Final Reflection

When I started this integrated curriculum class, I was about as inexperienced as they come when referring to my teaching experience. I had never written a lesson plan, had never taught through a curriculum, and have never discussed teaching methods with anyone. As I have come upon the cusp of finishing this class, I have learned the methods that one can use to put together a thematic unit based on existing curriculum, and utilizing the natural inquiry of students to help them grasp the skills they are learning and to motivate them for future academics. Specifically, I have learned to organize systematically an approach to teaching a lesson and connect to other subjects that are being addressed at a student's grade level. But I think the most important aspect of building an ITU was the need for communication between teachers, in order for a thematic unit to work. Earlier in the semester, I worked with an ITU group that through some miscommunication, assumed I had dropped the class. To make a long story short, they didn't want me in their group and I was assigned a new group to work with. In my new group I was able to jump right in on their theme and work with them primarily because of we could communicate with each other. Maybe it was because we are all behavior therapists, trying to find our way through a subject that we did not know much about, but we worked well with each other.

When addressing the question of how I would implement the new knowledge I have learned, in a classroom I would teach, it is difficult for me to say. This is because I have never been a teacher in a classroom setting. This the first time in my life I have ever read, let alone implemented a curriculum. In fact, in the field that I work in, it is technically out of my scope of practice to implement any curriculum to my client let alone a class. But for the sake of the question I will try and say what new skills I have learned that would be on the forefront of my focus when teaching a class. I would first communicate with the other teachers at the grade level I would be working with and tell them I wanted to include their subjects in my classrooms. I would also ask what the students at this particular school were interested in and maybe find something that I could include into the lesson that would tap into their natural inquiry and utilize that momentum into what I could teach. When addressing the needs of a diverse population of students, I would first use the role of being a “teacher as guide” to solicit ideas and try to understand where the students are at and attend to the needs that they have. Whether it may be how I teach them through a didactic approach or maybe through a visual/experiential approach. Coming from my behavior background, I would obtain a “baseline” of what they know, what they have experienced, what they are interested in and work from there. I would use common experiences in their neighborhood. I would try and meet them at a place where they are at and build from there.

At this point in working with thematic units, I don't have any questions about creating or implementing them. It may be that these concepts are so new to me because I have not taught in a classroom setting or have organized a lesson plan aside from the individualized lesson plan I made in this class.

My general experience using the WIKI as a form of group organization has been very positive. I have never used this type of format nor have really understood how it worked until using it in this class. I personally liked that it was very easy to organize topics and thoughts on particular topics. I am actually considering using it as a note taking tool for my next classes. In a classroom setting, it would be a very valuable tool to organize assignments and concepts in the classroom. To me using a WIKI is like a virtual binder.

As far blogging is concerned, I have been blogging on and off for the pass eight years. It is a great way to journal about thoughts that you have and your life experiences. As long as one does not get too personal, it can be a valuable tool to see growth. As I would use it in a classroom setting, I would definitely have students blog as it gives them practice to write what is on their minds and exercise their writing skills on a consistent basis. Using a WIKI and blogging definitely have a future in a classroom that I would teach.

My overall experience in the creation of the ITU was good. It was a new experience in working with a group solely online. We had great communication and each individual took different parts of the assignment which made the load easier to bear. The one glaring drawback of creating it was the lack of face-to-face communication in which we as group could effectively discuss aspects of our project. Now I understand it is the nature of online classes to work in this fashion. But I found that it was extremely time consuming to try and have a group discussion with five different people, on five different schedules, in which there was such a gap in time when we could respond to each other. It makes me miss being in a physical classroom and talking directly to people. I finally understand why business men travel all across the world for physical meetings, instead of just corresponding via email or talking on the phone.

As I think about my overall impression of this class, I found that I have learned many new things about education, specifically putting together a interdisciplinary unit. But it is difficult for me to think about a time in the future in which I would write one as a Behavior Analyst. And that is my personal burden to bear. As the saying goes, “it is what it is.” And it was difficult for me to do certain assignments, like the individualized lesson plan, because I had absolutely no experience doing something like that prior. And I don't know if I will do it again. Regardless, I did find great insight into using a student's inquiry to help them learn skills in the classroom. And using a person's inquiry is a great asset to help and individual with challenging behaviors. I can myself utilizing that new knowledge to come up with reinforcement schedules and motivate future clients to a better quality of life. For themselves and those around them.

It was also difficult to adjust to participating in an online class when I have always been able to take classes in a physical place where I could ask questions to the professor in person. This was definitely a trial by fire. Hopefully this experience will prepare me for my next classes.

Weeks 8 & 9

Weeks 8 & 9

I finished my Best Practices presentation this week which was a pretty frustrating and stressful project. It was my first time ever using power point, so as you can imagine it took me awhile to figure out the program on my own. I also was on a family vacation. And if anyone other than Dr. Jones is reading this, be forewarned. Never take homework with you on vacation. You cannot relax. All you have in the back of your mind is that you should be doing your project and not having fun at the beach. Or whatever pleasant place you might be. Though in the end, after I finished the project I was happy to have learned a new skill set. And I will definitely be using power point presentations when I am presenting as a BCBA.

