September Ideas/Techniques

I thought that this blog would be more of a reflection blog. I was expecting that I would write on here every week or multiple times a week with good ideas and things I have done, but I already have to write a reflection for my Field Instructor every week, so i figured this blog would be a great way to write down ideas, stuff my teacher does or things i see in my classroom that I want to remember for the future. I do want to say thought that I love my MT. I honestly think I have the best MT in the MSU program. She values my opinion, really lets me get involved in the classroom and sees this year as a partnership, instead of her teaching and me off to the side doing little random things.
So here are my ideas and things I have seen thus far,

Buddy Venn's- Venn diagram, but you do with two students. Find out about each other and your similarities and differences.
Model! Model! Model!- model everything that you do. Even things as simple as giving the teacher a folder, putting a book in their mailbox and sitting at your seat. Do problems together first before having students do them on their own. Play a new game in front of the class first before having students do it themselves. Model everything.
Positive Reinforcement-it's better to point out those students that are doing what they are supposed to be doing, instead of yelling at those that are not doing what they are not supposed to be doing. Stay positive. Don't focus on the negatives.
Comfy spots- Let the students find spaces around the room where they can read. Not everyone likes to sit in a chair and read. Some people like to lay on their stomachs or lean against something. Having pillows, blankets, rugs and beanbags for students to sit on and use to make them more comfortable. If students are comfortable, they will most likely do more reading.
Make lots and lots of anchor charts- make charts and lists for everything you talk about. Not only is it a way for students who learn by reading or seeing, because not all students learn through listening, it also can be referred back to at any time.
Behavior chart- Green, Blue, Yellow, Red. Blue is a warning, yellow is a 10 minute timeout, Red is lunch detention and a call or note home to parents. Students have the ability to move back a color at the end of the day if they change their behavior. Make sure parents know what color they end up on every day, so they know what their behavior is like in the classroom.
Sending home positive notes- Parents love to hear about good things that are happening with their students. It will make it easier to tell them about the bad things going on in class, and the students themselves know if they have this note in their folders that they had a great day. They feel proud that they had a good day and this is something they want to show their parents.
Sending work home on Fridays- This way you get all your grading done and you have nothing to take home on the weekend and students leave their work at home instead of cluttering up the classroom.
Hands-on Science lessons!- When students are doing hands on things they are getting involved in the lesson and they are more engaged. I also learned that they learn the concepts and remember them better. When students get involved and work with manipulatives they do more learning.

Alright, this is what I have seen so far, but there is definatly going to be more things, especially in the up coming weeks.

First Full Day

Yesterday was our first full day of school and I thought it was a great day! The students are slowly starting to get used to the routines and expectations for the school and the classroom. One thing my CT emphasized was practice. If students were not following the correct procedures, like how we should act in the hallway while walking to a special or to lunch then they need to take a seat on one of the benches in the hallway or stay against the wall and then they will practice again so they know how they should act in these certain situations. This way students are reminded how they need to act as well as they are learning the consequences that if they cannot act the correct way then they will miss out on some gym time or will be the last ones in line to get a lunch. I really liked this technique that my CT uses because you are not constantly yelling at the students and it is looking at a problem in a more positive way. I also saw how CHAMPs (conversation, help, activity, movement, participation) is used in the classroom today and can really see how it can be beneficially in the classroom. Once again if students are not following directions then instead of yelling at the students you can refer them to the champs board and remind them what it says and what they should be doing. I really like how my CT tries to stay positive and not yell at the students or say 'Stop doing this", "No talking" or other negative comments. We also started Readers Workshop and are beginning to introduce to the students what they should be doing during this time and getting them used to reading for a long period of time, which we will slowly increase every day. We also did a small math assessment as well as another spelling assessment to see where the students are at in those areas. The only problem I have seen with the students are sitting at tables is that they can easily cheat off each other, and not just to the person sitting next to them, but anyone at their table. My CT noticed when she did a math and spelling assessment on Thursday that she suspected students of cheating because their papers were really inconsistent. I cannot wait to get back into the classroom and to start doing some teaching and leading because my only worry is that the students are not seeing me as an authoritative figure and more of a helper/friend. I want to be friendly towards the students, but I want them to still listen to me and follow directions/rules.

