This course has forced me to come out of my comfort zone in many different ways. Its no secret that blogging, tweeting and using technology was newer for me. It was challenging at first, but just like everything else in life I used it a lot and eventually mastered it! This course was a lot. It was a lot of writing, reflecting on lessons, creating lessons, being observed and a lot of video taping myself/ trying out new resources. With that being said though, I learned SO MUCH. Learning more about growth mindset has been huge and ill be taking what I learned with me to carry that on in my future classrooms. The resources are also beyond helpful that we have shared as a classroom and I have set time aside to save many of the helpful tools to look into them further.

Overall this course surprised me a lot. It was definitely challenging but I think I overcame a few challenges that I wasn’t sure about. Being observed once more was also extremely eye opening. I think its so important to watch and see how we grow over the courses, as well as how our lesson plans evolve. This was a great course for sure.

I am incredibly happy to say out loud that I have only 2 more days of teaching for this semester! It’s such a nice feeling knowing that the end is right around the corner, yet I also find myself sad at the same time.

The end may be near, but that doesn’t mean that the work load has stopped. Self-reflecting and fixing up my lessons is about to be the last step… but its a BIG step. There is so much that I still need to add, fix and change in my lessons, on top of the countless self-reflections. I told myself at the beginning that the end will come quick and I must stay on top of things. This worked for about the first 4 lessons and then I fell off the wagon!! I wasn’t behind lesson wise but reflection wise I have some catching up to do.

So although the end is near.. is it really?

Today I took some time aside from my busy schedule to go into a new school to see if it is somewhere I might want to do my Winter lessons at. Let me begin by explaining that so far, I have mostly only been at a middle school in my hometown volunteering while doing my lessons. The school I went into happens to be in the city, and although it is one of the nicer schools as they call it, I was still amazed at how different it was from what I had been used to in my little bubble.

Now I have been working with 10/11 year old’s in a middle school. Today I walked calmly into a 1st grade classroom with 6/7 year old’s and walked out thinking it was madness. I had only been there for a few hours, but I kept thinking to myself, is it the grade? Could it be that the school is just different? Is this what my towns 1st grade looks like? Am I just used to older students? So many questions raced through my mind.

I thought about it for a while and came to the conclusion that one day I will be applying to a whole bunch of schools and wont get to be so picky. Right now, I’m comfortable with the school I’m at because I went there when I was younger. It’s on the nicer end of schools around us and seeing another side of teaching would be better for myself in the long run. Its all about EXPERIENCING DIFFERENT SCHOOLS. Ruling out the grade right away as well as ruling out a school is not fair, because I simply haven’t seen enough. It may be more challenging to go to this new school where things are done a little differently, and its much bigger, but that’s the real world right?

There’s one thing that’s holding me back though, and I would love to hear others thoughts***

-Right now I’ve been used to creating lessons for 5th graders where they can do small group and individual lessons and I can assess them often. The bulk of my teaching (my advanced classes) will be done over the Winter term, which is why I’m hesitant to drop to such a low grade. I suppose I feel like when it comes to creating lessons for 1st grade, its much simpler.. but almost harder to create these complex lesson plans like we are required to do for GSC. What if it looks like such easy lessons, or even are such easy lessons that I have to show? How is that helping me in the long run, if my FPF’s and TCAP members aren’t seeing this crazy complex work? That is where my worry lies. In the back of my mind, I’m worried that these next two classes are where I should be showing how far I’ve grown with my lesson planning, yet I’ll have lessons that aren’t as complex and great as I would for my older students.

Thoughts? Have you taught 1st or 2nd grade?

Feedback is always so appreciated when it comes to lesson planning and beginning to teach.

Everyone in this program goes through a point in time when they question if they’re doing a good enough job and if their students are actually learning. This past week for the first time I have felt overwhelmed and questioned myself, “what if I’m not covering everything and my students aren’t actually learning?”. I took a breath, and I thought for a second about how excited my students were and all of those, “I get it now!” moments. Sure, sometimes it took me a little extra time repeating it and changing the way I explained it, but I did my best and presented everything I had with the help and advice from experienced teachers. I was told I was doing a great job, and that it gets easier and easier the more you teach. But sometimes I feel defeated with those students that were absent for a lesson or just simply don’t understand. These are the moments I don’t feel good enough.

