An IDEA for millions!

IDEA, not just a thought? It's an action. An action put into law in 1975. These individuals had an idea like no other for the future.
What did it entail? Who was it for? Students with disabilities. It demanded that public schools serve those special individuals with disabilities with educational needs. Everybody deserves the right to an education. Everybody.

Moreover, It gives students of special education a more main stream way of education. Without IDEA, parents and teachers of special education students would have no IDEA how their child/student is progressing. It's to be known always. From experience with students with Disabilities, students take an IEP assessment test from what I remember and continue on to have IEP meetings with parents and students. This is such a good way to know where the student is. My special education class I mentored was high on the learning realm. Not only did they have class which included math, reading, and writing, but they were also taught life skills. Cooking was a class they had, I was with them during Computers, and they also had physical education. All of these things are essential for the upbringing of a child with special needs, and with IDEA, it only gets better as time goes on!

Through the national center for learning disabilities, they describe IDEA as the following:

" IDEA requires that schools provide special education services to eligible students as outlined in a student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP). IDEA also provides very specific requirements to guarantee a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) for students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment (LRE). FAPE and LRE are the protected rights of every eligible child, in all fifty states and U.S. Territories. IDEA requires every state to issue regulations that guide the implementation of the federal law within the state. At a minimum, state regulations must provide all of the protections contained in IDEA. Some states may have additional requirements that go beyond the federal law. Many states offer handbooks or guides to help parents understand these state-specific policies and procedures."

 http://www.ncld.org/disability-advocacy/learn-ld-laws/idea/what-is-idea

I picture IDEA as a basketball team. 5 players on the court, and they all have one common goal, to get it in the hoop and win the game. Does that not relate to those students with disabilities? Aren't they after the same goal? We all want to be high achievers, and that can be done through IDEA. Like basketball, we want to score with education. We all want equal oppurtunity, especially those with special needs and disabilities. 

How does gender affect the classroom?

I chose the topic "How does gender affect the classroom". Classrooms come with two sexes, males and females. Some will argue that male teachers favor that of female students, while female teachers favor the males. But do they?

Gender Bias is defined as an "unequal treatment in employment opportunity, and expectations based on the employee or employees. Gender bias can be a legitimate basis for a lawsuit under the anti-discrimination act." This, however, can be directly related to Education. The teacher can be treating the boys/girls different based on gender.

In my research, I fell upon a study from a preservice Florida University teacher named Brittany Anderson. She did some self research on herself to see if she was gender bias, in the hopes of making her teaching methods more gender neutral. Through many video tapes of her lessons, she found things such as:

• In her 9th grade science class, video records showed she spent more time talking to the boys in the classroom than the girls
• She smiled at only the boy students, not the girls
• She asked more leading questions to the girls
• She never reprimanded girl bad behavior, only the boys
• In her 6th grade science class, she noticed that she ignored the quieter students (typically the girls she notes) and called on boys more often

These first findings for me relate back to how female teachers tend to favor the boys, and visa versa. She concludes her findings with the fact that teachers often don't have time to reflect on their work, but she's glad that she did so that it furthermore helps her students, and, her teaching skills. Remember, those quieter kids need attention too!





I enjoy coming up analogies to get my point across. Above are the 32 teams in the National Football League. Some teams are really good, and the weaker teams have to prepare immensely for matches like those. Although, the same training comes each week regarding of who you're playing. Even the team with the worst record can win a game against the best. You never know! As an NFL team, you have to prepare for every game like its your toughest opponent. And even though some teams are better than others, you still have to prepare. Teams from the west coast, Teams from the east coast, they are all TEAMS in the end. Just like the classroom! You could a classroom with a student who just moved here from San Jose and is shy, and you'll have somebody who knows all the answers to the questions. You'll have somebody in your classroom who talks out of turn and disrupts the classroom. The idea is your classroom is going to be extremely diverse. Students come in different sexes, and shapes and sizes. However, their all there for one thing: To Learn! Just like any team who plays the Patriots this year, there goal is to win no matter how bad or good they are. It relates to students in a way that even the child has a disability, is a boy, or girl genius, we must treat all students the same and give everyone an equal learning experience.

