What?
This week we learned about the UEN website. UEN stands for Utah Education Network. Doc Waters showed us all of the great resources that are available to us through UEN. Our assignment was to create our own account on the UEN site. There is a two part assignment which will take two weeks to complete. First we will finish setting up our account with the tabs and thing things listed on the rubric. Then, next week we will do a scavenger hunt. The UEN site is going to be very helpful and I look forward to using it often!
So What?
So what does it mean to me as a teacher? As a teacher, UEN's site will be a treasure box of resources from lesson plans to online classes. I love that other teachers have put lesson plans on there for other teachers to use. I am still learning more about the site but I am excited about it and the information that is there for me to use. As a student it will help me to come up with ideas for lesson plans as well as getting ideas of what is required for curriculum. It also helps me to create my own account where I can organize the information that I am getting from this class. I took a look at some of the links to past student's pages and there are a lot of things that can be done with UEN. As a colleague, the site and account is helpful because we can use the information as a team for lesson plans and I also love the interactive activities that are on there. We can also take some of the continuing education courses as a team or with the other teachers in the school and can encourage each other to reach our teaching goals.
Doc Waters has told us that we will use the UEN site a lot in the next two years. I know that I still have a lot to learn about it but know that it will become a very useful resource. I am sure that it will come in handy with all of the team projects that we will be doing in the Education Program too. It makes me excited to be learning the things that will be a "life saver" when I am actually in my own classroom!
Now What?
What does this technology mean to my future students? In playing on the site, I found many fun activities that I can use as teaching tools in my classroom. There are also some activities on the site that I can have the students do when they have finished their work but others haven't. This is if I have access to computers in my classroom. We were able to "play" on some of the interactive activities in class and there are tons of activities that teach the concepts that we are teaching as core curriculum. I had a class last semester where I had to come up with several lesson plans but I hadn't ever made lesson plans before. I struggled to put together lessons that would be good. Had I known about this site, I wouldn't have had such a hard time. It will save me a lot of time to be able to use the resources on the site.
I can even assign homework to the students from the site. I just found one that will be very helpful to my own children about counting money. I can send the link home with their homework packet or a note and as long as everyone has access to the internet and a computer, they will be able to do the homework. There are activities from math to reading and spelling and much more that will be great practice for the kids as well as homework ideas for me as the teacher. I shouldn't have any problems knowing what to teach or finding something to teach because there is a plethera of information on all subjects that we will cover in the classroom. As teachers we will all have access to this site and can get packets or lesson plans together so that we, as a team, can all be on the same page.
I not only plan to use this site in school but I am also going to have my kids do some of the activities on there. Both of my girls struggle in school and it will help them to get to where they need to be. As a parent it is important that I do all that I can do to help them. I know it sounds silly to be so excited about this site but I really am because I feel like it is a treasure box of information that will help me to be the best teacher I can be!
Video Reflection
I am so glad that Doc Waters had us watch the video called President Obama's Speech to Children because it caused so much controversy back in September when he spoke to the children of America. I had not had the opportunity to hear the speech until now. I had my nine year old daughter sit and listen to it with me. It was great to talk to her about the things that President Obama had to say. He encouraged students everywhere to take advantage of the opportunities that they are given to improve themselves. I love that he used examples from his own life growing up so that the children can relate to him. He listed the responsibilities of the parents, government and that of the student. He said that the one responsible for learning and being the best that they can be is them, the student. He told them that they ALL have something special to offer those around them as well as their country. So many young people think that they can drop out of school or just graduate from high school and a great job will drop into their laps. President Obama explained that it doesn't work that way! He encouraged them to take responsibility for themselves and their education and to also set goals that will make them strive to be better. I was very impressed with his speech. Thank you, Doc Waters, for having us watch this video!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Reflection #3 - Google Part 2 and Video
What?
This week's class was again, very informative. There is so much that I am learning in such a short time. I am really excited about it and how these tools that I'm learning about can help me now and in the future. We learned about some more of the tools that are offered through Google such as Google Spreadsheets, Google Forms and Google Presentations.
Google is amazing! I really had no idea how many things are offered for free. In class on Thursday we learned how to use Google Spreadsheets which is very similar to Excel. It is very easy to use and has many applications for teaching such as keeping track of grades, attendance and can even be used to make seating charts which is what Doc Waters does for our class.
