Lincoln Logs

The linking learning never stops!!! Did you know that John Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright, had some connections to this area — he designed several homes in Long Beach and Coolspring Elementary School in Michigan City!! He was also the inventor of Lincoln Logs.

Thank You

On behalf of Dr. Eisenhauer and myself we want to thank you for a great semester. We have both enjoyed working with all of you and through the many projects we planned this semester we were able to truly find your strengths as future teachers. Continue to persevere to make your dream of becoming a teacher come true. You are almost there and will soon reap the benefits of having your own classroom filled with naturally curious learners.

Great summer reading

Here is the reference for the book I shared in class today: Peterson, R. (1992). Life in a crowded place: Making a learning community. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. It will give you some things to think about before you begin student teaching!
Enjoy.

Last Class

Hey everyone! Don't forget to bring what you signed up for last week to class tomorrow!!

I am currently working on making the informational graphs relating to the feedback from Pine Family Night. I was wondering if anyone can help me out in naming all of the stations that were there that night. So far I have:

Music
Toys
Perseverance (what did the station entail?)
Log Cabins

So I believe I am missing two stations. If you could let me know which ones I missed I would appreciate it. Thanks!

Pine Family Night Feedback

For your information, the data from the feedback forms from Pine Family Night are now posted. You may choose to use this for your ICP Key Assignment, or you may choose to write a narrative analyzing the assessment/evaluation process that we used. Did it work? Did you receive the information you wanted? How might you adapt this in the future? You may submit your Integrated Curriculum Plan to Dr. Eisenhauer on Taskstream anytime before Monday. Good luck!

Last Class

Just a reminder we will be having a panel of student teachers visiting our class on Monday, April 27, 2009 to talk about their student teaching experiences. Come to class with any questions you may have concerning student teaching. The panel will be there at 8:30 a.m. so please be punctual.

Also since there is no education banquet this year Common Denominator will be performing for the student teachers and any other education students who would like to celebrate the end of the school year on Tuesday, May 5th at the Crossroads Lounge in Westville from 4-7 p.m. You must be 21 to attend. This is a free event. Come on out and support Graham Smith, Dave Ferris, and Dr. Pratt. Hope to see you there.

Confused about Feedback Forms....AGAIN!!!

I was thinking this weekend about the feedback form graphs from the family night. I was wondering how each group was going to get the information from those to make graphs to represent the data?

Reader's Theatre

The students of Communication 240, "Introduction to Oral Interpretation," will present Potpourri of Literature, a Reader's Theatre performance on Monday, April 20, at 11:30 to 12:45 in LSF 2 and on Sunday, April 26, at 2:30 PM also in LSF 2. These performance represent the 20th year anniversary of this event that has presented students performing and reading various pieces of literature developed upon a specific theme. This year's theme and program title is "It's About Time." Please plan to attend one of these performance to enjoy the literature and to support the efforts of these students. Thank you.

Pine Family Night

The address for Pine school is:
1594 N 500 E
Michigan City, IN 46360

The phone number is (219) 873-2114

Please be at the school at 5:15 p.m.

We have been asked to park in the back by the big playground and gym.
Peggy Thomas will meet you at the back doors.

Summer Internship Position

ALLWays Learning Child Development Center has an internship opportunity for this summer. ALLWays Learning is working on the NAEYC accreditation self-study. The self-study prepares us for applying for accreditation. If you are interested, please contact:

Shannon R. Spratley, ALLWays Learning Director
ALLWays Learning Child Development Center
750 Ransom Road
Valparaiso, IN 46385
Phone (219) 46C-HILD Fax (219) 462-0867
sspratley@valpoymca.org

Pine Family Event

Remember to dress in your best blue jeans (no holes) and a shirt/top/blouse in red/white/and or/blue.

The address for Pine School is:
1594 N 500 E
Michigan City, IN 46360-9524

We will need to be at the school at 5:15 p.m. to set up. The event will be from 6:00-7:00 p.m. We will be responsible for staying after the event to tear down and clean up.

