"Easily Distracted, Finding a Quiet Place to Study"

I have been teaching for almost 10 years and have taught many unique learners along the way. When thinking about this assignment, I could not decide on which student to describe. Since I teach 740+ students in grades k-5, I have decided to write about myself.

Here goes, I'll start from the beginning. I was born in 1976 and attended my first nursery school when I was three. I started elementary school in when I was 5. Early on in my school career, it was very evident that I was going to be a talker. My parents knew this, of course, but it didn't take long for my kindergarten teacher (Ms. Hurst) to realize this. When my parents came in for the first teacher conference my teacher told them that I was having trouble staying quiet and on task. Back in 1981, Attention Deficit Disorder was not common like today, but I'm sure that is what caused some of my early difficulties. Throughout elementary school and high school I dealt with this in a variety of ways, but I've never taken medicine for it. One way I deal with ADD, is by eliminating as many distractions as I can. When I study or do homework I do not listen to music or TV. I always go to the quietest place I can find. Another thing that has really helped me is frequent breaks. This has worked well for me and I continue this forever.

Now onto college and beyond. I entered college in 1994 and knew I wanted to become a teacher. I knew I wanted to be a teacher very early in my life. My first semester I did not do well and the second semester was not all that much better. In hindsight, I realize that too many distractions were present. When I started my second year I did much better because I always went to the library or computer lab to study. My third year I moved of campus and my grades continued to improve because I didn't have the distractions of dorm life. I graduated in 1999 and accepted my first licensed teaching job.

Now onto the present. This is my third online graduate course and so far it has been great. Being "Easily Distracted" is good and bad for distance learning. The good thing is I can take breaks when I need to and I do not have to sit through all the face to face class time. The bad part is I sometimes find myself doing various things around the house instead of my school work. Overall, though I have enjoyed distance education and hope to complete my masters in Instructional Technology by 2010.

ISD Is Like Building A Deli Sandwich

I think comparing Instructional Design to a deli sandwich is a great analogy. You need to complete all steps of the process in order. As a teacher you can not start the process without knowing what you want to ultimately accomplish. I have been in the education field for over 10 years and along the way I have learned some very important lessons. One key thing I learned early on is that classroom management is crucial to successful teaching. You can have the greatest lesson plan on paper, but when delivering instruction, if your classroom doesn't have good discipline, you will not be successful. I have also learned that after teaching a lessons it is important to be a reflective practitioner. Another thing about being a technology teacher is that things change very quickly. I feel it is important to make sure teachers and myself are using all the every available technology. I teach periodic staff development workshops to keep teacher current on what is available at our school. One example of this is using laptop carts in their classrooms. Last year my school had one laptop cart with 16 laptops, a wireless printer, and a data projector. The neat thing was I showed them how to use it and the teachers ran with it. After documenting the use of the cart the district gave us another cart based on our heavy use. Overall, when planning for teachers or students instructional design is at the heart of every lesson I teach.

Why Design Instruction?

I have read many other blogs, but this is my first blog creation. Here goes nothing. My basic definition instructional design is the way lessons are planned and delivered. Instructional design is essential in creating a successful classroom environment. A classroom that has no design will not work. Imagine if you had a job with no guidelines or instructions for how to do the job correctly, it would be impossible to succeed. As an educator, my number one goal is to create an environment where all students can be successful. This can be difficult because the students in classes have different skill levels and learning styles. During the instructional design process I take all these factors into account and plan lessons accordingly. This may include but is not limited to the following: extra credit, assignment choices, small groups, different ways of delivery, and extended time. In my classroom (which is the computer lab) I have 32 computers and luckily my largest class has 30 students. This allows each student to have his or her own computer. When giving assignments I have to remember that not all students have this access to technology at home. I need to make sure that students have ample time to complete technology projects in my classroom or in their homeroom. One of my career goals is to have one to one laptop deployment in my school.

Test to see if it is working