First Day of Second Grade!

Yesterday was the first day of my student teaching and I don't think I have ever been so nervous. I am usually so outgoing and bubbly, but I felt so nervous being in a school on the first day again. It was a half day so I had a general idea of how things work in the classroom and I learned all the student's names. Oh yea, we have 32 students :-p We had 31 out of the 32 there the first day while a lot of the other classrooms had 4-5 students missing. I am not sure what happened today, if that other student showed up, but it is defiantly going to be tough having so many bodies in the classroom. I can already tell days are going to be pretty exhausting, but never dull, which is good. It was nice to see what happened on the first day of school and where the students line up every morning and little things like that. My CT told me that she sees this year as a partnership or two teachers in a classroom and not one teacher and a helper. She really made me feel like this on the first day when she let me practice with the kids the countdown or the 'if you can hear me clap once' techniques to quiet the students. She said she wants the students to get used to hearing my voice as well, to respect me as a teacher and listen to me just as they do the same for her. We talked a lot about respect and what types of things second graders should be doing. Webster really emphasizes behavior expectations on the playground (which we talked about that first day) in the hallway and in the lunchroom, specifically they talk about being respectful. My CT showed the students how to sit properly on the rug and what they should be doing when someone is talking (look at them and no talking). To look at someone while they are talking and to not talk when someone is talking is showing respect. I think I heard the word respect easily 10 times that day, which I find really important. I wish that Reo did something like this at the beginning of the school year, which maybe they did, but if they did you could not tell. After every marking period the students will hear about the expectations in the classroom, lunchroom, playground and hallway again so there is constant reinforcement of the rules and expectations of the students. With so many students in our classroom it will be really important that the students understand the expectations and follow the rules, so my CT said we need to take things a little slower and to make things simple. We want the students to really learn the procedures and rules first before we dive into new content. I am really excited about this school year and cannot wait to experience my first full day in the classroom!!

Before It Begins

This summer went great! I had a fun time meeting new counselors, making new friends and of course building relationships with our campers. The kids were great this year and so much fun. I was excited to go to work every day and if i was ever feeling down seeing the kids always made me happy. I was able to become close with a lot of the kids and I hope I get to see them around Rochester since I will be home this year. Unless something crazy happens this year i am defiantly going back to RARA for a fifth summer. It is honestly the best job in the world.

This past Friday I went to Webster to help Mrs. Knapp set up the classroom. I was able to talk to her about anything and everything that popped up in either one of our heads. She is so helpful and so nice. It is going to be an amazing year. She reminds me a lot of my mom, which they must be around the same age because she has daughters around my age, which I met one of them, Kelsey, because she came and helped set up too. The classroom looks very inviting and defiantly a place I feel comfortable in. We have 29 students, which is 6 more students than Mrs. Knapp had last year, so just about every seat in her classroom will be filled. It is a little intimidating to have that many students in a room, but then I remember I've dealt with groups of 30 and 45 kids during the summer this year. I found out that Mrs. Knapp likes to use music in her classroom, which got me really excited because I have always wondered how I can incorporate music into my classroom. Music really gives me an energy boost and can bring my mood up if I'm feeling a little off. I just can't believe how helpful Mrs. Knapp has already been this year and the school year hasn't even begun! I feel so comfortable and ready to dive into the school year.

Yesterday I went to the internship meeting in Detroit. I'm not going to lie, the drive was pretty stressful and the sad part is, there wasn't even that much traffic. There were just a lot of signs, lanes popping up from out of no where and streets are not labeled very well. It was nice to see some of the people from my past classes at the meeting. I found out that I actually know everyone in my school already. Our field instructor is new, but she is very nice and has been through the MSU program, so she understands what we are going through. The meeting was basically an overview of the meeting I went to on St. Patrick's Day, but I did learn a few new things, such as I have to join a group or committee in my school or create a new one. I also was able to see who my instructors are for my classes and they seem very nice. I also found out what books are required for the classes and I have already ordered them : ) I feel like those meetings should stress me out, but I actually feel more excited and more confident that I am ready to start when I leave them. I guess that's a good sign?

