Week 10

Learning Experiences

This week we are having a much needed EdTPA bootcamp. We are learning what EdTPA is, how to do it, and the whole kit and caboodle. We need this so much. And it is definitely very helpful. I am still worried about working with EdTPA but at least it is not as impossible as it had seemed earlier. It still seems like a whole lot of extra work but I am starting to see how it can be helpful to make us as teachers to think through everything we are doing. To justify our decisions and reasons for doing certain things in our lessons.

Outside Learning

We are back in Washington, to be honest I missed it over the break. This week, instead of spending all of Tuesday in the classroom we actually took over lunch duty for all of the teachers. I spent the day in the cafeteria and it was a great learning experience. I have not been in an elementary cafeteria during lunch since I was in Kindergarten, due to me being homeschooled. The closest I have come to that experience, where I actually remember it, was in middle school. This was definitely a lot different than that. It took a little while to get into the swing of things because I did not really know how the cafeteria at Washington did things. But as the day went on I started to get more comfortable, and I actually enjoyed it. I think if I was in their more often, to where I could get used to the kids and how things went a little more, then my experience would be even better.

Future Classroom

I have to learn how to do EdTPA as a student teacher to be able to become a full teacher. Even if it was not something that had to be learned, I can see how it will help me in my future lesson planning. It will help me really be able to focus on every little detail of my plans and connect all the parts. It also makes me really think about how to support every learning ability in my classroom. Working in the cafeteria also helped me see how it will be when I get there as a teacher, and gave me a little experience with it.

Week 9

I am so happy spring break is finally here. But I know it will not be long enough. I am torn between just vegging out this break and coming in refreshed, or trying to use some of this week to get ahead on some things. 

Learning Experiences

I have been working on my lesson plans for clinical placement. Since the time I can get to my school is during their math block I decided to do my Fine Arts lesson and tie it into a math lesson. So that is the one that I have been working on. After I finish that one I am going to do a literacy and social studies lesson, and the teacher offered to flip her schedule that day but I am going to try to see if I can find a day where I can come in at their normal time for that. That way I do not mess with their schedule. For my math lesson with the Fine Arts integration I am doing a lesson on time. I am having the students build themselves a clock that will help them learn to tell time on an analog clock. I think this will be a fun lesson and I hope their clock will help them in future lessons on the topic as well.

Outside Learning

I am pretty sure I have mentioned this, but on Mondays through Thursdays I work at the after school program at Polk Central Elementary. Well this week I got a surprise. My boss was going to be out this week and she left me in charge. She just dropped it on me without me expecting it. It was a surprise but it was a very good experience. I got a taste of what it was like to be in that type of leadership role and I got the experience of stepping up to the plate when something like this was just dropped on me. Everything worked out, we did not have any problems which was nice. But I did get the experience of interacting more with the parents when they came to pick up their kids. Most of the time I do not get to see much of the parents because I am off somewhere with my students. So that was another good thing. Being a leader like this is exactly what NCTCS standard 1 says, when it says teachers must demonstrate leadership. And working with the parents goes along with standard 2e, "teachers work collaboratively with the families and significant adults in the lives of their students."

Future Classroom

I am starting to make my own lesson plans that I have to teach to a class. I am not just making these lesson plans just to make them, but I am getting to actually implement them. I am also getting feedback from the teacher on how the lessons went. I also got the experience of working in a more leadership position among other teachers, not just among the students. As well as talking more to parents. These are all things that I need to continue to work on. I will definitely be doing these things in my own classroom so it is good to have the experiences now.

Week 8

Learning Experiences:

This week in class we learned about TPACK and SAMR. TPACK stands for Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge. This is the framework for how teachers use content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and technology integration to enhance their students’ learning. Teachers of course need to know their content and teach this content to their students but they also need knowledge of how their students learn and their levels, as well as use technology to the advantage of their students’ learning. SAMR is the levels of which technology is used in a lesson. At the lower levels Substitution and Augmentation are where technology is used as a tool substitution and there is very little functional improvement. Modification and Redefinition are the upper/deeper levels of technological integration, where technology is used to redefine the task and used to do something with the learning that used to be inconceivable. TPACK and SAMR both go with the NCTCS standard 4. Standard 4 is all about facilitating learning for your students, by understanding how they learn and working with this. Finding ways to teach the material that fits them and using technology to do so. 

Outside Learning:

This week at Washington we actually got to teach a semi-lesson to the students. It was Read Across America week this week, and the teacher wanted us to do the Dr. Seuss activity for Tuesday. We chose the story and came up with an art activity and a learning activity for them to do with the story. We chose One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. Our art activity involved them creating fish using their hands and creating a version of the title page of the story. Since the story is mostly all about rhyming we had them do a rhyming activity where they matched up rhyming words. It was a very good experience for us and I really enjoyed it. I just wish we had a little more time to do more with them. But the semester is not over yet.

Future classroom:

Working closer in these classrooms at Washington and actually coming up with activities for the students is, as always, great practice for our future classrooms. Learning about TPACK can help us see how we need to use all the knowledge we have, on the content and the students, and technology together to make learning more meaningful and powerful. Learning SAMR helps us to see what level of technology integration has the most impact on a student’s learning.