PME 811 - Innovation in Teaching & Learning

 It's interesting because as this blog comes to an end in the sense that words will no longer be typed onto this site/computer. I don't think that it will come to an end in my mind. Perhaps, this blog is more like a journal of reflection and inquiry. As I have read and responded to others peoples posts, I sit back and think that there is still so much to reflect on and collaborate on.  Some topics that I would like to dive deeper into and research are: why don't we fail students, what does it mean to fail? Since we are moving away from percentages to competency based reporting what does that look like for you as a teacher? Does it change your assessment or do you just do the same?  I honestly don't think we ever stop reflecting as teachers. I think we are always wondering in our minds about whether that lesson went the way we intended?, did I do a good job?, how did I react in that situation? And I think it is okay. I think reflecting is healthy and something we should ...

 As I am taking PME 811 - Innovation & Teaching, I am also taking PME 810 - Integration Planning and Assessment. Something that is of interest to me is how do schools, teachers and districts collaborate? In my other course I am learning about Professional Learning Communities. I of course have been a part of Pinterest for a long time and love all the different ideas one can get when logged in. I am also a part of Conscious Teaching on Facebook, which is a group that I discovered when I went away on a Pro-D conference two years ago.  So, I never realized until recently that Professional Learning Communities are a great resource if your district/school does not allocate collaboration time. I have done some research asking friends and colleagues who come from other districts, what it was like in their experience and how does collaboration work? It seems it is either driven from the district level which has to be allocated by the principal or it just comes from the principal's...

I came across these excerpts in a small rural community museum. It was the summer before my first year teaching and I though WOW! This is so interesting. It falls inline with what we have just been reading regarding gender and diversity.  The first image is clearly depicting gender diversity by stating that women are the teachers and there are clear rules to abide by. The rules are very interesting, and none are "todays rules" however, it really shows what it was like to be a women in the 1920's and for one to compare nowadays it is really ground breaking how far women have come today not only with "rules" but also in any profession.  The second image it talks about girls and boys however, the wording is still stereotypical and the part that is most interesting to me is "avoid him and avoid her".  As I am writing this I am also watching Shania Twain's new documentary on Netflix. It is really awesome to see and hear how she had to overcome diversity...

 Going on my fifth year of teaching and being primarily a special education teacher in both Elementary and High School settings for the last four years, I have been able to be a part of lots of discussions about curriculum, planning and assessment.  However, when it comes to teaching and planning for inclusion and diversity I think there is still lots of work to be done. In our district we did a big planning session and workshops with Shelley Moore, who is the Inclusion "Guru" at the moment. When it came to planning for competency based IEP's, it really helped me understand what Shelley was looking at and targeting when planning the curriculum and new IEP format. Very much focusing on a strengths based approach (learner) rather than content and memorization (subject). Something that I think we still struggle with especially in High School, is we have learners who are so far apart. We have our lifeskill students (true life skills, as their IQ is below 70, actually more lik...