Lesson Focus Possibilities

This post is for our lesson focus possibilities that are due by 10/26. Here is the assignment from the class website:

The first step in the process will require you to identify five (5) possible curriculum foci for the lesson. Ideally these should be topics that you will teach in your student teaching semester or topics that coincide with work you're doing in your methods course. One way to begin this process is to peruse the Virginia SOL's for your grade level/content area to see which content/process objectives are emphasized. I would suggest selecting possible focal areas based on a) your interest in the topic, b) possible connections to your methods courses, and c) possible technology connections. Please create a post in your blog group with the five possibilities, referencing the appropriate VA SOLs (including grade level and content area) and the highlighted portion of the standard you'd like to focus on prior to class on 10/26. After discussing the possibilities in class on the 19th, you will select three of the five possibilities to flesh out in the next step.

Communicating with Parents

Perhaps the most prevalent change in our day-to-day lives brought about by technology is that of a new ease of communication. One can engage in real-time conversations with people hundreds of miles away or have a silent, instantaneous conversation via text message with friends in the next room. Artists share their works with larger audiences, the whole world is up-to-date on events across the globe thanks to services like CNN’s “iReport” and in on the same inside jokes thanks to websites like YouTube and Textsfromlastnight.com. This surge in information availability and communication potential has a myriad of implications for educators, and can be a great help in connecting one’s students’ home and school lives if used properly.

In “Communicating with Parents”, Kathleen Casson lays out basic principles for parent-teacher communication, regardless of mode. Her opening sentences were what really struck me; to have a functional relationship with the parents of your students, the first time you call, email or meet them should not be months into the school year when a problem arises with their child. Rather, a pattern of sincere and positive communication should be set up early on in order to build parents’ confidence in the teacher and to make sure that parents and teachers are on the same page when it comes to expectations and hopes for the student’s performance in the classroom, which Casson notes as a key factor in achievement.

When used correctly, technology greatly facilitates interaction between busy parents and teachers. Sydney Brown’s article on class websites gave specific examples of families who have become much more engaged in their children’s’ academic lives thanks to websites administered by teachers. This involvement and willingness by parents to take an active role is determined in large part by how the website is presented; David Walbert’s “Writing for the Web” explains that effective website publishing will take an approach similar to the newspaper USA Today, meaning necessary information is relayed without much embellishment. By maintaining a well-thought out and frequently updated site as a resource for our students and their families, we as educators will make our own jobs that much easier by establishing a healthy link between students’ families and their academic careers.

Finally, the wonders of the World Wide Web do not come without potential hazards. It may be difficult to get some parents to use the internet to connect to their children’s schoolwork (or at all, for that matter. This writer’s father does not have an email address and has been known to type like the keyboard is going to bite him, for example). Being able to judge the family’s situation is vital in making technology work for you: if they’re fighting over one shared family computer with a dial-up connection, if the parents only use the internet during the day at work… these are all factors that must be taken into account when implementing this tool. The final article for this Blog entry discusses what I think is the biggest potential hazard to educators, and that is the fine line teachers must walk in cyberspace when it comes to connecting to their students. I was personally appalled by the stories about teachers in their mid-30s not only friending but subsequently flirting and beyond with their teenage students through social-networking websites. I’m not so naïve as to think this didn’t happen before Facebook, but there are certain lines that adults should be smart enough not to cross. We as teachers have an obligation to set positive examples for our students both in person and electronically, and there are lines that should not be blurred just because there are new ways to go about blurring them.

All in all, very educational readings that certainly shed new light on parent-teacher relations in the digital age. I think as we progress in our comfort level with technology as a society, we’ll see an abandonment of the dreaded parent-teacher conference in favor of a steady flow of communication between home and school, which could be a very healthy turn of events for all involved.

…Speaking of the digital age, did anybody else read and then re-read the sentence about the 14-year-old with a Blackberry? Kids these days, man.