Learning Journal

Takeaways

1. Be Flexible
Learning how to be flexible was, by far, my greatest takeaway. Our team came up with a plan after meeting the students only to have that plan completely changed the day before we went to implement it. We had to regather our thoughts and come up with something new for the class, based on the restrictions the teacher gave us. There were also several occasions where the teacher canceled on us so we had to use the time we had very wisely and efficiently.

2. Be Prepared
We assigned a task for the students to complete at home, however, when we went back to help them blog about this task, none of the students had completed it. This was very frustrating, but it was comforting that we had a back up plan for the day.

3. Be Enthusiastic
With all of the issues we dealt with this semester, it was important to stay positive and enthusiastic. Students know when something is wrong, so we had to make sure we kept a smile on our face! It was also important to keep a positive attitude with the teacher, even when they changed plans on us. I never know where I could end up teaching, so I always want to build positive relationships.

4. Integrate technology as much as possible!!
The students loved working with the computers. I was surprised, though, that many of the students did not know how to type well. This is a key skill for people in today's society so I believe students should have multiple opportunities to use technology per day.

Suggestions
1. Set higher expectations with teachers
It seems as if there were a lot of problems with the teachers at P.K. Younge. I know you communicated well with them, but maybe they did not understand how important this was. Since it was the first semester, hopefully it was a learning experience for them and they will better understand the process in the fall!

2. Teach us more
I did enjoy the layout of the class. However, I would have liked to learn a little more content in the area of technology. It would have been cool to learn about tools and resources we could use as future teachers.

3. Have a group meeting with ALL teachers and ALL students
This could potentially help with confusion at the beginning of the semester and would also have everyone in the same mindset.

4. Higher expectations for us
Sometimes I was a little uncertain what was expected of me. It would have been helpful to have a little more feedback to see how I was doing/how I could improve throughout the course.

Situation Report

Since my last situation report, there has not been much change with our project. I have still been in communication with our teacher. She is extremely easy to work with and has affirmed all of our ideas so far as well as adding in some of her own. I am excited to continue building a relationship with her and learn from some of her teaching practices.

Today, Marissa and Lauren went into the classroom to teach a mini lesson. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend because I had another placement in Ocala at the same time. During the mini lesson, they explained to the students why would be in the classroom and what we would be doing. They also showed examples of blogs and told the students we would be using tools such as Voice Thread and imovie when we make a movie at the end of the semester. I talked with Marissa today after they went and she said it went great! She explained that the students were really excited and all of them wanted to ask questions. It is definitely awesome that all of the students are on board!

Next week we are starting to meet with the students two days a week. We cannot go on Monday since it is holiday. Therefore, Corissa and Lauren will start on Wednesday and Marissa and I will start on the following Monday. The first week we will focus on blogs and make sure each student gets to create one. We will encourage them to start posting about why they like reading and why they believe reading is important.

I am still nervous about our time line. The semester is sailing by and I am just afraid we will not have enough time. I also feel like we are potentially forgetting to do things. It would be helpful to maybe get a weekly reminder about things when we do not have class. Otherwise, everything is going well and I am excited to get to know the students!

Situation Report

After meeting with our teacher, Mrs. Garrido, and meeting with my team I have a better understanding of what my roles and responsibilities are. Before we met with our teacher, I was the contact person to set up the meeting time and relay expectations, etc. Throughout the project I will continue this role in being the main communicator with the teacher. She is great to work with and said we could really do whatever we wanted as long as we let her know ahead of time. Therefore, I plan on keeping her updated as much as possible. Hopefully close communication will help with the success of our project.

Another responsibility I have is going in the classroom one day a week to work with the students using blogger, voice thread, and imovie. Our goal is to promote literacy not only in the classroom but also in the community. We are going to do this through the social media tools listed above. Each student will have the opportunity to create their own blog, record a voice thread about their favorite book, and participate in creating a public service announcement.

Next week Marissa and Lauren will go into the class to give a mini-lesson to the students. They will explain what we are going to be doing and hopefully spark the interest of the students. Mrs. Garrido said the students are starting to fall in love with reading and literacy so they should jump right on board!

I am really excited to see where our project goes. However, I am somewhat nervous about the time frame. I hope we are able to get everything we have planned accomplished but if not we will just need to make modifications!

I'm Back!

