Wk 4-Response to Ricardo's post

With as much that has been going on with school I am finding myself getting away from staying focused on the prize. My attempts to manage and keep the work flow going need to be thought of with more intensity. Our journey in our education and the experiences we learn during the process are important and make up a large part of our teaching knowledge. Managing those skills and applying them to the real world setting is the goal of my next few weeks.


Hey Ricardo!
It is getting hard to stay focused huh. You are so almost there and just think, we only have one month left. This has been an incredible learning journey and I am glad I was able to go through it with you. Our group has rocked through this whole year. There are definitely more great things to come for us. Good luck on your journey. Your students are lucky to have you. ROCK ON!


Sources:Week 3 Free Post
URL: http://ricardomirelesmediaassetcreation.blogspot.com/
Retrieved December 13, 2010

Wk 4-Response to Shahe's post

I have been debating between whether or not I want to do a presentation for my publishing/leadership project or an article.  I enjoy doing presentations and public speaking and would love to present my AR at a conference especially the Illinois Education and Technology Conference since I live in Illinois and have attended it before; however, I have never written something to be published before and would like to give it a shot.  I feel like I am taking a risk because I am stepping out of my comfort zone.  I have never been one for writing, but I always loved creating PowerPoint presentations.  This is going to be a challenge for me, but I am up for it.  My only hope is that I am satisfied with my selection.  

I have been looking at different journals for publication purposes.  I’m really interested in Educational Technology Research and Development because they focus solely on research and development in educational technology.  I felt that this would be a perfect fit for my article to get published in because my article primarily discusses my own personal research and development on a technological level inside my classroom.  The other journal I was interested in is The Journal of Special Education (SED).  Although I am a special education teacher, I am debating if this journal will suit my article because it has a different focus.  I will be conducting more research on this journal to see if my article will fit well.  JSET also known as Journal of Special Education Technology is one of my favorites.  I am familiar with this publication and feel that my article is well suited for them because they focus on technology in the field of special education, which is what I am focusing on.  I am still exploring my options, but I am excited to see if my article will be of use to the journal publications I choose.    

Hey Shahe!

That's cool you decided to try to get published instead of doing a presentation. You did an awesome AR Project and for others to read about it and duplicate it in their own classroom would be so great. I am sure you are a great presenter and who knows, you may just end up doing both. Good luck and I expect you will do more great things with your students.

Sources: Wk 4- Publishing/Leadership Project Part 1 of 2: My Intentions, Shahe
URL:http://web.me.com/smabdelrahim/Shahes_MAC_Blogger/Welcome.html
Retrieved: December 13, 2010

Wk 4-Reading CH. 10-12

I love how the author took the blame for the mistake during a performance. I had a professor in college who when the class did poorly on a test tell us, "I am sorry. I must not have taught this particular curriculum well. I will reteach it and again, my apologies." That has stuck with me through the years and I have had to say that to my students. It is important to not place blame on everyone else but to accept some of it as your own. It is not us (teachers) vs them (students), it is we as a class and we as a school. So I will try to be the whole board, not just a game piece.

Wk 3-Reading CH. 7-9

I agree with the author that we need to not focus primarily on what went wrong with whatever we are doing but what went right. I've done this many times. I will be presenting and mess one little thing up but other than that the presentation went smoothly and everyone was engaged and asking questions. Yet when I am done, all I can focus on is that one little flub. That little flub will then follow me into the next time I present. What I need to focus on is the fact that I alone am the only one who noticed the little mistake. We definitely need to include mistakes in our performance. If not when or if we do make a mistake, it will haunt us. I tell my students all the time that one little mistake is nothing, look at what all you did well. Guess I need to do as I say also.

Wk4 Publishing/Leadership project part 2 of 2: Introduction

I chose the the Teacher Education and Special Education: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children for one of the places to try to publish my article to. This journal focuses on helping those who work with students with disabilities. It includes research on the teaching of exceptional children along with critical issues facing teacher education. The TESE is published every 3 months. As a special educator and because of the type of AR Project I have done, I felt this journal would be a perfect choice.

The Educational Technology Research and Development journal is published bi-monthly. Its focuses primarily on research and development in educational technology. It also has a section that focuses on the whole spectrum of researching a type of technology and following it through the planning, implementation,  and evaluation of the researched technology. They also test each research in a variety of educational environments. Another great journal that fits perfectly with what my AR Project consists of.

Here is a link to my project site: files.me.com/parkc/gviq3c
Images downloaded on 12/10/10 from their respective sites.

Wk 3 Publishing/Leadership project part 1 of 2: What to do? What to do?

So I have been thinking a lot about this project and I keep going back and forth on what I want to do. I could do a presentation and make a cool slide show but then I would have to present to a large group of people. This scares the bleep out of me and I stress about it for days even though the presentations I have done in the past have always been just fine. Then I thought well I guess I have to do a paper then. This would be ok but seems kind of boring to me, which makes me switch back to the presentation again. As you can see I have a hard time making decisions. I would ask somebody for their opinion but I will just change my mind and do what I would rather do anyway. I am kind of leaning towards the paper presentation even though it might not be as fun. Either way when I am doing the project my enthusiasm for what I am writing about will show through in slides or words so they are both equally fine in my mind. Except for the whole people in front of me thing. I tend to trip up on words when presenting because my mind runs faster than my mouth. I will probably write a paper.

Wk 3-Response to Tom's post

This weeks reading asks the reader to reflect on three interrelated topics. The way things are, finding a starting point. Giving way to passion, what are you doing to make a difference, and Lighting a spark, the universe of possibility?
A Down Hill Challenge, an analogy that I have experienced first hand, as I am an experienced down hill skier and racer. I learned to ski in the powder snow in the West, Colorado and California. I became an accomplished down hill skier and racer. When I moved to the East Cost, I had to learn how to ski all over again. It is called boilerplate skiing, skiing on ice. Not an easy accomplishment to return to the same skill level that I had reached out West. I learned that in order to succeed one must push one self with in an inch of losing total control (yard sail). To succeed one must fail. Get up and try again or you will not succeed. The challenge in education is too push the students an inch out side their comfort zone, and help them to learn from the experience and expand their comfort zone.
To use the same analogy from A Down Hill Challenge, I moved to a ski town in Vermont for other reasons, with out ever having skied in Vermont, but with my passion for skiing I was not going to experience Vermont skiing with out a “no hit, no run and no errors” game! I studied with the best skiers; I skied with the fastest skiers and for a number of years was the last one down the hill (had to buy the first round). I was presented with an obstacle (Vermont Skiing) but with my passion for skiing I over came that obstacle. I have carried that sprit of passion thought my entire life both business and pleasure. I have taken that passion for life in to the classroom, infected my students and turned them lose down the hill (let us just hope they do not break as many bones) because the last one down byes.
The universe of possibility, the life force for an educator is perhaps nothing more than the passionate energy of the educator, to connect, express, and communicate with the student, the conscription of student in the passion of that educator. The flame, that passes from one student to another, and spreading that flame in all directions. Although, at times it would seem the use of a blowtorch might be necessary.


Hey Tom!You are so right that students need to be challenged and pushed outside of there comfort zones. If teachers didn't push students they would never learn to push themselves. I like how you said you push students an inch at a time to expand their comfort zone. Pushing too much can sometimes backfire causing students to shut down. So keep pushing and challenging your students. Oh, and can I borrow your blowtorch?Cherie Park


Sources: MAC_Wk_3_Reading
URL:http://web.me.com/tomcoleman863/MAC_Blog/Blog/Blog.html
Retrieved: December 8, 2010