Google Forms is another thing that we learned about in class. I always wondered how questionaires are done and now I know how to do it and even posted one on here as a trial. Forms can be used for many things such as class surveys, parent questionaires, testing and even for making permission forms. You can create forms with multiple choice, fill in the blank, fill in the bubble and you can rate something. This is great to get parents involved in the classroom and to get them onto the class website/blog. I also liked that once a form has been completed on the blog, a notification is sent to you. That way I will be able to keep track of who has filled it out and who hasn't.
Google Presentations is similar to Power Point. It is easy to use and is very useful for class presentations and team meetings. Our assignment for the week is to create a presentation with our team about class rules. I am excited to work on it some more and learn about all of the ways that we can share different ideas with the class. We have to have a picture as well as a rule on ten slides. I look forward to learning something new that will benefit my classroom!
So What?
So what does this all mean to me as a teacher, student, colleague today? Well, as a teacher it will help me to be more prepared and will ultimately save me a lot of time in the end. For example, with the spreadsheet, it can calculate percentages for grades which is very helpful since math is not a stong point for me. The forms tool will save a lot of paper if I post it on my classroom blog/website rather than making copies and having to send it home to be filled out. Then when they are returned, I would have to enter it all into the computer or onto another paper to keep track of the answers and who turned it in. The presentations are pretty self explanitory. I will use it to present lessons to my students and I can teach them and add fun pictures to get them excited about the subject. As a colleague, it will help me to be more organized for meetings because I can keep all of my information in one place or in one document. I can use the presentation tool for meetings to teach a concept to the team or to share ideas. We can do surveys with the forms tool and compare our answers between the classes. As a student, the spreadsheet can help me keep track of books that I am reading for my literature class or assignments and the grades that I get on them. The presentation tool is helpful because we are often asked to present ideas or projects to the class and it is so much more professional to do it in a slide show. It shows that I have taken the time to get the information and it can be presented in a very creative way that will keep the attention of the class.
I know that I can definitely use the spreadsheet tool in my personal life. Some of the ways that I plan on using it are by creating a chore chart for my kids, keeping track of the books that I own because I lend them out to friends and sometimes forget who has them and I can use it to keep track of my budget. It will help me to be more organized at home and will help me to feel less overwhelmed. Maybe my kids will actually start helping me around the house!
Now What?
This technology is going to make for an organized teacher who can devote more time to each individual. It will also allow me as the teacher to be more creative than if I were just in front of the class lecturing. I am excited about the presentation tool because it will involve getting the attention of the students by using fun colorful pictures and colorful slides. I can even have the students make their own presentations or have them do it as a group. They can do reports on it or projects and then they can share it with the class. It will allow them to be creative and keep them from just standing in front of the class and reading their paper. We can use the forms tool for math by having the students create a questionaire and then tallying the answers and figuring out averages and we can create story problems that they can relate to. Since all of these Google tools allow collaboration, I can assign some of these things as homework and they can work on it at home too and with a partner who is at his/her own home.
I can work with my department or team to collaborate on presentations. For example, if the second grade team has to present an idea to the rest of our colleagues, we can work on the slides together as a team or we can indivually work on it from our homes and get ideas by sharing our ideas for the presentation when we are not physically together. We can also pass the ideas/information on to the principal to review if we add him/her as a collaborator and then we can get his/her feedback. I think from what I have learned so far, the presentation tool seems to be the best one at collaborating with my colleagues. We are all busy and these tools allow us to work on things when we are able to. There is not as much pressure because it can be done from the comfort of our own homes if we don't get a chance to work on it in school.
I think that what we learned this week will help me to be a better teacher, mother and student because it will help me to be more organized. I can have all of the information that I need right in my computer rather than carrying around a gradebook or wasting paper on more handouts. My goal is to be really organized so that I can focus on other things and I also want to be able to be creative and catch the students attention which I believe these tools will allow me to do. It also brings in more technology and less lecture time and more visuals. I want to try to focus on each student's learning style.
VIDEO
I am impressed with the enthusiasm of the young man in the video. He is smart and has things figured out. The key to making your goals in life a reality is by getting an education. He said that by focusing on our education and working really hard, we can become whatever we want. Decide what your passion is and go for it. Don't waste the opportunity that we have to better ourselves and become what we want by valuing our education. It's important that we decide where we want to be and do what it takes to get there. He used the names of some famous directors and said that they didn't just become directors over night, they had to take the proper steps to become directors by going to schools that offered that kind of training. It was only through hard work and determination that they were able to accomplish their goals. Education is the key to reaching our highest potential!
