1/4 of the way through the semester!!

      This week in class on Tuesday Dr. Parker asked a question that really made us think. He said to the class, what would happen if you were a teacher right now and your students came into class and asked about the hurricane that is happening right now. He said if a student asks why are there hurricanes right now how would you respond? I was definitely caught off guard and had not even though myself why the hurricane was happening. That is something that I struggled with this week. I had to really research and learn why hurricanes happen. Since I am from the North and we don’t ever experience hurricanes, I hadn’t really put much thought in it. Now that I am in the south this is something I really need to be educated on. I now have a Google doc of the reasons why hurricanes happen so I can go back to it anytime I need to.

            I was most proud and satisfied with my ecosystem this week. I was proud that I was able to include enough nutrients, food and good soil for my frog to survive. I was not expecting the frog to survive in such a small space without the outdoor feeling. I also got a mosquito a caterpillar and another bug for my frog to eat so I am hoping the frog continues to live this week as well. Over the next week I want to continue to take care of my ecosystem by feeding my fish, frog, and watering my soil so my seeds can grow. I also want to get a good start on my unit plan this next week so I can stay ahead and don’t get behind.

            This week in class I contributed to class discussion and I helped to look up information when we were split into out groups for hurricane research. I found a good diagram that showed a visual of how hurricanes form. It would be a great visual to show the class because it has both words and pictures. I could use this diagram to show my students and explain it to them. It is a good way to explain to both audio and visual learners because I would not only explain it to them, but I will show them as well so they can get a more clear understanding. This would be NCPTS 4 “teachers facilitate learning for their students” under teachers use a variety of instructional methods.

            For my outside learning this week I found an awesome website for kids called sciencebug.org. This website is filled with different activities, puzzles, quizzes and experiments. I thought it was so cool because one of the experiments was to “test your boat building skills” The kids could build a boat out of aluminum foil and then they were to drop the marbles in the boat to see how many marbles the boat could hold. They had to remake the boat three different times just like we did in class. This website is filled with many different experiments like these and is a great way to help students get involved and learn while still having fun.

(n.d). Retrieved September 14, 2017, from http://www.sciencebug.org/boats.html

I looked at the hyperlink from week 2 since week 3s is not posted yet. I thought it was a really cool project. I have never used hyperlinks before but it is a great way to include a lot more information in a short power point. I really liked how at the end of their power point they made a place that said “your turn.” They had great visuals and it was very creative.

The current event I have read about and watched on the news that I’m sure everyone is talking about is hurricane Irma. This hurricane has cause many deaths and forced many people to evacuate their homes. I am sure people were not planning for this hurricane to be as bad as it was. Just like this unexpected event happened in our country, sometimes we have unexpected events happen in the classroom. We need to be prepared for anything that comes our way as teachers and learn to adjust on the spot even if we are in uncomfortable positions. When teachers are flexible teachers are practicing NCPTS 1 “teachers demonstrate leadership” under “teachers lead in their classrooms.”

 My first tweet is from teacher2teacher and it was a great visual of a school's welcoming moto. It says "when you enter this school consider yourself one of the special members of an extraordinary family." There is no better way to make people feel welcome than letting them know they are part of a family. We as teachers need to make sure our students feel like family.

 My second tweet is from Alice Keeler. This is a great reminder that yes technology is good, but the teachers are better. We as teachers can't let the technology do all the teaching. We still have to help our students grow as individuals and be there for them. Yes it is the 21st century and technology plays a huge role in our society, but children have to learn how to be social and interact with people as well.

My last tweet from teachergoals is very straightforward. We as teachers have to be the ones to believe in our students and make it known to them that we believe in them. If a students knows we believe in them, that might be the only reason why they keep going.