EDT500 FERNANDES

6 September 2011

Taking Learning Seriously – Lee S. Shulman

Shulman describes three main pathologies as diagnoses for difficulties with learning; amnesia, fantasia, and, inertia. 

Regarding amnesia, Shulman compares medical students memorizing medical terms to students memorizing nonsense syllables having similar retention rates. I bet most of us have taken a class or classes in which we have forgotten the content over a period of time, especially where rote skills take priority over meaningful connections.  As a Special Education teacher, amnesia can take place with my students on a daily to weekly basis depending on the individual.  My job is to provide meaningful connections for my students that transform content into meaningful concepts across the short-term memory barrier.  At the high school level, educational technology is certainly an important tool that can help facilitate deeper conceptual learning, but our main enemy is not the tools, but time.  In comparison to the vast amount of content taught in AP classes, many Special Education students may find singular topics difficult regardless of class level.   All too often, the pace of these classes does not allow sufficient time to enhance content knowledge.  The true challenge is finding a product or delivery that is functional and efficient.

Fantasia is one of the most frequent of the three pathologies that I see on a daily basis.  Many of my students encounter difficulty with forming irregular hypotheses or even algorithms (I call this the “New Math”).  Again, individual student learning styles and abilities are a huge factor here as many students lack the ability or desire to assess their own understanding of topics.  For technology to be successful in this area, it should allow students to independently check progress and offer time to self-advocate when necessary for extra-help.  The technology should not provide answers, but indicate where a correction needs to be made to get back on the right track.

I am a living example of inertia.  I am great at trivia games and I enjoy watching Jeopardy!  My friends call me “the king of useless knowledge.”While at times, my knowledge bank can be useful; my colleagues have multiple degrees focused on single disciplines.  A high school special education teacher cannot be expected to be a master in every field, yet technology developed in conjunction with regular education could provide opportunities for students to enhance learning in the resource room.

Even though not originally mentioned in the beginning, nostalgia is perhaps one of the biggest threats to Special Education.  There are many ways a special education student can improve that cannot be measured by standards-based instruction.  Students with Intellectual or Emotional difficulties can improve greatly throughout a school year in ways that cannot be measured on a standardized test.  Again, technology in this area will need to depend on the individual’s needs, but could greatly improve there school or community participation.

 I don't know if this was done on purpose or not, but it definitely caught my eye.  This is an example of what a typical professional development day might look like for me.  32 slides of mind-numbing material that would be better suited for an email attachment.  I hope someone did not have to really present this.

 I liked this presentation because while you can get a main idea from the slides, a clearer representation would come from the presenter.  There is a wide variety of real-world examples, creative images, and pop up quotations to illustrate certain points.   I feel that if I can get all the information I need simply by reading the presentation independently, what do I need the presenter for?  Send me the link and I read it on my own time.  This presentation would definitely provide opportunities for discussion. 

13 September 2011

Project Audience

My audience will consist of 14-15 high school special education students in grades 9-12.  All have been identified, and have diagnoses including Learning Disabilities, ADD/ADHD, Autism, and Emotional Disturbance.  The high school has four academic levels of classes; Academic (AC), College Prep (CP), Honors (H), and Advanced Placement (AP).  The students on my caseload take classes across all of these levels.  Additionally, despite the labels of class levels, many special ed and regular ed students taking academic (AC) classes attend both two and four year colleges/universities.

While all of the students on my caseload have individualized education plans (IEP), most of the students have goals and objectives related to organization, independence, and self-advocacy. Planning for this group will follow their IEP objectives, but the real challenge will be constructing a plan that is both functional, efficient, and easy to use on an individual basis.  An individual access to technology survey will definitely be required at the early stages of this project. 

20 September 2011

Making It Happen - A Non-Technical Guide to Project Management by Mackenzie Kyle

This book does exactly what its title describes, providing an easy to read description of project management and common errors that can lead to confusion and delayed results.  Seeking advice from his pipe smoking Jedi Grandmother-In-Law, the project manager divides his assignment into decisive manageable components.  The style and pace of the project are logical and every member of the project team is well coordinated.  I was especially impressed with the sponsor's involvement in the assignment.  In education, ideas that often come from the top are often initiated without involvement, and some with serious financial repercussions.

I took to two concepts from this novel.  1.) Every project should be treated differently and final objectives addressed as so.  There is no one method that can work all of the time, every time.  and 2.)  In order for any project to improve, changes need to be made.

27 September 2011

I tried my luck at a prezi presentation.  Hopefully this works for you.   

Summative Assessment Evaluation

Since the audience for this project will be the teachers, the success of the lessons will need to determined by both student and teacher evaluations.TeTe