Week fifteen reflections and thoughts

Thanks for a great course everybody! Good luck on the exam! Please post reflections for week fifteen here, Thanks, Dr. Andy

An idea of Loyal's

This is an idea for a concept of cooperative teaching, which Loyal has been working with that he has asked for feedback on. Perhaps some of you have some ideas. We will spend some time on this in class tonight. I would like him to tell us what some of his acronyms mean in this peice as well. Dr. Andy

Here is the text of the idea in Loyal's own words:


Cooperative Education

In Education we have the method called cooperative learning. Is it possible that we also have cooperative teaching as well a cooperative education? The author of this document has such a dream. The following ideas is how this would look. This dream would seek first to work this out amongst Christian schools. For the ethos of Christianity should lead Christian to desire this. For this dream is based on a concept that schools belong and are a part of the community – not a business. This is a central teaching in both Old and New Testaments.

What would be the goals?
Cooperative Curriculum Development
 Bible based
 Thailand adapted
 mulch-cultural
 English based

Cooperative Teacher Coaching
 send new teachers to work a day with experienced teachers either inn the sake school or in one of the cooperative schools.
 Trade a teacher for a day

Cooperative Subject Focus Groups
 meet once a month to share ideas and discus problems about teaching that subject
 a parent should be in these groups preferably one who has a degree in that subject. Parents hearing problems can be a source of understanding and maybe find creative ways for parents to help.

Cooperative website
 blog by subject
 worksheets by subject
 SNOT system of files connected to lesson planer schools can use
 Lesson plan sharing by subject
 Lesson plan think tank by subject – when trying to get an idea a place to suggest and request – or share unfinished ideas to others to cooperatively work on.
 Educational concerns by topic
 Cooperative Bookmarks by subject
 follows SNOT
 in html so all bowzers can read
 has format of link with description (use dt/dd commands)
 linux news for teachers


Cooperative PTA
Parents world
1. how2 help kids by subject
2. how2 help teachers by subject
3. how to help school development
Students World
1. how2 teachers help students learn
2. how2 parents help students learn
Teacher world
1. how 2 parents help teachers
2. how2 students help teachers

Loyal's reflections

Here are Loyal's reflections, please have a look at them when you get a moment. There is a lot of good material here; plus he looks at and comments on the ideas and reflections of others so it is a good overview of a lot of what we have been doing these past several months. God Bless you all. Dr. Andy

http://www.filefactory.com/file/b36fhha/n/drandy_reflection_master_loyal.doc

Truly Quotable!

"I enjoy teaching the most when I see my students enjoy learning in my class. I believe that learning becomes more meaningful if students enjoy the process of learning. Of course, results of learning, such as exam marks and quiz scores, are important, but learning only for test scores will not produce any joy in learning. When I teach, I often wonder how I can get my students to enjoy the learning process itself and not to study only for exams. As a teacher, I would like my students to find enjoyment, satisfaction, a sense of achievement, or any positive feelings when they learn. I believe that cooperative learning is one way to achieve this goal. Cooperative learning is one of the excellent student-centered approaches, which is based on a social constructivist view, and this teaching method becomes more effective when certain conditions are met and structures are well implemented." (Chie Katsuda, 2010)

Final Exam

List of topics selected:
(1) Western Philosophy of Education
(2) Eastern Philosophy of Education
(3) Culture and Education
(4) Teaching Practices (Postman and Stephenson)
(5) Differentiation
(6) Standards Based Education
(7) Curriculum
(8) School Improvement
(9) International Education
(10) Educational Leadership
(11) The Global Classroom

Week fourteen reflections and thoughts

Pelase post reflections for week fourteen here, Thanks, Dr. Andy

Reflections from Mr. Poramatdha Chutimant

Please note the enclosed link with Mr. Poramatdha Chutimant's reflections. It would be good for as many of you as possible to review and comment on the work. You may count this as one of your ten reflections if you wish. Thanks, Dr. Andy

http://www.filefactory.com/file/b33bfch/n/Dr.Andy-Reflection_papers.doc

Week thirteen reflections and thoughts

Please post reflections for week thirteen here, Thanks, Dr. Andy

From Loyal your input is welcome and requested!

