Almost Half Way!

I cannot believe that February is almost over! My oh my is the time flying by. This week in Washington was another great week where I was able to be very involved in the classroom. I gave another ORPH test this week to eight students. It is interesting to see that students do better on their retell when they read a story with familiar vocabulary words and something that is interesting to them. It was very evident this week. Last week the students read a story with words that they struggled with and the students scored between 0-2 on their retells. However, this week they read a story with easier vocabulary and they mostly all finished the story in a minute and their retells were all either 2 or 3 (3 being the best score). The teacher realized her students struggled with the retell last week because she made an announcement before they preformed the ORPH test and she told them to make sure they are thinking about what they are reading so they can retell the story instead of just flying through the story. This is NCTCS  standard 5 "Teachers reflect on their practice" under teachers analyze student learning. The teacher was able to go back and look at last weeks test. She realized that the students were not able to retell the story very well, which means they did not comprehend what they read. She then knew it was something she needed to address before this weeks test. After she made the announcement, the students did much better on this weeks ORPH test.
    Today we were able to have a digital learning day which was awesome and so very helpful! I learned about so many new technology resources today which is perfect because that is what my outside research has been on. This week I learned about the app Google Cardboard. That blew my mind. This app allows you to see images in 3D and allows you to create virtual museums for your students. It is something that the students will have so much fun with. I am going to use this for my virtual museum to make it more interesting. I will also use this in my future classroom by using this app when I go to cool places or to museums. I will then let my students use the cardboard app to view it. If I do not have the budget to take a whole class on a field trip to a museum, I can go myself, use the app, and share it with my class. This will help the students to feel like they actually visited the museum themselves. Digital learning day was very beneficial and I am so glad that I participated in it.

Week 6!

Week six was another great week spent in Washington. It was Valentine's Day on Tuesday so we were able to play a Valentine's Day listening game, do worksheets with them, create a heart craft and pass out Valentines. It was a great experience because I got some really interesting ideas for when I am a teacher and will be celebrating Valentine's Day with my students. Something I really liked that I want to do in my future classroom is Mrs. Skeith passed out a Valentine's Day packet with different coloring sheets and activities that were educational. The kids were given a box of the Valentine's hearts. They had to open them and put them on their desk. Next on their worksheet they had 6 different larger hearts with "Greene" "Yellow" "Orange" "pink" "Purple" and "White" written on them. They had to put the candy hearts in the bigger hearts and sort them by color. They then had to write how many they had of each. For example if they had 5 pink hearts they would write 5 in the pink heart on the paper and so on. After they recorded all of their numbers, they were allowed to eat the candy hearts. The next two pages were filled with graphs where they had to do a bar graph and a tally graph of how many hearts they had. Then they had to look at the graphs and answers questions like "did you have more green or purple hearts". This was a fun activity that the kids enjoyed because they got to eat the candy after, but they were also doing bar graphs, math problems and solving problems all while having fun. This is definitely a resource I have made note of and will use in my classroom when I am a teacher. This activity falls under Teacher standard 3, Teachers know the content they teach. It falls under the category teachers recognize the interconnectedness of content areas/discipline. Mrs. Skeith connected multiple standards into one fun Valentine's Day activity for the kids. She could have given them all coloring sheets and a box of candy and made up the excuse that it was Valentine's Day, but instead she connected standards in with the activities they were doing. The student's probably did not even realize that they were doing work and learning because they were having so much fun figuring out how many hearts they had and coloring the bar graph.
  I have continued with my outside technology research this week and I have found the PBS website. There are so many educational games and videos for all ages and all subjects. This would be a perfect website for a teacher to have her students play on during center time. The teacher can tell his/her students what games and activities they would like them to complete for that day. It is something that students would have a lot of fun with because there are even video games on the website, however they are educational. In today's learner that we completed this week, we learned that today's students need to be engaged and they learn best with technology and this one website includes both of those aspects. This is the website if anyone wants to check it out! http://pbskids.org/games/

First Week in Washington Complete!

