"I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end." - Abraham Lincoln

Monday, December 9

This is it. The last day of the semester. No more running from class to class. No more homework to stress over and assignments to hand in. That is, until next semester. 

Abraham Lincoln once said, "I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end." I think that this quote is a great way to end the semester. I can only do the best that I can do, and keep going strong until the end. Ending on a positive note and keeping my head held high no matter what is thrown my way is the attitude I need to keep as this semester comes to a close.

This semester has been a long one, yet it seems to have flown by. It seems like only yesterday I was walking into Aquinas 53, nervous and excited at the same time for my last methods course at MSMC. This course has taught me so much about not only teaching social studies, but also about myself. I have learned to stay confident and believe in myself. I know that I can accomplish whatever task is handed to me and I can be the best I can be. 

This class has taught me to use technology in new and exciting ways. Before entering this class, I had never blogged before, and never even really used a Smart Board. I think that my learning how to use these technologies, I am able to become the best teacher in the future. Whenever I go to a school, I can show the teachers the technologies that I have learned and keep up with the changing times. I think that with the new technologies and common core changes, anything that can set you apart from others is beneficial to you.

I also learned a lot about implementing various types of lessons and assessment techniques in this course. I previously thought that there was only two types of assessment, but learned that there are actually three:  diagnostic, formative, and summative. By using a variety of assessments in the classroom, the teacher can check for student comprehension and understanding before implementing the lesson, during the lesson, and at the end of the lesson through independent practice. These lessons can also be one of three main types:  direct instruction, inquiry, and cooperative learning. 

Personally, I have grown a tremendous amount throughout this course. I have learned to be more confident in my decisions and in my teaching. I have learned that it is okay to make mistakes, but to not focus on them. Sometimes you have to just "go with the flow" and keep moving forward. No one is going to judge you based on how well you wrote your lesson plan. The main goal is how you implemented it. I also got more comfortable being in front of a class. I learned to take charge and be the teacher. When I am in a classroom, I am taking on the role of the teacher and need to act like one. I am not a shy student, but an outgoing, enthusiastic teacher. 

Professionally, I have grown throughout the semester as well. I have learned to use professional language, not only in the classroom, but everywhere I go. Even outside of the classroom, I will still represent the school I am with and that I am a teacher. I also learned to dress more professional. Though there are some days where leggings and a sweatshirt are necessary, dressing nice is important. You never know who you will meet and what future employer you will run into. You want to give the impression that you are always put together and confident in yourself. 

Overall, I think that this course helped me grow in numerous ways. I learned more about myself and about being an educator from this class than any other class that I have taken at the Mount. I will be using the resources that Dr. Smirnova has supplied us with and all the materials that I have gained throughout the semester in my future career. These skills and resources will help me in becoming a better teacher and will set me apart from others.

                                                   

"By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest." - Confucius

Reflections on ED 3120-01

An ongoing assignment in my social studies methods class was to keep a blog throughout the semester. This blog was used to share information pertaining to the class, my fieldwork experiences, and my everyday life.

Below are the links to the blog posts that I have commented from my fellow group members' blogs. The blogs I chose to comment on contained information that I thought was important and relevant to my own success.

Madison's blog - Socializing Our Future Leaders

Lindsay's blog - Keep Calm and TEACH ON

Alex's blog - Changing Tides and the Wave of Education 

I enjoyed this assignment throughout this semester. I never have used a blog before, so it was a little difficult for me to stay on task and remember to update on a weekly basis. I think that this is a great way to informally reflect on your life and classwork.

I think that you would be able to use blogs in your classroom as a way to keep students on task throughout the year, as well as inform parents on what is happening in the classroom. Students can use blogs as a journal or even for assignments. The teacher can assign a particular reading and post questions on his/her school blog for students to comment and reflect on.

For someone who has never blogged before, I think this is a great video to watch. Blogs in Plain English breaks down what a blog is in a simple way, without getting into any fancy technological talk. I think this video would be a great introduction to use in the classroom as a way to familiarize students with the concept of blogging. 

