Portfolios

I know I briefly mentioned PYP portfolios in my student-led conference post, but I wanted to elaborate a little bit more on those.

First of all, whether you are a PYP school or not your students should have some type of portfolio to display their work over time. Many teachers keep student writing pieces throughout the year so that they can show parents at conferences and students can see their own growth. I know our middle school (which does not use the IB curriculum) uses online portfolios and this is a huge part to their student-led conferences. 

What I like about the portfolios is it allows students to visually see that they have learned a ton over the course of a year and even parents can say "hey, my kid has learned something this year!" 

 

What is unique about the PYP portfolios is that there are artifacts from each unit that get stored in this binder. The artifacts we choose to put in at our school is their summative project (or picture of it) and a reflection about what they learned from completing that project as well as an activity that the student completed during the unit and a reflection about what they learned from completing that activity. The second set of artifacts are what we call 'student-pick' reflections. 

From kindergarten all the way through fourth grade (at our school elementary ends in fourth) students collect artifacts from each of the six themes that are covered each year in the PYP programme. So not only are students seeing what they learned and how they grew throughout the school year, but they are also can see how what they learned in kindergarten in the theme 'Who We Are' connects to what they learned in first, second, third and fourth grade. Amazing!

I encourage you to start incorporating portfolios into your classroom. Students will never be allowed to say "I didn't learn anything this year" ever again!

My First Classroom!!

Well, so much has happened in the last few weeks and I haven't had time to stay updated! To start the story, I was going to an interview in Brighton for a middle school math position and on my way home I got a call from the principal of the school that I had the 4th grade position. I didn't hear my phone so he left a message offering me a Kindergarten position at their school! I didn't even have to interview! With the way my luck has been going I decided to take the job : ) I went in about a week later to talk with the principal and looked into my room.... and this is what I walked into

Everywhere you looked there was stuff! Furniture, books, tables, chairs, toys, trash, lost clothes; you name it, you could find it in that room. My first thought was, "Oh my goodness. This is going to take a looooong time to sift through". Then I thought, "Well at least I will have some stuff to fill up my room". I checked out the other kindergarten classroom to get some ideas and make sure I wasn't forgetting anything. It was ready to go. It looked like students could walk in that day. I was pretty optimistic, but I did not think it would take a full week to get my room into working shape.

The first thing I did was sifted through all of the stuff. That literally took me a full day to go through. The next day my mom came in and we moved furniture, cleaned all of the stuff and started to organize things to where I think they should go. My mom was so much help this week. I literally could not have done this without her. On Wednesday, we worked on details and adding things that all classrooms should have. Thursday, I had two meetings so I went in on my own and stayed until 6 o'clock working on more details. And then we get to today. We finally were able to decorate the room, so that now people know it is an ocean theme and I think it looks amazing.

I give mad props to my mom who made the cool looking jellyfish, which determine the table colors and doing the background of all the bulletin boards. As I said before, I couldn't have done it without her.

So we completed this all in 5 days. Not too shabby I would say. What do you think?

Just Keep Swimming

Rejection. It's got to be one of the worst feelings in the world. Whether it's from a group a friends, potential significant other or a job. Rejection hurts. Some of us are better at hiding this feeling than others. Some of us need to talk it with a friend while others keep it bottled up in side. Sometimes it only take a few minutes to get over rejection, while for others it take days, weeks or even years.The worst type of rejection is when someone says that you are awesome, amazing, impressive (insert other uplifting adjectives), but then you get a phone call saying you were not impressive enough or amazing enough. It is tough not to get down on oneself and ball up in a minor state of depression or trying to get everyone to feel sorry for you, but in the end you have to preserver, learn from the experience and push on.

A quality that I have learned to use is finding the good in people and the situation not matter how bad it may be. Sometimes it is difficult to look on the bright side and think positive. After being rejected from what it seems like a million jobs, even though it's only closer to 7, I feel like I become better and more prepared at interviews and have almost no trouble with any question based off of my knowledge and experience. It's having a school find me a good fit for them and that's something you cannot control. I'm going to be a good fit somewhere, I just don't know where that place will be.

