I had always planned on blogging through my student teaching experience. Not only to reflect on the victories and mistakes in the classroom and to develop a deeper understanding of the craft of teaching, but also to have it as a memory that will last forever. Everyone tells you that student teaching flies by and will be over before you know it....
Well, all of my planning seemed to go right out the window as soon as 5:00 am alarms became the norm and my usual over thinking and rethinking about lessons, classroom management, organization, pacing, daily administration, the TPA, resumes, cover letters, job prospects, the prospect of no jobs, and still working part-time kept me up until I could no longer keep my eyes open.
So.....3 weeks in and I am finally writing my first entry. Here it goes.
I will start out by saying that I feel as though I was made for this. Everyday I feel more and more confident that I have finally figured out what I am supposed to do in my life, and who I am supposed to be. I am a little bit older than some student teachers, and have already completed a Bachelor degree, so I do have some more years under my belt. I can also admit that I am not a shy person. Raised by a single mother has made me a very outspoken and strong woman. So I am not intimidated by being in front of a classroom of students. Even when I am being evaluated or another teacher is in the room, I can almost forget they are there and just zone in on the lesson and the students. I am also not afraid to make a mistake or ask for help. And one thing that I can say with confidence is that I am a hard worker. To my own detriment at times, but I am. I truly work hard at everything I do in the classroom and for my students. Even today, for example, I have been in my office at my house since 10 am, and it is now 6:30 pm, which reveals my biggest flaw- over thinking. I will spend hours and hours trying to create the best lesson using technology, primary sources, differentiation, collaboration, etc. Sometimes I just need to make a decision and go with it.
So, back to the point. I walked in the first day of student teaching with a huge box filled with materials to ensure I was as organized as possible. I had received my placement before Christmas Break and had been in contact with my mentor teacher for almost a month before I started. I made an appointment to meet with him after school and showed up with a list of questions and materials/information I needed from him. I also went back two other times before I started my first day. He teaches 7 periods and 3 different preps- Modern World History, U.S. Government and Street Law (a social studies elected funded by the Akron Bar Association). I can tell you that I was very overwhelmed. I knew it was going to be a ton of work. So I had three big binders ready to go for each subject, one for attendance and seating charts, one for the TPA materials and endless file folders to keep all materials, templates and supplementals together. I also brought a desktop organizer, pens, pencils, whole punch, scissors, huge desktop calendar, paper, binder clips, paper clips, etc. My goal was to never have to ask my mentor for materials. It was not his job to provide them for me. I am an adult and a professional, and should have a space in the classroom that exemplifies that.
I was amazed by the amount of technology available at the school. I was THRILLED. I had taken an amazing course at The University of Akron, Instructional Technology Applications, or what we called Ed Tech, or #uaedtech. My professor, Garth Holman, may not even remember me specifically, but I will remember him and that class for the rest of my career. It was a game-changer for me, and completely changed the way I thought about teaching and learning. And it absolutely changed the way I approached student teaching.
Basically, the rhetoric these days for finding a job is to separate yourself on your resume. Stand out in student teaching, it is the longest job interview of your life. And most importantly, technology integration and 21st century skills is CRUCIAL. I highly suggest a professional twitter. Garth said it was "the best professional development tool out there" and he could not be more right. How else could you possibly get connected with these cutting-edge educators around the country? You couldn't! I spent most of last semester and all of break searching twitter on how to integrate technology into the classroom. I mostly retweeted articles and blog posts from other educators in an attempt to log all of these amazing ideas. I was sure that I was going to use my blog, and because the school has a mobile iPad lab, I knew that was another must. So in my first week of student teaching I set up a classroom blog for the students. I decided to make one for my mentor teacher so that he has it after I am gone. I wanted to leave him and his class with something from me. And, if you don't know yet- in education, we share! So, I started a class blog, got my mentor teacher set up with a professional twitter and set him up to follow all of the same ed tech people I follow. I posted both of our twitter handles on the board with big letters saying "Follow Us!". I started tweeting great ideas at my mentor about what we could do in class. I also immediately met and made an appointment with the tech coordinators at the high school. I needed to know what I could do and how they could help me. I started playing with apps for the iPad and researching (through twitter) how to use them effectively in the classroom.