There are a plethora of resources out there for teachers and students to use. To work to the best of our ability, we need to use these resources and skills gained from using them. You need to have a reason to implement the technology though. You cannot simply say that you want students to use a blog simply to use a blog. Blogs can help students with their metacognition. They can help spark conversations and increase their writing skills. Technology can help students to succeed in ways that they never have before. As the above picture states, "technology is a tool, not a learning outcome." 

Personally, I think that there is no point in going against using technology. You should hop on the technology train and take it as far as you can go. 

"The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary." - Donald Kendall

Monday, December 2

Today, we started off class with a brief overview of what we will be doing on Friday. In class, we will be having mock interviews on Friday, with four "principals" to host the interviews. Each person will have a chance to answer questions and get a "feel" for how an interview would work. 

After the introduction to Friday's activities, Dr. Smirnova provided us with in-class time to work on our portfolios. Using this time,  I worked on my Live Binder and discussed with my group when we are going to finish working on our edTPA reflections. 

Wednesday, December 4

Today in class we were again given time to work on our end of semester assignments. Lindsay and I decided to continue our work on the edTPA section of our live binders. Though we found out that we were not doing the questions in the right format, we got a lot done. The edTPA is supposed to be in an essay type of format. We did it question by question, so it will be an easy fix.

We also talked more about the mock interviews for Friday. I am slightly nervous about these interviews. Looking at sample questions, I had no idea how to respond to them. I hope that I will be able to think on my feet when the "principals" ask me questions. Within our groups, we also had to create a list of questions to ask the principals while we are being interviewed. Two questions that we all thought were essential were "what is your teaching philosophy?" and "What professional development opportunities do you offer for your faculty?" These questions will show the principal that you are interested in bettering yourself and being a working member of his/her school team.

This will be a good experience for all of us future teachers. We will get to know about the format of an interview and what types of questions that principals might ask. I think that this is interviews are a good idea to incorporate in education classes.

Friday, December 6

Today was the big day! We began class with a brief introduction from Dr. Smirnova, who was playing the role of a journalist inviting us all to a job fair. After her back story, the teacher candidates went around the room sharing their names and what they expect to gain from this experience. I shared that I hoped to learn more about the interview process and what type of questions will be asked.

After the teacher candidates shared about themselves, the "principals" began their introduction. Each of the four "principals" shared their back story, sharing their schooling received and their school's teaching philosophy. Each school had a different philosophy, ranging from behaviorism to a cooperative learning approach.

Once the introduction portion of the activity was concluded, we broke up into our fieldwork groups to begin the interview process. The "principals" went from group to group asking questions. Each "principal" opened the floor with an ice breaker type of question. These questions were something fun to get people talking. For example, one ice breaker question asked about a book you have most recently read and how it has impacted your life.

Some of the interview questions were difficult to respond to in the shortened amount of time. It was hard to get your thoughts together with the pressure of people watching you. A few times I stumbled with my words and could not get out what I wanted to say, but overall I think that I provided decent answers for all questions asked.

Overall, I think  that this was a worthwhile experience to have. I really liked being interviewed in groups. This setting allowed all of us to use ideas from our fellow teacher candidates in order to provide the best answers that we could. One bad thing about this format was that if another person had the same answer that you were planning on saying, you had to think of a way to make it your own and stand out. I think that this activity was a great end to the semester and I cannot wait to see if I get "hired" in class on Monday!

"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough."

Monday, November 25

Today in class we were given time to work on anything that we need to have done. Some of my peers focused on Live Binder, while others were catching up on their blogging. Lindsay and myself chose to use this time to complete some online textbook quizzes that we had fallen behind on. Though these quizzes are not too difficult, they can be time consuming when you have to take eight in a row. We were able to complete four or five of them during class because we were a little distracted by other assignments at the same time. 

