Instructional Design Thoughts...

So after sitting in class working, or maybe better described as fighting, for three hours with four other girls to finish our Instructional Design project, I've come to appreciate the riggors of an Instructional Designer. Tuesday working on this project was an ease, we got the plan together for our project and thought that putting it together would be a breeze...but reality bites! Day two of putting it together, we realized it is hard to work with very strong willed girls who have different ideas. We all have our own ideas, and after finally getting our ideas on the same page we started to progress. This work is much more complicated and requires more dedication than previous thought. I have a strong appreciation for anyone in this field. Coming into this project I thought it would be an assignment that I would never look at again. After almost finishing our game, it has come together and has developed into something of real substance that can be a real aid in my classroom. I really do appreciate this assignment, even with all of the estrogen in our group!

What's so bad about extracurricular activities?

I know I'm a math teacher, but I am very sad about the state of schools these days. Thinking back on this past year of teaching in Inglewood, the students at my school had no extracurricular activities available. There was no art class, there was no drama, there was no wood shop, there was no student council, and the list goes on. One of the reasons why I didn't mind, or dare say, loved, school was because of all of the other fun things that school offered. Our state needs to get their act together and bring back funds for these extracurricular activities. Who knows what geniuses are out there? Some of them might fall through the cracks because they weren't given the opportunities to enjoy school and find their good subjects. I understand the importance of math and science in curriculum, but we cannot ignore the importance of the arts and other venues for students to express themselves.

Is Tenure totally worth it?

I was thinking about Tenure yesterday and how I probably won't get that for many years, which is scary! At the same time, is tenure all it's cracked up to be? I consider myself a great teacher, I take pride in my career, I care about my students, I go above and beyond the job description, and I always get my stuff accomplished. I have worked at a low income school under Program Improvement this past year and have had a real awakening to the world of tenure. As I received my pink-slip for the upcoming year I realized that there were other teachers at my school whose jobs were safe. And I know I shouldn't judge, but come on! A lot of the teachers at my school are jaded and take no pride in their job. There is one in particular who has no control over her class and hardly shows up to work, but she's safe. How is this possible, and how is this beneficial to our students? I understand the usefulness of tenure, but it does make it hard for us new teachers who are eager to get in, and stay in, a classroom for good reasons to get jobs. Any other industry, if an employee does not perform, they are terminated. How is it that a teacher can miss over 50 days of school, have nothing but complaints by students and parents, show no results on standardized tests still get to keep her job? This is a frustrating topic for me because I am now for the second summer in a row looking for a new job. It is scary not having job security, but at the same time those teachers that do have jobs should still be forced to perform. I'm not saying it should be based solely on standardized tests, because there are extenuating circumstances, but we give assessments, why shouldn't we be assessed?

Is it really possible to give intrinsic motivation to students?

So I was sitting at UCI and it was approaching 10 pm on a Thursday night while I worked on an assignment for one of my MAT II classes and I was thinking what makes me motivated to take the initiative to stay this late at school just so I can finish an assignment when I didn't need to be there doing it at that very moment. I have intrinsic motivation to learn, but how do my students who have no motivation to learn gain this same type of intrinsic motivation? I can't give it to them, that would be an oxymoron. I have mentored, I have tried extrinsic motivators that don't seem to last once the incentive is taken away. I am at a loss. I understand that there are strategies that work with some students, I just haven't been successful with my students this past year. During my student teaching I was successful at motivating my students using the strategies above, but this year in Inglewood I came across almost 80% of my students who had absolutely no motivation what-so-ever. This could be an anomaly, but I think it is a majority of factors that cause students to be unmotivated. I just am looking for answers on how to change that. I understand that people have different wants out of life, but I do not understand how refusing to learn can solve anything in life. All I want to do is help my students, and it is very frustrating to see them make choices that will not allow them opportunities later on in life. This is a dilemma that I face as a teacher, but it is certainly something that I will work on and try to change.

Growing up with (or without) Technology

So my experience with technology growing up seems very limited to the amount of technology that is out there for students now-a-days. In school I didn't have a cell phone, until my junior year of high school, and it was the size of a brick without color or internet. That was the day when cell phones were actually used as cell phones. This was when there were no signs posted to silence your cell phones, movies only asked you to be quiet, not to text or make calls during the movie. Teachers didn't have to threaten students to put ipods, ipads, or cell phones away before class started. In school we had computers, we played Oregon Trail as a way to learn about people coming west. I learned how to type on a type writer in my typing class in 6th grade. I remember we were typing a paper in middle school and a girl accidentally highlighted her paper and deleted it, the teacher didn't even know what to do. The undo button was created, but seemed out of reach of the limits of our knowledge at that time. The simplist things that I take for granted now when it comes to technology we so far fetched when I was in Middle School and High School.

It is amazing to me how much students, even if they are underprivlidged, have access and understand how to use, sometimes better than me, these days. Just the fact that they are able to use their cell phones to text answers to questions, or interact on live websites instantaneously creates unlimited access to the world of academics.