Wk 4 Blogging Response #2

 Leadership Post: Vivian Tejedor

Capstone project work sample.

My capstone project addressed literacy engagement for the person with severe language development delays. Four students with a diagnosis of autism explored Web 2.0 tools rich in visual literacy with the goal of improving communication skills. During Phase I, students’ explored several Web 2.0 tool to see which was best to create an online word wall.  Learners chose Notaland. For Phase 2 learners worked collaboratively with same age peers without language development delays to create an online word wall. To measure communication skills gains a Functional Communication score was collected at the initiation of Phase 1, and the end of Phase 1and at the end of Phase 2. All learners made gains in their ability to initiate interaction with peers.

I would like to share my capstone project results at the American Speech and Language Association upcoming convention at the Georgia World Congress Center from November 15–17, 2012. I will go ahead and submit my paper for publication in the Journal of Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools (LSHSS) and submit the paper for the annual convention for it to be considered for an hour long presentation but judging by the data I have collected up to date my project is best suited for a poster session.  I think from all the alternatives I will enjoy a poster session the most. 

Leadership Post 1

Leadership Post 2

Leadership Post 3

Leadership Project Google Document

1 comments:

Cricket JohnsonFeb 23, 2012 08:38 PM

What an amazing project! It really opens up a lot of thoughts on how new technologies can assist our at needs students in school. I feel like technology has so much to offer students with disabilities - almost to leveling the playing field in some areas!Reading about your results and how all learners gained! That's really awesome. I have no doubt that your paper and research will and should be published! Excited to see the ideas with technology and students with disabilities that your project spurs! Very well done.

Wk 4 Blogging Response #1

Week 4 Reading: Chapters 9 -12

Photo from Microsoft Clip Art

I know that I have said this a million times, along with others in this class, but I can’t help feeling it again. Chapter 9 starts out with lighting a spark and all I can think about is being a Christian. Being an example to others and sparking that light in them with everything that we do. We are called to be generous, like the 50 cents story. I really do enjoy this book but also find it funny that it portrays a lot of the same characteristics that we should be living already. I wonder how many people read this book and never make that connection. I have found that lighting this spark in my students, or letting them light a spark in my life makes all of the difference between an average class and breaking through to some real connections being made.

In chapter 10 the author talks about being the board. But what it really sounds like is learning how to forgive and have grace. In the example of the driver, the druken driver will get consequences according to the law, but as the victim, getting upset and blaming them completely also hurts yourself. If you dwell on it then you lose control of your own emotions, reactions, and mind. It is better to forgive and learn how to move forward with accepting the here and now, as mentioned in an earlier chapter. I think that this is a good idea for teachers. There are many times where a student has known exactly what buttons to push in order to get me to my limit. While what they are doing is wrong, if I react in pointing fingers and blaming them for the situation, I am only giving them what they want, a reaction. It is better for me to remember that they are students and in this preconceived notion, sometimes the teacher is the enemy and their teenage emotions get the best of them. One thing that I am not sure the author makes extremely clear is that this does not mean that they are not to receive consequences; it is more a conscious choice on how to react and deal with emotions. This also goes in line with Rule number 6, don’t take yourself so seriously. As a teacher I can’t get so worked up if a kid doesn’t listen to me, I can’t freak out. Or according to the bible, don’t throw your pearls before swine. If they aren’t in a place to receive instruction then I am just wasting energy and emotions freaking out about it.

This story of the teacher shaving her head in order to help the girl with cancer reminded me of Adam Sandler peeing his pants to make the elementary school student feel ok in Billy Madison. Changing the framework takes courage and belief that you are doing it in order to better the mindset of others and change their framework as well. I really like that one of the steps for this is to figure out what is on track and what is off track. Too often people have great dreams and then they don’t focus on them when they start executing them. At my school district this happens often and there comes a point where people stop believing in the ideas even if they are good because they never get completed. A vision with specific goals is so important to this cause.

Chapter 12 really brings together a lot of different aspects of this book. The biggest thing is to overcome the fear that is constructed in our minds so that we can tell the WE story together. Teaching in a school that is very racially diverse I deal with this issue often. I can’t count how many times I have had to mediate issues that have to do with different races. The fact that the issues have nothing to do with specific people never seems to dawn on them until after a fight or argument has broken out. The examples that the author gives about the marriage and the job raise are perfect examples of how to change into a WE story. This is a technique I often have to use with my students especially when it comes to their grades or lack of homework. I have to remind them that I want them to pass as well and together we can come up with goals for US to get them to pass. I want them to know that it is a team effort. This is definitely not one of the easiest stories or conversations to have, so it is important to not spiral downward.

