This week as we prepared to go into Thanksgiving break I was very thankful for the amount of resources my host teacher has provided for me this year. She has aloud me to try many activities and projects that follow along with the reading story or holiday we may be celebrating. It has really aloud me to practice and test ideas that I can take with me in my own teaching career.
The nice thing about all of the resources is it has helped me to understand how much time a simple project can take, so I need to make sure that it is a learning experience and not a time filler. When I originally looked at many of these projects, in my head I’m thinking I can plan about 20 minutes because it shouldn’t take that long. It may take 20 minutes for a small group of students but when you have 18 students all on different dependency needs, a quick 20 minute project may take 45 minutes for your students. This week I really understood that theme as we talked about the pilgrims and Indians. The amount of time each project took was much more that I had planned, especially with this being an added bonus on top of our daily reading and word work. It is difficult to have enough time for these projects and activities because you want to keep your students moving, but I think that it is something the students need. They are young and need more than just seat work at this stage in their schooling. It should still be fun and enjoyable and a place they want to be. In the end, I was excited about what happened, because I do believe everything we did was meaningful and beneficial for the students. It helped them to experience the culture weather through song and dance and see the lifestyles those early natives lived.
I am also thankful for my teacher because she is willing to try new things and that is so motivating to see that after teaching for so many years, she still wants to improve and test herself. An email was sent to us a few weeks ago discussing a $30,000 classroom technology makeover. The rules required a 2:30 minute music video created by your class. We put our skills together and within the week we had a song written, our video taped and our final product posted to the makeover website. It was so exciting for us, because we pulled it off and thought we had a pretty good chance. It was exciting for the students because they knew they took part in the video and each day we would look to see new comments made about our video. We were all so proud of ourselves. After checking up on the posts and the site for two weeks, we found out this week we did not make the top 5 (the finalists in the running for the ultimate prize). We were disappointed, but it was a wonderful lesson to go through with the students. It taught them and showed them that you may not always win or be first but you should always try hard to do your best. We were able to take time to show the students the five videos that did make it into the finals and they enjoyed them all. Overall, it was a great learning experience for me because it showed me that in order to get the technology you need for your classroom, there are ways to do it that get your whole class involved and excited. Even a contest entry can be a fun hands on activity for your students.
Lauren, thank you for being so patient and willing to try new things! Two heads are better than one any day...too bad you can't stay the whole year and work with me!! We could really get things done!!! Thanks for all you do!!!
This week as we prepared to go into Thanksgiving break I was very thankful for the amount of resources my host teacher has provided for me this year. She has aloud me to try many activities and projects that follow along with the reading story or holiday we may be celebrating. It has really aloud me to practice and test ideas that I can take with me in my own teaching career.
ReplyDeleteThe nice thing about all of the resources is it has helped me to understand how much time a simple project can take, so I need to make sure that it is a learning experience and not a time filler. When I originally looked at many of these projects, in my head I’m thinking I can plan about 20 minutes because it shouldn’t take that long. It may take 20 minutes for a small group of students but when you have 18 students all on different dependency needs, a quick 20 minute project may take 45 minutes for your students. This week I really understood that theme as we talked about the pilgrims and Indians. The amount of time each project took was much more that I had planned, especially with this being an added bonus on top of our daily reading and word work. It is difficult to have enough time for these projects and activities because you want to keep your students moving, but I think that it is something the students need. They are young and need more than just seat work at this stage in their schooling. It should still be fun and enjoyable and a place they want to be. In the end, I was excited about what happened, because I do believe everything we did was meaningful and beneficial for the students. It helped them to experience the culture weather through song and dance and see the lifestyles those early natives lived.
I am also thankful for my teacher because she is willing to try new things and that is so motivating to see that after teaching for so many years, she still wants to improve and test herself. An email was sent to us a few weeks ago discussing a $30,000 classroom technology makeover. The rules required a 2:30 minute music video created by your class. We put our skills together and within the week we had a song written, our video taped and our final product posted to the makeover website. It was so exciting for us, because we pulled it off and thought we had a pretty good chance. It was exciting for the students because they knew they took part in the video and each day we would look to see new comments made about our video. We were all so proud of ourselves. After checking up on the posts and the site for two weeks, we found out this week we did not make the top 5 (the finalists in the running for the ultimate prize). We were disappointed, but it was a wonderful lesson to go through with the students. It taught them and showed them that you may not always win or be first but you should always try hard to do your best. We were able to take time to show the students the five videos that did make it into the finals and they enjoyed them all. Overall, it was a great learning experience for me because it showed me that in order to get the technology you need for your classroom, there are ways to do it that get your whole class involved and excited. Even a contest entry can be a fun hands on activity for your students.
ReplyDeleteLauren, thank you for being so patient and willing to try new things! Two heads are better than one any day...too bad you can't stay the whole year and work with me!! We could really get things done!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all you do!!!