Hats off to Reading Committees

The following committees have been created to conduct the Hats off to Reading event. Please post any work your committee has done, is doing etc. This will help us all stay informed of all the tasks and to make sure we are keeping the event organized. Feel free to ask any questions of committees.

Committee Organizer: Lauren Armstrong KDP Vice President of Reading

Publicity - Create flyers to distribute to schools. Tracy Wylie and Ashley Watson

Management - Decide on the way to keep track of centers/who will be facilitating centers/dress code. Samantha Ellis and Julie Heise.

Enhancing the Environment (wall decorations) - Remember these walls are huge and white: Kelley Gertner, Karianne Lopez, Maria Yovino, and Charlotte Joseph.

Center Labels: Amanda Press

Enhancing the Environement (tables): Ryan Anderson, Graham Smith, and Melanie Eng

Welcome - Directional signs posted in the library, door decorations, welcome table decoration: Christy Kelver and Ashley Bernardi

Sign in/Sign out - Create nametags for children, create certificates of participation for children to handout when leaving: Christa Robertson, Meg DeWell and Brynn Wozniak

Contact - contact our Lincoln impersonator, set up time, and what his responsibilites will be. The Lincoln impersonator is Chuck Vandersteldt cvande00@pnc.edu: Kim Cates

Photographer - requires a digital camera. Photograph the days events and put into a powerpoint presentation. - Becky Kohler

Feedback form for Family Night

I know a few weeks ago we were discussing a feedback form for the Family Lit Night. It was my group's understanding that each group was to make a feedback form and then we were going to go through them in class and create one feedback form to be filled out by the participants of family night. Is this still going to be done? Should we send our completed feedback forms to someone so that copies can be made for everyone to look at on Monday? Just wondering how this was going to work.

Hats off to Reading

Amanda had a good idea that a few of us were running with. We thought that if anyone could get us a piece of plywood that was cut to about 5 feet Charlotte, Amanda, and myself could draw and paint Abe Lincoln on it and cut out the face. It would be something that the kids could put their face in and take a picture or do it just for fun. It would be a cool way to remember their day. So the question is does anyone have a 5 ft. piece of plywood laying around that we could use?

Listen to the Wind

I just purchased the youth version of Three Cups of Tea and the picture book Listen to the Wind. They are great resources for those of you who want to introduce your future students to the idea of being a humanitarian. They have all three versions (adult, youth, and picture book) avaliable at Barnes and Noble.

Hats off to reading

My group and I are a little lost wondering how we get the infomation about the hats off to reading assignment since we haven't talked about in class at all and it says that the plan is due next Monday. We would really like to have the information on it along with the info on the Family night stuff, so that we can work on these assigments and get them do before they are due. Thanks so much.

Hats of to Reading

I was wondering what needs to be done for the hats off to reading because we didn't talk about it in class and its due on monday??

Certain Time?

Is there a certain time that the CMP needs to be posted to Taskstream Monday?

Early Childhood Conference

We werewondering what needs to be done to receive the "extra credit" for the Early Childhood Conference. Do we just need to monitor rooms and assist in directing traffic or do we present something and if so, what? We know this conference is a month away but since we won't be able to attend the Hats Off To Reading due to Outreach to Teach we need to gain the extra points and prepare early.

Tracy and Ashley

A Good Read

I just finished reading Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin and I have to say it is a must read. Greg Mortenson is a living example of someone who possesses the philosophical perspective of a social reconstructivist. Three Cups of Tea is the story of a failed American mountaineer, Greg Mortenson, who ends up in an impoverished Pakistan village. (There is an adult version of the book, a young adult version of the book, and a picture book all available.) Moved by the kindness of the inhabitants he makes a promise to return and build a school for the uneducated children of the Karakoram village. As of today he has built 78 schools.