6 comments:

1. 
   jbbFeb 19, 2012 07:46 PM

   Thanks so much for sharing your summary of the reading and where it reaches you. Grace, forgiveness, having a sense of humor and not taking oneself too seriously is so important in life and in the classroom. I'm glad that the book has spoken to you.

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2. 
   Sunny Trees PhotographyFeb 21, 2012 03:09 PM

   Jessica,
   
   I also took away the part about grace and forgiveness, it also reminded me not to take anything personally. I do not usually take myself too seriously, but others see that as that I am not serious. That is a fine line in my work place, especially with my boss who critiques every word that comes out of my mouth no matter who is watching. I would love to gift him the Art of Possibilities!
   
   Sonja

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   Sunny Trees PhotographyFeb 21, 2012 03:19 PM
   Oops, I only posted half of my comment.
   
   I really appreciate the many analogies in this book as it also helps me understand the concepts. With this book I changed my cold call requests for teachers from do you want to make a video to I have a few examples of how others have contributed and was wondering if you would like to join us in showcasing your students. This seems to make it a WE thing, like you stated with your students. It helps with the difficult conversations as you also mentioned.
   
   Sonja
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3. 
   Drew FultonFeb 22, 2012 06:38 AM

   Jess,
   I really love your interpretation of "Being the Board." I struggled a bit with this chapter but after reading your thoughts, it all clicked for me. The idea of grace is a powerful concept and something that can be quiet overwhelming for me at times. Thanks for helping me to gain a deeper understanding of that chapter!
   
   I also really like the way you have used (and continue to use) the WE story in your classroom. I can see how that could be a game changer when dealing with the issues that you are dealing with on a daily basis. I also like how you use it in connection with getting better grades... My one question is, could the story be "how we can come up with goals to get US to pass"? Just a thought...

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4. 
   Greg HavensFeb 23, 2012 05:51 PM

   Jess,
   Just want to say that you did a great job summarizing this book. I can see that you really considered all of the takes in to. Nice Job. I agree that teaching takes tons of grace and forgiveness. I find that my kids forgive me all of the time. I can remember the teachers that I had that were forgiving. They were the ones that made the biggest impressions on me.

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   Cricket JohnsonFeb 23, 2012 08:17 PM
   I agree with so much of what you wrote here Jess and you too Greg!
   Jess - where you stated about forgiving - especially the students who push our buttons. I really want to print that out and pass it around to a few teachers I know, some still hold grudges years after the student is gone. It's sad that they forget these are children who are learning, adapting, and soaking in how we ourselves handle each situation. We are the only source of love or parental support that some of these students will ever see!!

Wk 4 Reading

So this week's reading to me was really powerful. The section where Zander speaks of the couple going through therapy and the woman is yelling “you don’t love me” and he yells back “who could love you when you act like this!” and then directed her to see that it was emotions running her and she needed to find the cause.  So many times I will be arguing with my husband and the argument goes off on some crazy tangent and even as I am flinging comments I am thinking to myself “this isn’t even what this is about”, “what is it about him that makes me act that way? I love him and I can still say the meanest, nastiest things to him. It is sometimes like an out of body experience. I once saw a quote that the difference between love and friendship is how much you can hurt each other. Most of the arguments we get into are based off of the root cause of expecting a certain response or action from that person we love and then get upset when they don’t live up to that….how does this tie into leadership? 

Last week I heard a teacher moaning and groaning about an administrator who they felt didn’t give a student they had written up – enough of a punishment. I asked the teacher “Did you tell him what you expected/wanted?” The teacher responded with “no”…”then how can you expect him to live up to your standard?” The teacher just stared at me. “Go tell him what you would like to see occur – then if he still doesn’t handle it – you can complain all you want.”  This situation is really something similar as above. We can’t hold people to expectations if we don’t make it clear to them what they are.

Wk 4 Leadership Project

My capstone project addressed interdisciplinary education.  My target audience of high school teachers explored how creating thematic units across disciplines help create rigorous and relevant learning for students.  During Phase I, Teachers created a plan to solve the problem of creating cross-curricular lessons to increase student engagement.  In Phase II, Teachers and students engaged in the solution and participated in various lesson around the same central theme.  Teachers and students were able to document their experience with interdisciplinary instruction through pre/post surveys, and student created products. As a result, students were able to see the connections between various classrooms and subject content and recognize and identify with rigorous and relevant lessons.

I submitted my abstract to a conference held by the International Journal of Arts and Sciences.
International Journal of Arts and Science Conference

Week 1 Leadership Blog Post - Leadership Role Model:

Week 2 Leadership Blog Post - To Publish or Present:


Week 3 Leadership Blog Post - Where do I want to share my project

My CBR Presentation

Presenter Notes for Presentation

Wk 3 Blogging Response #2

BP_25 Week 3 Reading - Art of Possibility Chapters 4-8
I always think I'm going to struggle to find content for these blog posts so they don't read like book reports but somehow something serendipitously comes to to me at just the right time.

