Final Reflection:
This past semester during Quest 2, I have been challenged, stressed out, frustrated, anxious, nervous, excited and now relieved. I look forward to student teaching next semester during Quest 3 and the experiences I will have and the many things I will learn. However, I must first reflect on this past semester on the many joys and challenges that I have faced. I will say that I am better with the younger kids than with the older kids.
During my 2nd rotation, I learned to be more flexible with the lessons and adapt them to the teacher's preference. The 2nd rotation was more difficult for me to adapt to the teacher's teaching style and the style of her classroom. I found it more challenging to manage the students behavior in 3rd grade compared to 1st grade.
During this semester, I have learned a great deal and yet I know I have much more to learn. I have learned to be patient and wait for a student to answer a question or complete an activity. I have learned to give the students enough time to think critically about the questions. I have learned many more technology skills this semester than I knew before I started. I have learned how to use a promethean board, create a flip chart and a jumping-off page. I have also learned how to take the initiave. During the semester, I would ask my cooperating teachers if they needed me to do anything. Sometimes, if I saw something that needed to be done, I would go ahead and take the initiative to do it.
I have grown in many ways that I never thought I could over the course of this semester. I have improved my professional attributes from the beginning of the semester such as patience, technology and taking initiative. This semester was a wonderful learning experience, and I am looking forward to all that I will learn in my student teaching next semester as well.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Now That the Editing is Complete
Reflective Post #3:
Now that I have edited my teaching video, I have learned many important details regarding my teaching. I have learned that I tend to talk quickly and I also teach while moving my hands. One thing that I need to focus on is trying to slow down. When teaching my lessons, I have so much important information to teach, that I tend to rush through it so that I can get everything done. The video demonstrates my ability to teach a lesson on rapid changes to a 3rd grade class. It also shows many fun and engaging activities that the students completed during the lesson. It shows the students as they are participating in the lesson by answering questions, making a model of the Earth's layers, and demonstrating an earthquake on their desks. The video demonstrates my ability to explain the content area of the lesson to the students and their responses while doing so. I have learned a great deal through watching and editing my teaching video, and look forward to improving my teaching strategies next semester during Quest 3.
Now that I have edited my teaching video, I have learned many important details regarding my teaching. I have learned that I tend to talk quickly and I also teach while moving my hands. One thing that I need to focus on is trying to slow down. When teaching my lessons, I have so much important information to teach, that I tend to rush through it so that I can get everything done. The video demonstrates my ability to teach a lesson on rapid changes to a 3rd grade class. It also shows many fun and engaging activities that the students completed during the lesson. It shows the students as they are participating in the lesson by answering questions, making a model of the Earth's layers, and demonstrating an earthquake on their desks. The video demonstrates my ability to explain the content area of the lesson to the students and their responses while doing so. I have learned a great deal through watching and editing my teaching video, and look forward to improving my teaching strategies next semester during Quest 3.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Rapid Changes on the Earth
Reflective Post #2: (Disclaimer, I wrote this reflection out on a piece of paper on November 11th after I taught my lesson on rapid changes.)
Overall, I thought my lesson went well and that the students stayed engaged throughout the lesson. I asked many questions to keep the students focused and on task. I made sure to model the activities and show examples to the students before having them complete the activity individually. I was disappointed with the earthquake video that I showed as the engage portion of the lesson. The sound on the video was not very loud and this took away from the effect of the video because the students were not able to hear it very well. Other than the technical problem with the video, I was pleased with the outcome of my lesson on rapid changes to the Earth's surface. I was well prepared, and I do believe that the students learned a great deal about the rapid changes of the Earth.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Lesson Expectations
Reflective Post #1: (Disclaimer, I wrote this out on a piece of paper ten minutes before I taught my lesson on November 11th).