I have also made use of epals which is a global community of students. You can create a profile and connect with teachers from across the world who want to collaborate on a project with your students. This week my students will be emailing their epals in Ukraine and Romanian (hopefully) to learn a global and multicultural perspective. They will learn about the life of a teenager in another country and eventually about how they each learn history and their own historical perspective. We will skype individually, and later on with the whole class. And after they get started, they can reflect on their experiences on the class blog or their own.
So far the blog building has been going great. My 2 senior classes are building their own blogs for Street Law. They will use a blog to reflect on topics, cases and current events as well as comment on one another's blog. I love the idea that they will be able to see the progression of their writing. Some will be formal entries, while others are completely open-ended and they are given creative freedom to respond and reflect however they want. It gives them ownership of their learning and it shows in their writing. The freshman classes just began analyzing primary sources on their class blog page. It is a work in progress. They love the idea that on their home page I upload almost all of the class materials, so they have no excuses about missing a Prezi presentation or other information. Most of them want to build their own, and the ones that are building now love the idea that it is their own, and so far the response to using blogs has been awesome.
We have started calling Fridays, "Tech Friday", because no matter what, we will be using some form of technology that day. We recently tried Socrative, which was great. It is an app that can be used on the iPad or any smartphone. Basically a digital clicker, it allows you to build quizzes with multiple choice and short answer questions and gives both students and teacher immediate feedback. You can enter in explanations for right answers and see a graph of answers in real time. Students names are not shown, but it will email you an excel sheet with each student and their answers. It served as a great formative assessment, and many students that are often distracted or disruptive were engaged and enjoying using the iPads, because apparently they are not used very often.
I also downloaded an app called RC Trackpad which is great for classrooms without a Smart Board It turns your iPad into a wireless mouse for a projection screen. The kids also think its really cool. I am only 3 weeks in and I feel like I have so much I want to do and hope that I can get it all in. I will try to post more often with great tech finds and experiences. I have gone on and on.....and on, and I haven't even talked about the students! That could take me all day! Time for some sleep, or at least time to get off this computer, goodnight!
Well, all of my planning seemed to go right out the window as soon as 5:00 am alarms became the norm and my usual over thinking and rethinking about lessons, classroom management, organization, pacing, daily administration, the TPA, resumes, cover letters, job prospects, the prospect of no jobs, and still working part-time kept me up until I could no longer keep my eyes open.
So.....3 weeks in and I am finally writing my first entry. Here it goes.
I will start out by saying that I feel as though I was made for this. Everyday I feel more and more confident that I have finally figured out what I am supposed to do in my life, and who I am supposed to be. I am a little bit older than some student teachers, and have already completed a Bachelor degree, so I do have some more years under my belt. I can also admit that I am not a shy person. Raised by a single mother has made me a very outspoken and strong woman. So I am not intimidated by being in front of a classroom of students. Even when I am being evaluated or another teacher is in the room, I can almost forget they are there and just zone in on the lesson and the students. I am also not afraid to make a mistake or ask for help. And one thing that I can say with confidence is that I am a hard worker. To my own detriment at times, but I am. I truly work hard at everything I do in the classroom and for my students. Even today, for example, I have been in my office at my house since 10 am, and it is now 6:30 pm, which reveals my biggest flaw- over thinking. I will spend hours and hours trying to create the best lesson using technology, primary sources, differentiation, collaboration, etc. Sometimes I just need to make a decision and go with it.
So, back to the point. I walked in the first day of student teaching with a huge box filled with materials to ensure I was as organized as possible. I had received my placement before Christmas Break and had been in contact with my mentor teacher for almost a month before I started. I made an appointment to meet with him after school and showed up with a list of questions and materials/information I needed from him. I also went back two other times before I started my first day. He teaches 7 periods and 3 different preps- Modern World History, U.S. Government and Street Law (a social studies elected funded by the Akron Bar Association). I can tell you that I was very overwhelmed. I knew it was going to be a ton of work. So I had three big binders ready to go for each subject, one for attendance and seating charts, one for the TPA materials and endless file folders to keep all materials, templates and supplementals together. I also brought a desktop organizer, pens, pencils, whole punch, scissors, huge desktop calendar, paper, binder clips, paper clips, etc. My goal was to never have to ask my mentor for materials. It was not his job to provide them for me. I am an adult and a professional, and should have a space in the classroom that exemplifies that.