The two last online tutorials were very interesting and helpful as I am learning about implementing ITUs. In regards to planning day-to-day activities, the tutorial showed me how I can organize all the thoughts and notes I have written on the subject I will be teaching on, and how I can write a plan to apply them. The video demonstrations were also helpful as I got to hear teachers experiences with ITUs and how they used them to further the learning of their students. I always like hearing topics I'm learning about from the professionals who are using those techniques. It seems that I learn much more by watching video. With the advent of Youtube and other websites of that nature, I can just about search any topic and have access to so much knowledge. Regarding the videos, I was particularly affected by the story of the teacher who was doing a thematic unit on snow. I really liked the idea of having students put things in a data bin and from there the teacher would form their lesson from the students questions about what was in the bin. That example really showed me how we can take the inquiry of the students and use it to teach. This example will be something I will definitely use for students I will be working with in the future as I help behaviorists try and teach new behaviors to their clients.

Weeks 6 & 7

Reading chapter 7 of the Interdisciplinary Inquiry gave me so much information in the way that I could engage students in inquiry. I especially liked the Inquiry-builder chart developed by Kovalik and Olsen that incorporates Bloom's Taxonomy with Gardner's “frames of mind” and science as inquiry from the National Science Education Standards. I am a very visual learner and seeing the way that the chart was laid out gave me clear impression of identifying cognitive processes that may be learned by the student. Though a student might not have all these processes, the chart can act as a map in finding how they can learn. I thought that this chapter also good to read side by side with chapter 3 in the Roberts and Kellough book on developing ITUs. Both of these chapters dealt with idea of influencing cognitive behavior in students. This is a subject that I don't know much about, coming from the field of behaviorism, but it was good to learn how others in education see the learning process. I do find it most fortunate that I have taken most of my behavior classes before reading this chapter because I might have had a difficult time organizing my thoughts on these conflicting view points, confusing myself along the way. At this point I find it refreshing to learn this new method of viewing education and maybe help find a common middle ground to use both of these methods of thought to help the students that I work with.

Chapter 8 in Interdisciplinary Inquiry and chapter 4 in Roberts and Kellough dealt with assessing learning which I happen to be familiar with as a behaviorist. I take data daily on different behaviors that my client exhibits as I try to determine if the intervention that I am using is changing my clients behavior, for better or worse. I think that assessment is such a critical part of anything we do as it will show us results of our actions. I am a firm believer in Socrates' maxim, “the unexamined life is not worth living.” As far as incorporating my client in the assessment process, one his teachers this year made a portfolio for his work, as described in the reading. I am an advocate for this technique not only for the benefit of the teacher or the parent, but especially for the student. For example, at the end of this school year when my client received his portfolio in his English class, he was extremely proud of all the work that did. This is a great reinforcement for him and something that I can draw from in the future when he needs to be reminded what he is working for. Not only can data collection be way to show progress, or lack thereof, but also a tool to motivate students. And if we as educators can teach a valuable lesson to our students, it's that results matter. And that hard work can translate to a more positive self-esteem.

Considering the online tutorials on assessments, I found it valuable as well. I enjoyed learning how one can assess the students you are teaching in the scope of what they produce and also how they produce. I really enjoy the online tutorials because it is a nice summarization of our reading and it happens to have videos which help me relate to the topic more.

Journal on the Online Tutorials

I realized I have not written on the my reaction to the online tutorial called Concept to Classroom from the first six weeks of class. During the first few weeks of the course, the idea of interdisciplinary learning was a very new concept to me. As I have never been a teacher, outside of being a substitute teacher at a high school for two years, I have never taught from a curriculum before. Though it was great to learn about this topic in this sort of way. I liked that I could easily look up new “buzz” words right on the page and that there was video for me to watch as professionals in the field talked about the new concepts. And with the new concepts I have been able to look at my assignments in this class, like the collaborative ITU projects, and use them as a frame of reference into the lesson that I am in the process of making . It's unfortunate that I probably will never use the curriculum that we are writing as a group, but I sure that skills that I am learning along the way will be used in some sort of fashion as a behavior analyst. May it be coming up with a collaborative plan for a individual and their different caretakers or with my coworkers as we open a new autism school in the next year.

Week 5

In reading chapter 5 and 6 from the Interdisciplinary Inquiry book, I found it most interesting choosing the right resources for the age group that you teaching. especially considering the age group that you are teaching, one would not want to use a resource that a student cannot grasp or understand. For example, using an article out of the Atlantic Monthly would not be a good idea to use for students in 8th grade, as it is meant for reading of a higher grade level. But using newspaper article would be more appropriate because its writing style is more geared to those who are of that grade level's comprehension.