Mortenson describes a situation where he is trying to get funding for the school project and sends out 580 letters to celebrities. He only receives $100.00 from Tom Brokaw but somehow a group of elementary school children from River Falls, Wisconsin hear about his project. These elementary students begin collecting pennies for the project which they named Pennies for Peace and donate $623.40 which then inspires adults to begin making donations.

This is what social reconstructionism looks likes in a classroom or a school. It is children making a difference one penny at a time.Visit http://www.threecupsoftea.com/ to learn more about this incredible story of social reconstructivism in action. What a great way to teach children about the LIFESKILLS of caring, perseverance, problem solving, initiative, etc.

CMP

I have a question for everyone about the CMP. I don't really understand what it is asking for. Could anyone better explain to me what is expected?

Reading Addition

Do you want to make yourself marketable? Consider getting the reading addition added to your license. The addition will allow you to teach Title I Reading or teach in a reading resource classroom. It will also help you to be better prepared to teach in a K-6 classroom. Please check out the link and seriously consider working towards PNC's Reading Addition.

http://www.pnc.edu/ed/ReadingLicense/index.htm

Please contact Dr. Fontaine at cfontaine@pnc.edu if you have any questions.

Spring Into Education

Don't forget tomorrow, Thursday, March 19th is the Spring into Education event from 11:30-1:30 in LSF 02. Block 5 you are responsible for bringing drinks to share, pop, juice, water, etc. We will be also having fried chicken, sub sandwiches, and lots of side dishes and desserts. Please respond to this post that you will be there and what you will be bringing.

Reader's Theater -- Tips for an Effective Performance

Congratulations to the entire class -- our Melodramatic Monday rehearsal went very smoothly and I hope that you received constructive feedback from our PNC evaluators! Here are some general tips to consider as you practice and refine your performance this week before going into the schools on Monday:

• Remember, the essence of the performance is on your voice. The minimal use of props and staging today was very appropriate for this. Consider wearing similar, plain clothing, too.
• Use your voices by projecting up and out! If you are sitting in a chair, then sit up straight. Many of you had wonderful voice changes to show different characters. It's really okay to over-act, exaggerate! Make eye contact so that your voice doesn't get lost in the script.
• Speaking of scripts, is there a creative and efficient way for your groups to handle the script? Think about the presentation -- would using the same-colored folder or binder eliminate the distraction of flipping pages?
• One of the most important uses of Reader's Theater is to promote fluency. You are modeling this for the teachers and the children, so practice, practice, practice! Is there a spot in the script for a choral or partner reading? This would also be a dramatic touch!
• Finally, don't forget to connect this performance with your big idea! Many of the groups did this in a very natural and authentic way.

What audience feedback did you receive that was especially helpful? How will your Learning Club be revising/polishing/rehearsing this week to prepare for Monday's performances?

Readers Theater Rehearsal 3-16

Did anyone see it?

Did anyone else see the news reel on the Yahoo home page about the last photograph of Lincoln found? The article was too long to post on the blog but it is interesting. I guess the picture was found by a great great grandson of Ulysses S. Grant.

Reader's Theater Assignments

The school/classroom/times for your Reader's Theater performances are posted in the Reader's Theater Resources section. Keep checking for updates if your group is not yet listed. Remember to bring your evaluations for our live audience on March 16 at 12:30 p.m.

Free download of the Cat In The Hat

Again, I found this in NEA Today.

Throughout the monrth of March, you can get a digital download of The Cat In The Hat offered by the National Education Association. Go to www.kidthing.org/nea

Thinkin' Like Lincoln

I just wanted to share this with everyone. I found this information in the NEA today-March/April 2009 issue.

Thinkin' Like Lincoln: Velvet and Steel is a teaching tool that combines character education and lifetime lessons rooted in Lincoln's laguage and legacy with compelling United States History. This sturdy, four sided booklet is a hands on tool, appropriate for elementray and middle school students that teaches children with multiple learning styles. Included is a newly discovered, authenticated letter from a Civil War solidier to his school age daughter.

