The Tribes Method!

In response to Mrs. Stevens' blog,

What is the Tribes method?

The Tribes method is a way for teachers to be able to have their students in a learning environment that they are comfortable in. The purpose of this method is to allow the students to feel comfortable with their learning, and show a healthy development of their skills and knowledge. Withing the Tribes method, there are four tribes agreements that the students will have to follow. These agreements include:

1. Attentive listening
2. Appreciation
3. Mutual respect
4. The right to pass

I feel that this method is great. Student's should be able to feel comfortable in their learning environment. This method allows the students to feel positive about their learning and it helps them be more successful when they are able to work at the rate that they need to, The aspect of having mutual respect for others helps each of the students feel positive when they are working with others, because they hopefully won't feel judged about anything they are discussing in class.

In my opinion, I believe that there is a possibility that the Tribes method might work in my site school classroom. The reason I think it might not work, is because I am with a group of second graders. Second grade is still working on their main focusing skills, and my students are a group of kids that just love to talk. They will work together, but I'm not quite sure they will all have mutual respect for each other while working on a group assignment. The Tribes method would work best with a set of older students like middle or high school. This method could work in our classroom, however, we aren't a big class. We all work together as a group anyways when it comes to group assignments, so it would be pretty interesting to see our class use this method.

Like bookmarks? Get Symbaloo!

The web tool that I had chosen is called Symbaloo!

Symbaloo is a a great bookmarking website! You can get to your favorite websites with just one click and create/customize your own homepage!

Symbaloo has a pretty cool app on the iPhone and iPad that is very organized, plus it has a built in web browser! If you would like to view the app, please click here.

There is a tutorial for Symbaloo below if you would like to watch it.

In order to create an account on Symbaloo, all you have to do is 

1. Click on the sign up button.

2. Enter a username.

3. Enter password.

4. Re-enter password. 

5. You're ready to go! 

There is a free version of Symbaloo, but there is also a premium version. The premium version of Symbaloo costs $10/month.

The premium version would actually be great for teachers. With the premium version, you are able to share multiple webmixes at once, you have your own dedicated URL, and you have an admin panel where you are able to manage users on your account. 

There is not an age restriction on Symbaloo, nor do you need parent permission. 

While in my site school classroom, I could use this website as a bookmarking system for the sites that we usually visit during class, such as the math and reading websites. I'm not really sure I would use this in any of my classes at my high school because I don't go on the computer that much, except for when I am in Ready Set Teach.

I could see potentially see my site school teacher using this website. Although, I would have to teach her how to use it, that way she doesn't get frustrated. 

I hope you like this website, and would want to use this in the future! 

My Glogster!

In response to Mrs. Stevens' blog,

Below you will see my Glog learning center! My learning center is a government related glog that will help me be able to teach my students the roles of the mayor, governor, and the president.

The Ron Clark Academy

In response to Mrs. Stevens' blog,

If you would like to view the Ron Clark Academy website, click here! 

The Ron Clark Academy is an institution that has the "vision to transform classrooms around the world by demonstrating transformative methods" that the teachers use across the classrooms that are used the same way everywhere. 

The Ron Clark academy uses something called the Annual Fund to be able to raise money for the academy. The funds that they are able to raise up, go to academic programs, technology upgrades, and scholarships that will help students be able to be successful in their academic career. 

The Ron Clark Academy is different from other schools. The Ron Clark Academy is a school in which they do what they can to be the best school in the "world" by using different teaching techniques and "transformative methods" that they are very passionate about while they are teaching throughout the academy. 

What's a Wiki?

In response to Mrs. Stevens' blog,

Click here to view my Wiki!

A Wiki is an electronic portfolio that shows all the work that I have done within my interning throughout my Education and Training class. You may view all of the different things that I have done in my class, including my lesson plans, my involvement in TAFE, and a little bit about me. It is a great resource for people to be able to view things that I may have not mentioned about myself.

The Teaching Channel

In response to Mrs. Stevens' blog,


I found on the Teaching Channel website, that there are a couple of different videos that have different ways that teachers will teach specific subjects. There are two specific videos that I saw that I think would fit well with my classroom.

This first video is about how there are kinesthetic learners within the math environment. The teacher uses her students' hands in order for them to understand what they're learning with math. This helps me see that there are going to be students that will only learn with hands-on learning. Watching how effective teachers are, shows me that I have the ability to do the same things they do.

 This second video shows how teachers can avoid interruptions within their classrooms. This teacher uses something called the "3 B's" with her students so that they do not interrupt her while she is in the middle of doing guided reading, one-on-one conversation, etc. with another student. This video shows me that I could use something similar as a teacher, in order to have less interruptions within my classroom.

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. :)