Field Experience #3=Technology in the classroom

What? Well this week was a short week. On Monday I finished my water cycle lesson by giving a formal assessment. I scheduled the class to take an online test about the water cycle and overall they did great. On Tuesday we had the Mountain Man Rendezvous with all the forth graders. It was pretty fun and exciting. All the fourth graders got to bring treats or things they could sell and buy with their beaver bucks. I bought some fun things from the kids. The day ended with Lisa and I saying good-bye to our students, that we've had for the last fourteen days. We gave each one a little treat bag with a little thank you note. I'm planning on going back to visit this four grade class. They were a great group of kids.

So what? Well as I reflect on the last fourteen days of field work I realize that I really enjoyed teaching and everything that comes with it. It's definitely challenging and you can lose control of a class quickly. Managing a classroom can be difficult so it's important to have your classroom rules set at the very beginning of the year. Another aspect I really enjoyed, is the technology that is available and can be used in the classroom. This teacher had a document camera that he used on a daily basis. I used it when I was teaching the kids about the transcontinental railroad. The document camera takes the place of the overhead. It was a very useful tool to use. I also created a water cycle power point presentation that was pretty successful. My partner Lisa created a digital story about mountain men that was used as a hook for one of our lessons. I used the TV/DVD they watch a movie on the transcontinental railroad as well the water cycle. We also used i-Tunes when we had the kids dance the "Water Dance" by Thomas Locker.

As mentioned earlier the kids took a test on the Internet on the water cycle unit. I found this web-site: education.jlab.org/reading/watercycle.html. In which the students had to read a passage and fill in the blanks. At each blank the students could pull down the different answers, and then pick hopefully the correct answer. Also the students had to label a picture of the water cycle. When they finished you could click on an icon that said "check my answers" and it gave them their score instantly. It was perfect, I had the students write their answers on a postcard, that I gave them earlier. If the students got above 90% they had free time on the computer. The rest of the students had to re-take it. The students had a total of three chances.
Overall I think the kids did well. My partner and I used technology at every opportunity we could. We used the Internet to get ideas, pictures and lesson plans that could help us teach our information more effectively. It's a little tricky for students to use a computer in the classroom, you have to reserve the computer lab if you want each student to use a computer. There were only four computers in the classroom and only three were working and we have a total of 31 students. Given the time frame and the availability of the computers Lisa and I did great.


Now What? Well now back to class on Monday and try to finish all the undone projects and get ready for finals. I'm feeling quite overwhelm and hoping that I can get everything done within the given time. Not to mention I need to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. This is the first year in about 10 years that I'm not cooking for Thanksgiving or entertaining since I have so much school work. It seemed like I didn't have much time during field to complete some of the outside assignments, since I was always busy preparing for my lessons for the next day. Life is good and teaching was fun! So it's all worth it! Happy Thanksgiving.

Field Experience Week 2

What? I really enjoyed this week, I got to teach every day. It was fun but it was physically exhausting. I got to teach about the water cycle, transcontinental railroad, and the mountain men that travelled through Utah. I’m exhausted because I spent some long nights preparing my lessons so I would be prepared for the next day. In every lesson I tried to implement everything we have been learning in theory. Such as drama, community learning, technology, physical activity, I tried to make sure all the students were receiving meaningful learning. So it definitely made for a busy week.

So What? Well, this week I learned that no matter how great your lesson plans are there is room for errors and mistakes. Some of my lessons took longer than I had planned. One of my water cycle lessons flopped I kept the kids busy but it was not meaningful. So I came home and reflected on how I could re-do my lesson so the students could really understand the water cycle. The next day, I did my lesson over again and it turned out ten times better. I also learned that you need to be very flexible, students are constantly being taken out of the classroom. Some have to go to"power hour", math tutoring, special ed, other classes taught by specialist. It can really throw you off and you need to make sure that when the student return they get caught up. In some cases is the whole class so you have to start off were you left. It can get tricky when you have thirty one students. I really like the fourth grade class I’m assigned, I would like to come back and follow-up to see how they are doing after field.