Order your copy for $3.95 plus shipping and handling at www.thinkinlikelincoln.org or www.harmonyhearth.com Classroom packets of 30 are also available.

Congratulations Tracy

Let's all congratulate Tracy Wylie for being awarded The Outstanding Senior Award from the Indiana Student Education Association (ISEA). She has also be elected as the new Region 1 Representative for ISEA. The SEA club was also recognized with an Outstanding Class Project Award for their collaboration with the TRIO club in organizing a literacy night last spring. Way to go Tracy and SEA club!

Have you filled out your FAFSA?

Deadline: March 10, 2009

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (or FAFSA) is a form that students (and their families) can complete online, and is used to calculate their eligibility for financial aid. While certain types of federal aid (Pell Grants, Stafford Loans, etc.) can be included in a student's financial aid package regardless of when the form is filed, there is a deadline to maintain eligibility for certain Indiana aid programs (Frank O'Bannon Grant, 21st Century Scholars, etc.). These State grants, which do not need to be repaid, could amount to as much as $6,012 for the 2009-2010 academic year (approximately 30% of the total cost of attending PNC), depending upon a student's need.

Last year, only 35% of PNC students filed their FAFSA before the Indiana deadline. Essentially, two-thirds of PNC students passed up "free money" from the state, relying instead upon either off-campus employment or loans that will represent a lingering debt whether they complete a degree or not.

Mid-Semester Celebration

Come celebrate making it half way through the semester!!! Let's show our support to Graham Smith, Dave Farris and Dr. Pratt other wise known as Common Denominator- Sunday night March 8, 2009 at 6:oo p.m. at Buffalo Wild Wings in Valparaiso- show starts at 7:30 p.m. in the basement.

Must Read This

Due to circumstances beyond our control the Pine Family Night has been rescheduled for Thursday, April 16, 2009.

Class on Monday, March 16, 2009 will meet at 12:30 P.M. THERE WILL BE NO A.M. CLASS. In order to give your groups time to prepare for either the Pine Family Night event or the Reader's Theatre event I am cancelling class for Monday morning, March 16, 2009. This will provide you with time to meet with your group to finalize your plans.

For Monday, March 16th please bring your evaluation form for Reader's Theatre. At 1:30 you will be presenting in front of a live audience and they will be evaluating your performance. Plan on having 30 evaluation form handouts available.

Please bring your groups plans for the Pine Family Night, post assessment (feedback form), presentation boards, and parent handout to class on April 6, 2009 for a Mock Family Night.

Please respond in the comment section so that I know you have read this post.

Classroom Management Plan

Classroom Management Plan – Create a behavior contract for a primary grade level (prek-2) and an intermediate grade level (3-6) that you will use to aid student’s in reflecting on their misbehavior, to communicate student behavior with parents, and to keep documentation of the student’s misbehavior.

Following your Read Aloud experience you may have noticed a child that would have benefitted from having a behavior contract to improve their participation/involvement in the activity. A part of the Classroom Management Plan includes samples of behavior contracts that you think would be useful to you as a future teacher.

I have included some websites you may find helpful in creating or deciding on which behavior contract you would like to use for primary and intermediate aged students to include in your classroom management plan.

http://specialed.about.com/cs/behaviordisorders/a/behavcontract.htm
http://kids.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Sample_Classroom_Behavior_Contracts
http://www.interventioncentral.org/htmdocs/interventions/behavior/behcontr.php
http://k6educators.about.com/cs/classroommanageme3/a/createcontract.htm

Integrated Curriculum Plan - Contextual Factors

As we begin preparing for the Pine Family Night (March 19, 2009) it is important to have an understanding of the participants. Check out http://www.doe.state.in.us/ Under helpful links click on "School Data," type in Pine Elementary School. Gather contextual factors from this site.

