Blog #18 Bullying Prevention Program

As I mentioned it in my other blogs, I went to a middle and high school in the United States (Door County) where I experienced bullying and discrimination because I was from Mexico and was learning English as my second language.  I don’t remember being part of a bullying prevention program because I never reported any bullying.  I do not know if they had a program.  If they did, I was not aware of it. 

I think bullying is very scary and damaging to kids.  Kids who bully other kids sometimes are being bullied themselves.  At Nicolet Elementary, bullying is taken very seriously.  I have been in meetings that I had to translate for parents whose kids had been bullied by other kids.  Kids who had been bullied did not want to go to school and had serious problems at home, according to the parents.  I know that, at Nicolet, kids who bully other kids can get suspended if the bullying does not stop.  Both the parents of the kids who get bullied and also the bully’s parents get called to school to talk to the teachers and principal about any bullying problem.  I know the school counselor has also worked with kids who are involved in bullying. 

Cyber bullying is also something that needs to be addressed, especially now that all kids have access to the internet.  Adults need to be aware when children use the internet, and monitor the websites that they go into.  Adults especially need to monitor the use of social networking sites such as facebook.  I translated a document for the counselor about computer safety and cyber bullying.  It basically had information about the dangers of the internet and cyber bullying.  It stated that most cyber bullying takes place on social networking sites.  Working at Nicolet Elementary, I have not seen too many bullying incidents.  I think the staff does a great job of recognizing and addressing any bullying problems immediately.

Edison Middle School has the Student Support Personnel Team (SSPT).  The SSPT works with students who are struggling with anger and social skill development in a small group setting.  They work with the students to develop the skills needed to become a responsible student at Edison.  The staff feels that all the kids deserve to be in a safe and secure place.  They feel they can achieve that by doing things such as active student supervision, facilitation of conflict mediation, and development and implementation of the “Edison Way.”

Marco Olson Guillén

Blog #17 Classroom Management

§  Voice volume

§  Pencil sharpening

§  Talking in class

§  Working with classmates

§  Lockers

§  Going to restrooms

§  Moving from classroom to classroom

§  Walking in the halls

§  Dismissal

§  Asking questions

§  Emergency procedures (fire)

§  Emergency procedures (tornado)

§  Emergency procedures (lockdown)

Going to the restroom

·         Ask for permission

·         Sign the sign out sheet for the restroom

·         Quickly and responsibly go to the restroom

·         Sign back in

·         Sit down and continue the task

·         Ask your teammates if help is needed

-Marco Olson Guillén

Blog #16 Video

Sandra Jenoski:

            She starts on day #1 with the practice and routine for 6 to 8 weeks.  The students will become more independent after that time.  Teacher need to spend time and talk to the students to get to know them and let them know what is expected of them.  If you do not talk to them about the expectations, it will not be a good efficient learning classroom and students get in to trouble when they do not know what is expected of them.  

Voncille Ross:

            Developing a circle builds a sense of community, trust and acceptance in the classroom. 

Shaina Martinez:

            Listen to the students. The students will trust you when you genuinely listen to them about their concerns or successes.  Build a good relationship with them and make them feel welcome to come and share with you.

Ilene Miller

            Making groups, take the time to think about your options and making sure all the students participate and are learning.

            Many of the management skills are different because of the students’ ages.  When you have a community circle, it is a great thing for the students to make the classroom feel comfortable and safe but I also think teachers need consider the age of the students.  In elementary school, it might take more time with the lower grades than the upper grades because of the student’s maturity level.  Students from upper grades are more mature and it would be possible to have this as part of the class. Shaina Martinez’s students want the teacher to listen to them and to be respected.  I think you need to consider the grade level and maturity of students before making a management plan for the class. Student involvement is needed in order to make a classroom of learning.

Video #2:

The advice that Amy gives new teachers is to learn the experiences to be able to deal with any situation that might arise.  What works and what does not work and how can you improve as a teacher.  Have a sensible set of expectations for the students.  Be fair, clear and consistent with the rules and expectations.

