Week One of Intern Year

During my first week of interning at Bruceton School, I observed how teachers prepared for the school year. I had many obstacles leading up to this week, including receiving a new host mentor teacher. I adjusted well and quickly as I sat through professional developments and staff meetings. I was surprised to see how informational the meetings were, discussing all the policies and changes that would be occurring. Unfortunately, many teachers at my PDS are severely disappointed with some of the changes and I was able to see how the teachers collaborated with the principal to make best of the new school day changes. It was interesting to see ideas bounced around to find a solution that was best for the students.

One thing that I learned that will benefit me during my education career was how to create a schedule for the special education resource room. I was able to help create the schedule and found it was much more challenging than I anticipated, but eventually I accomplished the mission and figured out the schedule. During the first two days of school with students, I witnessed how the teachers went over classroom rules and routines. I thought this was a great experience so I knew how to do this when I had my own classroom. Having the students get use to the schedule and routine is definitely crucial so they know what to expect throughout the year. I loved getting to know the students during these days, especially the students in the classrooms I will be conducting inclusion in. Overall, this first week was a great experience and I'm glad I was able to see how typical preparation days were conducted with the staff, as well as setting up the classroom and routines with the students.

The inquiry celebration on April 19th was very informative and helpful in guiding me on what to do during my own internship. I learned a lot about the different reading techniques you could implement into the classroom also. The first thing I learned about was literacy workstations, which I also learned in education 461. I found this presentation very useful because I was able to see the different techniques used in the workstations and how it kept the students engaged. I think that I would use this during my internship year because it gives the teacher a chance to individualize instruction, while giving students the responsibility of finishing the work given for that day. I also found that the inquiry taught me about literature circles, which seemed to be effective in understanding text. I am not sure I would use this in my internship year, but seemed like a good idea to implement if I could get a better understanding of how this worked. Each presentation I saw was helpful in seeing what the interns did during their action research and how they gathered data on a set amount of students and their learning. The presentations also helped guide my thinking for my action research to gain a general sense in how to map out my research to gather the appropriate data, thus creating a visualization of a timeline.

During my second session, I learned all about positive discipline that is implemented at East Park Elementary. I found it very useful hearing about how to discipline a student positively and that it shows effective results in the number of referrals students receive. Being a special education specialization, I have to understand that discipline is going to be a major part of my classroom, and implementing discipline in a positive way will help keep the students in the classroom and engaged. I find it hard sometimes to keep my tone in a positive voice when students misbehave, and seeing the different strategies that are used was helpful. For example, the wheel of choice seemed like a great technique to implement into the classroom because it gives the student a choice on how to react to a situation or how to behave appropriately. I also learned that using simple things such as keeping down time to a minimum and keeping a consistent routine helps minimize misbehavior. As we have learned this in multiple classes, the presentation showed me and enhanced what I was learning that these simple elements are crucial pieces and helps the overall classroom environment.

Overall, I felt that the Inquiry celebration was very useful and I learned a lot about different techniques to use in the classroom to keep the student engagement high. I felt that the celebration also helped me better understand what I will be doing next year as an intern, and gave me a general idea on what I may want to do within my classroom. I enjoyed the presentations, and while the PDS presentation on positive discipline was helpful, I wish I had signed up and participated in other intern presentations to see what type of research they conducted and other techniques I could use next year.

Characteristics of a Novice Teacher #1 and #2

The first characteristic of being a novice teacher I chose was characteristic number one, which states a novice teacher should have a commitment to and skills for life long learning. I believe this characteristic means that a teacher should always be willing to grow and learn throughout their career, and to never stop at a dead end. Teachers should never look at a lesson and think that the lesson was fine and can not be improved. That being said, an artifact that could be closely connected to this characteristic would be the website Pinterest. The education category on Pinterest displays unlimited resources that could be used in the classroom to enhance the learning for a student in fun, unique ways that teachers have already previously tried. If a lesson hadn't worked in the past, or the students seemed disinterested, a teacher can turn to this page and see what other ideas teachers across the nation, or world used. This helps a teacher grow because even if they only use an idea from the website, the teacher is still learning and growing to become a better teacher for the students, as well as the teacher themselves. Pinterest also connects to this characteristic by giving and receiving ideas for lessons that may have not be thought of before, but was successful in the classroom.