This week's class was again, very informative. There is so much that I am learning in such a short time. I am really excited about it and how these tools that I'm learning about can help me now and in the future. We learned about some more of the tools that are offered through Google such as Google Spreadsheets, Google Forms and Google Presentations.
Google is amazing! I really had no idea how many things are offered for free. In class on Thursday we learned how to use Google Spreadsheets which is very similar to Excel. It is very easy to use and has many applications for teaching such as keeping track of grades, attendance and can even be used to make seating charts which is what Doc Waters does for our class.
Google Forms is another thing that we learned about in class. I always wondered how questionaires are done and now I know how to do it and even posted one on here as a trial. Forms can be used for many things such as class surveys, parent questionaires, testing and even for making permission forms. You can create forms with multiple choice, fill in the blank, fill in the bubble and you can rate something. This is great to get parents involved in the classroom and to get them onto the class website/blog. I also liked that once a form has been completed on the blog, a notification is sent to you. That way I will be able to keep track of who has filled it out and who hasn't.
Google Presentations is similar to Power Point. It is easy to use and is very useful for class presentations and team meetings. Our assignment for the week is to create a presentation with our team about class rules. I am excited to work on it some more and learn about all of the ways that we can share different ideas with the class. We have to have a picture as well as a rule on ten slides. I look forward to learning something new that will benefit my classroom!
So What?
So what does this all mean to me as a teacher, student, colleague today? Well, as a teacher it will help me to be more prepared and will ultimately save me a lot of time in the end. For example, with the spreadsheet, it can calculate percentages for grades which is very helpful since math is not a stong point for me. The forms tool will save a lot of paper if I post it on my classroom blog/website rather than making copies and having to send it home to be filled out. Then when they are returned, I would have to enter it all into the computer or onto another paper to keep track of the answers and who turned it in. The presentations are pretty self explanitory. I will use it to present lessons to my students and I can teach them and add fun pictures to get them excited about the subject. As a colleague, it will help me to be more organized for meetings because I can keep all of my information in one place or in one document. I can use the presentation tool for meetings to teach a concept to the team or to share ideas. We can do surveys with the forms tool and compare our answers between the classes. As a student, the spreadsheet can help me keep track of books that I am reading for my literature class or assignments and the grades that I get on them. The presentation tool is helpful because we are often asked to present ideas or projects to the class and it is so much more professional to do it in a slide show. It shows that I have taken the time to get the information and it can be presented in a very creative way that will keep the attention of the class.
I know that I can definitely use the spreadsheet tool in my personal life. Some of the ways that I plan on using it are by creating a chore chart for my kids, keeping track of the books that I own because I lend them out to friends and sometimes forget who has them and I can use it to keep track of my budget. It will help me to be more organized at home and will help me to feel less overwhelmed. Maybe my kids will actually start helping me around the house!
Now What?
This technology is going to make for an organized teacher who can devote more time to each individual. It will also allow me as the teacher to be more creative than if I were just in front of the class lecturing. I am excited about the presentation tool because it will involve getting the attention of the students by using fun colorful pictures and colorful slides. I can even have the students make their own presentations or have them do it as a group. They can do reports on it or projects and then they can share it with the class. It will allow them to be creative and keep them from just standing in front of the class and reading their paper. We can use the forms tool for math by having the students create a questionaire and then tallying the answers and figuring out averages and we can create story problems that they can relate to. Since all of these Google tools allow collaboration, I can assign some of these things as homework and they can work on it at home too and with a partner who is at his/her own home.
I can work with my department or team to collaborate on presentations. For example, if the second grade team has to present an idea to the rest of our colleagues, we can work on the slides together as a team or we can indivually work on it from our homes and get ideas by sharing our ideas for the presentation when we are not physically together. We can also pass the ideas/information on to the principal to review if we add him/her as a collaborator and then we can get his/her feedback. I think from what I have learned so far, the presentation tool seems to be the best one at collaborating with my colleagues. We are all busy and these tools allow us to work on things when we are able to. There is not as much pressure because it can be done from the comfort of our own homes if we don't get a chance to work on it in school.
