Bio Statement

On July 18, 1991, I came into this world with a bang! The name's Monica Anestin (my last name is pronounced like Jennifer “Aniston”). I am currently a fulltime student at Miami Dade College. Right now I am working on my Associates in Arts with a focus on Exceptional Student Education. After I have my AA, I will continue on to get a Bachelor’s Degree in Exceptional Student Education.

While I am working on my bachelor’s degree, I will be taking courses to become a Certified Behavioral Analyst for children with Special Needs. As a matter of fact, I work with children with special needs right now for the YMCA of Broward County. Now that you know me on an educational level, let me introduce myself on a more personal level.

I have a passion for reading and I live for fashion. My favorite colors are yellow and silver, yes I know it is quite an unusual pair but I'm an unusual person. I love animals and would pull over on the side of the road to help a hurt dog or cat in an instant. I'm a Cancer so by birth I am the nurturing type. I keep my friends to a minimum. The few friends that I do have have been around for at least five years.

I am the epitome of an optimist. You'll always find me trying to find the silver lining in a stormy grey cloud. I am a determined person, when I want something, I always get it.

I am selfish when it comes to my love, but once you have it you'll have a never ending amount. I cry when I am hurt and feel like life is at a standstill. I do this because I relate tears to rain and I know just like a rainbow comes after the rain, there will be a rainbow after my rain [tears]. I laugh when I'm happy or when I feel like there's nothing else to do. I don't believe in frown lines and find laughter the best antidote for them.

I'm one of those people who believe that hitting rock bottom is sometimes the biggest blessing. It allows you to look at life from a different perspective and find where you are supposed to be. I live by my own rules and expectations. I live through my experiences good and bad, and while I may make the same mistakes over and over, I know that I'm still young and it's all a part of growing up.

I'm buckled up for the journey called life and I'm ready for whatever curve balls it may throw my way. I know that everything won't always be sweet, but I also know they won't always be sour either. I am living life trying to reach my goal and doing whatever it takes to get me there. My one true goal in life is to be happy. It sounds simple and sort of dumb to some, but how many people can go around and say that they are actually happy?

I am a dreamer; you can see the dreams forming in my eyes with one glance. I am determined; you can see the determination sitting prominently on my cheekbones. I am loving; you can see the love emitting through my body with each step I take. I am me, and the best part of being me, is that I am still finding me.

Reflection 10

Having taken the EDF1005 class in the spring, I thought this class would be the same. Boy was I wrong. Basically the only similarity EME2040 shared with EDF1005 was writing reflections and a bio statement.

Unlike EDF1005, EME2040 was much more strenuous and required early planning in order to get all of the assignments done on time. See, in EDF1005, all assignments were due on Sunday, but in EME2040, assignments were due not only on Sunday, but also on Thursday. It was time for me to say good-bye to carefree weekends.

The first assignment was easy. The assignment was for me to get a livetext account, luckily I had already done this in EDF1005. The following two assignments were also fairly easy; create a handout on lesson planning and a twenty page PowerPoint on lesson planning.

It’s when I had to start creating my own lesson plans the problems started to occur. I never knew that there was actually so much blood, sweat, and tears behind creating a single lesson plan! I had to do four of these and each and every single one was to be written in such a precise matter that it my fingers began to feel as if they would become worn to the bone due to all the typing. In time, I got the hang of it and after awhile, I could complete a lesson plan in just one hour.

I found generating a student database quite fun. I enjoyed putting a name to a face and creating all of someone’s information. It made me feel like I was the government. After creating a student database, I had to create a grade book. This served as practice for me because I was also learning Excel in my computer class.

The steps it took in creating my digital story required patience, because I wanted everything done just so. I had to find just the right pictures to match what was being said at the time. Not to mention the number of times I rerecorded because I didn’t like the pitch or tone of my voice.

All in all, my experience in this class was one of not only new, but helpful endeavors. I learned things that will definitely help me when I continue on to get my Bachelor’s Degree in Exceptional Student Education. I’ve also learned things will set me in a class all my own when I become a teacher.