Week five of classes was a very exciting week. I got to visit Washington Elementary for an hour on Monday and four hours on Tuesday. Monday I was in a 5th grade classroom and only observed for the first week. However, Tuesday I was in a second grade classroom and was thrown right in to help.
     Tuesday was the most experience I have ever had in a classroom working with students, and it was awesome. I first gave a ORF test to students, which is an oral fluency test. The students had one minute to read as many words as possible. We as the teachers had to mark off how many words they got in total, and how many they said incorrectly. The students then had a minute to retell the story to evaluate if they actually understood what they read. We then graded them on their retell. This was great practice for when I actually have to give my own students these types of tests. In class when we have talked about DIBLES and other tests I will have to give my students, I have been nervous that I would have a hard time with that. I have now learned it was very easy and the kids cooperate very well. I will now be more relaxed going into my future classroom when I have to give oral tests.
   After giving them the test, Colleen and I graded papers they had completed. They read a story and then they had five different boxes to fill out. Some of the questions were "what was the problem in the story? How did the girl fix the problem? Draw pictures of what happened in the beginning, middle and end of the story." For the most part the students got those correct, but the last question asked, only one student out of 19 answered it correctly. The question was "What was the authors purpose of the story?" It was clear that the students did not understand what the question meant or how to find the authors purpose because 18 students got it wrong. I told our clinical teacher that they all got it wrong and she said that it is a concept she was going to have to go back and reteach. She did not blame it on her students or make up excuses, but she was following NC teacher standard five which is teachers analyze student learning. By grading the papers she realized that she would have to go back and explain it a different way. She had collected and analyzed student performance data so that should could then improve her effectiveness of teaching. The first week in Washington was definitely successful and I have already learned a lot. I am so excited that we get to continue going to Washington twice a week for the rest of the semester.
  To continue on with my outside research this week, I have researched about the website called Wonderopolis. Caroline told me that her clinical teacher uses it in her class and they have a "wonder of the day". I have explored the website and think it is a resource that will be beneficial in my future classroom. I would also like to do a wonder of the day. I will let my students take turns with something that they are wondering so they can have their question answered. There are also other students wonders on there that anyone can look at. The website is colorful and welcoming so I think it would be a fun way for students to learn and to see what questions other students also have. This is the website if anyone wants to check it out!
http://wonderopolis.org/wonders?order_by=recent

Week 4 complete!

This week was our last week that we will be in the classroom for both Tuesday and Thursday. Next Tuesday we get to make our first trip to Washington for Social Studies Methods and I am super excited. We do not have an exact plan when we show up to the class, so I am excited to be thrown into it and see what great experience I will receive from it. 

  This past week we focused on our unit plan and went over parts that we need to be working on. We have our standards picked out and have been working on our generalizations and guided questions. We had the opportunity to look at a completed unit plan which was very helpful because it gave me a guideline of what is expected from us for the unit. 

    Something that I found on twitter this week was a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr that said "The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education." I think this is an awesome quote because it is what we have been talking about this whole semester so far. We don't just need to teach our students facts and information that they will forget the next day, but we need to make education fun and something that students want to do. We want our students to think critically and be able to make decisions. Building someones character while teaching them is the key to success. To do this, we as teachers have to make the classroom a safe and welcoming place where students can grow and thrive and become successful citizens of the United States. This would relate to NCTCS  teacher standard 2. "Teachers establish a respectful environment for a diverse population of students" under the category of "teachers provide an environment in which each chid has a positive, nuturing relationship with caring adults." To do this in my future classroom, I will make sure my lesson plans are based on concepts and not on facts. I know that I did not learn or want to memorize places or dates when I was in Social Studies, so I will not do that to my future students. I will integrate and use themes that will excite and interest my students. 

   I have been preparing a list of technology resources that will help me to be successful in my future classroom. I will then turn the list into a website that I can share with my classmates and coworkers. It will be a very helpful tool that can be used to improve education and help create successful and intelligent students. The resource that I found for this week is a website called epic for kids. This website has hundreds of online books for every grade and every subject. On this website you can create assignments and quizzes to go along with what you read or watched. It is more interesting for the students because it can be read on the smart board so everyone can see it and hear it .Then to test if the students understood what was read to them, you can have them take the quiz or complete and assignment at the end of the book that was read. There are also project ideas that are included in some of the books. This is a great way to take reading to a new level where the kids can enjoy reading!

This is the website and I suggest that every teacher signs up for this account!

https://www.getepic.com/app/search