I think that what we learned this week will help me to be a better teacher, mother and student because it will help me to be more organized. I can have all of the information that I need right in my computer rather than carrying around a gradebook or wasting paper on more handouts. My goal is to be really organized so that I can focus on other things and I also want to be able to be creative and catch the students attention which I believe these tools will allow me to do. It also brings in more technology and less lecture time and more visuals. I want to try to focus on each student's learning style.
VIDEO
I am impressed with the enthusiasm of the young man in the video. He is smart and has things figured out. The key to making your goals in life a reality is by getting an education. He said that by focusing on our education and working really hard, we can become whatever we want. Decide what your passion is and go for it. Don't waste the opportunity that we have to better ourselves and become what we want by valuing our education. It's important that we decide where we want to be and do what it takes to get there. He used the names of some famous directors and said that they didn't just become directors over night, they had to take the proper steps to become directors by going to schools that offered that kind of training. It was only through hard work and determination that they were able to accomplish their goals. Education is the key to reaching our highest potential!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Reflection #2 - Google Part 1 and Video
What?
This week we learned about Google Tools. I learned a lot in class about all of the awesome tools that are offered by Google. Two of the tools that we learned about are Google Calendars and Google Documents. We have been asked to work with our team to put together a Welcome Letter for the parents and the second grade students of our new school.
So What?
The calendar tool is something that will help me now as I am in school learning to be a teacher. It will help me to keep track of the classes, meetings and assignments due in my classes. More and more things are coming up that have due dates such as the Praxis test and applying to the Education Department that I can not miss. Also, I will use this tool as a mother to keep all of the activities that we have as a family and individually straight. I was amazed at the calendars that Doc Waters has. I see how important planning and having a calendar with everything penciled in (typed in) so that nothing is forgotten, especially if you're as busy as Doc Waters. I plan to use the Google Calendar in my future classroom for many purposes. The calendar is perfect for posting upcoming classroom events and assignments and allowing the students and parents to have access. I also plan to use the calendar to keep track of appointments that I have with parents and to keep track of meetings I have with my team as well as other school related meetings. Another way that I will use the calendar in my teaching is to plan by subject throughout the day so that the alarm will alert me when it's about time to finish up with the subject at hand and move on to the next subject. We discussed this in class and I love this idea because I won't have to be constantly watching the clock because the alarm will tell me when to finish up. I am very excited to start using this tool!
Another Google Tool that we learned about is Google Documents. I had no idea that there was a program that allowed you to do pretty much the same thing as Microsoft Word but had even more to offer. I didn't know that you could add contributors to a document and they could add to it. This is a perfect tool to use with my colleagues when doing newsletters, welcome letters like we are doing in class, and creating lesson plans as a second grade team. This way all of the team is able to contribute to what we are working on and we can work more effectively as a team because everyone can add their own input. Another thing that I love about Google Docs is that it has an option to translate the document into several other languages. I speak Spanish but it would certainly make it easier to have it translated by Google Docs and then I can correct any funny translations to make it sound better. This will save me a lot of time and will be very helpful for the parents who may not speak or understand English. There also may be other languages besides Spanish that I will need to use the translation option for. I can also download a document into a web page. This is ideal for a classroom web page so that the parents and students are aware of what is happening in the classroom. One thing that was mentioned in class was that this would also be a great way to work on creative writing because the students can start a story and other students can add to it by being added as contributors. I would have loved to do that as an elementary student. There are so many things that Google Docs can help me with so that I can have better communication with parents, students and my colleagues. I look forward to working with my team to create our Welcome Letters and to learn more about what Google Docs can do.
Now What?
Now what does this mean for my future students? Both Google Calendars and Google Docs will allow me to spend more time focusing on the subjects we are working on and being able to be creative. The calendaring will allow me to be less focused on the clock and more attentive to the students and what I am teaching them. I will be less stressed about missing something important because I will have reminder alarms on my computer and phone. Right now I rely on my planner but things sometimes still get overlooked if I don't check it often but this won't happen with the calendar which sends me reminder emails and reminder texts/alarms. The Google Docs will make the classroom more earth (environment) friendly because we can do homework and projects online and won't be wasting paper. I actually love paper and pens but I know that this is not the best thing for our environment because it causes a lot of waste and kills trees. This may mean that I will spend a little more time planning and entering information into my calendar and the class website but in the long run it will be well worth it and will make my life a lot easier. I like that the parents will have access to the information that we will be working on in class and the events that will be happening in the classroom.
