Because In the end... It was all worth it

I can't believe that this semester is actually over! I am so thankful for the wonderful people I met in this class, the abundance of information I learned and the final outcome of this year. I must admit that this really was a tough semester. Taking three methods classes, a full schedule and working at the same time definitely took a toll on me! But as one of my favorite quotes states, it might not be easy, but it will be worth it. There were countless nights that I had no sleep, and many weekends spent doing homework, projects or lesson plans. I cried on my first day of classes on my way home in fear of this semester. I wasn't sure if I would be able to do it... but I'm here.. I'm alive... I have maintained an A in all my classes so far and... I DID IT! Life is hardly every easy, so you have to buckle up, get ready, hit the pedal to the floor and aim for the finish line. I am proud of how hard I have worked in this class. I have been determined and with a lot of effort I was able to get through it all. I can honestly say that I learned so much from this class. I can't believe how far I have come over the semester.

 

The first day of class, I was not completely sold on the fact of learning technology. I am a big supporter of having students do hands-on activities and being outside instead of playing with technological devices. However, I have realized that this is the new generation, and there is no way that I can possibly reverse it. I have learned how both of these sides can be used in order to create an engaging classroom. Student's need both of these sides for their own learning. They need time to experience things in real-life and have a kinesthetic approach, however technology can be helpful in involving the students directly in their learning. There were so many different websites and sources I learned about that I am actually very excited to use in my future classroom!

 The one thing I was most nervous about in this class, was teaching in front of two classes, not just the 2nd grade class but also our class too! I was beyond scared at first, but as the time approached I overcame my fear. I have worked with children since I was 14 years old. I spend more time with children then I do with anyone else and it is honestly my passion. I came to the realization, that I shouldn't be nervous to teach children... I am around them all the time. The children I am teaching are just like the children I babysit every single day. When I got up in front of the class, my whole class of students disappeared, the observing teacher disappeared, and I felt like I was finally where I belonged. Nothing has prepared me more than that experience did. I truly believe that every student should have this experience because it helped me so much and I am forever thankful for it.

 

I am sad for this class to be over, because as the time continued I began to enjoy it more and more. I made so many great friends that will someday be amazing teachers and I had a great teacher that has motivated us all to work hard and pushed us to do our best. However, ever end is a new beginning. I am excited for my new journey. I have a new outlook on teaching now and am excited for my future experiences. This class was definitely a long journey, but the view at the end was the most rewarding. I am ready... and determined.

 

My Comments on Other Blogs:

Mallory Mennecci:

Native American Jigsaw Blog & First day of a New Adventure blog

Rose Linehan:

 Twas the Night before Fieldwork & Assessments Blog

Kim Rivera:

 Mock Interview Extravaganza & What is Tellagami

Erin Correa:

Surprise Artifact Bag & The 5E’s

 



My Philosophy of Teaching

My philosophy is that teaching in passion driven. If you are passionate about teaching and don’t just look at teaching as a job, then you will be successful in exceeding your students’ needs and in encouraging your students to learn. Teaching is demanding, challenging and a stressful profession. My main goal of teaching is to reach my students, to engage them and to encourage them to love learning. Teaching is about finding ways to grasp each student and also accommodating a classroom of students. It is important to be an expert in what you’re teaching but even more important is that you know how to communicate your knowledge to your students.

It is important for a teacher to relate what they are teaching to their lives and their future. As a teacher I will always strive to make the classroom a meaningful environment for student learning. In addition, a teacher should always work his or her hardest to generate continuous growth within their students. I believe in including student centered learning and using technology to bring independence into the classroom. A teacher should be able to have complete control over their students and classroom but also be compassionate and approachable. Also, a teacher should be patient, flexible, hard-working and loving. Teachers inspire students and play a large role in the future of their students. This is why they should always try to teach the importance of what students are learning in relation to

how they will somehow use it in their future. If students feel that they will never use the information they are learning, then they will have no motivation to study it. A teacher doesn’t just teach, they learn. They are always learning new ways to improve themselves. A teacher needs to continue their education and stay current on their knowledge and also incorporate student’s interests in their teaching. A teacher should also actively be involved in their students learning at all times. Finally, they should teach respect, honesty, compassion, and kindness in their classroom every single day in order to shape their students to better people.