Works Cited

 

"Gender+bias." TheFreeDictionary.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.

"Membership." Analyzing the Issues: Gender in the Classroom. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.

"Public Opinion, Polls and Discussion on SodaHead." SodaHead. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.

Columbus Day: A Holiday?

Throughout my years of public education, every year on Columbus Day there would be no school. Why? Columbus founded America in "1492; when he sailed the ocean blue". Up until this day, I have never truly looked at this day as something other than a holiday. Why do we celebrate such a thing? Was he a true American Hero?
I did some research into this, and read an article entitled "No reason to celebrate and invasion". My first thoughts were "invasion?". What did he invade and who did he affect? As a nation, we enjoy the holiday off from either work or school, but don't truly realize that we affected the Native Americans in developing this country. We are celebrating an invasion of America. During this time period, many Europeans were out for land. The article describes Columbus as "a man of his times". The article continues to tell us about how the Native Americans are doing today. They have "no reason to celebrate an invasion that caused demise of so many of our people and is still causing destruction today". We don't often look at other perspectives, we instead look at how our lives our looking today and the impact Columbus had on us. As far as the Native American's go, it hurt them.
As the article continues, the Native American's criticize the Christian religions. The christian's had intended for the Native American's to practice their religion, however, that did not happen and eventually led to executions. An interesting point they noted was from 1992, when the catholic church entered a period of grace and healing. The Native American's didn't fully understand how the Catholic's could enter that state of grace and healing as far as killing thousands of their people? It doesn't make much sense.
 
http://www.regentsprep.org/
I saw this political cartoon in the article, and wanted to share it. I've seen it before, and I think it relates very much to this blog post and reflection on Columbus Day. What this is describing is the man in the suit saying "its time to reclaim America from illegal immigrants" and the Native American, who had this land first, replies with "I'll help you pack". A very valid point of view on this "invasion" of America.
No Reason to Celebrate an Invasion_Aug2011 (1).pdf

Furthermore, I read an article with Elementary School ideas to incorporate to a curriculum about Columbus Day. There were many ideas, but a couple stuck out. One of them asks students to work in groups or pairs. They are asked to think of scenarios where a person "discovered" a place or thing, and can either write them down or act them. Conceptually, I believe this will give them the idea of how Columbus "discovered" America, setting aside the Native American's were already here.

Another assignment could involve the student's looking at a map of Native American tribes. They can either pick a tribe closest to them, or, a tribe of their choice. I personally would use this with 5th graders and above. They can research their tribe and figure out what happened to them post 1492. How were they eliminated? Are there still some in the area? This will give the student's a better understanding of the real affect of the "discovery" of America.
Elementary School Issues_Aug2011.pdf

I like this view on the subject. I can't recall ever thinking of this concept before, but the more I think about, the more question of "why" appears in mind. Why does the United States celebrate a period of time where the downfall of Native American's began? I know though that I would love to incorporate the games above to not only teach the students about Columbus Day, but to also give both sides of what really happened. Yes he found America, but the Native Americans were already here and were wiped out year after year.

Collage on "What milestone event's do you celebrate in your culture?

 This is my collage to what milestone events do you celebrate in your culture? The top left is my girlfriends prom. As a matter of fact, I have never heard of other cultures having prom night! Top right picture is my family at my brothers graduation. I think of all cultures, America does graduation the absolute best. The bottom right is me with my 4 aunts on my 23rd birthday. Birthdays are common everywhere, some cultures actually go well beyond us in excitement over birthdays, some cultures pressure their children into marriage. So different beyond America. Finally, the bottom left picture is me at my brothers christening with both of our grandmothers. Unfortunately, neither are with us today. But they watch over everyday to make sure we are good to go! In addition, baptism is one of the key things in Christianity and it welcomes newborns or new to the religion individuals into Christianity. 
Religions are different all over the world too, and everybody has a different way of doing things. It's how each religion does there own thing that matters in the end. 

