It's safe to say that I am learning so much in this course and it is only week three. I want to start out by just reviewing the past four weeks and how everything is starting to connect and makes since. The first week of class we talked about all of our assignments and when everything is due. For the second week of class, we talked about concepts and how they are abstract, universal, timeless, transfer, and the big idea. Concepts are like the big umbrella and topics are the smaller, more specific ideas. Then for week three we learn about generalizations. This is how you relate the two concepts together. When creating a generalization it needs to have a qualifier, straight forward (short, sweet and to the point), be reversible, and include the two concepts. Generalizations are what you want your students to know but you do not tell them. That leads us into what we have learned this week, guiding questions. These are the questions that you ask your students and want them to answer. There are three different types of guiding questions. The first question is factual questions and these are locked in time, place or situation. The second question is conceptual questions and these transfer over time and space. The last question is provocative questions and these are the questions that you ask your students to start a debate but have no right or wrong answers. Taking a step back and looking at what I have learned over the last four weeks, I now understand how to use this information for my unit.
For my research this week I decided to use the video that Megan and myself found for the Differentiation discussion. When trying to find something for the differentiation discussion I didn't know what to pick, an article, video, blog, etc. I came across a video that talked about how a teacher handles differentiation in classroom. I really think that this video did a very good job of explaining differentiation and how teachers can include it in their classroom. There are four different students, each with a different disability, and the video gives ways that the teacher handles each student. I found that this video was very interesting and made me realize that there are going to be students in my classroom that have learning disabilities and I will have to make learning for them just as engaging as the other students. I specifically like that the teacher included arms motions to an educational dance that a student in a wheelchair could participate. Simple things such as that can be considered ways to include all students in learning activities.
Here is the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuOOH5v6eBg
For my future classroom I want to make learning engaging for students and I want them to enjoy what is being taught. I also think that it is very important for each student to have an equal opportunity of learning just as every other student. This video relates exactly with the North Carolina Teaching Standard number two which is, "Teachers establish a respectful environment for a diverse population of students". This is directly related to the video I shared because teachers need to create a safe and respectful environment for each student to learn and be included in the lessons.
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Week Three
I am so amazed at how much I have already learned and it's only week three. I think one of the main things that I have learned this week are generalizations. This is what you do after you have chosen your concepts. Generalizations are what connect the concepts together and create the overall idea of the unit/lesson. Generalizations are not what you specifically tell the students what they are going to learn, but they are the main focus of what they are going to learn. I also learned about some really cool websites and apps to use. Some of them are, cnnstudents.com, near pod, kahoot and several others. These are very cool ways that I can use in my classroom. Being able to learn new things has been very exciting for me and I can't wait to use them in my future classroom.
Now, to my research. This week I found an article about keeping students active in school. The website is The Guardian and the title of it is, Inside the schools fighting childhood obesity with fitness. I think that it is very important to keep students active in school and help them with their fitness. I know this doesn't have anything to do with social studies methods but I think that it is something that should be a main focus. I am currently in PHED 300 and we are learning that it is very important to integrate health/physical education standards into the everyday classroom. Students aren't getting the exercise that they need during the week at school because they only go to P.E. like once a week and recess for only 30-40 minutes a day. After reading this article I realized that schools and teachers need to be more aware of students daily physical activity. This article mentioned some schools who were trying to change some things to help with students and their fitness. For example, one school now give the students four breaks within the day. Yes, that sounds like a lot but it gives the students a chance to be active and it give them a chance to give themselves a brain break. Two of the breaks, the students are allowed to go outside and play and the other two breaks are used just to stand up and move around the classroom. I think this article made some very interesting points. It made me realize that I can help with students health by just having them stand up and do activities while we work and learn or give them a brain break. This is something that I will defiantly try to incorporate into my future classroom.
I think that this article would fall under the fourth teaching standard, Teachers Facilitate Learning for their Students. It is important that teachers relate the materials that they teach to being active so they can have a long and healthy life. If teachers integrate these things into their lesson, they can inform students the importance of healthy living.