Blog before teaching my lesson- 9:50 am November 11th, 2010
I expect this lesson on rapid landform changes to go well and that the students will be actively engaged in the lesson's activities. I am somewhat worried about how the demonstration of a volcano eruption is going to go. I have not practiced erupting the volcano before teaching this lesson, so I am kind of nervous as to how it is going to turn out. I have everything ready to go, but there is so much to think about. I expect that the students are going to get excited about all the activities that they will be doing. I expect that they will need to be redirected and will need to be reminded to stay focused on the activity. I also expect that some of the students will become easily distracted by all that is going on during the lesson. I am going to ask many questions that will hopefully keep them focused and on task throughout the lesson. I expect that the students will enjoy the volcano eruption as well as the earthquake activity. Overall, I hope that this lesson goes well and as planned. Ready or not, here I go!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
The Importance of Honesty
Cheating Reflection:
I would detect whether or not the PowerPoint is plagiarism by looking at the student's in class writing samples. I would compare Lucy's in class work to the PowerPoint slides she turned in. Then I would look at the slides and make sure that she covered the material that was assigned. I would check to see if there are any references given on her slides or if all the information is credited to herself. I would also copy and paste part of her slides into a search engine and see if any websites come up.
I would discourage plagiarism by talking to my class about cheating and the different types of cheating. I would model ways to give credit to other people's ideas. I would show them how to list their resources if they want to state someone else's work. I would also teach my students how to reword the information into their own words. I would teach my students about the importance of honesty. I would put my students in someone else's shoes by asking them situational questions. I would ask my students how they would feel if they wrote a book or some other writing and someone else took it and didn't give them credit for writing the book, but instead they claimed it as their own. I would ask them how they would feel if that happened to them. I would teach my students why it is important to be honest and ways that we can show honesty.
I would detect whether or not the PowerPoint is plagiarism by looking at the student's in class writing samples. I would compare Lucy's in class work to the PowerPoint slides she turned in. Then I would look at the slides and make sure that she covered the material that was assigned. I would check to see if there are any references given on her slides or if all the information is credited to herself. I would also copy and paste part of her slides into a search engine and see if any websites come up.
I would discourage plagiarism by talking to my class about cheating and the different types of cheating. I would model ways to give credit to other people's ideas. I would show them how to list their resources if they want to state someone else's work. I would also teach my students how to reword the information into their own words. I would teach my students about the importance of honesty. I would put my students in someone else's shoes by asking them situational questions. I would ask my students how they would feel if they wrote a book or some other writing and someone else took it and didn't give them credit for writing the book, but instead they claimed it as their own. I would ask them how they would feel if that happened to them. I would teach my students why it is important to be honest and ways that we can show honesty.
Anyone can teach, but not anyone can teach effectivly.
Midterm Reflection:
I have learned many important teaching strategies during the first rotation that will impact my teaching in the near future. I have had to have a great deal of patience in the first grade class during my first placement. I have learned to slow down and to teach on a pace that all the students can follow and keep up with. I have learned to be patient with the students and accept that sometimes no matter how hard I try, I will not always get everything done during that seven hour school day. I have also learned a great deal about technology and how to use a document camera and promethean board. I have learned how to create a flip chart for the promethean board and how to implement the flip chart into my lessons. I am still working on taking the initiative and not being afraid to be bold and step up to do a task.
So far in Quest 2, I have learned more about the promethean board and how it is operated. I have learned how to implement technology such as the promethean board, document camera, and digital stories into my lessons. One specific example is in my first observed lesson, I created a digital story on the Constitution and showed it to the students at the beginning of my lesson. I also created a flip chart for the promethean board and used it in my Language Arts lesson on nouns. I have learned how to write many different forms of lesson plans. One example of this is the variety of lesson plans I have written for my methods classes. I have learned how to write a 5E lesson plan, as well as many other forms of lesson plans.
I have faced challenges such as learning how to be more patient and have more patience with students in my classroom. Since I was working with first graders during the first rotation, I have learned how to teach at a slower pace that they can follow. I have also learned how to manage my time more efficiently and handle more responsibility.
My personal learning goals for the remainder of the semester are to continue to have patience with the students in my second placement class. I also want to learn more about the promethean board and how to use it more effectively in the classroom. I want to learn about different behavior management styles and how they are implemented into the classroom. I want to learn how to be an effective teacher as well as any teaching strategies that will help me during my first year of teaching.
I have learned many important teaching strategies during the first rotation that will impact my teaching in the near future. I have had to have a great deal of patience in the first grade class during my first placement. I have learned to slow down and to teach on a pace that all the students can follow and keep up with. I have learned to be patient with the students and accept that sometimes no matter how hard I try, I will not always get everything done during that seven hour school day. I have also learned a great deal about technology and how to use a document camera and promethean board. I have learned how to create a flip chart for the promethean board and how to implement the flip chart into my lessons. I am still working on taking the initiative and not being afraid to be bold and step up to do a task.
