Who+is+this+Mr.+Martin?

**//__ Who is this guy? __//** // My name is Shaun Martin. I have degrees in History and English with a specification in writing. For as long as I can remember I have been fascinated with the written word. As a kid, I wrote poems about school, short stories about finding one's self in an ever changing world (not how I would've described it back then), and movie scripts about epidemics and Jack the Ripper. There are plays in there too, but I'm going on about myself enough as it is. Some may argue that a writer should spend his days pining away in a woodland shack, writing until his fingers bleed. On the contrary, a writer's job is to share the love of the craft! A few of us do that through published prose or poetry, but I believe the best way for me to impart this love of writing onto future generations and let them deal with publishers. //  __//** My Philosophy **//__ // Let’s imagine you have a cough. You know many students at your school have come down with the flu recently so you assume you too have contracted the illness. At the doctor's office, the doctor tells you that you don’t have the flu. An epiphany strikes you. You have been finishing renovations in your basement and you've been inhaling drywall dust. Might that the problem? The doctor confirms it. You have "learned" what the issue is. Next time you have a cough you might take a break from the renovations. //

// That is how learning is best accomplished and retained. In my classroom, I assess what the students already know, by asking questions and the such, then link new information to the information they already possess. This technique is called scaffolding // // If I can have our students question assumptions and approach possible alternatives with an open mind, then i feel i have done my job. //

//** My Tech Philosophy **// // As far as technology is concerned, I believe its inclusion into the classroom is of vital importance. The children of today were born in the information age. It is the job of educators to understand that and facilitate learning accordingly. Technology, however, should not be integrated only for the benefit for the students, but for the teachers as well. Howard Gardner pioneered the idea that everybody learns in different ways. He called it "multiple intelligences." With technology's aid, educators can teach to these different intelligences more effectively. For instance, a linguistic learner responds to the "incorporation of literature and computer technology as a means to gather information." An interpersonal learner responds to "collaboration with a partner or small study group," therefore this wiki in and of itself will be helpful to those students. Technology is beneficial in all aspects of the classroom. //

__//** My Pedagogical Recipe **//__ // Three Parts Constructivism // // Two Parts Progressivism // // A Pinch (very small) Existentialism //