We were also working on our third activity with Alex and Madison. For this activity, we decided to create a direct instruction lesson to introduce new vocabulary and ideas to the students. The topic of this lesson is The Road to the Revolution:  events leading up the the start of the Revolutionary War. I think that this topic is very important to include in a unit on the Revolutionary War because it explains why the war itself actually happened. 

This week we only have one class due to Thanksgiving Break, so I will only be blogging once this week. Though we will not be in class, that does not mean that we will not be doing work! There is a lot of work to be done before the end of the semester. Only about two more weeks, and then we are done. The fall semester always seems to go by so quickly. It seems like only yesterday I was stressing out about this class and the beginning of my Junior year. 

I want to end by blog post for this week with my title quote:  "Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough." - Oprah Winfrey. It is the time to give thanks and to appreciate what we have in life. If you appreciate the little things in life, someday they will become the big things. 

"Every successful individual knows that his or her achievement depends on a community of persons working together." - Paul Ryan

Monday, November 18

Today we got into our expert groups for the Native American Jigsaw project to refresh our memories and make sure we had completed all necessary slides. After we had a brief check, we broke into our original groups and began to present. 

For my group, we each went around and taught our peers about our Native American tribe. When it was my turn to share my presentation about the Cayuga tribe, my classmates grouped around my computer. All of the information was presented in the same order:  history, geography, culture, customs, food, clothes, famous people, a brief summary, resources used, and a quiz. For my groups quiz, we used the website JogNog which is a fun, easy to use quiz generating site. Students answer questions to receive points, which can be used to reach higher level quizzes. 

I learned a lot about Native American tribes from this activity. I think that jigsaws are a great way to teach a lot of information in a short amount of time. Students would enjoy being able to teach their peers new information that they have learned. 

Wednesday, November 20

We began class by finishing up our Native American Jigsaw presentations. My group had finished this activity on Monday, so we took this time to work on our live binders instead. Regrouping after a few minutes, we were then told that there would be two current event presentations. 

The first presentation was conducted by Madison, Brittney, and Liz. Their lessons was focused on the sequencing of events based on a current event. Madison started off the lesson by providing a brief recap of the previous current event lesson. She then asked the class to provide the definition of a sequence, and then provide examples from real life. The teachers then broke us up into two groups, each receiving sentence strips, a poster board, and tape. Our goal was to arrange the strips into the proper order from the story, using the article itself as a reference. This task was quite difficult and we found ourselves constantly checking our work with the article. 

I think that this lesson would be great to implement in a real classroom setting. I believe that students would work together well to practice both cooperative learning skills and current event information. This activity is going to go on my list of lessons I want to use in the future. 

After Madison, Liz, and Brittney were completed with their lesson, the second group had a chance to implement their lesson. This group consisted of Anne, James, Tara, and Caitlyn, who focused their lesson on facts and opinions. 

Friday, November 22

Today in class we were given time to work within our groups for our unit plans. Though my group already finished one out of the three activities we need, this gave us time to work on our next activity.  I really like when Dr. Smirnova gives us time to work in class. Though it's only for 55 minutes, this time allows us to not only work, but also ask her any questions that we have regarding our work. 

"Give me knowledge, so I may have kindness for all."

Monday, November 11

Today's class began with Dr. Smirnova telling us all to dance and get our bodies awake. I think that was a really cute way to "shake it out" and be able to focus on the task at hand. Students with behavioral disorders could benefit from "shaking it out" during lessons. This gives them a reason to be out of their seat in a semi productive manner. 

After we finished dancing, Dr. Smirnova called everyone to the front of the room to participate in an around the world activity. We were asked to create a circle, and then were given a stuffed globe. and asked to pass it around the When the globe was passed to you, you were supposed to hug it and share an issue that concerns us about geography and how we will address it in our classroom. When the globe was passed to me, I shared that we only have one Earth and we need to be award of how we are treating it. I said that I would encourage recycling in my classroom and try to influence my students to become environmentally conscious. 

