Is my specialization math? I was told today by a mother of a child that I tutor that my specialization is math. Hm. Well, I did teach 5th grade math last year. I do enjoy teaching math rather than language arts. I feel much more confident teaching math than language arts. I guess so.
If that's the case, then I should do something related to math for my dissertation. How about I evaluate the mathematics curriculum in a specific school? What about an elementary school in Japan? Would this topic last me my entire dissertation, or would it be too short? I'm still searching.
My goal is to decide on my dissertation topic by December 31, 2008. I will have my dissertation topic by December 31, 2008.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
10/13/08
Data for the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) shows that in the year 2003, 15-year-olds in Finland, scored 1st in reading comprehension, 1st in science, and 2nd in math. (In 2006, they ranked 1st in science, 2nd in reading comprehension, and 2nd math.) What are they doing in Finland that is so special? I've been reading books in Japanese about the "Finland Method". The "Finland Method" focuses on five specific abilities; the ability to come up with an idea, the ability to be logical, the ability to express one self, the ability to think critically, and the ability to communicate.
I'd like to go to Finland and investigate more. But what's the fesibility of reseraching Finland for my dissertation?
I'd like to go to Finland and investigate more. But what's the fesibility of reseraching Finland for my dissertation?
Saturday, October 11, 2008
10/11/08
I was thinking, perhaps evaluating Keio Academy would be more possible because I actually went to that school. I have no connection to Hanahauoli School, so I don't know how feasible it would be to evaluate their curriculum/school. Then again, Keio Academy is a high school, and I'm not interested in high school, so I'd have to find a way to get permission to evaluate the Keio elementary school in Japan. I just tried a real brief search to see if I could find articles related to Keio and I couldn't find any. Maybe I'll be the first? Of course there are probably a zillion already written about it in Japanese.
Friday, October 10, 2008
10/10/08
Is evaluating a curriculum/school a legitimate dissertation topic? I was thinking Keio Academy, but that would cost a lot. What about Hanahauoli School?
I think Hanahauoli School would be great. Montessori has been documented, Waldolf is documented, but Hanahauoli School hasn't, right?
I think Hanahauoli School would be great. Montessori has been documented, Waldolf is documented, but Hanahauoli School hasn't, right?
Thursday, October 9, 2008
10/9/08
I talked to my mom about Ed Admin, and she said whatever is easier and faster. She said I can always go back and take Ed Admin classes if I really want to. So I guess I'm staying in curriculum studies for now.
Today I visited Ms. ****** at Punahou School. She teaches 6th grade math and science. Each 6th grade class (12 total) are team taught. One teacher teaches math and science and the other teacher does language arts and social studies (humanities). Their classrooms are partitioned by a think sliding door. Each student has a MacBook. (They are individually given a computer from 4th grade.)
The math curriculum that they use is called Impact Math. The text describes math using lots of words instead of numbers. Today they were learning about factors. The teacher taught the lesson and supplemented it with a factor game found online. Students worked in pairs or individually. Students take notes in their composition book. They use the composition book to do classrook as well. Homework is completed on folder paper and graded on a scale of 1 - 4. 4 being the highest grade.
In science, they were learning about about the ocean floor. No textbook is currently being used. They just finished a unit on the scientific method. The teacher asked, "What geologic structures would you find on the ocean floor?" Students were given 10 minutes to search the internet with their computer. After, students were to recreate the ocean floor using clay. Later, they will be using a chopstick as their "sonar" to explore their ocean floor.
The humanities class started by correcting Wordly Wise Book 7 Lesson 4 Part E. Students were given guidelines as to what is acceptable and what isn't. Then they moved on to discusssing in pairs their ideas for their Nat Turner essa. The teacher (Mr. ***) already had them write about each side of the story. Now, they were to pick a side and write about it.
Overall, it was a great experience to observe a class at Punahou. The students seemed to be discipline. I'd love to teach there one day.
Today I visited Ms. ****** at Punahou School. She teaches 6th grade math and science. Each 6th grade class (12 total) are team taught. One teacher teaches math and science and the other teacher does language arts and social studies (humanities). Their classrooms are partitioned by a think sliding door. Each student has a MacBook. (They are individually given a computer from 4th grade.)
