daniellecardone19-blog

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Danielle Cardone-12/8/17

Post #5: Multi-Modal Aesthetic Reflection—A New Look on Education For Everyone

This multi-modal piece is a collage representing a world-view of education and instruction for all. The different words that have been cut out and pasted across the globe emphasize adapting instruction for students in multiple capacities so students with a variety of abilities, backgrounds, cultures, and knowledge can benefit from the same state mandated instruction. Words like “future, success, opportunity, and growth” promote the idea that students can achieve with their full potential. It is words like “simplified, assistance, and development” that highlight not all students are going to succeed on the same levels. However, is instructed is brought to a simpler playing field or assistance is given, students who at one time could not succeed can now. The instruction is still fulfilling what the state requires, but words like “dynamic solutions” suggests that there is more than one way to achieve a goal. The words like “workforce and community” signify that every person has a purpose in this world as he or she is part of one smaller community. One of these options could be to become part of the workforce. Also, the words like “resource, funding, and finance matters” explain that teachers must allocate for funds and resources. There is so much that feeds into the central message of effective instruction can meet state mandates and be inclusive for all, which is why the diverse collage expresses the abundance of info. The globe explains that all can be included in this big idea in and out of the classroom.

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Danielle Cardone-12/8/17

Post 4: Hopeful Solutions—For everyone!

All students have a place in society as citizens. There should be no argument that an ELL student does not have a place in society because he or she is not fluent in the English language. There should be no reason a student with a behavioral issue does not fit into society because he or she has difficulty controlling his words, actions, or emotions. There should be no excuse that a student with an academic problem does not belong in society because he or she cannot keep up instructionally with the rest of the class. Instead, all students around the world should be celebrated for their differences and not pinpointed. If teachers think of the diverseness with the thought process that everyone has a place in society as citizens and has something to contribute to the world, then there would be less separation. For the students who will go on to college, instruction can be catered to prepare these students. For the students who perform better in the workforce, the instruction can be geared toward that line of work. Instead of students taking calculus, they can take woodworking class if they wish to pursue construction. For students who need to work on their everyday skills, a life skills support class can be offered. In any sense, there is always a purpose for a student in this society who can make a difference. The world in which we live does not need a world full of doctors and engineers. We need a wide variety of talents and all those should be celebrated.

Check out this video from Kid President about how all students can make a difference!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwlhUcSGqgs

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Danielle Cardone-12/8/17

Post #3: Articulating Obstacles—Make the most of what you’ve got!

Money may be a roadblock to creating ideal instruction because of a lack of necessary instructional resources. The rippling effect goes like this. The successful schools are the ones with high test scores. The schools with high test scores are the ones who receive the most money from the government. These schools can put that money into resources like professional development, quality textbooks, technology, and art supplies to spark creativity. That is very beneficial for the schools prospering. However, the schools who are struggling do not perform well on test scores, so they do not receive government money, so they do not have the resources to improve learning, and the cycle continues. For the schools without the abundance of resources due to a lack of money, the teachers must find ways to make a dollar stretch.   This could include using recycled books from other teachers, applying for grants to receive more resources, making sensory tools out of household items like creating your own kinetic for students to use as a stress relief or fidget, or students sharing textbooks that are available. Teachers can find a way to instruct based on the state’s expectations and provide the same instruction as wealthy schools. It may be with different materials, it may take more effort, and it may not be as advanced, but it is possible. Teachers must advocate to other teachers that all students, no matter where they come from, what behavior or academic disabilities they have, or what their academic performance indicates, they all deserve to be taught well with the resources that are available.

What does the Wallace Foundation think about school resources?

http://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/pages/strategy-6-three-essentials-improving-schools.aspx

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Danielle Cardone-12/8/17

Post #2: Good for Children—If there is a will, there is a way.

When thinking about instruction that is good children, it is important to keep in mind that instruction should be good for all children. There is always an alternative in conveying content through different means of instruction. There should never be an excuse that a student cannot learn from the instruction the teacher is giving. Although particular students may not benefit from the general instruction, this instruction can be modified so that it is good for all children. For example, for English Language Learners, directions could be translated into the students’ native language for students very new to the English language. For more advanced ELL students, the students could have a list of defined words to help them write a paragraph while general education students would not have the list of words. For students with behavioral issues, the teacher could continue to refer to a student’s contingency contract or give attention reminders throughout the lesson keep the student on track of his or her work. Finally, for students who struggle academically, teachers could provide more time for a student to complete work or he or she could give a more detailed and explicit explanation to the instruction. The content of the instruction is not being changed; however, the way it is carried out is modified to be good for all children. It is necessary to design instruction based on the general education curriculum within the state mandates. This same instruction can then be modified for students with specialized instruction and reap the same benefits.