Reflection 9

During this time of instructional delivery, I have done and learned many things thanks to the use of technology, from learning how to create a student database to actually creating a commercial grade book. I have written reflections, created a digital story, and learned the correct way to create a lesson plan. While I am happy to have learned these things, I cannot say that I was thrilled when I found out these were just some of the things taking this course required. The assignments seemed insurmountable, but thanks to technology, they proved to be an effortless task.

I always knew that teachers had to have a lesson plan in order to teach, I just never knew that there were so many different types of lesson plans. I also had no idea just how exact and precise these lesson plans had to be. I honestly thought that lesson plans consisted of a plethora of words strewn about on a piece of paper given to the principal in a hurried haste.

All of the assignments given in this class could only be accessed through the use of technology. This alone recognizes how serious of a role technology played in this class. By having it where all of the assignments could be accessed via technology, no one could really be completely out of whack with the class. Let’s say you miss a day or two of the lecture, if you want to find out where the class is, you just go to the website for that class and you can not only see what’s due this week, but all the way up to the last assignment.

The use of technology in this class has proven to be a helping aide time and time again. Thanks to this class, I am no longer looking at my assignments through rose colored glasses. I have realized just how much better an assignment becomes thanks to technology. From being able to generate a grade book, to just using the spelling and grammar check in a Microsoft Word document.

What I enjoyed the most however, is the fact that the assignments were not only from a textbook. All of my life I have been gathering information or learning new things solely from textbooks. With this, it gave me a chance to apply technology as my key to learning. Technology in the classroom is the key to unlocking the future and secrets of tomorrow, I have learned this firsthand.

Reflection 8

“Knowledge is actively constructed by the learner, not passively received from the environment.” –Martin Dougiamas

After taking the “My Educational Philosophy” survey and seeing my results, I learned that my educational philosophy was that of a constructivist. Constructivists believe that knowledge can only be constructed through interpretations and reinterpretations of a steady stream of information by putting the learner [student] in the midst of the educational stage. The fundamental nature of constructivism is its reflection on learning and the steady attempt to incorporate new information. Constructivism was built upon the works of Swiss and Russian psychologist’s Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky.

As a constructivist, there needs to be a fresh outset in the mind. The mind should not only work as a single data processor, but as a natal, budding system that subsists evenly well within a single brain and in the utensils, objects, and representative methods used to aid collective and cultural communication.

Applying constructivism in a classroom means the students are taught through a lot of scaffolding, using inquiries, hints, or propositions to help students associate what they already know with what they are learning. A constructivist classroom is all about the students and teacher testing what they already know or presume.

When you use more thinking skills, it is said to be culturally interceded. The actions of these thoughts do not directly affect the world. However, they do so in a meandering way; it takes a material subject that has been formerly used and integrates it as a feature of action. If you think back, you can recall that matter has been fashioned by preceding human practices, so present action combines the psychological work that formed that particular form of substance.

An example of constructivism in the classroom can be finding the symbolism in a poem. It is letting the students discover that there is a deeper meaning behind things and upon discovering this, more students will learn to question what is and what makes it so. As a constructivist teacher, I will make sure my lesson plans include a plethora of different hands on assignments, and the use of a Socratic like approach to answering questions.

As a constructivist teacher, I will incorporate FEAP's numbers 2 and 3, communication and continuous improvement by making sure the voices of my students are not just heard but actually listened to and by taking time out to evaluate myself as a teacher and see how I can do better for my students and myself.

Reflection 7

In this day and age we hear the word digital almost every day-digital camera, digital cable, digital personal computers-the list goes on and on. However, many people aren’t too familiar with the term digital story. Upon hearing the word, a person may deduce that a digital story must be some type of computerized story. This assumption is only partially correct however.

There are different types of digital stories. Two types include one done for personal reasons and another done for some sort of electronic portfolio. A digital story is when regular people-just like you and I- use digital equipment to narrate their individual true life stories.