The math curriculum that they use is called Impact Math. The text describes math using lots of words instead of numbers. Today they were learning about factors. The teacher taught the lesson and supplemented it with a factor game found online. Students worked in pairs or individually. Students take notes in their composition book. They use the composition book to do classrook as well. Homework is completed on folder paper and graded on a scale of 1 - 4. 4 being the highest grade.
In science, they were learning about about the ocean floor. No textbook is currently being used. They just finished a unit on the scientific method. The teacher asked, "What geologic structures would you find on the ocean floor?" Students were given 10 minutes to search the internet with their computer. After, students were to recreate the ocean floor using clay. Later, they will be using a chopstick as their "sonar" to explore their ocean floor.
The humanities class started by correcting Wordly Wise Book 7 Lesson 4 Part E. Students were given guidelines as to what is acceptable and what isn't. Then they moved on to discusssing in pairs their ideas for their Nat Turner essa. The teacher (Mr. ***) already had them write about each side of the story. Now, they were to pick a side and write about it.
Overall, it was a great experience to observe a class at Punahou. The students seemed to be discipline. I'd love to teach there one day.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
10/8/08
Being a first year student in the COE (college of education), I'm not too familiar with the different programs. However, if I'm interested in creating, owning, and operating a school, shouldn't I be in Ed Admin?
For me EDEF 678 class interview my theme is classroom management. I'll be interviewing Mrs. Ikehara to understand her ideas behind classroom management.
I've pulled up several recent literature about classroom management. One article talked about general guidelines. Another talked about how the NCLB legislation has schools cutting down P.E., art, music and recess time in order to meet the legislation's mandates. However, the article stressed the importance of physical activities and other activities in order to develop the "whole child."
This makes me think about schoosl like Punahou where students spend hours and hours a week on P.E., music and art. Yet they still produce smart students. I'll be visiting Ms. ****** at Punahou tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to find out more.
Anyways, the other articles that I pulled up were about the effects of parent-teacher communication on students, effective use of time-out, and the use of humor in the classroom.
One of the main points in the time-out article, which makes sense now that I think about it, is that the most effective type of time-out is the exclusion time-out where the student is removed from the instructional setting in which the student wants to stay in.
The humor article said that humor is good for retention and recall.
The interesting thing I read about today in my language arts book was referring to "speaking" as "talking". Aslo, language arts is 6-tiered; reading, writing, listening, talking, viewing, and visual representation.
Today, I found out that one of the karate students got diagnosed with ADHD. I was shocked because ****'s a kid that is intelligent. However the recent problems seem to be that he can't control himself to concentrate for long periods of time, and he day dreams. I talked to Travis about it and he made me think that there's probably many people who are/were ADD or ADHD but learned to cope in one way or another and are well-rounded adults now.
For me EDEF 678 class interview my theme is classroom management. I'll be interviewing Mrs. Ikehara to understand her ideas behind classroom management.
I've pulled up several recent literature about classroom management. One article talked about general guidelines. Another talked about how the NCLB legislation has schools cutting down P.E., art, music and recess time in order to meet the legislation's mandates. However, the article stressed the importance of physical activities and other activities in order to develop the "whole child."
This makes me think about schoosl like Punahou where students spend hours and hours a week on P.E., music and art. Yet they still produce smart students. I'll be visiting Ms. ****** at Punahou tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to find out more.
Anyways, the other articles that I pulled up were about the effects of parent-teacher communication on students, effective use of time-out, and the use of humor in the classroom.
One of the main points in the time-out article, which makes sense now that I think about it, is that the most effective type of time-out is the exclusion time-out where the student is removed from the instructional setting in which the student wants to stay in.
The humor article said that humor is good for retention and recall.
The interesting thing I read about today in my language arts book was referring to "speaking" as "talking". Aslo, language arts is 6-tiered; reading, writing, listening, talking, viewing, and visual representation.
Today, I found out that one of the karate students got diagnosed with ADHD. I was shocked because ****'s a kid that is intelligent. However the recent problems seem to be that he can't control himself to concentrate for long periods of time, and he day dreams. I talked to Travis about it and he made me think that there's probably many people who are/were ADD or ADHD but learned to cope in one way or another and are well-rounded adults now.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
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