I was amazed by the amount of technology available at the school. I was THRILLED. I had taken an amazing course at The University of Akron, Instructional Technology Applications, or what we called Ed Tech, or #uaedtech. My professor, Garth Holman, may not even remember me specifically, but I will remember him and that class for the rest of my career. It was a game-changer for me, and completely changed the way I thought about teaching and learning. And it absolutely changed the way I approached student teaching.
Basically, the rhetoric these days for finding a job is to separate yourself on your resume. Stand out in student teaching, it is the longest job interview of your life. And most importantly, technology integration and 21st century skills is CRUCIAL. I highly suggest a professional twitter. Garth said it was "the best professional development tool out there" and he could not be more right. How else could you possibly get connected with these cutting-edge educators around the country? You couldn't! I spent most of last semester and all of break searching twitter on how to integrate technology into the classroom. I mostly retweeted articles and blog posts from other educators in an attempt to log all of these amazing ideas. I was sure that I was going to use my blog, and because the school has a mobile iPad lab, I knew that was another must. So in my first week of student teaching I set up a classroom blog for the students. I decided to make one for my mentor teacher so that he has it after I am gone. I wanted to leave him and his class with something from me. And, if you don't know yet- in education, we share! So, I started a class blog, got my mentor teacher set up with a professional twitter and set him up to follow all of the same ed tech people I follow. I posted both of our twitter handles on the board with big letters saying "Follow Us!". I started tweeting great ideas at my mentor about what we could do in class. I also immediately met and made an appointment with the tech coordinators at the high school. I needed to know what I could do and how they could help me. I started playing with apps for the iPad and researching (through twitter) how to use them effectively in the classroom.
I have also made use of epals which is a global community of students. You can create a profile and connect with teachers from across the world who want to collaborate on a project with your students. This week my students will be emailing their epals in Ukraine and Romanian (hopefully) to learn a global and multicultural perspective. They will learn about the life of a teenager in another country and eventually about how they each learn history and their own historical perspective. We will skype individually, and later on with the whole class. And after they get started, they can reflect on their experiences on the class blog or their own.
So far the blog building has been going great. My 2 senior classes are building their own blogs for Street Law. They will use a blog to reflect on topics, cases and current events as well as comment on one another's blog. I love the idea that they will be able to see the progression of their writing. Some will be formal entries, while others are completely open-ended and they are given creative freedom to respond and reflect however they want. It gives them ownership of their learning and it shows in their writing. The freshman classes just began analyzing primary sources on their class blog page. It is a work in progress. They love the idea that on their home page I upload almost all of the class materials, so they have no excuses about missing a Prezi presentation or other information. Most of them want to build their own, and the ones that are building now love the idea that it is their own, and so far the response to using blogs has been awesome.
We have started calling Fridays, "Tech Friday", because no matter what, we will be using some form of technology that day. We recently tried Socrative, which was great. It is an app that can be used on the iPad or any smartphone. Basically a digital clicker, it allows you to build quizzes with multiple choice and short answer questions and gives both students and teacher immediate feedback. You can enter in explanations for right answers and see a graph of answers in real time. Students names are not shown, but it will email you an excel sheet with each student and their answers. It served as a great formative assessment, and many students that are often distracted or disruptive were engaged and enjoying using the iPads, because apparently they are not used very often.
I also downloaded an app called RC Trackpad which is great for classrooms without a Smart Board It turns your iPad into a wireless mouse for a projection screen. The kids also think its really cool. I am only 3 weeks in and I feel like I have so much I want to do and hope that I can get it all in. I will try to post more often with great tech finds and experiences. I have gone on and on.....and on, and I haven't even talked about the students! That could take me all day! Time for some sleep, or at least time to get off this computer, goodnight!