So I’ve been enjoying a couple of weeks off since the end of the spring session courses I took. I’ve now met with my cooperating teacher for my internship twice and I’m excited to begin planning. I’m spending time this month in Edmonton visiting friends and family while house sitting for my
parents. So I’ve packed a box with my planing resources and will get started on some unit plans. I’m glad to have some units to plan because it helps my feel more prepared for the fall and gives me an outlet for my excitement and nerves. I’m lucky in that my mom is also a teacher although she specializes in jr/sr high. She actually now has her masters and works as a vice principal of a junior high. She is an excellent person for me to bounce my ideas off of and has great advice for me. She is also working hard on her timetable for her school. Time tabling is a major job I’ve learned and something most teachers don’t have to deal with but I’ve appreciated the glimpse into how schools are organized. Well back to the novel I’m enjoying as I relax for another couple of days, I figure I worked hard all semester so a little down time is deserved.
Summer fun
A few more thoughts on Inclusive Education
I didn’t mean to do a series on Inclusive Education but that’s exactly what ended up happening so tonight I’m finishing that series off by sharing my final paper for my educational psychology class with you. Learning from those we label
I based my paper around a great children’s book “The Black Book of Colors” by Menena Cottin & Rosana Farin. Even if you don’t read my paper this book is worth checking out. It describes the colours the way a blind child experiences them. The illustrations are black on black so they can best be felt rather than seen. It is a feast for the tactile sense and the poetic words provide a brief insight into the way people without sight perceive the world around them.
Where’s Ms.Ginther been?
Okay it’s the last week of semester and yep I’ve been MIA off my blog for the last few days. I apologize but it seems no matter how well I try to plan ahead the last week before the end of classes is really busy. I’ve been writing papers and finalizing projects for what feels like 30 classes (but it’s actually only 3 they tell me). As well I’ve been longing for my family in Alberta it’s been a long time since I’ve seen my cute nephew. Tonight I have the first of my projects to share, a complete 40 item booklist of great classroom reads. Booklist just click this link and you should be able to access the pdf version of my list. Some of these books I’ve featured already on my weekly lists but there are a more great picks here for you. Since summer is a great time to search for booksales and do some reading I thought I’d add a few titles to your lists.
Coming up a post on what I’ve learned in my educational computers class (hopefully a fun interactive slideshow), a summary of learning and the final post in my inclusive education series 🙂 whew a busy week!
Tech task 5a
I’m struggling with this tech task more than any other, mostly because I feel I have nothing much to say on these topics. I never read anything without considering what might be the authors purpose and bias and on the Internet I greatly enjoy hearing from the other side of the issue usually through the comment section. I was impressed that in most of these cases the discussion stayed very civilized and professional for the most part. On the internet that is rare because people feel anonymous, so I often see very hurtful and inflammatory comments left on posts that deal with more controversial topics. I think the purpose of this task was to teach us to not accept things at face value and to dig deeper into an issue. I’m struggling because it seems like a well duh to me…however I realize that it isn’t obvious to everyone.
The beauty of the Internet is that everyone can share their ideas and opinions with others, however this means that everything comes from someone’s perspective. No one ever manages to stay completely neutral. Every web page you visit is there for a reason but often that reason isn’t clearly identified. I used to teach seniors how to surf the Internet at the public library and the hardest thing was teaching then to look at where the information came from. This became crucial when talking about health websites, who publishes that website will have a lot of influence on the type of information you will find. Learning to identify a drug companies website from a government website is crucial. Both will give you information and the information is important but what you do with that information is what matters.
So do I have an opinion about whether 0s should be given to students or whether Facebook/Twitter are good educational tools. Yep but I have no background to base it on its my opinion and not a very well formed opinion I’ll be honest. I’ve read these pieces and formed an opinion but I don’t feel like my sharing my opinion is of great importance to these debates. Sometimes wisdom is knowing when you have nothing to add and keeping your two cents for another issue.
Tech Task 5b part 2
This is a design assignment called Lyric Typography Poster from Mission: DS106 website. The task was to take the lyrics from a favourite song and turn them into a visual design. I love this song when sung by Ella Fitzgerald it can make you cry it’s titled “Someone to Watch Over Me” It speaks to me on many levels and has for a long time.
Tech Task 5b part 1
This is a visual assignment called Draw It from Mission: DS106 website. The task was to take a photo and convert it to a sketch. I used a free website called tjshome.com to do this with and it was easy peasy. The handsome model is my nephew.
This weeks book picks
It’s a little late and I apologize it’s getting busy with my courses. However, here are this weeks books and this week I have three early reading chapter books to share. These are great for those students who are just starting to read chapter books or would work for a first teacher led novel study.
Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowery. Gooney Bird isn’t just any second grader and when she arrives at her new school she teaches her whole class a lesson about being yourself and what makes a great story. This short book is laugh out loud funny and very relatable for students. It also would be a great book to introduce creative writing and help students learn some of the early steps in the writing process. As an added bonus this is the first book in a series so there is plenty of fun ahead for readers.
Word after Word after Word by Patricia MacLachlan. The author of Sarah, Plain and Tall writes this beautiful and lyrical book about the writing process. Through a series of author visits the grade 4 students are inspired to express their secret fears, sadness and thoughts through expressive poetry. This book is all about the power of words and especially the written word. A much gentler and quieter read about writing it moved me to tears at points and inspired me to write my own poem. I think it would also be good for an introduction to a writing unit, especially a poetry unit.
The Giggler Treatment by Roddy Doyle. Moving away from writing books and into something that is just plain fun. Rover the dog has a secret business working for the gigglers. Gigglers are tiny creatures that look after children by making sure that adults who treat children meanly are punished. In this fun rollicking read we learn how adults are punished and how Rover saves the day when the gigglers target the wrong adult. Caution if the word poo offends you don’t read this book. This is the type of book boys will like, potty humour, quick short chapters and a faced paced funny plot. Is it deep? Not really but it’ll hook reluctant readers and the good news is there are more books in the series to keep them reading.
A Little Rainy Day Interlude
I didn’t make this a man called John D. Boswell did but I wanted to share it because it made my day. It also includes a lot of thoughts I have about why I want to work with young children and what I want them to learn.