Contextual Factors: Research the community, district and school factors that may affect the teaching-learning process. Write a 1-2 page narrative describing the demographics of Pine Elementary School and how this impacts your plan.

In addition please ask the Literacy Coach what she feels the families need. Place these questions in the comment section and I will forward them to Peggy Thomas, Literacy Coach.

The address for Pine School is:
1594 N 500 E
Michigan City, IN 46360-9524

We will need to be at the school at 5:15 p.m. to set up. The event will be from 6:00-7:00 p.m. We will be responsible for staying after the event to tear down and clean up.

SPRING INTO EDUCATION!!

The education department will be hosting a SPRING INTO EDUCATION event on March 19th from 11:30-1:30 in LSF 144. This fun event will have food and drinks provided. Staff and faculty will also be there to answer any questions you may have and to socialize!! I will have a sign up sheet in class this coming Monday. The food and drink will be provided carry in style and we are asking BLOCK 5 to bring drinks such as 2 liter bottles of pop, water, tea, ice, or anything else that would fit this category. Don't let me down BLOCK 5, I made sure we didn't have desserts or anything crazy like that!!!

If you have any questions, ask me!! I am also working on getting the flyer posted to blog for future reference.

KDP Event

Make The Economy Work For YOU!
Who: This meeting is open to all interested education students.
What: Co-President of Kappa Delta Pi, Elizabeth Falbo, will be giving a presentation on how to effectively use a Mini Economy in the classroom. Snacks will also be provided.
Where: Tech Room 134
When: Thursday, February 26th 5:00pm – 6:30 pm
If you can, please RSVP to farrisd@pnc.edu. If you do not, still feel free to come. Snacks may be limited however.

Sorry about the bad link, here's the real one: http://www.5minutesformom.com/4596/your-baby-can-read/

Extra! Extra! Read All About YOU...

Check out this link for a press release sent to local media explaining the NEA Grant: http://www.pnc.edu/cd/news/KDPgrant09.html
The word is out!

Your Baby Can Read

I just stumbled across this webpage today,via a video from a friend's page. Although there is definitely a product being advertised, I was blown away by what seems to be the ability of these children to recognize whole words...It reaffirmed my convinction that children--indeed human beings in general--have an amazing amount of potential in regard to learning and thinking.
The idea is that you can basically "teach your baby to read" and successfully introduce them to text far earlier than commonly thought possible. I read a criticism of the idea on another site, claiming that this method was simply memorization and that the children "weren't really reading." (the author seemed to be a fairly zealous proponent of the phonics-based approached to teaching.) I have to disagree. It seems to me that the best readers do see things as wholes and then proceed to break words and text down into parts. In fact, studies have shown that children much prefer to tackle something as a whole (think of child sitting at a typewriter....she doesn't want to learn each letter at first--she wants to type!) versus being spoon-fed each little detail until the original idea is forgotten in a sea of rules and regulations. We need the blue print before the boards. This is not to say that phonetics is unimportant. Just that perhaps it is out of its place in regard to teaching reading
To me, is essential to learning is getting an intuitive feel for what's going on. Think of it--when you try something new, let's say doing a complicated dive into a pool, isn't it nice to be alone, relaxed, and uninhibited at first? You can mess it up as badly as you'd like and it's okay. You know what the end result should be, so you begin seeing what does not match and correct from there. I'd say it's the same with language. Babies are constantly experimenting with sounds and words...how far would they get if we first attempted to "teach" them phonics without letting them explore the very feel of the thing itself? Let me know what you guys think.

Anyway, enough rambling, here is the link:http://www.blogger.com/i.g?inviteID=9046653743779013593&blogID=7941430063473835931

Also, a great deal of the thinking above is inspired and stolen from Mr. John Holt. He's written several great books. I have read How Children Learn and How Children Fail.