After participating in the around the globe activity, we went back to our seats to discuss the major themes of chapter 12 in our textbook. 

The Five Themes of Geography

Theme 1 : Location, Position on the Earth’s Surface. 

-Absolute or exact location other times

-General or relative location; for example

-Learning activities including the location theme help students learn to locate places in the community, state, or nation; on the earth; or on a map or a globe.

Theme 2: Place, Natural and Cultural Characteristics. 

-Natural and human features of the landscape. 

-Mountains, capital cities, and the developing world. 

-Students gather data and answer questions such as the following to help them describe place.

Theme 3: Relationships within Places, Humans and Environments. 

-The natural environment tends to limit what people can do in a place. People have been quite clever in dealing with these limitations. In dry areas where water was not sufficient to grow needed food, people found ways to import water. Today, people in dry places use advanced transportation to import food. .

Theme 4: Movement, Humans Interacting on the Earth. 

-Movement of ideas and products affects not only places of origin and destination but also places along the way. 

-Raw materials are extracted, new products are grown or produced in factories, and transportation centers are expanded or established.

-Ideas such as preservation, conservation, and democracy are being attempted in new places. 

-People travel to other nations to visit and may spend part of their lives working or living in other nations. ----There are systematic movements among the natural forces on the earth. 

-Global problems are concerns of geographers as they study movements between places and regions.

Theme 5: Regions, How They Form and Change. 

-Geographers frequently divide it into regions. Geographers study all the places and activities defined by the other four themes. Geographers begin to get a picture of how the entire world works as they investigate the interactions between regions.

-A region can be as small as an individual classroom, school, neighborhood, or community with which very young students are familiar. In this region, they can observe and investigate. 

Wednesday, November 13

Today's class started with a current event presentation by Brianna, Laura, and Rachel. For their lesson, we were asked to read four different articles prior to today's class. Before we began the activity, we had to review local, global, and national news. We were then split into four different groups to work on our activity. For this activity, each group was given a piece of paper with three different quotes on it. We were asked to identify the article in which the quotes came from, provide the title and author, determine if the news piece was national, global, or local, and provide a brief summary to the class.

  

I think that this activity was a good one to review national, global, and local news. It is important for students to be able to identify which is which, as well as be familiar with news outside of their local community. This activity also allows students to become more familiar with identifying main ideas and summary skills. 

Friday, November 15

Today in class we began to work on our Native American Jigsaw projects. For this project, everyone is broken into two different groups, a base group and an expert group. In a jigsaw, everyone in your base group becomes an expert on a particular topic. For this assignment, we are each becoming an expert on a particular Native American tribe. After each person in the base group chooses a topic, you then break into your expert groups. An expert group is compiled of everyone from the other base groups that has the same topic as you. For my expert group, we chose to learn about the Cayuga Tribe. My groups consisted of Christina, Madison, and myself. 

I enjoy participating in jigsaw projects. I think that they are a fun way for a lot of information to be taught in a short amount of time. When expert groups have finished their research and created a presentation, each member returns to their base group to teach their group members the topic they have learned about. We will be sharing our information about the Cayuga Tribe on Monday. 

“Sometimes, you have to look back in order to understand the things that lie ahead.” - Yvonne Woon

Monday, November 4

Today was the last lesson for both group three and group four. They each taught their cooperative learning lesson, using a PowerPoint to reference. 

Group 3 had the class create their own Declaration of Independence in which they needed to provide reasons to be independent from their parents. 

+1 - I really enjoyed yor activity. The students were very eager to get to work on their sections as soon as you told them what the project would be. 

+2 - I liked how you had one teacher work with each group. This helped to keep students on task and motivated on the project. 

+3 - I liked that you put a timer on the smart board so students could track of how much time they had left to complete the activity. Sometimes having them just use the clock does not work effectively. 

Wish: I really liked the idea of this activity. One thing that I would suggest would be to keep the definition of each section up on the board. Though there was a teacher with each small group, the students were still unsure of what they needed to accomplish. 