Marco Olson Guillén

Blog #15 Convergent Education

This article examines many facts about our current state of education.  It is absolutely true that we need to change the way we teach kids.  As stated in the article, kids are constantly doing something related to technology and they have easy access to so much information right on their fingertips every minute of every day.  Students have phones, games, and computers.  They have access to the internet 24/7.  Their brains are wired to work quickly and accurately with technology so well that they can actually do many things at one time (multitasking).  In fact, this is the best way for them to learn. 

A couple of years ago, I attended a professional development seminar for educators for the Northeast Wisconsin Area.  In this seminar, the presenter showed us a video of 4 to 5 students passing a basketball.  The goal was to count how many times they passed a basketball back and forth.  Most of the adults at the seminar not only miscounted the passes but also completely missed (did not see at all) a person walking around in a monkey suit right in the middle of all the students.  The presenter said that the majority of kids can count the passes accurately and they all see the person with the monkey suit.  This was an excellent example of how much quicker the brains of young people are than adults.  Young students can be texting and listening to music while they do their homework.  In fact, many of them learn better if they are doing more than one thing at once.  

We need to change the way we teach to keep them engaged.  We have so much new technology, why not use it?  Why do we keep teaching the old ways?  In my Education 290 class, I did a field experience in the classroom.  I saw many students who were unmotivated and bored.  At Nicolet Elementary I often see students who are unmotivated and bored.  Unfortunately, we sometimes do teach just for memorization and for tests and not for understanding, critical thinking and mastery.  It is sad that teachers have their hands tied up and are forced to teach this way.  Teachers are given a set curriculum and forced to follow it all year.  Teachers are held accountable for standardized test results.  Teachers are forced to teach students to memorize and reproduce, rather than thinking critically and creating.  Our government needs to step in and support the teachers. 

Teachers know what is best and what works for the students.  If teachers were allowed to use websites with really excellent explanations of everything you could want to explain to a kid, available instantly, for free, (such as www.khanacademy.com) they would have more time to work one-on-one with each of their students and really foster creative learning and critical thinking for each student.  These web resources can take the necessity off the teacher to do the lecturing, and make it possible for each student to learn at their own pace.  The Khan Academy allows a teacher to sign in as the coach and provides free progress monitoring graphs for each student.  A teacher who signs in as the coach for a classroom can see exactly how much progress each individual student has made, what they did well, and where they are struggling.  This allows the teacher to follow the progress of each individual student, learn their strengths and weaknesses, and use class time to provide interesting and engaging real life activities and give one-on-one time to needy students.  Technology is going to play a huge role for the success of our students in the future, why not embrace it now?

-Marco Olson Guillén   

Blog #14 Websites

I looked at the ThinkQuest website (www.thinkquest.org).  This website is an online learning platform that helps students develop important 21st century skills.  This is a free teaching tool that allows teachers to easily integrate project learning and technology into their classroom curriculum.  Some important skills students could learn include: critical thinking, creativity, teamwork, cross-cultural understanding, technology, communication and self direction.  All these skills are very important to for the modern workforce, and they are also keys to being a successful student.

I also looked at the website ePals Global Community (www.epals.com).  With this website the class can communicate with others classes in the area and around the world.  This is a good website for students to connect with others students around the world and learn new cultures.  Over half a million classrooms in 200 countries and territories have joined the ePals Global Community to connect, collaborate and exchange ideas.  The students can make friends or “pen pals” not only in their area, or elsewhere in the United States, but also around the world.  ePals is the social network optimized for student learning.  ePals Global Community allows teachers, parents and students to use safe and secure email, connect with other classrooms and participate in project-based learning together.

Intercultural E-Mail Classroom Connections (www.iecc.org) is a free service to help teachers and classes link with partners in other countries and cultures for e-mail classroom pen-pal and project exchanges.  This is a great website that has many tools for teachers posted by other teachers around the world.  The website includes topics like professional development, problem solving, lesson plans, newsletters, different classroom strategies and much more.  This is a great website for new teachers to use when they become confused, overwhelmed, or in need of some extra support.

