Week Nine!!

This Week

This week we had a chance to really work on our philosophies and we did another walking classroom. I really enjoy working on my philosophy, because it is something that I will use in my future classroom. This is the style I would teach in, and I think it is really important to get that right. Also, in the walking classroom we learned about assessments. One key phrase that really stood out to me was "Learning stops when a grade is written on a paper." I think this is important to remember, because a student is going to be unwilling to learn if they get a bad grade on a test or quiz, because I know I did that as a student and it really made me not want to learn the material as much. That is why it is important to know that there is more ways to assess the class other than taking a test. Both the philosophy and assessments are important, because they both connect with the NCTCS.

Outside Learning

I found a really cool article that talked about teaching in 21st century schools. This article was mostly about things that should not be done in the class. I really like this article, because it goes with what we learned about assessments. It says that standardized tests should not measure the quality of education.For example, this picture really shows what is not on standardized test that we are teaching our students. I really enjoyed reading this article, because I feel like it really related to our class discussions.  http://ingvihrannar.com/14-things-that-are-obsolete-in-21st-century-schools/

Future Classroom

In my future classroom, I want to be able to use my philosophy well. I want to know how I want to teach and be able to fulfill that. Also, I want to make sure I am assessing my students to make sure they are really understanding the material. I do not want to just slap a grade on a paper, because the learning will stop. I want to make sure I am assessing my class in different ways, so that I can really understand where the students are with the material.

Week Eight!

This Week

This week in class we discussed assessments. The purpose of assessing the students is that it allows the teacher and student to see if they are understanding the task. For the teacher, assessments also determine what else the teacher should teach. In class our definition of assessment was the act of gathering evidence to determine what the student really understands. After really understanding what assessment is, we learned about the assessment to instruction cycle. We have to plan, teach, gather evidence, and give feedback. Those four things make up the cycle and once you are at the  give feedback stage, you go back to the the first thing which is to plan. This is an ongoing cycle. This is a huge part of the NCTCS, and a huge part of being a teacher. When I was in school, I remember doing homework and tests but I do not think that my teachers ever did any other type of assessments. Now that I really understand assessments, I will be sure to look for that in future classrooms that I visit.

Technology

One thing that I think is really cool, but have not used much before this semester is QR Codes. I think this could be extremely beneficial in my future classrooms. When I was a PAL in high school, I visited with a 6th grade math class, and they would use iPads and look up QR Codes. I think that this is so cool, because when I was in 6th grade I do not even think that an iPad even existed. This is something that is small, but has the opportunity to make the students do something besides a worksheet. This could be used in group work or individual work.

Future Classroom

In my future classroom, I really want to make sure that I assess my class and make sure that each student knows what they need to learn, how to reach the learning target, and where they are learning. This is something that is so important in a classroom. Without assessments, I would not know what my class is actually comprehending. I want to also use QR codes in my classroom. I think this is something that is super simple but so easy to use and incorporate in my lesson plans. 

Week Seven!!!

This Week 

This week in our class we discussed creating lesson plans more in depth. This was really beneficial for me because I was able to really understand how to make the best lesson plan possible. One thing that really stood out to me was “the hook” that is with the “focus” section of the lesson plan. This needs to be something interesting to really get the students excited and ready to learn the material. This stood out to me so much, because I really don’t think any teacher I ever really had  got me excited about learning the material. This is something that is really important in the NCTCS and NCSCOS. We have to be able to teach everything and very well.  

Technology

Since we learned about lesson plans this week,  I decided to do some research about lesson planning for the classroom. I found this really cool site called, “LessonCast” and is a website where experienced teachers can submit PowerPoints, documents, videos of lesson plans in two minutes or less. Each submission is reviewed and vetted by teachers and shared online. This is a newer site, but teachers can search for the perfect idea for their classroom. Also, this site is free. I think this is a great resource to know about, since I will be making lesson plans for the rest of my life and will be teaching children my own lesson plans.

Future Classroom

Learning about lesson plans really makes me excited about becoming a teacher. It gives me just a glimpse of something that I will be doing daily.  I think it is important that I make sure that each one of my lesson plans has a really good hook at the beginning of the lesson. This way, I will ensure that my students are really engaged and excited about learning the topic. Also, I think one day that I will maybe use “LessonCast” to help me create lesson plans. This will all impact my future classroom. I am so excited to start making lesson plans and actually teaching these lesson plans.

Week Six!!!

This week

This week our education class went to Crest High School. I got the opportunity to sit in on a 9th grade mathematics classroom. I really enjoyed looking at the high school classroom and seeing how the teacher really interacted the students. One of my favorite things was this notebook she made the students take notes in. She called it the IBN Interactive Notebook. This was where the students wrote notes every single day. At the top of the page she would write the learning target for the activity. This really stood out to me, because it directly corresponds with the NCSCOS and that helps teachers be able to do accomplish all of the NCTCS. I think this really helps the students not only understand what is asked of them, but also be able to keep an organized note system. This way if a student ever needs to look back at a note page, they can look in the table of contents. This would really be great in my future classroom!

Technology

I found a blog that stated it is really good to have hourly brain breaks throughout the day. This is so the students have an opportunity to stand up and be active and "get the wiggles out".  For example,  have a student roll a dice then whatever number it lands on that is how many jumping jacks, hops, or push ups). They will do this while music is playing so they have a chance to be active and hear something besides the lesson. This is just a great way to interact something else in the day and give their brain a chance to take a break. 

Future Classroom

I would love to incorporate the IBN Interactive Notebook and a hourly brain break in my future classroom. These are both great ides to help the students be able to learn as much as they can throughout the day. I want to make sure that my students are going to get the best education they can possible get. After these classroom visits, I am so excited to become a teacher and be able to impact student's lives.