Calendar of Special Days

Calendar of Special Days
This is a wonderful resource for educators using the Common Core Goals!
Sylvan Dell Publishers are wonderful modality method videos & e books
for bi-lingual students, (especially for Smart boards). Happy reading  :-) 

Google Drive

Google Drive and Docs for Teachers 2012

June 29th marked a great day in my life. I graduated with my Masters Degree in Educational Media Design and Technology from Full Sail University in Winter Park Florida. I was honored to have received a Directors Award in Training and Motivational Development and the EMDT Advanced Achiever Award. Speaking on behalf of my classmates was a great honor and I hope I represented my classmates well. The whole experience was very surreal! The last 12 months of my life have been living and breathing FSO and it has been very very hard. There were many times that I thought I was not going to make it to June. Standing on that stage and seeing my name in lights was something that I thought I would never see that in my life time. It was exciting to hear my name called and to receive my diploma was mind blowing.
The whole time I was up there I kept thinking about all that has happened in the last 12 months. My new found friends who helped me through this program were right there, and I got to meet them. I was over joyed to see them in person! The emotions going through my mind were of joy and happiness to finally see them. I knew it was going to be hard to say goodbye to them at the end of the day. My Teacher Techie Cohort friends will always have a special place in my heart. They were always there to have fun with and share the ups and downs with as we worked through the year together. I especially  have to thank Cindi, Amanda and Faith who have become my very special friends!
Full Sail University turned out to be more impressive than I ever imagined. The campus is impressive and if I would recommend it to anyone.

I have to put my speech here so I will always remember that great day.

Ron Smith Interview: Use Any Method to Reach Students

I chose to listen to Ron Smiths interview because the title struck my eye. Ron said that using digital methods of teaching is very front end loaded. I have certainly have found that out during this EMDT program. Just think what it takes to make a 2 minute video, that is informing and interesting. Ron said that teachers often feel that a "Power Point" is thinking out of the box. Power point by itself is very blah, at least now that I see it through EMDT eyes. I hope I can challenge my staff to learn more and think out of the box as they teach.

Wk4 Leadership Project Blog Post: Leadership Role Model Reflection:

This weeks Leadership blog is a reflection on leadership role-models that I have had in my life that I can incorporate into my leadership role. When I was thinking about what to say for this blog assignment I had all sorts of things flash through my head. There have been many people in my life that have provided that leadership model to follow. It still came down to a fellow teacher.

Shelly Barth is a veteran teachers who has been teaching our severe population of students, who have cognitive and physical disabilities. If I can borrow a phrase from Cindi Madanski, Shelly sees the trees even while she is looking at the whole forest. She treats her students with love and respect despite what disability a student may have. She is always trying to teach them to be self-advocates for themselves, and she is passionate about that subject.  Shellie challenges herself to always think of her students as a complete tree not a partial one. A limb may have lots of knots it but it still deserves a persons full attention. If a student is non-verbal and has a very low level of IQ she still will find ways for that student to ask for what he or she needs or wants. Shelly partners with her parents, and guides them through a life in high school as a parent of a child with a severe disability.

Looking for the best in a student is a great model to follow, and I try to do that everyday. The EMDT program has given me ways to bring out those "best" qualities in different ways. Keeping them engaged and learning those functional life skills will only be a "win" for my students.

MAC Wk 4 Comments to my classmates

HI Cindi,

Great great post. I bet that this post was therapeutic even. Knowing what you have been through this year has been so hard for me to watch. I have taught in that kind of Kayos before, and I know how hurtful students can be to you and each other. Your districts dream of "fixing it" is commendable, but it seems they have not thought it through. Does that surprise me NO. Administration always have a vision, they just don't think it through.

The art of possibilities just the title itself is how your school should be viewed. Each and every one of those students has a possibility. If the school staff can commit to its vision then I am sure you will succeed. The words invest, empower and succeed offered by Alyson are awesome and apply.

I know it's hard and it has been so rough for you, but I know you can do it. Your personality will not let you throw in the towel without trying. Do you have support? At school maybe not always....but from me and others in this cohort? YOU BETCHA!