I think this video from Randy Halverson is a great metaphor for the message within the Art of Possibility, the idea that a world of possibilities is hiding in plain site. We just need to learn how to see them. This time lapse video is a compilation of 30 second exposures that reveals spectacular things in the night skies invisible to the human eye and standard video.


Temporal Distortion from Randy Halverson on Vimeo.

What really struck me about the 4 chapters we read this week is the way they support each other. I really identified with chapter 7 of the Art of Possibility - The Way Things Are. I've always been an optimist, to the point where it has frustrated other people. I hope moving forward I can use this strength to learn to lead from any chair as described in chapter 5. I think the key to getting others to be inspired by our own dreams is to communicate them with passion as described in Chapter 8. Chapter 6 stresses not taking yourself so seriously. I think too often people get misguided by feeling they need to convince others they are right instead of respectfully disagreeing or simply presenting their own ideas with positive conviction. I see this happen often in social media, especially Facebook.

I didn't realize it until writing this post but I took these lessons to heart earlier this week. Recording artist Whitney Houston died suddenly this past Saturday at age 48. Mixed with posts of sentiment there was a small contingent of my Facebook acquaintances who took advantage of the opportunity to communicate their opinions about how her life should not be celebrated. These people posted images of soldiers graves with comments stating that true heroes deserved the media's recognition not a "washed up drug addict."... I found these views misguided and in some cases offensive, not to mention incredibly passive aggressive. If this is truly what you believe you would post comments like this every day, not just when a celebrity you don't care for dies and the media focuses on it. I chose to remain quiet on all these posts and tried to ignore the threads of comments. Eventually I decided to do some research and politely posted on each of my acquaintances threads some facts I found out about Mrs. Houston's charity work. I noticed very few news reports were highlighting these fact that her proceeds from the sales of her recording of "The Star Spangled Banner" went to soldiers and servicemen and women, or her other charity work including her own organization that helped cancer and HIV stricken children. None of my acquaintances responded directly to my comments, but several people "liked" my comments after I posted them. I also posted my findings to my own wall which got several "likes" as well. Nobody confronted my comments.

I think we could all learn to take ourselves less seriously. No one of us is ever going to change the world or the way someone else feels with a single comment, no matter how aggressively you try. By respecting each other and communicating openly and sincerely though we might just be able to help each other stop and think.
Posted by John R. Hutchinson, Jr. at 9:14 PM
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5 comments:

1.
Jessica KelloggFeb 15, 2012 01:21 PM

Hutch,

I agree with you that these chapters blended and worked very well together. I really like the fact that you focused on not taking ourselves so seriously. The scenario that you posted about Facebook happens all too often. One of my friends from high school uses Facebook to constantly tell the world her opinions. What usually happens is that people start commenting back and then all of these mini fights breakout all over her Facebook page. She genuinely gets mad at people and has lost friends over comments made on Facebook. REALLY!!! It is not that serious. If people feel strongly about something, it should be a way of life not a angered Facebook, attention getter post. I didn't really gather the moral of the story the same way that you did. Thanks for pointing out that we can all step back and respect each others communication and ideas. Do you think that it would make a difference if they always treated people like that as opposed to only when it is convenient to make a big show?

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John R. Hutchinson, Jr.Feb 15, 2012 02:59 PM

Jessica,

Facebook does seem to have a lot of that. People don't always stop to think about what their posting. We see it all the time in the news with celebrity or high profile figures messing up on Twitter, Facebook, or some other Social Media group. Look at the backlash the Million Mom's group got after their protest over JCP's selection of Ellen as a spokesperson. The speculated a loss in sales, not based on any marketing facts or research, but just because that's what they wanted JCP to think was going to happen.

I think it would make a huge difference if people were able to stop and not only consider their opposition's point of view but also respect it. They don't have to agree with it, but you can't think someone is less intelligent because they believe differently.

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1.
Cricket JohnsonFeb 16, 2012 03:52 PM

Loved this post Hutch! I completely agree with you about people over-reacting. And it is scary to see how Social Media sites are indeed impacting our society and major decision making factors. So many people are uninformed and cause what I think of as "feeding frenzies" - on misconstrued and even downright false information. People react and respond without finding out the facts, and while this kindof thing has always happened - the internet allows for it to happen faster and on a greater plane.
One thing that I really think has hurt our communication as a society is the fact that you cannot tell "tone" in computer-based communications. So much is lost in translation. So much of communication between people is body language, tone, facial expressions, and eye contact. If I have to pick between emailing a person or speaking to them in person - I will take the time to go to them if at all possible. It's just easier.
Really great thoughts and points brought up here! Well done!