The popularity of social media has only increased over the years. People of all ages are using social media for different reasons and purposes. Some use it for gaming and advertisements, while others use it to promote important causes. I have heard that some teachers are ignoring social media and not bringing it into the classroom. However, I have a different view. I believe teachers should embrace technology and social media in the classroom. Ned Smith (2010) mentions if we do not bring social media into the classroom we are creating a major disconnect for our students. Why do we try and “hide” these tools from students when they are using them outside of the classroom on a daily basis? Whether we want to believe it or not, our students are probably more technological advanced than we are. That might be intimidating at first but essentially we can learn from our students just as we expect them to learn from us as teachers.

I found a blog where teachers posted different ideas about how to incorporate social media into the classroom. Many of them were aimed at college or high school level students but I believe an elementary school teacher could modify them to suit the needs of his or her students. Yanick Rice Lamb mentions on the blog that she uses social media to essentially inspire the students to act as journalists. A third, forth, or fifth grade teacher could explain what journalists do, show them examples of journalists’ work, and challenge them to create their own journalist piece. This is just a simple example of how we can embrace technology and social media.

Even though the project for this class is somewhat unclear and not completely laid out, I am excited to begin because I know that there are endless possibilities for not only my team but for my peers as well. My goal is to create a project that our team and the class are passionate about. As we have discussed in class, working toward something is always better when you are passionate about it. If the students do not care about our cause they will not be motivated to help out. I also want the students to realize that they can use social media in others ways than just communicating with their friends or playing games. If they learn how to use social media in a positive and purposeful way at a young age hopefully that will carry over into their adult hood as they impact lives in their community and across the world. As long as our team has the same goals and focus I believe our project will go smoothly. It is also essential to stay in contact with each other to keep the team on track and hold people accountable for their positions.

After briefly talking about our team roles and how we wanted the dynamics set up, my team decided that I would be the best “team leader.” I can honestly say that I did not want to take on this position because I already have several other administrative roles. However, the other girls said they are not very organized and needs someone to be the overseer so I just decided to take it. Besides just being the “leader” of the team I can also provide creative ideas and I can promise that I will brainstorm ideas for everything. It is always a goal of mine to work with a smile and positive attitude so the same is true for this project.

L Lamp, Y.R. Social media and copy editing [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://aejmc.blogspot.com/2010/05/social-media-and-copy-editing.html

Smith, N. (2010, May 04). Teachers embracing social media in the classroom. Retrieved from http://www.technewsdaily.com/teachers-embracing-social-media-in-the-classroom-0509/

Inquiry...

Completing my Inquiry Project was not something I really wanted to do. I have so many assignments to complete over the next week and I kind of put it on the back burner. However, once I sat down and focused I realized that I really liked learning about my topic. Technology is definitely something I will incorporate into my future classroom. I will also, especially now after researching my inquiry topic, use it to connect with parents. The home-school connection is a integral part of a child's school career. Parental involvement is proven to be the number one predictor for success for students. That fact alone motivates me to connect the parents and children.
Finding sources was not an easy task. I had to search and search but finally found 6 that I think were very useful. The screencast was actually fairly easy to do and I thought it was really cool. Using a screencast is a great way to show the work you've completed while telling someone verbally about it.

This course was great and I cannot wait til the next one like it! Now to decide if I am specializing in technology! :)

last class...

Where has the time gone?! I feel like I was just sitting here writing about the first day of class. Over the course of this semester I have been exposed to many, many different types of technological tools. I don't even know where to begin! In the beginning of the semester, I stated that technology is an important part of our world and I still believe that to be true. I also mentioned that I wanted to see and experience how I could incorporate technology in the elementary classroom. Through chapter presentation and class assignments I have gained so much knowledge about how to include and integrate technology in the classroom. Before this class I was somewhat skeptical of how much I could actually use online tools but that skepticism is now gone. However, there is much more technology I could/would like to learn about and I am still contemplating specializing in technology during my grad school year.
Overall, I am extremely grateful for this class and for the knowledge I gained. Technology is a part of our everyday lives so we need to embrace it not hate it! :)

Scratch!

Before the Scratch project was introduced to our class, I was very nervous and scared based on what other people told me. Thankfully, I learned very quickly that I cannot always believe what I hear from other people. It may come as a surprise to some, but I truly enjoyed creating my interactive game. I decided to focus on kindergarten since that is the grade I would like to teach. After looking at the sunshine state standards I thought it would be fun and engaging to create a game where students could practice their rhyming words. Overall, I believe my final product turned out well. No it is not perfect but this is my first time using Scratch so I won't be too hard on myself :). If a game or interactive learning tool needs to be created for my class, I am glad I can create this tool myself!