There was one question where I got stumped though, and it would really hurt if I knew that this was the deciding factor, because it was based off of knowledge and pedagogy, rather than experience. The worst is that it was about differentiation, which I know so much about because of the schools I have been placed at, but didn't know there were specific components of differentiation. I just knew when I had to differentiate and how I was going to do it. Once I heard the interviewer say the components I was able to explain how I have done each one of them in the classroom.  I found some good websites, so that if this question comes up I will be prepared, but I'm also going to summarize a bit based off it too. The more I write/type things the better I learn them!

http://sussex.de.schoolwebpages.com/education/projects/projects.php?sectionid=396
http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/lwickersham/greatexplanations/pbl/differentiated.html

The Components of Differentiated Instruction

1. Content
2. Process
3. Product
4. Environment
  (some people don't consider environment as a component)

Content: the 'WHAT' of teaching
  Example: Historical Fiction study - provide a selection of books that reflect a variety of reading levels and match students with an appropriate book or group books and let students choose from the collection

Process: the 'HOW' of teaching
 The content is the same, the same learning objective is achieved but the way that students are able to learn or process the information is different.
  Example: Culture study – students compare & contrast two versions of Cinderella from different cultures. Students can draw pictures of similarities and differences (visual learners), discuss and prepare an oral presentation (auditory learners) or create 30 seconds reenactments representing similarities & differences (kinesthetic learners). At the end of the time, all groups share their ideas.
 
Product: 'the 'SHOW WHAT YOU KNOW' of learning
  Example: Power Unit: Students may plan a debate or speech, present a multimedia presentation, write a report or perform a role play depicting specific events to demonstrate their understanding

Environment: the 'WHERE' of learning

Teamwork/Co-teaching

Over the past two years, especially this year during my long-term subbing position I learned how valuable and important it is to collaborate across grade levels, within a grade level (if possible) and work together as a team. During my internship year I didn't get to see much of this because it seemed like every teacher had a different philosophy about teaching. It felt like everyone was placed in an inner tube with a paddle and were all trying to go a different direction, so in the end there was no movement/growth. I learned how important it is to 'row in the same direction' and make sure that all teachers are on the same page, so that it is easier for students to transfer from one grade into the next.

Two topics/ideas I wanted to get more information on are Professional Learning Communities (PLC) and Team/Co-teaching. PLC's I think involves the people in your grade level, your school, your district and even the globe. Because of social media and the internet teachers can talk to people from different countries and share ideas with each other! I have found there are three important features on a PLC

Professional Learning Communities (PLC)
1. Ensuring that students learn
2. A culture of collaboration
3. Focus on results

    PLC's have a shared mission/goal/vision that focuses on students learning and their growth. These communities also make sure that everyone is 'rowing in the same direction' through collaboration. One example that comes to my head is when schools use the same type of vocabulary across grade levels so that students are already familiar with particular terms and styles. When students hear about the writing process in kindergarten and are already using words such as revision, pre-writing etc. it will be an easier and smoother transition into the next grade if everyone uses the same kind of language. Plus, teachers will not have to reteach those words every single year in depth. They will be able to review them, refresh the memory of their students and get into the meat of their learning.

Another topic that I have looked a lot into is team-teaching/ co-teaching. Now, different schools and districts use these terms in different ways. Some people believe team teaching can be defined as when a grade level that has multiple teachers focus on a certain subject and teach it to all the grade levels. For example, in many of the schools I have subbed in teachers will split up science and social studies, where one first grade teacher will teach all the first graders in social studies, while the other teacher will teach all the first graders on science. One teacher does not teach all of them at the same time, but takes one class. I hope this makes sense to you!

But the co-teaching definition I want to focus on is when a Title I teacher or a special ed teacher comes into the classroom and is teaching WITH the lead teacher. This was a question I have been asked on 2 separate teacher interviews so far and I didn't even know this existed when I was first asked the question, so I knew I had to look into this topic. First off what I have learned based on my research is that teachers need to have a good line of communication, have a shared vision for the class they are teaching and are open and honest with each other.  With co-teaching  it is important to talk about what each person's strengths and weaknesses are and not be afraid to talk about things they are noticing in the classroom. Based on my research, I have learned that there are (for the most part) 5 different types of co-teaching techniques. There are strengths and weaknesses to all of them and the style you teach in will be determined by the needs of your students.