Blog 2 : Why Teach?

So.. Why Teach?


I want to teach because I want to make a difference. Through learning and experience, I believe I have what it takes to create a great learning environment for students. Students need a good environment and a good teacher to be successful in their work. I want to help students succeed. Most teachers have very distinctive qualities. Some of the qualities I wish to attain are to be structured, firm, informative, and energetic. Being energetic is not a problem for me, nor is being informative. But I know right off the bat I must work on being structured and firm. When I say firm, I men sticking to plan and trying not to digress. In addition, if penalties are given to an individual because of lack of homework, rowdiness etc., I’ll have to learn to stick to that as well. I hate to describe myself as a softy, but I am. I hate to be the bad guy, but in a reading I’ve already read this semester, once you show signs of weakness, the year is kaput. Rules for the classroom are to remain a structured part of my curriculum. 

All teachers I have come in contact with have all told me the same thing regarding teaching: If you don't like children, teaching isn't for you. I think we've all had the one teacher we felt didn't like us. But do you think thats exactly true? The work they went through in college, masters programs, student teachings, all of that but still hated children? Completely false! I have, however, met people who've studied years and years of accounting, and switched jobs later in life. I feel like most teachers have wanted to teach all of their lives. For me, it wasn't until recently that I realized my love for teaching.

An article I read in this week's module that really touched me was the story about The Green Monongehla. In short, it was a story about a man who became a substitute teacher and altered the life of a young student who loved reading. He was able to have her tested into the advanced reading class. In the end, he tell's us that she won New York Cities Teacher of the Year award. For a story that took 20 minutes to read, it touched me in a way I didn't think possible. I immediately began to think "Hey, I want to make a difference too!"

Another part of this week's module I wrapped my mind around was teaching in different settings. In an article by Herbert Kohl, he explains that different places look for teachers, not just public schools. I illustrated this thought by comparing to airlines. Everybody knows Air France. Want to go to Paris? Fly Air France! But have you ever heard of Openskies? It is also an airline that goes nonstop from the U.S. To Paris. So just because its not popular, it doesn't get the job done? Of course not! Both do the same job, just different names. Same goes for teaching. You don't have to just teach in a school, it can be in a hospital, social agency, or a business.

A peer of mine in EDU100 Kimberly posted a picture of two divers diving into a body of water. She described this has diving head first into the many options out there that is teaching. Absolutely loved the picture and like I said to her, I always love her blogs!


Speaking of all the options that is teaching, take your pick! As Kimberly would say, dive in!

I am Michael Miccichi, 23 years old from Winthrop, Massachusetts. This is my first year at Salem State University and I am studying Elementary Education. Right now, my double major will include Psychology but I am exploring all opportunities. I am not too fond of History so I know that won't be the choice. I have narrowed my choices down to Psychology and Geography.

I became interested in Education about a year and half ago when I realized I want to make in impact in the future generation. I was in school for three years at North Shore Community College without a major. I graduated with an Associates Degree in Liberal Arts. I truly see myself teaching the younger generation and shaping their futures with not only classroom knowledge, but an overall enjoyable classroom experience. Learning should be fun for all, its what makes school interesting and unpredictable.

http://www.smekenseducation.com/
This link directs you to one of the first websites I googled a few months ago when I was placed into this course. I wanted to get a feel for classroom ideas, better tools for teaching and demonstrating.

I cannot quite figure out how to minimize the picture below, but this describes my life in two words. My girlfriend and Disneyworld. OK, four words. I am forever thankful I met her, and forever thankful for Walt Disney. Without him, I would not have a home away from home.

Mike