Last Blog

What a week this has been! Creating a webquest was very overwhelming, but also very beneficial. This week the only activity I completed that I had any idea to do was creating a powerpoint. of

In addition to figuring out all the ins and outs of the webquest, I managed to create a newsletter template (of sorts) that pulled the parent and student names from my previously created database in order to personalize the news letter.

I foresee many informational powerpoints in my future (similar to the one I created explaining the webquest). In addition, newsletters will most certainly be in my near future so being able to personalize them will make them seem a little less pesky to the parents.

Even though the webquest was overwhelming, it was a good experience. I am sure that I will find some lessons that will make great webquests once I begin teaching and realize what lessons I have a hard time teaching effectively.

This class have been overwhelming yet very beneficial. I feel confident in my ability to make the most of the new (or old) technology I will have at my disposal.

Second Blog Post

This week we learned about some very useful technology for the classroom. The first program that we worked on was Digital Story. I had been exposed to digital story before but I had never created one. I thought this was a great way for students to create there own books in a "green" way. I also loved that anything could be recorded - this makes it easy to turn any book into an audio book. This would also be an ideal way to send a "card" to a sick student or teacher or a meaningful thank you card. Students could draw a picture in paint and then record a message.

The next program we worked with was excel. I have worked with excel before, however I have never thought about using it in an elementary school assignment. Excel is ideal for calculating grades and attendance so I will use it for that. I am also excited to have the students use excel in the classroom. They can track types of books they have read, the temperature, and many other exciting things.

The last program we worked with was Access. I have never worked with access before. Knowing how to create a database will be very helpful in keeping track of all of my students information and making it easily accessible for myself, administration, and substitutes. In my future database I think I will add some columns for: medications, allergies, emergency contacts, and possibly IEP accommodations. Having all of this, and more, information easily obtained will help to ensure that I do not waste precious teaching time on digging through files. I have a feeling that this information will also be helpful before Parent/Teacher conferences as well as in preparing for field trips.

Frist Blog EDU 241

In the past four days I have learned about some useful applications located on my handy Meredith laptop. I was taught how to create a web-page using Expressions (I have not yet mastered this skill but I'm working on it). I have always looked at teachers web-pages but it never occurred to me that sooner rather than later I would be making my own. I can use my (almost) new found web-page building skills to create a page that says "I'm fun but I have eyes in the back of my head". Especially as a new teacher, having a web-page will be a great way for parents and students to get to know a little about me before starting off the year. In addition, since parents rarely get newsletters sent home with children (at least in my family), posting them on the web-page ensures that the parents receive the information intended for them. I can also use it as a way to reach the masses when I am in need of parent volunteers or school supply donations ( I plan to post that on my future page as a "teacher wish list").

Unlike a web-page, I had never heard of Kidspiration or Inspiration. My limited skills with technology proved difficult to over come on this assignment. However after learning about it in class (and reading multiple google "how to" pages) I created a concept map that looks similar to what my imaginary second graders could have made. I'm not being too hard on myself about that though considering I still have no idea how to use call waiting on my phone, a less than perfect looking concept map is okay. I love the idea of using an interactive concept map in the classroom. The students can fill in remaining bubbles or add onto ideas that are already in place. I feel this is an especially good tool to teach children how to move from drawing as pre-writing to creating charts as pre-writing. I always found the charts to be very dull but making them on in a brightly colored and kid friendly application would make it a much more desirable task. Especially since the students can incorporate pictures and sound.

As a student with disabilities I feel as if I should have know what Wynn Wizard was prior to today, especially considering it is on my laptop. I am very excited about using a program that can read text aloud in the classroom. This program will be fantastic for ESL students, students with hearing impairment, and students who are struggling with reading in general. This program would be great to use for students who are just learning how to read as well. By hearing the word while also seeing it, I believe they will learn to read more quickly. The last thing I love about this program is that, while it cannot replace parental involvement in education, it allows a student to hear a story. Children who are read to regularly tend to do better in school. Since children are all at different comprehension levels, this allows them to each here and follow along with a story that is right for them. This would be great to use during centers or morning work time.

I am happy to say that there are two things we went over this week that I already knew how to use. I am fairly competent at Word and Publisher. Creating flyers on these two things was good practice for the classroom. It was interesting to think about the first thing I would send home to the parents. It was nerve racking so I am glad I got to practice it with my imaginary class first.