1. Complementary Teaching
    The support teacher assists while the lead teacher does the formal teaching. While the lead teacher is doing the formal teaching the support teacher teaches different components of the lesson with a small group or individual students. The support teacher is basically walking around and helping any struggling students as a tutor/assistant.

2. Station Teaching
    The two teachers create and organize their own stations and teach the stations that they design. Students will go to each station over the course of one or two days depending on the length of the stations. In this case the teachers only worry about their stations.

3. Parallel Teaching
    The two teachers collaborate on planning the lessons and they divide the classroom into two groups. Each teacher delivers the same lesson and facilitates their group. This style helps if you have two distinct groups of students (high vs low like the word study groups during my student teaching) or if you have a large number of students and you want each student to be able to participate in a discussion type lesson.

4. Alternative Teaching
    Teachers work together to decide lessons/activities to best fit the needs of their students. The lead teacher does the formal teaching while the support teacher implements supplemental activities before or after the formal lesson with small groups or individual students.

5. Shared Teaching
    Teachers work together to decide lessons/activities to best fit the needs of their students. Teachers teach simultaneously, which means they feed off of each other and both conduct the formal teaching.

This is a link to the chart that I got most of my information. It was VERY helpful! http://trailblazers.wikispaces.com/file/view/co_Teaching_Models-W.pdf

As I said before, I don't think there is one teaching style that is the best. I believe that it depends on your classroom environment, the relationship you have with your co-teacher and most importantly the needs of your students. I would definitely be willing to try this in my own classroom because it would be great to bounce ideas off of someone else, especially one that has a lot of experience working with a diverse group of students. This is becoming more common in schools and I feel a bit more knowledgeable about the topic. My mentor teacher and I used some of these teaching styles when we were both in the classroom teaching because if you have two teachers you need to take advantage of the extra brain and set of hands!

Be a Light Bulb

I found this in an article a long time ago and can't remember where it was from, but I thought it was cute/inspirational. It's about how teachers should be a 'Light Bulb' for their students. Enjoy!

L. isten to all learners
I. nspire them with real world discussions
G. ive hope to everyone
H. eap compliments on students for quality work
T. each to your strengths

B. e available at all times, whether in person or electronically
U. nderstand that students lack your life experience or knowledge
L. earn from your
learners
B. e willing to walk in your students’ shoes

Experience

Well, it's that time of year again. My four month window of finding a full time teaching job in a respectable school and district. I thought that I would be starting to look out of state, but I've come to realize that it's just not something I want to do. My entire family is here and I don't know many people in other states, so it just doesn't seem practical to me. Plus I am feeling much more confident in finding a position this year than this time last year. I finally feel ready to have my own classroom. It's amazing how one year can do that for you.

To help prepare for interviews, writing essays and getting back into all the job hunting stuff I figured it would be a good idea to list some of my experiences with different situations, programs, curriculum and start to think about how I am going to answer some of those interview questions that arise.

RTI: Response to Intervention                                    

Curriculum: IB/PYP International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program

Math Programs
Everyday Math
Macmillian McGraw-Hill
Math Workshop
'Math Club': strategy groups during lunch time

Literacy Programs
Reader's Workshop
Book Clubs
Guided Reading Groups
LLI (Leveled Literacy Intervention)
Writer's Workshop
6 + 1 Traits
Lucy Caulkins

Reading Assessments
QRI (Qualitative Reading Inventory)
DRA ( Developmental Reading Assessment)
DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills)
Fountas and Pinell
Unoffical: Running Records

Long-Term Subbing

I had the opportunity to sub in a fourth grade classroom for 7 weeks and it was like night and day compared to my last classroom. It helped that the kids already knew routines, were respectful and felt comfortable in their room, but it truly was an amazing experience for me. I learned so much about myself as a teacher and what I am capable of doing in a classroom. This experience has given me so much confidence that I was lacking because I proved to myself that I CAN teach a room full of students on my own while also planning, teaching based off of student's weaknesses, testing, differentiation and all the other aspects and duties of a teacher. I loved the consistency and knowing what I was going to do the next day. I also had the chance to get to know some awesome students and network with teachers. There are so many things that I took away from this opportunity and ideas that I have for my future classroom.

