POST THIS ON YOUR BLOG

Last night in class we were asked to define, in our own words, the aims and means of "Instructional Development." The example had two blanks to fill in; the paper read "e.g. To achieve _______ by means of _________." Everyone else in class filled in the blanks. I did too initially, but using "ideals" and "processes" just didn't work for me. I ended up writing the following:

"To create effective instruction using systematic processes as a basis in order to bring the status quo closer to identified ideals."

I have a tendency to be verbose in classes, but that really is how my mind works. For me to process new ideas, I have to use/apply them, otherwise they don't make sense. The guide of "in your own words" is what led me to think outside of filling in the blank, and to express the idea as I currently view it. I got teased a bit by my classmates, including "OK, Romi" [the author of our main text] and comments about how I must have been the kid who used all of my vocabulary words in one long sentence in elementary school. (For the record, they were separate sentences, thanks.) Jerry wrote on his page, displayed by the projector, "POST THIS ON YOUR BLOG."

The thing is, this is what I think now. Fully admitting that I am an ID novice and that I am expecting to grow, learn, and change my ideas over this semester and the next several years, this is a good reference point. Will I still believe this later? I don't know, but I will actually reflect on it. For 621, 631, and 841 last term, some of my ideas remained the same, but I made a lot of changes in my perceptions of learning and ID. That's why I'm a doctoral student. If I came in and left the same, I'd be wasting my money, time, and effort.

So, here it is, posted on my blog. Critique away, but know that I am going to be doing the same.

waitasec...I have a blog?

Considering how much I usually like all things Internet-related, I never expected to be writing my own blog. Read others? Sure, especially as procrastination fodder. But write my own? I haven't made a valid contribution to the web since I created a website back in 1995 with rudimentary HTML skills. I don't think I've updated that since 2002, but every few months I get e-mails telling me about a broken link. They're usually from teachers who stumbled across the site and are using it as a resource for a class project, so I haven't had the heart to take it down, antiquated and outdated as it may be.

As much time as I spend connected to the Internet, I have a surprising lack of skills when it comes to technology. Basic is good, as long as it gets the point across. Fancy tricks are neat, and I learn things when I see someone else do something cool with a program, but my abilities are likely well behind others in my program. I'm open to change, though.

I've been pondering the context I'm going to be using for IDE632. All I know at this point is that I want to focus on secondary ed, especially the 10-12 range. I taught English literature, mostly to 11th and 12th graders, for 5 years in an urban HS just outside of Philadelphia. The school was grades 10-12, with approx. 1100 students, about 15 English/Language Arts (ELA) teachers, and class sizes usually averaging around 25.

My first thought is to examine some aspect of one of the myriad intervention programs used at the school. One was ELA- and math-specific, and all programs were done to increase state test scores, show adequate yearly progress (AYP), and avoid state takeover.

I'm not sure yet of what program/aspects of programs/completely new ideas to work with for my context, but hey, it's a start.

Not to mention, I've now got a blog.