The field-trip flyer was also good practice for the classroom. I had planned a field-trip before, in the Elementary Science class, but we did not create a letter/permission slip. I did my best to include all the information the parents needed to know about the trip that far in advance so that the letter was short enough that parents would read it (I have a feeling if I sent home a 5 page reading assignment for Mom she would be very displeased).

The flyer about a person was different for me. I had never done something like that before. I liked the idea of it for elementary school students because it is a way for them to gather information they can use in a presentation or a paper but in a less overwhelming way. Also, by only having one page to put pictures and information on, the student (in this case me) only put on the most important or interesting things.

The last thing we did this week was a resume and cover letter. I had used the resume wizard before on Word but I still find resumes difficult. Putting so much onto so little space and making it different from all other resumes (which are no doubt identical) is stressful. Prior to this resume I had never written a cover letter. I found that to be a great way to share my personality with my hopefully future boss. It also served as a place to elaborate on my skills; for instance I expressed that my Public History degree would make me a very effective Social Studies teacher (a subject that I feel is very much neglected). The resume and cover letter knowledge I have gained will certainly assist me in my job search this time next year.

Final post of the semester

This semester has been such great preparation for teaching language arts in the elementary school. Throughout this semester I have learned such a great variety of ways to teach the different elements of l.a. that I am very excited to try in my own class room--in a year and a half!

I found the mini lessons to be a great tool for not only use in my future classroom but also in teaching our class. I also really benefited from learning different ways to teach things that I struggled with in elementary school, such as spelling!

Who could forget the phonics vs. whole language "war"? I now stand firm in my belief that using both is the best way to teach; however I could only form this opinion after not only learning about the two options but seeing one or both of them in action during my field experiences.

I feel that this semester I was provided with the knowledge I need to successfully teach language arts. Mind you I am holding onto my book because it is such a great resource, but so much of what I learned this semester was from class discussion, activity, and spending time in the actual classroom.

Now I must speak about the blog. At first I was mortified that I would have to write in a blog; I have an absurd and almost debilitation fear of stalkers. However, once I over came the irrational nightmares that involved someone tracking me down with a printed copy of my blog in hand, I found that I really enjoyed writing in it.

This blog has really helped with my writing. As you know, in college you write paper after paper with more cited sources than fingers and toes, so a chance to discuss what I have learned without having to site the copy write year, authors last name, and page number was incredibly refreshing. The other thing I really loved about the blog was that, after a while, I found a way to portrait who I am in my writing. Being able to express myself in this blog has not only improved my writing on papers ( I have found they have become more interesting and less like a carbon copy of every other college paper), but it has also made writing more fun for me. Writing in this blog was also greatly helpful in preparing to write my book.

Since I am someone who has tried, and failed, to keep a journal since I could write three words I cannot say for certain that I will keep writing on this blog; but I hope I do. Sure I will never add any personal information in my profile, but maybe one day I will throw up a picture of my beloved dog (after I overcome my fear of his being kidnapped) and write about my experiences in the education school and the classroom. After all who doesn't want updates about cute students who are mistaken for my children? Besides my boyfriend, that is.

Talk is a valuable instructional tool.

In last weeks class we proved that talk is a valuable instructional tool in a few ways. The thing that spoke to me the most, however, was the clip we watched from freedom writers. This clip was a prime example of how by letting our students speak and actually listening to them, we can learn more about them than we do from the "Tell Me About You" worksheet we give them at the start of the year.

I really loved how in this clip Hilary Swank's character did not try to correct the students when they showed disdain toward her and her race, or the other races. By letting the students share their true feelings, Swank's character was able to gauge what types of literature would speak to them, as well as help them to see that they are not the only race, religion, or gender that has ever been oppressed.

I believe that in order to be effective teachers we must always be searching for ways to reach our students. It is impossible to do this if we do not allow them to express themselves, and of course, listen to what they have to say.

We must remember that talk is not only what we can hear. Sometimes talk is in drawings, or writing. At my field experience this year the teacher I worked with showed me a students portfolio that contained a picture he had drawn of his family and underneath were the works, creatively spelled, "My dad hits my sister." The teacher listened to the student and the family issue was resolved by child services. We must always be listening to our students, not only to better their learning but sometimes even their lives.