DR Andy Reflection 12

I will try to draw a picture later of this idea. If any of you are artist go for it (I actually am still trying to pass kindergarten art class despite I am 52) After talking about structure today both this morning in a staff meeting and now in class my energies are flowing. Here's my idea:

Imagine a tree.
The tree trunk supports the scaffolds that support the branches then the twigs. This could be the super-intendant and board. They are to be facilitators and supporters in the process of educating our children. I would see the trunk as the source of education from all those before us. The scaffolds are the researchers and thinkers.

Next see in the branches a nest. In the nest is young birds who are still dependent on others for life. Those little birds and eggs in the nest our the students. They represent new life in the early maturing stages. They represent the purpose of the education system. The future of birds – of humans.

Notice how the nest us structured? It is interwoven of many parts. These parts are teachers, office help, principles, curriculum writers, community leaders, govt education leaders etc. They are interwoven because the leadership structure is dynamic shared leadership. They all depend on each other to make the nest a secure place for these young birds. The nest also shows that the communication is dynamic ass well. Just ass many parts (talents, roles) play a part in keeping the nest together so does communication. Thus the curriculum writers are in contact with the teachers.

(heres my model for how this dynamic leadership communication should look like)
Many sub groups (pieces of the nest) are held together by the twigs and branches that run through the nest (the communication). Th communication pieces all meet together at the scaffold level. All issues and concerns are discussed in the meetings. Tentative ideas are developed but no decisions. These pieces that form the communication dynamic go back to the other pieces in their small role groups (the parts of the nest that they hold together). They discuss the concerns and give feedback and ideas. The communication dynamic shares the idea off the dynamic communication group thought about and hears feedback. Then the dynamic communication pieces go meet with the other members of the group. Communication occurs of the feedback and tentative decision are made. Then back to the the pieces of share tentative solutions. Feedback and possible affirming the ideas occurs. Back to the dynamic communication group and decisions are made based on all stake-holders feedback. Then back t the parts to inform of ratification or the need to gain more feedback and seeking of solutions. This process of spiderweb communication continues until a plausible decision is made.

Now back to the tree. Imagine the nest. The nest has a mother bird. This is a vital part of the education process. The most influential potential is daddy bird and momma bird. Dad and Mom are vital to the health of life of these young birds who cant fly yet and cant feed themselves yet. The education process is that they earn to feed themselves and fly.

My hear beats here strongest and I wish to share the hear of a daddy, minister and teacher. The three are interwoven in my life. But I know the priority is daddy. How can I lead others if I cant lead my own “birds' in the way to feed and fly? Parents are the number 1 and 2 “teacher” in the life of children. The nest is not complete without the mother bird. I know this does not always happen. I also see what results when daddy abandons or is the absent father. My siblings lives and even Mom and dad still carry scars here. ( I think I shared about my family – its multi-racial and multi-kids – 68 quite a few came from the streets) we must include the parents in the process of education and respect and encourage the major role they have. You see part of the nest is mothers own feathers. Maybe the most warmth and weatherizing is her feathers.

Ok. A little girl has not gone to sleep and it is 1am. She is determined to wait for daddy. Got to get home and cuddle my little girl so she will sleep where she feels security (and can pull a beard to know that the security is still close by) I better enjoy this as soon she will leave me for another man's security and I will forever miss my little girl. For she will belong to the man I have been praying for before she was even conceived.

Dr. Andy I will send my other reflections soon. I will leave for Laos tomorrow so I can be back in time for Tuesday class. I should have plenty of time to catch up and think without daddy calls, honey dos and Teacher Loyal ^$^%)*^$^#) etc.

Loyal Jongrak

Week twelve reflections and thoughts

Please post reflections for week twelve here, Thanks, Dr.Andy

Week eleven reflections and thoughts

Please post reflections for week eleven here, Thanks, Dr. Andy

IMPORTANT! Exam and Assignments

Several important items were reviewed in class tonight, (and most of these also several times earlier), which will be repeated here for clarity:

1. Assignments are all requested to be submitted by week 13 if at all possible.
2. At the latest, all assignments (reflections, foundations projects, application papers) are due week 15.
3. Any student needing to go beyond week 15 due to a personal crisis, must contact the instructor as soon as they become aware of this difficulty, and discuss the manner in which the completion of assignments will be handled. As always, fairness and understanding will be the prime considerations in such a case.
4. Students wishing to submit a draft of any assignment prior to grading for feedback, must do so by Monday the 23rd of August, midnight. After this, all assignments will be graded. Further, if submitting a draft for feedback and not grading, students must state 'draft, for feedback only' or something similar in the email in which they send the work.
5. For practical purposes, students will be expected to learn in detail five or six of the thirteen topics studied in the course. The final exam questions will be designed so as to give choice to students regarding preparation areas, according to their personal preference and professional needs.
6. As mentioned earlier, all reflections will be due week fifteen; after this, only one reflection, for the final exam review, may be added to the student's total.