The second characteristic of being a novice teacher I chose was characteristic number two, which states that a novice teacher should  be an effective communicator. The main idea of this characteristic is that the teacher should be communicating with all people involved in the education world, whether it be the other teachers of a team, the administration, the students, the parents, or even the community. Without effective communication, there could be a misunderstanding, which could effect the students at one point in their life. The artifact I chose for this characteristic that connects well is parent/teacher newsletters. I have seen this used in classrooms at my PDS semester after semester, and it's a great way to let the parents know what is going on for that week. For example, when I began in my class this semester, my students were allowed to eat a snack and a few students brought in peanut butter the first day I was there. Being that I'm severely allergic, I informed my teacher and she sent the memo in the following newsletter to not send peanuts/tree nuts on the days I was there. Had the effective communication not been there through the newsletter, I could have been placed in a situation that would have been unavoidable and dangerous. The newsletters also help effectively communicate to parents what lessons are going to be learned, and if it's a complex concept, the teacher could include how to complete the concept (especially in Math) in the correct way to help the students at home. Being an effective communicator to everyone involved in the educational system is important for many reasons, and without the communication, those people involved would never know what was happening in the students' life. 

Characteristic of a Novice Teacher #7 and #8

         The first characteristic of the novice teacher I chose was characteristic number seven, which states the novice teacher will effectively integrate content and pedagogy. The main idea from this characteristic is to have different content areas integrated within one lesson plan using a variety of sources. Having main concepts that can be applied over at least one other area will benefit the students when transferring their knowledge to the real world. For example, one artifact that can be connected to this characteristic is the technology special education toolkit that was created fall semester of the participant year. This artifact connects to this characteristic because the toolkit is integrating several content areas, as well as integrating five different pieces of technology. For example, Prezi is an online source that can be used to introduce new materials, and there are many websites that allow students to use clickers to complete surveys/gather data. Gathering data shows students how to graph data in other areas, thus implementing mathematics in another core content area, like English.

        The second characteristic of the novice teacher I chose was characteristic number eight, which states the novice teacher will be a reflective partitioner. The main idea of this characteristic is that a teacher should always reflect on which lessons work well, and which lessons could be improved. In addition to improving lessons, reflective on classroom management strategies, and other theories utilized in the classroom is how a novice teacher exemplifies this characteristic. One artifact that would address this characteristic would be the inquiry of context project that is completed the participant year. This artifact is greatly influenced on what goes on in the classroom, and how one perceives the context in the classroom. The inquiry project completed for Education 410 and 411 connects to this characteristic because the project entails observing the context of the classroom and reflecting on what works and does not work. For example, how the classroom is set up, and the people in the classroom greatly influence how the students learn. Reflecting on the set up, and changing when one thing does not work will exhibit the novice teacher characteristic of being a reflective partitioner.

Prezi Project Educ 311

Technology in the Classroom on Prezi

"Technology Reflection: Instructional Use of the SmartBoard"

Technology Reflection Assignment

Description/Experience
In our last Education 311 seminar, we were presented the demonstration of the smart board. Mr. Graham from Kingwood Elementary showed us many websites, including portaportal that could be used on the smart board for different subjects. The takeaways from the demonstration were that there are many different websites that can be used on the smart board to make learning fun for the students.

Application
I would conduct an activity made for a reading lesson involving rhyming words. The learners’ of my activity would be a classroom full of first graders. This activity is designed for a first grade classroom. The learners will gain the knowledge and understanding of the different words that rhyme and sound similar. At the end of this activity, students will be able to pick out two similar words that sound the same, or rhyme. I will know that the students acquire the learning outcomes by successfully completing the activity. I will know my activity was effective when they complete a worksheet at the end of the lesson showing their comprehension of the rhyming lesson.
The lesson would begin with introducing the definition on the smart board of the word rhyme. This would take a minute or two and then following the definition, I would give multiple examples. This total would occupy four or five minutes.