Now, to my research. This week I found an article about keeping students active in school. The website is The Guardian and the title of it is, Inside the schools fighting childhood obesity with fitness. I think that it is very important to keep students active in school and help them with their fitness. I know this doesn't have anything to do with social studies methods but I think that it is something that should be a main focus. I am currently in PHED 300 and we are learning that it is very important to integrate health/physical education standards into the everyday classroom. Students aren't getting the exercise that they need during the week at school because they only go to P.E. like once a week and recess for only 30-40 minutes a day. After reading this article I realized that schools and teachers need to be more aware of students daily physical activity. This article mentioned some schools who were trying to change some things to help with students and their fitness. For example, one school now give the students four breaks within the day. Yes, that sounds like a lot but it gives the students a chance to be active and it give them a chance to give themselves a brain break. Two of the breaks, the students are allowed to go outside and play and the other two breaks are used just to stand up and move around the classroom. I think this article made some very interesting points. It made me realize that I can help with students health by just having them stand up and do activities while we work and learn or give them a brain break. This is something that I will defiantly try to incorporate into my future classroom.
I think that this article would fall under the fourth teaching standard, Teachers Facilitate Learning for their Students. It is important that teachers relate the materials that they teach to being active so they can have a long and healthy life. If teachers integrate these things into their lesson, they can inform students the importance of healthy living.
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Learning is the key!
Wow! What an amazing first week of classes. This week has been filled with learning so many new things. My personal favorite was learning about plickers. This is a way to give quizzes and have them graded instantly. It is quick, easy, cheap and fun. Another think I learned about was the top tweets of the week. I really like this activity. It was kinda of difficult at first to find tweets about teaching, but once I found one interesting tweet that stood out to me, I found plenty. It was very interesting to read what people had to say about teaching and helpful tips that they also had to offer. I really enjoyed learning about topics and concepts. Before learning about topics and concepts, I didn't really know that they are two totally different things. Topics are like facts, they are more specific than concepts. Concepts are timeless, abstract, the big idea, universal, and transferable. In other classes I was never taught that there was such a difference between the two. After this week, I fell more confident with the information that I learned.
The article that I read was from, We are Teachers and written by Elizabeth Marshall. This article is about changing the way that you talk to your students in the classroom can change the classroom culture. Sometimes teachers can find themselves becoming upset with students who act out during a lesson just because they don't want to pay attention or participate. This can cause the teacher to find themselves struggling to find a way to find better classroom management. This type of situation can be fixed by the way that teachers talk to their students. This article gives seven strategies, and examples of how to talk to kids so that they can learn. First, describe the problem. Describing the problem can be less accusing so it doesn't sound like you're being rude and bossy. Yes, as the teacher you need to have authority over your students, but explaining to them what they are doing wrong rather than yelling and getting upset, can allow the students to fix the problem rather then act out. Second, give information rather than insulting or judging the student. Give them facts and the students will be less likely to be defensive and more likely to change their attitude. Third, offer a choice, this give students the chance to learn to control their own behavior. Don't threaten or boss them around, give them choices to work with and let them decide. Fourth, say it with a word or gesture. "Sometimes a single word is more powerful in encouraging students to think about a problem and come up with a solution on their own." Fifth, describe what you feel. Try to describe your feelings without attacking or insulting, and the students will be understandable as to why you're asking something of them. Sixth, put it in writing. Sometimes students don't understand things when they are being told to them, but they can better understand it when it is written so they can see it. Lastly, seventh, be playful. Try being funny and think of cool things, like a song to sing, that will grab their attention to do when they begin to misbehave or act out.
This article was very interesting to read! I enjoyed reading it because it was very helpful and informing. This is something I worry about being a future teacher. I worry that I wont handle a situation the right way or I might say something that will be harmful, not helpful. This article gives strategies to help with situations that teachers face everyday in the classroom.
This article relates to standard 1 of the NCTCS. Leadership is very very important in the teacher profession. This article has leadership written all over it, because it gives perfect examples on how a teacher should lead their classroom when students are acting out and misbehaving. Communicating with students in a positive way can also impact the actions of students in a positive way.
