Humor in the Classroom!

In response to Mrs. Stevens' blog,

There are so many teachers now-a-days that will teach with humor involved in their lessons, lesson plans, or even just to say to their students to get them through the day if they're having a bad day.

With wishful thinking, I hope that every teacher tries to be somewhat humorous during their days of teaching.I, myself, try to be a little bit funny with my students by joking around with them, making noises, or even acting as a character with them from a movie or a book.

I have a teacher that always tries her hardest to be the funniest teacher she can be, whether it is sarcasm, joking around with a student, or even just trying to say something funny to lighten someone's day. This teacher just happens to be the one and only, Mrs. Stevens! There was a time in the classroom when she had tried telling us that if we got to nationals, that she would try to "twerk" for those of the students that would advance to state for TAFE competitions last school year. We all could not stop laughing. We thought it was the funniest and cutest thing ever. :)

There are some really cool APPs or websites that I found in this article from the GoTeach! magazine that could be used in a classroom to show some humor. One of the ones that I happened to like, was the Tellagami website, where the students would be able to use an animation of their own, and make the figures talk. It would definitely get the students interacted in their work, and it makes the work a little more fun. :)

My Internship So Far...

In response to Mrs. Stevens' blog,

My internship so far, has been amazing. My students are pretty great. I am with the second grade at Holiday Heights with Mrs. Ownby.

My first day at my school, the students greeted me as if they already knew who I was. They welcomed me home, like I was one of them. I felt really good.
When I am at my site school, we are working on English and Reading. Usually we will rotate around different subjects depending on what we need to get done for the day. I usually work on reading individually with my students and working in groups for math.
I am really looking forward to being able to teach the students more and getting them ready for the third grade. They are so willing to learn this year, and it means a lot to me.

The students show that they are willing to learn and some of them take a lot of initiative to pull me aside and ask if they can read with me.
There are a couple of differences from the way my class worked last year, to the way it works this year. The students I have this year are more willing to work with me and more willing to learn. The students are more interactive and cooperative this year. One of the students I work with has learned a new technique that I showed her while reading. Instead of just struggling with a word when she reads it, she will try to read it, and if she still can't read it correctly when she is reading, she will write the word down and practice it throughout the day.
I love my student's already, and I can tell they love me. I'm looking forward to making a difference to these kids. :)

Let's Reflect On Our Teacher Created Material!

In response to Mrs. Steven's blog,

I had done the Teacher Created Material project, because I was not able to go to TAFE Region. Although, I would have loved to go with my fellow interns.

I'm sure you all did a superb job, and I am very jealous that I didn't get to go.

The Teacher Created Material I had made was a set of sentence strips that had to do with homophones. During the making of the sentence strips, I had come up with a lesson that went along with what I was doing. The plan is that I will read the book, Dear Deer, by Gene Barretta, to the students and then talk a little bit about the differences in the homophonic words. When we finish talking about homophones, I will then split the students up into groups of around 3-4 and they will be going through the different sentence strips.

The sentence strips are laminated pieces of sentence strips provided by my teacher, Mrs. Stevens. There are sentences provided on the strips that have a blank.

 At the top of the sentence strips,  are 3 different choices of the words that the students will have to write on the sentence strip with an expo marker. The students will then flip their sentence strip over, to check their answers. Having the strips with their own self-checking method, helps the students be able to see if they actually did their work correctly.

I will have to test the students to make sure they understand the way the homophones work.

The way in which I will have an assessment for my students with this activity would be that I would have the students come up with their own sentences that include the different homophonic words. I will then grade them, depending on how well they know the difference between the homophones.  Hopefully this will help the students be able to understand the differences between homophones.

Significant Relationships

In response to Mrs. Stevens' blog,

Almost everyone in the world has had some teacher or adult in their life that has made a great impact on them.  If you don't have someone that has made an impact on you, then you haven't really opened your eyes up to reality, and looked at the bigger picture.

I had a specific teacher during my junior year, who changed my life completely. Carla Dalton, or Mrs. Dalton, is currently an Algebra 1 teacher at Richland High School. She was a PreAP Algebra 2 teacher when I had her last school year.

As I was in her classroom, we gradually became closer as I always received her help and advice. Getting to know Mrs. Dalton and getting a better relationship with her, motivated me to try harder in her classroom and influenced me to want to learn more, ask more questions, and even do better on assignments and tests.  As the year went on, Mrs. Dalton became like a motherly figure to me. Although I still see her every once in a while, it was a difficult time for me to leave her classroom.

As I visualize myself being a teacher in the future, I will most definitely be a role model for my students.  I aim to be one of the best role models/adult figures for my students. I will make sure my students understand the material that I will be teaching.  In order for me to be a really effective teacher, I will make sure that I form some type of bond with my students and be there for them if they need me. I am looking forward to being a teacher, and being a great role model to them.

My Dreams for Teaching

In response to Mrs. Stevens' wiki,

There are a couple different websites that could be useful for teachers when lesson planning. I have at least 3 different websites that I would use with my second graders.

One of the websites that I would use to help me make a lesson, would be Scriblink. Scriblink is a great online whiteboard that teachers could use to show their students different things, that they might be teaching.

Another website I would use to help me with lesson planning would be Discovery Education. Discovery Education is a great website that can help you, as a teacher, do many things with lesson planning. Discovery Education helps you look at different videos or pictures that you can save, and use later on if you were to create a clipboard to use in class.

The last and final website I would use for lesson planning would be Prezi. Prezi is a great presentation website that teachers use for different lessons. Prezi is just like powerpoint, but it is a more interactive type website.

There are many other different websites that you could use that are beneficial for making a lesson, or even just to use for the classroom, to prepare you for a lesson.

Does Spelling Count?

In response to Mrs. Stevens' blog, 

In the article "Does Spelling Count?" The author states their opinion on how they feel about spelling in the classroom, and wether it really counts for their future. To the author, spelling counts a great deal, but it isn't the only thing that matters to her.

There are other things, like 'grades' that the author says that matter more than spelling itself. It's almost a sad realization that these kids are getting focused on the fact that grades are more important than their spelling skills.

The author has a very precise opinion on how they like the classrooms. They wouldn't know what it would be like if schools were to not have different subjects, and teachers had to teach everything all together. How would the education world be like if we were to be like that?

2014 The Year in Review

In response to Mrs. Stevens' blog,

The following is my Animoto video! This year was great, and I'm looking forward to next year.