- Post Homework outside of classroom: It wasn't as big of a thing for the fourth graders, but I saw middle school kids looking at their board all the time and writing down what homework they had for the night or double checking that they got everything. It's more convenient for the teacher too because the student can just check the board to see what the homework is for the night instead of asking the teacher.

- Write Schedule on Board: I did this on the first full day I was in the classroom and I told the students it was to help me get to know their schedule. I ended up writing the schedule on the board everyday because it helped keep students on task, since they knew when we would switch gears to another subject, and it helped the students know what specials they had and when throughout the day. I will definitely do this in my classroom.

- Must Do vs. May Do/Good Choices: This is something the teacher put in place in her room before I started, but on the board there are activities students 'Must Do' or need to finish and 'May Do' activities if they are to finish an assignment early. Students learn and know that the 'Must Do' activities, which is typically just their spelling, needs to be done before they can do a 'May Do'. In the third grade classroom they do something very similar by have a 'Good Choices' poster. It's a list of activities students can do if they finish with an assignment before the rest of the class.All activities are fun, but also educational.

Individualized spelling: We had individualized spelling in the 2nd grade room last year, but it was different in the fourth grade classroom. Students are given a spelling pre-test every Monday of 20 words. They check their words on their own and any they spelled incorrectly they have for a spelling word for the week. If they got it right then they chose a word from the 'challenge' list to have in place of the one they knew. In the end, all students have 20 spelling words, and it's tailored to their needs. They have to complete 2 spelling activities before their spelling test and one has to be writing the words in sentences. On Friday, they partner up and their partner gives them their spelling test, very similar to what we did in the second grade! I had 3 students that were such good spellers that they would be tested on the challenge list and then would use an even more challenge list to get the rest of their spelling words.

'While you were Gone' folders: These are folders that are placed on the desks of students that were absent with all of their work they need to complete inside of it. It helps keeps things organized for the teacher and students know that they can work on this work throughout the day when they have time and anything else is taken for homework.

Finger Scale: This was something I've heard of other teachers doing and I believe it's based off of Manzano's classroom strategies. I used this system typically during math, which it was as simple as putting the number of fingers up for how confident you are feeling on a skill we just learned and your understanding. Students would put a 1 up for if they had no idea what they were doing all the way to 4 fingers which means they complete understand and could teach it to someone. What I did was took all the people that had 1 or 2 fingers up and pulled them to the side to give them more instruction and those students that had 3-4 fingers worked on an assignment independently (the 1 and 2 fingered kids would work on the assignment with me. Once they felt they knew what they were doing they worked on it independently as well). After I was done with my small group I would check on the students that felt they knew what they were doing just to make sure they were doing to problems correctly. Sometimes I would have them walk me through a problem or explain their thinking to make sure they truly understood. This system ended up working great because I could give those students that were struggling more one on one attention and those students that didn't need any more help could keep moving forward.
   Something I didn't do but what I would do in my room is sometimes have numbers pair up with each other and work together where the 1's paired with a 4 and the 4 would have to explain the skill and teach their partner and so on. I might use a different system in my classroom, but I want to use this in the future because it will allow students to take control of their learning and understanding as allow me to work with those students that need the most help and let those that understand keep moving ahead. It will be important for me to explain what each number means and the importance of being honest with their understanding because it will only help them learn concepts in the long run.

- I also did some really nifty projects with the fourth grade class over the course of my time there including a 'Book Mobile' which was a book project they did for their book club books, where they had to write and draw a picture for different elements of their books, such as main characters, setting, problem, solution, favorite part and opinion. They turned out awesome!

  

Students also create a 'State in a Bag'. They had been learning about the East Region of the United States and had to research a different state and present their information in the form of a bag. They were required to find a map of their state, land features, industries/natural resources, fun facts, recreation and people. Inside of their bag they had to put in 3 objects that related to their state. Students had a great time learning more about their state and designing their bag!

