Autism

So, I have a special education class and right now, we're learning about different disabilities in the classroom. I stumbled upon this and it really made me think.

Technology we used in class.

What technology do I feel would benefit student's? Do you want me to be honest? I have no idea because I myself am having a hard time grasping this concept and learning from it. Personally, I've seen teachers attempt to use the smart board or even an over head projector and it always ends in the same outcome..
Teacher: Today, we're gonna use the smart board and i'm gonna have you guys come up here and answer some questions on it. Sound good?
Class: Yeah
teacher walks over to smart board...
twenty minutes later..
Teacher: well, i can't seem to get it to turn on, so we'll just have a study hall
So, you're going to have to forgive me if I haven't made up my mind if i think more technology should be in the classroom. However, since this is an assignment and I can't simply respond " I don't know." I think that first, ALL teacher's across the states should be more trained on the new technology and then, we should definitely use webcasting or skype. It allows the student and teacher to interact with each other and can give the classroom a "fun" feeling to it. With the Skype or webcasting, we would be able to talkt to other student's from around the world and learn more about them. Let's face it, a select few of us will actually go to China someday, so why not allow the student's to interact with someone from China and learn from them?

Budget cuts; how do they affect the teacher?

As we all know, educational cuts are spreading like a disease in this country. We know that it drastically affects the student, but more importantly, how does it affect the teacher? Personally, I have seen first hand what a massive budget cut can do to a teacher. My mom worked at Williamburgh Community School District(a really small town in the middle of nowhere) for eight years. She was a math teacher and taught grades 7-12 and one day out of nowhere, they decided to furlough(like being laid off but she finished out the school year and is being paid for a year) he and now she's left with no job and littles chances of finding one in our area(altoona, another small town..ever heard of Sheetz? Yeah, their birth place). Anyways, I read this article about how devasting it can be for a teacher to experience a budget cut and here ladies and gentlemen are just a few of them.
1. Cuts on materials- we all know that teacher's barely get enough money for any additional supplies that they may need for the classroom, but when this is taken away from them, it is up to the teacher to either replace/buy the item, or cancell the lesson that the item was needed for. I walked through Walmart with my mom and watched her buy twenty-one calculators because the school didn't have enough money to buy new ones.
2. Less Electives-Common sense would tell you that electives like athletics, student government, music, and art programs keep kids in school, involved, and most importantly, off the streets. Unfortunately, one of the first things to go when a budget is too high is the extra curricular activites, but usually the music department goes first(unless of course your football team has been 0-17 for the past ten years). With this, student's are left to find other "activities" to do and in some cases the parent's are left to pick up the tab for a club and its supplies. Further increasing the gap between the rich and poor and the have and have-nots.
3.Larger Class sizes- We all know what it's like to walk into a Psychology class and see a hundred other student's fighting over the last chair. Overwhelming, right? So, why would we do this to our youth? When a budget cut occurs, it leads to larger class sizes. Larger class sizes means more work for the teacher..in other words.
Large class + one teache = lack of attention towards the student's and potentially a VERY frustrated teacher.

It's very sad to see how much our education system is dwindling, but what can we do? I certainly do not have millions of dollars to bail schools out and help our teacher's and student's and I'm certainly not qualified to run for a government position. So, do we sit here and do nothing? Heck no. Call someone, contact someone, email, text, facebook, IM, skype, ANYTHING to get the word out that something needs to be done. If we don't do it, who will?

ohh the future of america..

http://teacherrevised.org/2009/03/27/if-i-get-all-as-can-i-get-a-lap-dance/

is it thanksgiving break yet?

Seriously, how in my twenty-two years in this technological(not quite sure if that's a word) world DO I NOT KNOW HOW TO DO THIS STUFF! help? anybody?

Getting to know you.

My name is Jenn Ozechoski and this surprisingly to some, is my first blog. I guess I should tell you a bit about myself. I'm twenty-two and currently, a Junior here at Edinboro University. I live in Erie, but am originally from Altoona, Pa. If you've never heard of Altoona, I really don't blame you. But onto the more important stuff, I want to be an educator because I feel like I can help a struggling student. My mom is a math teacher and teaches student's 7-12th. She has her hands full, but loves her job. Sometimes, she'll let me come vist(it is a very small school and extremely laid back). While watching her teach, I talk to her student's about their goals in life and what they want to do when they "grow up." This inspires me because I feel that one student can make the world a better place.
While using this blog, I would like to share some of my personal stories that may be a better/worse student while in high school and college. Although teacher's should not get too involved with their student's lives, I feel that as future educators we need to take part and be there when a student is in need.