For more on differentiated instruction, 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOPe_cJ67No

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Danielle Cardone-12/8/17

Post #1: Campaign Launch—“Instruction for All”

Throughout our daily posts, we will refer back to our slogan, “Instruction For All”. We recognize the importance of providing the same high-quality instruction with the same goal in mind for all our students, no matter the students’ abilities. We demonstrate “Instruction for All” with images representing unity, community, and acceptance. These images necessary in order to create effective instruction for each learner within our classroom. Our main goals for this campaign are to inspire teachers to create effective instruction for English Language Learners and students with academic and behavioral issues.  

Throughout our inspirational social media campaign, we will define what it means to create instruction that is “good for children”. Creating effective instruction includes using state standards to help each student in our classroom succeed, including English language learners and students with academic and behavior problems. We will encounter the obstacles that get in the way of achieving the ideal instruction that is “good for children”, such as a lack of resources and time, and unprepared teachers for inclusive instruction. Finally, we will highlight hopeful solutions teachers may possess when instruction is created with all students in mind. Some hopeful solutions include that all students, regardless of circumstance, we be able to get maximum benefit from the designed instruction, developing a curiosity in our students about the world around them. At the end of our campaign, we will creatively reflect upon the meaning of our slogan “Instruction for All”, keeping the key points of our campaign in mind.

Check out Reading Rockets for more on differentiated, but effective instruction for all!

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/what-differentiated-instruction 

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Danielle Cardone-10/23/17

How do educators accommodate English Language Learners?

How do I design and deliver instruction that is good for students that fits with my philosophy and that addresses external mandates/constraints?

In this case, you need to think about providing instruction and a classroom climate that is good for ALL students while also realizing that the amount of support available to you for working with ELLs (or other students with more in-depth needs) might be quite limited.

For English Language Learners, they can still be incorporated in the general education classroom. Just because they have deficits with the English language, it does not mean they should be pulled out completely from the general education classroom. These ELLs can work in the general education classroom with accommodations. For example, when the students are completing a paragraph, the ELL student could have common sight words in the English language along with those same sight words translated into his or her native language. This allows the student to feel competent and comfortable with the expectations of the assignment. This accommodation is not taking anything away from the other students in the classroom, and it is also not giving the ELL student an advantage. It is simply making it possible for the ELL student to achieve a similar outcome in writing the paragraph.

Part of my teaching philosophy wraps around the idea of making my students feel confident in my classroom. I hope my students feel valued and excited to learn. If my ELL students feel unprepared to complete an expectation due to their lack of familiarity with the English language, they will not build confidence. An simple accommodation will allow the ELL student to feel just as capable as any other student. This accommodation is still allowing my instruction to meet state mandates and district expectations because the non-ELL student and ELL student are working towards the same goal.

Although it is ideal to have the ELL students become comfortable in the general classroom, there are times when it is necessary to pull those students out of the classroom for specialized instruction with and ELL teacher. These lessons will be aimed toward working with the basic English concepts that other students have already mastered with English being their first language. Having that one-on-one or small group instruction allows the ELL instructor to create instruction that caters to each student to work on what needs to be improved based on each student. It is important that as the general educator, I communicate with the ELL educator to understand the progress of the ELL student. This will allow me to implement application of these skills with activities in the classroom.

Another portion of my teaching philosophy revolves around the idea that skills need to be reinforced and applied. This way the students understand how the skills connects, and they are not learning the basics of the English language for the sake of knowing them. The students need to apply the skills with class activities like writing sentences, verbally speaking with a partner, labeling objects in the classroom, or listening to a partner. This allows the student how the English language comes together in the real world. To accommodate state mandates and district expectations, these activities should be geared toward instructional goals that include state standards. These activities can also reinforce skills other students in the class need, but the ELL students can have the activities accommodated for their needs. This way the ELL students and other students are all working toward a common goal and standard while still enforcing English skills.

One of the main problems with the ELL curriculum today is that there is a lack of resources. There may not be enough ELL teachers in a district, or there may not be an ELL teacher at all. In this case, it would be the responsibility of me, as the general educator, to discuss options for the ELL student with the principal and curriculum coordinator of the district. Even with limited resources, the general education teacher can still design accommodations for the ELL student to excel in the classroom.

Below is a video in which one classroom teacher explains ways she has accommodated her ELL students.

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Danielle Cardone-10/12/17

Why Technology in Education?

How do you as a teacher create effective instruction that is good for children and maintains the integrity of your philosophy within the constraints of a district and other external mandates?

Technology is a great tool to help students become more familiar with the improvements of the 21st century. This world is always changing, and technology is a big part of that. As educators we need to make sure that our students are up to date with technological skills so that they can implement them in their future lives and jobs. With that being said, our students’ curriculum can be incorporated with technological skills. It is like killing two birds with one stone. Time is an essence in the classrooms today, so any place where two tasks can be completed at once is always a beneficial thing.