Also students created Great Lakes Flap-books because we had been talking about water during our PYP unit. Students worked in partners to create a flap-book, but they first had to do research by reading books, encyclopedias and searching online.

Last thing I want to make sure I don't forget about is student-led conferences. We talked so much about this in my TE 401 class with Jan Alleman and how these conferences allow for the student to pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses as well as set goals for themselves for the rest of the school year. Students had to do a lot to prepare for conferences, but once they were completed I could see the benefits from all that hard work. Students had to complete reflections on each subject and how they thought they were doing as well as complete a goal sheet. Students practiced throughout the week with a partner so that they felt prepared to talk with their parents and had a general idea of what they were going to say. The way the fourth grade room does conferences is they have stations. The first station was meeting with the teacher and going over those reflections with their parents. Next students would grab their checklist and go to the other stations, which were set up inside and out side of the room. There was a project table where students showed off the projects I mentioned above, a portfolio station where students showed their parents some of the important pieces of work from throughout the year, including tests, writing pieces and other work they were proud of. Students also shared their PYP portfolios which relates to the curriculum this school uses and lastly they showed off their Hershey's similes and acrostic poems that were posted on the walls around the classroom. Some other options used in the past are going to the computer lab to show off different things they have done with technology, going to the Spanish classroom to see work they have done there and visiting the book fair, which always takes place during conferences. This school I was at does student-led conferences in March, but they have 'normal' parent teacher conferences in the fall, which I liked because it gives you a chance to meet the parents and let them know where their students are at in the beginning, but allows the student to show how they have grown come spring time. This is something I would love to do at the school that I teach at.

Teacher Station

Checklist on clipboards

Portfolio Station

Project Table

 As I said, I learned so much from this experience and finally feel ready to be in my own classroom. Now, it's just the right school for me and having someone give me that chance to show off what I can do!

Organization is Key

   Wow. The past month has put me under more stress than anything I have ever done before. I was consistently subbing in a first grade classroom with 22 students, in a huge classroom. I thought 22 students would be easy considering I dealt with 32 at one time during my internship, but when you have multiple defiant students, students with anger issues, students that refuse to do work, and more tattling and bullying than I've ever seen in my entire life, it makes things a lot more difficult. I am not writing this blog to bash other teachers and their styles. I did learn a lot from being in this classroom though, some things that were positive and some negative.

   First off, I learned how important it is for students to learn routines and expectations. The classroom seemed really disorganized and chaotic because students did not know what they were supposed to do most of the time. There were two doors in the classroom and if I asked students to line up for a special some would walk to one door and some would walk to the other, showing me that they did not know the routine for lining up. Simple routines, such as going to the bathroom, lining up, packing up for the day, entering the classroom, walking in the hallway etc. need to be taught, especially at such a young grade, so that students know what the expectations are at all times.

   This classroom also reminded me how much I dislike centers, especially when you have no extra hands to help. Very rarely did I have a parent come in and help with centers in the morning, but when I did the extra set of hands were very helpful. But most of the time I was on my own and had to create back up plans on the fly, which I have become really good and thinking on my feet and changing the direction of a lesson based on the student's response/reaction. When I was on my own I could barely focus on my reading group because it was so loud, students would come to me and interrupt, or students were fighting/not getting along. Students looked at centers as a time to goof off, play games or sit around and talk to friends instead if practicing their reading, phonics and writing. When you do centers by yourself students are not working at their best, they try to get away with doing what they want, or they see it as a social time and not a working time. Centers are only beneficial when most of the groups have an adult keeping them on task or if students know what the expectations are during centers.

    One thing we did during my internship year that was good for behavior management was the fact that the behavior of each student was recorded on their behavior chart and needed to be signed by the parent EACH NIGHT, along with doing their homework. In the situation I was in the only time the parents knew the behavior of their child was if I sent a note home at the end of the day or if I talked to the parent directly. It was very unorganized and very difficult to get to each of the parents and the notes were supposed to be signed and brought back to school, but they never were. Parents seemed to have no clue the procedure for students with bad behavior, so not only does classroom management need to be explained to the students, but also the parents. Plus there was no consequences for students and their behavior. they did not have to tell their parents what 'color' they were on and they did not make the connection between the fact that when they are well behaved they earn pennies to be used to shop at the class store. It was all done very secretively. Students did not physically put their pennies in their containers and when they shopped they didn't understand why their friend had a lot more pennies than them. It goes back to having set expectations POSTED in the classroom for the students to see and to be referred to when needed. (Classroom rules were not visible to the students).