David

Week Four: Vision



Creating Frameworks for Possibility


While the last chapters of this month’s reading were all valuable, the one that resonated with me was the eleventh practice. The school that I teach at was completely overhauled with an entirely new staff, students, and grade levels this past school year. This whole year has been a work in progress, as the staff was hired only 2 weeks before school started (and in fact is not entirely complete now, and I came at the end of October), the administration was only assigned then as well, and our contract language is changed entirely for this building in the district alone. Teachers had never worked together before, and none had worked in this neighborhood or had any connections to the families in our school.


I say this because while we have been hired as “the best lead teachers in the city”, we have been operating without a clear vision. We have been thrown together with the task of “turning this failing school around”. A gargantuan task with no support from central administration to do so. At our last staff meeting, we discussed the need for a vision statement. I was a bit dismayed when we all contributed ideas and ended up with a vision the length of an essay with points encompassing all things we want to accomplish: lifelong learners, safe environment, parental education, engaged students, fostering curiosity, attending to health needs, community support, giving opportunities, 21st century technology, ending the cycle of poverty… the list went on and on. I felt that we were missing the mark on our vision statement. Of course we want all of these things for our students, but our vision could encompass all of these ideals without being an essay. It was simply a list of all the things that overwhelm us everyday and frankly, it was depressing to me to read it all and see all we have to accomplish.


According to The Art of Possibility, a vision articulates a possibility. It fulfills a desire fundamental to humankind. It is free-standing ~ it points to neither a rosier future, nor to a past in need of improvement. It is a long line of possibility radiating outward. I think that our vision for my school started during that staff meeting by looking at all that is wrong with our students’ lives, and what we want to do to fix it. That may be the worst way we can look at our vision. Why not the same vision as HP – “Robinson Elementary School For the World”? Not “Robinson Elementary School where we hope to erase poverty, drugs, gangs, parents who don’t know how to help their kids, kids who have no love of learning, atrocious behavior problems, pathetic attendance, government dependent citizens, violence....” Instead of looking at what we want to get rid of, we should be looking at where we strive to be.


Do we approach our vision by looking in the rear view mirror and addressing things that need to be changed? Or do we look forward at where we want to be as a school community? I will be sharing this chapter at our next staff meeting when we meet again to hammer out our vision statement.

photo from geekphilosopher.com







Posted by Cynthia Madanski at 9:03 AM

HI Faith,Sometimes our circuit boards are not seated tightly in position. The thousandth of an inch it is off can lead to many things that don't work or need to be fixed. When we are not grounded we can feel that way, that lonely overwhelmed feeling. One can trust in finding the proper seating by surrounding themselves with the ones they love, and with passion I believe. Your board maybe out of sink at times, but I truly believe that your sense of passion for life will always get you through. Your circuit board is strong and seated correctly most of the time :)David

MAC: Week 4 Blog 1

MAC week 4 blog 1 reading: The Art of Possibility byBenjamin Zander and Rosamund Stone Zander

Used with permission from: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1387982

What if wewere the circuit board of our life?

Perhaps this book is all about being Zen.  I particularly like the portion of Zen that explores the lack of people living in a bottle.  I find that at times I am guilty of the desire to be unaffected by the outside world.  I like isolation, which is witnessed by the National Forest surroundings of my home.  I find that too many people clutter my thoughts too easily.  Yet despite this isolation we affect each other, and we are part responsible no matter which direction the outcome.  I would like to be more efficient in the game of chess, but the concept of being the board seems harder for me to grasp.  I understand that actions and reactions occur, and most of the time I do not assign blame.  There are times though, when feeling low, that I am bound by insufficient thought and overwhelmed with negativity. When those times occur action is required to re-establish a positive mode of thinking and being. 

MAC Wk 4 Reading Entry Chapters 9 - 12

This weeks reading for me centers on Chapter 12 and the prompt offered in FSO, Telling the WE story. I have been in the classroom for 23 years, and in that time I have worked with students ages 5 to 21, and they represented a huge range of disabilities cognitively and physically. My whole teaching career has been focused on paying it forward, giving as much as I can so my students can lead successful more independent lives as an adult with a disability.