Group Names

Please respond to how your groups came up with their names.  I am finding your names very interesting and am curious about how you came to consensus on your group names.

What if.....

you are the teacher and at the beginning of the year, you had a really great idea for an activity for your students: it was meaningful, it integrated the content that you wanted to present and you felt so proud of your idea, you LOVED this activity, it was brilliant!......But then, it came to give the assignment and it just didn't fit anymore. You reflect on the students and their needs, you think about your conceptual framework and you consider all of the experiences the students have had so far and you decide that this great activity just wasn't meant to be. How do you feel about that? What do you do -- do you plunge forward and give the assignment anyway? OR Do you put it aside?
Well, this is exactly what has happened to us: We developed this really great idea for an experience (the "What If Strategies") and now we realize that it just doesn't fit. We have chosen to set it aside for now and for tomorrow, you simply need to show up at 12:30 p.m. How do you feel about that? How would you feel if you were the teacher?

Learning Clubs Have Been Established

For the remainder of the semester we have established Learning Clubs based on the information you supplied us with of peers you would like to work with.

3 + 1
Amanda
Brynn
Becky
Sam

Wise Y's
Ashley B.
Tracy
Christy
Kim

MAC Daddies
Ashley W.
Meg
Christa

The Integrated Hammel Charlies
Graham
Julie
Charlotte
Melanie

Mr. Anderson's Angels
Karianne
Maria
Kelley
Ryan

GREAT TEACHING OPPORTUNITY!!!

Junior Achievement in Michigan City is looking for volunteers to teach their program at Knapp and Pine schools. They will work around your schedule. It entails a 1/2 hour visit each week into a classroom for 6 weeks. You teach the lesson they provide but are free to embelish it if you choose to. They also provide all of the materials.

If you are interested, please contact: Katie EatonArea Coordinator, Junior Achievement serving Michigan CityPhone: 219-210-3672Fax: 219-874-7876katie.eaton@ja.org

Or you can talk to me for more information about the program.

1st Grade Tutoring Position

Looking for an education student who would be willing to be a tutor a first grader in Language Arts and Math! Please contact Carrie Walter at:
cwalter@union.k12.in.us or 759-2544 ext. 4128!!

Revised Read Aloud Schedule

I have revised the read aloud schedule and now have Knapp and Springfield school schedules. If your name does not appear on the list please contact djpratt@pnc.edu or meisenhauer@pnc.edu to alert us to the problem.

If you are student who has a 2:30 p.m. class and needs to adjust the schedule contact the school and make necessary arrangements with the school's literacy coach.

Support Your Early Childhood Peers

Stop by the PLAYCE (Purdue Learning About Young Children in Education, Early Childhood Club) Bake Sale outside LSF 144 on Wednesday, February 11 between 11:30 and 1:30! Show your support and purchase some yummy treats!

Preparing for the Read Aloud

Check out the Read Aloud Checklist on the blog under Course Tools. These are the pieces you will be responsible for turning in. On Monday you will be given a 2hr. work time to prepare your lessons. It would be helpful if you already knew what books you will be using for the Read Alouds. If not you can use your time to be resourceful and find books at a local library, Barnes and Noble, The Bookstore in Michigan City, etc.

We have recieved word from Peggy Thomas that she would like us to provide a book for the school library instead of for each classroom teacher. She thinks it would be better to supply a book to the school that can be used by all children as opposed to classrooms that have PNC Read Alouds. On Monday we will talk about what a good choice would be for the school libraries. All schools will be given a copy of the same book.

Due to that change you will be able to select any book on the topic of Abraham Lincoln to use for your read aloud. Make sure you select a book that would be developmentally approporiate for the grade(s) you are assigned. The readings for this week; Chapter's 4 &5 from the Tribes book will help you in determining the appropriateness of a book.