   There are so many more things that I did not agree with in the classroom and things I took away that I do not want to include in my classroom, but I will keep the rest to myself. So all in all it was a very stressful position, but I know in my future classroom the importance of having a classroom management plan, having set expectations visible in the classroom and to teach routines for EVERYTHING you do in the classroom so students know what to do at all times.

JK/K Class

    I have now subbed in a classroom that has around 15 kids of ages 3, 4 and 5. Think of it as having 5 kids of each age in one classroom. Wow, differentiation at its finest. It is unbelievable not just the different ages of students, but also their academic and social levels. There are students that are learning how to write their first names mixed in with students that are beginning to read books and write stories. Yesterday I got a good understanding of how one could tackle a classroom with so many different levels, but one thing I noticed right away is that it is hard work. As a teacher with so many academic levels, one could just teach to the middle/average student, but the lower and higher students would not receive the attention they truly need. Instead this teacher looks at each individual students' level and teaches to where they are at academically. This means that there are two different spelling word lists, three different levels of math and 3+ different types of homework! Throw in the mix that your class looks different every single day, meaning that the kindergartners come to school every day (by the way it's a full day of school) while the 3 and 4 year olds come 3-5 days a week depending on what fits their parent's schedule and their parent's belief on how often they should be in school. This is an amazing situation that I believe shouldn't be happening because of how different the ages are academically and socially, but if I were put into this situation I would have to roll with the punches just like this teacher.

    As I said, I saw a bit yesterday how the classroom actually functions on a day to day basis and it is a lot of work. In the morning they do a group time, which is just like our calendar math, where you talk about the date, a pattern, money etc. For math (1 hour) the teacher does a 'Daily 3 Math' which is very very similar to Math Workshop I did in the 2nd grade classroom. It's a 15 minute rotation where the students go to the same three rotations, 1. Working with the Teacher 2. An activity related to their current unit 3. A math game or activity. Luckily, this teacher has two para pros/helpers that come in the morning to help out because I don't know if this would be possible without the help. These kids are too young to be able to stay motivated on their own. Personally I would have a couple minutes where the students could just share what they did during their Daily 3 or something they did just as a reflection period.

   Next the students have a literacy block (1 hour) where they are grouped in 3-4 students where the groups go to four different centers (there are five groups). The center they do every day is work with the teacher, where they work at their level on different literacy skills (because there are four rotations a day and five groups two groups meet with the teacher at once, but they are all the same level) while the other students are doing different centers. Not one group does the same center that day, so there are literally 15+ centers to set up or do every day. The centers range from writing, listening, writing the room to an art center, playdoh/water table where they practice writing/making words to games, lacing and computers. I like how the students do different centers so they could never become bored with one center because they only do it once a week, but that is a lot of setting up and prepping for the teacher. The only change I would make is to have 6-8 centers set up where a couple of the groups would do the same center during the day, so that it is not as much work for the teacher. The way students transition from one center to another is by listening for their teacher to ring the wind chime in their room. They know when they hear this that they need to freeze, listen for directions, and get ready to move to another center. Once again their are 2 para pros helping out in the morning during this time, which some centers are impossible to do without the help of an adult.

   Because of the huge gaps between the students by age and academics, I don't know if teaching could be done any other way other than centers or rotations. You can't teach to a full group all the time because some of the material would be too hard or too easy for a good chunk of the kids. By having meaningful centers or rotations the students are being taught to their needs and students are not working on one activity for a long period of time where they would become bored or off task. I think also it is important to have math and literacy taught in the morning because that is when these young students have the most attention because many of them begin to shut down or lose focus in the afternoon, since they are there a full day and that a long time for some students. There are definitely some good things I took away from this classroom and enjoy being there to impact those young kids.
   