Feedback from outsiders is always eye opening. I’ve now had both the lovely Miss Holly and the lovely Miss Carolyn come to visit me, both for their second time. Holly knows that I value her advice more than anything and has now seen how much I have grown since the first observation, reassuring me that I’m exactly where I should be. She always makes me feel better when she tells me that I have so much passion when it comes to teaching the students that the rest will all come in good time. I’ve gotten advice and feedback from both of them now, and its still around the same area- making sure my goals align directly with my objectives. I thought this time around I did better in that department but after good conversation with Carolyn this second time around, I truly feel like I have a better grasp. The feedback is so helpful, and I feel so lucky to have such wonderful teachers, SP’s and FPF’s in my corner rooting me on.

So I take a deep breath, take their advice and feedback, and try my best to continue making them as well as myself proud!

 

 

I decided to choose Global Transformation for the social studies theme I would like to touch upon. Global transformation has so many potential lessons that can be taught through it, and so much important information that students should know falls under this category. At the moment I am currently teaching an Explorers Unit. Students are getting the chance to learn all about the Europeans and how they came over to the “new land” where they met the Native Americans. There were so many things I needed to cover with this unit that I am constantly wondering if I will be able to explain it all to them!

The unit describes the journey explorers took, the reasons they explored, what they found and a lot of the positive and negative that was a result from it. The main point I’ll need to get across at the end of my lesson is that without this exploration, things might be different today. Global transformation shows our students exactly how we got to where we are today. All 10 themes are important in the sense that it is background knowledge that shows how we led up to where we are now,  but it is also knowledge going forward into the future. By looking into the past we have the chance to grow and learn from previous mistakes, and that’s really where these 10 themes come into play if you ask me.

I need a good night sleep. I mean a really good one.

Tomorrow’s the day.

In the morning I’ll wake up and start my Social Studies Unit where I will work with my 5th graders a few days a week over the course of about a month. We will be diving head first into explorers! Something very new to me.

How do I think it will go? Lets just say I haven’t been this anxious but excited in a while. Its the kind of anxious where you feel like your completely prepared but then begin to imagine- A. Running out of time, or B. Not having enough time.

Which one is worse?

To me, nothing is worse than running out of time. I stop for a minute and imagine multiple senarios and what I would do.

I sit here in my thoughts now, exhausted and barely holding my eyes open at 6:44 PM. There are a million things going through my mind at the moment. About 90% of my mind is thinking about school, my lessons, my observation tomorrow. 5% is asking myself, “are you really going to go to bed this early without making dinner?”. The rest is straight nerves.

I really need a good night sleep. I keep coming back to that. Then I think some more. Is this what life becomes when you are a teacher? Are you constantly exhausted and school always on the mind? I imagine my first year of teaching feeling exactly like this. It both excites me and makes me nervous.

Time is something that is never on someone’s side, let alone a teachers side. Despite the nerves, despite the exhaustion, and despite the panic about having too much or too little time, I’m proud of myself.

I’m proud that I’ve worked so hard to prepare myself for tomorrow. If the issue of time is thrown my way… I think I might be ready.

For now thought, I think I’ll go get a good night sleep.

 

 

(I was feeling a little poetic with my writing style tonight… or maybe I am just tired?)

 

 

“They were so robotic with their thinking”. That’s what one of our science teachers said to me today.

During science on team 5-2 today a lab was occurring. The lab was a simple yet effective way to show what the students learned about carrying out an experiment and different properties of substances. Students were asked to write the procedure out and pick two tests to conduct on their two “unknown” substances (which were salt and iron fillings). They then were asked to take down data and compare their substances to others in the chart to find out what the unknown ones could be. After the experiment they would analyze and interpret using the evidence they gathered and draw a conclusion.

Simple, right? So why am I writing about robots you ask?

Well.. we noticed something very interesting between the classes. All students added water to the mixture that was white (which could of been sugar or salt) while only some students DIDNT add water to the second substance which was dark in color (being either iron fillings or activated carbon). Heres what I mean…

Class 1: All students looked at the table of properties and substances and saw that both white mixtures were soluble. So, they added water and continues on to test another property. When it came time to do the same for the darker color substance, most students in the class referenced the chart that said “no” for soluble. Students didn’t bother mixing water into this substance knowing that they didn’t need to and to try something different.

Class 2: Most students, with the exception of 4 or 5, mixed both substances with water.

So why was it that class 1 seemed to save themselves a step, whereas the other class went ahead and copied what they did for substance 1 for substance 2 without checking?

The science teacher looked at me after class 2 and said, “they were so robotic with their thinking”. I asked her to explain. She said that her theory is that the choices made depended on her class level. Class 1 was a relatively lower level class, filled with students who have IEP’s. Class 2 was her highest class, where only 1 student was on an IEP. She said that it was interesting to see how her lower class carried out their experiment in a smarter and more effective way.