Group 4 had the students participate in a debate. One side argued for the British while the other argued for the colonists. 

+1 - I really liked your activity. I think that the students were happy and excited to participate in a debate. 

+2 - I like that you realized that there would not be enough time to complete your whole lesson, so you shortened it to just opening statements. I think that this was an effective and good decision that was made. 

+3 - I liked the folders that you used again for this lesson. I like that students can claim ownership of these and it keeps all necessary papers for the activity in one place. 

Wish: I really wish that I was able to see all of your lesson! I think was a great activity for the students and everyone enjoyed it. 

Great job to both groups! You worked hard and implemented your lessons very well! 

Wednesday, November 6

Today was our last day of fieldwork at Bishop Dunn! I cannot believe that it is over. I had a great time and learned a lot about myself and about teaching in a classroom. I will definitely miss coming to Mrs. Benfer's class and seeing the students.

We started off today with each group asking two to three questions about their topic to the class as a review period. Students were very excited and willing to share what they had learned throughout our time with them. After completing this brief review, we then opened the floor for the students to take our post assessment quiz.

After the quiz, my fellow teachers and I began to share what we had learned from the students. Going around the room, everyone shared that they learned to be better teachers, be more prepared, and to use more formal language.

Each group then presented the students with a certificate of completion for participating in our lessons. We called each student up by name, presenting them with all 4 certificates at once. The students all came up with giant smiles on their faces as we thanked and congratulated them for their hard work.

When all students had their certificates, we thanked Mrs. Benfer for all of her help and for letting us take over her class. She is a great teacher and has offered us many helpful hints to use in our future classrooms one day. 

Friday, November 8

Today in class we began by going around the room and sharing what we had learned from fieldwork as a whole class. Similar to what we did on our last day, we all talked about learning more about ourselves, learning new strategies, and how important using formal language is. 

I shared with the class about how important it is to over prepare and have a back up plan. From our first lesson where we had all of our technology not work, we learned to prepare for the worst. Another thing that I talked about was how noticeable it is when someone says the word "guys" now. I am training myself to limit the usage of that word and make my vocabulary as a whole more formal. 

After completing our oral reflections, Dr. Smirnova began to teach us about LiveBinders . This website will be used to create our e-folios for Social Studies Methods. I have never created an e-folio before, so this will be an interesting experience. So far, live binders seems easy to use. It is similar to a real binder, with various tabs and sections, but this one you can hyperlink websites and insert lesson plans and websites directly into the pages. 

I think that being exposed to new technologies will be very useful for my future. I really like that Dr. Smirnova has provided us with a variety of resources to use. I will definitely be using some, if not all, of the websites, tools, and strategies that Dr. Smirnova has provided. 

Though the live binder will take some time to complete, I am confident that I will be able to finish it by the end of the semester.

"Observation more than books and experience more than persons, are the prime educators."

Monday, October 28

Today began my observation of groups three and four for Social Studies Methods. I first was able to observe group three's direct instruction lesson that focused on the Declaration of Independence, followed by group four's direct instruction lesson focused on the major battles of the American Revolution. Both groups decided to present their information in a PowerPoint format with a corresponding worksheet. 

Group 3:

+1 - I enjoyed the presentation of your material and that you included "stop and check" slides. This allowed the teachers to make sure everyone comprehended the information and was caught up with the note sheets. 

+2 - I like that you pre-assessed student knowledge based on pictures before you began your lesson. This captured the students attention and got them ready to learn. 

+3 - I like that you were able to jump in and help each other if a fellow teacher forgot a word or lost their train of thought. This is really important to be able to do while co-teaching. It worked very well and you seemed to work well together. 

One wish:   I wish you spoke a little louder and more enthusiastically at times. Direct instruction lessons can tend to be a little boring because it is just facts being taught. Try to make it more interesting by showing that you are interested in the lesson. By giving your lesson a positive connotation, students will look at it in a more positive manner. 