Read Aloud Schedules

The read aloud schedules for February 23, 2009 have been confirmed and are posted on the blog. Under course tools select Read Aloud Schedules to find out what your assignments are for the day. On the day of the Read Aloud please plan on arriving 10-15 minutes early, dress professionally, and use your best interpersonal skills. In the event of an emergency please contact your assigned school ASAP and inform them of your situation. Also contact Dr. Eisenhauer and/or myself to inform us of your situation. In the event of bad weather check the website for your school to see if there is a school delay or closing.

Read Aloud Book Titles

After learning that PNC had been awarded the NEA grant on Monday (hooray!), it was decided that the same book would be read to all primary read-alouds and another to all intermediate read-alouds. You were each charged with searching for an appropriate choice so that you could make your selection from a variety. Any titles yet? If we have titles, then we can work on obtaining multiple copies.

Event Type: Children's ProgramDate: 2/7/2009Start Time: 2:00 PM End Time: 3:00 PM
Description:
Join Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln at the Hebron Public Library to learn about his childhood and early years and to celebrate his 200th birthday with the couple. Program is free to the public and is geared towards elementary and middle school children but all ages are welcome. For more information contact the library at 996-3684.Library: Hebron Public Library Location: Meeting Room

Thought this might be of interest!

Volunteer Opportunity

Handley School in LaPorte has an after school program for kindergarten through 5th grade students. The program is offered Monday - Friday from 3:15 - 6:00 p.m. They are looking for volunteers who can help with homework, provide remediation, enrichment, snack, recreation, and special programming. Flexible schedule. If interested contact Tara Wiltfong, twiltfon@pnc.edu or 785-5305 for more details.

Summer Job Opportunity

SUMMER JOB OPPORTUNITY: Lead Teacher for Summer Program & Teacaher Assistant for Summer Program
Children aged 6 years to 12 years (Up to 30 children)
Job Qualifications: At least two years of coursework in
Elementary Education. Significant experience in the field
may be considered in lieu of education. Applicant must be
able to work full-time for eleven weeks of the summer
(June 8, 2009 – August 21). Requires planning some
activities. Some other requirements include: CPR & 1st Aid
Certification, TB screen, drug screen and criminal & CPS
background check.

Apply in person at:

IMAGINATION STATION CHILD
DEVELOPMENT CENTER
Ms. Deborah Chubb, Executive Director
1200 E. Coolspring Ave.
Michigan City, IN 46360
(219) 872-6723

Is text messaging destroying our language?

I found this blog talking about how society views texting and how texting actually affects children and teens. It dispels some common myths about texting too.
http://www.good.is/?p=14999&gt1=48001

Live Chat

This Week's Live Chat
Working With Students with Autism
When: Wednesday, January 28, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time
Where: http://www.edweek-chat.org
Submit questions in advance.

Children are currently being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders at the staggering rate of 1 in 150. Many of these children are being mainstreamed, but how can general education teachers support them in an inclusive setting? How can teachers transform a challenging classroom situation into a growth experience for all students? Chat guests will discuss teaching strategies and behavior management techniques for the general and special education classroom.

About the guests:

Marcie W. Handler, director of home and school consultation at May Institute, has provided training and behavioral consultation in system-wide, classroom, and individual positive behavior support practices for 15 years. She and her colleagues have been awarded grants by the Massachusetts Department of Education to provide summer institutes for educators working with children with ASD in the general education classroom.

Paula Kluth is a consultant, teacher, inclusion facilitator, and advocate on the topic of autism spectrum disorders. She has authored six books on autism and inclusion, including “You’re Going to Love This Kid.” Her research and professional interests include differentiating instruction and supporting students with autism and significant disabilities in inclusive classrooms.

Stephen Shore, author of Understanding Autism for Dummies and Beyond the Wall: Personal Experiences with Autism and Asperger Syndrome, is a professor at Adelphi University where he teaches courses in special education and autism. Diagnosed as a child with “Atypical Development with strong autistic tendencies,” Shore presents and consults internationally.