So far in Quest 2, I have learned more about the promethean board and how it is operated. I have learned how to implement technology such as the promethean board, document camera, and digital stories into my lessons. One specific example is in my first observed lesson, I created a digital story on the Constitution and showed it to the students at the beginning of my lesson. I also created a flip chart for the promethean board and used it in my Language Arts lesson on nouns. I have learned how to write many different forms of lesson plans. One example of this is the variety of lesson plans I have written for my methods classes. I have learned how to write a 5E lesson plan, as well as many other forms of lesson plans.
I have faced challenges such as learning how to be more patient and have more patience with students in my classroom. Since I was working with first graders during the first rotation, I have learned how to teach at a slower pace that they can follow. I have also learned how to manage my time more efficiently and handle more responsibility.
My personal learning goals for the remainder of the semester are to continue to have patience with the students in my second placement class. I also want to learn more about the promethean board and how to use it more effectively in the classroom. I want to learn about different behavior management styles and how they are implemented into the classroom. I want to learn how to be an effective teacher as well as any teaching strategies that will help me during my first year of teaching.
Lesson on the Constitution
Lesson Reflection #1:
My teaching observation for my first lesson was a very beneficial learning experience that will impact my teaching in the near future. I taught my lesson on the Constitution and the importance of having rules in our life. I did my best to keep the students engaged in the lesson, and participating in the activities throughout the lesson. The students really enjoyed the digital story on the Constitution and they were very attentive to watching the video I had made.
The students participated well in the discussion about rules, but a few students gave inappropriate responses to a few of the questions. I asked the students what life would be like if we didn't have rules, and a couple of the students were trying to be funny by answering the question inappropriately. Some of the students were being silly and were not answering the question seriously.
The vocabulary activity went well and all of the students understood how to complete it. The students also enjoyed coming up to the front of the class to sign the Preamble with a fancy pen. They all wanted to come sign their name whenever it was their turn to do so. However, this activity took a while for each student to come up one at a time and sign their name on the Preamble. While they were doing this, I had each student draw and color two pictures of themselves following a rule at school and at home.
A few of the students wanted to draw one picture of themselves not following a rule and the other picture of them following a rule. I told the students that both of the pictures they drew they needed to be following a rule, one at school and the other at home. Some of the students couldn't think of some rules, so I told them to think about the rules that we had discussed earlier. I referred them to look at their classroom rules that were posted on the wall if they needed help.
Also, I would have done the picture presentation differently. I would have called on students who I knew were taking the lesson seriously and were following directions. I called on one student who drew an inappropriate picture not following the directions of what he was supposed to be drawing. I would have to monitor this very closely and make sure that all the students are on task and following directions. Overall, I think my lesson went well and the students learned about the Constitution and why rules are important to follow.
The students participated well in the discussion about rules, but a few students gave inappropriate responses to a few of the questions. I asked the students what life would be like if we didn't have rules, and a couple of the students were trying to be funny by answering the question inappropriately. Some of the students were being silly and were not answering the question seriously.
The vocabulary activity went well and all of the students understood how to complete it. The students also enjoyed coming up to the front of the class to sign the Preamble with a fancy pen. They all wanted to come sign their name whenever it was their turn to do so. However, this activity took a while for each student to come up one at a time and sign their name on the Preamble. While they were doing this, I had each student draw and color two pictures of themselves following a rule at school and at home.
A few of the students wanted to draw one picture of themselves not following a rule and the other picture of them following a rule. I told the students that both of the pictures they drew they needed to be following a rule, one at school and the other at home. Some of the students couldn't think of some rules, so I told them to think about the rules that we had discussed earlier. I referred them to look at their classroom rules that were posted on the wall if they needed help.
Also, I would have done the picture presentation differently. I would have called on students who I knew were taking the lesson seriously and were following directions. I called on one student who drew an inappropriate picture not following the directions of what he was supposed to be drawing. I would have to monitor this very closely and make sure that all the students are on task and following directions. Overall, I think my lesson went well and the students learned about the Constitution and why rules are important to follow.
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