-Marco Olson Guillén

Blog #13 Assistive Technology

I have seen many teachers at Nicolet Elementary use assistive technology to help students learn.  Some of this technology is just basic things such as pictures, photographs, word cards and other objects that are used as manipulatives to better meet each student’s learning style.  For reading, some teachers use audio recordings, having students listen to the book as they read it, or talk into a microphone as they read so they can hear themselves read.  Large print books are another example of assistive technology that teachers use to help students learn to read.  Teachers also have highlighted film for students to use as a marker while they read.  The highlighted lines are on either side of the line that the student is reading so they can focus on that line and concentrate better.  Teachers may also provide different color film to put over the reading material.  This allows students to look at the print in a different color which helps some students read. 

For writing, I have seen teachers use a thin lid full of play dough so the students can practice writing their letters and numbers.  This helps students who have difficulty holding a pencil or forming legible handwriting because the play dough provides support for their pencil.  Teachers also use a table covered in shaving cream foam or finger paint to allow students to learn to write in a tactile way.  

For math, teachers use the rhythm of different songs to sing and learn the math facts.  For instance, they use the Old McDonald tune to sing and learn how to multiply by 3.  Teachers use different familiar tunes to help students learn their multiplication facts.  This works well because most of the songs are songs that kids already know; like the “Happy Birthday” song, “Twinkle, Twinkle little star,” “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” and others.  Some teachers also have calculators with bigger keys to help students learn.

English Language Learners always need to have access to a dictionary.  There are great online dictionaries and translating devices to helps these students.  Some of these dictionaries can read the words back to the students out loud so they can learn the correct pronunciation.  There are also Smart pens for writing if you have difficulty taking notes.  These pens record what is being said as the student is writing notes.  Later, when the student needs to fill in their notes, they simply use their Smart pen and it reads the lecture back to them.  Another example I found is the Word Q and Speak Q Bundle.  This kind of technology is used to write and also reads what you write.

  There is a lot of assistive technology that can be used or be modified by teachers to help students learn.  Now we have a great deal of electronic technology that can be used but if that kind of technology is not available, we can also use simple things like the ones I mentioned above to improve the student’s learning.

-Marco Olson Guillén

Blog 11: School Vouchers

In December of 2010, State Superintendent Tony Evers was interested in the idea of increasing vouchers and virtual charter schools.  He agreed with then Governor-elect Scott Walker’s plan to expanding these options for families and suggested that it would be beneficial to the students.  Since he came into office, Governor Walker has been doing what appears to be everything he can to attack public education.  It is obvious that Governor Walker is not interested in maintaining a quality public education system in Wisconsin after all of the attacks he has been launching against educators and public workers.  Governor Walker wants to demolish public education by taking away the rights of teachers, drastically reducing the budget for public schools, and expanding school voucher programs and creating more virtual charter schools.  Even though virtual charter schools are getting popular, they have not proven to be more successful and effective than public schools.

 In the Badger Herald, it was reported that the caps were going to be lifted for the number of students to be able to receive vouchers and go to virtual schools; this could potentially mean that more and more students will be going to private schools funded by public government money.  Unfortunately, these private schools are not held accountable for the achievement of their students, and many are less rigorous than their public school counterparts.

In May, 2011, the Green Bay Press Gazette reported that Tony Evers did not agree with the expansion of the vouchers program.  Superintendent Evers had changed his position on this controversial topic in reaction to the deep public education budget cuts in Wisconsin.  Evers strongly stated that he does not agree with Walker’s budget decision for public education.  Governor Walker wants to take away money from public education and invest it in private schools.  Public education has proven to be effective if funded appropriately.  Tony Evers supports public education and states that instead of funding private charter schools taxpayers’ money should be going to public education.

-Marco Olson Guillén