Group 4:

+1 - I liked that when students were unsure of what you were asking them, you were able to rephrase your word choice and question to make it easier to understand. You seemed to really know your topic well and it showed!

+2 - I really liked the folders that you had for each student. This saved time so you did not have to stop and pass out the various papers in the middle of the lesson. I also think that this lets students take ownership of their work. If we had more time, it would have been fun if students could decorate the folders to really make them unique. 

+3 - I like that you had slides in your presentation to stop and check for understanding. These slides are key in the presentation to make sure that all students are on track and paying attention to the lesson.

One wish: I wish that you spoke a little louder and not directly from your presentation. I think that this had to do more with your nerves and the time factor, but besides that, you did awesome!

Both groups did a great job for their first lesson. They were both a little nervous at first, but as the lessons progressed, they were able to gain confidence and follow through with ease.

As an observer, I noticed how obvious the little things are to people who are watching. I cringed every time I heard a group use the word "guys" and noticed the use of "gonna" and "wanna" frequently. I think that having groups observe is great for both the teachers and the observers. It lets you know what you should and should not do when you yourself are teaching. 

Wednesday, October 30

Today was the current event presentation by Alex, Lindsay, and myself. The current event strategy that we focused on was listening for details. We decided that this would be a good lesson to teach because listening an important skill for students to have. 

Starting off the presentation, Alex, Lindsay and I first reviewed the 5 W's, who, what, when, where, and why, through our Google Presentation that were covered in one of the previous presentations. These W's were things that we wanted the students to listen for during our lesson. For our presentation, Alex read through the article twice, having students listen only the first time, and allow for note taking during the next reading. Our students then had to use their notes to answer a few specific questions from the article. 

At the end of our presentation, we provided our classmates with more links to use for current event lessons, as well as a way to apply our lesson to a whole class setting. We talked about assigning roles within small groups and having students read the article to their peers, as well as having students listen to the news and write down what they hear. 

Overall, I think that our lesson went fairly well. The only major thing that our peers mentioned during our three positives, one wish feedback was that our article was a little long. We did not realize how long it was, but once the reading began, we noticed that we should have shortened it. Next time, I would like to choose a shorter article that students would not grow tired of halfway through. 

Friday, November 1

Today we were able to observe Group 3 & 4 for their second lesson, the inquiry lesson. For their lessons, group three created a scavenger hunt activity based on missing statues at a museum, using the internet as a source to find out information for the missing items. Group 4 used artifact bags for their lesson and had students become historians to find out what artifacts were used for.  

Group 3:

+1 - I really liked your activity and the use of technology. I think that the students really liked to use the computers and work together in small groups. 

+2 - I liked that you modeled what you were expecting from the students with a sample "missing statue." It is very important to model for your students.

+3 - I liked that you reviewed a few concepts from your previous lesson. It helps students to keep on track, especially when they are participating in a different lesson beforehand or afterward. 

Wish: I wish you were a little more organized. At times it seemed like you did not know what was going on. Practice makes perfect! Make sure you practice and do a run through with your group members before you bring the lesson into a classroom. 

Group 4:

+1 - I loved your artifacts! They looked so real and authentic. Great job making/finding them! I especially liked the map of the major battles that you had. 

+2 - I like how you modeled the activity for the students so they knew what to expect from the activity. Modeling is a key part if a smoothly executed lesson. 

+3 - I enjoyed the worksheet that you created for the class. It was a great way to keep the students on task and let them know what they were supposed to be doing. 

Wish: I wish that you would have walked around the classroom when another teacher was talking. All teachers "bunched up" in the front of the room makes it easier for students to act out or misbehave.

Overall, both groups did great this week! It's difficult to go from a seemingly perfect written lesson plan to it's implantation. Nothing ever goes 100% the way you want it to. As a teacher, you have to learn how to handle certain situations and always have a back up plan. Whether it's a different way to teach the same lesson, a different lesson entirely, or extra work, a teacher should always be prepared for it all.