The Professional Portfolio of » Theory & Philosophy http://amercerportfolio.edublogs.org Alice Mercer Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:08:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Professional Theory and Philosophy – 2008 http://amercerportfolio.edublogs.org/2008/03/19/professional-theory-2008/ http://amercerportfolio.edublogs.org/2008/03/19/professional-theory-2008/#comments Wed, 19 Mar 2008 04:01:36 +0000 alicemercer http://amercerportfolio.edublogs.org/2008/03/19/professional-skills-2008/ This year in computer lab, I changed how computer labs for teacher prep periods have been run at my school site.

I have communicated with and sought input from the regular classroom teachers to align what I am teaching with their goals and themes. Below is the front page of the wiki I use for online planning (you can click on it to go to that page).

wiki1.jpg

I have studied both the Technology Standards –NETs– and grade-level content standards and made both a priority.
Because I’m at a Program Improvement school (PI), I have made sure that I am supporting the focus standards that each grade level set (as you can see in the image from my planning wiki below).

wiki2.jpg

I have focused on language development for ELLs.
I have created activities that develop higher order thinking skills and have students working on inquiry based activities.

To sum up, it’s not about the technology, it’s about the thinking. I plan for that, I scaffold for it, and I make sure that it takes place:[slideshare id=87011&doc=pp-about-me1100&w=425]

]]> http://amercerportfolio.edublogs.org/2008/03/19/professional-theory-2008/feed/ 0 My philosophy of education… http://amercerportfolio.edublogs.org/2007/04/08/my-philosophy-of-education/ http://amercerportfolio.edublogs.org/2007/04/08/my-philosophy-of-education/#comments Sun, 08 Apr 2007 05:18:00 +0000 alicemercer http://amercerportfolio.edublogs.org/2007/04/08/my-philosophy-of-education/ I believe that students need to experience, and create to truly learn a new concept or idea, but I have also had the experience of seeing students struggle to understand how to do this. It is my position as an educator to provide a structure and instruction so they can make the connections needed to understand what they are learning, and be able to use that knowledge effectively. To get this done, I do the following in my classroom:

• Establish clear rules and procedures for my classroom to make it a safe learning environment for all students
• Have a clear focus on standards based instruction
• Use a variety of technologies and resources to engage students while teaching standards.

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