Fall Break Time!

I cannot believe we are already in week 9 of class and heading into fall break. My how the time flies! The semester has definitely been picking up with workload.

We have finally finished our science fair project and I am proud of how well our group worked together. I was most satisfied with completing the project “science through my lens” Science through my lens really opened my mind about what science really is. Science is much more than lectures and textbooks, science is all around us, everywhere we go.  We as teachers need to use inquiry and phenomena in the classroom and be able to help students think for themselves and understand that science can be found everywhere. This relates to NCPTS 3, “Teachers know the content they teach” under “teachers make instruction relevant to students.” Students need to learn skills they can use in their daily lives outside of the classroom. By using these strategies in the classroom, students will be able to relate science to their everyday lives more easily.

I contributed to the class this week in our group projects. I contributed to both the water cycle project and the science fair group project. Next week I will continue to help in group projects and participate in class discussion.

Something I struggled with was parts of my unit. In order to overcome this struggle, I emailed Dr. Parker my unit and asked him for suggestions. I plan to continue working on my unit this next week as soon as I get feedback.

The outside research that I did this week was on a book called “All about Coding” by Angie Smibert. This would be a great book for 4-5^th graders to read. By the time that our students are out of school, their jobs will most likely include the skill of coding and using some type of technology. In this book not only are students able to read about it, but they are able to learn about how to code as well. It is a great way to include literature and science in the classroom. https://www.getepic.com/app/read/38809

My current event comes from an article written on October 19, 2017 on laws to protect athletes’ brains. Concussions are very common among athletes and are very dangerous. In research data from 2015 to 2016 shows that an estimated 2.7 million people got concussion from sports. There are now new laws that require education on symptoms and signs of concussions for athletes, coaches and parents. Athletes are not allowed to come back to a sport after a concussion until approved by a medical provider. This will hopefully reduce the amount of brain injuries there are in the future.

Cunningham, A. (2017, October 19). Laws to protect athletes' brains do reduce concussions - eventually. Retrieved October 19, 2017, from https://www.sciencenews.org/article/laws-protect-athletes-brains-do-reduce-concussions-eventually?tgt=nr

            I was in the group to create the chapter 5 hyperdoc. Our chapter was on assessment. We talked about the different ways and forms there are for assessment. It was the first time I have created a hyperdoc and inserted links and videos in slides and it was a really cool experience. Chapter 6 was on writing learning objectives. The link to classroom management strategies was very useful. Even though it was more for upper grades, elementary teachers can also get advice from the video. I also like how they included and pre and post test so they can see how much each student learned. Lastly chapter 7 was on questioning effectively. I really like the first video they shared about only having discussions that include questioning. As we have been talking about in class about inquiry and phenomena, questioning is key to success for students. As they made it clear in the hyperdoc, the questioning that occurs needs to be effective and include questions that cause the students to think deeper.  

My first tweet is from Tom Loud and it says that kids that feel appreciated will always do more than expected. In a classroom if we show kids they are loved and appreciated, they are more likely to preform better than if the teacher is always yelling at them and putting them down.

 My second tweet is from Alex Corbitt and it is an info-graph about the 7C's of an innovative Environment. The 7 C's are cultural sensitivity, community, curiosity, communication, creativity, collaboration and critical thinking. In order to have a positive learning environment in your classroom, these 7 C's are necessary to have. These 7 C's follow the inquiry based classroom that we have been discussing this semester in class.

 My last tweet is also from Alex Corbitt and he explains the 10 characteristic of inspiring spaces. He lists 10 different ways that you can use space to create learning in the classroom. My two favorite are to promote movement and to remove clutter. It is important for students to be up and active but it is also important to not have too much in your classroom that students get distracted from their learning.