Cell Phones in the Classroom?

Today in church our campus in Lake Orion streamed live into the campus at Troy to watch a message. This was really cool to experience, but the best thing was throughout the message we could text questions to the people that were onstage and they could read them on an iPad. This got me thinking about how you could do this same thing in a classroom! I could see this happening in high schools or middle schools. I was thinking that students could text in questions to the teacher instead of raising their hand and the teacher could answer these questions throughout the lesson. I think this would be very beneficial for those students that do not like to raise their hand or admit to their peers that they don't understand or are confused. I wish the students in my second grade class would ask more questions and tell me that they don't understand so I could explain the content in a different way. I think they prefer not to though because they don't want their peers to see them as weak or dumb. There would defiantly have to be rules and expectations in place for this to become a reality in the classroom because the issue of students texting their friends and not the teacher to ask question would arise, but I think this is something that could be used in the future. Just a thought!

Starting off 2012

I've come to realize that I jot a lot of notes and ideas down, but I never seem to transfer them to one area, a.k.a. this blog, which I hope to do more this semester. I also do a lot of reflecting and writing of ideas in my weekly reflections for class which is probably another reason why I haven't been writing ideas down in my blog. I figured with the start of a new year I need to set some goals for myself for the the rest of the school year and my internship. I want to do some things that will set me apart from other teacher candidates in the future and I don't want to wait until March to figure out some things to do to improve my school and get more involved. I have been thinking a lot about in the past few days and these are some goals I have for the rest of my internship year. 

- Use my time more wisely: This is my big overall goal for the year. I have a lot of time in the day that I waste watching TV or looking up random things on the computer and if I used that time to complete projects, assignments or coming up with creative and different ways to teach then I wouldn't feel so stressed and that I have made some type of difference in my school.

- Create a program or event for the entire school: What I have been thinking a lot about the past couple months is implementing a contest or event for March's reading month. I want to encourage students to read for enjoyment and not just because it's something you have to do. I was thinking about either creating a train around the school where students would write the names of the books and the authors of those books they read on a piece of construction paper and then watch it grow around the school, or I thought we could do a bare tree and every time a student read a book they would write the author and title on a leaf and we would add it to the tree. I would love to be able to set a goal for the school of 2000 books or something and if students met that goal they would get some prize or reward, much like how we did when I was in elementary school where all the students were able to try to dunk the librarian in a dunk tank. I think this would be a lot of fun and it would encourage students to read more than just what they normally do for homework.

- Make lessons more fun and get more family/parent involvement: This first semester I really was trying to get into the groove of teaching and just going through the motions while adding some fun projects or experiments, especially in social studies and science. I also tried to use our Promethean Board as much as possible in different lessons, but I want to go even more outside the box. I want to try using movement and kinethetics to get students up and moving. I want to try to incorporate our special subjects by bringing in music, art and more technology. I want to try to create more of my own lessons and really think through how I want to implement them in different ways to meet the needs of all my students. I want to try new techniques and new ideas just to see what will happen! I want to take more risks and try out things that we talk about in class or that I read on other people's blogs. To me this also includes doing more 'bonus homework' that will get the students more involved in their community and families will be more encouraged to participate in their students' education. I want students to bring things in from home that they can share with the class that relates to something we talked about. I want students to find examples from home and notice that the things they do in school is important for their everyday life. I hope to have more students engaged more throughout the school day and that every one of them will be excited to walk through the school doors every morning and leave wanting to share with their families one thing they learned. 

- Make an impact in the Green Committee: I want to do something that will encourage more students to be a part of recycling, reusing and reducing by coming up with fun projects that students and parents can get involved in as well as coordinating assemblies or fun family after school projects that will encourage student to think about what they can do to help make a difference in their home, school, community etc... I need to think a little more about what I want to do concerning this committee, but I want to make more of an impact and a difference than I already am.

In closing what I really want to do is step up my game. I want to separate myself from other graduates that are going to be going out searching for teaching jobs. I want to show people what types of things I could potentially do in their school through the actions I take this year. I am excited for the students to come back tomorrow. I feel like my battery is completely recharged and I can't wait to jump into the second half of my student teaching!

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.