 

Teaching VS. Learning

Teaching and learning are very different. Teaching is the act of giving lessons on a subject to a class or to students and it aims at showing students how to do something. Teaching can be both formal and informal. The main purpose of teaching is to provide information and knowledge for a student in particular fields and topics for them to learn. Teaching focuses on academic subjects and concepts but also on behavior and discipline in settings. The person teaching guides the students and facilitates learning. Learning however, is knowledge that is gained from studying and from being taught. Learning pertains to acquiring information, skills, behaviors, concepts, and values. Learning is continuous from the day you are born. Whether it is in a classroom or at home, or anywhere, you can always be learning something. Technology can be used in a classroom to teach students and also to help student learn. In two of my methods classes I learned about various types of technology that can be used in a classroom. When using PowerPoints, I incorporated animated clipart in order to catch the student’s attention. In addition we used technology for formative and summative assessments through websites.

For example, Kahoot is a great game that can be used to see how much the students understood. It is questions-answer game in which students compete to figure out the answers. It was very fun for the students and they were all intrigued to answer the questions because they wanted to win. I can also use technology to assist students who might need extra help. Some students have a hard time sitting and focusing on a worksheet, so technology can be used to help some students learn in a different way. Different students have different learning styles and technology helps them to learn in thw way that they prefer. Using technological devices in education is a great way to engage students because it is something they usually find interest in and it also provides them with a fun learning environment. Rote memorization is a learning technique based on repetition. Worksheets I feel can sometimes be boring for students but are helpful in practice. It can help a student to continuously practice their math facts. Worksheets in my classroom will be primarily to practice but not for primarily learning. I feel that learning should not be based on a worksheet. However worksheets can be a form of assessment every day to see how much each student is improving. Rote memorization is important and should be used every day in a classroom. Students do not learn from hearing something one time. Children, especially at a young

age learn by constant repetition. The more repetition used the more the student will most likely remember. There are ways to encourage rote memorization. For example, my teachers used songs sometimes for rote memorization. This is a great idea at a younger age level because students love singing and songs and they will continuously sing them over and over and without realizing it they are continuously repeating and before they know it they have the information memorized. Mad minutes can be used in repetition of addition, subtraction and multiplication. The students continuously repeat the questions over and over again each day until they can quickly answer the questions and then move onto the next level.

 

Successful Teaching

Being a successful teacher requires preparation, knowledge, flexibility, compassion and an understanding of student’s needs as well as an ability to use a variety of teaching styles within the classroom. I had a lot of trouble categorizing these items because to me each of these are equally important in a classroom and should not take precedence over one another. If one becomes more important than the others may suffer so it is extremely important to use all of these categories in an equal manner. However, the two categories that I feel are extremely important are understanding the student’s strengths and weaknesses and being able to utilize a variety of teaching styles. Each student varies in their abilities, there type of learning and in their effort. While one student might struggle with math, another may excel. However, if when you teach you only address the students that do well with social studies, the struggling students will fall further and further back. In addition, if you only address the students who are struggling, then the students who are excelling will be bored and held back from further learning. Each student is unique in their strengths and weaknesses because each student is different. As a teacher, it is important to address EVERY student in the classroom. There should always be work of varying levels such as additional complex work that challenges the students who are excelling in the subject, and simpler work for students who are struggling, as well as extra help offered. It is almost impossible to have each student be on the same level in a subject so it is crucial to provide the appropriate material for varying abilities. In addition, using a variety of teaching styles can reach all different types of learners. I have worked with students that learn from reading, ones that learn from watching, and with others that learn the best with hands-on experiences. If you somehow incorporate different learning styles into your instruction of a lesson, it can help ensure that the majority of the students will be taught in the way they learn best. This will maximize the success of the student’s learning and will include all different students. Another important category is preparation. Preparation is so important because if the teacher is not prepared, how can they expect the student to be prepared. The teacher should be ready for the day or week and know what will be taught and how in order to help the students. If a teacher is unorganized or unprepared then a chaotic atmosphere develops in the classroom. This wouldn’t be good because the students wouldn’t know that to do or when to do it, and if the teacher doesn’t either than time can be wasted when students should really be learning.