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3.
Lewis SmithFeb 15, 2012 11:22 PM

Hutch,

So again I find myself commenting on the amazing artistry you display when looking at the lessons we are given. Thanks for the Randy Halverson link. His work is fantastic and I really enjoyed the editing on the video. I think it is indeed a reminder of how much we need to shift our viewpoint to see the larger systems at work in our lives. The reading gave a similar example with the very technically. but uninspired cellist. I feel that too often my students feel similarly disconnected from their educational experience, that they are just going through the motions. Waking them up to the bigger picture may be just the thing, I just have to build a time lapse viewer for their lives:-)
As a service member, I appreciate that you pointed out what Whitney Houston did for sailors and soldiers. She was one of the first to contribute in such a visible way, at a time when the Gulf War was political, and a very young Smitty was actually performing sit-ins to protest the war at my high school. Well, now I laugh and wonder what little Smitty would think of himself 20 years later. I do know that standing up for those who cannot defend themselves on Facebook or in any other venue is honorable though. You are a good man for doing so, and we need more people to think before they tread on others. Kindness is not weakness. Semper Fidelis.

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4.
Drew FultonFeb 16, 2012 05:30 AM

Hutch,
I love that you used Halverson's video as a great metaphor. I actually spent some time yesterday watching his videos (and others) as I am prepping to do some of my own work in the same vain. I love the idea that a camera can capture what our eye can't see and it is that change of perspective that allows us to actually see things differently and can make all the difference.

I also totally agree with you about your thoughts on Facebook and other social media. I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. It's great for connecting with people but when people use it just thrust their opinions (usually in contrite/simplistic phrasing and often with a very graphic image attached) in to my face, it drives me crazy. That isn't going to change anyone's opinion or make any meaningful change in the world. To me, it is sort of like the billboards that are across the country but predominantly in the South saying that the end is coming and to find Jesus. Really? Do people become Christians while driving down the highway? Surely that money could be used to make a real change in someone's life. And now I am way off track.

Glad you shared your thoughts here and the research you did on Houston's life and work. I saw the same type of posts and remember seeing them when Steve Jobs passed as well. I think that most of the people that posted those negative posts probably never would have said those things but inhibitions are lowered and the mouse click is a very light trigger and people don't think.

Wk 3 Blogging Response #1

Wk3 Blog: Leadership Blog- The places I hope to be read well…

Following last weeks post I have narrowed the field down to two of the publications which I have been actively reading as a classroom teacher over the last 5 years.
The first is the eSchool News. When I first was sent the invitation for a free subscription I found that it contained many advertisements and almost discarded it. Then I looked between the ads and found some really great applications that I could apply in my learning space right away. Part of my goal is to see the technology tools and systems I am employing through my CBR take hold and find success through replication, I would like to see the article accessible without having to be a paying subscriber or member of a journal organization. This opens the door to teachers that lack the means to afford membership, but are looking to innovate. Further information about submissions can be found here: eShcool News Submission Guidelines.



The second publication is again an approachable and readable non-scholarly publication that many people receive as part of their membership in the ISTE, called Learning and Leading with Technology. I have been reading this magazine for well over 12 years and as a technology specialist, grant coordinator, and of course classroom teacher, I found things monthly that applied to my various roles through out the years. The magazine has only gotten better with age, and the new online accessibility again offers a chance to share my experience and promote replication across teacher in many walks of life. It would be an honor to share and show my work here. Further information about submissions can be found here: Leading and Learning with Technology Submission Guidelines.
Posted by Lewis Smith at 2/16/2012 03:14:00 AM
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1 comments:

1.
Cricket JohnsonFeb 16, 2012 03:27 PM

Smitty -
I am so excited for you! You are such a great writer, that I have no doubt your research will be accepted! I had not heard of either of these two magazines so I wrote them both down so we can get a subscription. I hope to see your paper in there..maybe if I play my cards right an autographed copy?!?!

Wk 3 Leadership Blog

Leadership post: Where Do I Want To Share My Project:

I think I have found the perfect place to share my CBR project! I figure if you are going to present your ideas it needs to be to people who are passionate about similar things – so I wanted to find a conference that allowed for a variety of subjects to be discussed. Location played a big part in my choice as well. If I am going to pay to travel and do this – I wanted to make it worth my while! Sooooo….I am applying to present at the International Journal of Arts and Sciences Multidisciplinary conference in a study abroad, in ROME Italy October 29-Nov. 1st 2012!


If I get denied by that endeavor or feel like it won’t work out for costs etc I think I will try “Next Generation STEM Learning: Investigate, Innovate, Inspire. It is in Kansas City Missouri Nov. 8-10 2012. I will try to submit under their theme of Integrating technology into learning environments and I will focus on the perfect cycle 3 for my CBR project.