Teaching Mrs. Ryan

I hate to call what we are doing a semester since it is only a month long, but WOW the workload is a semester's worth.  This month I am taking an educational psychology course along with an elementary literacy course that focuses on assessments as well as teaching.  Both are very interesting so I can say at least while I'm being overwhelmed with a lot of work, it isn't boring work!  The biggest difference I'm seeing with this month's workload versus last month's work load is the amount of papers I have to write.  There are an ENORMOUS amount of papers.  One of my paper's that I must write this first week focuses on Piaget;s theories of cognitive development.  I've found a little YouTube video that discusses what they are so you can get an idea of what I'm learning about at this stage in the program. I missed the first psychology in class lecture due to my daughter having to go to the hospital, and now I am feeling like I'm flying blind on my...

Today I did do a lot of the work that I needed to but did not get it all finished.  However, I did till up my mother's garden today so all was not lost.  What I did accomplish today though was working on my blog post summaries and finishing the discussion questions I was assigned to do with 21st century learning. I spent the majority of my morning reviewing videos about how our schools have fallen behind in updating their methods of instruction due in part mostly to the lack of practical application.  Outside of the classroom students have cell phones, computer access, MP3 players, Ipods, Iphones, television, etc.  All manner of digital media is at their fingertips until they walk into their classrooms.  They are expected (for the most part at least where I am from) to put away the cell phones, sit in nice neat rows, and listen to lectures given with illustrations on the wall.  There is no stimulus and no technological exchange going on in the room. ...