If there are any questions on this, please post them as comments so other students may benefit from the answers. Best Wishes and God Bless, Dr. Andy

IMPORTANT! Reflections, please note

Just a couple of points on reflections:

Please remember that as discussed in class a number of times, once we get to week fifteen, the only reflection you can add is the exam review. The other updates must all be complete by the start of the last regular class (session fifteen). Most of you are Ok but some have simply not been posting and have some work to do.

The other thing is the last few weeks I have noticed one or two people slipping into colloquial or 'street English' on the reflections, such as using 'd' instead of 'the' etc. Please stick to proper English on the reflections as this is an academic blog. This does not refer to making honest mistakes -which are expected to a certain extent- but rather deliberate use of slang or street language which is not acceptable for academic discourse.

Thanks, and for those of you contributing -which is the majority of you- I appreciate your excellent work on here! Dr. Andy

Next class 18 August

Please note that our next class meeting will be on the 18th of August in order to allow preparations for the Queen's Birthday Celebration. Thanks, Dr. Andy

http://www.thaiworldview.com/feast/mae.htm

Videos

Hi, thanks to Dr. Mark, you can now review some of the sessions if you wish by taking a look at the videos on this channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/drandygoodman#p/u

Or, alternatively, for the weeks taped, you can look at individual videos here, again thanks to Dr. Mark, who really is doing a fabulous job on this:

GSOE_40th_Anniversary_part1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnaQNFMjb64GSOE_40th_Anniversary_part2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNHnUP2_QgQ
Week7_part1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t73LNYck04AWeek7_part2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Osh4Mj5WB50Week7_part3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv2io4IRsS4Week7_part4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YghpiF6_B_AWeek7_part5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRzSJIjTHDEWeek7_part6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itSLR-BMkcwWeek7_part7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w2RSdOI2fkWeek7_part8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqZSUsm3bzsWeek7_part9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1_pZgZ84aoWeek7_part10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2XpCXA-dDkWeek7_part11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENTRyqRHQA0
Week8_part1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcIprkYWVxYWeek8_part2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW2mHqT4VCEWeek8_part3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=945vs0sm5AQWeek8_part4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHlx3ZMr8IYWeek8_part5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcsLaG7U-00Week8_part6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9ezwXKYL9IWeek8_part7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3SDo0Sg4gAWeek8_part8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOf7aLDnLX0Week8_part9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjLHDAX9wOcWeek8_part10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg6aZEoxOcU
Week9_part1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwn38KKDTvQWeek9_part2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0Xq_FLhuB4Week9_part3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJy3SPdqc0EWeek9_part4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3niE5wErg6YWeek9_part5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bCOcFIsKBkWeek9_part6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqDTtyB-NDgWeek9_part7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc20GX5JhE8Week9_part8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci_ZD-zEgl4Week9_part9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtGqbI-RPWI

Week ten reflections and thoughts

Please post reflections for week ten here, Thanks, Dr. Andy

Week nine reflections and thoughts

Please post reflections for week nine here, Thanks, Dr. Andy

Week eight reflections and thoughts

Please post reflections for week eight here, Thanks, Dr. Andy

Week Eight Powerpoint Presentation

Please note the attached powerpoint for Teaching Practices I. Thanks, Dr. Andy

http://www.filefactory.com/file/b2a8c0e/n/Teaching_Practices_I_Ed_6007.ppt

Week seven reflections and thoughts

Please post reflections for week seven here, Thanks, Dr. Andy

Filming of Sessions, please note

Hi everybody, just to inform you that we will be doing some filming of our classes for portions of the rest of this course as part of ongoing efforts to help raise the GSoE profile; and also relating to my own professional development goals. However, I do respect your privacy -and if there is anybody that does not wish to appear on a film that will be given some internet exposure on educational sites, please talk with me before our next class: we will make sure you are not included in the film or will edit out any clips where you may have appeared. We will only be filming in about twenty to thirty minute segments, and not necessirly in every class. Thanks, and see you in class. Dr. Andy