The calendar will help me to become a better teacher because it will allow the parents to see when I can use their help in the class. My hope is that they will feel more involved because they will know exactly what will be happening in their child's class. I will welcome their comments and opinions and hope that there will be open communication between the parents, the students and I.
My goal is to use the Google Docs as a creative outlet for the children. They can work on projects together and don't even have to be in school to do so. I can have them work on the projects as part of their homework and the students can do it in the comfort of their own homes with parents help if needed. They also have the option to add pictures, drawings and tables to the documents using Google Docs. This will also help the students to be more technically savvy even though they probably know more than I do at this point. I will understand it well and be able to teach them to use it and be creative at the same time.
Google Docs will help me to become a better colleague because by using it, we, as a team, are able to add our input in many things such as second grade newsletters, team meetings such as brainstorming and writing lesson plans that will be used by the team just to mention a few. This also allows us as a team to work on these projects when we have our planning time which is different for each teacher. We are also able to work on it from where ever we are since it is accessible to us through Gmail. We don't have to physically be there in the same room to collaborate with our team. The Google Calendar will allow me to be more organized and be to all meetings on time and not forget any of them. I love the freedom that both of these programs will offer me as a teacher. They will allow me to be organized and on top of the things that I am working on. It will benefit me as the teacher as well as the students.
Video Reflection
The weekly video for this week was called "I Am What I Learn". The video starts out with President Obama speaking to the students of the country. He encouraged the students to be the best that they can be and to improve their surroundings. They have the power to make a great change for the better in their lives and in the lives around them. He tells them how education is the key to being the best person you can be!
The video is about Rene, a student, who loves making movies and videos. She is passionate about it and understands that it takes a lot of hard work and determination to become who she really wants to be. She has a very difficult family life but she isn't allowing the hardship to determine where she is going in life. She wants to get good grades and be the very best person that she can be! I was impressed with the maturity that she had. She is a strong person that knows what she wants and how to get it through positive, educational ways and will not allow anything to get in the way of her dreams and goals! I need to be as focused and determined to be my best just as Rene is doing. She is a great example of the kind of determination and passion in the right direction that we want all of our students to have.
This week we learned about Google Tools. I learned a lot in class about all of the awesome tools that are offered by Google. Two of the tools that we learned about are Google Calendars and Google Documents. We have been asked to work with our team to put together a Welcome Letter for the parents and the second grade students of our new school.
So What?
The calendar tool is something that will help me now as I am in school learning to be a teacher. It will help me to keep track of the classes, meetings and assignments due in my classes. More and more things are coming up that have due dates such as the Praxis test and applying to the Education Department that I can not miss. Also, I will use this tool as a mother to keep all of the activities that we have as a family and individually straight. I was amazed at the calendars that Doc Waters has. I see how important planning and having a calendar with everything penciled in (typed in) so that nothing is forgotten, especially if you're as busy as Doc Waters. I plan to use the Google Calendar in my future classroom for many purposes. The calendar is perfect for posting upcoming classroom events and assignments and allowing the students and parents to have access. I also plan to use the calendar to keep track of appointments that I have with parents and to keep track of meetings I have with my team as well as other school related meetings. Another way that I will use the calendar in my teaching is to plan by subject throughout the day so that the alarm will alert me when it's about time to finish up with the subject at hand and move on to the next subject. We discussed this in class and I love this idea because I won't have to be constantly watching the clock because the alarm will tell me when to finish up. I am very excited to start using this tool!
Another Google Tool that we learned about is Google Documents. I had no idea that there was a program that allowed you to do pretty much the same thing as Microsoft Word but had even more to offer. I didn't know that you could add contributors to a document and they could add to it. This is a perfect tool to use with my colleagues when doing newsletters, welcome letters like we are doing in class, and creating lesson plans as a second grade team. This way all of the team is able to contribute to what we are working on and we can work more effectively as a team because everyone can add their own input. Another thing that I love about Google Docs is that it has an option to translate the document into several other languages. I speak Spanish but it would certainly make it easier to have it translated by Google Docs and then I can correct any funny translations to make it sound better. This will save me a lot of time and will be very helpful for the parents who may not speak or understand English. There also may be other languages besides Spanish that I will need to use the translation option for. I can also download a document into a web page. This is ideal for a classroom web page so that the parents and students are aware of what is happening in the classroom. One thing that was mentioned in class was that this would also be a great way to work on creative writing because the students can start a story and other students can add to it by being added as contributors. I would have loved to do that as an elementary student. There are so many things that Google Docs can help me with so that I can have better communication with parents, students and my colleagues. I look forward to working with my team to create our Welcome Letters and to learn more about what Google Docs can do.