 

The next category is flexibility. Flexibility and Adaptability in the classroom are two important qualities that every teacher must possess. As a teacher is important to be flexible and to know that your plans can change very quickly, sometimes with notice and sometimes without. No one can predict the day in a classroom because you can’t predict what 20 something students may do or act that day. Things change on the spot in the classroom and a teacher needs to be able to adjust to those changes and work with them at any time. If you’re not able to accommodate and adjust to changes than it may become hard to give students a learning experience that they deserve. There is only so much you can prepare, but you need to always account for any changes or altercations and be able to work with them to accommodate the class.  Finally the last two are compassion and knowledge. Compassion is important because students need this as an important foundation with a teacher especially when they are younger. Let’s face it, no one ever liked the teacher who wasn’t sympathetic or considerate in situations. Being compassionate can help develop a closer student-teacher relationship. I feel that students always do better in classes when they feel as if they can go to their teacher for questions or help and if the teacher is understanding. Students won’t approach for help if the teacher is not kind and compassionate. Finally the last important category is knowledge. It is vital for teachers to have knowledge in the concepts and lessons they are teaching because if they are not knowledgeable they might be teaching the students the wrong information. In addition, if the students ask questions, the teacher should be able to answer them without researching. The more knowledge that the teacher has about the topic, the more it will reflect on his/her teaching and in addition the students will learn more. Also, students can detect confidence and teachers should present the information to the students will full confidence to give them a better platform for learning.

 

Did I Get the Job?

 

Mock Interviews!

For this weeks class we conducted the mock interviews. Preparing for an interview requires a lot of work and thinking, especially for career positions. As aspiring educators it is important to get as much practice at interviewing as possible. The mock interview we did in class was a great worthwhile experience. Several of the students were the principals and the remainder of the class was interviewees. Each "principal" came up with a background of themselves, a pretend school and several questions to pose to each of us being interviewed. As the interviewees we had to bring our resumes and look over the content we learned throughout the semester. At first I had a hard time taking the activity too seriously because I was being interviewed by my friends, but once the questions started rolling, I looked at the activity more in depth. The questions the "principals" created could all be potential questions we are all asked as teacher candidates. The questions were in-depth and thought provoking. Some of the questions stumped me! 

This activity really opened my eyes to what principals may potentially ask at an interview and what content I need to review more. We were also interviewed in groups. It was interesting to see how my peers answered the question compared to how I would have. I didn't exactly like being interviewed in groups because I was influenced by my peer's answers and I also felt more nervous and pressured with 5 other people listening. It threw me off track because I was trying to think of the question asked and think of my response while my peer was answering. It made it a little hard to concentrate. One of the most important questions often asked on interviews are questions about oneself. All of the class agreed that questions about yourself are what make you different from the other interviewees. The answers to "about you" questions are what make you stand out from the crowd. It is also important to say "I do not know but I will read up more on that topic" if you are unsure of an answer. 

 

I also learned about the importance of the way you dress and the way you compose yourself. Always dress professionally and use good posture. Make sure to speak slow but not too slow! Be polite and use a good handshake when meeting the interviewees. Always show excitement and confidence in yourself and in the job you are going for.

  

Overall, I really enjoyed this activity. I feel that this activity was highly valuable in my education career. Upon graduating, there should be a optional "interview" session similar to Kappa Delta Pi's Principal Panel. I would definitely recommend that everyone attends the Principal Panel prior to graduating also. You can never be too prepared for the interview for your dream job. 

 



Keeping Current... Current Events

 

 

Current Events!

Throughout this month our class has focused a lot on current events. A current event is not something that is from the past... meaning history but something current. Current events are in the news, online, and all over. We used the website called Newsela.com to discover different current events happening in the world today. Newsela is a great website because it has several categories to find particular information and have many articles to read that apply to events within the last couple years.

Teaching students about current events can be beneficial in many ways. First of all current event sometimes apply to a wide range of subject in school and can connect to the curriculum. Current events articles can also be beneficial to help students with building language and vocabulary skills. Students may even benefit from a better reading comprehension and will often be more engage because it contains subjects that may directly connect to their own life and the world they live in. Studying current events also help students understand concepts that they may apply in real life and it helps students to understand the importance of people, events and issues that are being discussed in the news. It may also motivate students to watch the new more and become increasingly interested in politics or event happening. School learning should not be entirely based on the past. There were so many years that my teachers told me that we would get to learning about the present in my history classes but we never did. This semester for the first time we go to the present time in US history and it was unbelievable how much more interested I was in learning! I think this can apply to many people, especially students.

