To Medicate or Not

picture taken from http://www.harvarddapa.org/drug-ipedia/study-prescription/ritalin/

The other night in my Epsy class we were discussing ADHD and voicing our opinions on whether or not we were for or against giving students medication for it. I feel like I am on the fence about this but could be leaning towards the side of against it. 

In my preinternship there were a couple boys in our class that had been on medication for ADHD. A lot of the time the students seemed like they had no energy and were like zombies in the classroom. I felt like it would have been more beneficial for the students to not be on the medication and maybe be more engaged in the lessons and more active. I felt like it was stopping them from fully learning. I believe that in the class students should be engaged and should be active in their learning. I want students to have hands-on experiences in the class and if they are on medication the experience may not always be as good as it could be. As well, I feel like the long term side effects of medication can be extremely harmful to the students in the future. I feel like these days it is over prescribed and could be harmful to the children who it is prescribed to.

On the other hand, I understand that some kids may need the medication and could benefit from it. Some students are so hyper or don't have any attention span and may need the medication to fully focus on the class and lessons. 

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this they would like to share?

Teach Task #5: All About Identity

Last night I watched a session with George Couros about online identity. It was really informing and I learned a lot. I realized that an online identity can either help you in ways or hinder you in ways, such as helping you get a job or not. It made me think about my own and how I can help create a good online identity for myself. It also helped me realize how important it is to help our future students create a good online identity for themselves from the start.

Part 2:

I googled my first and last name and this was the first few hits that came up.

I clicked on most of them to see where it went, and realized that none of the hits on the first page had anything to do with me. They were all on other people named Marley Riddell. Even on the second page of hits only 2 had to do with me, connecting to my blog and my google account.

It made me realize I don't have much of an online identity which is probably because I have my privacy settings really high. I think this is best for my personal accounts like facebook and realized that this will benefit me. I can now start creating a professional online identity and don't need to worry about my own personal stuff coming up first.

Part 3:

I have created an about.me page and linked my twitter, blog and google account to it.

So excited but so nervous

This week I received my letter for internship. I will be interning in Wapella Elementary school with their grade 1/2 class. I called the school and talked to the principal to set up a meeting. I will be heading there to meet him, my cooperating teacher and hopefully some of the students I will be teaching in June.

I am extremely excited for my internship, but at the same time I'm really nervous. I am extremely excited to meet my students and coop and talk to her about what we'll be doing for the semester and share some of our ideas for things we want to try out but I also keep thinking about all the what ifs. What if my students don't like me? What if I don't do a good job? What if my coop and I don't see eye to eye? and so on.. I know that once I meet my coop and get to the school, some of these nerves will go away but probably not all of them.

My question for everyone else, what are some of the things you're nervous about for internship?

Boy Mama Teacher Mama

Found this blog by a woman named Stephanie who is an elementary school teacher and a mother of two young boys. She posts about different activities for kids at home as well as about education. This is a post of hers that connects to our learning about technology and incorporating it into our classrooms.

http://boymamateachermama.com/2013/03/19/teacher-mama-5-ways-to-incorporate-technology-into-the-classroom/