Now What?
Now what does this mean for my future students? Both Google Calendars and Google Docs will allow me to spend more time focusing on the subjects we are working on and being able to be creative. The calendaring will allow me to be less focused on the clock and more attentive to the students and what I am teaching them. I will be less stressed about missing something important because I will have reminder alarms on my computer and phone. Right now I rely on my planner but things sometimes still get overlooked if I don't check it often but this won't happen with the calendar which sends me reminder emails and reminder texts/alarms. The Google Docs will make the classroom more earth (environment) friendly because we can do homework and projects online and won't be wasting paper. I actually love paper and pens but I know that this is not the best thing for our environment because it causes a lot of waste and kills trees. This may mean that I will spend a little more time planning and entering information into my calendar and the class website but in the long run it will be well worth it and will make my life a lot easier. I like that the parents will have access to the information that we will be working on in class and the events that will be happening in the classroom.
The calendar will help me to become a better teacher because it will allow the parents to see when I can use their help in the class. My hope is that they will feel more involved because they will know exactly what will be happening in their child's class. I will welcome their comments and opinions and hope that there will be open communication between the parents, the students and I.
My goal is to use the Google Docs as a creative outlet for the children. They can work on projects together and don't even have to be in school to do so. I can have them work on the projects as part of their homework and the students can do it in the comfort of their own homes with parents help if needed. They also have the option to add pictures, drawings and tables to the documents using Google Docs. This will also help the students to be more technically savvy even though they probably know more than I do at this point. I will understand it well and be able to teach them to use it and be creative at the same time.
Google Docs will help me to become a better colleague because by using it, we, as a team, are able to add our input in many things such as second grade newsletters, team meetings such as brainstorming and writing lesson plans that will be used by the team just to mention a few. This also allows us as a team to work on these projects when we have our planning time which is different for each teacher. We are also able to work on it from where ever we are since it is accessible to us through Gmail. We don't have to physically be there in the same room to collaborate with our team. The Google Calendar will allow me to be more organized and be to all meetings on time and not forget any of them. I love the freedom that both of these programs will offer me as a teacher. They will allow me to be organized and on top of the things that I am working on. It will benefit me as the teacher as well as the students.
Video Reflection
The weekly video for this week was called "I Am What I Learn". The video starts out with President Obama speaking to the students of the country. He encouraged the students to be the best that they can be and to improve their surroundings. They have the power to make a great change for the better in their lives and in the lives around them. He tells them how education is the key to being the best person you can be!
The video is about Rene, a student, who loves making movies and videos. She is passionate about it and understands that it takes a lot of hard work and determination to become who she really wants to be. She has a very difficult family life but she isn't allowing the hardship to determine where she is going in life. She wants to get good grades and be the very best person that she can be! I was impressed with the maturity that she had. She is a strong person that knows what she wants and how to get it through positive, educational ways and will not allow anything to get in the way of her dreams and goals! I need to be as focused and determined to be my best just as Rene is doing. She is a great example of the kind of determination and passion in the right direction that we want all of our students to have.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Ideal Classroom Reflection #1
The following is how I picture my ideal classroom. I will be teaching in Utah County in an Elementary School teaching second grade. The school doesn't have a lot of money but we make do with what we have. I have twenty students. My classroom is pretty evenly divided with half the class Hispanic and half Caucasian. I have an advantage because I speak Spanish so I can communicate with the parents of my Hispanic students as well as with some of the students that are still learning English. This is very helpful because there is less confusion when it comes to homework and assignments. I have many parents who come into the class to help with reading and individual learning.
Our school is in an older building built about fifty years ago. It is brick and well kept with a large school yard which has two playgrounds, one for the younger grades (kindergarten through third grade) and one for the older grades. There is a large field where the students can play soccer and baseball as well as areas where they can play basketball and run. The children love the time that they spend outside for PE and recess.