Part 1 – Planning

Our class, this semester was responsible for creating a mini-lesson plan/activity for the class. This activity had to be inclusive of some type of current events article. Our group decided to do an activity based on Free School Lunches and the main components of a school budget. We felt that this topic can be included at various grade levels. It was very hard to find a topic that related directly with our unit plan. The article could be changed based on the grade level that it was taught for. However, since this was taught to our class we focused on an issue of school budgets. We thought that this would be a great topic but what lesson should go along with it? We thought a cooperative lesson would be the best choice for this activity. Next, we had to think about the main activity for the cooperative mini-lesson that would be able to fit into ten minutes. We decided that the think-pair-share method we learned in class would be a great idea. It permits the students to discuss the information and complete a mini activity and then share their findings. With so little time, we decided that we would have to use the method known as a “flipped classroom”. We planned to have the students read the article at home before coming to class so they would know the information readily and then be able to use it for the discussion. The think-pair-share model is a great method and fairly simple to use. We created a padlet for our lesson and on it, there were three questions for the students to answer in their groups. We also wanted to incorporate some type of a hand-on activity as well because we knew that all the groups strictly used technology. We were thinking of good hands-on activities for our independent practice for students to explain their thoughts and opinions. Finally I came up with the “clothes line” idea. I thought of hanging a clothes line (ribbon) and having the students write down what they feel is the most important parts of a school budget. The students could then hang up their answers for the class to see with a clothespin! We also had to keep in mind the state and national standards when implementing the lesson. Below are the standards we used directly in our lesson plan:

National Content Standard

    Theme 3. People, Places and environment

Today’s social, cultural, economic and civic issues demand that students apply knowledge, skills, and understandings as they address questions

Theme 6. Power, Authority and Governance

The development of civic competence requires an understanding of the foundations of political thought, and the historical development of various structures of power, authority, and governance. It also requires knowledge of the evolving functions of these structures in contemporary U.S. society, as well as in other parts of the world.

 

New York State Learning Standard(s) + CCSS

NYS Standard 2.4b Communities have leaders who are responsible for making laws and enforcing laws.

Students will identify who makes and enforces the rules and laws in their community. They will also explore how leaders make and enforce these rules and laws.

Comprehension and Collaboration

1. Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

2.Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

These standards were used because they were related to both our lesson plans and also to the activity. The student need to work on building on each other’s ideas and expressing their own opinions which the students would do in the lesson. In addition they would have to integrate information and present it orally. The students integrated the information from the article into their responses and they presented their answers to the class.

 Part 2 - Implementation

The class was responsible for reading the article we provided on Newsela prior to coming to class. When they came to class we asked the students what they remember about the think-pair-share method using question and answer. Then we went over the method using our google slides presentation as a visual aid. We provided two videos for the students to view further if they would like. There was no time to watch the videos, but if there was they would have been plaid. Next, we asked two questions that had to do with school budgets. We had the class split into groups based on their answers to our questions in our powerpoint. We used the method called "think-pair-share" to discuss the thoughts and opinions of the article. The student after being divided into groups logged onto padlet and answered the three questions that we made. The groups wrote their answers to each of the questions directly on there. We gave them several minutes to talk within their groups. Finally, everyone shared their thoughts and answers to the questions. As our exit ticket we had each person write three of the most important parts of a school budget in their opinion. This was done to show the class that politics are not black and white and although you may agree on one point you most likely will not agree on everything but everyone's opinions are important. To show the importance of each thought, we hung a ribbon for everyone to clip their thoughts on! The class definitely enjoyed it and it was exciting to come up to the front of the room to hang up. This would definitely be good in a class because each student would be excited to get up and be part of this huge list of school budget ideas! The class was closed out by asking the students what questions or comments they had.

 

Part 3 - Reflection

Overall, learning how to incorporate current events into the classroom was very helpful. Current events are a great way to engage students because it incorporates events that may pertain to real-life experiences. I personally learn more from reading about current events because I sometimes feel that history can get boring. In addition, I was finally able to implement the think-pair-share model. I look forward to using current events in my classroom one day!

 



Artifacts bags! A new way of learning!

This week in class we investigated and learned how to use artifact bags in lessons. Artifact bags are a great tool to use in lessons because they are hands on and encourage students to learn.

Artifact bags are associated with Inquiry Lesson Plans because they require students to conduct an investigative process to figure out what and who the artifact bags are representative of. In addition, students need to figure out why these artifacts are significant. Dr. Smirnova modeled the artifact bag activity using artifacts from her own life. The students in our class were required to make meaning from the artifact bags that they were given such as photographs, diplomas, certificates, personal items etc. Many of us even had to utilize translators in order to investigate the meanings of the words since they were in Russian language. In order to further investigate, we filled out the chart with the questions of who? what? when? where? and why? (The 5E's) Finally, we all concluded who or what our artifacts symbolized. The teachers ultimately used the inquiry method to take the information they were given in their bags, to construct an investigation and to form a generalization and conclusion that could be explained with evidence.

