Week Five!!!

School Visits

         This week we visited Crest Middle School. I sat in a 6th grade classroom, and they were learning about Mesopotamia and remembering the "GRAPES" for Mesopotamia. This visit was way different than my elementary school visit. My elementary school classroom that i visited was very chaotic and students doing different things, so there was more activity going on. In my middle school class everything had its correct place. The students were so well behaved and only talked unless their hands were raised. This made me really confirm my choice to be an elementary education major. I like how the students are younger and don't understand everything just quite yet, and they are more interactive and active. This is something that I really like. It did open the door for me to maybe want to teach a higher grade level within elementary education.
        One thing that I really liked about this classroom was how organized the teacher was. Everything was in the correct spot and the students understood that. I think this really helped with the flow of the classroom. Also, the teacher would put the learning targets for each assignment on the board. I think this really helps the students to understand what is being asked of them to learn for that current day. This also helps with the NCTCS by making sure we are teaching the NCSCOS. I think that was a really easy feature to add to the classroom, so the students really understand what they are supposed to be learning. I really enjoyed going to Crest Middle and observing, it was such a great experience.

Technology 

        This week while looking up how teachers can include technology more in the classrooms, I found this website called www.webs.com. This is a website generator website, that will help someone create a free website. I was reading an article that discussed how teachers were using this site to create a Classroom Webpage. I thought this idea was really neat. It is kinda how Blackboard works, with each class having their own page. I really like this idea for my classroom. I think it is such a great idea to have a class webpage so I can post announcements and homework that students may have missed in classroom! I think this would be awesome to have when I am a teacher. 

My Future Classroom

            Seeing how organized that middle school classroom was, it makes me want to be an organized teacher as well. This way the students will understand where things go, and what they are supposed to be doing. I think having an organized classroom will also really help the students being able to learn also. On top of an organized classroom, I would love to have a classroom webpage for the parents and the students. This way they are able to look at the webpage and see the learning targets, and assignments for the week. I think this tool would be so beneficial for my classroom. 

Week Four!

School Visits!! YAY!!!

On Monday we were able to go visit James Love Elementary School and observe current teachers. This was such an amazing experience! I got to visit a 1st grade classroom where they were learning about ants, adding certain numbers to get to 7, and also how to build sentences! This made me think back to when I was in first grade and all of the activities that my teachers made us do to learn these simple task. One really cool part was seeing that the teacher was using a lesson plan, she had it pulled up on the screen at one point. This moment really made me realize that what I am learning right now in EDUC 250, how to make a six point lesson plan, is something that I will actually use daily in my profession! It was such an amazing moment in class. The lesson plans will ensure that I complete all of the NCTCS task that I have to.  Also, I really enjoyed seeing how students are so into technology. They use things that were not even invented yet when I was in Elementary School! It is crazy to think about what technology will be out there in just a few short years when I will be teaching.

Technology

This past week I was talking to Kieran, and she informed me about this awesome email company called "The Skimm". This company sends an email everyday to whoever subscribes and it informs global news and local news. It is meant to be "skimmed" and read briefly. It is mostly just the facts about the topic. This is helpful because it keeps me really updated on current events. Also it makes me more of a global citizen by being aware of what is going on around the world. I really enjoy reading these emails every morning because they even incorporate jokes in the emails! Like how fun! It really makes reading the news more enjoyable and I feel like I am actually connected to the world. I really don't have time to watch the news so this really helps! I recommend it to everyone and I am so happy Kieran told me about it!!

Future Classroom

It is really difficult to start building a lesson plan right now because I am just starting,having to go from being a student to being a teacher, but I know it will get easier as I continue my journey in Education! Then by the time I am ready to teach I will be a pro at building lesson plans and make sure they are engaging for my students. Monday showed me that I will make it through this process and I will be able to teach the lesson plans that I create to students in my own classroom! How exciting!!! :) 

Week Three!

Full Force

Wow! Week three of classes is here, and let me tell you they are in full force! With school work and soccer life is very overwhelming right now! With everything going on, Education 250 really calms me and puts me at ease because I love this class! This week we learned about educational philosophies. These are for teachers to use so students have the best opportunity to learn and grow in their knowledge. I really loved being able to see other students infomercials and fully understand what each philosophy is. This is important to us because through these philosophies we are able to meet standards that the NCTCS and important standard core teaching requirements. I think it is so cool that every teacher can have a different philosophy and we can all still impact students in a positive way.

Outside Learning

Dr. Parker had mentioned to me last week about something called Zoom. I looked it up and Zoom is a  online video conferencing website. Some cool things that I found out about Zoom were that it offers group messaging to everyone involved and the availability to share a screen with other individuals. Not only is it a video chatting but it is also very secure. One other thing that I really liked about Zoom was the fact that we are available to do white boarding and write out certain things that we want to discuss! This is a really cool technology that I could use in a classroom or in an online classroom if I ever teach an online course! 

Future Classroom

In my future classroom I will be able to use my philosophy, and be able to teach my students and have them be able to be in an environment to learn and prosper! I am so excited to be able to teach my students and follow the NCTCS. I am so excited to become a teacher and I want to be able to influence my students, just as my past teachers have influenced me!

Week Two!

Second Week of Class

                I guess one could call this week of class the second full week of class. EDUC 250 is probably one of my favorite classes this semester. I love being able to discuss and learn about my future profession. This week we learned how to write lesson plans. Here at Gardner-Webb we are learning to write six point lesson plans. This also will help me with NCTCS, to ensure that I am teaching my students the standards correctly and precisely. Anyway, I do really enjoy this type of lesson plans. Mostly because we are able to explain why what we are learning is important, and have a section to be able to review and make sure the students really understand that task. This was really influential for me when I was a student, I loved to know why certain information was important. Also, I like it when my teachers would spend a few minutes in the end of class reviewing the content because it really helped me understand and remember it so much better. 

            

Technology

                Technology plays a huge role in the classroom. Even today in class one of our own students was able to use a SMARTboard to teach the class what an infomercial is. Our world is changing and it is so critical that as teachers we are learning the newest technology. This week I found something called "Citrix Go Meeting". I think this is cool because it allows a teacher to be videoconferencing with a student and have the student be able to display their own screen. This is a perk for teachers because a teacher could use it for an online class when students had questions, and for a teacher to be able to answer questions over a certain homework assignment. 

My Classroom

          I am still so excited for the day that I will be able to stand up and teach my own class! While I am teaching I will plan every single lesson with the six point lesson plan! This will help me organize my classroom and make sure the students are actually able to understand the information that I am presenting to them. This lesson plan also allows students to reflect on past information learned and look to the future for future learning. This will help my classroom so much. I want to make sure my students clearly understand the information presented to them!