My colleagues and I work well together. We work in teams by grade and we work in a collaborative environment to find ways to help the students learn the best ways possible. We use the core curriculum and find creative ways to teach it to the children. Our main focus is always on the students because that is why we are there.
My classroom is large with one wall of windows which faces the mountains and gives us a great view yet isn't terribly distracting. The windows also let in natural light which is better for your eyes. Rather than using desks I have tables set up with five students per table. I love this set up because it gives the students a larger area to work on. It is also perfect for hands on activities and group work. This set up also gives me more classroom space. I have learning centers around the room where the children can go during center time. Each center focuses on one of the theories of Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner. He states that each of us has a different learning style. Some of us learn through body movement, music/hearing, touch (tactile),visual, and reading/writing to give a few examples.
I want to use hands on curriculum. I believe that it's easier for children to remember things if they physically do them. Again, it is my goal to use the learning styles so that each student is learning the way they do best. I plan on doing this by pre-assessing the students so that I can determine where each student is academically. I want to make sure that each student is being challenged according to their abilities. My goal is also to be able to spend a few minutes daily with each student to see how they are feeling and doing in the class. Hopefully, there will be time to do that.
The school doesn't have enough money for us to have computers in the classroom, however, there is a computer lab that we get to use once a week. I want to make sure that the students are confident using computers and are able to do the basic things in Word and Excel. I will have each student create their own blog (private so that only them, their parents and I can access it for safety). We will use the blog as a journal and for writing purposes. This will help us to get away from using traditional worksheets and it's also saving trees.
My goals for the class are the following: I want each student to gain a love for learning. I don't want them to feel that it's a chore but rather a joy. They will do so much better in the future if they have a love for learning. Another goal that I have is to offer the students choices in how they present ideas and projects. This won't work for everything that we do but it will help them to feel that they have a say in how things run in the classroom. The most important goal is to create a safe learning environment where the students love coming to school and enjoy learning and growing.
I will have a classroom of happy children who have a love of learning. They will be eager to come to school everyday and will feel safe and that each of them is important and matters. This would be my ideal class and classroom.
Our school is in an older building built about fifty years ago. It is brick and well kept with a large school yard which has two playgrounds, one for the younger grades (kindergarten through third grade) and one for the older grades. There is a large field where the students can play soccer and baseball as well as areas where they can play basketball and run. The children love the time that they spend outside for PE and recess.
My colleagues and I work well together. We work in teams by grade and we work in a collaborative environment to find ways to help the students learn the best ways possible. We use the core curriculum and find creative ways to teach it to the children. Our main focus is always on the students because that is why we are there.
My classroom is large with one wall of windows which faces the mountains and gives us a great view yet isn't terribly distracting. The windows also let in natural light which is better for your eyes. Rather than using desks I have tables set up with five students per table. I love this set up because it gives the students a larger area to work on. It is also perfect for hands on activities and group work. This set up also gives me more classroom space. I have learning centers around the room where the children can go during center time. Each center focuses on one of the theories of Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner. He states that each of us has a different learning style. Some of us learn through body movement, music/hearing, touch (tactile),visual, and reading/writing to give a few examples.
I want to use hands on curriculum. I believe that it's easier for children to remember things if they physically do them. Again, it is my goal to use the learning styles so that each student is learning the way they do best. I plan on doing this by pre-assessing the students so that I can determine where each student is academically. I want to make sure that each student is being challenged according to their abilities. My goal is also to be able to spend a few minutes daily with each student to see how they are feeling and doing in the class. Hopefully, there will be time to do that.
The school doesn't have enough money for us to have computers in the classroom, however, there is a computer lab that we get to use once a week. I want to make sure that the students are confident using computers and are able to do the basic things in Word and Excel. I will have each student create their own blog (private so that only them, their parents and I can access it for safety). We will use the blog as a journal and for writing purposes. This will help us to get away from using traditional worksheets and it's also saving trees.
My goals for the class are the following: I want each student to gain a love for learning. I don't want them to feel that it's a chore but rather a joy. They will do so much better in the future if they have a love for learning. Another goal that I have is to offer the students choices in how they present ideas and projects. This won't work for everything that we do but it will help them to feel that they have a say in how things run in the classroom. The most important goal is to create a safe learning environment where the students love coming to school and enjoy learning and growing.
I will have a classroom of happy children who have a love of learning. They will be eager to come to school everyday and will feel safe and that each of them is important and matters. This would be my ideal class and classroom.
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