No special equipment other than Internet access is needed to participate in this text-based chat. A transcript will be posted shortly after the completion of the chat.

Validated

After watching Validated discuss what teachers can do in classrooms to validate students.

Procedures

Today we discussed why procedures are important and what purpose they serve in a classroom. Share any ideas you have for the types of procedures that might be useful for you to implement during your student teaching experience and/or your future classrooms.

Job Opportunities

Math Tutoring Position:
There is a 5th grade tutoring position available for a fifth grade female student at Westville Elementary School in Westville. The person who takes this position would set their own hours and fee. Licensed Professional Teacher Tutors receive $35.00 per hour. Please contact Lynette O'Neill @ 462-5178 if interested.

Summer Camp Positions: The Wisconsin Lion's Camp, is a summer retreat program that is dedicated to providing a quality summer camp experience to children and adults with mild/borderline cognitive disabilities or that have a hearing or sight impairment. This non-profit organization is now accepting applications for its camp staff and they have many very interesting positions, which include:Cabin Counselors (leadership and guidance)Program Counselors (experience in working with children)Art's and Crafts DirectorCORE Director (Challenges in Outdoor Recreation and Education)Nature Director (environmental education)Program Secretary (accounting and customer service)Unit Director (supervision and leadership)Interpreter (deaf and hard of hearing)This is a 12 week program, that may meet field experience hours for a variety of majors. If interested place contact
Natalie Connors, Director of Career Development
LSF 27
nconnors@pnc.edu
785-5498

This may be helpful....

This just might be helpful when thinking about the effectiveness of using procedures and routines.

The following site provides a short article with questions that a teacher should ask themselves, and their students, in determining whether the procedures/routines are effective in their classroom.

http://specialed.about.com/cs/teacherstrategies/a/routines.htm

EXTA CREDIT Opportunity

After our discussion about extra credit I thought of an opportunity for you to earn 10 extra points. In honor of Martin Luther King Day, Kappa Delta Pi is hosting an event at the Michigan City Library on Monday, January 19th from 10:00 a.m -2:00 p.m. All of the activities are planned. There will be five centers for the children which will include two crafts, wordsearch and coloring, MLK, Jr. Bingo, and storytelling. What is needed are volunteers to facilitate the learning centers. If interested please contact Chris Frank at cfrank@pnc.edu by Thursday, 1/15/09. Also post your intent to work on this blog post.

Engaging in activities such as this one are great additions to add to resumes and it won't be long until you are developing a resume to begin your job hunt. Please take advantage of participating in this event as well as Everyday Wonders the Early Childhood Conference.

Classroom Guidelines

Our Classroom Constitution
We the people, in order to form an ideal classroom and establish attentive listening, mutual respect, appreciation, no put-downs, participation, the right to pass, and safety, do ordain this Constitution for our class.
Article 1: Respect

Caring and treating others in the way you want to be cared for and treated.

Article 2: Personal Best

Success is measured by providing the best that one is capable of performing.

Article 3: Engaged Community

Coming together with diverse abilities to reach common goals through active participation in order to make learning fun and interesting.

Article 4: Positive Attitude

Having an attitude positive or negative is infectious.

Article 5: Constructive criticism/Problem Solving

Face problems with an open mind to see all possible solutions and embrace feedback to enhance our work.

Adapted by PNC Block V Students originally from The Daily Pledge of a Fifth Grade Class D203-Tribes p. 84

What a great start - respond to this blog by making suggestions for one sentence descriptors for article 1,2,3,4, and/or 5 or any combination.

Welcome and Purpose for the Blog

Welcome to Block V! We are Professor Debra Pratt and Dr. Mary Jane Eisenhauer and we will be using this blog during the semester to post information, share ideas, have discussions, respond to polls, watch video clips and answer questions. Actually with blogging the possibilities are endless. Please feel free to post items that pertain to our class sessions, assignments, field experiences, and/or concepts we are investigating.