I also liked the list of habits of the mind and the thinking processes. These ways of exploring a topic use different parts of a student's thinking ability and is a great tool in forming a well rounded approach to helping a student form their ability to question.

The different resources in learning was one of some of my fondest memories growing up. Of the different way to research, those being textbooks, reading documents, using libraries, using artifacts, field sites, experiments and personal interviews, I remember my best and most impacting way of learning was through interviewing. I was fortunate enough to interview a holocaust survivor in high school and it was since changed the way that think of history and the way that I think about plight of those in hardship all over the world. But I see using this resources for learning gives the student so many avenues to explore the theme and connect with the topic, much more than sitting in a classroom and only reading a book while listening to a lecture every could. Though it is good in a classroom to teach from a book, using different resources broadens the mind to seek information in many different ways.

Using media and technology as a resource in learning is something that we have become so familiar with in this generation. And I feel is one is one the best ways to teach a student how to explore a topic. Especially with the advent of the internet, a student has a many ways to seek information in which they explore their topic. And as one in a classroom, though not a teacher, the one skill that many students in my school do not have is the ability to effectively research on the internet. These student can easily find facebook, or sites that are given to them on tv, but they do not know how to search sites for themselves. Its funny how the autistic students that I work with are extremely good at finding anything they want on the internet yet their classmates in a general education class cannot. One of the skills that teachers do need to start teaching is using the internet to find information, in a smart, safe, factual way, and to be able to discern what is a legitimate source of information.

And using media is such a great way to keep the interest of students in the classroom. in regards to our group ITU topic of the BP oil spill, there are so many sites, graphs, video clips and articles that a student can easily get a grasp on what is going on and why it is important that they care.

Media and technology are great assets to us who each but they must be used in such a way that it causes the student to really think and inquire about the topic covered in class.

My fourth week

Reading about implementing a theme was a very new concept for me as I am not a teacher. Though I found that I became quite interested in ways that I could find a area of interest to the students and use a methodology to implement a theme study based on questions I could ask myself about it. I also like the way that when implementing a study we can use the students curiosity and skills at their grade level to help themselves learn about the theme st hand. I personally found myself using King's question stems to help with my client this week when he was studying about the events of World War II. One of the hardest things for a teacher to autistic children to get out of their students is a level of thinking in which the student starts to ask why a certain event, lets say in History, happens. With my client, is was the first time I got him to ask why we went to war with Germany and why did Germany feel the need to try and take over Europe. Now I don't think he could put his mind around the concept of countries fighting countries for political reason and such, but it was a great step in which he finally asked a why question in class, pertinent to a topic that we were studying.
It was also interesting to read about meeting required standards as it was the first time that I have even thought about that in terms of teaching. It is something that in my field that I don't have to deal with directly. I can see the challenge of one having to fit a theme within the framework of the standards that the students need to meet. How rewarding for a teacher to have the interest of the students, implement a theme that crosses multiple subjects, and have them learn skills that will meet local standards.
The concept of initiating thematic units to me is like laying down a foundation that the students can stand on to begin their own personal journey into the topic. Providing the correct questions and resources for them to work with gives them the advantage to go into a theme like a traveler going into a foreign country with a map and a personal guide. The student can find the things that they want to find and have the courage to go deep into the theme with out getting lost.

Third week of class

In this week of class I read out of Interdisciplinary Inquiry on a chapter that focused on Models, Teachers Roles, and the Starting points for theme studies.

I was really struck by the different roles that teacher has when teaching an ITU course. I realize the though out my education i had different teachers employ these differnt ways of control the curriculum that was taught to us. Especially considering the behavior dynamic in the classroom. In remember one teacher in particular who, at the beginning of the year, was so strict to the class, disciplining every little minor infraction in the classroom, that the class was extremely well behaved during the first month of the school year. Come October, I remember his teaching style completely changed. In the beginning of the year he was using a Director style approach to the classroom, have the students take notes and mainly teach with a didactic method and then moving to more of a Guide method as he arranged the chairs in the classroom in a circle and had a more open discussion with a free flow of ideas coming conversations that he led.

Looking back I understand why that taecher did what he had to do. In order from him to get the class to a point in which he could be a "teacher as a guide" he needed to direct the class, basically into his submission. As a behaviorist, I find that I switch methods of "teaching" when I'm trying to get my client to inquire. Some times I have to be that director that tells him every step that he needs to make. And sometimes I need to be a "guide," letting him find out things on his own but being along side of him to lend help when he needs it. I know that this not exactly what the book is explaining as it refers to teaching in the classroom, but it helps me appropriate the techniques the book is talking about to my own vocation as of right now.

I'm also think about the difficulty of a new teacher implementing the curriculum as a guide or a mentor. It seems to me that being a "teacher as a guide" or a "teacher as a mentor" would be much easier as a seasoned teacher than a new one. Those teachers who have some years of teaching under their belts and who have more experience predicting a students level of inquiry could do a better job guiding and especially mentoring students.