To promote the quality of technology for the good of the students, it must be efficient in helping the students learn content. The technological devices, websites, and programs should either help the students learn just as well as if they weren’t using technology. Even better, the technology will help the students learn and master skills even better and more efficiently than without technology. The technology should be an aid and catalyst for learning, and not a resistance and drawback. It should not become a distraction; it should enhance the students’ learning. Kids seems to get very excited to use the advancing technology, so why not use this enthusiasm to promote learning? My teaching philosophy sits around the idea of utilizing whatever attitudes the students present to educators. If they are excited about technology, take advantage of this.

I understand school districts require particular mandates and standards to be met. However, these requirements can still be completed with the use of technology. For example, Xtra Math is math program that tests students on their fact fluency. Once they have mastered a fact within 3 seconds, that fact turns green and they continue on to other facts aiming for all the facts to turn green. This gets the kids excited when they have mastered facts and they are motivated for their facts to turn green with the program. The students are using technology they are excited about and they are still working toward a standard of mastering math facts within 100, a common core standard. The repetition of the facts is a great way to activate prior knowledge if they have seen the facts before and must recall that previously learned fact. One other form of technology is “Listening to Reading” through a reading program called RazKids. The students listen to a recording of different stories on the reading program. This helps the students experience another form of literacy, which is listening. The students enjoy this because they can experience a different form of literacy, other than the typical reading out loud. The “Listening to Reading” is still working toward one of the standard literacies. As the world is changing today, listening to ready is a form of new literacy that must be accounted for.

Additionally, the technology could also be used with note-taking. For example, the instructor can promote encoding so the students can match pictures they find on the internet with notes that they take in class. This can help learners, especially visual learners, associate a picture with a concept.

Educators today should be moving forward in the advancing world we live in today. Capitalize on technology instead of pushing it away, especially when it can enhance students’ learning and a district’s curriculum.

The video below captures advantages encompassing technology in the classroom today.

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Danielle Cardone-9/24/17

How do you as a teacher create effective instruction that is good for children and maintains the integrity of your philosophy within the constraints of a district and other external mandates?

When planing instruction for the classroom, it may seem difficult to keep a philosophy as a teacher in mind and also providing instruction that benefits the children. This must also be done with the school district’s external state standards in mind. However, it can be done!

As a teacher, it is important to keep one’s own teaching philosophy at the core of instruction. This does not mean standards should be forgotten. This simply means that a teacher must not abandon his or her “homegrown” or thought out ideas to satisfy common core curriculum. In fact both can be accomplished. For example, one of my teaching philosophies is that children should be evaluated for their own sake, rather than compared as a whole class. For this reason, the quality in an instructional objective should not state that “95% of the class should have 8 out 10 questions correct”. It is the responsibility of the teacher to make sure all of the students are retaining and understanding the information. The goal of the teacher should be to have all students answer 8 out of 10 answers correctly, because what would happen to that 5% that would not understand the content compared to the 95% that did? It may be acceptable at times for students to only get 8 out of 10 answers correctly if the content will be revisited. Instead, the bigger teaching philosophy would be that the teacher is aiming for all students to understand the majority of the content compared to only a portion of the class understanding all of the content. In this way, this teaching philosophy can still focus on getting the students up to proficient status and eventually aiming for advanced status. In this instance, teaching for the good of the student is beneficial because the teacher is ultimately aiming to meet state standards for advanced or proficient scores. However, the teacher’s focus is also pointed toward teaching toward the whole class instead of only the students who will understand 100% of the content.

A school district will expect teacher’s to cover particular content within the course of the school year in order review the necessary content for Pennsylvania common core, so students are prepared for the state standardized exams. For this reason, block plans indicate when particular instructional goals will be covered. However, my teaching philosophy sees these block plans as tentative. I feel that the teacher should make sure the students are getting more quality education rather than a quantity one. If instructional plans get off pace a bit because a whole lesson could not be covered in the allotted time for the day, it is acceptable to push the rest of it to the next day. The teacher can make an effort to get the class caught up on the other instructional plans in the future days. The common core standards and material can still be covered, even if the dates are the not the same as originally planned. It is better if the instruction is for the good of the children so that they are not starting assignments, units, and content without finishing them. Instead, it is more ideal that the children get full benefit out of the fully reviewed curriculum. I do not see much benefit in fully focusing on teaching to the standardized test. The test scores will come along with the content throughout the year, but I do not think it should be the driving force the year. It should be more about teaching for the good of the children getting the bigger picture out of the content.

I also want to point out that although school district’s reputation is on the basis of standardized tests results, a teaching philosophy should not be grounded in it. Ultimately, if the student retains and understands the content throughout the year, there is a decent chance the student will do well on the standardized test. The instructional goals should be aligned with the Pennsylvania common core state standards, but the teacher should not be teaching how to take the test. He or she should be teaching the content related to the test. When looking at the good of the students, they will not benefit from learning only the best standardized test strategies. Instead, they will take the content and strategic and critical thinking used to take these standardized tests. Schools need to think about this philosophy, instead of being so caught up in the scores. The video below explains this idea well. Students are spending way too much time learning how to take a standardized test to make the school “look good” and not enough time learning valuable content curriculum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPs46yOcwP0