A digital story that is done as a means to narrate a person’s life would usually include a picture of the person, their strong points, limitations, triumphs, frustrations, occurrences that may have taught a lesson, fervors, and their aspirations for the future. Basically, a personal digital story is a way for a person to reflect on their experiences as they would with a diary or journal.

While some people create digital stories for leisure purposes, others use them as more of an electronic portfolio also known as an ePortfolio. This type of digital story is usually a compilation of work that exhibits effort, progression and triumphs that in a time period. (An example of an ePortfolio is www.livetext.com.) These digital stories usually comprise of a video snippet with the tone of the creator, still imagery, and a soundtrack for a more dramatic effect.

Today digital stories are becoming very popular. They provide a voice for the people that are high-quality orators, but not your typical first-rate writer. They are also more personal because they provide a tone to the works of many and can act as a mirror into the mind of the creator through tone, imagery, and sound. Not to mention, they are also very easy to create.

Reflection 6

Before someone can answer the query about telecollaborative lessons, they must first know how it comes about. A telecollaborative lesson is a lesson learned from doing a telecollaborative project. Now, the next question that needs to be asked is what a telecollaborative project is. Like a collaborative project, it involves two sets of students from diverse places-usually different states, counties, or countries- joining as one to work on an assignment. The only difference however is that all the work is done through the internet.

Inquiring minds would probably ask “what type of lesson could someone learn from someone over the internet?” Well here is an example of a telecollaborative lesson:

Sean lives in Florida and has been writing to Melinda for almost three weeks now. His teacher gave the class a telecollaborative project. They are supposed to write to another child in New York and learn everything they can about that student in four weeks. At the end of the four weeks, the students are to give a report with the title “My Buddy was just like me Despite the Fact…”

He’s learned that she likes kittens but not cats, she loves glitter and soccer, and that her favorite ice cream is Neapolitan because she gets three ice creams in one. Sean has already been thinking about what he can write. He wants to talk about how they both love soccer, how they are the same age-9, and how Neapolitan is both of their favorite ice cream flavor despite the fact that he’s a boy and she’s a girl.

During the fourth week however, there is a twist in the project. Sean’s teacher tells the class that every student they have been writing to is a child with special needs. Sean later finds out that Melinda is a child with Autism. He has never heard of Autism so he asks Melinda about it. She tells him everything she knows about it and what she doesn’t know she asks her parents. Now Sean has a new title for his paper. “Melinda is just like me Despite the Fact that she has Autism.”

Through a telecollaborative project, the student learned a telecollaborative lesson. He learned that just because someone may be a person with special needs, they are still just like everyone else. They have likes, and dislikes just like any other person.

Reflection 5

Students from different school districts working on a collective project in concert or just a crowd of students talking about a lecture are instances of collaborative learning. Collaborative learning is instructing and learning by putting students in groups to scrutinize a major query or produce a significant project.

Cooperative learning is a precise kind of collaborative learning. In this learning, students work as one in little sets on an ordered activity, but they are accountable for their own work; the work of the group however is evaluated as one.

Cooperative groups are created so that students can learn to work together as one. By being placed in small groups, students can contribute their strengths to the group. They can also strengthen their meager skills. They learn to deal with disagreements because when working as a group, everyone will not always have the same ideas, but because they are working in a group, they must learn to work out the setbacks they come across so they can be a productive team.

Cooperative learning is more than just putting students in miniature groups and telling them to work together. Like many things in life, there is a guide to cooperative learning. Before beginning to instruct based on cooperative learning, there are three things to consider.

The first thing one must take into consideration is that students need to be put into groups where they feel that they are not in harms reach, but they are still being challenged. This means that you do not put a feeble but smart student in a group with the class bully. However, you should still put that student with other students that will challenge her mind.

The second thing is that the groups must be undersize, that way each student will be able to contribute. Do not put seven students in a group where the required assignment is for them to find only three instances of irony in Flowers for Algernon.

The third and final thing is you must make sure the directions you give the students for the work they have to do is not vague. So, as an instructor, it is your duty to make sure the students understand exactly what it is they must do at all times.

As we can now see, cooperative learning and collaborative learning works hand in hand with one another to promote togetherness in the classroom.