The article that I read was from, We are Teachers and written by Elizabeth Marshall. This article is about changing the way that you talk to your students in the classroom can change the classroom culture. Sometimes teachers can find themselves becoming upset with students who act out during a lesson just because they don't want to pay attention or participate. This can cause the teacher to find themselves struggling to find a way to find better classroom management. This type of situation can be fixed by the way that teachers talk to their students. This article gives seven strategies, and examples of how to talk to kids so that they can learn. First, describe the problem. Describing the problem can be less accusing so it doesn't sound like you're being rude and bossy. Yes, as the teacher you need to have authority over your students, but explaining to them what they are doing wrong rather than yelling and getting upset, can allow the students to fix the problem rather then act out. Second, give information rather than insulting or judging the student. Give them facts and the students will be less likely to be defensive and more likely to change their attitude. Third, offer a choice, this give students the chance to learn to control their own behavior. Don't threaten or boss them around, give them choices to work with and let them decide. Fourth, say it with a word or gesture. "Sometimes a single word is more powerful in encouraging students to think about a problem and come up with a solution on their own." Fifth, describe what you feel. Try to describe your feelings without attacking or insulting, and the students will be understandable as to why you're asking something of them. Sixth, put it in writing. Sometimes students don't understand things when they are being told to them, but they can better understand it when it is written so they can see it. Lastly, seventh, be playful. Try being funny and think of cool things, like a song to sing, that will grab their attention to do when they begin to misbehave or act out.
This article was very interesting to read! I enjoyed reading it because it was very helpful and informing. This is something I worry about being a future teacher. I worry that I wont handle a situation the right way or I might say something that will be harmful, not helpful. This article gives strategies to help with situations that teachers face everyday in the classroom.
This article relates to standard 1 of the NCTCS. Leadership is very very important in the teacher profession. This article has leadership written all over it, because it gives perfect examples on how a teacher should lead their classroom when students are acting out and misbehaving. Communicating with students in a positive way can also impact the actions of students in a positive way.
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Ready, Set, Go!
Hey y'all! I'm Lacey Mullinax and I am 20 years old. I was born and raised in the peach state by my two amazing parents, Todd and Shelly. I am the older sister of my brother Matthew(18). I am such a family person and an animal lover. God is number one in my life and I wouldn't be here today without God or my amazing family. I chose Gardner-Webb because my dad is an Alumni who played football and graduated with a Bachelors Degree to be a Physical Education Teacher. I fell in love with Gardner-Webb on my first visit and decided that I wanted to cheer here and major in elementary education.
Being an elementary teacher has always been something that I have wanted to do. I love children and being able to give back to others. When starting my education classes I knew I was where I wanted to be. There have been plenty of troubles and hard times but I know that it will all be worth it in the end. The semester has already started off at a fast pace but I am ready to hit the ground running (even though I hate running). There is a lot on my plate with school work, basketball season and competition season but this is something that I will have to take one bite at a time.
I found an article, Gifts That Last a Lifetime, written by Suzie Boss. This article talks about four different types of gifts that students should receive in the classroom. The first one is the gift of Joy. In this article, Suzie mentions a quote from a Global Teacher Prize Winner, Nancie Atwell. In the quote Nancie mentions this, "Kids are intrinsically motivated if they love the books they're reading, if they love the topics they're researching, if they love the poetry and essays they're writing because the subjects intrigue them." This is the gift of joy for students. When a student truly enjoys what they are learning and doing in the classroom, the joy of learning will stay with the student for a lifetime. The second gift is the gift of optimism. Suzie tells about a teacher who always writes positive notes to students who seem to be having a rough day or struggling with something school related or at home. He finds that this can help a students attitude and their learning experience in his classroom. The third gift is the gift of empowerment. From the article, I read that two third-grade teachers where asked by their students, "Why doesn't Rhode Island have an official state insect?" The teachers decided to let the students write and convince the state legislature that the endangered American burying beetle should be their state insect. With the teachers allowing their students to do this, it gives students the ability to branch out and be engaged with the community. It also gives the students a chance to make their own decisions and make a difference. The last gift is the gift of hope. This gift might be one of the most important gifts that a teacher can give a student. Students need the support and encouragement from their teachers so they can have hope for their future and be successful.
Being a future teacher, I hope that one day I can give these gifts to my students. I plan to make my classroom a fun and safe environment where students are successful and strive to be the best that they can be.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)