A Suggestion/Request for Foundations Project

Dear Students: I am working on increasing presence for some of the things we are doing in the GSoE ABAC, as well as wanting to increase my own presence, and competency, utilizing web tools. As part of this, I want to put some films up, of some of the things we are working on in class. My idea is to put about twenty minutes or so of instruction for perhaps six or eight of our remaining sessions on to youtube in a personal page, which will cover some of the key concepts in the foundations class, as well as a copy of our 40th anniversary film, already made. I also want to put a personal website and/or blog up, that would link to this youtube page. I would place some of my own, and also some student research on this page, along with samples of student work, reflections etc. If one, or possibly a small group of you, would like to assist me in this process, please either comment on this, or get in touch with me by emailing me at drandylearning@gmail.com or texting or phoning my cell as listed in the email address. At a later time, we may also discuss with Dr. Supit about possibly linking this with the GSoE page on the AU main site. This work would count as your foundations project. Thanks, Dr. Andy

Week six reflections and thoughts

Please post reflections for week six here, Thanks, Dr. Andy

Week Six Notes

Hi there, it's great to be back with all of you after my visit to Canada to spend some time with friends and relatives. I want to again comment on the strength and insights, that I have observed in reviewing all of your blog posts. I have now read all of them, and though it is not possible for me at this time to go back and comment on all of them, please know that I have certainly been impressed with the quality and value of your contributions as well as the mutual support evident.

Tonight's topic was multicultural education, and, after reviewing weeks three through five, we spent some time first looking at the case for, or need for, multicultural education, which is strongly impacted by the need for us to get away from ethnocentrism: That is the tendency to see our own culture as being superior to others in the world community. We talked about four parts of multicultural education, involving curriculum reform, equity pedagogy, multicultural competence, and teaching toward social justice. We then looked at some stories which helped us to understand the challenges students face when studying from a cultural mindset other than their own.

The class went on to review a sample definition of multicultural education, involving the relationship of three key themes: cultural pluralism, cultural diversity, and our interconnected world. We looked at some of the challenges with how we define and implement multicultural education in our classrooms here in Thailand.

Following this, we looked at multicultural competence in some detail, including how the concept was important to working with both students and parents effectively. Part of this discussion involved the key understanding of the twin concepts of equality (treat everybody the same) and equity (treatment based on student need) and how these played out in a multicultural classroom, when and where each may apply in turn depending of the situation at hand.

The landmark 1983 US study "A Nation at Risk" was presented as an example of the way that failure to account for cultural differences can lead to improper decisions in terms of instructional delivery, in this case the over focus on testing in US classrooms as a way of remediating the academic needs apparent in the study. The testing however, resulted in little improvement and in some cases adversely affected quality of education, by restricting what was taught to the material on a state mandated test.

Two valuable film resources were suggested for students who wanted to take a further look at multicultural education issues:

Go to www.youtube.com

Review one or both of these movies-

Stand and Deliver (warning: contains profanity)

Freedom Writer

Week five reflections and thoughts

Please post reflections for week five here, Thanks, Dr. Andy

Week four reflections and thoughts

Please post reflections for week four here, Thanks, Dr. Andy

Week three reflections and thoughts

Please post reflections for week three here, Thanks, Andy

Week two reflections and thoughts

Please post reflections for week 2 here. Thanks, Andy

Week two notes

Hello, it seemed to me that we had a good discussion tonight, about the different ways that philosophy can impact educational matters, both on a day to day basis and in terms of long range effects on students. I got the impression that after tonight there was more clarity for most of you in terms of the ideas discussed. I especially appreciated the interaction, and keenness to learn more, evident in each of you. Thanks also to those who came by after class to clarify expectations. Please continue to do that. I am always here for you. It is my honor to work with you; I hope that each of you is able to derive maximum value from the class in terms of your own goals and objectives. I will see you all in week six! Please do continue to interact on here and raise any concerns you may have. I will monitor from Canada. God Bless, Andy

Background materials for ED 6007

Hi, please observe the background materials attached at the following links:

-syllabus

http://www.filefactory.com/file/b1h6aa5/n/ED_6007_Foundations_of_Education_NF.doc