The next ten minutes would be used for the game on the smartboard. The game will be a matching game that has two similar sounds that would be described with pictures. The second round of the game would be words. This would go back and forth until the ten minutes are finished.

Following the game on the smartboard, the students would spend the next five minutes on a worksheet of pictures/words and matching them using a pencil to the similar word/picture to demonstrate the students comprehended the lesson.

Reflection

1. How well the use of this technology may support your teaching strategies in this activity.
2. How effectively the use of this technology may enhance students' understanding of and learning from your particular content in this activity.

--Pedagogical-Content:

Your pedagogical content knowledge refers to your understanding of teaching strategies that are specific to a content area. That is the knowledge about choosing appropriate pedagogies for teaching a particular content Example: Using drill-and-practice to teach math problem solving. This strategy however may not necessarily be effective for other content areas such as teaching speech and drama.

The use of this technology will support my teaching strategies in this activity because I will utilize the smartboard, which will gain the attention of the students. I will also use the technology as a game, instead of straight lecturing. Students will learn a lot from this teaching strategy because it enforces the technology “fun” activity that students crave to do.

This technology will enhance their understanding of the content because they will learn first. Then the students will drill-and-practice by playing the matching game. This will help them see and hear the difference between non-rhyming words and rhyming words.

The teaching strategies in this activity include, demonstration, illustrations, examples, and drill-practice. I think this is appropriate to teach this content because the students will be able to see, hear and figure out what the different words are for rhyming. I believe that this will help the students comprehend this particular content because they will be doing the activity with me showing me what rhymes and what does not rhyme. For example, I will have volunteers go up to the board and match the two words instead of me doing it every time.

Some conceptions that students would bring with them when learning for this particular content would be the different letters that make up words. The only thing that concerns me about students’ prior knowledge would be if they understand that the words rhyme only on the sound, not necessarily the letters.

--Technological-Pedagogical:

Your technological pedagogical knowledge refers to your understanding of technologies for particular learning tasks, your ability to choose technologies based on its fitness, your knowledge of pedagogical strategies, and your ability to apply those strategies for use of technologies Example: Selecting Edmodo/facebook for facilitating student generated debate. Edmodo here is the technology that supports the main pedagogy-group discussion/debate.

The main instructional strategies this technology used to serve in my activity is to ensure the students understand the different examples of rhyming. The smart board will show the different words and how they match up based on sound. One example of this would be to have the students match up the words and the smart board could help them comprehend if they get it right or not.

Different classroom management strategies I need to consider is giving a set number of rules prior to going to the smartboard. Some examples of this would be one person at a time at the smartboard, no rough housing, no fighting, be respectful to your peers, etc. This will show the students what behavior is expected of them before they go to do the activity.

--Technological Pedagogical Content:

Your technological pedagogical content knowledge refers to your understanding of how teaching and learning from content may change when technology used and is our knowledge about selecting technologies that suits, support, and enhances teaching strategies and learning activities in your particular content area. It is your understanding of teaching strategies to effectively teach the particular content and help student conceptual difficulties in this content by meaningfully incorporating technologies. Example: Using a flash card app on iPad as a means to aid students memorize words and definitions in language learning. iPad app is here chosen as a tool to support the pedagogy around instant feedback, quick repetition, and individualized learning. These are some effective strategies used in language learning content area.

The smartboard would enhance the way the content is represented in my activity because it will be shown visually and heard verbally. The activity includes demonstrations, examples, explanations, illustrations, and more. Words and pictures will represent the different words of rhyming while the students will demonstrate their comprehension of words that rhyme in front of the whole class.

The demonstration in front of the entire class would not be possible without the smart board because the students would not be able to see it except when it is projected on to the screen. Other students can create their own words, and or game that would show that they learned the content and understood it.