The "we" comes from two opposites in the spectrum of disabilities. David a tall, thin, happy child with Autism, and Brandy a young trouble teenager who used drugs, was oppositional, and was a runner. David from the first time he joined our Life Skills program as a freshman said that he wanted to be a Car Detailer. As a freshman David had very low self-esteem, and he lived the life of a student with autism. He had to eat the same lunch every day, he had to have certain items in his backpack. He hated to be wrong, and he had no social skills. He would blurt out answers, or stand two inches from you. He would eat super fast. That meal had to have a can of Ensure, a fusion yogurt drink,  and a tuna fish sandwich. He would refuse to try any new food. Changes of schedule had to be explained to him a week a head of time if possible. Remember he wanted to be a car detailer.

Brandy was a typical teenage girl, who was cute, and had a very outgoing personality, but she was hiding! She was hiding all of the hurt that had come her way with her dysfunctional family. Like many teenagers she would challenge authority to not only get her way, but to just push anyones buttons. What was he future going to be? I had no clue, I had my hunches. Did I think she was going to screw her life up along the way? YES I did.

As David grew older and became more confident it was clear that this young man was really going to go after his dream. He was able to live through his parents divorce, and he took on living with mom, and seeing dad on weekends. He proved that he take some regular education classes as long as he had a para with him that could keep him on task and organized. David was a visual learner, and reading fluency was not his strong point. If material was read to him, and gone over slowly with a fine tooth comb, he would get it. He joined our NJROTC program, and proved that he could learn how to be disciplined in study as he learned training manuals that would bore any of us. The auto mechanics course had MATH in it, OH NO Math. His connection with his para, teacher, and his mom got him through it. Mom was a wreck, but he made it through. He also took on a training job that paid him sub minimum wage at a local car dealer. It was there he learned how the professionals detailed a car. By the time his senior year rolled around he was detailing cars on his own in his garage. He was slow at it, but he was trying. He graduated and returned to us to take more auto shop classes. Classes at the local community college.With his para in tow they both learned the art of body work on an automobile, from dents to painting. His dad stayed in the picture, and provided him with funds to start his business, tshirts, and business cards brought Dave's Detailing into reality. David reached age 21 and soon it was the day before his 22nd birthday. He was about to age out of our services provided to him as a public school. A small business license was applied for, and a local car dealer provided him with a work space and cars to detail. It was a car port attached to the used car dealership. Today it is an enclosed garage and his business is thriving! My co-teacher and I are proud that we paid it forward by sticking with him, and teaching him as many functional life skills as possible.

I met Brandy when I was teaching computers and history in a residential treatment facility for students who had severe conduct disorders, and juvenile sex offenders. She was a hurt confused young lady that at the same time was very witty, sarcastic and foul mouthed. She used drugs and running away as her form of escape. She had issues with authority, lying, being inconsiderate to herself and those around her. I taught her in class, where her general attitude was I don't care. It was a rough start for both of us. I decided to put in extra hours and work on the residential units when they were short staffed. Each teacher was part of a treatment team, because  school was considered part of their therapy. Working on the unit proved to the students that I cared, and was willing to put up with what ever they could dish out. I was called names, spit on, hit, and in the end they learned that I could physically restrain them if it was called for. It turned out that I was the only male trusted to work on the girls unit. Brandy and I slowly established a relationship. She figured out that I was a male that was going to respect her, help her and not try to be physical with her. It blossomed into a relationship built on trust. I could just look at her and she knew if I was approving of her behavior or not. Brandy left the program after working on her issues for almost 3 years. She became a leader on the residential unit and she left with her head held high. She would write to me from time to time and check in, then I lost track of her after that, until Facebook came along. She typed in my name one day and found me! We reconnected and I visited her home with her future husband and two kids. It was a tiny house, and seemed to have lots of problems, but it was a house. I asked her how she did after she left the treatment program. She said she had struggled but my letters helped keep her on track, and she admitted that the treatment program called Positive Peer Culture really did teach her a lot. YES I had paid it forward, and she was living proof.

What do I do from here? I keep going, I keep teaching. People who are not Special Education teachers often say to us that you have so much patience, your a special person. I don't think about it in those terms. I think that we are passionate, and we look for those sparks to ignite, we push ourselves to think out of the box to help our students to succeed. We go for the Possibilities!