-application paper rubric

http://www.filefactory.com/file/b1h6aa8/n/ED_6007_Rubric_for_application_papers.doc

-foundations project rubric

http://www.filefactory.com/file/b1h6aae/n/ED_6007_Rubric_for_Foundations_project.doc

-week 3 for prep for Dr. Suwattana facilitating

http://www.filefactory.com/file/b1h6ab0/n/Week_3_ED_6007_Student_preparation_notes_guidelines.doc

-week 4 for prep for Dr. Suwattana facilitating

http://www.filefactory.com/file/b1h6ab2/n/Week_4.doc

-week 5 for prep for Dr. Suwattana facilitating

http://www.filefactory.com/file/b1h6ab6/n/Week_5_Student_preparation_notes_guidelines_for.doc

Thanks,

Andy

Week two powerpoint presentation

Here is a link to the powerpoint for week 2. Please be a little patient, and read carefully, as you have to follow instructions specifically, to download it. Andy

http://www.filefactory.com/file/b1h125g/n/ED_6007_Philosophical_Foundations_I.ppt

Week one notes

PLEASE DO NOT POST REFLECTIONS ON HERE, USE THE REFLECTIONS POST. THIS IS FOR NOTES AND QUESTIONS ABOUT THE COURSE OR ASSIGNMENT CONTENT ONLY. THANKS

About the foundations project, to offer a little more guidance since I
think there is still some uncertainty, here are some things that might
be done:

- a unit of teaching with lessons and activities for any level
- a movie (your own, NOT taken off youtube) showing varied teaching
techniques and practices and possibly commentary on ways to teach
effectively
- interview a series of practitioners/experts in education, and
compile ideas and activities into a summary of suggestions for
effective instruction
- have somebody tape you delivering lessons, then critique your own
teaching and write a list of ways to improve, then possibly try some
of these ideas and reflect on them
- do the above, but get a colleague or administrator to help with the
critique and reflection
- work with a group in the class (3 to 4 students) and each of you
will observe the others teaching, or a movie of you cannot do it in
person, then each of you will offer the others ideas for improvement.
Each of you can then put together an improvement plan based on the
contributions of your peers
- a research project with the focus on effective teaching. Take the
results and compile a sort of top ten summary of lessons or ideas that
may be most efffective for you, giving reasoning for each
- take any one of our class sessions or readings and use it as the
base for a unit of teaching, then do some research as to how you might
go about creating this unit, and write up the results of the research
- create a blog and invite experts and others to comment on effective
teaching techniques
- build a facebook page and invite teachers to share techniques and stories
- for those of you more interested in the administrative side of
things, you may make that the basis for a project, working on and
researching some aspect of effective administration for educators

I would prefer electronic submission for this project, but I am
flexible in that I know there are some whose projects may need some
actual product, which cannot be sent over e-mail. That's alright, and
we will work with each case as it arises. Please feel comfortable
going out and trying something new for this project. Unlike the
application paper, which is pretty much a standard research paper,
this is chance for you to try something you have always been
interested in and to trial some new approaches. The only mistake here
is not trying.

Turning now to the three weeks Dr. Sawattana will facilitate the
class, think about what themes you might like to pursue for week three
and bring your thoughts to class next week so we can sort out groups
quickly using a minimum of class time. Do the same for week four in
terms of thinking about the country you would like to research. We do
need for one group to look at Thailand, and ideally some, or at least
one, in this group who are able to read Thai, so that they can look at
the Ministry of Education website for ideas. Also, remember that we
will use the same groupings to look at the legal questions for week
five.

Last point, please remember to read the first Ozman and Craver reading
on the philosophical aspects of education prior to next week so as to
be ready for our class discussion. See you in class!

Week one reflections and thoughts

Dear Students, I hope you all enjoyed week 1 of our course. At first I thought maybe there would be too many students to do a blog (probably over 40 when all is done, with new entries) but then I thought that we should try it; so we all get a chance to interact and see each other's thoughts and ideas. So this is where I will ask you to place your reflections and questions, rather than e-mailing them to me. You can simply place them on here each week as we go. Write your reflection paragraph and then three applications as a comment. Be sure to include your name. Of course you can still e-mail or phone if you wish if you have questions that may need a personal answer or you just want to discuss something privately.