Classroom Newsletter NETS-T 1

This bright and colorful classroom newsletter was created through Microsoft Word. Fun pictures, fonts, colors, and borders are included to make it visually pleasing. The letter is used to give students and parents monthly updates on the class and special announcements. It will be posted in class, as well as online for viewing.

NewsletterCT

School 2.0 Reflection Tool NETS-T 5

I used the School 2.0 Reflection Tool as a way to evaluate how strong my skills were for each of the 5 NETS-T standards. I answered a series of multiple choice questions, and looked over my results to see strengths and weaknesses. I could then see what areas I could work on to improve my professional practice. Below is one area that I decided to try to improve on.

 

      I decided to focus on the NETS-T regarding engaging in professional growth and leadership.  I often get comfortable with the information or techniques I know, and don't reach out as much as I could to improve my skills.  The question about being up-to-date on current research and applying the new info stood out to me because I see it as a field that I can greatly improve on.  Technology is constantly changing and improving, and I do see the importance in keeping up with the news.  A classroom of students can benefit greatly if their teacher is willing to do the research and implement the new information.  

     I researched an Education Week site that contains blogs on technology trends in schools.  One article that was interesting to read was about principals of high schools supporting online classes.  This would help students who are behind in credits, along with helping students advance in their schooling.  I think this would be a good program to have, especially for these two groups of students.  However, for the average student, I think it would be too much responsibility for them to keep up on the work.  This is coming from my high school experience.  Along with this topic of online teaching, there was another blog that had 3 parts addressing the quality of online teaching.  Surfing through these different blogs seems to be a beneficial way to learn about some of the new trends.  The site also is linked to twitter, so I can use the two sites together. 

Introducing Christine...AKA Mo

Hi everyone!  I'm Christine, but my friends all call me Mo.  I got that nickname in middle school thanks to my friends.  They started calling me monkey because my ears stuck out and I goofed around a lot.  They shortened it to Mo, and it stuck.  I was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, which is where most of my extended family live.  I attended nursery and first school here.  When I was 6 I moved to Buckinghamshire, England, which is just outside of London.  This is where I attended first and middle school, and immediately gained an English accent.  My whole middle school had a population of about 100 students, so it was a shock when I moved to San Diego when I was 12.  Bernardo Heights Middle School had a population of about 2,500, so it was a difficult adjustment.  I gradually gained an American accent, but still use my English accent with my family.  I attended Rancho Bernardo High School, where I was on the track team doing long and triple jump.  Then spent way too long at Palomar College, and am now at CSUSM learning to be a speech therapist.

As far as being up-to-date on the latest technology, I understand the minimum of what I need to know.  I'm capable of learning new things, but really am not that interested in it.  I like to stick with what I know, so when I need to learn a new program I usually get frustrated.  I've been living with my boyfriend for the last 6 years and he's a computer wiz, so I've gotten quite used to him doing everything for me.  He's good at fixing things, which works out well, because I'm good at breaking things.  If the computer doesn't do what I want immediately, I usually want to throw it out the window, so hopefully that won't happen in class.

The CSUSM/COE mission statement did not play a part in my decision to apply to this school.  One part of the statement that stood out to me talks about life-long learning and innovative research.  I feel, as a student, that I am always learning new things, especially from the experiences my teachers have gone through.  Also, through all of the different research studies going on, we are often learning new ways of teaching.