Wiki

This is a wiki I created for use in my future classroom.

http://louisfalland.pbworks.com/w/page/52615507/FrontPage

Learning Objects

I have created three learning objects to help students understand the sport of soccer.

Soccer Rules quiz: http://qz4.me/HnPADH

I created this quiz as a simple assessment of student's knowledge on the basic rules of the game. It can really be taken at any point in the unit because of its difficulty and length. It is very easy for me to grade.

History of soccer timeline: <iframe height='390' width='928' marginwidth='0' marginheight='0'scrolling='no' frameborder='0' src='http://www.xtimeline.com/timeline/yesterday-and-today-soccer/embed/928/390'></iframe>


This timeline is a short history of the evolution of the sport. It gives a brief summary of how soccer came to be what we know it as today. The timeline format is relatively easy to navigate and longer descriptions of events are available.


Diagram of soccer formation: http://www.dabbleboard.com/draw?b=Guest1070481&i=3&c=fa30ee50458c245b917606bd6d8e794f644e109f

This final learning object is a diagram of a standard soccer field and team formation. It shows where both teams' defense, midfield, and offence is located in proportion to the other team and the field. I will use this in class around the time that we will start looking at actually playing the game with regulation rules and teams.

Graphic Organizer - weight management

Health MME (2007)

Strand 1: Nutrition and Physical Activity

1.1 Distinguish between unhealthy and healthy ways to manage weight.

The objective of this graphic organizer is to demonstrate the difference between ways to manage weight. I compared them side by side to show the fact that they are complete opposites. I would use it to display the black and white differences between good and bad choices made when people are trying to lose weight.

I used a T-Chart creator from this website: http://www.worksheetworks.com/miscellanea/graphic-organizers/tchart.html. It was a complicated process because the T-Chart could only be saved in PDF format. It was designed to be printed out and filled out, so putting the chart in this blog involved copying and pasting the chart to a Microsoft Word document using the program Jing. It would be very easy to use if I was printing it out or handing it out to my students, but an online version was more complicated than I would have wanted.

Professional Standards for Michigan Teachers

Although I don't plan on teaching in Michigan, the Professional Standards for Michigan Teachers are good goals to aspire to and are most likely very similar to any first-world state or country I could ever teach in.
The seven main categories of standards are as follows: subject matter knowledge-base in general and liberal education; instructional design and assessment; curricular and pedagogical content knowledge aligned with state resources; effective learning environments; responsibilities and relationships to the school, classroom, and student; responsibilities and relationships to the greater community; and technology operations and concepts.
Right now, I am not very competent in any of these categories. However, I feel that I will be able to meet certain standards better with experience, and some more with study. For example, knowledge about how to have productive relationships with my students, the school, and the community, will not come by taking any particular class. I will learn to do this by experience as a teacher in the unique school and classroom I am in.
Right now, my weakness is the curricular and pedagogical content knowledge aligned with state resources. I am learning more about this in other classes right now, especially focusing on physical education curriculum requirements.
To become proficient in all of these categories will require a combination of experience, trial-and-error methods, and memorization.

My learning styles and multiple intelligences

According to a Learning Style survey and a Multiple Intelligence survey I took recently, I am a sensing and intuitive learner and are kinaesthetically intelligent. As a sensing learner, I tend to like learning facts, and as an intuitive learner, I prefer discovering possibilities and relationships. I like solving problems by well-established methods and dislike complications and repetition. I am patient with details and good at memorizing facts and doing hands-on work. I can grasp new concepts and am very careful. I like learning things that connect to the real world and are applicable to every day life.
As someone who is "body-smart," I like moving around and can think best when I'm active. I am able to control my body movements and handle objects skillfully.
These tests reflected mostly true results. I was already aware that I am body-smart; I value my body as something more than a means by which to transport my head from classroom to classroom. Some parts of the results of my Learning Style survey I thought were incorrect. For example, the survey said that I am comfortable with abstractions and mathematical formulation. These are two of my least favorite things in the world.
In my classroom, I plan on letting children move around a lot. This will match up with my body-smart learning style, as well as the classes I will be teaching - special ed and physical education. My dislike of complications and repetition will also be of great use in these fields. I can keep an open mind when it comes to new ideas, but I am just as comfortable with well-established methods.
Although my learning style and intelligence will benefit my teaching in many ways, there are also some things that I must keep counteract if I want to be a good teacher. For example, I might really like moving around and being active, but not all children are like that; every child has different ways to learn. I can memorize facts; but some students just can't. If I teach this way, then my teaching won't be effective for those children.
I need to be sensitive to all of my student's learning needs by incorporating all intelligences into my lesson; using both numbers and nature, group and individual work, and pictures and words. This is, of course, easier said than done. It will need to be a constant conscious effort every day as I prepare my lesson plan.

Other blogs on special education

Although this is a great blog itself, I am not yet a special education teacher. I'm going to recommend three other blogs that you can visit in order to gain a better understanding of the field and keep up to date with the most recent news.

There are certain laws and regulations encompassing special education. The "Special Education Law Blog" discusses case law, news, practical advocacy advice, and developments in state and federal laws, statutes and regulations. It is written by Charles P. Fox, an attorney from Chicago, as well as some other guest authors. He is the parent of a child with special needs. His authority and experience with special education give him good credibility. He offers insight and sometimes humor into his postings. His blog can be found at http://specialedlaw.blogs.com/

The second blog I am going to recommend is entitled "Education On The Plate." It is written by Deven Black, who became a special education/social studies teacher at the young age of 50. According to Black, "teaching is the most difficult, lowest paying and most rewarding (job)." He offers inspiration to teachers who are not perfect... which means that his audience is very broad. He provides personal examples and stories from his own life, and derives lessons to be learned from anything; from standardized tests to being a librarian. http://educationontheplate.wordpress.com/

My third recommendation is written by a woman named Ann Logsdon. She is a school psychologist with over 18 years of experience in special education. She has provided diagnostic assessments and assisted with program development for individual students and for school-wide initiatives. She worked as a state level special education and equity consultant and investigated special education complaints. Right now, she works at Kentucky State University as an administrator for disability services. Her blog is entitled "Learning Disabilities." Ann writes to parents and teachers support students with a broad range of educational and developmental disabilities. Her blog is easy to read and understand, as most of her blogs are focused on different kinds of learning disabilities. If you come across a student who you are not sure how to handle, Ann's blog can easily be searched to find out how to handle the disability. http://learningdisabilities.about.com/

Why I Want To Be A Teacher

I've never really questioned my desire to be a teacher. I think part of the reason is that I've never really known anything else. The most influential people in my life up until I graduated from high school, beside my parents, were all teachers. It comes down to that; I want to make a difference in kids the same way my teachers made a difference in me. Children see teachers, at a minimum, for several hours a week. That is more than enough time for a teacher to teach more than just a subject; they can teach them morals, life lessons, and give them someone to look up to. Many children don't have a parent figure that they can admire, and everyone needs one of them. To be a teacher is a great honor and privilege and it is a license to change someone's life.