** The presentation is attached here. **

An artifact bag is a hands-on activity that could be integrated into any grade level and any subject. A teacher can use an artifact bag for many different topics, subjects, and units within a grade. Artifact bags are great for engaging students in learning, along with the students learning through their own investigation process. In a sense, students become a historian for the day and the whole lesson is put in their hands. I have never used artifact bags and have only heard of them generally. However, from learning about artifact bags, I will definitely be using them in my own classroom! Artifact bags can be appealing to kinesthetic and hands-on learners but any learners as well. Students can feel as if they are taking a large part in their own learning because they are holding real pieces of the past and discovering their importance. As stated in the article Building Literacy Skills Across the Curriculum: Forging Connections with the Past Through Artifacts, “Using artifacts, from primary documents to items that can be held in one’s hand, is a motivational strategy that can tie readers to a variety of genres and bring a period of history to life in the process” (Fuhler, Farris & Nelson, 2006). I completely agree with this statement. I found the artifact bag activity that we completed in class to be exciting and fun. I felt like a detective trying to figure out what the clues (artifacts) could mean! In addition, this project can be cross-curricular. According to the article, students will often be intrigued and will want to learn more about the objects and the topic so they can conduct further investigation. The students can be separated into separate research groups or into literature circles to discuss (Fuhler, 2006). Students can also write diaries pretending to be the person that the artifacts bags correspond to. The students may explain each artifact in a way that relates to the person’s life. In addition, the artifact bag lesson relates to the common core standards because the students examine the interaction of human beings and their physical environment, the use of land, building of cities, and ecosystem changes in selected local regions. It also corresponds with the National Standard: Recognizing different forms of evidence used to make meaning in social studies including primary and secondary sources, such as art and photographs, artifacts, oral histories, maps and graphs.

The artifact bag project was very meaningful to teaching about Our Country’s Leaders because it focused on the first president and leader from my lesson plans. In my direct lesson plan George Washington was mentioned as an important leader. The student got a chance to get a hands-on approach with “real” artifacts of George Washington. By connecting the two the students would hopefully be intrigued to learn more about the leaders and presidents of the United States. The artifact bag project was integrated with Social Studies, English, and Science. It is very important in teaching one lesson where you include other subjects within the lesson for student to make connections. Students don't always see how all the subjects can be related and relevant to what is being taught but students should be informed so they realize that they can apply everything they learned when doing a task. In relation to doing this project, many students complete science experiments. Both of these require the use of the scientific/inquiry method. Students complete many steps in order to come to a conclusions. This process can be used upon many subject areas. This lesson also promotes social skills and face to face interaction within the classroom. The artifact bag project was value-based because it allowed students to work together and build onto knowledge they already know. They got to explore the artifact within a group and interact socially. Although this may have been challenging for some students, this artifact bag incorporated different artifacts that students could have had various perspectives on. This allows students to expand their critical-thinking skills by being historians to dig up information from the past. The students were allowed to use resources, which could have been helpful when it came to the map of Boston. The artifact bag project allowed students to become actively involved and engaged in exploring what each artifact meant.
 

For the second day of Artifact bags in class, each student was required to make their own artifact bag with 3 different artifacts in relation to our unit plan. My unit plan is based on "Choosing our country's leaders". For my artifact bag I included 4 artifacts. My first artifact was a picture of a house and on the back of the picture "Mount Vernon, Virginia" was written. My Artifact bag was based on George Washington. The picture I included was a picture of a painting of George Washington's home in Virginia. The next artifact that I used was an old paper with a letter on it which was the first page to George Washington's farewell address. My next artifact was an old surveying map created by George Washington. On the bottom of the map there is a G.W. for George Washington as a key clue. Finally, my last artifact was a baggie with white hair in it. I actually cut a piece of my dog's hair to use, but it was supposed to resemble George Washington's famous white hair. This was the last clue that my classmates were finally able to figure out who my artifact bag was based on. Using artifact bags in a classroom is a great way to engage students in learning and to excite them with wonder. I found enjoyment in learning about the person my artifact bag was based. By creating this artifact bag I had to take a further look into George Washington’s life. I learned about his life, where he lived, and personal characteristic of him. It was very exciting to investigate and collaborate with my classmates to piece together the clues to figure out what each artifact bag it was. I will definitely use this in my future classroom because it was a great hands-on activity and a great tool for an inquiry lesson plan!

Below are my Artifacts from my project that I made! Enjoy!