iTunesU

So, I think that there are two sides to the argument about the use of iTunesU.

Side #1: Oh no. Another online tool for delivering course content. First we had to learn how to create websites, then Moodles, now it's iTunesU. Should I bother to learn how to use this if there is just going to be another flavour of the month around the corner? Is this another way that someone is trying to use to replace teachers?

Side #2: Oh no. There is another tool for delivering course content. This means that I have to try and move all of my content from my Moodle and Website to iTunesU. I guess that isn't such a horrible thing. The format is very easy to use and requires very little work to actually create and maintain. Since it looks like iPads are the way of the future, I should try and stay ahead and start to put all of my resources on iTunesU. This will work out well for my students as well. They will be able to access course content digitally using their iPads which means that my course will be accessible for all.

Either way, we are going to run into some resistance. There will always be the eager teachers willing to jump on to whatever bandwagon their school board tells them to. However, there will always be those teachers who have become jaded from falling for this too many times. I hope that I am somewhere in the middle. I like to think that iPads and iTunesU will be here for a while and will make my time spent on it valuable.

The Writing Process

I love cursive writing. I write just like my grade two teacher who taught me how to write cursively. I thought it looked so grown-up and pretty, I wanted to be just like her. I have always been proud of my writing and enjoyed showing off.  It's too bad that I can't use it anymore. Almost none of my students write cursively and almost none of them can even read it. I had to stop writing at school because it was unfair to expect students to understand cursive writing.  

Printing, to me, is so cumbersome and slow; I can't get my thoughts out fast enough. I can somewhat understand how some students feel about assignments that require that they write things down--that they have all of these thoughts in their head, but they can't get them out of there! In class, we were asked to write down what we ate for Thanksgiving supper using our non-dominant hand. Wow! The focus that I was using to try and make my writing legible made it impossible to think about what I was supposed to be writing about. Here is what I managed to get down:

The steps that are involved in the task of merely writing a sentence is staggering! It is a miraculous mix of manual dexterity and brain power that truly blows my mind when I think about it. This was just one sentence. Imagine what goes into formulating a paragraph, an essay, or a poem!

This exercise really made me think about one student in particular. This student has the most atrocious printing--even he can't read it. However, if you talk to him and let him tell you what he knows, he is bang-on. He and I actually did our learning styles inventory together--we were the complete opposite type of learner. He was mainly hands-on and auditory and I was visual and written expression. This really made me realize that I can not teach students in the way that I THINK is the most effective because it is only most effective for ME.

We need to really know our students and take into consideration the struggles that each student faces everyday in school.Whether it be their learning style or the struggles that they face when trying to put pen to paper, we need to meet the needs of all of our students the best that we can.

The Reading Process

Below is a screenshot of an Inspiration Map that I created. It outlines just some of the steps that are involved in the reading process.




No wonder we have so many students who seemingly can't read! I had never really thought about the reading process. I have always been a strong reader and couldn't quite understand those people who did not like reading. My eyes have been opened.

I recently had one of my students who has a learning disability get very frustrated. He was one of my students who had been given an iPad to help him with his school work. He said that it was nice to get an iPad, but when was someone going to try and teach him how to read. I can not even begin to imagine the frustration that someone must feel sitting in a high school classroom and not being able to read. This students obviously desperately wants to know how and is not satisfied with the compensatory strategies that he has been given--he wants the real thing. Unfortunately, as a high school teacher, I have no idea how to teach someone how to read--especially someone who has an LD.

You don't realize how lucky you are if you can read. I know I take it for granted. It is a complicated process and if even one thing goes wrong, reading can become exponentially more difficult. As I watch my own son (almost two years old) start to talk and string sentences together I am becoming obsessed with the process of language acquisition and reading. He loves books and I hope that he does not have trouble learning to read. As a teacher, I know how important it is for a kid to be a good reader.

This is a video about Ron McCallum who is blind. In this TED talk, he talks about how he was born at the right place and time because he was able to take advantage of new technologies that have enabled him to read and to become a very successful person. I love that he shows the progression is the technologies that have helped him. It also shows the importance of reading and how important it is to make is as accessible as possible for everyone.