Blog Post #3

Peer Editing: One of the Most Useful Tools I Learned as a Teacher of High School Students

Working with each other to improve our class blogs and assignments in EDM310 is both beneficial and fun! Just imagine what it could do for your students! Not only does it help us check grammatical and spelling errors that we might miss, but it can help us get a better grasp of writing about something that is of interest to the greater majority of the class. I have been a stay-at-home mom for the past five years. There have been days, weeks, and months that I have felt that I have been on the same intellectual level as a preschooler, elementary student, or young teen - I am sure that I have become dumb to my once very picky writing skills. It's bothersome to me, because I was a really profound and colorful writer once upon a time. I was also one of those teachers that most students and parents hated - cross-curriculum was one of my specialities. I taught World History, U.S. History (both parts), Government, Economics, and Remediation for the AHSGE (this was my favorite class to teach). No paper was turned in with grammatical or spelling mistakes! I tired to incorporate as many of the other core curriculum classes as I could. Peer Editing was beneficial to my students, and it gave us time away from the monotony of our typical classroom schedule. I know...I was the Devil. I loved this blogging assignment! I welcome anyone to correct what I feel I have abandoned, but let's try to follow some of the most important rules! I had four rules, and three were in the videos we watched.

Ms. Parvin's Rules

1. Take the time to really read the other student's work - A lot of times people don't take Peer Editing seriously, and this can lead to students being off task and feelings getting hurt. People put a lot of time and effort into their work, and we should be able to show them that same amount of respect.

2. Make suggestions, don't demand they change the assignment to your way - This is someone's work. It means something to them. However, it may not be a topic that they know a lot about and you do. Your knowledge could be helpful in making more sense of their assignment. Sharing knowledge is a great learning tool.

3. Provide accurate Corrections - I had students that would turn in peer edits on peer edits. I always found that comical. I always told students to be sure of their corrections. If they were unsure of an error, then they should consult their book first followed by me. It could always make the difference in a A+ and an A.

4. STAY POSITIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE - This was my most important rule, and I save it for last. I stressed it over and over again.

I always gave the students a rubric to follow and an evaluation to follow at the end of the peer editing assignment. I tweaked it a couple of times to see what worked best. I found it more beneficial with my 9th graders to rotate each group after one editing: no two students edited each others paper. I often found that the other student would try to retaliate a bad peer review with another, and two wrongs never make a right.

I really enjoyed the kids video on the top ten mistakes with peer editing. It was really cute, and I am sure the video helped them all become better peer editors. This is a great video to watch for educators and students. It hits all the high notes involved in peer editing.

A positive attitude and making students feel comfortable is one of the most fundamental and important parts of teaching on any level. If a student doesn't feel comfortable in any realm, then it will make for an undesirable environment for teacher and student.

Adaptive Technology

Technology in Special Education

I think it's wonderful what technology is doing for students with special needs. When the government implemented No Child Left Behind, a lot of teachers were faced with students in our classrooms that we had no idea of how to reach. I remember in high school that students in Special Education were completely isolated from the rest of the student population, and I also remember the first day that I had a student in my classroom that couldn't hold a pencil or book in their own hands. I sat on both sides of the fence with No Child Left Behind. While I wanted the special needs students to have a fair and equal education, I often found myself wondering if it really made education fair and equal to my regular students. I taught high school, so I had no teacher's aides in my classroom. I went home at night and pondered ways to reach my specials needs students without burdening my regular students.

If I would have had the proper technology that each of my special needs students needed, then I think all of my students would have benefited from my lessons on a daily basis. While having the technology for each of my students to engage in the same lesson would was impossible, but just having the equipment for those in need would have opened so many doors.

How the iPad Works with Academics for Autism and iPad Apps

This touches close to home. I have two friends that have kids with Autism and a cousin that has Aspergers. I have recently participated in two groups on Facebook that have raised money to buy iPads for these two children. The first time we created a Facebook group in September. My friends son was diagnosed with Autism in July, they are dual household with both parents working full-time civil jobs, and they had little money to buy extravagant things. After hearing about Apple's launch of programs to help special needs children with iPads and Rudy's recent diagnosis, we reached out to our Facebook community. We asked each friend to donate a dollar to our PayPal account and to invite their friends to join. By Thanksgiving, we had the money to purchase Rudy an iPad and $300 worth of iTunes cards to install applications. We have since started one for my friend's son, Chase. We hope to have his by his birthday in October. Rudy is loving her iPad and functioning at a much higher level than doctor's predicted.

The steps that Apple is making to improve education for special needs children is amazing, but the iPad can also be used to capture the minds of every student. I am afraid I have fallen in love with GeoBee. It's a Geography application. Students can visit places all over the world, it gives them facts and figures about thousands of places, and offers quizzes to help them retain the information they have learned. I probably would have had this blog completed three hours ago, but I have been entranced with this application.

Harness Your Students Digital Smarts

Wow! I learned so much and want to implement so much! Terraform, Wiki, Digital Citizenship, OpenSimilator....all terms that I was unfamiliar with before tonight. A historical simulator where my students could create avatars to fight at Bunker Hill, witness the signing of the Magna Carta, or walk through Checkpoint Charlie would be an amazing tool to help them understand the more boring and complex pages of history.

Students 'learning how to learn' would also help a great deal in classroom management. I am all for independent learning, but it is a common obstacle in the core subjects from what I learned as a teacher. Having students actively participate in creating their learning environment would enrich my classroom and many more. I have had students "larp" in the past at events focusing on the Renaissance and different American Civil War battles, but this would give them more opportunities to explore more than just one era in history. My only concerns are with meeting the state objectives and having the time to create these virtual worlds maintaining these objectives.