Natalie Furzland EDU 412

A note of thanks and support

2012-03-13T16:19:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that the end is almost here. I have been working so long to see the light at the end of the tunnel and I have finally made it. I don't think I could have made it in the class this far without the help of Professor McDevitt and my colleges. I have hit many bumps in my road and without encouragement I don't know if I would have kept going. Professor McDevitt and been very understanding and helped me to try to stay positive. Overall, I was very nervous about my action plan but in the end my audience loved it. This gave me confidence about all the work that I had done for the past 9 weeks. I want to wish everyone in this class the best of luck and hope to see you all at graduation. BEST OF LUCK TO EVERYONE!!!!!!

Enlisting and Providing Support

2012-02-28T12:25:00.000-08:00

Well it is almost the end and I am still frustrated. This journey has not been easy for me and I can not wait for it to be over.
I am doing my presentation on the RTI and how children who are struggling learner need more one-on-one time with a teacher. I have found that working with people in a public school setting can be very frustrating because they don't have time for you. I would think that they would help a fellow teacher out but they don't. Anyways, I plan on doing my presentation on PowerPoint I want everyone to be able to see clearly what I am talking about. I have taken most of my information from my research paper that I put together for EDU 411. I still have not been able to get the RTI director for the school I am working with to call me back. I was hoping to get more facts from her for my presentation. I went through old papers that I still have from previous classes that I have taken at Kendall that i saved with information on RTI. I found notes and handout that were helpful to me and gave me more information. I really want to express to my audience that children who are struggling need more time and interactions with someone to succeed. I was a child who didn't always do well in school so I know how some of these children feel so I want to help them before it is too late.

Questions that I have for my colleagues are....
Do you think that PowerPoint is enough or should I do more?
How did you guys get people to respond to you? Phone calls- email- personal visits
What are your thoughts on RTI do you feel that children should have more one on one time with the teacher?
What suggestions do you have to get my presentation to come together since my main person won't respond to me?
***** Can someone please help me understand how to make this all come together? I am worried we only have a few weeks left and I feel so unprepared.

My Personal Advocacy Journey

2012-02-14T08:57:00.000-08:00

A quote that you find inspirational regarding the role that advocacy can have in the lives of young children and their families. Then, post responses to the following:

"I continue to believe that if children are given the necessary tools to succeed, they will succeed beyond their wildest dreams!" David Vitter,

U.S.

senator

What inspires and excites you most about your advocacy plan and being an advocate?

I think I get most excited about knowing that I could potentially make a difference in a child’s education. It would inspire me to know that I am meeting the educational needs of all children. I feel that being able to find out the student’s progress after being monitored by my action plan would be an inspiration to me. This way I could know if my action plan helped those who are struggling students to improve their academic skills and behaviors.

What challenges and/or anxieties do you feel related to engaging in the advocacy efforts you have targeted?

An anxiety that I have is that my RTI action plan won’t help the struggling students improve in their performance and academic progress. I am worried that I won’t cover all the areas that are needed for that child to succeed and things could become a larger issue if not seen in the beginning. A challenge that I am having is making sure that I am collaborating with the correct people to make my action plan effective. I am still having issues getting certain people to work with me. I am worried that the schools won’t have the right amount of help to make sure that these children are getting more one-on-one time with teachers to ensure a better education in learning and the children will be placed in a learning disability category when it might not be needed.

What do you believe will be most effective in helping you overcome any challenging emotions you may be feeling with regard to presenting and implementing your Advocacy Action Plan?

I think for me I just have to remind myself that I am trying to do a positive action for all struggling children and try to remember that and stay calm. I want to focus on the fact that I know the teachers that I am working with. I am confident that they will be on my side in making changes because they feel that the RTI program needs some help. I want to gear my presentation to them because the outcome will help the children in their classes the most. I think that this process will help me understand RTI a little more and I will be more confident because of my studies and research. I feel that knowing my information will help me overcome my fears of speaking in front of people I don’t really know that well.

How can you encourage others in their advocacy efforts, and how can others encourage you?

I can encourage others by talking about the positives that will come from a better high quality intervention for struggling children. I want them to see that I am passionate about making a difference and confident in my message. I want others to know that if everyone is on the same page it can help with mentoring and collaboration to provide consistency in reinforcing the child’s skills. I want others to encourage me to finding out other ways that I can help children that are in the lowest tier. I would like for others to work cooperatively and collaboratively with me in planning a program that meets the diverse population of learners. They can encourage me on providing essential leadership in my action plan effectiveness. I want to encourage the teachers at this school to get parents more involved in the RTI process. I feel that the parents should be aware of what is going on in their child’s education.

- Natalie Furzland

Need some insight-

2012-01-23T10:47:00.000-08:00

Hello all, I am not off to a good start in this class, I am looking to do my action plan on the effectiveness of RTI in the first grade at the school I am working with and seeing what I can do to make it better. I was wondering if anyone else was doing a topic like this or am I making this plan to hard for myself? Let me know if you have any thoughts or concerns for my topic. Thank you Natalie.

Hello

2012-01-10T04:48:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone- I hope this blog goes better than the last one. I look forward to talking with all of you. Best of luck in the class.