A little off topic, but while I am home I've decided that I want to start getting used to having a routine and understanding what it would be like if I were living on my own and what my life would be like. By this I mean that I want to make dinner sometimes when I come home, even though I'll be tired it's something I'll have to learn to do if I get a job somewhere. Other things I want to do is go grocery shopping, get a workout schedule/routine going or helping out with housework/chores. I want to get a better feeling of what it would be like to have an actual teacher job and what my entire life would feel like. I may sound a bit too ambitious right now because I have not even started classes or teaching yet, but it's something I want to try. As a side note, I also what to learn from my grandma how she makes her delicious cakes, but I'll save that for breaks and weekends.

I am excited to get the year started and feel pretty prepared to get going. I'm hoping to start the year on the right foot and I cannot wait to meet the students that I will be working with all year. I hope I will learn all about them and their experiences and in the end build a strong relationship with them. I want to impact every single student's life one way or another and I hope to make that impression on the first day of school.

Mentor Teacher

Alright, so you may have noticed I changed the name of my blog. I still don't like it, but I knew it needed a change. I am still trying to figure out a name that is a little more creative that relates to teaching. Suggestions will be taken. But anyways.... I met with my mentor teacher last week and she is awesome! I have a great feeling about my teacher, the school and the classroom I am going to be in. She is a wonderful lady who is very organized and has had a lot of experience with Michigan State interns, so she already knows what to expect. The techniques and structure she uses in her classroom are things I want to have in my own classroom, so it will be awesome to see that implemented in a classroom. She uses reading and writing workshop, which I am very excited to see used in the classroom and she has an ELMO and a Smartboard, but it's called something else, but it's basically a Smartboard. She was telling me how they use Everyday Math and that they do social studies and science, but she typically rotates the subjects, so one week there is science and another it might be social studies. We talked about word study and that the students do a hands on activities during science and social studies to make it more exciting. She doesn't believe in doing centers that involve doing tough work because she knows the students will half-ass it (I'm so happy about this!). She says the centers she does is games or fun activities and she moves the centers around so the students are not constantly wandering around. The one thing I found the most interesting and exciting was the school's and my teacher's philosophy on teaching the students to be modeled citizens and teaching them rules. My teacher talked about how she assumes that the students come into the school or the classroom not knowing how to do things such as being respectful, pushing in your chair when you get up, lining up to leave the classroom correctly etc... The school teaches the students how they need to act in the lunchroom, in the hallways and on the playground. She says that they will review this after report cards are handed out just to remind the students. My teacher says she does the same type of things in her classroom, but she says they talk about what it means to be respectful and how to be respectful instead of just saying all the time 'be respectful'. I think if Reo took this mentality and philosophy the school would be more successful, the students would not act out as much and they school would be a better learning community. I am very excited to see how Webster does this and I will be taking detailed notes on how this works out because I think this technique could be useful in an urban setting, which is Webster is an urban school, but from what I observed last week there are many more Caucasian students than in Reo. My teacher also gave me a book to look over this summer on comprehension because this is what she is going to be use in her classroom. She also gave me a blog to follow (All about Comprehension), which is written by the author of the book she gave me that I will also be keeping up with. I am following her through this blog. I am even more excited to be a part of this classroom then before and am going to be reading books, articles, blogs and whatever I can get my hands on to prepare for this internship. I can't wait!

Graduation and Beyond...