It is not enough to listen, we must encourage talk. Class and group discussions are a great way to do this. I also think that for older students "magic talk" is a wonderful activity. I personally plan on having a question box so that I can address questions in an anonymous and orderly manner. I plan on doing this because talk is a valuable instructional tool.

listening

I always find it interesting to talk about the types of listening. Of course discriminative listening is to vital in children learning their language, but I also like to think that it comes into play with my dog, who I speak with more than 97% of humans. He understands just chooses not to listen because his dad taught him Selective Listening. Selective listening, an annoying strand of Efferent Listening in which an individual does not hear what they do not want to hear. This listening form is prevalent in males ages 0-130 and is to blame for 100% of the chores around the house that don't get done because my boyfriend didn't "hear" me. I digress.

I think Efferent and Critical Listening, (note not selective), while vital, is hard to teach and assess. This combined with the fact that people always think what they are saying is important so people must be listening to them, often makes us over look listening all together. I think that teaching different strategies of note-taking along with listening is the most effective way to teach how to listening.

I am torn on assessing listening. I believe that we should assess it, however not for a grade. We should assess to see how affective our own teaching is. We should also assess listening, to see which of our students learn this way, and which ones would benefit from other ways of receiving information.

Oh propaganda. I was quite surprised when I realized we were learning about it. I automatically associate propaganda with WWII. Being the daughter of a marketing professor I have the opposite reaction to commercials than Dr. Duncan, I believe none of them. This is actually a serious issue. For example, not only did I think the Sham Wow should have been called the Scam Wow, but I actually believed it would be so nonabsorbent that it would actually spread liquid around instead of picking it up (leaving me crying on my kitchen floor after trying to clean up spilled dog bowl water for three hours). Like I said, it's an issue.

I think that teaching propganda in the elementary school is very important however. As a child I wanted everything I saw, because I really believed that the trampoline shoes would allow me to jump to the sky. Once I actually convinced my mom to get me the skate shoes that had wheels on the bottom of them (they were skates AND shoes!!) These were generation one skate shoes mind you, and my dreams were crushed when I landed on my butt for the 27th time because one set of wheels (it varied which side) decided they wanted to be shoes and not skates. The loss of control I felt when I realized that I could not control a pair of shoes with a personality disorder not only made me lose faith in every advertisment, but I believe contributed to the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder that I have been working through in therapy since.

In order to help our students understand all facets of our language, and to save their parents money on both the expensive cheap-toy and therapy front. I think teaching propoganda is important. And any student would be thrilled to learn about it by creating their own camercial or watching camericals in school. When fun meets learning is when students want to come to school--and isn't that the goal?

Observations

Although field experiences are time and money consuming (thank goodness gas has gone down) they normally very informative and fun. I'm working to accept the fact that when I am a teacher my students will not be quite as excited about my being there, since that will be daily.

This semesters field experiences have been amazing. I absolutely loved the first grade class I worked with. I loved them so much that I agreed to chaperon on their field trip, if it ever gets planned.

I had three field experiences with that class and they were all so great. The first two times I went to observe multiple students asked me if I was one girls mother. This girl, who had brown hair for the record, was amazingly adorable and I really would not have minded if she was my daughter (in you know ten years). Fortunately, I understand that six year-old's have no concept of age past elementary school so I forgave them for what I assume was adding a decade or more onto my life. That first afternoon I informed my, brown hair, boyfriend that I had seen what our daughter would look like when she was six years old. Once he started breathing again it was clear he was not amused.

Once the students clarified I did not birth any of them, they were very happy to show me what they were working on, ask me for help, and try their hardest to use me as a dictionary/thesaurus. They were slightly bummed when I referred them to the multiple other resources in the room including their word wall and that outdated book that had the words in alphabetacial order followed by their definitions.

Thanks to these field experiences I got to see first hand what first grade curriculum is like and hear about the difficulties and joys of it from an established teacher. Because of these field experiences I think I would like to teach first grade. Although I will have to get used to reading inventive spelling (I spent three minutes trying to figure out what word a student meant by "psp" before I realized he has used the abbrivated term for "play station personal), I think teaching first grade would be incredibly rewarding. I really love reading and writing and I think that that love will really encourage my future students to get excited to learn those all important skills.

There is another plus to teaching first grade which is that the students will, more than likely, not be taller than me yet. I hope.