: Last day of class

	5	4	3	2	1
Plan	Thoughtful, creative, and practical!	One of the three previous criteria is lacking	Two of the three previous criteria are lacking	All of the three previous criteria are lacking	Not much of a plan at all
English	All group members spoke accurately, clearly, and confidently	All group members spoke, and most spoke well	Several members did not speak, or many did not speak well	Few members spoke, or few spoke well	Not acceptable for M6 English
Video	Very attractive and shows great effort	Nice to look at with good effort	Pretty good video with some effort	Not great to look at and not enough effort	Poorly done

My Sample Video

Audio Lesson

Current Events Commentary Podcast

-          -Your assignment is to record a 15-minute podcast that reports and discusses a current events news story

-         - You are to work in groups of 3

      -Your podcast should be no shorter than 14 minutes, and no longer than 16 minutes (-1 point every 30 seconds over or under time)

-          -No more than 2 minutes of your podcast should be spent on introductions and reading the news combined; the vast majority should be analysis, debate, and discussion

-          -You can share your honest opinions as yourselves, or act as biased, agenda-driven pundits

-          -You can use a guide and talking points, but your podcast should be mostly unscripted

-          -My sample was recorded on speakpipe.com; you may use any program or website of your choice to record yours

Due Date: July 6^th in class

Evaluation

	3	2	1	0
Speaking	Virtually fluent, clear, and confident	Few mistakes, mostly clear, and decent confidence exhibited	Quite a few mistakes, some parts difficult to comprehend, and lacks confidence	Unacceptable for gifted English students
Content	Good choice of news story; intriguing analysis and discussion	Fairly interesting analysis and discussion	Somewhat boring discussion	Mostly thoughtless
Production Quality	Shows effort, planning, and care	Acceptable, but not spectacular	Could use some more work	Lazily done

My Sample

Website

Here is a website a created for my 11th grade English class. I normally use a Facebook group to communicate with my students outside of school. Here are links to both:

New Website

Facebook Group

Syllabus

Here is a link to my course syllabus. It's a PowerPoint presentation that I uploaded to SlideShare.

Check it out.