So I know I have not written in this blog in awhile, but a lot of exciting things have been happening with my future teaching career. I'm thinking about changing the name to my blog to something more general about teaching because I don't want the main focus to just be on technology, but on everything going on in my teaching. That doesn't mean that I won't be talking about technology in the classroom. I just want to broaden the topic a bit. I will have to think about a creative title sometime. Anyways, so this past weekend I officially graduated from Michigan State University with honors and with a bachelor's degree in elementary education with teaching minors in math and geography. I was a little nervous beforehand about graduating and starting a new chapter in my life,b but recently I have been talking with my CT for next year, which has made me really excited! I am in Hazel Park at Webster elementary and I will be teaching 2nd grade, which is a year younger than what I have previously experienced. My teacher said that most of the students live in rented homes and they are low income, but I am already used to this because of my experience at Reo Elementary this year, so I already understand the circumstances. I am meeting with her next week Thursday so I can become introduced to the school and ask her any questions that I have. She sounds really nice and helpful and said she would give me some things to look over this summer and would give me class lists and schedules as soon as she receives them so I am acquainted with everything before the first day of school. She seems very on top of this and I would assume she has had an MSU intern before because of how helpful she seems already. I'm ready to dive into a new part of my life and to help this school out as best as I can. I can't wait to get started and am going to prepare all summer for this internship in hopes that I make a great impression on the school and change some students' lives for the better.

Khan Academy

Salman Khan is the creator of Khan Academy. The website has over 22,000 videos of how to learn calculus, history, algebra and almost any subject! Videos range from learning how to add to some of the most complex concepts students learn in school today. It all started because Khan tutored his cousins by putting on videos on Youtube to help teach them. They said that they liked watching these videos better then having him tutor them in person! Soon Khan went and put more and more videos on Youtube and many people discovered them and realized that these videos were helping them learn in many different content areas. Even some teachers have used these in their classrooms where they have 'flipped the classroom'. They are assigning the videos that are basically lectures for homework, students are allowed to watch the videos on their own, at their own pace and can watch the videos over and over again. Then what the teachers usually assign for homework the students are doing in the classroom where the teacher is available for help. This is a very interesting concept for me. I think that these videos can be used as a resource and an extension to students learning or even a way for students to review or get extra help outside of class, but I don't think that these videos should be the only instruction students should be receiving. Some students need someone at the front of the classroom interacting with them to learn and can't learn something from just watching a video. Teachers should not rely on these videos to teach their students. I think these videos are great tools to help students, but should not be replacing actual instruction. What do you think?

Here's the website for the academy: Khan Academy

And here's a video of Khan explaining his videos and ideas: Video

Interactive Maps

In my TE 402 class we had to complete a project that involved teaching about a different type of literacy in a new literacy format. The different types of literacy we could chose from were emotional, social, visual, cultural, environmental, and political literacy. We had to research these types of literacies to learn more about them. I was very interested in environmental literacy because i love geography (one of my teaching minors) and learning about why there are features and buildings where they are. I decided to explore interactive maps because I had seen from previous examples that one can take a Google map and personalize it to make the map their own. It took me some time to figure out how to make the map look the way I wanted, but after I figured out the little details the map was very easy to make! I could see myself using an interactive map in my classroom across many subjects! Students can create a map of the different stops travelers made along the Oregon trail to find land or students could locate different streets or places a character went in a book they are reading so they understand how far the character had to travel to get from one area to another! The map that I chose to do was looking at the locations of some coal-fired power plants and their distances away from state parks. I wanted to see if people thought about the locations of state parks before planting a coal-fired power plant that emits a lot of air pollution, which could end up killing off some plants and forcing animals to leave because of unhealthy conditions. Below is the link to the map I created. I encourage teachers to explore different types of formats to display information, especially through technology since it is becoming such an important feature in our classrooms.

Map!

Signing Music

Check out this video!

http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/23928119

It's a second grade teacher that expresses music through sign language to deaf students. It first began with one of her friends being deaf and she wanted her to understand the feelings and emotions one can get from music and now she is using it in her classroom that is mostly deaf students. To me this is awesome and inspiring that you can do anything if you set your mind to it and that you can give your students some wonderful experiences no matter who they are. This teacher is seeing her students as assets to her classroom and is really using their skills and attributes to the fullest.