Now What? I ‘m glad I’ve had the opportunity to teach this week it’s been a pleasure teaching these fourth graders. I’ve learned that kids all have potential and they are all unique and want to learn, you just have to find what works best for them. A teacher’s job is never done and you have to be constantly re-evaluating what you’re a doing and be willing to make changes. I’m learning that one the most important concepts is that you need to maintain good classroom management so all students can learn. I’m looking forward to teaching in the future.

Field Experience for week of 11/15/09

What? This week has been a very busy and interesting week. Lisa and I taught a lesson on the attributes of Utah. I think the kids really liked it. They had to read a chapter from their social studies book, we used the jigsaw method so they wouldn't get bored. Then next day we had them create a map of Utah out of play-doh. Our fourth graders really liked that. We also helped the students during their math period. I got to teach my first lesson on the transcontinental railroad and the influence of the Chinese immigrants had on this project. I also had to interview the Technology specialist at our school and I was really impressed by her knowledge and responsibilities. I'm glad that I had time to meet with her.

So What? This coming week is going to be a very busy and exciting because Lisa and I are teaching every day. Lisa will be teaching some math and social studies. I will be teaching about the water cycle and some social studies as well. I’m really enjoying my experience so far. I just wish we had more time to complete the other assignments that are due right after field. I’v realized that I’m not the most organized individual. I feel I’m prepared and ready to teach but trying to keep –up with my other assignments is not going well for me. I guess I’m just getting a small taste of what a teacher is expected to do. They don’t have “homework” per say but they have meetings to attend, papers to correct, and lessons to prepare. There also might me special projects, conferences and certain endorsements they might be attending. So they are constantly learning and improving. I’v also notice that they have additional responsibilities, at this time with budget cuts going on they have less teacher aids to help them, and they find themselves funding their own supplies.

Know What? I’m just taking this experience one day at time and learning everything I can from it. I’m really enjoying the teaching part. It’s harder than I thought. So far I found that the transition between one activity and another is especially hard to keep order in the classroom. My cooperating teacher has mentioned that I'm too motherly and I need to be a little more firm. So I'm going to work on it, I look forward to this week I think I got really lucky with some great fourth graders and a good partner.

Video: Do you know?

This video was amazing! It had a lot of interesting information of how technology and information has changed through time. It’s astonishing that there are 694,000 songs that are illegally download, in about five minute on the internet. That’s just crazy! I also found it sad that if you are a technology major, by the time you graduate half of what you learn is obsolete. Google and the internet are so important in our everyday life I don’t know how I would survive without them now. There are 31 billion searches that take place on Google every month. That’s amazing! This video was full of really surprising facts of our current technology use.

Digital Story Week 2

What? We worked on our digital story in class today. My group is working on trappers and explorers. We are having a great time learning and creating it. We hope to be finished soon, so we can use it in field with our fourth graders. Life is going to get crazy as field work gets started. I need to interview a technology specialist in my assigned school so we will see how that goes.

So What? We need to continue to work on our digital story. Our group has chosen to use Movie Maker. So far we have about 4 seconds done we need a total of 3 minutes. Our manuscript is coming along and it’s almost complete. I really like this project since I’m actually going to use it in field, and I will get to see the reactions of 31 fourth graders. The purpose of this digital story is to “hook” the kids and get them excited about Utah mountain men and trappers. I want our history lesson unit to be exciting and engaging. I can see how you could have students create their own digital story, that could really have impact on how they learn a subject matter.

Now What? Obviously, I don’t know everything about creating digital stories. I could see taking a class that specifically taught digital stories for teachers. I think there is so much to learn, that it would be nice to have more time to cover all this information. You could learn how to use different types of programs like Photo Story, Movie Maker and others. Then you could decide which one works best for your project. On Wednesday and Thursday my partner and I started our field experience and it was fun. Our teacher is very interesting and we have a lot of work of ahead of us, but I look forward to working with the fourth graders.