Her theory? Students who were lower referenced back to their book more, seeking for help and more the answers in front of them oppose to thinking they should do something right from the start. She explained most students who are lower look around the room at the posters for answers and re-read trying to find what they need. This allowed more students to see that they didn’t actually need to test the darker substance.. the answer was right there in the book and saved them the step. Class 2, who had much higher students, thought more robotically and automatically added water to the second since they added it to the first. They thought that’s what they should do instead of checking their references and seeing they didn’t need to.

It was incredibly interesting to see this in action, and it made me think about the differences in the minds of our youngsters. So many students rely on observation. They see one other student adding water to the substance and automatically do it like a robot would. They don’t think for themselves as much as they should. I’m not sure if this is something that we need to change.. or something that we as teachers might need to adjust to.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

 

When I was younger, I always thought I wanted to teach strictly kindergarten or 1st grade. I always loved being around little kids, so helping them learn key concepts and setting them up for the future and more intense years of schooling always seemed to interest me. It wasn’t until my second year of college where I decided to take a leap of faith and go into the middle school where I used to attend. Crazy right? Here I am, feeling like it was just yesterday and I’m going back into that scary middle school? What I didn’t know was that this was going to be a place where I could grow and learn once again, but this time on the other side of things.

5th grade. 5th grade is where I started out and have continued to work with. Everything about this age interests me. I see children who are confident, strong, opinionated, respectful yet still playful and loving. This age has opened my eyes to how students grow and where these key ages really are. My 5th grade, unlike some others that are in elementary schools, is located in a middle school. These students don’t interact with the 8th graders often, but I believe being in the same school with them tends to push them to grow a little more and be “little adults” as I like to call it. As much as I don’t want to see them grow up.. I know they’ll do great things one day.

My heart was once set on such a young age, and soon I’ll have the chance to witness and compare my 5th graders, who rotate through three core classes and three teachers for an hour and a half each a day, to the life of the littler students. My heart will always be with those 5th graders, but what if I LOVE the 4th grade, the 3rd grade, any other grade? What if I’m not taking a chance and I would have loved the 7th or 8th grade?

What grades do others love?

What have you learned about certain ages?

How did you make the decision to go with a certain grade?

Its all so fascinating, and as I go to make my decision one day my hope is that it will be an easy one, but I feel that it may not! We shall see, but for now, you can catch me with my loving, spunky, creative 75 5th graders!

The 5 Social Studies Strands are Geography, History, Culture, Economics and Government. These strands all play an important role in teaching todays youth about our countries current identity as well as its past. Social Studies itself is said to help students develop the skills necessary to make reasonable decisions as good public citizens in their future years in adulthood. By teaching them a wide variety of Social Studies we as teachers are preparing them for their futures so to speak. Everything that is covered in Social Studies are things that students need to know. Its not only important to know our countries current state and our rights as free citizens, but its also important to know how we got to where we are today and why. Why is it important to know how to read a map? Why is it important to know the differences between our culture and another? In life, there will be times where they questions and situations arise, and we as teachers must prepare our students. I myself wish that I was prepared as a young adult more than I had been. Now that I will be a teacher, I’ll be re-learning a few things along side with my students.. and that’s okay.

I want to know as much as I possibly can. I want my students to be saying the same.

World history and contemporary issues are among some of the most important information our students need to know. While all strands are needed, world history shines light on our planet as a whole, oppose to just our own country. Learning about our country in detail is crucial, but if we limit our students to just learning about our own country they are missing out on so much more. Culture, language, religion and many more vary from place to place. Trade, laws, location and every day life are different all over the world, and realizing that is key to having an open mind.

 

What are your thought on technology? As teachers, should we be using more of it? Less of it? Doing everything in our power to encourage it?

This is a question I feel that some teachers struggle with. Technology is all so new to us, and quite honestly scares some, myself included. I’ve heard teachers say things like, “My students know how to work the technology better than I do!” and “How am I ever going to integrate technology into this lesson?”. This intimidated me as a student teacher at first. I began to question whether or not I will ever master the technology and learn how to use technology within my lessons. Then I saw this quote and it made me stop and think. What am I so afraid of?

“TECHNOLOGY WILL NEVER REPLACE GREAT TEACHERS, BUT TECHNOLOGY IN THE HANDS OF GREAT TEACHERS IS TRANFORMATIONAL.” -GEORGE COUROS

This quote really spoke to me and opened up my eyes a little. I think that even though we may be hesitant at first to try new things and fail (in front of our students who seem to all be masters themselves!) we should continue to always grow and learn as well. Technology is here for good. Its not going anywhere and we can either run from it, or learn how to use it. Personally, I am now going to try to run with it and see what happens from there. Who knows, maybe my students will become the teachers until I get there myself. What will you do with technology?