Technology Reflection: Instructional Use of iPads

Technology Reflection Assignment

Description/Experience

The technology demonstrated during the last seminar was the technology and applications used with the iPad. This was really interesting because as technology changes, so does the learning style of the student. All the students are more enthusiastic to learn when using technology because they are learning in different ways other than a lecture. My peers around me felt that students would learn a lot off of the iPad because it is a popular piece of technology that would be a great tool to reinforce the content being learned through the apps.

Application

The learners for my activity would be geared towards Elementary students around the age of first grade because they are the most technologically advanced compared to when I was a student in first grade. The age group is approximately six and seven years old. The learners will gain the understanding and comprehension of the vocabulary words used during a story they are reading during a Language Arts class. At the end of this activity, students will be able to understand the definition of the words used in the story. I will assess the students by giving them a short quiz at the end of the week. I could also assess by asking what each word meant as the class reads through the story. I will know my activity is effective when students answer the questions correctly.

The lesson will begin with introducing the story to the students. I will then hand out the list of vocabulary to the students and discuss the words to see if they already know what they mean. Then I will show the students an application on the iPad called flashcards. The students will already have the vocabulary for the unit in the application. The students will go through the flashcards for the next twenty minutes quizzing themselves on the definition. After that is done, I will pull up a game that matches the definition with the word and pictures. Following the activity, I will read through the story and ask comprehension questions when the vocabulary word comes up. As the other students finish the activity, I will have the students begin their homework, which will be create a story using all of the vocabulary terms and drawing coordinating pictures.

Reflection

The use of this technology may support my teaching strategies in this activity because the students will be actively going through and touching the screen to get a better understanding of the definition. The game will also make it fun for the student because they won’t see it as a lecture, or worksheet. The students will enjoy the touch screen and activities that go on the iPad.

The effective use of the technology may enhance the students’ understanding of the vocabulary because they are not just writing down the definition. They are doing the hands on activity with a popular device that can even be used at home. The students can use this technique on their own iPads at home to study for the weekly vocabulary quizzes the teacher distributes.

--Pedagogy-Content:

I would represent the content by using the words in sentences and explaining the definition as the class reads through the story. I will also have pictures with the word on it to help enhance their understanding. For example, if the word were apple, I would have an apple and the word on the same side of the flashcard on the iPad.

Students of different ages can also use this conception because it can be used to learn any word and study for a definition based quiz or test. I would not really be concerned with any prior knowledge of the students because they would be motivated to use the technology device to learn their words, even if they already knew the words. The only issue would be if the student does not have the iPad at home, he or she can not use this technique to study outside of the school.

--Technology-Pedagogy:

The technology would be used in my activity to help the students comprehend the words and get a better understanding. The main instructional purpose that it would serve would be to allow the student to understand the story as a whole when coming across the new terms.

My technology use would support the way I teach this activity because it would go beyond just lecturing and having the students write down the definition mindlessly. They would be doing hands-on activities utilizing the iPad. For example, the students will be touching the screen to match the term with the definition instead of writing it down word for word. The different classroom management strategies I would need to consider would be if there were rough play, the iPad’s could be broken. I would have to make sure the students understood that this was an option and if the rules were broken, the iPads would not be used during class anymore.

--Technology-Content:

The technology enhances the way the content is being represented because it is not just straight definitions. It will give examples and illustrations during the game. The iPad will enhance the way students practice because if they own an ipad they will be able to use the flashcards on their own to practice the definitions. The students will be thinking about the definition and matching it with the words during the game.

--Technology-Pedagogy-Content:

I think the content can be effectively taught by teaching strategies in this activity because the students will be excited to use the iPad. The iPad is just another way to show the students that learning can be used in and out of the classroom. This will enhance what I teach because I will be able to help the students if they have questions individually. I will also be able to show the students how to complete the activity as a useful resource for studying. I would choose my teaching strategies that suit well to teaching content with this technology as an application process of games. The games will be fun, but not busy work. It will